bofar

You know you are making it somewhere with language when you begin to communicate feelings. The other night I sat under the stars with Tio George our guard, and Tia Amelia. We talked about God and religion. I surprised myself that I understood the things I did. Last night I had one of the best conversations with the girls. I was taught the verb “to fart” in Portuguese and Ndau. It was possibly the funniest conversation I have had.

A group of Canadians came in to Machanga for the purpose of creating plans for a new girls centre in a new villa that is being created. Having 5 white MEN come into the GIRLS center was a big deal. They observed each of them very carefully. As the Tia’s and me sat from a slight distance from the group of talking men they told me the things they observed. How many times one went to the latrine indicated he had diarrhea, or how the hair in-between ones eyes could be braided. These women have more of a personality then one may think at first. Once you start to get in on the language, a whole new world is opened. I was asked to translate a lot of the trip back, and I was so surprised at how much I can translate and understand. Being here for these 2 months I have learnt so much and feel so at home, I feel proud to call the rural Machanga, out-in-the-bush-middle-of-who-knows-where, my home.

At the moment I am back in Beira, just got in from a delicious meal, outdoors on the oceanfront. The center has gone through a slight dry spell in food because of problems with transportation, and miniature-dried shrimp (with grains of sand unfiltered throughout) has been served for lunch and dinner for the past week. It was a DELIGHT to have a vegetable curry dish! Sand not included.

PS> if you want to see more photos, go to my facebook page: Alexis Goertz, it is easier to upload photos there :)