Reflections on PST 2.0

So, my housemate Rich and I have been at site (Cuamba, Niassa) for almost two weeks now.  After the ten week Pre-Service Training (PST), which started the end of September, we now face new personal, professional (even entomological) challenges and discoveries.  But more on site challenges and discoveries later.  For now I’d like to go back to what Cape Verde Transfers have dubbed as PST 2.0.

                Unlike our “Peace Corps Trainee” (PCT) counterparts who underwent “staging” in the Pennsylvania right before coming to Mozambique, Cape Verde Education Volunteer Transfers did staging over a year ago in Boston right before coming to Cape Verde in July 2011.  So on September 26, 2012 we flew not from the States, but from Praia, Cabo Verde to the island of Sal, and then from Sal to Lisbon, Portugal, and then finally to Maputo, Mozambique.  While PCTs were getting to know Peace Corps and each other, Cape Verde Transfers (or CVTs. . . acronyms are ubiquitous in PC, my apologies) had our despedida party, which, as our gracious Country Director explained in his speech, was probably the last time PC volunteers would be getting together with PC staff in Cabo Verde.  The highlight of the despedida for me was the live musical performances, especially the one by our PCMO Dra. Maria.  I still remember her morna voice, with her husband on guitar.  Soulful.  For those who have a recording of that night, I would love to get a copy.

                Now, the first leg of our trip to Mozambique wasn’t too stressful, except that I lost my passport and didn’t even know it till PC staff informed me (thanks so much Reis!).  I did think I would have to stay in Cape Verde to wait for a new passport, which was not my plan at all. . . I’m not that diabolical.  Really.  

Anyway, when we arrived in Sal, a group of us met up with Patrick, a new “Returned Peace Corps Volunteer” (or RPCV), who had not yet returned to the States, but had been vacationing on the island.  Patrick was an Information Technology volunteer on the island of São Nicolau. He, Don, Brendan, Alexandra, Szasha, Sadie and I checked out the beaches of Sal.

                When we arrived in Lisbon, I got a little freaked out by how big, how clean, and how “first world,” everything was.  The long shuttle ride from the plane to the airport terminals was approximately the same distance as from our Praia apartment to downtown Plateau.  We saw parking lots full of cars and streets with traffic lights.  The grand hallways of Lisbon airport could probably house several dozens of the canopy-covered waiting area of Praia airport.  I don’t mean to put down Praia.  All I’m saying is that, having lived there for over a year, the first-world amenities seemed foreign and strange, which I didn’t mind at all.  It was as if I was re-discovering the “first world.”

                Many would say, however, that Praia, Cape Verde, is very well developed, what with its internet cafes (we had wireless internet in our apartment), high literacy rate, and classification as “Middle-Income Country.”  Having been in Mozambique for almost three months, I do think we were a bit spoiled in Cabo Verde.

                But Maputo, Mozambique boasts plenty of amenities and super chic restaurants that Praia does not have.  There’s nothing in Cape Verde like the posh hotel we stayed in, for example.  Nor the Thai, Indian, Chinese, Pakistani restaurants.  Nonetheless, PST 2.0 was not posh at all.  For most, if not all, of us PCT’s and CVT’s, homestay in the town of Namaacha was difficult.  We understood that our homestay families were very poor and that we all had to be flexible in our new living situation.  What made this PST difficult for me the second time around were:  the cold weather, the food, and my sodade for Cabo Verde.

                Having lived in Cape Verde for over a year, and having spent my childhood in the Philippines, I’m unaccustomed to cold weather.  Not to mention that I did not expect it to be freakin’ freezing in Namaacha.  One evening it even started hailing—you could hear the ice pelting the tin roof of our house.  I nursed colds and minor flus for a good three weeks.  I’m sure the lack of sleep did not help my immune system to fight illnesses, but it was mainly the unexpected cold and wet-weather-living that got to me. The insufficient diet did not help either.  Yet here again, I have to say that I expected my homestay family to overfeed me, just like with my Cape Verdean host-family.  Instead, I often felt a lingering hunger due to the lack of protein and other nutrients in our homestay meals.

                The physical challenges were probably not as intolerable as the emotional ones.  In fact, our fellow PCT’s had to suffer through constant expressions of sodade, the Kriolu for loss and longing.  Thanks so much for everyone’s patience and understanding whenever we would go on these random rants and ravings that would often start with “In Cape Verde. . .”  Here are a few examples:  “In Cape Verde, there are all these jagged-edged peaks and miniature valleys, but here in Namaacha we’ve got very gentle slopes, and expansive mountains that line the horizon. . .”  “In Cape Verde, we would eat so much, our bellies would ache. . .” “In Cape Verde, I had an indoor toilet, not a latrine (mine was a ‘lathrone’ according to Ma Fe). . .” “In Cape Verde, the people partied a lot. . .” “In Cape Verde, they’ve got these turtles. . .” 

While on the outside we were in Mozambique, inside we were still in Cape Verde.  My gratitude to those that saw and understood what was/is inside of us.

                Literally going outside, though, helped not so much with forgetting Cape Verde, but with being in Mozambique.  On sunny days, a few PCT’s and I would go on hikes around Namaacha.  The lush green, the giant trees, and the great variety of trees made me start seeing Mozambique for what it is, not through the lens of another country, another history.     

The simple, physical activity of just taking walks helped me be more present in Namaacha, rather than be moody over some lost past.

                Site visits to the province of Inhambane were also highlights of PST 2.0 for me.  Here were my fellow site visitors, Cheyanne, Maggie, and Kim, strolling along the dock at Inhambane City with our gracious host PCV’s Theresa and Yvette:

I so want to visit Inhambane City again.

While I loved excursions outside of Namaacha, in homestay I loved my toddler host-brother, Pipito:

Don’t be fooled by his cherubim looks.  He’s angelic asleep, but a rascal awake.

                Just like my first PST, this PST 2.0 ended all too quickly.  I’m glad I got through it with fellow Cape Verde Transfers.  I’m happy I got to know PCT’s.  But I’m also struck by the fact that there are so many other PCVs that I never really befriended.

We were a class of 25 in Cape Verde, but there are 68 of us Moz19ers.  While we found close friends, it’s a shame that others only remained acquaintances.  It’s strange to look at these pictures during our swearing in as volunteers, and then afterwards at the “Teacher’s Bar.” There’s one or two that I hardly know, and then others that are good friends, allies through PST.  We shared struggles and stories.  Now, Post-PST, we all seem so far apart, spread out in such an enormous country.  I want to keep my allies.  I wish I was spending Christmas and New Years with family and friends. . . I know I can’t forget my friends and family here in Niassa, as well as the new challenges and discoveries ahead.

Still, I can’t wait to visit you all, and for y’all to visit me!