SAD DAY
Today bright and early my host mom woke me up to tell me she is leaving with her husband to South Africa. For how long, she didnt know... It was really sad, I even cried and hugged and said goodbye. We have become pretty close and its like having your best friend leave you. As we talk about everything together, go out together and have honestly really enjoyed each other's company.
I sort of saw this coming, but I didn’t what to believe it!My host dad came last week and he has been talking about talking Maezinha to South Africa with him when he returns to work. However each time I asked my host mom about it she would say she doesn’t want to go, that she isn’t ready and that its not a good time for her to leave. Marciana seems to believe that it might be that he wants her to have children and so he wants to have her around for some time in order for that to happen. They are married so it makes perfect sense for her to go and to be with her husband, but it’s sad, as she is so much fun, always laughing, smiling and generally a great person to have around as company here at the homestead.
My host dad generally comes home once a month for a couple days and works the rest of the month at a large mine in South Africa near Swaziland. So I am now expecting to see them in a month's time. It’s a sad situation but what do you do.
The past week Maezinha spent a lot of time in Maputo with her extended family, as someone in the family passed away. In her absence I really learned first hand as to how much work it is to maintain a house in Mozambique. Most days I made breakfast/lunch and a couple times I attempted to make dinner over the coal-burning stove, which took hours to prepare! Besides the cooking and food preparation, I would wash my clothes as usual by hand, and then try my best to maintain the two houses in an orderly fashion. As the ground here is sand the houses constantly need to be swept because although we take off our shoes at the front door the house is always full of sand within hours. Apart from all this every couple days I purify 10-20 liters of water to drink. Its difficult to get everything done, because of the heat. You do all this work and it might not seem to be so much, but in 34 degree heat accompanied by extremely high humidity and you are naturally always feeling a little groggy and sleepy.
In lieu of my host mom, her husband has asked her cousin to come stay with us. As currently in the house there is only me, my male host cousin from Bilene and avo, my host great grandmother. Although we seem to make quite the team, having another younger woman like myself around the house would be extra nice, as women are expected to do most of the work around the home. I am not sure what to expect but I hope that it works out. In the meantime, we are nearly half way through the African phase of the program, as this coming weekend it is participant midproject. There have been a number of issues and problems lately, but as always we seem to be on top of it all and are moving forward and onward.
I sort of saw this coming, but I didn’t what to believe it!My host dad came last week and he has been talking about talking Maezinha to South Africa with him when he returns to work. However each time I asked my host mom about it she would say she doesn’t want to go, that she isn’t ready and that its not a good time for her to leave. Marciana seems to believe that it might be that he wants her to have children and so he wants to have her around for some time in order for that to happen. They are married so it makes perfect sense for her to go and to be with her husband, but it’s sad, as she is so much fun, always laughing, smiling and generally a great person to have around as company here at the homestead.
My host dad generally comes home once a month for a couple days and works the rest of the month at a large mine in South Africa near Swaziland. So I am now expecting to see them in a month's time. It’s a sad situation but what do you do.
The past week Maezinha spent a lot of time in Maputo with her extended family, as someone in the family passed away. In her absence I really learned first hand as to how much work it is to maintain a house in Mozambique. Most days I made breakfast/lunch and a couple times I attempted to make dinner over the coal-burning stove, which took hours to prepare! Besides the cooking and food preparation, I would wash my clothes as usual by hand, and then try my best to maintain the two houses in an orderly fashion. As the ground here is sand the houses constantly need to be swept because although we take off our shoes at the front door the house is always full of sand within hours. Apart from all this every couple days I purify 10-20 liters of water to drink. Its difficult to get everything done, because of the heat. You do all this work and it might not seem to be so much, but in 34 degree heat accompanied by extremely high humidity and you are naturally always feeling a little groggy and sleepy.
In lieu of my host mom, her husband has asked her cousin to come stay with us. As currently in the house there is only me, my male host cousin from Bilene and avo, my host great grandmother. Although we seem to make quite the team, having another younger woman like myself around the house would be extra nice, as women are expected to do most of the work around the home. I am not sure what to expect but I hope that it works out. In the meantime, we are nearly half way through the African phase of the program, as this coming weekend it is participant midproject. There have been a number of issues and problems lately, but as always we seem to be on top of it all and are moving forward and onward.
posted by Laura | 6:23 AM
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