Tuesday 10/19/2010
I arrived safely at my final destination. Wow, words cannot describe where I am, but I will do my best. Tuesday 10/19, was my first full day here in Vicanculos, Mozambique. The days start with the sun rising at 4:45 a.m. We try to push off getting up a bit, but there isn’t much point so it’s early to rise… hopefully early to bed.
We start every day with preschool in the mornings. As we drive down the road the children are scattered about on their way to school. They have great fun chasing the truck we are in, trying to beat us, like in a race. We park when we can no longer drive on the deep sandy paths. It takes only seconds to be mobbed by children. They take no time to warm up to us; they are just so excited to have someone to play with. I am amazed with their clothing, though rugged and mismatched, there are lots of name brands and some are even fashionable. I’m guessing these were donated from other countries, maybe.
The first thing I wanted to do to them was clean up their little faces and wipe their noses. I had to get over that quickly because it isn’t going to happen. It’s the way they live, and an endless battle that would not be productive. I can honestly say that these kids are the happiest kids I have ever seen, and in some ways they have more than so many other wealthy cultures. They are all satisfied with what they have and appreciate everything that you give them. There is absolutely no status difference between any of them. These kids are tough; they do things that we would cringe at if we saw our little ones do. If they fall, they get right back up and do the same thing again.
The first thing I wanted to do to them was clean up their little faces and wipe their noses. I had to get over that quickly because it isn’t going to happen. It’s the way they live, and an endless battle that would not be productive. I can honestly say that these kids are the happiest kids I have ever seen, and in some ways they have more than so many other wealthy cultures. They are all satisfied with what they have and appreciate everything that you give them. There is absolutely no status difference between any of them. These kids are tough; they do things that we would cringe at if we saw our little ones do. If they fall, they get right back up and do the same thing again.
We start first thing by serving them a vitamin porridge (called EPap), which looks like slop to me, but they seem to like it. There is a mango tree in the play yard. The kids eat unripe mangos like they are candy. They will shake the tree, throw things to make the mangos fall or beg you to lift them up high enough to get one. They bite off a chunk or two and then lick them to the end like a lolly pop ("how many licks does it take";)). We play for a bit before school starts. I found very quickly they love to play with hair. The girls must learn to braid each other's hair at a very young age. All of a sudden I had 5 little girls pulling strands in all different directions, thinking it was no big deal until it really hurt. I yelped “Ouch, ouch!” Since they only speak Portuguese, they just mocked me and laughed (not having a clue what I meant). I still had to laugh until I went to put my hair back in a ponytail and I had nappy weaves in so tight that they weren’t coming out anytime soon!!!
Overall I had a great first morning with the kids singing songs and working on the number 12, writing it, counting out 12 beads, and drawing 12 circles. Then we served them a small bowl of rice for lunch before we go for the day. When they are done, they are free to toddle off to whereever they may go….
Then we got lunch! A 3 hour lunch break… by the beach! Our little hut is right on the beach and everyone has free time to do as they like. You all know how much I hate to lie at the beach, but I will cope somehow. ;) The teal blue, 80 degree water, and soft white sand help a bit. I think life is going to be OK here.
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