One year

On the eve that marked the completion of my first year in Mozambique, there were no fireworks, no champagne, no clanging bells that marked the momentous occasion. A sleepy glance at the calendar "September 28- 12 months!" on my way to the fridge reminded me of the day, but other than that, things went normally.
The high pitched whining of crying puppies woke me up in the middle of the night and persisted until I got up to see what was wrong. Mel was sitting by the front door expectantly, having decided that waiting for me to let her out was more important than attending to her children. When it took longer than five minutes for her to come back, I shut the door again and crawled back into bed, only to be awakened half an hour later by the sound of Mel's flurried digging of a cavernous hideout inconveniently next to (and under) my house.
In the morning, I filled the hole with sand and cement blocks before my first REDES meeting at 8. Working with a group of secondary school girls is difficult because they go to school at different times. In order to accelerate our income generation earrings project, I've been meeting with them during the week and not just on Saturdays. They come to my house to sew on Wednesdays and Thursdays during three different time slots. As the project continues and some the girls discover that they like doing crafts, they've asked for even more informal sessions during the week which means this week, I'll have held six REDES meetings in total. Also, as I've gotten to know the girls better, I've begun to identify several I see a lot of potential in and would like to work with one on one. One girl, Eliza, for example, told me that she doesn't have any close girl friends because none of her peers like to do the things she does, which include reading and studying. She wants to be a journalist and go to college in Maputo, so I invited her to come over on Sundays to learn how to type and use a computer.
After REDES in the afternoon, it's time to go to CACHES. In a way, I still don't feel completely integrated in the organization yet. It seems that all the other staff members have their niches: Sam does art with the kids, Lastimoso does theatre, Professor Mario does music and dance, etc. And I usually just watch or participate with the kids. Several times, when the staff member in charge of the lesson for the day has failed to arrive on time or at all, I've done impromptu sessions with the kids. Simple stuff, like icebreakers and games, or exercises and stretches around the building.
These days, I stick around until long past dark. The JOMA theatre group (composed largely of the CACHES staff members) that meets after CACHES sessions is participating in an English Theatre competition at the end of October and I am helping them translate their play. This, I feel, will help them immensely in learning English, as opposed to throwing everything in an internet translator as they originally tried to do. The other day they asked me, "Mana Vivienne, what does 'yezzir' mean? Lil Wayne says it all the time in his music." Afterwards, the conversation expanded to other (and more vulgar) English slang, all words they gleaned from listening to rap music. After we finish working, the boys that live closest to me walk me home, which makes me feel much safer than navigating the dark paths by myself.
And this, my friends, is what my life has become, one year since stepping off that plane and touching foot on African soil for the first time in my life. All in all, I'm really enjoying myself and I can't wait to see what the next year holds.