I love Mozambique....

My life in Gaza

Three things that I had to do to survive in GAZA was "watch out to not step in shit", "rain boots", "mosquitos".

The place where I lived was a very rural area so, I lived among animals like cows, pigs, goats and chicken and dogs, ducks and donkeys and so on. And mud is a problem so I had to wear rain boots. And there were lots of mosquitoes so I had to be careful. And there were 3 small shops.

In my area it was hard to find fruits and vegetables. So I had to go 1 hour by car.

And at my house, we had Running water (swimming pool taste), shower (no hot shower), no refrigerator, had electricity. Only two pots, 4 dishes, one broom, mop.

Well, I think my house was not perfect but during my life in Africa I learned so much from this simple life. Going to school and coming back home. Sometimes it was really boring. (There I was in the middle of nothing) But at the same time, I was learning to be happy for very small things.

For example, when I could have a nice lunch, one cup of coffee, and when I could buy eggs and some materials for cleaning and for any other things and so on because its hard to find something easily which we had all the time. And also I was learning how to be relaxed. My camera and laptop were broken, but I just try to think "that's how it is"

Because there is nothing I can do about it and try to think in another way to live without a laptop and try to be happy again, it's really sad though.

I can not say how exactly I changed, but I can say that all those experiences changed me so much and made me think about so many things.

Food: Chima, fish, chicken, vegetables. Food is not so varied. So, all the time I felt some missing taste, because we used to eat foods which have a lot of taste. But basically I loved the food there.

Chapa: Is the only transportation I used in Mozambique. Taxi is expensive. Machibombo is for long trips. They don't use seat belts and charge as much as they can and sometimes drive very fast - 140 km. First time when I took a chapa I was so scared but at the end, I was used to it.

Advice:

-Don't hang around alone at night. In the day time also not if there is noone on the road, don't go.

-And they will ask something all the time. Don't just give, food, money whatever. Make them do something. And explain.

-If you feel something weird. Go to the hospital. Don't just think its just a cold. You have to remember that you can get lots of deseases that we don't know. Malaria is that you are lucky or not because even though we take the pills we might get it. And even if we wear long sleeves they bite us through the clothes. But try your best.

-And you have to be careful when you say something about race and so on. They are very sensitive. They think that they are minority compared to any other country. I think because of history. So they get hurt. Something very normal is not that normal here.

-If you want to bring something, bring pencils and glue and pen and so on. Those are not so common and hard to find every where.

-Girls got to wear a skirt. Do not wear your top very open. You will see what Mozambican women wear.

-Try to remind yourself why you came. (It's hard, sometimes you get annoyed but try more)

-And "Be patient", "Open minded", And "Enjoy".

At last, I love Mozambique. I was so sad when I realized that I had to leave. And I am missing it so much. I never imagined that I would love Mozambique this much. Of course there were some not so good things, but there were many more good things than not so good. And Mozambique is so beautiful and peaceful and the country has the most innocent people living there. Sometimes, there are also mean people who ask for money when I buy something because I am kind of white (usually they ask more money for foreigners).

One thing that I really wanted was to speak Portuguese more and more. I was holding Mozambique in my heart but, Mozambique felt like it could not quite hold me in the heart because of the lack of language.

Yes, I could have shared more if I could speak Portuguese better, but we could share as well, and could feel together and could be friends. Now we are missing each other. And Mozambique is my second country and will be forever! NaYoung.