It was the red lion on his capulana that made me do a
double take. The man was old for a Mozambican, but not ancient. Rotund
and stocky, a pudgy hand firmly grasped a short staff plumed with feathers. A
long dagger brought the dark, weathered hardwood to a dramatic and sharply
pointed end. He had in front of him bowls of bones and mystery
pastes alongside a half carton of eggs and a bottle of the cheapest labelled
gin in town. I caught myself thinking that this juxtaposition– between old and
new, traditional and modern, in both culture and commodity – must be one of the
best examples to be found in Mozambique.
We called the witchdoctor into service in order to find
out who had broken in and stole a handful of electronics from the horse
volunteer house a few nights before. I regularly stay alone in that house and
up until now had felt that my possessions and I were safe. Yet after going to
the police to report the crime, we realized that the Chibuene police – “police”
being a few sleepy youngsters with rusty guns – didn’t care too much about our
mulungo problems. Thus, Mandy with the wisdom and experience that comes from
living in Africa over 50 years – knew that we had another, perhaps more
effective resource. Magic. In fact, witchdoctors and their practices still hold
tremendous power in small, rural communities.
As the man’s methodical preparations began, a small group
had gathered – Luka and two other horse grooms, Mandy, myself, and the Canadian
gal Melissa, in addition to the eclection of lodge staff that couldn’t resist
the curiosity. We sat with our feet tucked under ourselves in a semi-circle
behind him as he began painting the eggs and then, using his staff gently as a
hammer, proceeded to pierce the top of each shell with a needle. He then got up
carefully and walked around the house to the outside of the broken window,
touched a light triangular pattern in the sand below with one of the eggs,
turned, and threw the egg straight towards the haphazardly mended fence. This
egg was followed by another, thrown deeper into the bushes. The splattering of
yoke set the curse. Now we only had to understand the conditions of it. That’s
where it got even more interesting.
Between the witchdoctor, Luka, and myself, we explained
the rules of the “killing curse.” The witchdoctor spoke Xitswa to Luka,
Luka then relayed to me in Portuguese, and I would reiterate the conditions in
English. “He’s setting a curse that will make the betrayer of the community,
the bandito, go crazy,” Luka said. “Crazy to the point that he will die unless
he returns what he stole. You must throw one egg towards the road at dusk for
four days. On the fifth, the victim of the crime (Melissa) must start bathing
with this.” Extending his hands, Luka revealed a small newspaper pouch filled
with a dark, leafy paste. “Bathe with this, the man who did this will go crazy,
and the witchdoctor will return to assess the results.”
This is just one interesting day of many. Thinking back,
it’s crazy how many different challenges lately I’ve had to navigate as
translator. I’ve filed reports with police, I’ve had to talk my way
through a small slaughterhouse operation to acquire a bolt gun when we had to
put an injured horse down a few weeks ago, I’ve had to write radio briefs, and
negotiate the reward and safe airline transport of the valuable manta ray GPS
tracking device (which looks like a freakin’ missile) crucial to local research
being done by marine biologists.
Oh, and, of course, I’ve now worked with a witchdoctor.
This is all just to say that my second year feels like a
wonderful fresh start from the first. Now, I have the integration and language
skills, the friendships, and confidence to make my second year here incredible.
It is, as one of my favorite metaphors go, like old wine in new bottles.
Experienced self-assurance now coupled with even greater opportunities.
So, what exactly are the new changes and plans for
2014?
Well, for one, I have new site-mates!!!!
Maria and Sarah arrived in Mapinhane in December to start
their Peace Corps service. Already, what I love about both Sarah and
Maria is how they always tell you what they think – it’s a type of honesty that
after last years’ misunderstandings is incredibly refreshing. In any
case, Maria is a dark-haired sassy pre-med grad who wants to save the world as
a doctor, and has already started volunteering at our local hospital. She’s
always the one to crack a joke and find something hilarious about a
situation. Sarah is also amazing! A sweet, kind, do-gooder,
master-rapper-beat-monster, Sarah’s the type of girl who always has something
positive and smiley to say. This is the girl, for example, that when she had to
go get stitches at the hospital with a dull needle, just decided to clamp her
teeth on her backpack strap and get it over with. She’s ballsy and brainy.
Obviously, you can tell I’m impressed and proud at how well these two
Americanas have already adjusted to life in Mapinhane. May we
forever enjoy cerveja’d Thursday Estalagem Dinners :)
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Sarah, me and Maria!!! LOVE THESE GIRLS! So thrilled that they're my new site mates :) |
Moreover, my school has undergone some changes as well!
Our school director from last year, Sr. Dir. Herculano
left without any warning a week before school started, leaving the entire
school scrambling. However, our new director is fantastic. I don’t know why,
but my old director and I never really clicked. Blame it on the fact that I was
so new and naïve that I was intimidated by him, or on the fact that we had an
awkward encounter at the casa do banho in which he came out with his massive
belly hanging out over his tiny capulana… Whatever it was, we were friendly and
I liked him as a Director, but we didn’t really see eye to eye on a lot. That
being said, our new director, Sr. Dir. Marculino and I are already on the same
page. I asked him for a meeting last week and we’ve already sat down
and decided our top three priorities for the school this year and figured out
ways as a PCV that I can help. I feel incredibly engaged and
supported on all levels.
One of the priority projects we’re negotiating now is the
construction of a water pump. More on that to come in a future post...
And finally, we’re also making huge progress on our
Mapinhane Community Literacy Center. We’ve raised the entire $2315.00 necessary
to start work on converting the old classroom into a library! So far we’ve
already contracted the local carpenter Obedias to build our shelves, benches, and
window beds for the children’s reading corner. The Director of the Primary
School is also nailing down a local guy to paint the room next week. Once
that’s done, we’ll move in!! All the books and supplies are just sitting at my
house waiting to be used. Our goal is to get up and running by the end of
March.
And a final word…
My Mozambican friend and counterpart Hermenigilda is pregnant and is
about a week away from giving birth!!! This tiny little woman’s belly is
ENORMOUS. Just wow. Crossing my fingers that the birth goes smoothly.
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| Prof. Gloria, Hermenigilda, me, and dona Natalia. We are so proud of our baby mamma!!!! She's due next week!! |
