04/07/10

This weekend a ton of us PCVs (24 actually) gathered in the tiny village of Cambine to celebrate America’s Independence Day. I got a ride up with a minister from Maputo who was incredibly friendly and told me about how he was orphaned at only 5 months and initially only completed 10th grade, but he eventually was able to return to school and graduate and now he has two children in university (a huge feat here in Mozambique) and one child studying at a professional school. He was driving up to visit some churches in the north of the province so he dropped me off right at the road to Cambine. Cambine is about 15 miles inland from the national highway on a dirt road, so getting in can be difficult (you never know when the next car will pass) but the ride is gorgeous. I think that Cambine is what people (I) pictured when I was told I would be doing the Peace Corps in Africa. When we arrived in Cambine I was literally awestruck. Not only is it tucked away in gently rolling green hills, but it was apparently settled by the Methodist church which built the town out of sandstone colored stone. It almost felt like we were in rural 19th century England. The church was in pristine condition and though some of the other buildings were a bit run-down, the village was breath-taking. In the middle is the remains of the foundation of a building—the building where Eduardo Mondlane (president of the FRELIMO party which started and eventually run Mozambique’s fight for independence) lived while he was studying in Cambine. We wandered down to the market to check it out and realized that it was an exaggeration when we were warned that there was nothing. A few tomatoes, onions, and oranges were the only fresh produce in the market; the other options were cracker packets, pasta, chicken stock, and some assorted canned goods. The women in the market were incredibly friendly, wanting to know who we were visiting, where we were from, and if they could celebrate with us too.
Over the course of Friday and Saturday volunteers arrived in Cambine from everywhere from Gaza province to Manica province. We made (keep in mind every single thing was homemade, from scratch…we don’t have any other options here) tortilla chips, two different salsas, hamburgers and hotdogs (those were a splurge, but you can’t have 4th of July without them!), fresh-squeezed lemonade, onion rings, chili, assorted salads, some rice drink, apple pie, banana bread, brownies, and fried mandioca. And of course we were all wide awake by 6:30am each morning, making homemade biscuits, fried eggs, and french toast. As always it was wonderful to see everyone, to catch up new stories, and to eat great food.