02/08/10

Sunday morning we left the mission early and went to Namaacha to visit my family and my new host sister, baby Anata, who had been born only Saturday afternoon. My three host brothers were there and though they were a little shy of my dad initially, 45 minutes later they were chattering and climbing all over us. The youngest boy who was barely speaking when I left in December is now chattering up a storm. Two host cousins, one Anna’s host sister who also lives in Namaacha, and another I had never met before where in the house to help out with new baby and the two American guests. They are both named after their grandmother who also lives there, so we had three Lalitas bustling around the house, and they cooked us a fantastic dinner, clearly pulling out all the stops for my dad. Baby Anata is beautiful, surprisingly light-skinned considering her parents (the family is probably overjoyed by this, lighter skin is considered more beautiful), a ton of hair for a day-old baby, and six fingers on each hand. The extra one was only the beginning of a finger coming from the pinkie, but had no bones in it so each was tied off with a string to eventually fall off (which they did that Friday when we returned). Apparently both baby Anata’s father and brother had had this same thing. I felt bad showing up when we did (but was incredibly relieved we hadn’t come a day earlier) because my mom was in a lot of pain and incredibly tired so we didn’t see too much of her.
The next day we spent walking around Namaacha, where I pointed out to my dad the mountain where Mozambique, Swaziland, and South Africa meet, all the places where we had classes and sessions during training, where the best bakery in town is, etc. A few families who had hosted friends of mine (other volunteers) recognized me and asked how I was doing and how “their” volunteer was doing and when they were going to come back to visit. It is interesting being back in Namaacha and seeing it now through more experienced eyes. I found it is much nicer, more developed, and beautiful than I had thought when I was living there.