Appreciation

I think the word “appreciation” adequately describes one of the outcomes of last week’s events for the team of nursing students from Prairie (Canada). The week was kick-started by them spending 3 days in homes in the nearby local community. One of their objectives was to glean information about community health and there’s no better way to do that than to interact closely with one’s subject! So for each morning, from Monday to Wednesday, the students and instructors paired up to go spend the day in nearby homes participating in daily activities as rural Mozambicans do (at least as much as possible). They carried babies on their backs, pounded corn with a mortar and pestle, hauled water on their heads (ouch!), savoured local food, planted gardens, wove grass, etc. At the end of their experience they had a much better appreciation for the challenges the people here face in order to simply survive.

On Thursday last week we accompanied the staff from Vanduzi Hospital on a community vaccination blitz to Chitundo. There was a miscommunication about dates so attendance wasn’t as good as expected, but we drew a crowd regardless.
On Friday we excitedly headed out for our 2 day visit to Gorongosa National Park which is currently under restoration by the Carr Foundation. We set out on a game drive soon after our arrival and could practically taste elephants and lions, we wanted to see them so badly.

By the end of the drive, we'd seen a good number of baboons, warthogs and antelope, but elephant tracks was about as close as we got to the real thing! The spectacular sunset spoiled our disappointment though. Isn't it gorgeous?

On the following morning we (well, some of us) did manage to spot the backsides and flailing trunks of some elephants in flight as they dashed into the bushes at the sound of our vehicle. I guess they haven't forgotten their experience of being hunted during the war years here. And we've all heard about how elephants remember things forever right?

Saturday afternoon we headed to Chimoio for some shopping, then back home to the mission farm very thankful for a great time away.

Let me close this off with wishing all fathers a Happy Father's Day today--we appreciate you too!