October 30, 2001

The full moon is coming, and the cycles of life are well underway. Nine days ago my neighbor Almazinha gave birth to her second son, and I didn’t find out until Sunday. Six goats also gave birth within the confines of my 5 neighboring houses; one had twin kids. In the same way that new life has begun recently, my boss Nasolino also suffered a death in his family. His uncle, only 45 years old, died of heart complications. Every night, there were women crying out, a process of mourning that takes place. I have yet to discover whether they really cry, or whether it’s a representative action of the pain they feel for the family that has suffered a loss.

Just yesterday, I was at Nasolino´s house because his sister had invited me over for lunch. When a death occurs, people from all over come to visit for eight days, to pay their respects. They approach each member of the family affected, and embrace them in a very distanced way – right hand to shoulder of recipient. The embrace is more a tap on the shoulder and slight bow of the head. Each visitor says a small prayer, a Catholic religious statement, such as ‘May God give you strength and courage!’ to pacify each family member. The family affected serves food to all visitors for a week, and then they continue to receive visitors exactly 30 days after the death, 60 days, 6 months, and 1 year. Some women even wear black for a year, which is if they have lost a close family member. One of my favorite neighbors named Natalia wears black in the heat of the day, and has a 3-month-old baby and 2 other older children. Her husband works in Portugal, sending money home, and his mother died, thus she wears black. On the days that it peaks one hundred degrees, I look at her in amazement as she walks past my house in route to the water well a half hour away.

As for the birth of Almazinha’s son, I delivered a baked good to their house on Sunday only to find the mother and baby in bed. I asked if a doctor or nurse had assisted in the birth, and she replied, ‘Of course, Maria!’ Maria is the matriarch of our group of five houses at over eighty years old, and has probably assisted in the birth of at least twenty children. I was so naive to think that village women used trained nurses for deliveries when they had matriarchs with centuries of knowledge who had survived without doctors since the beginning of time. With the baby wrapped in a sheet, Almazinha gently massaged her breast to stimulate the milk to ‘drop’, and smiled as villagers entered the room to congratulate her. It is custom to name babies only after 30 days, thus he has no name, yet. I will buy some simple baby undershirts and embroider them as a gift for the party in a week.

Sunday was spent washing clothes and baking in my new oven -- I still have no refrigerator. Peace Corps has distributed this great cookbook with recipes for over 100 dishes that you can make with very few ingredients. Some favorites of volunteers include the black bean dip, flour tortillas, fudge, pizza crust, sweet potato soup, and Mounds bars. I made the Mounds bars by crushing a package of cookies, mixing them with butter, pouring coconut milk and condensed milk over the crust, spreading real grated coconut on top, and baking for twenty minutes. Afterwards, you spread this European chocolate (hazelnut) sauce on top called Nusco. Normally you would chill this dessert in the refrigerator, making it easier to cut. However, I merely sprinkled more coconut on top to keep the chocolate from becoming a mess.

I suffered a near disaster when I attempted to remove the dessert from the oven, and the door didn’t stay down, springing up onto my arm. I immediately dropped the metal tin, coconut and cookies falling all over the oven into every known crevice. I then proceeded to clean the oven for the next hour because any small quantity of food that falls beneath an object on the floor will attract cockroaches the size of your ear. I have been trying to avoid an infestation from day one. They already sneak into my house to eat the dog’s food at night, small feet pattering across the floor like mice. Luckily, we have desert toads that are fat and come out at night to eat insects. I strategically found one last night positioned next to the water dish where the roaches seem to live – one of my prayers was answered.

The moon has been amazing lately. All plants are illuminated in this blue glow. I noticed that the three skylights in my bedroom had rays of moonlight touching my walls. I am finally getting more used to the animal noises. A few nights ago this rooster perched right above my bedroom, and I actually exited my house, grabbed a stick, and tried to hit it to get it to fly off my roof. Roosters, despite making lots of noise, are lethargic during the early morning hours. This particular rooster climbed over a hen, and merely moved down the roof 3 feet.

This morning, I woke up to find a donkey out front of my house eating the corn. My neighbors hate it when wandering donkeys eat the produce. It’s common knowledge that all animals, except chickens and dogs, are to remain tied up during the rainy months. That is why each family works so diligently twice a day to carry loads of weeds home for animal feed. If every animal were to graze, there would be no corn, squash, or beans for the villagers to eat. My immediate neighbors own two sheep with floppy ears that now recognize me. Every time I exit my house, they greet me with a simultaneous BAHHHHHHH. They are hoping I have fruit or veggie scraps for them, such as banana peels or an apple core. I even had too much bean stew last night that I couldn’t keep over night. I ate ¾ of the stew, have some to the dog, and then the sheep at the rest. I asked the neighbors what they do with the sheep, and they said they will slaughter them, sell the meat, and buy two new ones soon. Ode to the cycles of life.

As for work, I have begun to build trust in the community members I see each day. I figure that conversations and relationships will enable me to accomplish a lot, thus a good day is measured by the people I have met or small details falling into place. I am hiking up to Gom Gom tomorrow with Isabel, the president of Agro Gom Gom, to start my health survey. I want to see what services the village needs according to the illnesses and information they currently have. They already appear to be on the right path because a doctor is coming Sunday to give a dental hygiene workshop. I will attend it to see the quality of his information, and to decide whether he should give the same workshop to other surrounding villages that I work with. As for the drip irrigation school garden in Hortelão, a representative from the town hall is going to measure the land tomorrow. I will spend all next week working on the proposal because the funding from the Food and Agriculture Organization ends on November 15th. I visited the most successful drip irrigation school garden in this region last week, and they appeared to be under full production capacity. The director said they don’t produce vegetables during the summer when school is out, which immediately occurred to me as a way for them to grow excess produce to sell for profit to buy school supplies. He merely mentioned that they grow enough to buy water for the tank, pay the gardener, and purchase seeds for the next growing season.

It’s amazing how people entertain themselves. Women are delegated all household work, and men appear to work in the fields or disappear to play card games. Most men work abroad, but the remaining ones are indoors most of the day. I went to the center of my village Hortelão yesterday to have lunch at Nasolino’s house. I brought my pack of Go Fish cards (thank you Barbra!), and the villagers went crazy. It initially started off as Nasolino (28), another guy (approx. 28), and a small girl (approx. 8) playing the game. I taught them the memory game where you flip over two cards to see if they match and try to get the most pairs of matching animals. They loved the game, and Nasolino insisted he would win every time, despite the fact that I said children are always the most perceptive. The girl won twice, and Nasolino once. When it came time for me to leave, they ignored my failed attempt at Kriolu and continued to play. I had to take the cards from their hands and explain it was time to leave. The water girl was stopping by my house at 2pm, and I needed to get home. She ended up coming by around 6 pm, which was a huge hassle, but I had lots of time to help neighboring kids color Winnie the Pooh pictures and paint their nails. People are very generous and like to give something in return if you give them something. For example, I let the neighbor’s daughter and friend color 2 drawings, so the mother comes over and gave me an old laminated photo of an Asian model as a gesture of thanks for the drawings I gave them. In the same way, if you give food, you always receive food in return. Ode to the cycles of giving. God bless my neighbors for their generosity of heart and home.