Inauguration night

As I mentioned in my previous post, I've been working with CJE Maputo to put together a resource centre for youth employment and development. This past Thursday was the inauguration night opened by the US Ambassador to Mozambique and the Minister of Youth and Sports. It was an opportunity for VSO to highlight its collaborative work in Mozambique, in particular, CJE Maputo, Bonga Mbilu (Changana, a Mozambican dialect, meaning "Thanks from the heart"), the USA Embassy, Mozarte, and the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

Three weeks into my stay here and I had to give a speech! Thank goodness no one recorded, as it was a mash of portuguese and spanish … something about how this room is a part of the objectives of CJE Maputo in creating a space where youth can develop their careers, further their knowledge, and get some mentoring and training in working in a knowledge based world.

Of course, as with any event such as this, there has to be a cultural component … have a listen to some wonderful music using a couple of Mbiras.



Here are a few photos from the event ...

Demonstrating the computer to the US Ambassador and the Minister of Youth and Sports.	Enosse presenting (in proper Portuguese!) the objectives of CJE Maputo and how this resource room would be used.
Minister of Youth and Sports (left) chatting with the US Ambassador to Mozambique (right)	Joaquim (far left), a VSO programme officer, the Minister, and the Ambassador joking about the use of the computers.
Enosse checking his phone	Speech time, MC'd by the Director of Mozarte
Really relaxing music using Mbiras	The US  Ambassador is presented a gift made by someone at Mozarte

Delays, and more delays

We've been waiting for a while now for our paperwork to come in. These are needed to obtain our entry visas into Mozambique. Now before you jump to conclusions, it is not a beaurocratic issue ... in fact it is not clear what happened. The papers were sent, but they were not received. But it doesn't matter, there are other things that require our attention such that we won't be leaving prior to the end of April.

One thing though, it allows us to celebrate some very important events in the lives of some dear friends!

So always look at the positive side of things. We now have had the wonderful opportunity to celebrate some important events in the lives of some dear friends. One had succesfully defended her Ph.D., and the others have just become new Canadian Citizens! I'm so glad we were here to celebrate these events. It also gives me the opportunity to spend more time with friends, cycle around town, and enjoy our awesome library. In between I've started on my Portuguese lessons - similar, but not so similar, to Spanish. It's weird: with languages I need to hear to learn, with other topics, I need to read. Probably has something to do with the way brains, or my brain, is wired.

But check out the following language learning links:

• http://www.easyportuguese.com/ 
• http://www.livemocha.com/ - You can also learn other languages here.
• http://www.sonia-portugueseforkids.com/
• http://www.bookbox.com/ - Basically lots of videos in various languages. Each as subtitles that change colour, very similar to karaoke.

If you know of others, please add to the list in the comments below.