In contrast to the United States, just living normal everyday life in Mozambique can be challenging. That’s why we have adopted a saying in our house, “Sometimes just living is enough”. We often remind each other of this when one of us becomes frustrated with the way things are or concerned about not being able reach our goals. It means for us to remember that with so many unfamiliar things happening moment to moment, that when we lay down at night we always feel satisfied and content. Inevitably we will have learned a great deal about ourselves and shared in something amazing with someone else. We are beginning to understand why this experience is so fulfilling but all the same find it hard to describe to friends and family back home that life has indeed changed:
“…We awoke early in the morning, although not earlier than usual, because in Mozambique when the sunrises the world wakes up and it is difficult to sleep when women are pounding mandioc root, pumping water and a herd of goats are grazing in the field behind your casa. There was a shortage of natural gas in Mozambique, so we had been cooking with charcoal. I lit the fire to begin breakfast and started heating water, as Laurie walked outside to gather some freshly fallen mangoes that had inevitably hit the metal roof the night before. I sipped on some freshly made coffee, while Laurie made pancakes with mango syrup. Later that morning we mixed the rest of the boiling water that had been stored in a thermos with cool water pumped from the well and took a bucket bath…”
“…The mission of Mapinhane was empty, there was not a teacher or student in sight. It was our first week here and everyone had left for summer vacation. Laurie and I were feeling a little lonely. Living at the mission school during break was hard, the dormitory style bathroom had not been cleaned in weeks and there was a mountain of bat guano in one of the showers in the women’s room, needless to say during that time we never liked to go into the bathrooms, especially after dark. We learned that lesson on our first night in Mapinhane, when Laurie screaming, came running into the house with a towel half draped over her body, still wet from her shower. I went to investigate what could have disturbed her so much only to be forced to duck and just miss a fruit bat.
The day before we had handwashed our clothes, finished cleaning the house, and carted agua from the well behind our house. This took most of the day and we were looking forward to some much-needed time to relax. There was a knock at our door, and one of our directors, stopped by to see how we were doing, he handed me a large fish and some bread and said in English with a Mozambican accent, “This is for you. ”
“Thank you, really but we can’t accept this.” I replied.
“No, take it, please. Oh yes, and I think that I will be eating lunch with you today. My empragada (Portuguese name for a worker) did not show up today and I have a lot of work to do and the school is quiet today, so I will be eating lunch with you.” Or in other words you are making my lunch.
Having never prepared fresh fish and seeing our relaxing day disappear before my eyes, I said “But I do not know how to prepare fish the Mozambican way.”
“Just prepare it, how you prepare it.” He said as he stepped off our veranda and hurriedly walked away.
And thus I learned how to descale, gut, behead a fish, that would later be mixed in with coconut curry and served with rice. It was a fantastic lunch, and we enjoyed the company of our guest…”
“…It was another hot, humid day in Mapinhane. One of those days that made us fantasize about the snow that was falling in the United States only a hemisphere away. Our friendly neighbor and colleague, Roberto the professor de geografia, walked outside and I went to greet him. “Roberto.” I said mispronouncing his name with an English accent.
“It is RO-berto.” He said in English annunciating the accent on the first syllable.
“I am sorry, it is difficult for me to pronounce Portuguese words, the accentos are new to me.” I replied in Portuguese.
“Yes, but Roberto, it is easy.”
I then attempted to pronounce the names of all of the teachers that live at the school. “And you live with?” I asked questioningly.
“Professor Pelembe (pronounced Pelembay), or Moseis. Pelembe is his traditional name of mother’s tongue, Chitswa.”
“A traditional name? Yes, it is very beautiful. I want a traditional name.”
His eyes widened, “Can I pick one for you.”
“Yes, please.” We both thought for a moment. “What is the word for lion.” I asked.
“N’gon-ya-mo.” He replied annunciating it slowly. “Mr. N’gonyamo, that is your traditional name.”
Later that week at the end of our first teachers meeting that should have happened before school started, two weeks ago (this is another story altogether). I was asked to introduce myself and I did so as Christopher, and followed it up with my traditional name N’gonyamo. I received many laughs, applause and cheers. It felt good.
Since then, the name has caught on some. When Laurie and I take the almost daily walk down to the market to buy food, mostly fresh vegetables and fruits. We are often greeted by students as Teacher Laurie and Teach Ngonyamo…”
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Settling In…Finally!
I am happy to report that the dust has finally settled a bit and things are beginning to become more “normal” (at least as normal as it gets for living in rural Africa! :)).
We attended a beautiful memorial service for Lena and Alden at the beginning of this month in Maputo. Our entire training group reconnected, as well as the incredibly supportive community of other Americans living here in Mozambique. The ceremony took place at the Ambassador’s house, the same location as our swearing in ceremony almost exactly one month earlier. Stories from their closest friends in the group were shared, and all Moz 17 trainees participated in the symbolic gesture of laying a rose by their pictures to say a final goodbye. After the weekend was over, I felt some form of closure and that it was possible to move forward. It was incredibly therapeutic to laugh, cry, share hopes and uncertainty about the next 2 years here with the people I started this journey with and who had so quickly become my close friends. There are still some who have decided that they need to go home to the US to heal and may return after 45 days, some who want to switch sites, and some who are still debating if they want to continue their service. While the group dynamics have changed a bit, I believe that all 48 of us have a strong bond regardless of where we end up, and, for those who are still here, we are stronger and closer than ever before.
We returned to site from Maputo enthusiastic and energized to finally have the time to settle into our new home now that all the traveling from holidays and memorial services was over. We jumped right into adding personal touches to our house like hanging paintings and putting up pictures from home. That week, we also hired an empregada, a woman who helps with household chores. Chris had told me that it was common to hire someone to help you around the house as he had seen from his time living in Haiti. I initially scoffed at the idea as someone who prefers, and generally enjoys doing my own house cleaning. But, that was before I knew what it was like to live without running water. I quickly learned in our first few weeks at site that simple tasks like doing the dishes and laundry take hours, not minutes as they did in the states. Not to mention pumping and hauling the water to the house, an arduous task that I never had to do before. Well, thank goodness we found Catarina. She does all of this Monday through Friday, and cleans the house which is constantly filled with sand as well as a few extras like buying and killing a chicken for dinner! And now that school has started, I actually have time to lesson plan and enjoy some free time rather than doing chores all day long. There is no doubt that her help has made things easier but as of now for me anyway, things are a little awkward. :) I feel strange having someone in the house doing things that I feel a tinge of guilt for not doing myself, being in my personal space 5 days a week, and trying to communicate in a language and cultural context that is still very new to me. We are really hoping to forge a strong relationship with Catarina and I think in time as I get more comfortable with this empregada concept, we will. Another exciting development when we returned was that summer break was over and the professors came back to school. We were no longer the only people living on the mission and it was very exciting to finally see some activity! Most of the professors here are around our age and have all been incredible friendly and helpful. The vast majority are male so unfortunately for me, I haven’t quite found my Mozambican lady friends yet and I am still getting my sea legs in this cross cultural thing. Of course, Chris is already making great relationships as his natural talent to connect to any culture is shining through and I look to him for guidance in making new friends here. Along with the professors, the kids have started to come back as well. Many students live on the mission campus in dorms as they come from all over the country to attend our school. It’s awesome to now feel a sense of the community, especially since it was a ghost town the first few weeks we were here. Oh, and along with the community coming back, our 2 hours of electricity came back too! We finally have lights, and working outlets to plug in our electronics from 7-9pm and it’s wonderful. I have to say that living without it for a month has made me appreciate the 2 hours so much more. I realize now that is all the time I need whereas before, I thought 2 hours wouldn’t even be close to enough. And, I can confidently say that when it goes out (as it already has the past 2 nights) I’ll be ok without it. Aside from electricity and empregadas, another new staple has come into our lives and it’s the main reason we are here in Mozambique. The school year has started and we have begun teaching! We learned a week or so before classes started that I would be teaching 11th and 12th grade English and Chris would be teaching 11th grade English and 10th grade physics. It’s not math, but still a science and a subject that he has to teach fully in Portuguese so he is happy. Classes didn’t actually start on the day they were supposed to because the professors didn’t have their schedules. Only a day or so before, Chris learned from our director that we were expected to make the schedules for everyone as the previous volunteers had done in the past. While he was more than happy to assist, it was a bit of a difficult task considering that we had no clue how the schedule was supposed to work. After 2 very long days of Chris, with some of my help, muddling through scheduling software we had never used and coordinating times for 25 professors, a schedule of some sort was created. So, we were able to start class on day 2! We showed up with a haphazard curriculum, no clue as to where we were supposed to go and a general sense of not knowing exactly how things would work. But, a couple of days into it now we are getting the feel for this! I am already feeling personal satisfaction when I see a kid in the classroom understand when I talk about conjugating verbs in the 3rd person singular form, and I am really enjoying the process of writing out a lesson plan too.
The beginning of our school year occurred in typical African fashion where things were more disorganized and slower to start than we are used to in the US. But, the longer we are here, the more we realize the benefit of learning to go with the flow, and appreciating this more relaxed lifestyle. And, we are also coming to realize that while we came here with many goals in mind about specific tasks we wanted to accomplish, after the crazy four months we have already had, just living contently in Mozambique is an accomplishment in itself.
We attended a beautiful memorial service for Lena and Alden at the beginning of this month in Maputo. Our entire training group reconnected, as well as the incredibly supportive community of other Americans living here in Mozambique. The ceremony took place at the Ambassador’s house, the same location as our swearing in ceremony almost exactly one month earlier. Stories from their closest friends in the group were shared, and all Moz 17 trainees participated in the symbolic gesture of laying a rose by their pictures to say a final goodbye. After the weekend was over, I felt some form of closure and that it was possible to move forward. It was incredibly therapeutic to laugh, cry, share hopes and uncertainty about the next 2 years here with the people I started this journey with and who had so quickly become my close friends. There are still some who have decided that they need to go home to the US to heal and may return after 45 days, some who want to switch sites, and some who are still debating if they want to continue their service. While the group dynamics have changed a bit, I believe that all 48 of us have a strong bond regardless of where we end up, and, for those who are still here, we are stronger and closer than ever before.
We returned to site from Maputo enthusiastic and energized to finally have the time to settle into our new home now that all the traveling from holidays and memorial services was over. We jumped right into adding personal touches to our house like hanging paintings and putting up pictures from home. That week, we also hired an empregada, a woman who helps with household chores. Chris had told me that it was common to hire someone to help you around the house as he had seen from his time living in Haiti. I initially scoffed at the idea as someone who prefers, and generally enjoys doing my own house cleaning. But, that was before I knew what it was like to live without running water. I quickly learned in our first few weeks at site that simple tasks like doing the dishes and laundry take hours, not minutes as they did in the states. Not to mention pumping and hauling the water to the house, an arduous task that I never had to do before. Well, thank goodness we found Catarina. She does all of this Monday through Friday, and cleans the house which is constantly filled with sand as well as a few extras like buying and killing a chicken for dinner! And now that school has started, I actually have time to lesson plan and enjoy some free time rather than doing chores all day long. There is no doubt that her help has made things easier but as of now for me anyway, things are a little awkward. :) I feel strange having someone in the house doing things that I feel a tinge of guilt for not doing myself, being in my personal space 5 days a week, and trying to communicate in a language and cultural context that is still very new to me. We are really hoping to forge a strong relationship with Catarina and I think in time as I get more comfortable with this empregada concept, we will. Another exciting development when we returned was that summer break was over and the professors came back to school. We were no longer the only people living on the mission and it was very exciting to finally see some activity! Most of the professors here are around our age and have all been incredible friendly and helpful. The vast majority are male so unfortunately for me, I haven’t quite found my Mozambican lady friends yet and I am still getting my sea legs in this cross cultural thing. Of course, Chris is already making great relationships as his natural talent to connect to any culture is shining through and I look to him for guidance in making new friends here. Along with the professors, the kids have started to come back as well. Many students live on the mission campus in dorms as they come from all over the country to attend our school. It’s awesome to now feel a sense of the community, especially since it was a ghost town the first few weeks we were here. Oh, and along with the community coming back, our 2 hours of electricity came back too! We finally have lights, and working outlets to plug in our electronics from 7-9pm and it’s wonderful. I have to say that living without it for a month has made me appreciate the 2 hours so much more. I realize now that is all the time I need whereas before, I thought 2 hours wouldn’t even be close to enough. And, I can confidently say that when it goes out (as it already has the past 2 nights) I’ll be ok without it. Aside from electricity and empregadas, another new staple has come into our lives and it’s the main reason we are here in Mozambique. The school year has started and we have begun teaching! We learned a week or so before classes started that I would be teaching 11th and 12th grade English and Chris would be teaching 11th grade English and 10th grade physics. It’s not math, but still a science and a subject that he has to teach fully in Portuguese so he is happy. Classes didn’t actually start on the day they were supposed to because the professors didn’t have their schedules. Only a day or so before, Chris learned from our director that we were expected to make the schedules for everyone as the previous volunteers had done in the past. While he was more than happy to assist, it was a bit of a difficult task considering that we had no clue how the schedule was supposed to work. After 2 very long days of Chris, with some of my help, muddling through scheduling software we had never used and coordinating times for 25 professors, a schedule of some sort was created. So, we were able to start class on day 2! We showed up with a haphazard curriculum, no clue as to where we were supposed to go and a general sense of not knowing exactly how things would work. But, a couple of days into it now we are getting the feel for this! I am already feeling personal satisfaction when I see a kid in the classroom understand when I talk about conjugating verbs in the 3rd person singular form, and I am really enjoying the process of writing out a lesson plan too.
The beginning of our school year occurred in typical African fashion where things were more disorganized and slower to start than we are used to in the US. But, the longer we are here, the more we realize the benefit of learning to go with the flow, and appreciating this more relaxed lifestyle. And, we are also coming to realize that while we came here with many goals in mind about specific tasks we wanted to accomplish, after the crazy four months we have already had, just living contently in Mozambique is an accomplishment in itself.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
The Past Two Weeks
This blog post will be written by both of us because of the intense emotions and amount of information we want to share…
Lately, I can’t help but think back to a year ago when we were in the application process for the Peace Corps, Laurie and I would go for long runs in the cold snow on the Olentangy Bike Trail in Columbus and talk about the challenges that we would face during service, the people that we would become as a result, and the sacrifices we would have to make in the end. And although it was good that we tried to prepare for the experience, I realize now that no amount of preparation could really have done us justice for what was to come.
My father, a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, told me in the months leading up to our departure to sit back and enjoy it, because the time will go fast, and with this experience there is going to be the loss of innocence. Sitting here writing this blog, a day after my 30th birthday I realize now that I have only begun to understand what he meant by this.
On December 20th, Laurie and I spent the day cleaning the last room in our house. We had been at site for eight days and the realization of just how difficult living with no energy, water, or a personal bathroom was beginning to sink in. But, we were feeling optimistic that we could soon become comfortable with this life. We watched an episode of Mad Men, using the last of our precious computer battery knowing we had plans for the next day to go to Vilankulos, the nearest city, for some pizza, errands, free internet and access to power. We fell asleep around 8:30 pm, as living with no energy makes for an early bedtime. We were awoken in the night by several phone calls, none of which we picked up in our dreamy state.
The next morning on our rickety Chapa ride to Vilankulos we received a distressing phone call from a fellow PCV that there had been an accident in the Southern Region. She went on to give us the news that the night before, several of our friends were being medically evacuated to South Africa and two had died during the night. While this news was disheartening, we took it with a grain of salt since it was only hearsay. However, later that morning it was confirmed by Peace Corps that Alden Landis and Lena Jenison, two vibrant, beautiful, young women in our training group had passed away while three others were in the hospital. They had all hitched a ride back from the beach at night (hitching is common place in Mozambique) and the car swerved off the road. As you can imagine we were instantly stunned, confused, and saddened. The full details of the accident are still being investigated; we are all waiting anxiously to hear about the events that took place that night. Peace Corps issued the following statement here.
The tragedy has caused a ripple for our group as a whole. We all left training excited and optimistic to get to our sites, begin integrating, and start teaching and in just a matter of a few weeks, most of us are now feeling broken. Aside from Chris and I, we learned that many people had different expectations about their sites and were having difficulties adjusting. While Peace Corps makes it very clear that the first 3 months at site tend to be the hardest for PCVs serving anywhere in the world, it still comes as a bit of a surprise that things aren’t easy when all you wanted was to be on your own after 10 weeks of intense training with a homestay family. Of course, this terrible event has only intensified emotions during an already vulnerable time. Peace Corps is trying to accommodate the grieving process with memorial services (which we are attending this week) and counseling, but the fallout is still great. We have learned that a few of our fellow volunteers will be heading home to the US for 45 days to revaluate how and if they will continue their service, and that many others are now questioning if they want to be here at all. And for those that are still here, many want to switch sites in the hopes that the flurry of emotions they are facing right now will subside with a change in scenery.
On a personal level, it has certainly made us question our commitment. When all of the comforts you know have been stripped away, the relationships you make become your comfort. And now, that consistency has been taken away too. In honesty, these last couple of weeks have been some of the hardest of our lives. At this point, we still don’t know how or when Mozambique will start to feel like home, or understand how we will fit in here. What we do know is that we both still want to be here and our passion for living this experience continues to motivate us. We know it will take time for this to pass, and our lives to become more comfortable. With school beginning shortly, our assignments will start and our purpose will become clearer. We’re optimistic that our next blog posts will talk about the massive sized bugs in our home, or how to use a dutch oven to make mint brownies on a charcoal grill. :)
We wanted to end this post with the notes we shared with Lena and Alden’s families for their memorial services at home.
For Alden:
I was drawn to Alden from the fist day that I met her. Her charisma, beautiful smile and lust for life were contagious. I was so amazed by how adventurous her life was and even more so, what a strong and independent person she was for being able to follow her own path. She had an insatiable thirst for knowledge; She always wanted to know more, learn more. Alden wanted to live life to the fullest and from the short, but precious time I got to spend with her, she did it better than anyone I had ever seen. She was dearly loved here in Mozambique, and her memory will forever remain.
-Laurie Williams
A beautiful girl with a wonderful smile, full of adventure with a zest for life. Always beaming with positive energy and excitement. When I first met Alden, I was struck by how easy she was to talk to, I was amazed about how much traveling she had done and how comfortable she was with herself. Maybe it was because she appreciated the simple things in life, sunsets over the ocean, Mozambican a cappella women singing, coconuts and the beauty of the natural world. I feel blessed that I was able to share in these things with her. A bright spot in my life!
-Christopher Williams
For Lena:
I remember the day I arrived in Philadelphia to start my Peace Corps journey, I was struck by this beautiful, blonde, stylishly dressed girl with funky glasses who was sitting at my table for our first orientation. Little did I know that I would find so much more underneath the surface from my initial draw to this lovely person. Lena was caring, smart, relaxed and funny. SO funny! That’s what I think of most when I think of Lena. She had the best sense of humor and comedic timing! I remember so many times where our group was tired of an activity or a training session and she would find a way to make us laugh. I am so privileged to have had her in my life for 3 months, and her memory for a lifetime.
-Laurie Williams
I sat next to Lena during Peace Corps Staging in Philadelphia, she was dressed very well and stylish with bold glasses. When I first met her I thought she was quiet and reserved, boy was I wrong… Over the next couple of months I got to know a girl who was friendly, open and adventuress. She would tell us stories about her Mozambican home stay that would have us all gripping our stomachs with laughter. All 51 of our group (Moz 17) took Meyers Briggs personality tests, Lena and I had the same classification, ENTP:“The driving quality in an ENTPs life is their attention to the outer world of possibilities, they are excited by continuous involvement in anything new, whether it be new ideas, people or activities. They look for patterns and meaning in the world and they often have a deep need to analyze, to understand , and to know the nature of things. ENTPs are typically energetic, enthusiastic people who lead spontaneous and adaptive lives.” She was a special person and is missed by us all.
–Christopher Williams
Lately, I can’t help but think back to a year ago when we were in the application process for the Peace Corps, Laurie and I would go for long runs in the cold snow on the Olentangy Bike Trail in Columbus and talk about the challenges that we would face during service, the people that we would become as a result, and the sacrifices we would have to make in the end. And although it was good that we tried to prepare for the experience, I realize now that no amount of preparation could really have done us justice for what was to come.
My father, a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, told me in the months leading up to our departure to sit back and enjoy it, because the time will go fast, and with this experience there is going to be the loss of innocence. Sitting here writing this blog, a day after my 30th birthday I realize now that I have only begun to understand what he meant by this.
On December 20th, Laurie and I spent the day cleaning the last room in our house. We had been at site for eight days and the realization of just how difficult living with no energy, water, or a personal bathroom was beginning to sink in. But, we were feeling optimistic that we could soon become comfortable with this life. We watched an episode of Mad Men, using the last of our precious computer battery knowing we had plans for the next day to go to Vilankulos, the nearest city, for some pizza, errands, free internet and access to power. We fell asleep around 8:30 pm, as living with no energy makes for an early bedtime. We were awoken in the night by several phone calls, none of which we picked up in our dreamy state.
The next morning on our rickety Chapa ride to Vilankulos we received a distressing phone call from a fellow PCV that there had been an accident in the Southern Region. She went on to give us the news that the night before, several of our friends were being medically evacuated to South Africa and two had died during the night. While this news was disheartening, we took it with a grain of salt since it was only hearsay. However, later that morning it was confirmed by Peace Corps that Alden Landis and Lena Jenison, two vibrant, beautiful, young women in our training group had passed away while three others were in the hospital. They had all hitched a ride back from the beach at night (hitching is common place in Mozambique) and the car swerved off the road. As you can imagine we were instantly stunned, confused, and saddened. The full details of the accident are still being investigated; we are all waiting anxiously to hear about the events that took place that night. Peace Corps issued the following statement here.
The tragedy has caused a ripple for our group as a whole. We all left training excited and optimistic to get to our sites, begin integrating, and start teaching and in just a matter of a few weeks, most of us are now feeling broken. Aside from Chris and I, we learned that many people had different expectations about their sites and were having difficulties adjusting. While Peace Corps makes it very clear that the first 3 months at site tend to be the hardest for PCVs serving anywhere in the world, it still comes as a bit of a surprise that things aren’t easy when all you wanted was to be on your own after 10 weeks of intense training with a homestay family. Of course, this terrible event has only intensified emotions during an already vulnerable time. Peace Corps is trying to accommodate the grieving process with memorial services (which we are attending this week) and counseling, but the fallout is still great. We have learned that a few of our fellow volunteers will be heading home to the US for 45 days to revaluate how and if they will continue their service, and that many others are now questioning if they want to be here at all. And for those that are still here, many want to switch sites in the hopes that the flurry of emotions they are facing right now will subside with a change in scenery.
On a personal level, it has certainly made us question our commitment. When all of the comforts you know have been stripped away, the relationships you make become your comfort. And now, that consistency has been taken away too. In honesty, these last couple of weeks have been some of the hardest of our lives. At this point, we still don’t know how or when Mozambique will start to feel like home, or understand how we will fit in here. What we do know is that we both still want to be here and our passion for living this experience continues to motivate us. We know it will take time for this to pass, and our lives to become more comfortable. With school beginning shortly, our assignments will start and our purpose will become clearer. We’re optimistic that our next blog posts will talk about the massive sized bugs in our home, or how to use a dutch oven to make mint brownies on a charcoal grill. :)
We wanted to end this post with the notes we shared with Lena and Alden’s families for their memorial services at home.
For Alden:
I was drawn to Alden from the fist day that I met her. Her charisma, beautiful smile and lust for life were contagious. I was so amazed by how adventurous her life was and even more so, what a strong and independent person she was for being able to follow her own path. She had an insatiable thirst for knowledge; She always wanted to know more, learn more. Alden wanted to live life to the fullest and from the short, but precious time I got to spend with her, she did it better than anyone I had ever seen. She was dearly loved here in Mozambique, and her memory will forever remain.
-Laurie Williams
A beautiful girl with a wonderful smile, full of adventure with a zest for life. Always beaming with positive energy and excitement. When I first met Alden, I was struck by how easy she was to talk to, I was amazed about how much traveling she had done and how comfortable she was with herself. Maybe it was because she appreciated the simple things in life, sunsets over the ocean, Mozambican a cappella women singing, coconuts and the beauty of the natural world. I feel blessed that I was able to share in these things with her. A bright spot in my life!
-Christopher Williams
For Lena:
I remember the day I arrived in Philadelphia to start my Peace Corps journey, I was struck by this beautiful, blonde, stylishly dressed girl with funky glasses who was sitting at my table for our first orientation. Little did I know that I would find so much more underneath the surface from my initial draw to this lovely person. Lena was caring, smart, relaxed and funny. SO funny! That’s what I think of most when I think of Lena. She had the best sense of humor and comedic timing! I remember so many times where our group was tired of an activity or a training session and she would find a way to make us laugh. I am so privileged to have had her in my life for 3 months, and her memory for a lifetime.
-Laurie Williams
I sat next to Lena during Peace Corps Staging in Philadelphia, she was dressed very well and stylish with bold glasses. When I first met her I thought she was quiet and reserved, boy was I wrong… Over the next couple of months I got to know a girl who was friendly, open and adventuress. She would tell us stories about her Mozambican home stay that would have us all gripping our stomachs with laughter. All 51 of our group (Moz 17) took Meyers Briggs personality tests, Lena and I had the same classification, ENTP:“The driving quality in an ENTPs life is their attention to the outer world of possibilities, they are excited by continuous involvement in anything new, whether it be new ideas, people or activities. They look for patterns and meaning in the world and they often have a deep need to analyze, to understand , and to know the nature of things. ENTPs are typically energetic, enthusiastic people who lead spontaneous and adaptive lives.” She was a special person and is missed by us all.
–Christopher Williams
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