What’s the food like in Mozambique?
Pizza and hamburgers, all the time. Just kidding. Beans, rice, fish, matapa and on special occasion the intestines stuff (thanks Hannah).
What time is it?
Currently 9 hours ahead of California. It’s UTC +2. Don’t feel like doing math? Here’s a link to the current time in Mozambique.
Are those Caribou or Moose next to the giraffes?
Yes. There’s African Canadian Geese above the elephant too. You have to look really hard.
On the left, tiger, or lioness?
Lioness. There are no tigers in Africa (you’re thinking of India, but you can still hang out).
What’s gonna happen to the little warthog?? Eaten.
What happened to the old TrekScratch design, because I liked it better?
It actually costs money to use the internet in Africa and that was an expensive design to use because it had BIG files. So the design lost about 75 pounds. If you need to luxuriate it ye-ole-design, you can still do it here.
What’s with the pink and curls?
That lioness is about to tear apart the warthog. I had to balance it out.
Where are you going?
I’m going to Mozambique in Africa. Mozambique is on the East coast, just above South Africa. You can read more about Mozambique in the CIA World Factbook.
What are you going to do there?
I am attending Iris Harvest Missions School. Harvest School is a feet-on-the ground missions school that involves Mozambican pastors and leaders along with guest speakers from the mission field around the world. I’ll be living at a children’s center where I’ll have classes from 8 am to 1 pm most days. Before and after class we’ll have time to spend with the kids at the center and the surrounding villages. We’ll also have outreaches to the local community, other towns and into the bush.
Isn’t it dangerous?
In 1992 Mozambique ended a brutal 15 year civil war. They began their journey of recovery as one of the poorest countries in the world. The country has seen strong economic growth since then but there is still some unrest.
All in all it’s not terribly dangerous most of the time.
What about disease?
You’re right, Mozambique has endemic chloroquine-resistant malaria. Yay. There’s also risk of typhoid, hepatitis-a and some yellow fever among other diseases. HIV prevalence in the country was estimated at 12.2% of adults in 2003. I’ll be taking Doxycycline as a malaria prophylactic.
What does prophylactic mean?
Preventative, precautionary, protective, inhibitory. It’s medicine you use before you’re sick to avoid getting sick. Doxycycline isn’t 100% efficacious but it’s cheap!
Are you rich?
Not by U.S. standards. I try to be good at giving, receiving, saving and spending. And I’m getting better at spending.
When do you leave? When do you return?
I leave SFO early in the morning June 1st. My return ticket is for September 1st 2009.