Knee Deep in Water

Earlier this week I took integration into my community, which is one of the main goals in Peace Corps, to a whole new level when I suddenly was walking knee deep in water in order to visit people living with HIV/AIDS.   And I have to say… I LOVED it. 

When it rains here in Quelimane, it pours, flooding many roads and walk ways.  I mean flooding may-jorly, like a few feet of water in some places.  Because most Mozambicans don’t own cars, and walk pretty much everywhere they need to go this can pose a problem for them in getting to where they need to be.  So often they just take off their shoes, roll up their pants and walk straight through the water.  When we realized that there was no way but to walk straight through a huge body of water to get to the person’s house we were supposed to visit, the activista asked me what we should do.  I didn’t say anything.  Instead I just removed my shoes, rolled up my pants and began to walk through the water.  And so we continued on our way to visit those that we had planned to visit. 

By the end of visits that morning, we had walked through several fairly large bodies of water.  Each time we did, other Mozambicans smiled, some laughed.  A few even cheered for me!  Naturally I loved it! I was probably the last person they would expect to see walking through knee deep water, with my jeans rolled up.  But I thought… hey when in Mozambique do as the Mozambicans do!  And it was actually a lot easier.  I stopped worrying about getting wet and muddy because that was just bound to happen and instead focused on the conversations I was having with people.