A few days ago, thanks to the Department of Social Services, the kids all got to take a road trip. There's been lots of activities that Social Services has been putting on lately as a run-up to Christmas. This week, it involved going out to the coast for the day to visit Ilha de Moçambique (Island of ... wait for it... Mozambique). School is mostly out, so the kids were free for the day and we headed out, arriving after the 2.5hr trip late in the morning.
Mozambique Island is the very first placed the Portuguese settled when Mozambique was colonized. The island is about 3m long and 1m wide. It sits about 2m off the coast in shallow water and is connected by a one lane bridge to the continent. And when people are there they refer to heading back to the continent (as if they'd left Africa). As a result of it being so old and a tiny island (and the Portuguese having left) the island sits mainly vacant. That worked to our advantage that day, as there were plenty of empty buildings to squat in while we were waiting for lunch. Its may become hard to tell the kids apart due to the fact that we all got free orange/yellow t-shirts that day.
After several hours, the kids got lunch and were able to walk around the rest of the compound we had taken over. We sat out on a really old little square that was right above a mangrove patch on the edge of the ocean. Then our band did a concert for the other kids (there were two other orphanages there also).
Mini plaza just temping the kids with the sights and sounds of the ocean. So close, yet so far away.
After that, it was time to take a stroll through the old part of town. How old? Some buildings are 400yrs old. The city was very surreal, and probably even more so for the kids, although this part of the walk was severely under-appreciated, I thought.
After having made it to the beach 20 minutes later the kids were simultaneously shocked and awed. Of the thirty kids that were able to come (some still had school stuff, and a few were too young) only two had ever seen the ocean before. It was pretty fun to watch their progress.
It was all going good, until Isaque Pequeno decided that he was thirsty and was going to take a drink. I watched the whole thing unfold as he took a big swig, spat it out, and then spent some time trying to scrape off his tongue. He then ran around warning everybody not to drink the water because it's salty. This was followed by all 29 other kids deciding that they would have to see for themselves if the water was indeed salty. It was a funny site.
Eventually, the kids eased into the water. Nobody has swimming suits because they've never even been within sight of the ocean before. Everybody just went in, jeans and all. It wasn't a problem, because with the heat they were all dry in 45 minutes. But, seeing as none of them know how to swim (the real reason I went along) they only made it about waist high. I was almost worried I would have to same Little Victor (the kid, not the boss) when he tripped in two feet of water and flopped around for a minute, but he was fine. Everybody had the time of their lives.
We all left just as evening set in and made it back to Nampula for a very late dinner. The kids were really just stunned and speachless, and although I wish we had a little more time at the beach (when don't you want more time at the beach) it was an awesome way to spend the day.
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