I have been in Mozambique for just about two days and have found that each day is filled with a new adventure. With the more people I meet and the more places I see, my understanding of the land is growing as I find a lot of my preconceived notions about Mozambique–and Africa–in general are wrong. Mozambicans are generally very happy and social people. They enjoy building relationships and love to sing and dance. I am learning more and more Portuguese as the days go on. I have found that the language is similar to Spanish. At this point, I am only able to hold basic greeting conversation (ex. hello, goodbye, what is your name, how are you, how old are you, where do you live).

Yesterday, I visited an orphanage in Matola-Rio. At this center, the orphans have it good (and good is probably defined differently than most Americans would consider ‘good’). They have a safe place, three meals a day, and people to look and watch out for them. In comparison to others in the countries, I would consider the orphans pretty lucky despite the sadness of losing one or both of their parents.

To be honest, I did feel weird taking out my camera at this place. It wasn’t until I realized that the children loved having their picture taken did I become more comfortable with it. It was so funny–the children were posing and then laughing hysterically at their picture. I put some of my favorites from the day below. I hope you enjoy. Many more pictures and thoughts to come.

With much love,

Leah-the world traveler.