ACOFADE in Dondo, Mozambique

Hey, that's the name of the little town of 1,500 people where I live. You can find it just 30 km west of Beira right on the coast smack dab in the middle of Mozambique. If you want to come visit you can get book a flight and receive a voucher for about 50 hours total of freetime. Think about it! That would be a NICE vacation! I'm just getting settled here and beginning to get to work. Looks like the plan is the following:

Step one: visibility, at ACOFADE (Community Doing Development) we will start a website and blog which explains each of the projects. The site will be ACOFADE@wordpress.com when it is initially published.

Step two: Begin fundraising for books and beginning fun and educational programs at the library.

I was given a great welcome at Samora Machel (the neighborhood) complete with a song, dance (I danced too), and a Capulino (A traditional garment which men will wear on top of shirts kind of like a really big and really nice hankerchief :)

Time to get to work! I'll try to put up some pics and talk about stuff every two weeks!
T-a-ku-sia-ni! (Bye)

Gabester Language Services LLC

Great news! I now have a limited liability corporation called Gabester Language Services to provide Spanish translation, interpretation, and instruction. As I pat myself on the back for doing the html myself, check out the website at http://www.wyomingspanish.com/.

Have a good one!
Gabriel Floud

Ah, I've also begun house-sitting and pet care while you are away traveling and teaching chess.

This is it...or is it?

Last time I couldn't end it, but this time I'll come through; beginning the ending is tough. Rather than endless photos, (un)inspiring music, and generic adjectives like "incredible, unforgettable, etc.", I think the best way to sum up the experience is to kick the tires and light the fires the way my Spanish professor, Scott Larsen, always did, "sum up Don Quijote in 25 words or less". I went to uruguay with the intense desire and vague intention to work in development. While there, "lo vague" faded away as I met and began to work with others with an equally intense, if not more so, desire to help. We all learned about the talents we have to share and formed more-solid ideas of how to use them. Everyone has something they can share. As they say, a candle feeds the flame, and together we started something that god-willing won't burn out. Work and Fun, many times hand in hand. Then come the airplane and the goodbye at the airport along with mixed emotions, knowing that I will miss and be missed, knowing at the same time that I'm no longer needed.

Clearly I used more than 25 words; trying to sum up Don Quijote in so few words was always a task un tanto quijotesque anyway. My professor also used to say that one of the most important things is to be able to put a finish to an asunto. Start it, work it, and you've got to end it. Take for example the Beatles song "I want you(She's so heavy)". No one ever discovered the way to end it. So here goes,

I not only Yankeed them, they Uruguayed me. Watch the video on the Youtube bar to the left. Click on the top video or search "Axl Rose cantando cumbia". If you like it, you might be a little Uruguayan as well. If you don't, drink some mate, eat some asado, swear off fruits and vegetables for life, and stay up until 5 in the morning more often than not. Then try again!

I'm back stateside?

I've been sitting here for twenty minutes, stateside de nuevo, trying to find a way to sort through all of the work, places, emotions, people; how do you sum up an entire year? And I just found my way out of the conundrum...I'll put it off. I'll take you on a quick trip through Brasil, one moraleja.
After shutting up shop in Montevideo, I went to see what I could see in Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. Rain plagued me 10 days, more or less in a row. This is the view of a spectacular canyon just before a 20 kilometer hike, Itaimbezinho.Don't despair, when there's no way to appreciate the big stuff, it might just be an opportunity to take a look at the little.

These are fotos taken throughout the trip in different places. Enjoy them and the fact that your socks are not soaked and muddy =-D (Arriba Itaimbezinho)

Outside of the city Bage, o galpao de pedra. (Arriba y abajo.)

Back in Itaimbezinho. I watched the little? guy cross the way. He also was not very impressed with the excess of water.

This is another foto that may not fit the theme. There is a little something you should see. Look to the right of Gabriel (his name is Gabriel as well) and there is something a little larger than a basketball in the corner. !Avispas! There is another insect, Marabondi that is an aggresive bugger that packs an arsenal and flies around with long legs like a helicopter. Taking a picture of them is not recommended. The proper procedure is to close your eyes and pretend your not there.

Although you go in search of the big, keep an eye out for the little as well. I promise that next time I will put a close to the scholarship year for you as soon as I manage to do so myself.

Merry Christmas! !Feliz Navidad! Feliz Natal!

It's time to close up shop, at the moment

Dos encuentros

The year is coming to an end and we have put together some fun activities. Everbody should get a round of applause for their continous support and good work. Last week we brought the 5th and 6th graders from Los Caramelos to La Plaza Tomas Gomensoro to play chess with the kids from the Merendero in Maracana. Maracana were all angels, and they played very well. Los caramelos were terrors; they played, and then ran completely wild. I fear there may be some sort of hormonal imbalance or something...seriously.

In the back you will see a tall character (a familiar face by now), Brandon the Mandon hooked us up with the enormous chess pieces.

Above: Ines and Milagros play in teams. And Che, Ines deserves a medal; we had a meeting to see about working with her company a while ago to sponsor activities in the Merendero and to speed up the process she bought us 10 chess sets out of pocket on the spot! She is also taking the initiative and pressing for her company to participate in the work in the Merendero as part of a social responsibility program.

Alright, these two fotos are just to break up the monotony of serious faced, time pressured chess placed players caught in the fierce struggle for time, space, material, and position. Above: a few hams. Below: Nicolas getting Charlie Browned

This "encuentro" was put together by Roberto Osores (back right)from the Uruguayan Chess Federation. Maracana and La Teja showed up for a friendly tournament. Even though we had quite a range of playing levels we all had a great time, and we played some good chess.

Roberto and Camilo (green shirt) taught me how to run a tournament. Below could be a scene from el chavo del ocho (who is regularly scolded) !!No Chavo, ta ta ta ta!!
And this foto is great, this duel is intense.
To be honest I would give a medal to all of these guys; the Maracana boys, the other Rotary scholars, outside sponsors, Rotaract, the youth counselors, and the kids themselves. They are all going to great lengths to create opportunities and to develop potential.

The next blog may be late in coming, but it will come :)
Oh, P.S. Uruguay has a new president and vice president! Jose Mujica and Danilo Astori from Frente Amplio. Election day was pretty crazy go nutz!

Acceptance Speech, Proyecto Pan de Azucar and ?Where's Waldo?

Proyecto Pan de Azucar! We did it! The torrential downpours the week before had us worried.
I believe it was my second year at the university of Wyoming when I took a public speaking course (por fuerza). The first speech we had to make was an acceptance speach; we're about to see how I fared.First off, thanks to the Uruguayan sun, we've had our falling outs but in the end he came through for us. Thanks to all the Rotary scholars Braden, Brandon, and Jessica and Rotaract, here Mauricio, Natalia, and Fernanda. Everbody recruited, organized, and got Dirty.

Thanks to the scouts and their leader Ruben of Piriapolis that came packing all kinds of equipment. We're missing a few of the littler ones but this is before we went to the top, so don't worry. Thanks to all of the Rotarians that participated (including those that sent the Rotary scholars down, i.e. you), provided transport to and from el cerro, and gave a cookout afterward!

Thanks to la Juventud Artiguista, o sea, !Team Maracana! They mercilessly berated me for walking around taking pictures and shamed me into working as well. Thanks to the Couch Surfers, las cuales (they were all women, that's interesting) came to lend a hand. Here's where the Where's Waldo comes in; ?Can you find Yours Truly?

You'll have to look behind, through, and in all 53 bags of trash (some smaller than others) to find me. Don't spend to much time looking...I'm not in there, !te engane! :P I took the picture. So we'll play again. This time I'm in there. Ready go.

And the best for last, a very special thanks to my mom! You can find her in the picture as well. This one is a lot tougher; try finding her in the 1st picture on top of el cerro first. She came to visit and allowed me to drag her up the hill to help realizar Proyecto Pan de Azucar!

The bad news is we were only able to clean up about half of the trash on el cerro, and we threw all of it away due to the difficulties involved with recycling in the area. And faltan todavia signs that say "NO TIRAR BASURA". But it's one step towards a greater awareness of the environment.

I think I thanked just about everybody so it's time to wrap up the speech. Conclusion. Evaluation: Ah! The entire premise is off; an acceptance speech is for accepting something, and my purpose was to thank everyone, and to talk about the great work they did. I'm going to get an 'F' roja! Ah well, I never liked that class anyway.

Back to the chessing board

The other day, with the support of the University of Montevideo and their volunteer organization (VUM), we put together a two day chess workshop. The idea was to present the methodology created by the US Chess Center in D.C. to recruit volunteers willing to teach chess. We had a few takers, and we made some great contacts with la Federacion de ajedrez. The younger guys had already been thinking about teaching chess in their neighborhoods (Camilo and Roberto have taught them for some time already), and were looking for a program to use. Two friends, Braden (otro Rotary scholar) and Diego might have been sold on the program as well. A shout out to you guys, thanks.

The best result that came out of the workshop was a contact with another student in the UM, Alberto. El senor Sanchez is part of a group of students called "los jovenes artiguistas" (Search Artigas) that are working in a needy area in the perifery of Montevideo, Maracana. For some time they have been supporting a merendero (a place where kids can go after school to "tomar la leche" o sea, eat a little something. Their idea has been to bolster the impact of the Merendero in the community, making it the axle of change in the barrio. Fase one, create an "after school club" with activities supported by positive role models. So where does this take us?

That's right! See the title. These are the chessboards that a friend, Ines bought for the merendero out of pocket. The idea was to get her company/employer to spring for them, but it would have been a lengthier process, and she wanted us to have them right away. Ines is also going to try to get her company to support the merendero on a more permanent basis. Thanks Ines!!

To the Merendero!

On the left (My other left!) with the kids, Jessica, otra Rotary scholar (we run in packs), and Carlos, a joven artiguista. On the right, a funny foto, the brothers Guillermo and Marcos. Behind the camera, Braden. And we are missing fotos of the others, Joaquim, Marcos, Jose, y Alberto. And we hope to keep the manpower, and the kids, coming. And for the littler ones, we just tested out a reading session with the kids on Friday, and it was a big hit.

Alright, Game on!!