Scavenger Hunt

So our fifty-one person training group is adorably, sickeningly, close and cuddly.  Though we are all excited to get to site, we are all a little sad that we will never all, every single last one of us, be together in the same place again.  Entao, in celebration of our last week together, two of our members organized a little game. 

It started with an idea, about a month ago.  Then came a list of materials.  Finally, it all came together this Sunday, with about thirty volunteers, ten lists, fifteen cameras, and the entire town of Namaacha.  It was….

The GIANT,

TOWNWIDE,

ALL-INCLUSIVE, Crazy,

MOZAMBICAN

SCAVENGER HUNT!!!

We met at the bar at two PM.  Each team was given a list of materials and a two-hour time limit.  It was that simple. 

“Once you get your list, you can go!” Said Jill.  She was one of the two people who had organized this soon-to-be town-wide spectacle.

“Be back at four!” Yelled Mac.  He was the other one. 

Our team was organized and ready to go.  We had each chugged a Coca-Cola and practiced our game faces.  We were clearly at the top of our game and ready to conquer. 

The team roster is as follows.

This is Lona.  She has no sense of humor when it comes to large-scale group games.

This is Steph N.  She knows karate and can do a push-up from a handstand position.

This is Lisa.  She can cross-stitch a mean bunny rabbit.

 

This is Steph H.  She… well… she is trying not to smile.

This is Dan.  He is The Man.

We clustered together to read our list of items.

“Are we ready?”  Asked Lona.

“It begins!”  Said Dan.

Things to Procure

Half a coconut shell (clean)

Hair from a weave

A royal flush

A feather

Banana frond

Piece of chalk

Orange peel (whole)

Pack of Maria’s crackers

Laurentina bottle cap

Photographs to take

All team members in the back of a pick-up truck

One team member riding a goat

A mother and baby goat

Team members forming a pyramid with a Mozambican on top

Three team members in a tree

All team members on top of the abandoned building across from the bank

Mozambican wearing sportswear from a U.S. university

Three team members hanging from a goal post

One team member playing pool

Two team members with the owner of the Internet Café

Three team members in the same lab coat

All team members under the same mosquito net

All team members in capulanas

And now, for your enjoyment, and because I don’t post enough photographs anyway, I give you the Giant, Townwide, All-Inclusive, Crazy, Mozambican Scavenger Hunt. 

A human pyramid capped with a Mozambican child

A Mozambican in Virginia Tech sportswear

Dan riding a Goat in Bairro B

Mother and Baby Goat

Lona, Steph, and Dan hanging from the goalpost on the soccer field.  During a soccer game. 

Dan, Steph, and Steph in the same lab coat

The whole team in capulanas

So that’s about it for photographs.  Those are the best ones, anyway.  There is a montage that shows “the whole team drinking from the world’s worst bottle of brandy while making faces of extreme displeasure,” but those are for another time.  

We didn't actually win the scavenger hunt.  We never made it to the border to take a picture with a border guard or track down a policeman with an AK-47.  We didn't even manage to flag down a chapa and take a picture of the entire team inside.  We did, however, make a lot of friends along the way as we took photos, shared them, and explained ourselves.  We ran all over town, climbed trees, chased goats, and taught my host sister to use a camera.  Finally, we made a really, really nice memory with each other, and that was probably the best part of all. 

The End.