New House, New Roomie and Lots of Rain

Boa tarde! (Good afternoon). It’s currently pouring in Vanduzi right now, it’s been raining pretty much non-stop since yesterday afternoon and as a result, Thelma (my new roommate, I’ll get there later…) and I have plenty of water, its great! It’s finally the rainy season here and that means that every three or four days, the sky turns really dark and it thunders like crazy and water falls like buckets out of the sky. The temperature also drops (just for the duration of the storm) and Vanduzi turns to a big mud pit, it’s pretty cool. The rain makes a very loud, yet soothing noise on our tin roof and I finally understand why rain sticks sounds the way they do, because I swear it is the exact same sound.

(view from the front porch of the flooded school yard, the water pump is right in front of that bush on the right....and those buckets well they do their job! hehe)

So much explaining to do I’m sorry I haven’t written in forever.

First, I moved houses about two and a half weeks ago. My old house was fantastic but it only had one bedroom (and my school director was paying rent every month) so once the school year ended and some renovations were made, I moved to a new house right next to school. Although I loved some things about my old house (mainly the indoor shower and my privacy) this move has been beyond great for my integration. My new house is situated right at school, my neighbors are colleagues and one (of two) public water pumps is located about 50 feet from my house. This means there is heavy foot traffic (and plenty of children) around all the time. The students who live next door to me visit everyday, and sometimes come to take Amendoim for a walk. When I leave for an overnight trip they also take extra precautions to watch my house. My colleagues who live next door are staying in Vanduzi for the holidays, and the secretaries/administration at school continue to work through the break so this means people are always around and I am never lonely. My new house also has a HUGE front porch where I can sit and read all day, but I haven’t gotten much reading done because so many students and friends have been stopping by to chat and bring me mangos now that they know I am on holiday.

My new house

What it looks like to live without running water.

My chicy kitchen/hangout area. Yes I have a gas stove and fridge, I'm spoiled but I saved up for those guys....

Because I really do miss you all :)

MOSQUITO NETS ARE FANTASTIC. they keep out cockroaches and scorpions and camel spiders, oh and they help prevent malaria too.

Second, and related to the first, I now have a Peace Corps roommate. I was nervous to start living with someone again after spending an entire year alone but so far its been great. I’m sure being in close quarters with someone constantly will have some challenges but overall I think it’s going to be so much better. Going to community events, doing work at school, and just passearing to buy things at the market are so much for fun when you can do them with someone else. My roommate, Thelma, is going to teach biology at school this year, so I’m happy to have her help running science fair at school and planning the provincial event next fall. Already we’ve brainstormed some big ideas for projects to do in the community and its just going to be so much better having her enthusiasm, ideas and help.

(Insert picture of Thelma, Amendoim and I hanging out on the front porch because that is ALL we do.)

Also, now that I live at school I can plant in the school garden. The school director is thrilled that there are now two volunteers at his school and he has been so helpful and accommodating with everything since I moved houses. He found out we wanted to make our own little machamba and told us we can plant right at school and gave us a huge area to use. We’re going to start planning after the holidays. Aside from finally having things like zucchini, eggplant, KALE and basil in my backyard I’m excited to share some of my favorite foods with people here who are constantly sharing from their garden with me.

Third, moving to the new house also forced me to finally hire an empragado (maid). But, this was a huge internal struggle for me and I waited for Thelma to arrive and we together decided to hire a student to help at our house BUT they’re just going to get us our water. The water pump is located RIGHT in front of our house so getting water is actually really easy BUT every time we go to get water, the women there take our buckets and fill them up for us. Its really nice and they do it out of respect because we’re teachers but I don’t like having people work for me and I also feel guilty every time I go to the pump because I know someone else will have to do my work. Aside from this, NONE of the teachers get their own water and whenever I go to get mine they ask why I didn’t ask them for help. So to avoid all of this awkwardness, Thelma and I hired one of my students (the same student who takes care of my dog) to come get us water everyday and guess what, he was so happy he skipped all the way home to tell his parents about his new job. Seeing how excited Tatenda was about making just a little money this year made all my stress about this empragado business disappear and instead I felt great for hiring him. We’re going to pay him 200 mets (about $6) a month to cart our water every day or so, and we actually paid his first month in advance so he could afford to travel to Chimoio for a big church conference last weekend. Have I mentioned how happy he is to have a little pocket money now.

(Before I go home I will get a picture with Tatenda where he is smiling!)

ASIDE FROM HOUSING…

Having Thelma move here has really helped me to realize how far I’ve come in Vanduzi. That sounds silly and I don’t mean it to brag because I still have so much work to do here BUT it has been great showing her around and introducing her to friends. I realized how many connections I’ve made here and it makes me really optimistic that the school year next year will really be productive. Peace Corps warns us that the first year is hard and its tough to get projects started, especially if you start somewhere new, but I never really realized it until now and I think this next year will just be so much better.

POLITICAL UPDATE—because its important.
So elections came and went on November 20th. Luckily there wasn’t much violence (and the violence that did occur was not RENAMO related) but the elections did make me realize how much I really take for granted living in America, a true democracy. Mozambique is classified as a democracy, and there are multiple political parties that ran in the election and the main opposition party, MDM, received a significant amount of votes, which makes me optimistic that presidential elections could actually see some real change in the country. Yet, the elections were also marked by huge voter intimidation (MDM supporters were prevented from counting votes and warned against celebrating), voter fraud (ballot boxes went missing, votes were inflated and had to be recounted…etc) and in more than one city/district the opposition party was announced as the winner, only for FRELIMO (the government party) to respond with a re-count and then announce themselves the victor. Reading all of this made me so mad; I hate to draw this comparison and its probably NOT correct but I’m going to do it anyway. The way the elections were held here reminded me of (what I’ve read) of politics and elections in so many autocratic states in the Middle East. Yes, the opposition party, MDM, did win some districts and people were able to vote for them, but they were intimidated throughout the process and at the end of the day many people believe the numbers were changed in favor of FRELIMO. It’s really frustrating to watch because if people are unhappy here and they vote to try and make a difference (and the international community recognizes Moz as a democracy) then the elections should be free and fair. But like I said, at least they were mostly peaceful, I can only hope that the fishiness surrounding these elections will encourage the international community to be more involved in next years presidential elections. Mozambique’s last presidential elections were not recognized as free/fair by the rest of the world so hopefully these ones will be under more scrutiny by organizations like the UN and SADC.

Aside from elections there is still political unrest in Sofala province. Unfortunately people (in Moz and in the international community) aren’t really talking about it anymore but attacks are still happening everyday/every few days and the road is not safe. And the government peace talks are still at a stand still. I don’t think the country is going to resort to civil war but the violence is terribly depressing and it continues to make me worry how much longer it will go unnoticed/without outside intervention, at least from bordering countries. Here’s a link if any of you are interested in a summary of what has happened until now:

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2013/dec/16/mozambique-risk-civil-war-pressure

The article claims that dozens of people have died from this violence but people here think the number is much higher. The economist printed last month that over a hundred people had died and the number continues to increase.

POLITICS ASIDE its almost Christmas and I am so excited. I am planning to travel to Tete with a few other volunteers to meet up with a friend/fellow PCV whose parents are visiting! We’re going to do a Christmas Eve celebration and then on Christmas day I will travel to another volunteers site to celebrate some more. After returning to Vanduzi I will then travel to Chimoio to celebrate a “Mozambican” Christmas (complete with slaughtered chickens and a goat and lots of traditional Mozambican food, dancing and Manicas). One of my good friends here, Silvino, is a BOMB cook and he wants to throw a Christmas party so he is inviting his friends and the other PCVs in Manica province, and we’re all going to have a jolly good time. I absolutely love Christmas so I am really grateful that this year I’ll get to celebrate it three times! I’ll try to take some pictures to post on here after the holidays.

(Helen helped me cook for Thanksgiving and she brought these cookies as a surprise, we listend to christmas music and cooked for HOURS...needless to say i think she will be great to spend Christmas with!)

(All the food we ate on Thanksgiving, I'm excited to see what we make for Christmas!)

To everyone back home, I hope you guys are surviving the cold weather and getting ready for the holidays. I can’t believe that next year at this time I’ll be home too, baking cookies, watching Christmas movies and complaining about the snow and my unemployment haha Happy holidays everyone, stay safe and stay warm!

MALARIA.

My last few posts have been upbeat and positive and although the majority of the time I am very happy here I think I've failed to share with you some of the most serious problems that restrict mozambique from developing to be on par with other leaders on the African continent. So after having someone I knew pass away from malaria I thought it was a good time to address the topic here.

Malaria is arguably the most important health issue confronting Mozambicans today. UN reports estimate that malaria accounts for 29% of hospital reported deaths (HIV/AIDS accounts for 27%) but this percentage is likely even higher because of unaccounted deaths occurring outside of the hospital in more rural communities. Shockingly malaria accounts for 43% of children's deaths under age 5.

Malaria is a year round problem with cases reported every month, but the peak season for incidents is during the rainy season (December-April). Mozambique is also prone to natural disasters such as droughts, floods and cyclones, which occur in low-lying coasts and along rivers. These incidents make the country more susceptible to malaria because disaster-affected areas are breeding grounds for Mosquitos.

In peace corps training we learn about malaria prevention (and are urged to take our malaria medicine religiously). Malaria is also included in the national curriculum for every grade in Mozambican secondary schools. Students are taught the causes and means to prevent malaria. The Mozambican government (in collaboration with many NGOs, INGOs and other governments) has created extensive programs to distribute insecticide treated nets, indoor residual spraying, intermittent preventative treatment for pregnant women and diagnosis with rapid tests. Yet with all of these efforts malaria continues to be a leading cause of death in mozambique.

At school, when I ask my students how to prevent malaria, most of them are proud to respond 'with a mosquito net!' Yet when I ask how many students actually sleep under a net the number is almost none (if any) who do. Although nets are sometimes distributed in the community, for sale in the market and readily available at the hospital for pregnant women, they are rarely used. It is more common to see someone in Vanduzi using a mosquito net as fencing around their garden to keep out goats and chickens. When I traveled to ihla I saw local fish man using mosquito mets to reel in their daily catch. So although nets are here and available, they are used for all different reasons, many Of which do nothing to prevent malaria. Medicine is also available at local hospitals but many people are slow to see a doctor and acquire medicine so when thy do go it is usually too late. In more rural communities (where hosptals are under stocked or do not have access to medicine) people will instead visit a curandero (traditional healer). But malaria can't be treated with homegrown remedies and chants, someone who is sick has to take antibiotics or the disease is fatal.

About a week and a half ago my Dona da Casa (landlord) got sick. After 5 or 6 days, and some pretty alarming symptoms (aside from a high fever an hallucinations he was also going in and out of a coma) his family took him to the hospital. He was diagnosed with cerebral malaria (the most serious type) and given medicine to take. He returned home on rest and waited for the medicine to kick in but the symptoms only got worse. On Thursday night his family called a traditional healer and I could hear chanting and yelling (in toungues) well into the night. Friday Torres went back into a coma and his family took him back to the hospital. At around 10:30 PM Friday night, while trying unsuccessfully to fall asleep in the heat I heard yelling and sobbing...In a culture where people rarely show sadness or shed a tear, this type of emotion is very uncommon...i saw a group of people enter our compound. After walking outside I discovered Torres had passed away and his family was now returning from the hospital.

Note: i live in a dependencia, which means my landlords house and my house are on the same compound and in this case seperated from our neighbors by a stone wall. Our houses are about ten feet apart and we share an outdoor toilet and water well. His children play in frot of my house everyday (Taunting amendoim and building forts or playin with empty bottle-constructed cars.) I see my landlord everyday and we always greet each other and make some small talk about the weather or work or just ask about the other persons health. We were by no means close but we were neighbors.

The next day was spent paying respects to the family and many people filed through our house compound to visit the family and sit in mourning outside. By 10 AM there was easily over a hundred people there. Feeling a little awkward, I paid my respects and then took my school directors advice to pass the day in chimoio, so the family could have their privacy and our compound could be used for families visiting to pay respects and mourn.

This morning I returned home for the funeral and boy was it an event! I've been to a few funerals here in Vanduzi but none like this one. Torres was well-respected In the community. He worked in the fish market, supported a large extensive family and although he clearly was well-off, he didn't give off the chefe auro that many male leaders seem to posses. He was always friendly and polite and was overall very popular in town.

A typical funeral in moz starts at the family's house, where people gather to sing and dance and pepare for the day. After a few hours everyone goes to the hospital to retrieve the body, more dances and songs are performed and from there the funeral party piles in trucks to parade through town (singing church hymns) and finally proceeds to the cemetery, where the body is laid to rest. After all of this, everyone returns to the family's house to eat lunch. After eating people slowly trickle on home, so that now, at 9 PM, the only people still gathered outside are close friends and family.

I always understood that malaria was a huge problem here in moz and I also knew people weren't exactly serious about taking real measures to prevent it. Whenever someone gets sick (or worse, dies) people say it is because they had malaria. Seeing someone like torres, who was well-off, educated, and even took the initiative to go to the hospital and take medicine, get sick and die, really brings the seriousness of this problem to light. The resources and funding is (arguably) present here but people are slow to use them. Today 10 pick-up trucks full of people attended the funeral. Easily 400+ people were here yet even though most people know that Torres died from malaria, I doubt that any of those individuals will go home and decide its time to buy a mosquito net. I don't have suggestions about how to change attitudes here in my community. If there's one thing I've learned so far it's that culture can sometimes be the biggest obstacle in grassroots development because people are so reluctant to change their habits and culture. I hope that ican find a better way to at least educate my students at school and in our student groups about how to prevent malaria because Torres death, like so many others here in mozambique,happened too early on in his life and was definitely preventable.

NOTE: I am sorry for typos and grammar errors I typed this post from my phone and it was a bit difficult!

End of the school year!

Because I'm posting two blogs posts at once I thought I'd make this one nice and light (with lots of pictures) and save the writing for the next one...

The school year is coming to an end and with that comes end of the year celebrations. My school director (who is fantastic!) took all of us to Millpark, this chicy hotel on the outskirts of Chimoio, for one final staff get together before everyone starts to leave for the holidays. Aside from the fact that the chalets and hotel grounds overlook beautiful fields and mountains out in the distance, there is also a really nice, fancy pool, and MINI GOLF! (NOTE: I did not play mini golf but will return in the future to do so!). My director let me bring a friend along, Ana, who is a PCV in Messica, a town close by to me, and it was great to have her with me. An entire day of Portuguese can still be pretty draining but with another friend at your sides its easier to shake off the jokes when teachers encourage you to dance, and negar bottles of beer when colleagues are trying to get you tipsy. Needless to say we spent the entire day at Millpark yesterday, eating delicous food and talking to my collagues, many of whom I've come to know much better in the past few months. Ana also helped me describe different types of secondary projects that I can do (which are PC projects) with my colleagues at school. It was great having her there!

The teachers and staff at Vanduzi Secondary School

Sophia (easily one of my closest friends in Vanduzi!) , her daughter Shanazia Clarina, and I.

Simao and Siguake, two of my colleagues at school who also teach English.

And this is Bea, my other closest friend at school, she was sick yesterday and couldn't come to our end of the year lunch but it didn't feel right to write about school and not include her!

Ana---I'm not sure how we missed taking a picture together :( but here's proof of the mini golf course! Note--Manica/Central crew, we will go back here!



And here are some pictures of some of my better students at school...I don't feel too guilty labeling them that way because they were also the only ones who showed up for the last 2 weeks of classes!

Students from turma 8J: at the end of the semester I asked my students to prepare a short dialogue to present instead of taking a final exam. Only two of the students from this class showed up prepared and it although I was dissapointed in the rest of the crew, these two students literally made my day. They spoke clearly and loudly and it was very obvious that they actually practiced! They were of course rewarded with some starbursts (thanks mom!) One of them, Castro, is the student all the way on the right

Students from turma 8A:
So I know I'm not supposed to pick favorites but in this turma, up until the end of the school year students were still coming to class EVERY DAY, and taking notes and asking me what we could do to practice more english. They were also my class with the highest pass rate and they were pretty awesome.



And that's it for now :)

When elephants fight it’s the grass that suffers

A Kenyan proverb that I think summarizes well the political conflict occurring in Mozambique.

On Tuesday, FREELIMO, the political group controlling the government in Mozambique surrounded a RENAMO (another political party) base in the Gorongosa Mountains (Satinjura) in Sofala Province. This siege resulted in RENAMO fleeing to another town, Maringue, where the RENAMO soldiers successfully took control of the local police station. RENAMO claims FREELIMO was attempting to not just take their base, but also assassinate their leader, Afonso Dhlakama. RENAMO then announced later that day, that they were officially ending the Peace Accord signed 21 years ago that ended the Mozambican Civil War (1975-1992).

Renamo spokesman, Fernando Mazanga, told Reuters news agency, "Peace is over in the country... The responsibility lies with the Frelimo government because they didn't want to listen to Renamo's grievances,”

Unfortunately this was not the first instance of political violence to occur this year. Tensions between the two groups have increased significantly since last year when Dhlakama left Maputo, and moved to Gorongosa to live with the supposed, couple hundred, RENAMO soldiers who were living at the base camp, in the mountains there in the. In April and July small skirmishes led to at least 11 civilian deaths. And since the raid on Tuesday there has been reports of violence in other towns in Sofala province (including a rumor that 3 civilians were killed in a random car attack by rebels). So although peace remains in most areas of the country the overall situation is tense and people are scared, and there is talk of the war.

Mozambique’s 17-year civil war resulted in over a million deaths, and although it ended two decades ago the results of the war are still clear in many communities. My students for example, are too young to have lived during their war, but many of the parents survived the years of conflict, and as a result were not educated. Entire communities exist today in areas that were ravaged by years of fighting; a friend of mine living in a small town in the north claims that his village did not exist until after the peace accord, and that today, people are still incredibly suspicious of outsiders because of their horrible experiences from frequent raids during the war.

I am not sure what will happen in Mozambique, most sources (international reporters, the US embassy and our PC staff) believe RENAMO is too weak to start another war; they lack foot soldiers and overall support throughout the country, but if they continue to provoke small-scale acts of violence, it is innocent civilians that continue to suffer. The fear they have evoked in communities in Sofala, such as Muxungue (where shootings took place a few months ago) or Maringue, (where soldiers took the police station) is real and people are suffering. This outlash from RENAMO is the result of months of failed/stalled peace talks, and years of feelings of exclusion from political power and benefits in Mozambique’s growing economy.

Like the Kenyan proverb summarizes so well; this conflict is the result of poltical tension between two groups in Mozambique, but the individuals who bear the brunt of suffering are innocent civilians. Mozambique is an incredibly poor country, it ranks 185 out of 187 countries on the Human Development Index, and although issues of corruption, HIV/AIDS and inequality are rampant here, the culture is incredibly welcoming and friendly, and in these past twelve months I have felt completely safe. I really hope that situation does not change. I also do not think that this violence will lead to a war, but violence is violence no matter how large or small the casualty pool is and I really hope that the country that I have come to call home, is able to find a way to peace.

Estamos juntos Mocambique!

English Club!

Here is a story.

On Monday afternoon one of the students from my English theatre group showed up at my house and asked for help with a class presentation. Usually when a student comes to ask for help and I get out a text book we just read through the answers and they leave, happy with what they’ve “learned.” Well this day was different. This student, Bon-Bons, not only wanted to read about his topic (types of agriculture in Mozambique) he wanted help understanding it, and then wanted to create a speech for his presentation. Using most of the information from my book we talked about this topic, came up with relevant, local examples and Bon-Bons practiced his speech. After all this was done I expected him to say thanks and rush on home, but no, that didn’t happen. Instead Bon-Bons decided to flip through my textbook and proceeded to read out loud random sections of text; reading first in English, then translating into Portuguese to make sure he understood everything. After this, we’d go through the reading comprehension questions together. As a side note, before Bon-Bons showed up (randomly) at my house I was tutoring another student for 2 hours. Well Bon-Bons stayed for 3 hours and then finally decided it was time to go home, but he said he’d be back the next day.

The next day, Bon-Bons did come back, and he brought a few friends. This group of 3 or 4 students returned each afternoon this week and together we practiced English for 3-4 hours. What amazed me the most was not just that these students wanted to practice, but that even by 7 PM (when its dark out and most people are eating dinner) these guys wanted to keep practicing. It was me asking them if they wanted water, a snack or to take a break. They never got tired or wanted to give up, they were just so excited to be speaking English.

A typical afternoon with these students consists of some general grammar practice (I asked their teachers what grammar I should review with them for their finals) followed by a session where each student reads a passage out loud (first in English, then self-translated into Portuguese) and finally, my favorite part of the lesson, when one student acts as the teacher and asks the others random questions. On Friday, I was supposed to have a late night meeting at school so we met at school to practice (and I assumed when my meeting started I could leave them with my books at school to continue their lessons). Well, when I returned from my meeting I found one of them writing notes on the board and the others anxiously participating in the lesson…and words cannot begin to describe how happy it made me.

Yes these are all great students, they are the ones who usually participate in lessons and at least one of them is the class chefe de turma, but being labeled as a leader doesn’t do justice to their overall personality and ability. They are quick and anxious learners. It’s amazing how much they remember from day to day and how excited they are to continue to learn. One of the students, Joe, stuttered with just about every word he said on Monday, and by Friday he was speaking in sentences—yes I know not every student progresses this quickly but its amazing to see how much they progress when they practice and are pushed a little. And they have so many questions! These vary from ‘madaam, what is the difference between love and beloved, or how would I say make in the past tense (made), to what is this (points to his elbow)” they are just so curious! Yesterday, at 7:30 PM I literally had to kick them out of the classroom because I, after 4 1/2 hours of English was beat and wanted to go home and cook dinner…and even though today is a Saturday they asked if we could meet to practice.

I have no idea where this new enthusiasm for learning English came from but I’m going to do everything I can to keep it going. The students keep telling me how next year, we will meet like a real English club and today I told them that they already were an English club. I should also explain that finding students who are this excited about learning is kind of rare. It’s not that students here don’t care about school, because they do, but school is not the first priority. I remember growing up in America and it seemed since first or second grade (when I got my first college regalia, a Muhlenberg College sweatshirt) I knew that I would continue my education…and then I was continually encourage or pushed to do my best in school so I could go to university and eventually find a good job. Well, here in Mozambique things are a bit different; students come to school everyday in their uniforms, take notes and sometimes participate but they have many other responsibilities (working on their family farms or in the market, supporting younger siblings, or paying rent for their school housing). Put simply, school is not the first priority, and it’s impossible for it to be the first priority. So for me to find a group of students; wait, I should correct myself-for a group of students to seek me out to practice their English for an extra 15 to 20 hours a week (3 to 4 hours every afternoon) is kind of amazing, and I am going to do everything I can to keep them interested!

So, that’s my story, sorry it is kind of long but I’m just so excited. If you had talked to me a month ago I would have told you that (for the first time since arriving in Mozambique) I wanted to go home. I was so frustrated with trying to start projects, I was so bored with my lack of work, and the cultural norms were driving me insane. I missed my friends and family, and I wanted nothing more than to go back to America and find a job with real hours, a real job description and a salary. Well, fast-forward to now, and I am happy. Don’t worry mom and dad I’m still coming home next year but I can finally say confidently that I am happy to be here, I understand my job and what I need to do and, I finally feel like I belong here in my community.

And it’s a pretty wonderful feeling.

Bon-Bons acting as the teacher and writing sentences on the board with words the students found "confusing" or that sounds the same.

Holidays & English Theatre

Holidays and English Theatre

There are so many national holidays here I honestly can’t keep track of them anymore. Whenever there is a holiday though many students travel back to their villages (usually just a couple kilometers/days travel away) and skip school for the entire week. This of course is really frustrating but I’ve come to learn that I just cannot teach any new material on weeks when there is a holiday.

Aside from students skipping school, a holiday means an entire day (or couple of days) of people day drinking and hanging out. Usually when there’s a holiday I would escape and go to Chimoio to hangout with the other volunteers or I’d spend the entire day cooped up in my house reading a book and hiding from all the drunk people. Well last week, for FADM day I spent my day a little differently. I met my English theatre group at school and they practiced their skit a couple of times, then we walked to the town praza and they performed their piece for the community. Because their play was in English, one of the students also gave an introduction and summary in Portuguese before and after their piece, and it went so well! Even though people couldn’t understand what they were saying, they were very interested. When one person speaks English, people are curious, but when a whole bunch of high school students start acting and speaking in clear English, everyone runs to see what is going on. It was really neat, while my students performed there was a big huddle of people around them trying to listen in and see what was going on. After my students performed, and the little celebration was over everyone left the praza to go visit friends, eat food and likely day drink.

On my walk home I stopped to visit a neighbor, Joanna, who is an incredibly friendly woman who saw me walking one time, and just wanted to be my friend. Now I visit her about once a week just to catch up and sometimes we go to the market together. Well this specific visit turned into a pretty long visit in which I was fed breakfast and coffee and met her husband who was in town for the holiday. After eating and chatting we all watched the Mozambican women’s basketball team play on TV, that was kind of strange, I never watch TV here! After having breakfast with Joanna and her family I wandered home and picked up Amendoim so we could walk around town some more. I spent the rest of my morning visiting neighbors and talking to people. Then I went to a friend’s house and helped her cook this huge feast, which we shared with some of her friends from Zimbabwe. Overall it was a pretty awesome day, it helped me realize that I do have friends in my community. I don’t gossip with them, talk about sports or politics and I certainly don’t drink a beer with them but they’re my friends and they’re pretty wonderful. Oh I also ate some chicken and I didn’t get sick so that was pretty exciting. Talk about integration.

Three days after FADM day I took my students to Chimoio for the provincial English theatre competition. My students didn’t win any big awards; their piece was twice as long as it was supposed to be and they got a little carried away in their partying scenes but they had a really great time. (Some of the other volunteers told me they were really impressed with my groups English speaking skills too!) Initially my students were disappointed not to place in the competition but I reminded them that this was their first year competing and that many of the schools they competed against had been doing this for years. This seemed to lighten their mood a bit, and they are already talking about how much better their skit will be next year! So overall, even with the stress of having students show up hours late everyday for meetings, and completely ignore some of the advice I gave them, and feeling like my colleagues completely abandoned me with this project I think English theatre was a great success. Aside from actually practicing their English, my students got to spend a day in the city, meeting other students and teachers. I also met a teacher who works at the primary school in my village who wants to collaborate on projects next year and is actually reliable and excited about teaching! Oh and they are adamant about finally starting and English club. Cool, I can’t wait for next year!

My english theatre group...the guy on the right (in the tan jacket) is the awesome English teacher, Derrick, who helped me with the group.

Just some acting...

And of course they all wanted a picture with their certificates :)

good friends, cave art and english theatre.

I’m finally kind of busy at site and it’s awesome!

Although nothing is set in stone or very established yet it’s pretty exciting. Since returning to site I’ve been trying, really trying, to be more involved in my community. I have a few more weeks left for this school semester and then it will be summer vacation. Most teachers and students travel during this break (and just about every PCV I know is returning to the states for the holidays) but aside from a week or two of traveling I am planning to stay at site. I know most of my students and colleagues will be gone but the community members will still be around so I’ve been trying to find things to do to keep me busy when I don’t have school next month. This has resulted in:

-Forming an English theatre group. (finally!) Although it was like pulling teeth to get all of the interested members to actually show up for a meeting at the same time, last week they finally did and we got to work and it was awesome! I now meet with these students twice a week to practice a theatre piece (they wrote in English!) which they will perform in two weeks at a provincial competition that’s being sponsored by the U.S. embassy. I think that this group will morph into my English club/juntos group because the students seem to enjoy theatre and want to continue with it even after the competition AND since working with them, many of the students have started asking me for extra homework help/tutoring or just stopping by my house to practice their English. Its been so great.

-Tutoring random people in Vanduzi (who aren’t students). This group includes my alfaiate (tailor), who wants to write his own English-Portuguese dictionary, along with a 10-year old boy from Zimbabwe, whose father is adamant about teaching his son English.

-Working with one of the primary school teachers to lesson plan/better prepare her students for secondary school AND just helping her practice her English and hang out. Yay for making more friends that are around the same age as me!

-Finally, although this project has not started yet I am just so excited I need to write about it. I recently met a Somali man in my town who owns a small halal restaurant (its also the only restaurant in Vanduzi that has beans and rice (popular market food) without meat in it!) anyway, I am hoping that I can meet this man for lunch one or day days a week and that he can tutor me in Swahili! As a side note, when I got my post in Mozambique way back in January of 2012 I was so excited because I thought I’d be able to live in the north of the country where I could learn Swahili and then after Peace Corps I could move to Kenya and get a job dealing with Somalia/current events in the horn. Well, I didn’t get sent to the north and my dreams of learning Swahili were temporarily put on hold BUT now I might have a tutor and I am so excited! I haven’t actually met with this man yet for lessons but I am sure if he isn’t too busy he’d be happy to teach me.

Aside from getting excited about projects one of my good friends from training was visiting last week. I got to show off my site a bit (and he helped me brainstorm some of the above projects) and we also hung out with some other volunteers that were in Chimoio for the week for a conference.

(here's to hoping its not another 6 months until I see you again!)

A few of us went to the town of Manica one day to see this old cave art drawings, which are apparently really really old and date back from a tribal war that caused villagers to flee into the caves up in the mountains for safety. Although some of the drawings looked pretty neat there was also a row of drawings that looked almost stenciled in. regardless of whether the drawings are actually real, the hike to the top was fun and the view was fantastic. We spent the rest of the day in manica, which was a nice little town about an hour away from my town, Vanduzi. Here’s some pictures:

The mountain we hiked to get to the caves....

The cave drawings...

Our guide? For lack of a better title, this woman is the daughter of the either the village elder or the old tribal queen...I actually don't quite know her exact title but she is the only one that could take us up the mountain to see the drawings.

What better way to cool off after hiking up a mountain in the middle of the day than to enjoy a MANICA beer in the town of MANICA in MANICA province. Cool eh?


I'm trying to be better with this blog so hopefully I'll write again next week, until then have a great week everyone!

Eurotrip.

A PCV’s trip back to the “developed” world = CULTURE SHOCK.

I’m sitting in my bed writing this blog post and playing music and I can hear giggling…lots of giggling. My bed is pushed up against my window and as I peer out around my capulana sheet/curtain I see 4 little criancas laughing and trying to listen to the wonderful sounds of Wagon Wheel (yes Shane, I know you’d be so proud). So I am back in Vanduzi and it is nice to be home but let me tell you all about my trip!

I left site on a Saturday morning, met up with old sitemate from Guija in Maputo and the two of us spent the weekend at a friend, Mindy’s house before I headed out to Europe. Just a side-note, this was my first time back in Maputo after 7 months and boy was it weird! Driving from the airport into the city was more than overwhelming, I forgot how weird a city skyline looks like…and there were so many cars! Luckily, Mindy lives on the outskirts of the city, near the fish market (a quieter area) so aside from a walk in town to the craft market for some souvenir shopping I was able to avoid the chaos of the city. Although I forgot how crazy it can be just to physically be in a city again it was cool to be in Maputo right before my trip because I could compare European cities to it, and it also helped lessen the initial culture shock of seeing buildings that were more than two or three stories tall.

After a weekend in Maputo I set out on my journey to Europe. I flew to Johannesburg and from there got a direct flight to Paris. In Paris I spent one day alone wandering the city, shopping, going into beautiful churches, sitting in random parks/squares people-watching and of course eating some delicious food (yes I did in fact go to the chipotle in Paris for my first real meal!) I ended my first day in Paris with a “picnic dinner” of a mozzarella, tomato and basil on a baguette, a delicious peach and a glass (or two!) of cheap, good, red wine on the balcony of my hotel room where I sat watching the busy train station and reading the most recent issue of the economist. After the sunset (around 9:30 PM) I collapsed in my bed, which felt like sleeping in the clouds, and slept so wonderfully!

The next morning I met up with my family (and the Muhlenberg basketball team players and family members) and we embarked on an 8-day trip through France, Germany, Belgium and the Nethlerlands. In the course of 8 days I got to see so many historically important/famous tourist spots I stopped keeping count of them. In Paris I marveled at the size of the Notre Dame, in the louvre I admired works by Luise Jaques David, I watched the sunset from the Eiffel tower, stood under the triumval arch and was essentially star struck by the amount of detail/beauty and gold that went into constructing the Palace of Versailles. I also did some shopping, drank red wine with my mom and got lost in the endlessly changing, winding alleyways of Paris. It was wonderful.

(jacques louis david aka one of my favorite artists!)

After 3 days in Paris, we traveled to Valkenburg where we would stay for the next 5 days. From this small border town in the Netherlands we did day trips into Germany and Brussels, as well as towns in the Netherlands. Although I loved Paris this part of the trip was much more enjoyable to me. Aside from Amsterdam and Brussels (both of which I loved!) the towns we visited were smaller, and there was a significantly less amount of tourists which is always a relief when you’re used to living alone in a small African village :) Instead of detailing all the places I traveled to (you’ll just have to check my pictures on facebook) I will write about my favorites. In Cologne, my family and I sat in a beautiful, open square and ate lunch while people-watching and enjoying the local craft beer (which was likely my favorite brew of the trip!). I also found a tiny hole-in-the-wall Lebanaese restaurant and bought falafel. After lunch we wandered to the more touristy area and I found a DUNKIN DONUTS. So excited, I got real iced coffee.

(hanging out at a bar in Vaalkenburg with my dad and Morgan)

Also in Germany, we went to a small vineyard, which was adorable. The vineyards are so neat in Germany because the grapes are grown on these huge hills that are so steep they almost resemble a cliff. I wondered how it was possible to actually pick and harvest the grapes, but the wine was good and the view was magnificent.

We also went to a small town called Aachen, which had the most beautiful church (in my opinion) out of the whole trip. Outside the church resembled any other large, medieval cathedral, but inside it was covered in mosaics reminiscant of Byzantine culture/similar to the style in Istanbul. It was so pretty!

(family picture in front of Charlemange's castle in Aachen)

In the Netherlands, we traveled to another town, Maastricht, where although it was rainy and cold it was also probably one of my favorite days. it was the one day, where we were not with our tour group for the entire day. We had no schedule and could do whatever. This of course resulted in shopping and some really great food. Also in the Netherlands, we went to Amsterdam and that city was just so cool! I wish I had more time there because it seemed like such a neat, fun, free-spirited place but even a few hours in the afternoon were better than nothing. We ended our day there at the Heinekin brewery where I teased my dad for not finishing his beer fast enough (which resulted in me getting his second beer) and us both agreeing that the Heinekin actually tastes good when you drink it at the brewery.

In Belgium, we just spent a few hours in Brussels, which I’m really glad we got to do. The city has a beatuful square, with buildings trimmed in gold and decorated with intricate designs and statues. We ate delicious Belgian waffles and also drank some good beer at the delirium café. Yum.

So overall, I know it sounds like all I did was shop and eat and look at pretty historical things…and maybe that is true but because we were with a large tour group it was difficult to do things outside of the allotted schedule. This was frustrating at first, being myself, I wanted to wander aimlessly in every city and go into every possible museum/historical building but that of course wasn’t possible, there simply wasn’t enough time. A few days into the trip I decided that instead of being frustrated with the lack of time to see all these things/places, I should view the tour part of my trip as a preview of Europe; a quick taste of each city so I could decide if I wanted to return one day…and instead of focusing on the lack of time to do everything and see everything I just enjoyed the time I had with my family and it was wonderful! It was so nice to tell stories, hear about home, drink beer with my dad, giggle and shop with my mom and gossip with Morgan. I still can’t believe it will be 16 or 17 more months until I see them again—sure you guys don’t want to visit me here? And Nikki, believe when I say you were definitely missed.

After 8 days with the family I said my goodbyes and traveled to Bologna in Italy to meet up with a good friend from college, Joanna, who was starting her first year of graduate school (at SAIS) abroad. Traveling to Bologna was exactly what I needed in-between the eurotrip and return to moz because it was so much more relaxed. I got to enjoy all the amenities of the developed world without feeling guilty for sleeping in, or going for a run because it would mean I was missing out on doing something else. Joanna and I explored her city (which is awesome! Bologna is an old medieval town that somehow missed out on the architectural revolution of the renaissance, resulting in lots of small, narrow winding alleyways, plenty of arched, built up buildings that you can’t see over into the next street, and lots of old churches) maybe I didn’t do justice to how cool the town is but there are plenty of pictures to prove it. So Joanna and I explored town, went hiking in the hills outside of town, and traveled to Venice (which was so cool!!!) we also ate really good pizza, plenty of gelato and drank wine that was made right there in Bologna. We also got to catch up and swap stories from our past year in Africa (Joanna was in Benin so it was neat comparing West Africa culture to Moz). It was really fun.

VENICE.

(the old streets of bologna!)

After two whole weeks in Europe, I packed my bags (full of new clothes, non-perishable food, and some cool gifts from my family) and boarded the plane back to Africa. I spent another two days in Maputo and then traveled back to Vanduzi. At the Chimoio airport I was reminded of the culture here when my Mozambican friend who agreed to give me a ride back to site arrived 2 ½ hours late (even though when I called him to tell him my flight landed he said he was just arriving at the airport) and while waiting for my friend to come I couldn’t buy water because the guy at the airport had no change….I was definitely sad to leave Europe so soon and was not feeling too excited to return to site but as my driver pulled up to my house there were 5 kids jumping up and down yelling “OLA AMIGA!!!!” and shortly after I was greeting with a warm welcome from some colleagues at school and a student who ran up to my house to shake my hand and welcome me back. Teaching my first lessons in 3 weeks yesterday also reminded me how much I enjoy living here. I won’t stay here forever but I am happy that I have another year left in Vanduzi. After a very much-needed break in Europe I am ready to jump back into school and try to do some good work in my wonderful little village in Mozambique.

The most surprising things from my trip back into the west (as culture shock)
-how beautiful every single building is. In Europe people construct things that are aesthetically pleasing…in Africa they just build them
-how nice it is to walk around at night and feel safe (note-its safe in my village but walking around at night is a huge no-no)
-that people can drink in public in a casual way…and not be wasted by 2pm
-how pretty, no wait, beautiful and well-fed the dogs are
-how peculiar Americans are about drinking bottled water
-how “skimpy” some people really dress
-how frustrating it is NOT to know how to greet people in their native language; in Paris this wasn’t much of a problem because most people didn’t stop and acknowledge you when you were walking down the street but in smaller towns it was so frustrating! I resorted to just greeting people in Portuguese while I was in italy---hey it’s a romance language I think they got it?
-similar to that previous post, how wonderful it was to finally BLEND IN AGAIN and not be stared at (and yelled at and noticed) by every single person everywhere…it was fantastic!
and just how wonderful it is to have delicious food (and real coffee) available at any hour of the day in pretty much any town I traveled too regardless of how large or small it was!

And there are probably more but those are the most memorable aside from the fact that I thought every single person’s outfit was fashionable and cute and I wanted to buy everything in ever store, so much for not caring about fashion?

Sorry this post was so long…but it has been 4 weeks?!

Ihla de Mocambique

I don’t know where to start.

After PDM, I traveled north to meet up with some friends at Ihla de Mocambique—and it was absolutely wonderful.

(Some of the group standing at the pier in Ihla--Lisa get's photo credit for this one!)

The trip to Ihla took 2 full days. Two weeks ago, Kristen (another PCV) and I left Chimoio at 5AM in a chapa that took us to Inchope, the crossroads between north, south, east and west (north to Nampula, south to Maputo, east to Beira and west to Chimoio). This cruzamento is where central volunteers go to start our hitch-hiking. Well, by 7AM Kristen and I were camped out on the side of the road, optimistic that our early start would bring us some luck from the bolea [hitch-hiking] gods. We could not have been more wrong. In the first few hours just 4 other cars drove by, one of which stopped and tried to charge us $20 to go a couple hundred k north. We declined, we didn’t have the money, if did we would have taken a bus, so we waited, and waited and waited. After 5 hours, feeling pretty desperate and not wanting to return to Chimoio, we waved down a semi (a large truck) who stopped and agreed to take us all the way to Zambezia for approximately $6. We agreed and go in the van. So begins my 10 hour journey in a truck with little water, no food and no bathroom breaks (we did pack snacks but we ate them all on the side of the road.) After 10 hours we rolled into Mocuba, Zambezia around 10PM, our driver dropped us at bridge, which we crossed on bikes to meet our friends on the other side who had been waiting for us all day. Thankfully, PCVs are kind of awesome, our friends had waited up for us and had dinner saved for us to eat when we arrived disheveled and exhausted at their house.

(Kristen and I started in Chimoio, and finished our journey at Ihla...it doesn't look to far on the map but it was "la!")

We slept maybe 6 hours that night then woke up to continue traveling north. We got a little luckier that day and got a bolea to the cruzamento for Gurue (a beautiful area in the north I will return to visit!) From there we got picked up by a wonderful French man who drove us all the way to Nampula City. In Nampula we ended up taking chapas/open-back trucks all the way to Ihla and we finally arrived at our destination around 8PM that night. After 2 full days of travel we were beat, but also really excited we made it to the island and were reunited with our friends, some of whom we hadn’t seen since last December.

(A window to paradise, mom and dad are you sure you don't want to visit?)

The next 3 days were just wonderful. Ihla de Mocambique is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it served as the original capital of the Portuguese empire in the region and was a major trading port between Portugal and India. Aside from having pristine beaches with beautiful, turquoise water, the town itself is pretty magical. Unlike most of the country, the Island has a clear Portuguese influence. The roads are narrow and cobblestone, the buildings perfectly white (or faded colors from long ago) and although most of the architecture appears to be crumbling it really is beautiful.

We spent those three days exploring the old Portuguese fort, wandering town and spending lazy afternoons on the pier that extends into the Indian Ocean. At night we ate delicious food (the cuisine is easily the best I have had yet in this country; incredibly fresh seafood, coconut rice and curries seasoned with Indian, Mocambican and Portuguese flavorings, it was truly to die for). And basically just enjoyed our time on the sleepy island of ihla.

The trip back took another 2 full days of travel but I can happily report is was definitely worth it and I can not wait to travel back north and visit this island and the rest of that region again.

(Fresh Fish)

So now I am back at school, starting the third (and final!) semester of the year but I can’t focus much on teaching because I am leaving for vacation THIS SATURDAY and will get to see my family (and some friends) after 11 months away from home! I could not be more excited. So apologize ahead of time if I don’t update my blog until I’m back, but I’ll be traveling without a computer…but I promise to return with pictures and stories!

PDM

(Does anyone actually know what this acronym stands for?)

I attended PDM with 9 other Peace Corps Volunteers and their counterparts, in Garuso (about 15k from Vanduzi). The purpose of the conference was to learn about secondary projects that volunteers can start/continue in their communities. We each brought a colleague from school, who ideally we would work with on these projects, and who could continue them once we finish service and return to the states. Overall, it was incredibly successful, and was the exact forum I needed to show a colleague of mine what Peace Corps really is, and the potential I as a volunteer, have to start projects in our community. It was also great to finally learn about grants that are available for volunteers.

At the last minute I asked another English teacher, Simao, to come along with me to PDM and he agreed almost immediately. The weekend before the conference he insisted on meeting up and discussing potential project ideas-because he only had a few days notice to prepare, he was worried others would think we were weren’t prepared (note: there was no required prep for this conference). Still, his desire to prepare made me even more excited that I was bringing him along. During the conference Simao and I brainstormed a number of different ideas for projects we could start in Vanduzi. We made a list and then decided to focus on one of the easier/more short-term projects, and agreed to return to our list at the start of the next school year, when there would be more time.

We decided we will form a student group at school and together will teach them more about HIV/AIDs. These students then, will have the chance to educate their community about HIV/AIDs through theatre, dance, music and poetry. This group will be very similar to JUNTOS—a nationwide group that many volunteers are involved with in Mozambique. We set meeting dates and agreed to talk to other teachers about our group when we returned to Vanduzi. We also agreed to form an English club and really get started with our English theatre group (today I got a list of interested 8th graders who want to participate!)

Overall, the conference was a huge success. For me, I was able to share with a colleague more about what Peace Corps is, and because the conference was so professional, my colleague was able to trust or understand better what kinds of projects would be possible if we worked together. More importantly, I was able to chat with Simao about what he thought was really needed in Vanduzi, and through these conversations gauge a better idea of what the community wants and needs.

Now that I’m back at site, I’ve met with Simao and we are still planning to meet with our colleagues---it’s the first week of the semester and unfortunately very few teachers, and students have returned to school. I’m excited though I think our student group, along with our English club, is going to come along great. Simao is well-liked as school and the students really respect him, so I think together we will be able to get more participation and excitement from our students. Wish me luck!

Peace Corps Friendships

When I applied to Peace Corps two years ago one of the things I did not think about was the friendships I would make with other volunteers. I always imagined myself living in a rural, African village, teaching high school students and hopefully making some friends along the way. My goal was (and still is) to learn more about international development from the grassroots level, and I simply didn’t consider the role other Peace Corps Volunteers would play in that learning experience. Since arriving to Mozambique, and first being thrown into training-where 67 other volunteers-in-training became my immediate family, and then being placed at site (first in Guija, then again in Vanduzi) I have come to depend so much on the other volunteers in country. So although I am happy to say that I have made friends here in Vanduzi (mainly my collegues at school, my neighbors and their children, and the random, yet curious people in town who want to be my friend because I am different,) I will admit that my closest friends here are my fellow PCVs.

So my blog post is not just to write about how great my friends are here, but to comment on how strange it is when one of your closest friends finishes their service and leaves the country. I no longer have that one person who I can text when I have had a really frustrating day at school (or even better, a GREAT day). I also no longer have that close friend who I cook with on the weekends, and enjoy a cold Manica with at 4 PM on a Saturday. These are also the people who you turn to for advice with teaching, secondary projects, or just to talk to when your lonely and alone in your village. In Peace Corps, you become friends with your fellow volunteers almost immediately, and those who live closest to you become your family. It’s kind of a weird social experiment because throughout your service these friends change (as you move from training, to a new site, and then as volunteers finish service and are replaced with new ones) and almost immediately you become friends with the new people that replace your old closest friends, it really is quite strange.

This post doesn’t really mean much, but while passearing (walking aimlessly around town) the other day in town, thinking how weird it will be when I go in town to visit another volunteer but my old friend will be missing, and basically feeling sad about all of this, I realized that I can sit in my house all day reading, cooking or doing whatever passes the time or I can get out and be active in my community. Sure I don’t have a lot of work right now (its actually the semester break and I won’t teach again for 3 more weeks) but every time I walk outside my front yard I am reminded that people are happy to see me, and grateful that I have become a part of their community.

On Sunday, I stopped to visit a friend, and she, and her neighbor were so happy to see me that after talking for a good twenty minutes they each gave me some produce from their farms. Then today, while walking back from the market I was followed by 3 criancas (small children) who just wanted to skip next to me and repeat everything I said to them because they didn’t understand Portuguese, and I guess I’m just their daily entertainment because I am different. I’m not really sure where this post is going but I think it’s a reminder to myself (and other volunteers who read this) that although we do depend on one-another, the worst thing to do is be a hermit in your community, because the people here really do appreciate us, and if you are having a bad day my advice to you is to take a walk and see how many smiles you get from strangers who are just happy to be greeted, or see how many children just want to walk with you because they’re bored and you’re exciting and fun.

Although I’m pretty bummed that one of my site-mates, and closest friends has finished service and will be returning to the states soon, I know that I will be okay because I have a wonderful support system in the rest of my fellow volunteers, along with an incredibly grateful (and warm) community who will continue to look after me until the day comes in a year and a half when I have to say my goodbyes.

As previously noted, I’m about to be on break for the semester, and I won’t start classes again until August 6. A lot of volunteers travel over this long break but I haven’t decided yet if I want to leave site. For one thing, my dog will be terribly depressed if I leave but on a more serious note, I’m lucky to be going on a 3-week long hiatus to Europe mid-August. So I can’t decide if it is a good idea to leave my community for a week now, when I’ll be leaving for so long next month. I have a conference next week with some other fellow PCVs so I’ll have to see how good they are at convincing me to travel. Staying at site during the break might be exactly what I need to be reminded why I am here and why I am truly happy in my community.

We shall see, until the next post, be well!

Tchao and Boa Sorte Shane, you will be missed in COESAO but I am so excited to see what great things you do in law school....and also just excited to laugh over your adjustment to nyc life. Ate America!

Teaching, Hiking and wait I'm 24?

Not much is happening right now in Vanduzi but here are some photos…

Teaching superlatives to my 8th graders (this might be my favorite class).

They got really excited about the camera…when the bell rang to signal that class was over, no one wanted to leave so I told them we would take one group photo and then they had to go (because I wanted to go home!) This is the picture that resulted:

Also the kid right in front is one of my favorite students-he always participates and is asking questions. When everyone got together for the group shot he was telling me it was bad because everyone was jumping and yelling and they needed to sit down. When it was clear that I wasn’t going to try and control them he literally jumped right in front of the camera so that he could be the star.

Over the weekend I celebrated my 24th birthday in Chimoio with some other PCVs. The weekend included a home-cooked Mediterranean meal in Vanduzi complete with movie watching and just relaxing (thank you shane!) a  nice “family” dinner Friday night  (with birthday cake!) a hike on Saturday morning followed by a cook-out at a friends house, and then a night of festajaring with some cool British ex-pats we recently met. It was a really fun weekend.

Hiking outside of Chimoio 

Hanging out at our friends house in Chimoio celebrating my birthday and just having a good time.

Like I said not much is happening right now. School seems to be going well but I still have way too much free time and can’t figure out what to do with it yet…but in time I’m sure I’ll figure it out!

Also-I found a teacher to work with as my counterpart, we'll attend a conference together mid-July and I think taking her to learn about potential projects/available grants and what other PCVs are doing for their schools will be a great way to brainstorm what I can do here in Vanduzi!

Secondary Projects?

Hello! I’m sorry it has been so long since I’ve updated this thing but honestly it’s been difficult finding things to write about. My hours recently got cut at school, so I am now just working 2 afternoons a week and it’s a serious bummer. The district essentially made a new rule that all teachers needed to teach a total of 24 hours, well because I am not a paid employee (I’m just a volunteer) every teacher was assigned 24 hours and I got the leftover, measly 9 hours a week. It stinks, it really does. But after talking to some colleagues I realized that most of them wanted to work even more than 24 (some had been working 30+ hours before) and because everyone gets paid based on the amount of hours they work, if I request more hours it takes away from another person’s salary---clearly not something I am trying to do. So this means that I have just been incredibly bored. And when I say bored I mean I’ve actually started watching TV episodes on my computer and re-reading old magazines I collected when I was in Maputo last January-it's that bad.

Initially I thought all this free time wouldn’t be that terrible because it would give me more time to work on secondary projects (any type of project outside of professional teaching). Well, starting secondary projects is not an easy task-especially when you live in a village that has never had another volunteer. People are justconfused when I try to offer tutoring or any sort of extra volunteering activity. So far my attempts at secondary projects have included:

-Helping organize our school library; re-arranging an old textbooks by subject (and grade) and then cataloging every book in the library so that when students borrow them we can trace where they’ve gone. This was a fun little project but I finished in about 3 days.

-Helping out at a colleague’s orphanage. Now this was a very exciting potential project for me. Another teacher at school mentioned that he helps out at an orphanage and after expressing interest in going he took me one morning. When I expected to walk to an orphanage in town, I was wrong. He led me on a 20-minute walk into the matu (farmland area) until we got to a very large field. He explained to me that the government of Mozambique donated 10 hectares of land to his organization, but gave them no funding to actually build an orphanage-all that has to come out of pocket. Some women met us at this field and he passed out some cove (kale/collard greens) for the women to plant in there homes. The plan is for these women to start their own small farm at home and use the cove when they cook to add more nutrients to their meals and thus help fight malnutrition (a huge problem here because everyone just eats carbs!) So that little piece was cool but overall I was kind of bummed out. I thought there was an established orphanage where he was helping teach/take care of kids but the fact is it hasn’t been built yet. The children are living with foster families. He was hoping I could help him get a grant or some type of funding to start building. That sucked. This teacher is a really genuinely great guy, and luckily he speaks some English so when I explained that I can’t just donate money to him because I have none he was just curious to learn more about what I can do, which is basically volunteer when the orphanage is going, and I also offered to help clean up some of the land but I don’t think he took me seriously at that offer.

-Finally, I found out another colleague at school wants to start a pre-school. Apparently there used to be a pre-school in Vanduzi that was volunteer run by some NGO but it stopped a few years ago and now there is no pre-school. Arguably worse, there is only one primary school in town, so children that aren’t fortunate enough to go to this school go to your stereotypical, African children sitting under a tree, drawing in the dirt trying to learn kind of school. So basically there is no preschool and limited primary school education available, which helps to explain why when students get to the secondary school (where I teach) they’re abilities are all over the place. I told this colleague if she starts a pre-school I will happily teach there in the mornings. I love kids and seriously need to find something to do to fill up all this free time! But things move SO SLOWLY here and I would be shocked if the pre-school starts up by the end of the year…

-I am also really going to start an English club. I’ve been talking to some other volunteers for advice on how to get it started and plan to really jump in with it in the next week or two so hopefully that will fill up some time and branch into other new projects!

That’s really it for now, I will say that even though I am just teaching 9 hours a week I really value my teaching time and think I spend a lot more time lesson planning, giving assignments (and grading them) and essentially just give my students more attention because I have less of them now, so that could be a good thing!

I’ll try to post again in the next week or two if there’s any new news, but hey, in my case I think no news is always good news :)

And here are some pictures:

Last weekend I went to Chimoio and hiked Cabesa de Velho with another volunteer. The “mountain” is maybe 3k outside of town and the hike to the top isn’t too tough. It’s really neat though, from the top you can see the entire town of Chimoio on one side, and then on the other side its just open fields/trees, a pretty cool contrast! Here’s a picture of me from the top of the mountain.



Two weekends ago a bunch of the PCVs that live in the central region of the country traveled to Vanduzi for a get together. It was a ton of fun, even though it rained all day for the one full day that volunteers were there we still had a great time cooking good food, telling stories and festajaring. Some wonderful person in America sent a box with peach rings in it to another volunteer so we ate those, along with some other great care package food! Here’s a funny shot of mostly everyone crammed into my kitchen posing with their peach rings:)



And I still can’t decide who had more fun that weekend, the volunteers or the kids that live in my bairro (neighborhood). They stood outside my porch watching us all weekend, even when it was pouring. They danced and sang outside, occasionally asked for food, but for the most part were just happy to watch us (and talk to whoever came out to say hello to them)


About a month and a half ago the country director came to visit me at site in Vanduzi. He took me, and two other volunteers out for lunch to talk about teaching/site...etc. Here's a picture of us in front of another PCVs house in Messica.



And I will add another quick story. I wait to bolea (hitch hike) out of site from the same spot everytime I leave. There is this house right on the outskirts of town that has a big tree in front that offers great shade to wait in while I try to flag down cars, and the family that lives there is really friendly too, which is always a bonus. Well today when I got to my spot, the teenage girl who lives at the house waved me over and said she wanted me to come into her house to meet someone. I followed her inside her incredibly small one room hut (which had a straw mat on the floor and then stacks of corn filled the rest of the house) anyway she had just had a baby boy, he was just TWO DAYS OLD. She insisted I pick him up and meet him but he was sleeping so I told her next time I visit I will hold him but he was so tiny! She also asked me to give him a name, at this point I told her I don't know any Mozambican names and that she should name him but she said she wanted to give him an America name...so i gotta start thinking. She invited me back for dinner next week and I think she is hoping that I will have a great name by then-any ideas?

The end.