May Migration to Malawi!

Back in January, at my mid-service conference with the 50-some other PCVS in my training group, my friend Ari and I decided we really wanted to travel to Malawi, and we chose the 2-week break in between the first and second trimester to embark on our journey, and believe me it really was a journey. I left my village of Vanduzi, spent the night in Chimoio at another PCVS house then woke up early the next day to travel out of Manica Province, through all of Sofala, and into Zambezia. I spent the night with some PCVS in Mocuba, then woke up early the next day to continue my trip to Nampula City, where I met Ari and Casey, my travel buddies for the next week. The three of us spent the night in Nampula City, at one of Ari's colleagues houses, and then left the next day at 4am to take a 12 hour train to Cuamba, Niassa. In Cuamba, we met up with our good friend Richard, and spent 3 days exploring his site, before leaving to travel to Malawi. On our third day in Niassa, we woke up really early to meet our friend Victor, the last person to join our travel group, before crossing the border at Mandimba into Malawi. In Malawi, we traveled to Cape Maclear, where we enjoyed the peaceful, beautiful lake enviroment that made all the previous days travel worth it! After 3 days at the lake, we traveled to Blantrye, where we spent a night in the city before I started my journey home (through Tete province in Moz) and my friends continued their adventure to a safari in Malawi.

It was a lot of traveling, and way too much time spent in public transportation but it was also a lot of fun. It was also great to see some of my very good friends, all of whom, live way too far away for me to visit them during the school year! Here are some photos from the trip...

a map showing my journey, the little black star is where Vanduzi is located!

A picture of the train we took from Nampula City to Cuamba..the train took 12 hours and went so incredibly slow! If I hadn't been with good company it would have been torturous, even so we got pretty restless after the 8 hour mark. The train frequently stopped at large and small villages so people could get on and off, this was also an opportunity for people to sell a wide variety of goods to those passengers leaning anxiously out the windows. We bought bread, fruit, and plenty of snacks to last us for breakfast, lunch and just to snack on....

We went hiking in Cuamba (the city of dreams and dust!). Richard has a nice 45 minute hike not too far from his home, ventured off the dirt path and hiked a small mountain/hill, where the Portuguese had built a chapel, which is now abandoned...but it looks cool and the view was awesome!

Casey, Rich, Ari and myself sitting on the edge of the cliff at the top of the hill we climbed...

The chapel at the top of the hill!

After resting and hanging out in Cuamba we were ready to travel to Malawi...we took a chapa to the border town, then took bike taxis to the border post. Once we reached Malawi, we had to take two more chapas to get to Cape Maclear and oh my gosh was it a head ache. In Malawi, there is not national standards/body that regulates the minibuses. This means that drivers can charge you whatever they want (and a group of 5 foreigners is a great target for those who want to make a little extra money!) That being said, there is also no "taxi stand" where the minibuses wait in a line to fill up. Instead drivers drive around the city, looking for travelers, yelling at them and then actually pulling them onto their buses. There are also young children (ages 14-18) who sit on the chapa and pretend to be passengers, this way you think you are entering a minibus that is almost full and will soon leave for your intended city...as more people get on the boys get off, making your wait to leave even longer. Needles to say, traveling in Malawi was a real head ache, and we got ripped off on numerous occasions, but there was really no way to navigate the system. There was a double standard, and as a foreigner, we were never going to be able to argue for the local fare, it totally sucked. But I do get plenty of free rides in Mozambique so I guess it all evens out. Still when you're trying to be thrifty on a trip it is frustrating to get charged twice as much as the locals and then yelled at for being cheap or a liar if you pay less than the fair requested. But we did survive and aside from the minibus drivers, I found the culture in Malawi to be incredibly friendly and welcoming. It was also nice to travel and be able to speak English!

Traveling problems aside it was all worth it to arrive in Cape Maclear in the middle of the afternoon, swim (yes I probably have schisto now) relax and watch the sun set!

Cape Maclear was cool because the tourist areas were set alongside the local community. Here's a view of the area of town where most locals lived.

We got market food in town, delicious beans and fried greens...served with xima (boiled cornmeal) it was good!

The boats used by local fisherman to go out and fish

Even being so close to a fresh water source most of the local community still eats dried fish. It's cheap, it lasts through the dry season, and is easy to prepare with rice or xima. Here local fisherman have laid out their fish to dry in the sun.

These boys played music every afternoon on the beach...their songs included "Who let the dogs out", "waka waka", "waving flag" and a song they wrote about Malawi...

We spent the last night at the lake learning how to drum with some of the locals...it was a lot of fun!


Now I'm back at site, and full-swing back to work at school! Thelma and I are busy trying to organize our JUNTOS group, I've got additional english lessons almost every day, and I'm helping organize Vanduzi's first Science Fair on Saturday, should be fun! Ate ja!

UPDATE FROM SCHOOL!

Apologies because I know it has been far too long since I've written but my keyboard on my computer is broken and although I can use a manual (keyboard on my screen) to type up letters and blog posts it takes FOREVER. We're talking 5 minutes to write a small paragraph. That being said, things have been incredibly busy so when I come to Chimoio (the town closest to my village where there is Peace Corps office and computers for volunteers to use) I usually do not have time to write up a blog post...but today I got to the office early and I brought lots of coffee and I'm ready to write...

As I said, school has been incredibly busy. The first trimester ended well; my students didn't do as well as I'd hoped but they continued to improve with each test/in-class activity so I am confident that by the end of this trimester they'll be back in the swing of things. It's also just difficult because I know I demand more from my students, and push them to excel in speaking, writing and listening (instead of just filling in a test) and this takes lots of practice! I've started tutoring each class for an additional hour outside of their allotted class time and I really think this will help. I've only just started this additional tutoring but once I have a better understanding of which of my students are doing well and which are far behind I plan to re-group the students according to their ability so that my better students can be challenged and my weaker students can just focus on understanding what we're learning in class. I'm still unsure how it will go though...I was expecting 30 students max to help with extra tutoring and I have about 150, so instead of just two days a week of "english club" I've now added 4 additional 1-2 hour slots in the morning to tutor students. It's a lot of work but it's why I'm here! I am also trying to organize getting some children's books donated to my school library to use in my lessons (more of that to come soon!).

Instead of writing a novel I'm going to just share some pictures from the past few months with a summary of what has been going on...enjoy!

My roommate and I stayed in Vanduzi for Easter-we were hoping to cook a big brunch with our neighbors and spend the day with friends and students...but everyone left town for the weekend (to visit family!) So we didn't get a big celebration but we still made some delicious food for brunch, and then just took a nice long walk around Vanduzi, exploring out in the bairros (neighborhoods) far from our house, visiting people/making friends, and just relaxing. It was easily one of the quietest/most relaxing weekends and we were pretty grateful for it.

One of our bosses, Nelson Ramiro, came to visit us in Vanduzi and it was great introducing him to colleagues and students and just being able to show off our wonderful little town that we love so much. Here is a picture with myself, Ramiro, Thelma, and three of our students who participate in English club and English theater: Anna, Julio and Bon Bons. The kid on the left we don't know and just snuck in at last minute...

Thelma and I finally got our JUNTOS group started, something I've wanted to do since last year! Here is a picture of our counter-part/neighbor/very close friend in Vanduzi, Causha. Causha will work with us to lead these students throughout the year; we hope to teach them leadership skills, focusing mainly on educating them more about issues they face in the community. At our first meeting, they made a list of the topics they would like to discuss throughout the year.

Here is (translated) list of the topics students hope to discuss this year:
-A lesson about HIV/AIDS
-A lesson about personal hygiene
-A lesson about malaria: prevention and how things can become contaminated (spread?)...etc
-A lesson about TB: Prevention and how things can become contaminated (spread?)
-A lesson about sexual violence
-A lesson about alcoholism/alcohol abuse

Our students hope to learn more about these topics and then take that knowledge to teach others in our community and at school about these issues through journalism, music and dance. We will likely do some theatre too! Thelma and I are beyond excited about starting this group up!

We had 15 kids show up at our first meeting (and another 5 new students at our last one) here are some of the students involved in our group :)

During exams period Thelma and I had a day off from proctoring tests so we went to Catandica, a town about 100k from us...we dropped of capulanas to get some dresses made and then wandered to the market for lunch. After asking a few people where we could get inexpensive market food (and something other than goat or chicken) we found this little bar that was also serving food. The owner was so excited that we had selected his restaurant to eat at, he came out and sat with us while we ate and told us stories of his life in Zimbabwe during the Mozambican war. He also spoke pretty decent English (because of his time spent in Zim) it was a really fun afternoon!

Also during exams week, Thelma and I went to a small village in between Vanduzi and Chimoio where there is a pre-school that my good friend/a previous PCV used to teach at. We weren't sure what to expect because there is no longer a volunteer assisting at the school but I was pleasantly surprised to find 20-some children at the school, all learning their ABCS and how to count...etc I wish I didn't have lessons that clash with the pre-school schedule because it was so fun working with the children, I know we'll be back next break as well to help out!

The students spent the 2 1/2 hours we were there writing the alphabet and trying to remember how to sing it the whole way through...let's just say three and four year old's have a very short attention span! Most children here (at least in more rural areas) don't attend pre-school, so trying to instill good class room behavior, and just get a start on things like writing, reading (the alphabet) and counting is a huge challenge but will help the kids in the long run as they enter primary school in a year or two!

Right before leaving for the semester break (we had 2 weeks off before the second trimester started) myself and some other PCVS in Manica province helped Thelma celebrate her 23rd birthday!

The Country Director, Sanjay Mathur, came to visit the PCVs in Central. I met him (with a number of pcvs who live in Chimoio) to go out to lunch at our good friend, Silvino's restaarant (Silvino is the one crouching in the front in the white kimono and red hat). Sanjay also came to Vanduzi a few days later to meet my school director and see what I've been up to there. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures because I just forgot but I had a great time showing him around town and talking to him about my work at site. Even better, my School Director (who is awesome!) spent the whole morning with us; he took Sanjay to his house to meet his family and even came with us to lunch. It was great to have my boss around, who was clearly thrilled to meet Sanjay, and excited to talk to him more about opportunities with Peace Corps and to just show him our wonderful school in Vanduzi.



Also random, but I had the opportunity to skype into a Peace Corps recruiting event back home. The event was at Lehigh University and my Congressman, Charlie Dent, and the current Peace Corps Director, Carrie Hessler-Radelet, were both present along with professors/staff from Lehigh University and some RPCVs. It was a really neat event because I got to hear my Congressman and the current CD speak about the awesome work PCVS are doing all over the world, and they both emphasized the importance of community service and working abroad. What was really cool for me was that fact that I got to skype into the event to talk about my experience thus far. Speaking to interested college students was a neat way to reflect on my service and motivated others to get more involved in their communities or around the world. My family attending the event as well, because they were curious to meet some RPCVs and the CD, it was pretty awesome and they made me feel incredibly supported :) Here's a picture of them, with my Congressman, and the PC Director from the event!

http://www.peacecorps.gov/media/forpress/press/2356/


AND THE MOST EXCITING NEWS OF ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not the best picture but here is a picture of me with my colleague Simao. Simao is one of those people you meet here and wonder how they became the way they are because they are just so hard-working, driven and think WAY OUTSIDE of the box. Simao is one of my colleagues at school; we lesson plan together, we cover each other's classes if one of us is busy and we also confide in each other frustrations with corruption or lack of student motivation. He is one of the few people who is not afraid to criticize the norms here with the educational system, and also refuses to work with corruption by changing grades or allowing students to pass if they are not really educated. Last year, I helped Simao as his finished the requirements for his Master's Degree here in Moz. I also helped him apply for study abroad programs, to get his MA in teaching abroad, and encouraged him to apply for programs sponsored by the US Embassy and the State Department. Well, let me tell you, all I did was encourage Simao to apply, and then proof-read his applications, he did all the rest of the work, and because he is one of the most hard-working people I have met here I am so happy to tell all of you that Simao not only got into multiple schools in Europe for study abroad programs, he also received high enough marks on the TOEFL (English language exam required to study in the States) that he is eligible for a Fullbright in America. If Simao doesn't succeed in attaining a Fullbright (he'll find out in September) he will participate in a 6-week program sponsored by the US Embassy to study in NYC/DC next year. Also, if he does not attain a Fullbright, he will definitely study abroad in Europe next year, likely in Brussels. The program is an English-teaching, and Development Training Program, and it requires him to return to Moz in two years (once he finishes) to use the skills he has learned abroad to help improve the education system here, and continue to work with development projects in his community. I AM SO PROUD OF HIM.

Sorry this was a long update but I hope you enjoyed all the pictures :)