Elections

Yesterday Mozambique had presidential elections and although my feelings about elections were incredibly negative (I'll explain that at the end) I have to admit all-day yesterday I was anxious.  I didn't want there to be any violence and recent international news coverage (rare in and of itself) was predicting a close election race and this was so exciting! Along with the chance of a run-off election, many of my friends and colleagues thought that if elections didn't go as people hoped they would, there would be violence.  So I spent all day today frantically checking my phone, scanning news websites in English and Portuguese trying to find anything about the election results and of course what I could find was predictable and depressing.

Yesterday's elections, although peaceful for the most part, were still full of ballot stuffing, fraud and intimidation towards minority parties.  One minority party supporter was reportedly shot in the foot when he tried to stop an incident of ballot stuffing and there were multiple incidents of police firing tear gas and rubber/live bullets at crowds.  A friend here made a joke that election corruption is like cheating at school, it's barely disguised yet impossible to control, so you do what  you can to control some of it and hope for the best, and I think that's what so many Mozambicans did yesterday.  They went and stood in long lines for hours on end and cast their vote in the presidential elections, fully knowing that the Frelimo candidate would likely win, if not in this election, in a run-off but they still went and cast their vote.

The results haven't been announced yet but most sources are saying Frelimo will pull more than 50% of the vote, so a run-off election will not be necessary.  Even with this year's election problems it was really neat to witness a close election, and all of the campaigning that ran up to it.  Yesterday marked Mozambique's fifth presidential elections since 1994.  Prior to 1994, Moz fought a 20 year civil war after gaining independence from Portugal.  In those first elections, Frelimo took power, and Renamo, the loser of the civil war, was slowly pushed out of politics.

Aside from actually living in Mozambique for the election season, this specific election was anticipated by many because of recent events in Mozambique.  Just over a year ago the Renamo leader, Afonso Dhalakama, returned to a bush hideout/camp in the mountains and his soldiers started attacking civilians and stopping traffic along the national highway.  These attacks, although small-scale, upset traffic and trade along the sole national highway in the country, and forced the government to make some concessions to Dkalakama.  Last month, Dkalakama came out of the bush and finally signed the 1992 Peace Accords (for the civil war which ended 22 years ago) and announced he'd be running again in the recent elections.  Renamo supporters flocked to him, and suddenly I started seeing Renamo posters and flags in the streets alongside all the Frelimo paraphernalia.

Along with renewed excitement for Renamo, another, much newer political party, MDM, also gained a lot of attention for this election.  The party was formed in 2009 by a former Renamo supporter, Daviz Simango, who then became the mayor of Beira, Mozambique's second city, under his MDM party.  Most news sources are reporting that MDM picked up just a small percentage of the vote yesterday but the party has a lot of support among younger generations in the cities, and is predicted to only get more popular in time.

So although there were problems yesterday, and the run-off election is unlikely because Frelimo probably got more than half the votes, I really hope that this election scared the political cronies (or chefes as we say here in Mozambique) into starting to actually run a government that benefits its people.  Mozambique is a country that is immensely rich in resources yet it's one of the poorest nations in the world.  Corruption is so widespread and embedded into people's ways of life it's difficult to see how it could change but if the government started creating more opportunities for employment for youth, or opportunities for more people to further their education and get decent jobs it would be a good start...

Enough of my philosophizing though, I'm sure you're tired of my little history lesson, here are some pictures from election day and the campaigning...

People waiting in lines to vote in Vanduzi. 

My good friend Julio proudly posing with his ink-stained finger to show that he voted.

A Frelimo parade in Chimoio...literally traffic just stopped and then all you could hear were whistles and chanting and all you could see was RED.

Some proud Renamo supporters marching down the main road in Vanduzi, also notice the huge billboard in the background endorsing the Frelimo candidate, Nyusi.

This picture doesn't do justice to the campaign season because every store front, market stall, telephone pole and baraca in Vanduzi (and in cities, and along the road between cities) is covered in political posters, usually for Frelimo.  People drive cars and motorcycles covered in posters with huge flags waving out the back and EVERYONE has a shirt to support their party.

I will leave you with this last picture, which always makes me smile even though campaigning literally ruined the school trimester.  Students and teachers skipped class to campaign, on the weekends students were taught Frelimo songs and paraded through town encouraging people to vote and my colleagues who I greatly respect didn't take this semester seriously because they were focusing on the campaign.  Yet if they don't campaign their salary gets frozen, they get transferred to a school in the bush where no one wants to work or they get fired.  It's terrible and frustrating because all this work goes into campaigning for a party that essentially has an autocracy and doesn't not share power and it makes you so disgusted and then grateful for your own nation's government but then there's this picture: 

This is Erriscado, one of the pedagogical directors at the school where I teach and you know what, he loves Frelimo and he's very involved in the party so for teacher's day on Sunday he didn't wear the t-shirt that all the other male teachers wore, instead he wore this, which can only be described as a Frelimo costume (even his visor said Frelimo), and it was pretty great.  Side-note, Erriscado is a good friend and a very hard-worker at school, I respect him ALOT for the work he does for the students and because of that, I don't care what he wears to show who he supports as long as he still does his day job :)

Here's to hoping Mozambique's elections this year pave the way for more freedom and organization from minority parties in-country so that the nation can grow to fully encourage/support a multi-party, democratic government that works to support everyone regardless of where they live and who they want to vote for.

Trimester III: lots of traveling and lots of events!

So it has been a while and I apologize for that but since returning from South Africa things have been very busy here! Today marks the first Saturday I’ve been in Vanduzi for a weekend since the beginning of August and it sure is nice to finally have a relaxing weekend at home!  Let me re-cap the past month for you..

I went to Inhambane with two friends for a short trip before heading to Maputo for a Close of Service Conference.  Tofo beach in Inhambane is always a wonderful little escape from the Peace Corps life and this trip was no different.  I enjoyed a few relaxing days at the beach, ate lots of delicious and inexpensive seafood and just caught up with some good friends who I don’t get to see nearly enough.  It was an awesome trip.

A beautiful, old mosque in Inhambane City.

Pristine beaches = African paradise. 

These two live way too far away from me so it's always fun to travel together and catch up!

We made friends with some of the women cooking food in the market and aside from making us delicous shrimp curry they went out and bought us fresh fish one day and made a feast! Fish, shrimp, calamari, crab curry with salad, rice and fries....I'm pretty sure we didn't eat again that day after indulging in this feast.

And I got to see my good friend Mary, who lives and works in Tofo now that her contract with Peace Corps has ended.

In Maputo I had a conference with all the other volunteers who I arrived in country with.  We met with staff to discuss how to best close up or hand over our projects and also the best way to say goodbye to our friends we’ve made here.  I also had to do some medical stuff so that was important as well…found out I had a bacterial infection in my stomach and was put on some strong medicine to wipe that out.  Before I finish in Moz you can expect a blog about all the crazy medical problems I have had….

Moz 19, we still have a few weeks left and we're going strong!

Arguably the best part (for me) of being in Maputo at this time was that I was able to say goodbye to two of my very good friends here.  The first being Elisabetta, the volunteer who also lived in Guija and who organized the awesome mural painting I helped with last January.  Before finishing up her service Elisabetta set up a co-op with women in her community who sew capulana jewelry and bags for her to sell in the states.  You can check out their work here: 

http://www.kurandza.com/ 

I also had to say goodbye to one of my best friends here in Vanduzi, Simao.  I’ve written about him before and Simao was leaving Mozambique for the best of all reasons, to go study abroad!  After complications with his fullbright app he accepted an offer to pursue a one-year Master’s certificate in Brussels, Belgium where he will study the English language and community development. I was able to meet him for dinner and drinks in Maputo and then took him out to meet a number of other volunteers who were all hanging out in the feira.  We took SImao on the bumper cars and on the swings and he had so much fun!  And embarrassingly when the time came to say goodbye I sobbed like a child but I was (and still am) so incredibly proud of Simao. It is so difficult to do well here in Mozambique but if someone works hard enough, doesn’t give into corruption or get side-tracked by politics, they have a chance to break out of the cycle of poverty here and that’s exactly what Simao is doing and it’s so exciting!  Simao was also my first Mozambican friend here who I have had to say goodbye too, and that was difficult because I know it will be tough to stay in touch, but like I said I couldn’t be more proud of him.  He is still in the process of applying to the Fullbright so I hope that one day he will be able to come study in America and I can introduce him to some of you!

Bumper cars with Simao, Ari, Rich and a number of other (not pictured) volunteers!

So after returning from COS conference I had about 5 days to put the final plans together to finally run a provincial science fair! After months of waiting for funding to be approved it was, and I had to work quickly to make sure the fair would actually happen.  With the help of a number of PCVs, Manica had its provincial science fair and although I wasn’t very proud of the conference it was a miracle in itself that we were able to pull the fair off in such short notice and at the end of the day, the participants all had a good time and it was a great learning experience for everyone involved so that in itself is always a good thing.  Here are some pictures from the fair:

Adamo (on the left) was my counterpart for the Manica provincial fair, the other three individuals came to the fair to offer free HIV tests and counseling.

Manica Science Fair participants 

Thelma and I with our good friend Labson, who absolutely loves Science so I invited him along to help us with Science fair for the day and I'm pretty sure he had a great time because he still tells me how important it is for people to study and understand science and how important it is to participate in Science fair.  

3 judges didn't show up on the day of the fair so who filled in? PCVs of course, and a representative from the provincial office of science and technology.

Labson, Laete (a teacher at Vanduzi) Thelma, Osque  (the student from Vanduzi) and myself all proudly representing Vanduzi district.

Just a few days after finishing the provincial science fair I had to fly to Maputo with the science fair winners so they could compete in the National Science Fair.  Science Fair is the product of a lot of hard work from professors, students, government technical experts and volunteers, working in every district across the country.  The fair provides technical inspiration and scientific lessons for everyone involved and is an inspiration for all of the students who participate in local, district, provincial and national fairs.  Each province sent their two student winners (one from grades 8-10 and one from grades 11-12) to compete in the national science fair. A teacher and one or two government representatives were sent from each province as well.  In Maputo, two volunteers, along with help from the Ministry of Science and Technology and a lot of PEPFAR funding, had planned a 3-day workshop for all science fair participants.  The teachers had a day to show experiments, a day for an open expedition and a day of an actual science fair, where each provincial winner was given the opportunity to present their work in front of a jury and answer questions.  I wasn’t too excited for Science Fair simply because I was tired of traveling so much and just wanted to be in Vanduzi with Thelma and Amendoim, teaching my classes and doing my regular jobs, but science fair was awesome and I’m so glad I got to be a part of it!  For the participants to be flown to Maputo for such a big event, and meet important people, and simply given the time and opportunity to show off their hard work was pretty awesome, and the projects that they came up with were incredible.  Here are some pictures…

Taken from the second day, a public expositions with 50 students and professors showing their projects.  There were also local dance groups who performed traditional dances for a crowd of over 1000 spectators.  

On the third day, winners from each province presented their projects to a panel of judges and an audience of 800 people.  There were more cultural dances and theatre pieces as well as a Q&A discussion about HIV/AIDS by health experts who provided free testing and counseling.  It was a long day but it was pretty awesome.

This student made a security system for a house.

This winners proudly displaying their new bags, certificate and trophies.

This student made a balance for people to use in his rural community to weigh their produce to sell in the market.

This student made paint with home-made materials (such as vegetable dyes). She won first place at the competition for students in grade 8-10.

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The Minister of Science and Technology was quoted in a national newspaper, Jornal Noticias, saying "Queremos saudar os prefessores e voluntarios do Corpo da Paz pela dedicacao e imaginacao na forma como acompanham desde as zonas mais reconditas, guiam e apoiam odalunos naaprendizagem das ciencias experimentais atraves dos clubes espalhados pelo pais, adoptando formas de suportee aos conhecimento teoricos aprendidosnas escolas." 

Translation: "We want to recognize the professors and volunteers of Peace Corps for their dedication and imagination in the form of helping the hard to reach areas of Mozambqie; guiding and supporting the students in learning of experimental science through clubs spread through the country, adopting and offering forms of support to the theoretical knowledge learned in the school system."

I don't take much credit for my help with Science Fair, I don't teach science and couldn't explain physics or chemistry to you if you asked but organizing the event was fun and being a part of the national fair was a really neat experience. The students who participated were all just brilliant and they used the most basic resources to create their experiments and some of the teachers involved were just so dedicated to helping their students learn and grow, it was really cool.  It was also great to work with a team of motivated PCVs, who after months of waiting for funds, were so determined to make the fair a great experience for everyone who was involved.

After Science Fair, I returned to Vanduzi and jumped back into teaching and helped students putting together an English theatre piece put their final touches onto their production.  Last year, I took a group to participate in the English theatre competition and although it was a lot of fun for the students they weren’t well-prepared, spoke for way too long, and were simply overwhelmed.  Well this year they were determined to do better and that really showed.  They made props and costumes, really tried to act with emotion and were GREAT about sharing lines among all the participants, it was so much better!  They ended up placing third and you would have thought these kids won the lottery when it was announced that they had placed.  They all ran to the front of the stage and were hugging and high-fiving and after they got their trophy and certificates they came over to my to shake my hand and I was tearing up, they were just so happy!  I’m really gonna miss these kids, they work so hard and I really hope that somehow, they are all able to go to college next year.

The students from Vanduzi preforming their theatre piece.  

Very happily displaying their 3rd place certificates and trophy!

With English theatre and Science fair finished I was finally able to focus on teaching and my English Club and simply spending time with friends here.  I have 3 more weeks of teaching here and then exams will start again and then it will be almost time to leave, which is crazy!  I’m trying to balance continuing my job at school and spending time with good friends.  

Thelma and I spent a weekend visiting Sophia, her husband and their adorable daughter Shanazai.

It’s been exhausting explaining that I am in fact leaving at the end of the year, mainly because people ALWAYS say that I should simply stay.  Aside from work and saying goodbye I’ve started looking for jobs (to start in December/January) and that also is incredibly stressful…I’d rather sit on my porch and read Dr. Seuss with my neighbors.

Teacher's day is tomorrow and presidential elections are on Wednesday so you can expect another update soon!