End of Trimester II

Hello, I am just finishing up my second semester of teaching, and I have a few days free before traveling so I thought I’d try to write a blog post to update you all on my last month at site.
First, another HUGE thank you to anyone who sent books, I cannot emphasize how grateful and happy I am to have these books! I will hand the books over to the school in September (when our next semester starts) but in the meantime have been using them in English club to do group reading activities. I’ve also told the students who I tutor that the books have arrived and we’ve been doing informal reading lessons at my house in the afternoon when they do not have school…and the little kids who live next door also come over daily so that Thelma and I can read to them, it’s adorable. They’re learning how to repeat in English while also learning Portuguese, these kids are going to be great when they are a bit older! My English-teaching colleagues have already come over to pick out which books they will have their students use for book reports or poem memorization, basically it has been AWESOME. I’ve already exceeded my goal of receiving 100 books and I know more are on their way…it’s really great and I am so incredibly grateful to everyone one of you who sent something! Below are some pictures of the students using the books but I promise a more complete blog posts (with plenty of pictures) once the reading program really starts going! I also posted an updated list of the books I have received at the bottom of this post, so you can check if I’ve gotten your order yet :)

Here's Bon Bons and Julio, who come over almost every day to practice reading now. Simao's all the way on the left...simply in awe of the books!

Reading with Julio and Amendoim :)

Okay, so as I mentioned before, I am just finishing up the school semester and this semester was so much better. I saw a lot of improvement in my students work, and even had some classes give presentations, which were somewhat successful, but fun and something I will do again this fall. I’m thinking that for those students who are not able to prepare a speech or presentation, I will have them memorize a poem instead, just so they can practice their public speaking (and English speaking) skills! About half the students I assigned topics to simply didn’t do it, either they didn’t think I was serious or they were just too scared so I am trying to find ways to make them more comfortable trying to speak in English. I can’t believe I just have one semester of teaching left and then I will be done here!

Thelma and have been busy meeting with our JUNTOS group which is still coming along. Last month, we took 5 of our group members to a workshop where they met student groups from 6 other schools and were able to learn/discuss topics like self esteem, education, the difference between gender/sex, HIV/AIDs, malaria and other health issues that are somewhat taboo for them to discuss with family members or friends. Each student group brought two leaders (either a PCV and a Mozambican teacher, or two Mozambican teachers) and overall the workshop was great. Our students were a bit shy at first because they’re very new with JUNTOS and aren’t yet comfortable discussing these sorts of topics freely, not to mention they were younger than all the other groups, but after a full day of discussions they started to open up, and everyone made new friends. It was also really great because the Mozambican leaders took the lead role in running the discussions, so instead of having the volunteers (cough couch, white foreigners…) lead the sessions, they were learning from people who live and work in their community and have faced similar problems they face now as teenagers. It was cool. Here are some pictures from the workshop:

The students doing some ice-breaker activities...

Thelma and I with our fabulous 5 original JUNTOS members!

Jorge, a student in the Chimoio JUNTOS group who I met last year when watching Shane's group practice their theatre. It was cool to see old friends and make new ones :)

Everyone loves JUNTOS!!! But really, I think the students had a great time at the workshop making new friends and learning new leadership skills and educating themselves about a variety of relevant topics!

Vanduzi Roomies, all that's missing is Amendoim.

Graca, one of the students in our group, reading a poem about violence in the community.

Also, since coming back from the workshop, word has spread about how awesome it was and more students have started coming to our meetings. Our core group of 5 students has now grown to 15 (including some students Thelma and I actually have problems with in school, who have bad attitudes but now, want to be a part of something positive!) and the members have been much more vocal about topics they want to discuss at our meetings. They decided at our first meeting after the workshop that they wanted to do a theatre piece to raise awareness about violence, and not just physical violence, but sexual and psychological violence as well…all of which are common in the community but are not really spoken about. So they are now working on a theatre piece that brings this issue into light, and offers different ways to help alleviate it. The students are hoping to present their theatre piece in the town plaza on September 7, which is the next big, national holiday (Victory Day).

We also had some other volunteers visit us for the 4th of july and that was fun. We tried our best to cook some "american" food, which was shared with Thelma and my friends and colleagues at school, and just relaxed in Vanduzi enjoying each other's company, it was nice. All that was missing were s'mores and fireworks...

Ana and Helen, two of my favorites.

And volunteers complain they don't eat well...

family picture!

Carly and Taylor making friends with our neighbors/students.

And, on a final, very unrelated note, I got ringworm! Gross right! But it’s actually really common here, especially among children. But luckily I spotted it early and I don’t have that much of a bald spot on my head…and the doctor here assured me my hair will grow back. ha, let’s hope! I’ve been taking medicine and am certain it’s gone but I just need to wait for those alfalfa hairs to start growing…I can’t wait to make a list of all the weird health problems I’ve had since I started growing here…that list is going to be long but should make for some good stories!
That’s about it as far as stories go. English club and reading has kept me very busy, and JUNTOS is coming together perfectly so I couldn’t be happier with the group’s progress. My colleague Simao, is currently in South Africa working to attain his Visa for a study abroad program in Brussels (just in case Fullbrigh doesn’t work out) and my other good friend Derreck is getting read to go to a conference with Thelm this break. Together they are going to start a program that works in primary (elementary) schools and helps teach children how to read Portuguese books. I’m so glad that two of my colleagues here are really working to better their education and help in the community.

I am about to head out for a 2 week trip through Zimbabwe and South Africa, and will return to site just as the third trimester begins. I am excited for this trip because there was a long-standing travel ban in Zimbabwe, but this was just lifted, so I’m anxious to explore a new country before meeting up with a friend from college in Cape Town. And Cape Town, well, words cannot describe how excited I am to go back to Cape Town! I studied abroad there 4+ years ago and LOVED it and I think I will appreciate it even more after living in Mozambique for the past two years. Hot showers, coffee, and table mountain here I come…!

Here's our little neighbors who come play in our yard everyday, draw on our porch and like to listen to English and Portuguese story books.

Tchao!!

As promised, here's a list of the books I have recieved so far:

Dr. Seuss
ABC’S
Are You My Mother (P.D. Eastmen)
Green Eggs and Ham
Happy Birthday to You
Hop on Me
Hop on Pop
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Marvin K. Mooney, Will You Please Go Now!
Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?
One fish, two fish, read fish, blue fish
Put Me in the Zoo (Robert Lopshire)
Sleep Book
The Cat in the Hat
The Foot Book
There’s a Wocket in my Pocket

Series:
Lemony Snicket’s a Series of Unfortunate Events (books 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 12)
The Magic Treehouse (1, 2, 4, 5, 9 and 17)

Novels
Baby Tiger Wants to Explore- Alice Greene
Beezus and Ramona- Beverly Cleary
Berstein Bears go to School
Berstein Bears Trouble with Friends
Brave Irene (Sunburst Books)
Bridge to Terabithia- Katherine Patterson
Brow Bear, Brown Bear- Eric Carle
Caps for Sale- Esphyr Slobodkvia
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory- Roald Dahl
Charlotte’s Web- E. B. White
Cheer Up, Mouse- Jed Henry
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom- Bill Martin Jr
Children’s Visual Dictionary- Jane Bun
Clifford the Big Red Dog
Clifford, the Firehouse Dog
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs- Judi Barrett
Corduroy- Don Freeman
Curious George
Curious George and the Hot Air Ballon
Curious George Visits the Library
Danny and the Dinosaur- Sid Hoff
Dishey’s the Lion King
Disney’s Bambi
Disney’s Beauty and the Beast
Disney’s Cinderella
Disney’s Finding Nemo
Disney’s Jungle Book
Disney’s Lady and the Tramp
Disney’s Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs
Disney’s the Three Little Bigs
Ender’s Game- Orson Scott Card
Frindle- Andrew Clements
Frog and Toad are Friends- Arnold Lobby
Goalkeeper in Charge- Matt Christopher
Going Long- David Willey
Good Times- Kristen Hall
Goodnight Gorilla
Goodnight Moon
Grimm’s Fairy Tales- Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
Harold and the Purple Crayon- Crocket Johnson
Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes- Child’s Play
Henry And Mudge First Book
Higher than Hope- Fatima Meer
How to Eat Fried Worms- Thomas Rockwell
I Spy Letters
If You Give a Dog a Donut
If You Give a Moose a Muffin
Invictus- John Carlin
James and the Giant Peach- Roald Dahl
Madeline- Ludgwig Bemelmans
Magic School Bus Inside the Human Body- Joanna Cole
May I Please Have a Cookie- Jennifer Morris
Miss Nelson is Missing- James Marshall
Morris Goes to School (I Can Read Book 1)
Mr. Popper’s Penguins- Richard and Florence Atwater
Pickles to Pittsburg- Judi Barrett
Ramona the Brave- Beverly Cleary
Romana the Pest- Beverly Cleary
Sheep in a Jeep
The Absent Author (A to Z Mysteries)
Make way for ducklings
Amelia Bedelia (I Can Read Book 2)
The Alchemist- Michael Scott
The Amazing Spider Man
The BFG- Roald Dahl
The Boxcar Children- Gertrude Chandler Warner
The Bravest Dog Ever, the True Story of Balto- Natalie Standiford
The Cloud Book- Tomie de Paola
The Grouchy Ladybug
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe- C. L. Lewis
The Little Engine that Could
The Little Mouse, the Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear- Don and Audrey Wood
The Lucky Baseball Bat- Matt Christopher
The Magic Hat- Mem Fox
The Monster at the end of the Book- Sesame St.
The Phantom Tollbooth
The Rainbow Fish- Marcus Rfister
The Little Red Hen
The School Story- Andrew Clements
The Very Hungry Caterpillar- Eric Carle
The Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Clover- Lucille Colandro
The Widwife’s Apprentice- Karen Cushman
The Wizard of Oz- L. Frank Baum
Thomas the Tank Engines “Big Lift and Look Book”- Rev, W Audrey
To Kill a Mockingbird- Harper Lee
Trucks- Slide and Find Book
Where the Red Fern Grows
Where the Wild Things Are
Where the Wild Things Are- Maurice Sendak
Yawn- Sally Symes

Independence Day, JUNTOS and English Club

Things are going well here in Moz...I've got just 5 months left it's crazy, but I'm full-swing in the middle of the school year and have been keeping busy with work at site.

First, a HUGE THANK YOU to anyone who purchased a book for my English club/Literacy project...hopefully those books will be arriving in the next month or so and believe me, when they get here you will know! My english club is coming along great, every week a few more students show up and just last week I had 26 students, a new high! I've been trying to vary the activities we do every week to practice English but I am very excited to start the english literacy program next month, my students love to read! Here are some pictures from our meeting two weeks ago. I photocopied a reading passage from my textbook and had the students work in pairs reading the dialogue and answering questions. We had a discussion afterwards...

I meet with my students two days a week in the morning at our school library. The library has plenty of desks and chairs and as you can see in the picture behind the students on the left side is the window to room that stores books. One of the secretaries works there during the day so students can borrow textbooks to do work. That's also where the children's books will be safely storied.

These two girls are best friends, they always sit together and now they come to english club together! I caught one of them cheating last semester on a test and both of them actually failed the semester, but now they're trying to study and actually learn, its awesome!

As you can see the students are reading a photo-copied paper. It's a print out of a dialogue from my text books. Printing and making copies is fine for now but it does get expensive and isn't very sustainable, I'm excited to start using children's books (with pictures!) soon!

Second, Thelma and my JUNTOS group is slowly coming together. We've been meeting for the past 2 months and our group has decided to focus on journalism. So with a little help, they put together their first newsletter to educate people in the community about HIV/AIDS (See pictures below). We're hoping that they'll be able to prepare a newsletter each month about a different isssue or health problem in the community. They tried to include some designs or pictures to help educate people who are illiterate as well. Our plan is to display the newsletter around town (at school, in bars, in stores, at the market...etc) and also to present it at school. We've spent the past 2 months working on this specific newsletter and once we finished it last week and showed our students the final project they were so excited. Thelma and I are taking five of the group members to a training workshop in two weeks, where they will meet students/leaders from other JUNTOS groups in our province, and learn more about how they can help people in their community through education in the arts. Most students in JUNTOS (at other schools) are older, so Thelma and I are hoping our students aren't too shy at our meeting; we're really excited for them to see what JUNTOS can be because they all have so much potential and are already great leaders in the classroom...

Here's some photos of our newsletter-making process...

First we met and had a discussion about HIV/Aids. Thelma and I planned an activity and the following week we asked the students how they wanted to teach others. We picked and divided up topics (How you get AIDS, how to prevent HIV, how to live with HIV and common myths or incorrect ideas about HIV in their community). Then our students worked in pairs to write what they wanted included in each section.

The students also drew pictures to go along with each section. Here's some of their drawings for transmission and prevention. And yes those crayons were sent in a care package, thank you American University RPCVs!!!

And here's a picture of the final product that they will present at schools and distribute throughout the community!

The JUNTOS members who will attend our workshop in a few weeks! These students have come every week to our meetings and are actively encouraging their friends to participate as well!

The next newsletter will be about malaria.

Finally, last week, on July 25, we celebrated Mozambican Independence Day. The day marked the 39th year of independence for the country, which is pretty exciting! After Mozambique got independence in 1975, it entered a 17-year Civil War, which ended in 1992. Since 1992, the country's been relatively peaceful (the exception being the recent violence that's occurred in the past year and has been isolated in Sofala province). Independence Day is one of the most important holidays in Mozambique, so school was canceled and just about everyone finds a way to celebrate, whether that means buying a chicken to slaughter for the celebration or making a plate of beans (instead of eating plain xima) its an important day for every one regardless of their political party affiliation, or age. Thelma and I spent the morning in the praza with our colleagues and students, watching the political speeches and cultural performances, and then we spent the rest of the day with two of my absolute favorite people in Vanduzi, Simao and Derrek. These two are my English colleagues and also, very good friends here. We collaborate at school with our lessons, and work together with English Theatre and English Club, and they will also help me with the English Literacy Program once the books arrive. They're wonderful.

Here is everyone gathered in our town praca listening to the new governor of Vanduzi give a speech.

Community members getting ready to watch another cultural performance (song or dance).

Thelma and I with our school director.

When people dance everyone does what they can to get a good view of the performance! Ha if only it were acceptable for me to watch the performances from trees as well.

Thelma and I with one of our good friends Amandia. Amandia was new in Vamduzi this year and quickly befriended us. since January though she's really come out of her shell. She has plenty of friends at school and even gave her own signing performance on Independence Day...that says a lot for someone who used to be so shy and had no friends...needless to say Thelma and I were really proud of her!

and finally, here's a picture with dereck and Simao. Simao (on the left) will be studying in the states or europe next year depending if he gets a fullbright and Derreck will hopefully be joining him there too once he finishes his studies for his masters degree. These two are easily the most hard-working and motivated people I've met here and I reAlly hope they both make it to America at some point so they can meet all of you!!

Please Help Bring ENGLISH Literacy to my Wonderful Town

As my time in Mozambique winds down (I've got six months left!) I am organizing one, final project. With the help of two of my colleagues at school I am creating an English-literacy program. I need your help though to get some English books to Mozambique. Today I turn 25, and because I am so far from home and can not celebrate and spend time with my friends and family back home I am asking you to consider buying one book for my school library as my big quarter-century birthday present. It will cost you around $5 and is something I can then share with my new friends and family here in Mozambique. Please keep reading if you want to help!

Confession. I promised myself before starting my Peace Corps service that I would not be one of those people who wrote emails home asking friends and family for money. I had spent 5 years studying International Development and one thing I took away from my studies was that you can’t just give people things in order to help them, they need to have some sort of ownership of the process and feel that they worked for what they have received. This makes work more sustainable in the long run. Well, twenty-one months later, and here I am writing a blog about how wonderful it would be if all of you who are reading this would consider buying one or two books for my community library…

I consider myself to be incredibly lucky because I am teaching English in a community where people see firsthand the benefits of learning the language. Living so close to the Zimbabwean border means that many people from my village work hard to attain jobs across the border-where they have access to a better education, medical care and a general higher standard of living OR they try to get hired by many of the foreign businesses working here who prefer their employees to speak English. In short they've recognized they can be something other than a substance-based farmer. I’ve also had the benefit of working with a few very dedicated, hard-working, English teachers who are truly invested in teaching their students how to speak English, and are ecstatic about the idea of helping create a literacy program. This brings me to my project.

Vanduzi (the village where I live) is very close to Chimoio, in the center of the country, and less than an hours drive from the Zimbabwean border.

When I arrived in Vanduzi I was honestly overwhelmed by the enthusiasm people had to learn English. Outside of teaching ninth grade, I tutor a number of students from grades 10-12, and have also helped to tutor some of my colleagues who want to master the language. I have created an English club, and English theatre group and have been working with my roommate, another PCV, Thelma, to improve our school library. MY DREAM is to have around 100 English-language children’s books donated to my school library. These books would be used for general lesson plans, in my English club meetings, and most importantly, in an English-language literacy program I am setting up with one of my fantastic colleagues. The only problem is, books in Mozambique are SO EXPENSIVE, and arguably worse, English books are almost impossible to come by…this little problem here made me change my mind about begging for help from home. After speaking with other teachers and community leaders, we agreed that if the community in Vanduzi worked to fix up the library (which is a bit dilapidated and over-run) and the director donated some new book shelves/promised to ensure the school librarian looked after the books, then it would be acceptable for me to have books donated because the community would feel ownership of the program.

Students in my English theatre group, along with my colleague Derrek, the teacher I will work most with for this literacy program. He's the once smiling in the tan shirt and khakis.

So how can you help?

Through an organization called Better World Books (www.betterworldbooks.com)! Better World Books is a global bookstore that collects donated books and distributes them in areas in need to “Bring Literacy to the World.” This organization is incredible because you can essentially go on their website, search for a book (as you would on amazon) and then purchase it BUT Better World Books will pay the shipping costs. So you can go online and buy a book for under $10 (most listed below are around $7) and send it all the way to Mozambique for FREE, where I can then use this book to teach children how to read!

Here is how you can purchase the books:

1. Choose a book (or as many as you would like). I am ideally looking for children’s books because the level of literacy is so low those would be best…I’m including a list below of general suggestions but if you have a childhood favorite, please, send away!

2. Go to http://www.betterworldbooks.com and use the search bar to find the book of your choice. If applicable, choose the cheapest, used option. And please put the shipping address as…

Haleigh Duggan
Corpo da Paz
C.P. 311
Chimoio, Mozambique

3. I promise to send pictures and thank you notes from myself and my students as the project gets under way....

Thank you so much for your help and generosity!

HERE IS A LIST OF BOOKS I HAVE ALREADY RECIEVED...

Classic books that have already been purchased...
Baby Tiger Wants to Explore- Alice Greene
Beezus and Ramona- Beverly Cleary
Berstein Bears go to School
Berstein Bears Trouble with Friends
Brave Irene (Sunburst Books)
Bridge to Terabithia- Katherine Patterson
Brow Bear, Brown Bear- Eric Carle
Caps for Sale- Esphyr Slobodkvia
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory- Roald Dahl
Charlotte’s Web- E. B. White
Cheer Up, Mouse- Jed Henry
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom- Bill Martin Jr
Children’s Visual Dictionary- Jane Bun
Clifford the Big Red Dog
Clifford, the Firehouse Dog
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs- Judi Barrett
Corduroy- Don Freeman
Curious George
Curious George and the Hot Air Ballon
Curious George Visits the Library
Danny and the Dinosaur- Sid Hoff
Dishey’s the Lion King
Disney’s Bambi
Disney’s Beauty and the Beast
Disney’s Cinderella
Disney’s Finding Nemo
Disney’s Jungle Book
Disney’s Lady and the Tramp
Disney’s Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs
Disney’s the Three Little Bigs
Ender’s Game- Orson Scott Card
Frindle- Andrew Clements
Frog and Toad are Friends- Arnold Lobby
Goalkeeper in Charge- Matt Christopher
Going Long- David Willey
Good Times- Kristen Hall
Goodnight Gorilla
Goodnight Moon
Grimm’s Fairy Tales- Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
Harold and the Purple Crayon- Crocket Johnson
Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes- Child’s Play
Henry And Mudge First Book
Higher than Hope- Fatima Meer
How to Eat Fried Worms- Thomas Rockwell
I Spy Letters
If You Give a Dog a Donut
If You Give a Moose a Muffin
Invictus- John Carlin
James and the Giant Peach- Roald Dahl
Madeline- Ludgwig Bemelmans
Magic School Bus Inside the Human Body- Joanna Cole
May I Please Have a Cookie- Jennifer Morris
Miss Nelson is Missing- James Marshall
Morris Goes to School (I Can Read Book 1)
Mr. Popper’s Penguins- Richard and Florence Atwater
Pickles to Pittsburg- Judi Barrett
Ramona the Brave- Beverly Cleary
Romana the Pest- Beverly Cleary
Sheep in a Jeep
The Absent Author (A to Z Mysteries)
Make way for ducklings
Amelia Bedelia (I Can Read Book 2)
The Alchemist- Michael Scott
The Amazing Spider Man
The BFG- Roald Dahl
The Boxcar Children- Gertrude Chandler Warner
The Bravest Dog Ever, the True Story of Balto- Natalie Standiford
The Cloud Book- Tomie de Paola
The Grouchy Ladybug
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe- C. L. Lewis
The Little Engine that Could
The Little Mouse, the Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear- Don and Audrey Wood
The Lucky Baseball Bat- Matt Christopher
The Magic Hat- Mem Fox
The Monster at the end of the Book- Sesame St.
The Phantom Tollbooth
The Rainbow Fish- Marcus Rfister
The Little Red Hen
The School Story- Andrew Clements
The Very Hungry Caterpillar- Eric Carle
The Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Clover- Lucille Colandro
The Widwife’s Apprentice- Karen Cushman
The Wizard of Oz- L. Frank Baum
Thomas the Tank Engines “Big Lift and Look Book”- Rev, W Audrey
To Kill a Mockingbird- Harper Lee
Trucks- Slide and Find Book
Where the Red Fern Grows
Where the Wild Things Are
Where the Wild Things Are- Maurice Sendak
Yawn- Sally Symes

Dr. Seuss
ABC’S
Are You My Mother (P.D. Eastmen)
Green Eggs and Ham
Happy Birthday to You
Hop on Me
Hop on Pop
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Marvin K. Mooney, Will You Please Go Now!
Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?
One fish, two fish, read fish, blue fish
Put Me in the Zoo (Robert Lopshire)
Sleep Book
The Cat in the Hat
The Foot Book
There’s a Wocket in my Pocket

Series:
Lemony Snicket’s a Series of Unfortunate Events (books 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 12)
The Magic Treehouse (1, 2, 4, 5, 9 and 17)

This is how my kids feel about English. Especially, Dom Carlos, the one front and center; he wants to be an English teacher and is so dedicated to studying, I can not wait to read with him, and the rest of his friends soon!

Estou a pedir a space heater in my next care package...

Hello! I am currently sitting at my kitchen table curled up in a blanket, drinking tea and eating apple pancakes…the cold season has begun here and boy is it cold! I’m not sure how I’m going to manage a Northeastern winter when I come home in December! The temperature here probably is in the low 40s at night/early mornings but because my house is just a concrete slab it doesn’t absorb sunlight very well. Last night I started to type this up and then had to stop because my fingers were so numb it was too difficult to type!

Weather aside, (which as a perk has been great for doing long runs, the cold bucket bath afterwards is torturous though!) things are going great here, busy as ever like I wrote in my previous blog about school…some exciting news though is that my town, Vanduzi, actually became a district, which basically means it is more important now governmentally. In Mozambique there are eleven provinces and each province has its only capital, and is divided into districts. It’s sort of similar to counties within a state back home. Well, prior to last week, Vanduzi, was just a post for Manica district (in Manica province). This meant that all local government and activities for my town were based in a larger town, 60k (and TWO chapa rides) away. Anytime my colleagues had difficulties with their pay, or someone wanted to open a new business in town or apply for identification papers (all local government stuff) they had to travel to Manica. And although Manica town is quite lovely, it’s a pain to travel there and always requires a full day trip. So needless to say, after hearing for over a year that my little town would be upgraded to a district it finally was!

So on Monday, May 26th Vanduzi received their new government officials, and there was a big celebration. School was canceled and most businesses were closed, even the market ladies took the morning off so that everyone could go to our town praza and celebrate. There were even trucks that brought people in from the bush, who live in very rural communities outside of town, but still within our new district lines. There were; a band (with horns and drums!) police and army members, representatives from various churches and community organizations, and of course all the important government people were present. There were also other random ex-pats (NON- AFRICANS) who Thelma and I noticed immediately and didn’t recognize at all. Side-note, volunteers also joke that you know you have been here too long when you start staring at (and pointing) at foreigners the way our community members used to goggle us. We think they might be businessmen who work in the outskirts of our district? Regardless, it was fun day full of people celebrating. Thelma and I spent the morning in the praza standing with our colleagues and listening to people’s speeches and singing, then spent all afternoon with a good friend, Sophia, her husband (who was visiting for the occasion) and their adorable baby. It was a really fun day, which also included Thelma and I teaching some friends how to make guacamole, which was a big hit!

Here are some pictures from the day, I apologize they aren’t that great but it was so crowded it was tough to get good pictures!

The crowd in our town praza.

"Ceremonial handover of the district of Vanduzi" other signs include messages about combatting HIV/AIDS and poverty now that Vanduzi is it's own district.

Some (retired) soldiers who attended the ceremony.

People came in cars, they came in trucks and chapas, they walked and they even came by TRACTOR! haha

Sophia's adorable baby Shanasia, who is just over a year old and is as happy and healthy as ever!

Last weekend, myself and another teacher took some students to Manica town so they could participate in their first ever Science fair. The event was really well organized and students from at least 8 different schools were present which was cool. Experiments varied from students making battery-operated cars, to homemade cleaning supplies…and one student even made his own peanut butter! The 11th grade student from Vanduzi placed first and will be moving on to participate in the provincial fair (the I am organizing!) in Chimoio later this month. So, overall, it was a really great day!

A student presenting his experiment.

Another student presenting his experiment about medicinal plants.

Students, teachers, and organizers of the Manica District Science Fair.

Other news from school, I’ve started meeting with students to prepare for English theatre. Although the competition isn’t until September they really want to practice, so we’ve started brainstorming ideas for the theme and have been doing some fun role-play activities. Thelma and my JUNTOS group is coming along slowly…every week we have new students at each meeting and we haven’t had more than 8 students show up so interest is still low (or students just don’t know we are meeting) but our group of kids are all polite, respectful, and intelligent students and, even more importantly, are very opinionated and interested in helping in their community. One of the girls in our group started writing a song about HIV/AIDS that the kids hope to perform at our workshop with other school groups later this month. The students are also keen to form a journalism project, so today we decided they would produce a journal/newsletter each month or so about a different issue they think others in the community should be informed about. Their first issue will feature four newsletters each about either: prevention of HIV/AIDS, how to live a healthy lifestyle with HIV/AIDS, common myths about HIV/AIDS, and how HIV/AIDS is transmitted. I’m really excited for this project because the students have taken ownership of it, I just voice my opinion every once in a while and bring the writing/art supplies for each meeting. They definitely are good leaders already!

And that’s it for now, I will be posting a blog early next week about a new library project I have started so you can look forward to that, have a great weekend everyone!

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 :)