Learn to ask WHY

At an exchange I attended several weeks back, there was an information session and discussion about malaria.  A nurse came to answer any and all questions students had about malaria.  Great idea! In my opinion, there is no such thing as a stupid question.  If it helps you understand, why not ask it.  Other people did not feel the same way.  After several questions like "How can you get malaria from mosquitoes but not HIV?" and "How long is a mosquito's life cycle?", one of the group facilitators, the person all these students are looking up to, stood up and said “These are stupid questions.  The details don’t matter.  You just need to know to sleep under a mosquito net and clean up dirt.”  I was appalled!! Not surprised, but upset.  This teacher is telling his kids not to be inquisitive, to not question what they are learning, and just learn how to regurgitate information, but not Why.  Why is the most important part!!!  I continued to talk to the students during lunch that day, trying to encourage any bit of curiosity and investigation.  All too often kids here are cut down and discouraged from learning.  I can only hope that little by little we can change that and promote inquisition.

Farewell

Today I said goodbye to three fellow PCVs that arrived back in September 2009 with me. Donna and Luis, who lived in Inhambane, and Jenna, who lived very close to me in Guija. They extended, like me, but only for 6 months, to finish up projects they were working on at site. It's hard to say goodbye, seeing as these people are my family.


I arrived in country with 68 other PCVs and after December 2011, only 9 of us were left (because we were crazy enough to ask to stay behind). Now, we're down to 6, only 2 of which are within 1,000km of me. Thankfully I have Scooter with me :)

Bushfire Festival!

Swaziland hosts an international music festival each year at the end of May.  I went in 2010 and this year I was able to go back.  There were about 25 PCVs from all over Moz who came (in addition to over 17,000 other people from all over southern Africa), and we listened to bands from Moz, South Africa, Swazi, Japan, and the US while lounging in the sun, drinking beer, wandering through the craft stations, and eating as much food as humanly possible.  There were fire dancers who stood on the roof of the stage, giant dancing puppets wandering through the lawn, a silent orchestra for the kids, interpretive dancing, jazz musicians, rappers, and oh so many other interesting performances.  The highlight of the festival for me (besides the people and food, of course) was Jeremy Loops, a South African One-Man Band.  Very interesting guy with a great sound.  Look him up if you get a chance!

JUNTOS!

Jovens Unidos No Trabalho para Oportunidade e Successo (Young people working together for opportunities and successes) 

Kids even watching from the trees



This is the (longwinded yet fantastic) name of a youth project run by PCVs. It was started in 2006 and has grown tremendously over the last several years. It is a coed club, unlike REDES which is just for young girls, that uses different forms of communication to transmit information to students and communities. Projects involve journalism, photo journalism, music, art, and/or theater. Participants use these medium to talk about things like HIV/AIDS, malaria, gender equality, the importance of school, and many other important issues.

On May 20th, the Estaquinha JUNTOS group hosted an exchange involving over 50 students from 3 towns. In the morning, after introductions and ice breakers, a nurse from the local health center came to talk about malaria and how we can best protect ourselves. He was able to answer any and all questions that participants had. After lunch, the many theater pieces and music presentations began. All participants were normal JUNTOS kids, yet they were not the only beneficiaries of the exchange. As the presentations were being held on the school grounds (and the town in extremely small to begin with), people started pouring in from all over. Young kids, other non-JUNTOS students, teachers, and community members gathered around to watch the different events, including a skit about the negative effects of drugs and alcohol, a poem about the dangers of malaria, songs about JUNTOS, and a skit about domestic abuse. The skits were presented in a mixture of Portuguese and Endow (the local language), and by the end of the afternoon, several hundred people had gathered.



Get to know you songs



Dancing



It was awesome to see so many people getting into the skits, laughing, exclaiming, and (hopefully) learning something. An amazingly successful exchange!








Nurse, presenting about malaria


Ian, PCV Mangunde, getting a little help with his keyboarding





Kids gathered to watch



Movie Night

Friday and Saturday nights in Estaquinha are pretty special- movie nights!! Because the majority of the students live on campus (the mission), there's really not a lot to do at night but braid each other's hair, study (yeah, right), or just sit.  So Dylan and David created movie night.  Using the school's projector (I wish I had one of those for my house!), Friday night they go to the girl's cafeteria and Saturday night they set up outside the boys dorm.  The movies are most often in English with Portuguese subtitles, and Saturday I got to sit outside with the boys (+100 of them) and watch Avatar.  It was fun to watch their reactions to the movie, considering the most likely didn’t understand anything that was happening, but they were so happy anyway! So happy to have something entertaining (and maybe educational?) to do. 

Back in Chimoio

I’m so exhausted!!! I’ve been on the road for almost a month, and although I’m having an awesome time, I feel like every day I’m off to a new place, new people, new things to see and do, but there’s never enough time. Although I can’t complain too much- last night I met up with Sean, Joanna, and Val and we all went out for beer and Indian food. Delicious. Tomorrow, off to Estaquinha, Sofala province, for a JUNTOS exchange. Then back home!


I’ll try to accumulate some picture to post- I have seen SO many amazing sites, I really want to chare them all.

Angonia

After Tete, off to Angonia. Even more beautiful! A pain in the rear to get to, but that's almost all Peace Corps sites.  Again, the rolling hills, lush ground, big yellow flowers all over the place, and cool temperature. I visited two PCVs that live on the IFP (teacher training school) campus, and as I walked in, I did not feel like I was in Africa. Each house had a stone walkway lined with flowery bushes and archways, and a big garden out back.

I walked through town while the girls were teaching and ended up in an ENORMOUS open market. Supposedly it’s a Wednesday and Saturday market, but even on a Tuesday it was hoppin'. I found my way through rows and rows of shoes, blankets, buckets, handmade furniture, capulanas, fish, veggies, goats, and anything else you might want. And surprisingly, I didn’t get harassed the entire time I was there!! I love Angonia :)

Also, just outside their house there is a water pump, and a little boy was trying to carry water. Typical- children really don’t like to wear pants. This picture makes me laugh every time I see it!

Malawi!

My first stop in Tete was Zobwe, a relatively small town on the border with Malawi. Like the rest of the province, I fell in love with the site. I walked with Dan, one of the two PCVs in Zobwe, through the town, winding on narrow paths, through people’s yards, and passing hundreds of giant yellow flowers. This spot was not only beautiful but really felt like a community and a Peace Corps site. Of course, as we go out for a dinner of PB and nutella sandwiches, beer, goldfish, and skittles (they just got a care package), the power went out. Now that’s Peace Corps.

In the morning as Lisa had class, Dan showed me around a bit. We hiked about 15min north of their house, passed through several corn fields, houses, and rivers, and landed in Malawi! The border is marked by two white flags planted at the top of two mountains, but there is literally no other marker. You can just wander over.

We did cross the actual border a bit later in the morning, (got my passport stamped and everything!) to meet up with a PC response volunteer and another American (well, Canadian, but close) for lunch. Lisa and I wandered around and did a little thrift shopping while the boys waited for food. Now I have clothes from Malawi!

I just loved Zobwe. The school is small, the town feels like a community, and when you need to get out, there is a city in Malawi only about 2 hours away (with a movie theater!!). Definitely could come back here.

Tete

What a beautiful province!! Looking at a map of Moz, it's the north western chunk of the country.  It's known for its heat in the summers, and I remember during training they joked around with me, saying they send all the Alaskans to Tete, to watch them suffer (Amanda, a friend of mine from AK, did PC Moz in Tete several years back).   The drive up was beautiful, with so many mountains and rolling hills.  At times the land got really dry and barren, reminding me of Arizona.  The summers do get insanely hot (up to 50 celsius- just over 120 fahrenheit), but up in the mountains where I was visiting, it actually gets pretty chilly. Gaza province is flat and boring, I love Inhambane province, with all the beaches and coconut trees, but if I had to choose anywhere in the country to live, it would be Tete (pics to come.  Damn not having a camera!)

Catandica

After a few days in Chimoio, I traveled two hours northwest to Catandica, a town at the base of several beautiful mountains.  Manica province- amazing! Man, I can’t believe I have never been up here before. I’m so jealous of these volunteers!  So, Catandica- unfortunately I didn’t have but a few hours in the town, so no hiking time, but just walking from town out to the school campus where two PCVs live was fantastic.  A bit dusty (my hair was a distinct red color after the 15 minute walk), but very picturesque. 

Step In Time

As I was waiting for a FUEMO (Future business leaders of Mozambique) meeting to start, I looked across a field and noticed several boys dancing on the ledge of what looked like a concrete fenced basketball court.  I watched the boys jump around, hopping up and down, flailing their arms, disappearing and then popping back up again.  All I could think of was Mary Poppins and the rooftop scene, Step In Time.   I recommend googling that scene, and then imagine them as little Mozambicans boys.  It was hilarious.

Chimoio

This morning I only had to wait 2.5 hours for a ride out of town, not bad. PLUS I got a seat in front, rather than in the back of the open bed truck. My bum was very happy about that, after the 1.5hours of extremely bumpy road we traveled. No waiting at the next spot, instead a front seat on a bus, shared with a chicken. I may have been peed on, but hey, it was a comfortable seat.

The drive into Chimoio was beautiful- hilly and lush and green, with beautiful homes with grassy lawns and stunning flowery shrubs. I feel like I haven’t seen grass in 2.5 years- maybe they clear it because they’re afraid of snakes, maybe too many mosquitoes. Maybe they just like sweeping dirt, I don’t know. But up here, I saw grassy lawns and I liked it. It reminded me of a very bucolic drive I took with my parents through South Africa last year. It’s been fun watching the scenery change as I move north- Mozambique is so diverse (and I’m only in central!).

As we went through a little town, we came up behind a funeral procession. There were probably about 150 people walking behind the open back truck. We drove behind them until they turned off the main road. This was the third funeral procession I saw today.

I arrived in the city and walked my way to the PC office here. The town is small but clean, open, and full of restaurants, banks, real stores, and new, official looking buildings. I’m having dinner with Valerie tonight, one of my best friends from Chokwe who now lives here (another extendee!!), who has promised me cheese and wine (WOOHOO!) and tomorrow is a “business lunch” over Indian food with Shane (Moz 16er). I think I’m going to like Chimoio.

Let Talk about Sex

Tonight I was able to participate in Mike's REDES meeting. There were just over 20 girls, all motivated to talk and learn about HIV transmission risks (the session planned for the night). It was probably a good thing I was there, because even though Mike has a female counterpart that helps lead the sessions, this sessions led into oh so many questions about sex.  Talking about sex is SO taboo here- there's no sex ed in schools, parents don't talk about it with their kids, so even the basics get lost.  I believe Mozambique is still of the mentality "If we don't talk about it, it won't happen." Yeah, that's why the HIV rate is as high as 26% in some districts here... Anyways, back to the meeting.  I think having me in the room really let the girls feel comfortable to ask just about anything- not only am I a woman and someone who is informed about sex and HIV transmission, but I’m also a stranger that they could ask embarrassing questions and never have to see again.  So they let loose.  I was proud of them- it’s not easy.  I was even more proud that once boys showed up outside the door snickering at words I’d written on the board (penis, vagina, semen, anal sex- you know, the basics), the girls ignored them and kept on asking questions.  If only a few girls learned a few new things, I’d consider that it a successful day. 

JUNTOS

After spending an afternoon reading and catching up on documentation of my business trip, I traveled out to Mangunde, yet another site with no organized transport in the middle of nowhere.  Like Mandy, these guys live on the school grounds so there is always something going on.  I can see that getting tiresome, but it's AMAZING for secondary projects like JUNTOS and REDES.

I went to two JUNTOS meetings.  The first was a theatre group creating and practicing a piece for an exchange they're having this weekend.  There had to be at least 25 kids in the room, and they all helped with the creation of the story, even though only about 10 of them would get to perform.  After only an hour and a half they had a pretty solid piece- I was impressed.  The second group was working on creating songs for an upcoming meeting.   They were singing in Portuguese and Endow, the local language in this area, so that they can use these songs to take into the communities to teach lessons about health issues.  I'm not a singer, not even a bit, so I really admire the way they can sing as a group, letting one person start a tune, others fall in, harmonizing, and just going and going, adding verses. It's like when I first heard the 11th and 12th graders in Hokwe harmonizing during the national anthem.  Where do they learn that?  They sound fantastic! Of course, not ALL the time, but a large majority.  Then they added dancing on top of the singing- I loved it.

Just Another Sunday Night

Mac is a 6'4" blonde hair blue eyed giant.  Tonight, he put on some Richard Simmons shorts, a cropped mesh tank top, aviators, and a baseball hat, took his music to the girls dorm, and started an aerobics dance party.  It started a few weeks ago, the girls got super into it, so now every Saturday and Sunday night they have a dance party, which is also good for their health. And awesome to watch. (PS drumming I heard last night- they imrpovised their own music because Mac was out of town.)

 

I love their huge smiles!!



REDES Troca

I spent an afternoon and evening in Nova Mambone, which was beautiful. It's about 50km off the EN1 with little huts scattered along the road and open fields, and just has a completely calm and comfortable feeling. The school I visited was very new and quite beautiful (Kate has benches situated under mango trees just out her back door. I have no idea how she makes it to class instead of camping out there with a book all day.) I was able to watch her English theater practice which was hilarious! Her students got so into it, improvising and acting with their whole bodies (very rarely do I see that here), and their English was pretty fantastic.


This morning, we brought a group of 4 girls to Machungue for a REDES troca. We first caught a chapa into town, walked 20 minutes to the Rio Save, took a canoe made from a hallowed out tree across the river, trekked through the mud, walked 30 more minutes, and finally arrived at Micah's school, situated on a mission. (Let me now point out that it's about 1030am which is hot with the sun beating down, I'm covered in mud from mid-calf down, and I have by two bags weighing about 80lbs on me. I'm getting tougher.) Ok- enough about me- the REDES troca involved 4 of Kate's girls, 9 of Micah's girls, and 5 girls who live about 20 minutes down the road. We started by introducing the topic of the day: How do you know if a boy will make a good boyfriend? A good boyfriend make a good husband? How can a man show he loves you? All of these questions and more we discussed all afternoon as we cooked. It was interesting to hear their thoughts. Many of the girls talked about respect and communication being important in relationships. Good. Several girls talked about not being able to trust men because none of them are faithful. Hmm. “All men cheat?” I asked. “Yes.” That made me depressed, that it is so culturally acceptable that men have wives but other women on the side. I've heard this before but still, I really feel for these girls. Also, it's a complete double standard. There's no way it's ok for a woman to have a husband and men on the side. We also talked about future plans: If your future plans do not line up with his, do you still marry him or try to find someone with similar life goals? This question seemed to confuse all of them. “Future goals? Like if I want to be a doctor and he wants to be a mechanic, should we still get married? Sure, as long as we respect each others jobs.” Of course that's not at all what I was trying to get at, but the concept of future plans is not something that many people think of or maybe even understand. Again, something I've heard before, but there must be something about hearing it from girls I've never talked to before and from a completely different region of the country that hit me hard. We continued talking all throughout lunch, sharing stories and whatnot, and then two of the three groups put on skits about women's rights and the importance of taking care of your body, because it's YOURS and nobody else's. I love hearing girls take like that :)

So I'm currently sitting in Micah's house, listening to a drum circle happening just outside his house with kids dancing and singing. I think I'm going to go check this out...

Turns out it was a dance party going on at the girls dorm. Something they typically do each weekend, break out the drums and break it down for an hour or so before dinner. Seemed pretty great to me :)

Mabote

I stayed in Makwakwa (such a fun name, right?!) for most of the day, hanging out with the kids of the school, talking to Mandy, and getting a feel for how things are run there. I went out to the road to catch a ride back 14km to Julie's site, and we waited about an hour or so (surprisingly short amount of time). I may or may not have ridden a motorcycle, and if I had (which I'm not saying I did) it would've been my first in Mozambique. Once with Julie in Mabote we wandered about, went out to eat where we were able to charge our phones and computers (she has no electricity), and talk about PC.


In the morning I went for a run through the bush: it was awesome. It was a dirt path leading to nowhere, with thick forest on either side of me, super misty and cool, and I felt like I was in the middle of nowhere, all alone.

After my run, I met her counterpart Castilo, who she works with on FUEMO (Future business leaders of Mozambique) and her English class. He is about my age, a 12th grade grad, working to open a shop but coming up shorthanded. He speaks great English but wants to continue studying, and he's currently writing a business proposal to turn in to FUEMO to try and receive money to open his shop. I spoke to him alone for awhile and he raved about how much help Julie has been. Working with someone with a different point of view as well as a strong drive to make things happen has really opened doors for him, as well as opened up his way of thinking. It has been so great to meet people changed by PCVs!

My trip out of town was about as easy as my trip in- not easy at all. I waited for almost 3 hours with ZERO cars going by, but finally got in a truck. Which broke down 4 times. Thankfully people passed us on the road to help jump-start the car, and everything worked out perfectly fine, but that was not somewhere I wanted to be stranded.

Amazing Stories from Students

I met one of Mandy's students, and he told me about the amazing impact she's had on his life. She went to Chimoio to go hiking last year and when she came back with pictures he became so curious and motivated to travel. Earlier this year, she went back again, and this time took him along. He told me what an experience it was, to see a different part of the country and to take a journey he said he never thought he had the courage to take. He said she showed him to never underestimate himself, that he is much more independent and capable than he'd thought, and to keep trying to pushing himself because there is so much out there to see and do.


Another of Mandy's students from the sewing club, a boy, said Mandy had opened his eyes as well. He told me, “I asked Teacher Mandy to sew my uniform back together so I could wear it to school. She said 'absolutely not! You're going to learn how to do it yourself.'” I asked the boy if it was easy- “So easy! And it sort of made me realize that there are a lot of little easy things I can do that I had never really thought about. I'm going to keep trying new things- I like it.” Mandy, you're AMAZING!!!

The Journey Begins!!

My first stop was a town just a few hundred km from Vil, so I allowed myself more than 10 hours to get there, assuming that was more than enough. Well, I got to Mapenhane around 830am to wait for a ride into Mabote, which is 120km off the EN1 (and Mapenhane) down a dirt road. I waited until 1130 before a car even drove by. I asked to catch a ride, and they thankfully said yes, placing me on the back of a loaded up truck. I was with about 8 other Mozambicans. We stopped several times on the trip to unload things from the truck. And every time we stopped, practically the whole town would come to meet the truck. The people I was traveling with were coming from South Africa where they had bought things (table and chairs, bikes, buckets, clothes, food, etc) for people in the town. Not only did they bring things, they brought a Molungo!!! All the kids in the town would stare at me, talk about me, and try to touch me, like I might be a ghost. The old drunk men in town would also try to talk to me. Of course by now I'm used to people staring at me, and this journey I was so excited to see these little tiny towns that I didn't actually mind the staring and touching. It was so cool to see the faces of the traveler's families and the kids light up as they saw things being loaded off the truck.


Well, I finally got to Mabote at about 5pm. However this was not my last stop. Julie (the PCV in the town) and Angela (visiting PCV) came to meet me and walk me to the best place to catch a ride. Once we realized there was NO way I was catching a ride before nightfall, we started walking through town looking for someone I could pay to take me the 14km to Makwakwa, Mandy's site. We finally found a car that was (in a round about way) going to Makwakwa and so I jumped in. Driving out, it looked so stereotypical Africa to me, it was spectacular, with the red and orange sky setting over giant trees as we drove through the forest on a sandy path.

Mandy lives on the school grounds, so as we waiting for the power to come on (the school gets roughly three hours in the mornings and three hours at night), I met several of her students and asked about her projects. A bit later I went with her to her sewing club. I was so tickled when the first two students walked in, grabbed their things, and started sewing. They were both boys. More students came throughout the next hour, and I met about 20 kids and talked to them about sewing and their basketball team (separate groups that Mandy leads). One girl noticed the REDES shirt I was wearing, commented that she LOVES REDES and really wants to participate again (she did when she lived in Maxixe 3 years ago) and how can she get involved. I was SO happy to hear that she has such a good experience and wants to continue.

I finally crawled into bed at about 1030 and, I'm embarrassed to say, fell asleep mid sentence while talking to Mandy. Of course she forgave me, but what an exhausting first day of my trip!! I'm hoping this gets easier.