June 16, 2013

We have two clubs at our school right now. One is an English group and the other is our JUNTOS group. We have at least ten kids that come each week, including our counterpart Helder. This past weekend, we had a JUNTOS conference with the volunteers in Mocimboa da Praia and Montepuez. We were only allowed to bring five of our students but the students that did come had a lot of fun! We discussed gender differences, leadership characteristics, types of violence/abuse, and HIV/AIDS prevention. Students donated blood, played a puberty relay race, and acted in a play. At the end, all the kids got a certificate and a free shirt (their favorite part :) ). Thanks again for hosting us Montepuez! 

 The Mariri JUNTOS group acting in a play about violence. 

Puberty relay race

All the participants with their certificates 

Mariri JUNTOS group

 Liz and I with our kids :)

June 8, 2013

This past weekend we went to Ilha de Moçambique to participate in Ocean Fest, an event created by the volunteer who lives there. It was great to see what some of the volunteers are doing in other parts of Mozambique and to see a lot of the friends I had made during training. The food was delicious, of course. Fresh seafood! And the activities were a lot of fun. Many volunteers brought bags and peanut butter that their clubs had made. I even met another volunteer who is part of JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency), which is like Peace Corps but for Japan! 

We also had fun exploring the island. There is so much history there. Half of the island is covered with beautiful old and ruined Portuguese buildings. The other half is lower in elevation and where most of the native Mozambicans live. In the past, the traders took rocks/stones from one side of the island and brought them to the “better” side to build their houses. 

One of my favorite spots was the Garden of Memory. Here is a short piece of history I found there for anyone interested: “The island of Mozambique found itself at the cross-roads between the trade routes of African, Arab, Chinese, Indian, and European cultures and acted as the capital of the country until the 19^th century. Today, traces of its history still remain (i.e. a fortress, religious buildings, palaces, warehouses). Until the 18^th century, the island served as the major point of departure of slaves from Mozambique. Hundreds of thousands of women, children, and men were sold and sent throughout the world (Indian Ocean, South and North America, West Indies, the Caribbean, and the Persian Gulf).” 

It’s so easy to forget that slavery was such a big part of Mozambique’s past. I’m grateful that they still have places that honor the memory of all the people forced into slavery. “We observe the past and the future glances back.” 

Ocean Fest! 

A JUNTOS group singing about the prevention of AIDS

Singing songs and building sand castles after a beach clean up

Kids watching a documentary on pollution in the oceans

Mozambique Island’s beach with the fortress in the background

The passage between the secondary school and its office. Could you imagine teaching in a school with the ocean as your student’s playground? 

June 5, 2013

Today Liz and I realized we have an unhealthy relationship with our site. We kept trying to deny the fact that there is something wrong but today was the final straw. Too many things have made it painfully obvious to everyone but us that we need to move. As Peace Corps already told us, we are living in the hardest site in Cabo Delgado. We don’t have a market to buy fresh produce, bread, or eggs so we’re forced to travel many weekends and bring back as much as we can carry. Traveling is also a chore because there is only one car that leaves and returns every day and we are not allowed to ride on motorcycles (they’re dangerous!). 

We don’t have electricity and, therefore, cook on charcoal for every meal. It’s impossible for anyone to contact us because we do not have cell service inside our house and we can’t call anyone ourselves when we are inside. This has been a major problem, especially since we had another security incident last night. We dismissed our guard because he came to our house drunk too many times and was waking us and our neighbors up at all hours of the night. I couldn’t sleep last night and around 3:30 in the morning I jumped out of bed because it sounded like someone was banging on my window. I called Liz and shone my flashlight in the window and the noise didn’t return, thank goodness. Liz slept on the rope bed in my room until it was light but we were still pretty scared. 

Today, the school did nothing to help us. My schedule had just been changed again last week. This time, our school decided to take away all of my English classes except for one and give me all of 8^th and 9^th grade biology. It turns out the previous teacher was an alcoholic and had not been coming to class for a month. The students did not have a teacher and I was expected to come in and bring them up to date in a week. 

Today, however, the pedagogical director came by and told us that one of us needed to go to the director’s house. Since the director still is not speaking to me, Liz had to go and I was left to proctor her physics tests. My students, once again, did not have a biology teacher. I was frustrated, annoyed, and still recovering from last night. To top everything off, Liz came back and told me how unprofessional the director, our boss, treated her and how uncomfortable he made her. He also did nothing to help us with our security situation besides showing Liz the nails that were removed from his own door. Apparently, last week, someone tried to break into his house and steal the generator he’s “protecting” for the secondary school. 

Mariri is a great place but there are too many problems that outweigh all the good. We finally agree, it’s time to move! Wish us luck on getting a new home!

May 19, 2013

This past weekend we had a Cabo Delgado Cook-off in Montepuez! There were six teams in total and a huge variety of food. Liz and I represented Mariri by making a banana stuffed coconut French toast with buttermilk syrup and homemade bread. Yum! There were also calzones, passion fruit grilled chicken, pulled pork (which won first place!), homemade peanut butter, and a sweet potato curry. I think we got 4^th place this year but don’t worry, next year we’ll win ;)

 Preparing the food!

 Judging the dishes

French Toast!

Group photo

May 13, 2013

I’m home! Traveling to Vilankulos was a lot of fun but now it’s back to the “real” world ;) When we returned from the vacation, our school had a little surprise for us. The schedule is completely different! They took away all of my Biology classes, gave me an extra English class, and Liz is now teaching physics instead of chemistry. We weren’t too happy and weren’t there to fight for our classes during the break so here we are! My new English class is an 8^th grade class. Completely different from my 11^th graders. Most of my female students don’t speak Portuguese, let alone English. Wish me luck! 

Liz and I spent last weekend with a few other volunteers and two girls who work with missionaries on a beach in Mecufi, just south of Pemba. It is a new lodge that is owned by a previous Peace Corps volunteer who served in Nambia and her husband. We were picked up at the airport and taken to the beach 30 minutes away. The food was delicious! We went out to stargaze, look at the bioluminescence algae in the water, and walked out into the ocean during low tide to check out the tide pools. Fun and memorable birthday weekend :) 

 Sunrise on the beach

Starfish!

 

Stumbled upon this cute little guy