June 13, 2014

Happy Friday the 13^th! I woke up this morning to water leaking out of a decrepit pipe in our front yard. What?? Apparently the dam is now full and our house has pluming. The problem is that all the pipes are old/broken so nothing is coming out of the spigots. BUT we have running water right outside our house now! Yey! We’ll get running water now potentially once a day, depending if there’s electricity to power the pump.

The evidence. Our neighbor tried helping us stop the flow of water by stuffing leaves into the pipe. It kinda worked lol

We were pretty excited about the water but it became a problem when tons of people started hanging out in our yard, right next to our door, all morning to take the water. After calling Peace Corps, it was decided that Peace Corps staff would come to bring us materials so we can have a spigot in our backyard, where strangers won’t be able to just come and hang out whenever they want.

The water incident this morning was completely unexpected and extremely inconvenient for us. This weekend, Elizabeth and I were supposed to go to Monapo again for a different conference (JUNTOS). This time, we were bringing five students and one counterpart. We chose students based on who came to our meets regularly and helped us create our theater piece about malaria. I volunteered to stay home to monitor the water situation (and try to finish blogging!) so here I am. I’ll post pictures though, no worries!

Most of our students who went to the JUNTOS conference also participated in a competition this morning called… Science Olympiad! I was so excited when I first heard that we were one of the schools chosen to participate in the pilot program but, unfortunately, it was nothing like what I was use to. There were no projects, only three hand written tests in chemistry, biology, and physics. Still, it was exciting to hear that there is a program here with great incentives to participate (the national winner gets to go to Uganda!). Last year, Nick’s school participated in a Math Olympiad so it looks like the government/schools are trying to incorporate more extracurricular activities students can participate in. We were also invited to help prepare a girl who wrote a poem and another theater group who are going to compete in a national cultural competition in Vilanculos.



The finished product after Peace Corps helped us out. We have a new water spigot in our backyard!

Library Updates

Things are going well at the library! We signed up a few students that come on a regular basis and a lot of the construction has been finished. Glass windows were added and two front doors were re-made. Still waiting on the grates to be finished so the books can permanently live in the library but for now it’s working as is. Based on everyone’s schedule, we have one hour tutoring session twice a week: once in the morning and another in the afternoon. On Thursdays and some Saturdays, we play games and do activities with the kids for one hour. There are a few mats in the library that we bring outside to sit in the shade since there’s not a lot of room inside the building.

On a typical tutoring day, students wash their hands outside, choose a book, and sit with the book for twenty minutes. During that time, some of the facilitators are sitting with the kids to help them with the books while others prepare lessons. After that, the facilitators teach a class. Usually they will choose a specific letter, a key word with that letter, and have the child practice writing it (first in the air and then on the chalkboard). Then, they sing the alphabet song and listen while another facilitator reads a book in Portuguese.

Volunteers sitting with the children during Reading Time.

A volunteer teaching the letter “I” using a the key word “igreja” or church. We usually have a large audience that hangs out outside the window as well.

Children watching as a child uses the pointer stick to identify the letters “I” in the alphabet.

Outside lessons.

An almost complete panoramic shot of the library if you are standing in the doorway. The door to the left leads into the volunteer’s room (their pictures are on the front) and the banana capalana (sarong) covers a storage room to the right.

Being at the library brings back tons of memories from when I used to go to the library in Quartz Hill. We’re hoping the community provides someone to work permanently and full time at the library so it will be sustainable. We don’t want it to close when we leave. However, no one has volunteered for the position so as of now we’re hoping the next Peace Corps volunteers will want to continue with the library. I think the volunteers themselves will continue. They’re getting lots of experience and most of them want to be teachers. Couldn’t be more proud :)

June 9, 2014

Can’t believe it finally happened but it did! Today we had the first ever Meconta District Science Fair. Elizabeth and I had been working with our counterpart (who had helped us out a lot with the library) plan everything out and the date we had set was May 24^th. The morning of, we showed up with our students, ready to go, when the school director showed up with a notice that the date had changed to some other weekend in the near future. Apparently, they had just decided to change the date the day before because the administrator (governor) of Meconta wanted to come and she was busy that day. It was extremely frustrating, especially because no one had told us this beforehand.

 Our counterpart kept pushing back the date until the very last possible day we could participate. We took over a room at our school, set chairs up and desks, and prepped our students. Overall, there were seven groups (three from our school and two from another school in our district, Namialo). The winning groups were a home alarm system, glue to patch up tin roofs, a battery powered toy car, and a periscope. The students, especially the older ones, knew their information and it was fun watching the judges (Elizabeth one of them) quiz the kids. A lot of our students in Meconta also had the opportunity to walk around and see the projects and get ideas for next year.

Students explaining their project.

The glue group (to make this glue in particular you mix gasoline and Styrofoam, which is actually napalm. So although this glue is waterproof, keep it far away from fires!)

The homemade residential alarm group! When either the wooden door or window was opened, the light would turn on and music would start to play. These guys did a great job explaining the physics behind their project and the only girl who participated in the fair was in this group.

 

Overall, the fair was a success. The administrator never showed up (of course) but I think the students had fun. Hopefully the winners will do well in the Nampula Provincial Science Fair and we get more participants for next year.  

By the way, did you notice the classroom that we had the science fair in? That particular classroom is now in the process of becoming the new school science laboratory! When Elizabeth and I went to school after the break, we found out that thirty boxes had been delivered to our school full of lab equipment! The boxes haven’t been opened yet (apparently the school is waiting for a guy to officially set everything up?) but Elizabeth has offered, on multiple occasions, to do everything herself. There is no point waiting around for a guy who might never show up, we only have a few more months left here! To get things moving, Elizabeth asked her 11^th grade students to paint a periodic table. It’s looking pretty good, can’t wait to see how it turns out when it’s finished!

 

Painting the periodic table in our future laboratory.

June 6, 2014

Hey everyone! Sorry it has been so long since I updated this blog. It’s been harder and harder for me to find the motivation to write. I’m used to keeping a journal when I’m traveling or going through a rough patch but for long periods of time? Not really my forte lol I feel comfortable here. Not so much in that I don’t want to return home, but I’m happy most days and pretty settled into my routines. All the new and exciting things I wanted to tell everyone about back home just seem so mundane now. Plus, I feel super out of practice! I keep thinking back to all those essays I wrote in college and how much longer and harder it would be for me to do that now. Got to get back in groove though. Grad school, I’m coming for you!

Just finished Skyping Tani, Casey, Clark, and Andrew. It was so good to see and hear all the amazing things you guys are doing. Can’t wait to catch up with you in person in six months :)

I also realized that I haven’t posted that many photos of my town. Here are some if you’re interested:

The Plaza.

The Meconta Catholic Church.

 

The Mural outside the Infant Park. The building with the huge crowd outside is our library.

June 1, 2014

We had a fun vacation this past weekend. Elizabeth, Arielle, and I went to Nacala to visit a friend. Have you guys heard of Nacala? It has the deepest natural port on the east coast of Africa, tons of factories/very industrial, a new international airport that is expected to soon, and coal is expected to start being shipped out in December. Basically, there is a lot of stuff happening in Nacala! Should be really interesting to see how it develops in the next ten years and what it does for Mozambique as a whole.

Our “vacation” itself was great. We had a braai (South African barbeque), cheese, cereal, brownies, gourmet tea, hot showers, air conditioning, a pool, and satellite TV. It’s nice to slip back into the first world once in a while but I was still happy to go back to Meconta.

We met a South African girl who had just arrived in Mozambique two months ago and invited her to come see our home in Meconta. She drove us back home and the next day we showed her our market, bought capalanas, and watched all the festivities for Children’s Day. Later that day and the next day was one big celebration to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of Meconta Day. Wish I had taken some pictures. The festivities were like most holidays but we did have a larger group of people and more of a variety of people performing. A very cool experience, especially since we could show our town off to other people.

May 19, 2014

A couple of weeks ago I had gone to Monapo for the weekend to participate in a REDES Training of Trainers.  Peace Corps Volunteers and their host country national counterparts from Cabo Delgado and Nampula were there and it was great meeting everyone. This past weekend, Elizabeth and I brought four female eleventh grade students with us to Monapo to participate in the REDES (Girls in Development, Education, and Health) Conference/Workshop with around forty other girls.  It was jammed pack full of information and a great opportunity for our girls to meet other girls from other sites.

Two of the main health sections involved learning about Malaria and HIV/AIDS. It was great to hear all the questions they had and listening to some of the myths that exist here in relation to these common diseases. Arielle once again did her fantastic “Sexual Relations” talk and all the girls/volunteers had an opportunity to get a free HIV testing.

During the HIV/AIDS session.

I helped present the session on “Goals” (Elizabeth was sick, once again ;). Girls were asked to decide what their goal was, obstacles they would encounter, and what they could do to overcome the obstacles. The Mozambican counterpart leading the session, Sónia, did a fantastic job. She engaged the girls and made the activity a lot of fun. Her example was that she wanted to be a famous singer and had all the girls singing Passaro de Fogo by Paula Fernandes along with her. This song was played all the time when I first came to Mozambique and is still one of my favorites. It was absolutely adorable because almost all the girls knew the words by heart. Wish I had a video of it to show you all!

The most difficult session was about creating a unique product in your community and how to sell it to make a profit. Most Mozambicans I know struggle with money. They are never taught how to manage their money or even save it. If they receive money, it is always spent within a few hours (no piggy banks here). Local businesses here are all the same and the kids who sell cell phone credit make hardly any money. As I mentioned in a previous post, an Expatriate here named Eduardo was here in Mozambique for five years trying to teach/implement programs on entrepreneurship. He even created a program for a high school class on entrepreneurship that I know at least one Peace Corps volunteer has taught. It’s a great program and students are learning, little by little. With REDES, girls have sold lots of things in the past like peanut butter, jewelry, and purses. During this workshop, girls were shown mathematically what they needed to calculate to make sure they were making money and the importance of being financially independent was stressed on multiple occasions. When they were finished, the participants got hands on experience learning how to make peanut butter.

Making peanut butter. All you need are roasted peanuts, sugar, and salt. Easy and fun, viola!

One of the last sessions was about violence against women (depressing) but it was countered with REDES Fame. All the Mozambican counterparts (Zizi, Esperança, Sónia, and Muazareia) were asked to talk about their lives to show the girls that if these women could do all these great things, they can too. The most inspiring talk was given by my friend, Muazareia. During the Training of Trainers she had led many of the sessions. She was funny, energetic, well informed, and a great speaker. I was constantly impressed by everything she did and was so glad to see such a strong Mozambican role model. It was during her speech about her life story that I learned how she became the woman she is today. Muazareia is only 19 years old (!!) and from Angoche, a site that has had Peace Corps Volunteers for over ten years. It was hard for her to pay for high school because her father died and left them with no money. She had to work/take care of her siblings and mother while trying to study when one day, a man attempted to sexually assault her when she was walking back home. Going to REDES meetings helped her through this period in her life and she finally graduated from high school last year. She applied to get into a teacher training institute a few months ago but was rejected because she had not bribed the admissions officials.

Lots of tears were shed during her speech (including mine) and it was nice to see how much her story had an impact on the girls.  Muazareia has had a very difficult life so far but just looking and listening to her, you know she’s going to do great things in the future. My admiration and pride in her has grown so much over these past few days. I feel lucky to have met her and call her a friend. It’s comforting knowing that we are leaving Mozambique in the very capable hands of women like her. I also hope that, as a Peace Corps Volunteer, I am making a difference in the lives of people in my community. I know for certain the volunteers in Angoche who came before us did.

Muazareia and I with the abandoned kitten (Juju). His back legs stopped working after a kid threw a rock at him.

Team Meconta: Sofia, Samira, Laura, and Beatriz.

May 11, 2014

I spent a nice relaxing school break hanging out at the house in Meconta. I got to host a few Peace Corps volunteers, including Nick, while Elizabeth went to Ibo in Cabo Delgado. Her vacation didn’t go as well as mine because she was sick with a little thing called Malaria. It was pretty bad but since then she has recovered, thank goodness. If you want to hear the full story (which includes the Pemba volunteers getting Dengue Fever, two airplane flights, and liver failure) feel free to send her a message.

Elizabeth and I were finally reunited on Mozambique Island for Beer Olympics. We stayed the night with Eduardo, a really intelligent and nice Portuguese Expatriate who had been working here in Mozambique for five years and was finally leaving to go home at the end of this month. He has done so many great things for this country so I was grateful we had the opportunity to say goodbye to him before he left forever.

To celebrate my birthday I ate pizza (YUM. SO WORTH IT) and we went snorkeling/kayaking near the fort. When I got home, Elizabeth made cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. I had a really fun day until Elizabeth realized that the money we had been saving for the library was stolen. Someone had taken money out of our communal wallet before but this time was much worse. The total amount was around $200 and I knew exactly who had done it, although I hadn’t realized it had happened earlier. After talking to the family, police, and judge, nothing was resolved. We never got any of the money back but still trying to continue with library construction as planned. Trusting that it’ll all work out in the end.

Group photo, about to get in the kayaks

On the water

Some of the awesome fish we were able to see snorkeling.

 

Cupcakes! Thanks for a great birthday!

April 23, 2014

Yesterday I got a surprise official visit to the house by a very important guy who works with administration. He introduced me to a group of men that said they work for the Nampula Public Library. I had no idea that there was even a public library in Nampula but apparently, ever year on International Book Day (April 23^rd) they choose a library in the province of Nampula that is already doing a lot of stuff and give that library books. Guess who got chosen this year! I was lucky to have one of our tutors at my house when they arrived to help explain all the things we do in the library and they seemed pretty impressed! The next day, our students were told to come and participate in Book Day at the stage where all important things happen. There was a competition for who had the best poem and books were given out as prizes. Plus we got lots of books! Super grateful that we had this great opportunity.

The bookshelf with all our books (before we got new books). These include all the English/children’s books that Elizabeth’s grandma sent us, thank you again!

Students presenting their speeches and poems with everyone else watching

 

A selection of some of the books our library gets to keep!

Speaking of the tutor who was at my house. The guy, Josias, had been giving Elizabeth lessons in the local language. Recently, a man heard Josias talking in English to us. Because it is so hard to find people who speak English fluently, he told Josias that if he learned how to use a computer he would hire him. This was fantastic news! It is so hard to find a job here unless you know someone or if you’re rich. Josias is neither of these things but is the man of his house. His family, along with many Mozambicans, lives off their garden and his younger twin brothers are always sick because they are malnourished. We were invited to eat lunch with them once and saw it for myself. I know this may sound ridiculous but I was shocked. I’ve been living here for so long and I see this all the time. But I guess I was losing touch with the reality that surrounds me and it is different when it’s someone you know and care about. Since then, we’ve been letting him use our computers to practice typing and figuring out the basics of Microsoft Word. I really hope he can get this job by the end of the year. If not, I want to make sure that he goes to school next year to finish twelfth grade. With our help, I think he can.

April 15, 2014

When I finished teaching today I walked over to where Elizabeth was sitting with the other teachers. The first thing she said to me was, “Jamie, I did something stupid.” which completely freaked me out. I thought she had locked the keys outside (I knew I should have hid the spare key yesterday when I had the chance!) or something had happened to the dog. Before I could say anything else, she lifted up the cloth that was in her lap to reveal an adorable kitten that was only a few weeks old. We had already had three kittens that died on us and I had told Elizabeth many times that I was going to wait until I was back in America to try again but he was so cute! When Elizabeth had been on her way to school, she saw lots of kids poking it with a stick and all alone so she saved it. We brought it home and here it is! He’s pretty cute, so far his name is Muffin but we’re looking for a more Mozambican name for him.

Looking cute.

His favorite spot.

The growing kitten (he’s never quiet). When we first got him he didn't have any teeth!

And, finally, here’s a photo of Luca. Just so she doesn’t feel too left out :)

April 7, 2014

Happy Mozambican Women’s Day! International Women’s Day was last month, March 8^th. There was a festival in the park with lots of singing and dancing, of course. Can’t remember much of it now except that later that evening our dog, Luca, chased a chicken around the yard until it tried escaping into our house and then under Elizabeth’s bed. I had to lock the dog in the bathroom while Elizabeth poked the chicken with a broom until it left. That was quite an experience lol

During the most recent Women’s Day, Pam came to hang out with us for the weekend. We got to relax, eat lots of food, and grade while watching Friends. We introduced Pam to many of our collogues and showed her our library. Pam also has a library and tutoring program at her site so it was nice being able to exchange ideas with her. Oh, funny story. Elizabeth put a pot with oil on the stove to make popcorn. I was on the phone outside when I heard yelling and ran back inside. She had opened the lid and there were huge flames shooting out of the pot. Grease fire! All three of us started, stupefied, at the fire a lot longer than I care to admit until Elizabeth yelled, “Baking Powder!” and threw the contents of the entire box into the pot, which then prompted me to empty a pitcher of water onto the flames. It worked! We didn’t burn the house down! Haha I guess it’s a tradition now. Something “exciting” always has to happen on Women’s Day :)

A few weeks ago we were invited by a priest, who also happens to be a Portuguese teacher at our school, to have dinner at his church. Elizabeth and I had passed the church a few times on the road and always wondered what it looked like inside so we jumped at the opportunity. It was raining and getting dark by the time we arrived but the church itself was so beautiful. Could not believe that a church that big would exist here, in the middle of nowhere, in Mozambique! The priests were very kind and served us tons of food (and fruit!) and then we watched the news on the television. I think they were use to having foreigners, especially Brazilians, come and visit this them. I definitely want to go back another time before I leave to explore during the day. Hopefully it’ll be sometime soon!

 

The beautiful exterior

Inside the Church.

Remember the pictures I posted of our garden? Well it is thriving! We have so much stuff growing in our backyard, I can’t believe it. I am so thankful to Lino, the student who planted everything for us. I keep remembering last year when we had no food and how much a garden would have made a difference. Check it out:

Beans! We had so many, Elizabeth ended up canning most of them.

Guavas from our tree.

We don’t know what this is called. Anyone have any idea? It’s a type of gourd. Tastes like a squash when it’s young but it gets very fibrous when it’s this size.

Cucumbers. They’re huge here! Elizabeth made pickles :)

Not shown: tomatoes, pumpkin, and corn.

This isn’t from our garden but they are so delicious. Sugar apples! The white meat that surrounds the seeds taste flowery. Don’t know how else to describe it but it tastes really good!

Also not from our garden but pickled okra tastes fantastic.

March 15, 2014

Last January when we were at our Midservice conference in Maputo, Elizabeth and I went down a couple days earlier to participate in the EGRA/Aprender a Ler conference. I don’t remember if I’ve mentioned this before but Elizabeth and I applied and were accepted into this library program last year when we were in Mariri. It was hard to get things started for us because we moved to Meconta but we as of this Saturday we are finally getting a move on! We received a hundred and fifty children’s books in Portuguese. This program, however, has two parts. We needed to start a tutoring program as well so we can help contribute data. Previous studies had show that many children here in the north could not even recognize letters. USAID, who conducted the study, will want to compare their results against the students that we tutor for a year in 1^st through 3^rd grade so we can hopefully show that tutoring and having libraries are important. We want to keep building and funding new libraries here in Mozambique!

Elizabeth did a great job organizing and implementing the training of the tutors/volunteers/facilitators, who are our students at the school. Most of them are in grade 10 and 12 but we do have a few in 8 and 11 as well. After showing them how the lessons would work, we made activities with our volunteers that they could use to help students practice literacy. We got a lot of great ideas of what we could do with recyclable materials and how to do things cheap from our conference in Maputo. They also gave us tons of materials besides books, which included our awesome alphabet we can hang up.

Elizabeth giving a sample lesson. Today the letter was “C.”

Making sand letters on cardboard. Kids like the texture and they can practice the correct way to write each letter without wasting paper.

By the end of the day, we all went to the building that would become our library and painted the walls. The building itself needs a lot of work and it’s not safe keeping the books in there until we get better windows, doors, and grates. However, we’re going to start bringing around thirty books each day we have lessons for the kids to read and then bring them back in the house to store. The tutors all seemed really excited to participate so we’re hoping all goes well!

 

Painting the walls.

 

Group picture!

March 12, 2014

Getting back into the swing of things. When I found out I would be an education volunteer in Mozambique I was a bit upset. Why wasn’t I qualified to volunteer in the Health Sector? I majored in biology and volunteered in a hospital/AIDS foundation, that’s a lot of health stuff! Or so I thought at the time. Now, I can’t stop being thankful for the opportunity to be a teacher. We have more of a schedule to our lives and I think it’s easier me to get to know the youth here in Mozambique (I do see them on a regular basis). Plus, I think they are getting to know me pretty well as well. For some health volunteers, it’s hard to find work to do, which is why our friend, Arielle (a health volunteer), came to give a talk at our school about sexual relations. She was very clear with her information, used anatomical dolls, and had a wooden penis to show the students how to put on a condom. They loved it, especially when they got free American candy for getting questions right. At the end, students were able to write down anonymous questions that Arielle then explained. It was a nice break for Elizabeth and I since we didn’t have to teach for a day and the kids got to learn about important health issues they might not have been taught in the past.

Practicing putting on a condom.

Arielle is also a fantastic cook! She brought us fresh mushrooms, which was the first and last time I have ever seen them sold here in Mozambique. We grilled them outside on the coal since there was no power and they were delicious! The next night we helped her make pumpkin dumplings completely from scratch, including the wrapper. It was lots of work but completely worth it. They look pretty good, right?

Grilling mushrooms

 

Dumplings!

February 28, 2014

This past weekend we celebrated Carnaval in Quelimane. We got to hang out with lots of volunteers and see tons of dancing. Makes me want to go to Brazil! One of the few pictures taken of me during the trip:

Masks

Two days before we left for our trip my cat, Simba, was really sick. He threw up a white foamy liquid eight times during the day and left the house that night. The next day he never showed up. When we left for Quelimane, we were hoping he would be back when we returned but he never appeared. I asked my neighbors to keep a look out for him and a week later they told me they found his body in a hole :( It sucks. Glad we at least still Luca.

Simba on the last day I saw him.

February 23, 2014

This past weekend we went to Mozambique Island to participate in the Volunteer Festival the JICA Volunteers organized. Don’t remember if I mentioned this already or not, but JICA are Japanese volunteers who are living here in Mozambique as well, like us Peace Corps volunteers. One of the JICA volunteers, Takuya, had invited Peace Corps to partner with them to help plan and organize this festival. We were hoping more Peace Corps Volunteers would come but school had just started and it was a long trip for many people. America was represented though, don’t worry! Thanks Saranya, Edmund, and Victor! Throughout the weekend there were tons of activities that included a beach clean-up, soccer game, craft market, and cultural exchange festival. My favorite part was during the cultural exchange. The JICA volunteers had brought so many costumes, musical instruments, and games to share. We Americans did hopscotch and Simon Says :) haha Hopefully next time we can do more planning to better represent the United States of America. A lot Mozambicans also did traditional dancing as part of the cultural exchange. Overall, everyone had fun and learned a lot.

The white face mask that is commonly seen here in the north: Mapira. It’s beautiful.

Simon Says

Mozambican children dressing up in kimonos, learning origami, and playing with traditional Japanese games.

 



JICA Volunteers dancing a traditional fishing dance. It looks like they’re actually pulling on rope here, pretty cool!

On our way back to Meconta, Elizabeth and I got a great ride. Do you remember last year when I was complaining so much about the water problem here? That the dam had broken and it was difficult for anyone to get clean drinkable water? Well guess what… the dam is fixed! The two guys who repaired it took us there themselves and showed us around. There are tons of crocodiles in the water and a big electrical pump that gets water to where we live in the villa. What a great opportunity, so glad we finally got to see them dam everyone was talking about!

The wall of the dam that broke and is now fixed.