Remember me?

Nineteen months ago I said good-bye to my friends and family. Today I received my Close-of-Service date. This has sent a minor shock wave throughout the Moz 21 group. I'm sure kayak and travelocity are seeing a spike is searches out of Maputo. I certainly added to that spike.

The date is December 11, 2015. That's at least when I'll officially be an RPCV, not the date I'll be returning to the US. That's still TBD

I've been pretty silent on the blog, so, in light of knowing when I'm leaving, here's a little bit about what I'm currently doing.

Grades are submitted and I'm working through recuperação, the week where students, who haven't learned anything for the past 13 weeks, are expected to learn everything. Magically, they do. In the United States, this is referred to as summer school.

Students using "word brochures" to practice project-based learning 

Planning a Workshop for REDES. This involves something I've always hated: talking to strangers. In portuguese! Calling drivers, hotel owners, school directors. YUCK. But, it also adds a sense of accomplishment to my day.

Still organizing the library. This will be a never ending process.

I'm at the mission every afternoon. Monday - REDES. Tuesday - Grassroots Soccer, Wednesday -Biblioteca Wiwanana (Library of Understanding).

I'm enjoying the routine. But, I feel a familiar pull ...




love love love

Malaria Madness!

So I missed Malaria Awareness Month (April) but my counterpart for my REDES group wanted to focus on malaria so for our small group of girls it's MALARIA MADNESS time! 

Here's a link to the WHO info graph about Mozambique and malaria. http://www.who.int/malaria/publications/country-profiles/profile_moz_en.pdf?ua=1 

The summary is that there is a ton of misinformation and complacency that leads to lots of people dying from a preventable disease. It's sad and, if you think about it too hard, anger-inducing. 

A little about my REDES group. There are 12 girls between the ages of 10 and 13 and are in third to seventh grade (if they actually go to school). Their primary language is Imakua. All of them speak basic Portuguese, which is just enough to greet people and convince their teachers they know what's going on. They are regular attendees of an after-school program at the mission where we hold the meetings but half of the are Muslim. 

This group is really the only thing that keeps me going. I love getting to know these girls and am really proud of the progress we've made as a group in such a short time. 

Here's a little of what we've been doing :) 

Lesson 1: What is malaria? What are the symptoms? 

I drew pictures of symptoms. Headaches, fever, chills, vomiting, and diarrea are all symptoms of malaria. A rash, itchiness, coughing and a sore throat are NOT symptoms. 

 

 

Before going through what were symptoms, we had the girls guess by placing the pictures in the correct category (Symptoms vs Not symptoms of malaria). Right away we realized that the girls do not know what malaria is. It's so common for people to have malaria that everything was assumed to be a symptom of malaria. That's when Esmenia had the girls do gestures for all of the ones that were symptoms. It was hilarious watching 10 girls imitate diarreaha!! I was impressed (andalso a little jealous) by the idea. 

At the end of the lesson all of the girls were able to list (and mimic) all 5 symptoms from memory. 

Lesson 2: What should you do of you get malaria?

For this one, I came up with 10 steps to do if you have malaria. 

1. Show symptoms. Sentir sintómos.

2. Go to the hospital. Ir a hospital. 

3. Get tested. Faz análise. 

4. Get a positive result. Recebe resulta positiva. 

5. Go to the pharmacy. Ir a farmácia.

6. But medicine. Comprar o medicamento.

7. Take medicine. Tomar o medicamento. 

8. Finish the medicine. Acabar o medicamento. 

9. Rest and drink water. Descansar e

Beber água! 

10. Feel better! Sentir melhor! 

We discussed why each step was important. Especially, immediately going to the doctor, not taking medicine before getting a result, and finishing all the medicine. Again I saw Esménia step up to the plate and clearly, creatively explain everything to the kids. 

The girls were given a step and had to draw out the event. We walked around and encouraged the girls to draw as much detail as possible. The end result was pretty awesome!! 

Finally, we ended the day by assigning the girls a different step (represented by their peer's drawing), mixing them up, and putting themselves back in order. 

Lesson 3: Review! 

The lovely Angela, a health volunteer, told me about a relay race she did with her REDES group and I loved the idea. It involved reading facts about malaria, but how could I do that with my kids? As you may have noticed everything we do is visually based, but I can only take so much drawing!! So, we did a relay race but instead of picking up facts they picked up images. Round one was symptoms and round two was you think you have malaria steps. I spent the whole day drawing miniture versions of the symptoms and steps. The end result was a really fun day and I am really convinced that my girls know their stuff. There are more pictures on Facebook but here's a quick run down. 

1. The girls are splint into two teams of 5. One member of each team must run to a chair that has a pile of symptoms. 

2. They run to the next chair that has two boxes labels "symptoms" or "not symptoms". They choose which box to put the symptom and run back to tag the next team member.

3. The winner is the group that had the most correctly placed symptoms in the shortest  amount of time. 

Round two worked the same way except instead of symptoms there were steps and instead of boxes there was a time line. 

So that's what we've done so far. Next, we'll talk about avoiding the disease.Esménia  also brought up the idea of putting on a play for the other kids at the missionary! 

I'll be sure to keep you updated! 

Love love love 

Condoms and Christmas

Friday 3am

I’m sitting on my porch with my new capulana yoga bag (with a matching headband), packed with only the essentials for my trip to Monapo, Nampula. I’m on my way to a REDES conference; my first time traveling solo in Mozambique. I’m waiting for the motorista, Javiar, who very kindly offered a boleia when he heard I was leaving. Classess were canceled and I am armed with 60 papers to read on the 8 hour bus ride. I am ready.

Notice the new head band! 

Friday 11am

I arrive in Monapo! The actual bus ride was not very eventful. I traveled on a bus similar to that of a greyhound, just imagine 50 people standing in the aisle. No sleep was had, nor papers graded. I spent most of the time trying to balance on the pleather seats (nylon capris+ pleather seats+ Mozambican roads = a slippery ride). In Namialo, I ran into three other PCVs on the way to the conference and together we boleiad to Monapo. Pretty smooth trip!

Friday 5pm

At dinner I met the rest of the group that arrived for the REDES Training. In total there were 7 PCVs and 4 Mozambicans. All here to learn about how to help young women in Mozambique.

Saturday 8am

So, what the heck is REDES? First, pronounced red-ish, it stands for Rapariga em Desenvolvimento, Educaçao e Saúde/ Girls in Development, Education, and Health. Basically, they are groups of young women that meet in order to help young girls develop positive and healthy futures. There is specific information about sex education and HIV/AIDS prevention that must be taught, but everything else depends on the unique girls that form the group. REDES can be centered around a sports team, creative arts, or a business. Whatever gives the girls positive self-esteem and motivation to attend. I have spoken with some Nuns at a local missionary about working with students that come to their after-school group. To make sure I know what the heck I’m talking about, there was a nice review of sex ed. Yes, there were pictures, condoms and a wooden dildos involved. Honestly, I’ve been to a lot of training – a LOT of training- in my day and this was one of the best. Every topic was informative and necessary. Sessions were energetic and engaging.

I, on the other hand, was not energetic or engaging. The sessions were 100% in Portuguese and that was freaking tiring. I’m a little embarrassed to say it, but I’m actually proud of how well I was able to follow the training. I expected it to be a lot worse. It just required so much attention that to contribute to the discussion was too much. For most sessions I felt as if a glass wall separated me from everyone else. Making the sound travel slowly and slurred. I only understood everything right as we were moving on to the next topic. But, I am not depressed, if anything I am more motivated then ever on improving my Portuguese. My REDES group will be lead in Portuguese, so I better figure it out soon!

Saturday 5pm

While still behind my glass wall, I see a Peace Corps car driving past the window (which, ironically, had no glass in it). There were rumors that Dr. Carlos would show up and give us all flu shots. Gotta love Peace Corps medical benefits because, not only did he come with shots, he brought packages!! The joy of receiving a package is nothing like what I have experienced before. Especially when I was still under the assumption that this package was hidden in the dark, damp cellar of the Maputo Office. I finally received my package that my father sent in December! Even though I knew all the contents of the package, I opened it like a kid on Christmas morning. Myself, and my friends, N, JR, and J all received Christmas packages. I know this is corny but the room was filled with love. Being away from home is hard. Not occasionally, not sometimes, but all the time. Every moment of every day I miss my family. It’s just a hardship that I choose to live with. So, to receive these packages, for a little bit that burden lessens; we’re reminded that we’re not forgotten.  

Sunday 8pm

The training went by quickly, and still blurred by the glass window. I was grouchy all day with a sour throat and runny nose. At lunch time I hurriedly ate in order to get as much of a nap as possible. And, unlike Saturday night, I was not elated by my Christmas package. I awkwardly left the dinner table coughing out some goodbyes and bom viagems to people I would not see again for a long time, and made my way back to J’s house. The plan was to put on my pjs and just relax. I was over Portuguese, and I was over people. Thirty minutes later, everyone showed up at J’s. You can imagine my inner-dialogue, but I ended up having some good conversation (in Portuguese) and listening to music. Finally, people started to leave and I was left with a small group of friends.

And then N said something magical, “Who wants to watch a movie and drink hot chocolate?”

Then J said, “I’ve got popcorn but I always burn it.”

Then I said, “I can make kettle corn.”

Then JR said “I’ve got Frozen.”

And, that is (not exactly, but you get the gist) how Christmas in April became The Best Christmas Ever. 

Monday 4:45am

I’m awoken by S from Namuno standing over me. “Oh shit, that was my alarm that went off.” The day before I had told S that I would get up at 4:30 and to come over whenever she was ready to leave. Oops. I’m not going to chat about the details of the travel, but just know that it was not as smooth as the first trip. I took 3 different chapas and paid 20mts more. I learned that when a child suffers from car sickness they suck on a match and rub black shit in their mouth. I did get peanuts and a banana from two nice women. I returned the favor with suckers that my parents sent from home.

Monday 4:30pm

I got back to Pemba at 3pm. I traded the gossip with K and by 4:30pm I was laying down for a quick nap before grading the papers I never graded.

Tuesday 5:30 am

A text from a friend wakes me up from the nap. It takes three different clocks to convince me that it’s 5:30 am the next day. I contemplate canceling class in order to grade the papers. But no, classes were already canceled last Friday. My students need some English.

Tuesday 8:30

I shuffled my way to class still complaining of a stuffy nose and the figurative burden of ungraded papers. Not wanting to deal with the frustrations of group work, I decided to do a listening activity for the first part of class and tell my students about REDES. I gave candy if they asked me a question. By the end of the day, I was offered help to lead a REDES group with neighborhood kids, asked to start a REDES group at the IFP, and was out of Dum-Dums. 

Not a bad day. 

Love Love Love