Whoa, TONS has happened since my last post so this will be
a chunky one but I know you like those chunky blog posts, don’t you? :)
In the end of September and beginning of October, Chris
and I participated in events we’d been planning which culminated into a
secondary project palooza! We worked together to lead an English club with a
group of kids who actively seek out opportunities to practice speaking outside
of the classroom. It was initially fun just to do basic English activities, but
we really upped the ante when we started to formulate ideas for our theater
performance. Each year, every province in Mozambique participates in the
English Theater Competition, a secondary project led by Peace Corps Volunteers.
Students get the opportunity to write, direct and star in a 10 minute theater
presentation and compete against other groups in the province. This year’s
theme was “we are all equal”, so we worked with our students on a play about
discrimination on a chapa (public transport). The first scene, titled
“Reality”, showed different minorities being discriminated against while the
second scene, “How the World Should Be”, showed those same minorities being
treated equally. Our students worked hard to practice their lines and choose
the right costumes and in the end, they performed well! We didn’t end up winning
but it was still an awesome experience and I definitely plan to come in even
stronger next year. But I have to say, the competition was tough! Mozambicans
LOVE theater. They really get into acting and take it seriously. I’m not
exactly sure why, but probably for the fact that many still don’t own a TV so
it’s an easily accessible form of entertainment. Anyway, we still had a great
time working with our group to prepare for the competition. One of the best
activities was a dinner at our house the week before. The kids taught us how to
make beijias, which are basically a chicken nugget made of beans. They are
tasty street food here in Moz and we have been wondering how to make them at
home. We added to the dinner with a classic American salad including Italian
dressing from the US and banana chocolate chip muffins. The dinner served as a
celebration for their hard work and a cultural exchange with food, an easy
vehicle for cross-cultural discussions. The
week after English theater, I took my REDES group to a Troca de Experiência.
You are probably wondering what the heck this last sentence means. Ok, I know
I’ve talked about REDES a few times now but let me give you a little more
detail. REDES stands for Raparigas em Desenvolvimento Educação e Saúde (Girls
in Development, Education and Health) and serves as a group to empower
Mozambican girls. It was initially started as secondary project with Peace
Corps Volunteer facilitators but it has grown to include fully functioning
groups led my Mozambicans (which is always the goal with PC projects to retain
the sustainability factor). One of the highlights of a REDES group is
participating in Troca de Experiências, or “exchange of experiences” where
groups from different areas meet up for a retreat. These usually involve 2
groups from the same province, but this Troca had a total of 4 groups from 2
different provinces so the exchanging of experiences was kind of epic! Ok,
maybe not epic but we still had a blast. My group of 10 girls travelled to
Sofala to meet with two groups from that province and one more from Inhambane.
After a 3 hour chapa ride, we had to take a 5 minute canoe ride across a river
to reach Sofala. Although I had warned them, I was still a little nervous about
how the girls would react with all the mud and water but they were such great sports.
Especially on the way back when we ended up in mud to our knees! Many got their
fancy shoes dirty but they ended up laughing instead of bitching. I was really
proud of their positive attitudes. Aside
from playing in the mud, the girls shared a song and dance they prepared, had a
disco dance party, participated in discussions on HIV/AIDS and safe sex, and
met new Mozambican girls with like-minded ideals. I was so happy to have
facilitated this exchange since it’s a treat for the girls to travel as they
don’t do it often, but more importantly because allowing these girls to form a
network allows for a possibility of an improved future for Mozambican women. By
the way, here is some more information on REDES if you’re interested: http://theredesproject.wordpress.com. Another perk of participating is that I get to spend time
with some of my PCV friends as well. I have to give a big shout out to my boys
Mac and Mike, who are awesome male REDES leaders and planned the 2 Trocas I
participated in this year, both of which were wonderful! Chris was planning on
joining the Troca as well but he was called away to participate in the JUNTOS
handover meeting. Again, that sentence probably confused you. JUNTOS stands for Jovens Unidos No Trabalho para
Oportunidade e Sucesso (young people working for opportunity and success). But
behind that very long name, JUNTOS groups are for young people who want to be
involved in the arts or culture. Chris’ group, for example, was a musical group
with instruments and singers. He loved the experience working with JUNTOS at
our school, but felt like there could be some opportunities to improve and grow
the program as a whole. Chris went to the handover meeting, where PCVs pass
along information to the new group managing the project, with ideas in hand. And, it turns out that he will be the National
Coordinator for the JUNTOS project next year! It’s a great opportunity for him
to execute some of the thoughts he has for a group he’s passionate about. By the way, did I mention this handover
meeting took place in Ilha de Moçambique, one of the most beautiful places in
this country? I was lucky enough to go to Ilha, or the Island of Mozambique,
for my site visit during training last year and I have talked it up to Chris
ever since. I didn’t think he’d be able to go until we made our big trip up
north next year as it is way too far from our site for a quick visit. But
another plus to being involved in secondary projects is opportunities to
travel. So although he missed out on all the REDES fun, enjoying Ilha wasn’t
all that bad. :)
After the secondary project excitement was over, we headed
back to Namaacha, our PC training stomping grounds, to help with the new crop
of Peace Corps Volunteers. Over the 10 week training period, Peace Corps sends
2 to 3 current volunteers per week to help lead training sessions and acts as a
resource to answer the many burning questions of a newly arrived PCT (Peace
Corps Trainee). I have wanted to be
involved in PST (Pre Service Training) since I was a PCT myself. While I was in Namaacha struggling to
integrate with my host family, freaking out over Portuguese and wondering what
my 2 years ahead would look like, I turned to the visiting volunteers who had
lived through it and was always encouraged and relieved by their insight. After
having a rough time in training with my homestay experience and a difficult
beginning at my site, I wanted to come to training to show that you can be a
happy, well-adjusted, successful volunteer in one year’s time despite initial
challenges. Chris and I both applied to attend PST, but were expecting that
only one of us would be able to go. To our pleasant surprise, not only were we
both selected to attend, but we were selected to attend together! The Williams’
would be tag teaming week 3 of Moz 19’s training. Having us both there worked
out well since I was able to spend most of my time helping the group of future
English teachers and Chris was with the Math and Science groups. We led
sessions on lesson planning, teaching with limited resources, dealing with
grief and loss (just to name a few) and answered every question imaginable about
life in Mozambique. One of the days, we
led a session together on classroom management and followed it up with a short
slide show of pictures to give them some idea of what life as a PCV in Moz is
actually like (as opposed to the bubble of training in Namaacha). I have to say, we made quite a team! :) One of the numerous benefits of this
experience is that we get the chance to work together, something we never
really did in the states. Sometimes we want to kill eachother, but usually we’re
pretty good co-workers! Aside from the
technical training, we also sat in on a few language classes which the trainees
attend a few hours each day. Watching the classes gave me perspective to see
how far I have come with my Portuguese. I could see when some of the trainees
were frustrated with the teacher, with themselves, or the language and I
clearly remember that being me only 1 year ago. One of the most eye-opening revelations
came during the cooking exchange day. Each year, the language classes and their
host mom participate in a cooking event where the Mom’s teach a Mozambican dish
while the trainees teach an American dish. It is supposed to be a fun
cross-cultural exchange and an alternative to the standard language class. My
cooking day was nothing short of a disaster with my host mom disappointed in everything
I did from how I cut the tomatoes to choosing the wrong oil for the salad (see
by blog titled “Because you are Lazy” for more info) and I could not speak
enough Portuguese to defend myself. This time around however, me and the Moms
were instant BFFs as I dazzled them with my Xitswa skills (the local language spoken
in my area) and easily communicated in Portuguese that I already knew how to
grate a coconut and I was just here for the week to help the trainees. In some
ways, it made me sad to see what my experience could have been as all of these
host Moms were kind and patient and actually interested in the learning the
American recipe, all things I did not experience when doing this event last
year. But, I was happy to see that these trainees had such good host Moms and I
remember that the challenges I faced during training certainly benefitted me
later on. Each day in Namaacha was jam packed with training sessions and
meetings to plan those training sessions and it reminded me of why training was
so exhausting. At least when we were finished, we were able to go back to our
own place where we could cook our own food. Trainees are in language or tech classes
all day, then need to spend time with their homestay family which means time to
unwind is pretty much non-existent. But I’ll tell you what, these Moz 19ers are
taking training like champs. These 68 volunteers are intelligent, talented,
mature and calm. They are an eclectic group ranging in age from very early 20s
to 60s including a few retirees and also PCVs who were transferred from Cape
Verde whose program closed this year. Chris and I were both really impressed
with this group and are excited that we get to spend another year with them here!
(but let me just say for the record, Moz 17 will always be my favorite group!) It was also great to meet the newbies since I
recently took on the role as the National Coordinator for PSN (I know, I know,
more of those frickin’ acronyms!). PSN stands for Peer Support Network and is a
group of volunteers who support other volunteers and trainees in Mozambique with
any emotional or technical support they may need. I am super excited about this
position because supporting PCVs is something near and dear to my heart as I
went through some challenging times here and I know what it’s like to need someone
to talk to through all the craziness. And even before PC, I’ve always liked to be a
support for my friends and family with advice. Being the National Coordinator
also gives me a chance to use some of my “cubicle” skills again. While I was
happy to leave the corporate world to do Peace Corps, there are still some
corporate-y things I liked doing which speak to my type-A personality. Now I
have an outlet for my project management and organization impulses. And
hopefully, it’s all to the benefit of providing a better support system for my
fellow volunteers.
And finally, we’ve made it to the present. We’re
currently in our very last week of school for the year which means teaching
classes is over and calculating final grades has begun. After this week, our 10th
and 12th graders will take government issued national exams but for
the most part, the bulk of our work is done and we’ve survived our first school
year. As I mentioned in my last blog, September 28th marked one year
since we landed in Mozambique. It is
hard to believe how much we’ve learned and how much we’ve grown in a year and I
was lucky enough to spend time with Moz 19 to really see what a difference a
year can make. I have accomplished so many things I wasn’t convinced I could do.
Facilitate secondary projects. Check. Coordinate logistics in a different
language. Check. Not be afraid of speaking Portuguese and even speak a little
of the local language. Check. Form
strong relationships with my English students, be a National Coordinator for a
group, and the advice-giving PCV at training. Check, check and check. I feel
like I have finally grown into the Peace Corps volunteer that I wanted to be
and that sometimes seemed impossible when I was a wide-eyed, at times
overwhelmed trainee in Namaacha. It may have taken me a little longer than most
to get here, but that struggle makes me appreciate my comfortable PCV self even
more.
