My Personal Legend: REDES

Raparigas em Desenvolmento, Educação, e Saúde

Adolescent Girls (in Secondary School) in Development, Education, and Health

REDES is a Peace Corps sponsored project that focuses on giving young Mozambican women the opportunity to participate in activities that teach them life skills such as leadership skills, how to implement and monitor programs in the community, and negotiations skills for safer/healthier relationships. REDES also concentrates on gender issues and women's rights.

My education site mate Laura and I are in the process of starting a REDES group at her school (The Secondary School of Macoque). At our first meeting, we asked the girls what kind of things they would be interested in learning about and they came up with ideas ranging from sewing and photography to SRH (sexual and reproductive health) and women’s rights.

In April, I attended the REDES conference in Barra. Barra is a beautiful beach town (well town is kind of a stretch, but beach community made up of fancy South African owned lodges) near Inhambane City and Tofo. Fifty-two girls and 12 (female) PCVs participated in the conference. The conference was set up a kind of a camp environment which was especially exciting for the girls because going to camp in Mozambique is not an option. The conference focused on issues such as self-esteem and setting goals for the future and more specific topics like early pregnancy, HIV prevention, and an in-depth look at the female reproductive system (which unfortunately is never addressed in schools). One of my favorite parts of the conference was getting to be a “counselor” with my friend Gracey. We had 10 girls in our cabin group from all over the southern part of Mozambique who really opened up to us after we let them braid/cornrow our hair. I was immediately reminded of why I have not done this since 8^th grade when my family went on a cruise to the Caribbean. It hurts like hell. But, I have to say, I have never been hit on here in Mozambique like I was that day. I had Mozambican men following me around Inhambane City and Maxixe asking me to let them help me run my errands and carry my bags. Even the women in the market gave me the real price instead of the mulungu price without any negotiation. It was pretty surreal and almost made me want to get my hair re-braided every week for the rest of my two years. And then I remembered the pain and how my hair breaks off into this lovely little halo of short hairs around my head. Maybe I will just do the G.I. Jane look and buy fake hair like the women here do who can afford it. Or maybe not.

One of the highlights of the conference for the girls was our guest speaker this year. Dama do Bling, a famous Mozambican female rapper, came to the conference to speak and then gave a performance later in the evening. She was chosen as the guest speaker because not only is she a hugely successful performer (she is known as the Lil Kim of Mozambique), but she is a certified lawyer. There are very few female lawyers in Mozambique (very few female professionals in general) and even fewer female role models for young girls. One of my favorite things about her (besides being incredibly nice and patient with the shyest of girls) is that she is starting her own clothing line of highly fashionable clothes made partially with capulanas (large pieces of colorful cloth the women here use for everything). Chique Chique. (chic in Portuguese)