My Personal Legend

Friday, May 15, 2009

The Bazaruto Archipelago

A lot of people have asked me if I am one of the only mulungus in my town and the answer is: definitely not. Vilankulo is one of the top three tourist destinations in Mozambique which means that during the South African and Zimbabwean school holidays this place is full of white tourists (this doesn't even include the white ex-pats who own pretty much own all of the businesses here - don't get me started on why I hate this). The main reason why Vilankulo is such a popular tourist destination is because it is the gateway to the Bazaruto Archipelago. The Bazaruto Archipelago is a small chain of 5 islands (Bazaruto, Benguerra, Magaruque, Santa Carolina and Bangue) off the coast of Mozambique in the Indian Ocean. The archipelago is known as the "Pearl of the Indian Ocean" because it is one of the last (nearly) untouched paradises on earth.

There are several companies that run day trips to the islands and one of the most popular ones, Dolphin Dhow, is owned by one of our (Mozambican) neighbors. A dhow is a traditional Arab sailing vessel that is really common in Mozambique and most of them have been equipped with motors so that people, especially tourists, don't get stuck in the middle of the channel during low tide. It takes about an hour to get to the islands (about 10km away) with a motor and without a motor I have heard of people being stuck for days. We went to the closest island to Vilankulo, Magaruque, for the day.

Our beach gate from the boat
(the one with the new wood posts and tall trees)

The dhow

Getting ready to go snorkeling.

My roommate Courtney and I

Magaruque

Thursday, May 14, 2009

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)

Caitlin, Abby, Gracey, and I having a little too much fun with a cardboard cutout at TOT (Training of Trainers) for REDES

Gracey and I and our cabin group

The three 11th grade girls Laura and I brought with us to the conference

Dama do Bling let a couple of the girls dance with her to her song "Remexe"

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Mardi Gras in Moz

Since I missed Mardi Gras for the first time in 5 years, I decided to turn my favorite week of debauchery into one night. Here is a quick recap of the evening:

The Vilankulo Girls hosting our first "official" party.

I made King Cake (and a hat)

We played Beer Pong

Like I always say: Mardi Gras is a marathon, not a sprint.
Some people just can't handle the heat
(or maybe it was the hurricanes).

Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez

TIA (This Is Africa)

Africa is a far off and mysterious land where cats know what it means to be a cat...

Meet Cooper. Yummy Rats.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

All She Wants To Do Is. . . Work, Work, Work?!?!

So, I figured it was about time to give you an update on my everyday life and more specifically what I do at work. To be honest with you, these past four weeks were really the first real work I have actually done so you have not missed anything exciting. The first five weeks I worked consisted of me reading hundreds (seriously 100+) pages of documents in Portuguese, other documents in English, reacquainting myself with Facebook, and online shopping (just ask Mastercard – they threatened to shut me down). Apparently when you are in Africa you cannot buy things online from the States because it makes it seem like a) you are no longer in Africa or b) someone stole your card. I personally think that they were being a little close minded. Just because I am in Mozambique does not mean that I cannot be a proud supporter of the U.S. economy.

Like I said before, I work at CARE International which is a big NGO (non-governmental organization). I work 8 – 5 Monday through Thursday with a one hour lunch break from 1 – 2 and 8 – 1:30 on Fridays. CARE's mission/vision is, in simple terms, to help women help themselves, their families, and the community at large. I am working/going to be working on three different projects. The first project is called Comprehensive Civil Society Responses to HIV/AIDS (COCISO) and is part of the broader OVC (orphans and vulnerable children) project. COCISO works with local CSOs (civil society organizations) to help them build their capacity to better serve their beneficiaries (or OVCs and their families or guardians). COCISO provides financial backing to help the CSOs implement sustainable programs that focus on prevention of HIV and impact mitigation. I will mostly be working with the M&E (monitoring and evaluation) supervisor to form the tools needed to monitor the number and types of activities that take place in each of the CSOs and later I will be helping crunch numbers in the evaluation process.

The second project I will be working on is the CDC funded Mais Vida (More Life) project. Mais Vida is a HIV and AIDS treatment program that focuses on ARV (Anti-retroviral) treatment in both adults and children, PMTCT (prevention of mother to child transmission), treatment of OIs (opportunistic infections) like TB and PCP (pneumocystis carinii pneumonia) that tend to come along with the onset of AIDS, and a community counseling and testing component. I have not officially begun my work with this project, but I am going to be involved in the community counseling and testing which I think is pretty exciting and challenging at the same time. Right now, I am helping re-write and edit the continuation application for funding from the CDC.

Finally, the project which has recently saved me from eternal boredom (internet surfing tends to get old if you can believe it) is called Crescer Bem (Grow Well) or Ku Kula Kuatsi in Xitswa (the local language in northern Inhambane). This project falls under the larger HIV/Education project that CARE is working on all over the world. So KKK (I know, I can’t believe it either. It needs a new name) or as I refer to it as the HIV/Educação project is going to be my main project. The HIV/Educação project focuses on keeping young girls in primary schools (focusing on girls in sixth and seventh grade, somewhere around 11 - 15 years old) especially those who have married young or are pregnant. The project will work in 20 EPC (Escola Primaria Completo – complete primary schools which are those that include sixth and seventh grade) in the Vilankulo district.

The first two weeks of “real work” I had were spent working on the baseline survey in seven of the twenty schools. Week one consisted of several days of training in interviewing skills for the group of eight men and women in their early to mid 20s hired to partake in the interviewing process. During this time all of the instruments (surveys) were translated into Xitswa. On Wednesday and Friday of week one, we went to two pilot schools (one rural and one urban) to test the instruments and get down a routine of how week two would work. During week two of the baseline survey, we went to a different EPC everyday (three rural and two urban schools). My primary role in the baseline survey was to help the consultant keep things running smoothly (she was American who spoke perfect Portuguese, which was pretty exciting because there are not that many Americans floating around in Moz or very many ex-pats in general are able to speak the local language). I was also able to take part in the classroom observations which was really fun and exciting. The main point of classroom observations is to try to get an idea of the gender relations in the classroom and how the teacher reacts depending on whether he or she is interacting with a boy or a girl. During the two weeks, I sat in on two math classes, one visual arts class, a class on natural fabrics vs. synthetic (?), a morality and civil duty class, one Portuguese class, and two English classes. My favorite classes to watch were definitely the English classes. I think it was so good for me in so many different ways. First of all, it gave me an idea of the pace and level the kids were learning English. Secondly, it was fun to watch and listen to the students interact with each other in English and to see them actually enjoying doing so. Finally, I realized that when people come up to me and begin every conversation with “my sista” (which really annoys me to no end) it is not because they are trying to speak some version of American slang to be cool, it is because it is what they learn in school. That was a needed reality check and is a huge relief (well kind of, except how many generations of Mozambicans will learn to call mulungu women “my sista?”).

Here are a few pictures of some of the schools I visited over the past two weeks. I have even included a little multiple choice question for the end in case you are losing interest.

Which of these classrooms is the most suitable for a group of 40-90 Mozambican students?

A)

Correct Answer: D

Not only is this building material (wood and canhiso) much cheaper than the concrete fancy classrooms, it is 100% cooler. The temperature in week two hovered right around the 40°C (104°F) mark. Granted, these classrooms will have to be replaced sooner than the concrete ones, but I easily would trade 50 minutes of intense sweating (the kind where sweat rolls down from your forehead, into your eyes, down your nose, and onto your notebook where you are trying to listen and take notes, but all you can think about is escaping the hot oven you are being forced to sit in all day) for one week of rebuilding a classroom. No contest.

p.s. February 2nd was my five month anniversary of my arrival in Moz.