Hey, I just wrote this post this past weekend. I'm also not sure why one of the ones in March posted in Portuguese. I wrote it in English, so I'm pretty confused.
Hello again! I’m back in Nampula for another conference. This one is for something called JOMA, which means Jovens em mudanca e accao, which means Youth for Change and Action. A lot of volunteers have JOMA groups, which use journalism, theater, or other arts to promote change and action in relation to AIDS, gender issues, etc. I don’t have a group, but I volunteered to come help out with check in and random things that come up. Next year I think I’ll try to get a group going. I’ve actually been working to get my English club going (I think I’ve written that before), but it still hasn’t happened, but I don’t think it’s my fault. I want to use the community center for the English club, so I had to write a request. Then I had to wait for the school secretary to type it, but the times I wanted were written incorrectly, so I have to wait for them to type it again. Then my director was gone, so I had to wait for him to come back and sign it, then the administrator for the district was in South Africa, so I had to wait for her to come back and approve it. That’s how things work here, there everyone has a specific job, and isn’t willing/qualified/allowed to do what someone else should be doing. (Another example: I went to the post office in Nampula one time to mail a letter. The person who sells stamps wasn’t there, and no one else would sell me the stamp, so I had to wait a few weeks until I came back to mail the letter. One more: my friends went to eat at a restaurant and ordered sandwiches. The guy who makes sandwiches was on vacation, and apparently the people who make pizza, salads, and everything else ) But I think my request for English Club is finally ready, but now it’s the break between the 1st and 2nd trimester, so everyone has left Nacaroa, including me. But I think it will really be ready to start the first week of the 2nd trimester. And I’m pretty excited about it, the students keep asking when it will start. Also, as related projects I want to do an English theater group, and start a penpal exchange with a teacher I’ve been corresponding with in the US. She teaches ESL, so we want our students to exchange letters in English, which I think will be exciting for both groups.
I have started making no bake cookies for various people at site, and they’ve been a big hit! People would often teach me how to make food/give me food they’d made, and I didn’t know what to do back because most “American” foods require ingredients I can’t get/store at site, or an oven. I’m also going to buy stuff to make s’mores while I’m here so I can make those for people. One dessert I’ve learned how to make is doce de abobera, or pumpkin sweetness. You peel and de-seed a pumpkin, and boil it in a little water until it all turns to mush. Then you add coconut milk and sugar, and eat it.
April 7th was Mozambican Woman’s Day. There was a ceremony in the morning with dancing, singing, drum circles, and other cultural activities. Everyone was really excited that I wore some traditional Mozambican clothes, a long cloth wrapped around my waist for a skirt, and a head scarf (like bandana style, not Muslim style). In the afternoon, I had a party at my house. They brought a generator over and we had music and everything. It was a lot of fun!
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
From last month
I wrote this when I was here for the conference in March, but then never got to post it. It is outdated, but I don't have time to update it:
Well the conference is over now. I'm about to go back with a friend to see her site in Zambezia province. It's known for being really beautiful and has a mountain to hike, and then I'll go back to my site this weekend. The conference went well, but I'm ready for it to be over.
So in the past month at site...
We had the district superintendent come to our school to address some reports of unprofessional behaviour that had been filed. They began by reading the names of the accused teachers along with the behavior: Teacher Joao is accused to bribing a student for 50 mets (the currency unit). Teacher Momade is accused of inviting a female student to his house at night, and then harrassing her in class because she didn't go to his house. etc. Then the teachers responded: "I didn't ask for 50 mets, that student just offered it to me, so I took it." "I invited her over at night for help with school." etc. Then it was emphasized that it is not prohibited for male teachers to date female students, but that they should only impregnate said student if they plan to marry her. (There is only one unmarried male teacher at the school. Multiple marriages are not legal here.) Then we talked about bribery. Is it ok for teachers to accept gifts from students? The teachers agreed there was nothing wrong with it, and that if it was something small not only could they accept it when offered, but they could also ask for it when not offered. I was surprised and impressed that the district superintendent disagreed.
The food options have increased dramatically. I no longer feel the need to come to Nampula City every other week to add some variety to my diet. Which is great, because I really don't like Nampula. We went to a craft market on Sunday, and a friend I was with had her purse slashed, but luckily nothing was stolen. I have learned how to cook with okra, which makes a really good dish to put over rice.
My director has finally said that the teacher who was going to be my roommate will not come this year. I'm thinking about getting a student to live with me. In exchange for food and a place to live, she would do the cooking, cleaning, etc.
The coming month at site...
I'm really hoping to get an English Club up and going. I have surveyed the interest of my students, and they seem really excited about it. Now I just need to find a location. As a somewhat joint project for a smaller group of students, I want to get an English Theater group started too. There is already a network of Volunteers who have English theater groups, and in September there will be an event where we all get our groups together to perform. A smaller group of us volunteers want to start a new program for elementary students with Portuguese theater. Up here in the North, especially at rural sites, there is a big problem with students not speaking/understanding/reading Portuguese well. So we want to start a Portuguese theater for them, and possibly expand it to a sort of film festival, but the logistics for that aren't really logical, so we'll see what happens with that.
The first trimester ends in about a month. Here you need a 50% to pass a class. I have way too many students who are failing. A major problem a lot of us are having (which is a major problem in general here) is lack of motivation and self esteem on the part of the students. The students don't necessarily seem to realize the correlation between studying for a test and getting a good grade, so they don't bother to study because they assume that they will either pass or fail, and that there isn't much they can do to change the outcome. I think part of the problem is lack of study skills/knowing how to study, so in all honesty studying might not help them very much. I'm trying to figure out exactly how to address this, because if I hold a study skills class outside of school, no one will come. But the only way to get students to come is to do it during school, which would mean not teaching English that class. It would be great if they understood enough English to try to teach them in English how to study, but that wouldn't work.
Well the conference is over now. I'm about to go back with a friend to see her site in Zambezia province. It's known for being really beautiful and has a mountain to hike, and then I'll go back to my site this weekend. The conference went well, but I'm ready for it to be over.
So in the past month at site...
We had the district superintendent come to our school to address some reports of unprofessional behaviour that had been filed. They began by reading the names of the accused teachers along with the behavior: Teacher Joao is accused to bribing a student for 50 mets (the currency unit). Teacher Momade is accused of inviting a female student to his house at night, and then harrassing her in class because she didn't go to his house. etc. Then the teachers responded: "I didn't ask for 50 mets, that student just offered it to me, so I took it." "I invited her over at night for help with school." etc. Then it was emphasized that it is not prohibited for male teachers to date female students, but that they should only impregnate said student if they plan to marry her. (There is only one unmarried male teacher at the school. Multiple marriages are not legal here.) Then we talked about bribery. Is it ok for teachers to accept gifts from students? The teachers agreed there was nothing wrong with it, and that if it was something small not only could they accept it when offered, but they could also ask for it when not offered. I was surprised and impressed that the district superintendent disagreed.
The food options have increased dramatically. I no longer feel the need to come to Nampula City every other week to add some variety to my diet. Which is great, because I really don't like Nampula. We went to a craft market on Sunday, and a friend I was with had her purse slashed, but luckily nothing was stolen. I have learned how to cook with okra, which makes a really good dish to put over rice.
My director has finally said that the teacher who was going to be my roommate will not come this year. I'm thinking about getting a student to live with me. In exchange for food and a place to live, she would do the cooking, cleaning, etc.
The coming month at site...
I'm really hoping to get an English Club up and going. I have surveyed the interest of my students, and they seem really excited about it. Now I just need to find a location. As a somewhat joint project for a smaller group of students, I want to get an English Theater group started too. There is already a network of Volunteers who have English theater groups, and in September there will be an event where we all get our groups together to perform. A smaller group of us volunteers want to start a new program for elementary students with Portuguese theater. Up here in the North, especially at rural sites, there is a big problem with students not speaking/understanding/reading Portuguese well. So we want to start a Portuguese theater for them, and possibly expand it to a sort of film festival, but the logistics for that aren't really logical, so we'll see what happens with that.
The first trimester ends in about a month. Here you need a 50% to pass a class. I have way too many students who are failing. A major problem a lot of us are having (which is a major problem in general here) is lack of motivation and self esteem on the part of the students. The students don't necessarily seem to realize the correlation between studying for a test and getting a good grade, so they don't bother to study because they assume that they will either pass or fail, and that there isn't much they can do to change the outcome. I think part of the problem is lack of study skills/knowing how to study, so in all honesty studying might not help them very much. I'm trying to figure out exactly how to address this, because if I hold a study skills class outside of school, no one will come. But the only way to get students to come is to do it during school, which would mean not teaching English that class. It would be great if they understood enough English to try to teach them in English how to study, but that wouldn't work.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
A Stark Contrast (translated)
[A rough translation of Jess's last post, using a few online translation tools.]
Look at a map of Mozambique. Nampula City and Gurue (NW in Zambezia province) do not seem to be 12 hours apart. But sometimes they may be. After the conference, I decided to visit another volunteer for a few days on site in Gurue. We were very excited that the Peace Corps driver needed to make a visit to a nearby city, so we could get a free, fast ride there. Or so we thought. We left half an hour after the departure time indicated, which is, by definition, not late here. We had a good first hour-and-a-half drive, but then got a flat tire. The driver knew how to change it, and there was a spare tire ... only problem was that the spare tire was already flat. Then, after waiting for another spare, and then waiting for another transport, and at one point being harassed while waiting, we finally arrived in Gurue.
Let me make some comparisons between Gurue and Nacaroa: Gurue has actual stores where you can go in and look for products and choose what you want and take it to the cash register to pay. Nacaroa has shops that consist of a counter, behind which are some shelves that are stocked with a selection of basic products. You tell the worker what you want, and he or she takes it off the shelf and gives it to you. There are no cash registers, and people tend to use calculators to add 15 + 30, or multiply 3 x 6. Gurue has street lights that work, computers and a computer room at school, an internet cafe (where I am now), electricity (obviously) and running water at certain times of the day. Nacaroa has street lights that are, apparently, a decorative item as there is no electricity. Ironically, the only time you can see the street lights is during the day. The whole town has no public computers, no Internet, and running water is not even in anyone's thoughts. Electricity is on everyone's mind, though. How to have a chicken dinner: Gurue – go to the store and buy a pack of boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Nacaroa – buy a live chicken, kill it, defeather it, skin it, cook it. Gurue has real streets and gas pumps. Nacaroa has dirt roads and guys who sell gas in water bottles. (I'm not sure where they get the gas from, but they painted “BP” on the side of the stall that sells it, which makes me laugh.)
On the other hand: in Gurue, men harass you at the market, and the people don’t really know each other and rarely greet you in the streets. In Nacaroa, people greet each other and smile. I cannot go to the market without meeting at least 3 people I know and ten foreigners in a 10-minute walk. In Gurue, there are other white people, so there's nothing special about me. Everyone in Nacaroa is interested in talking to me because I'm the only white person around and they do not know what to think. In Gurue, starting work by 7 am is super early. In Nacaroa, I see at least three people I know on the streets before 6 am – when I'm running, just before leaving for work.
Overall, Gurue is amazing, but Nacaroa is much more of what I expected and wanted for my two years in Africa.
I'll probably post again tomorrow.
Look at a map of Mozambique. Nampula City and Gurue (NW in Zambezia province) do not seem to be 12 hours apart. But sometimes they may be. After the conference, I decided to visit another volunteer for a few days on site in Gurue. We were very excited that the Peace Corps driver needed to make a visit to a nearby city, so we could get a free, fast ride there. Or so we thought. We left half an hour after the departure time indicated, which is, by definition, not late here. We had a good first hour-and-a-half drive, but then got a flat tire. The driver knew how to change it, and there was a spare tire ... only problem was that the spare tire was already flat. Then, after waiting for another spare, and then waiting for another transport, and at one point being harassed while waiting, we finally arrived in Gurue.
Let me make some comparisons between Gurue and Nacaroa: Gurue has actual stores where you can go in and look for products and choose what you want and take it to the cash register to pay. Nacaroa has shops that consist of a counter, behind which are some shelves that are stocked with a selection of basic products. You tell the worker what you want, and he or she takes it off the shelf and gives it to you. There are no cash registers, and people tend to use calculators to add 15 + 30, or multiply 3 x 6. Gurue has street lights that work, computers and a computer room at school, an internet cafe (where I am now), electricity (obviously) and running water at certain times of the day. Nacaroa has street lights that are, apparently, a decorative item as there is no electricity. Ironically, the only time you can see the street lights is during the day. The whole town has no public computers, no Internet, and running water is not even in anyone's thoughts. Electricity is on everyone's mind, though. How to have a chicken dinner: Gurue – go to the store and buy a pack of boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Nacaroa – buy a live chicken, kill it, defeather it, skin it, cook it. Gurue has real streets and gas pumps. Nacaroa has dirt roads and guys who sell gas in water bottles. (I'm not sure where they get the gas from, but they painted “BP” on the side of the stall that sells it, which makes me laugh.)
On the other hand: in Gurue, men harass you at the market, and the people don’t really know each other and rarely greet you in the streets. In Nacaroa, people greet each other and smile. I cannot go to the market without meeting at least 3 people I know and ten foreigners in a 10-minute walk. In Gurue, there are other white people, so there's nothing special about me. Everyone in Nacaroa is interested in talking to me because I'm the only white person around and they do not know what to think. In Gurue, starting work by 7 am is super early. In Nacaroa, I see at least three people I know on the streets before 6 am – when I'm running, just before leaving for work.
Overall, Gurue is amazing, but Nacaroa is much more of what I expected and wanted for my two years in Africa.
I'll probably post again tomorrow.
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