Final Post about my PC Moz Experience! Plus pics!

So here it is, my final post about my travels in Mozambique and other parts of Southern Africa. For those of you still reading these updates after two years, thanks for listening. It means the world to me that I had the opportunity to share my experience with you. If at any point in the future you (or a family member or friend) has questions about Peace Corps, life in Southern Africa, or my experience there, please please email me. I love to share what I've learned with others. Speaking of sharing, here are the top 100 (or so) photos from my two years in PC: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.763824821830.2145444.5905091&type=1&l=574c6d20cd

I cannot believe I have already been home from Mozambique for over a month. It seems nearly impossible that my time there has already come and gone. I left for Mozambique over two years ago, and somehow all that time has now passed without me fully appreciating how quickly it was happening. There are days I wish I could have stayed there even longer, but then I think of all my family and friends here in the States and know that as much as I love all my new friends in Mozambique, I was ready to come home.

Many things have changed in the past two years and at the same time many things are the same. I've learned a new language, gone on safari, taught high school students English and young women self-defense, painted public service murals, swam in the bioluminescent Indian ocean, and so many other things that sometimes I can't even keep it all straight. I've seen beauty, heartbreak, hardship, and love. Growth and destruction, life and death. I saw all these things in some form every day, and I will never forget the time I spent there. I've felt lost. I've felt passionate. I've felt scared, alone, and enraged. I have no doubt I have come home a different person for the things I experienced, but I also have no doubt that the love I have for every person and the belief I have in the overall good of humankind will never be shaken, never be broken.

There were days both in the past two years and before I ever laid eyes on African soil that I wondered what was wrong with our world. How can we (those of us fortunate enough to be born in the richest countries on the planet) sit around while millions die of starvation and disease when we have the ability to help and make a difference? How can we not be outraged by the inequities and injustices that surround us? I've learned that while things always seemed black and white when I was growing up, nothing is simple. Helping others is not easy, nor is it as straightforward as I always believed. Trying to do good in a foreign country is especially difficult because even after living for years in a culture and learning the language, there are so many intricacies we cannot see and so we cannot fully understand or appreciate how our efforts might affect things on a larger scale.

That being said I have never regretted my decision to join the Peace Corps. I know many people, including some of my loved ones, couldn't fully wrap their heads around my reasons for doing so. And while they were still supportive of my choice, which I very much appreciate, I wish they could have been there with me. I wish I had the words to properly explain how deeply I felt the need to see beyond our nation's walls. To see how people on the other side of the world are living every day, and to live with them, so that I will never forget how lucky I am and I will never take for granted all the things I have in my life. Food, shelter, family, education, freedom. Things that so many of us have in abundance and are so easy to abuse and mistreat. We are all so blessed and I needed to give back in any way that I could to people who don't have those things. I know there are some people in the U.S. in those dire straights, but there are countries full of people who spend every day wondering when their next meal will come or how they can possibly send their children to school. They pray and they beg and, yes, sometimes they steal to make ends meet and feed their families. But I try so very hard not to judge them, even if it's from me that they're stealing. Because, just like me, and just like you, they are just doing the best they can with what they have.

I've learned so much and seen so many things, and what I never understood before I came here was that while I've tried hard to improve lives here, my life has been changed far more than any lives I've changed in return. I've worked hard and tried my best and honestly can say I've made a difference, even if only in the littlest of ways: A girl who now believes she can go to university and have a career. A boy who has learned to use his skills for the greater good and not just selfish pursuits. I know I will never forget my time here. I know it will always be with me, helping me to try to do the right thing. Whether it's donating to charity, volunteering on the weekends, or spending my life campaigning for more foreign aid, I will not let the people I've met or the hardships I've seen leave me. I will try my best to do good, and persuade others to do good as well. Democrat, Republican, Independent, or politically apathetic, we can all do better to help our fellow humans wherever we are. And that's what I've learned in the past two years, and that's the message I wish to share with you all today. Do good things, big or small, because no matter how much of a difference you make to others, the difference in yourself will always be greater.

Estamos juntos! (We are together!)

I love you all and I wish you the happiest of holidays.

~Alissa

Finally posting my last couple entries (months late!)

September 3, 2012

It seems like every post starts with an apology for not posting more often. I think by now you probably understand I'm busy here and send them as often as I find the time. So instead of asking for your forgiveness I'll just say I know you're all busy too (school just started for some and fall is upon you) but if you find the time on this Labor Day or just need a distraction here is a nice long update on my crazy adventures in Peace Corps.

The past few months since my last update have seemed to go by even faster (if that's possible) than the previous stretches between my updates. A large part of that owes to my having spent nearly the entire month of July out of the country. We had our two week break from school between the first and second trimesters and I managed to finish my grades and leave early as well as miss nearly the entire first week of this semester due to terrible travel luck on my return, but we'll get to that later.

While school and the things I've done there like continue my computer club and have another local and regional science fair have been fun, I'd really like to share the details of my trip with you all, because at times I wished any one of you could have been with me to share in the adventure. When planning this trip I knew it would be my last big adventure in Southern Africa. I knew I wanted to see things I hadn't before including wild animals, bordering countries to Mozambique, and the world famous Victoria Falls. I finally found groups of people doing each of these things and managed to cobble together a trip where I would be traveling at different times with 15 different fellow PCVs in four countries over three weeks. Whew.

My trip started with a three day trek to the border of Mozambique with Malawi in the northern city of Mandimba where my friend Kyla lives. A group of 9 of us met up there and the next day we crossed into Malawi to arrive at Cape McClear, a tiny town on the southern end of Lake Malawi. My favorite part of that leg of the trip had to be the bicycle taxis we took to the border from town and then to the Malawi town on the other side of the border. We stayed for three nights of fun, food, shopping and yes, I'll admit, drinking. We let off steam built up from the last semester of teaching and met lots of other expatriates as well. We had volunteers from all different groups and sectors (volunteers now arrive in two groups a year, one education, one health, as well as some volunteers who stay for extra time leading there to be currently 5 'groups' represented in Moz).

My favorite part of the Cape McClear section of my trip was not the drinking or making new friends, though both were thoroughly enjoyable. My favorite part was a boat trip I went on with two other volunteers and one of their friends who was visiting from the States. We spent an afternoon going out and around an island in the Lake and seeing fish eagles and other wildlife as well as a snorkeling session where I saw fish in all kinds of dazzling colors ranging from bright yellows to metallic purples. Our guide on the boat told us the names of the fish eagles, including Shakespeare, blue tooth and cherry haha. We then returned to the main land where the guide and his friend cooked us a dinner from a fish we bought from fisherman still in the boat on the way back. It was delicious and we ate it while being entertained by a band of local boys with homemade instruments.

The next morning we all went out separate ways and a fellow PCV named Julia and I continued on to Zambia for SAFARI. The funniest part of that leg of the trip was that the Zambian visitors visa cost $50, which had to be paid in cash, in US dollars. Needless to say I did not have $50 with me and so my friend and I had to exchange Malawian currency for a $100 bill (which I haven't seen in literally years) that one of the money changers had on hand for us tourists who don't know how things work. Thankfully both Malawi and Zambia's national languages are English (actually all of the countries bordering Moz have English as their national language) so that made negotiating a little easier. We finally made it to the safari camp, arriving in the back of a pickup truck full of sacks of cabbage.

The next three days were spent enjoying the beautiful safari camp called Flat Dogs (a nickname for crocodiles here) inside the South Luangwa National Park. We saw tons of wildlife both while on game drives and even near our cottage seeing as the camp was actually inside the national park and hippos, elephants, and monkeys were frequently gallivanting around like they owned the place. There's nothing quite like walking home from dinner and turning a corner to find a huge hippo or elephant in your path. Guides from the camp walk the guests everywhere after dark and make sure you stay far enough away not to bother/enrage the animals, but it's still pretty intense.

We went on two game drives (four hour guided tours in open trucks with 6 people or fewer), one in the morning starting at 6 and one in the evening starting at 4 and going past sunset because many of the carnivores only come out at night. In the total 8 hours we spent driving around the park we saw: elephants, hippos, giraffes, zebras, lions, water buffalo, hyenas, baboons, monkeys, warthogs, porcupines, mongoose, giant eagle owls, and countless other birds, not to mention many different kinds of antelope including water buck, reed buck, impala, and puku. It was an absolutely amazing experience to see all the animals in their natural habitat and I need to give a shout out at this point to my sister and new brother-in-law without whose help this trip would not have been financially possible for me. THANK YOU!

The final leg of my trip was also in Zambia. First I met up with three other PCVs in the capitol, Lusaka, and then we traveled together from there to Livingstone on the border of Zimbabwe to see Victoria falls, the largest waterfall in the world. On the way to Lusaka I got a ride with a really nice guy who worked for the government and played old American country music over and over. Nothing I really knew but one I remember was called “My Tennessee Mountain Home'. It made me wonder what the artist would think if they knew their music was popular in Zambia. Surreal. So we made it to Livingstone and while we were only there for three days we managed to see the falls, eat some great Mexican food, get attacked by a baboon, go on a sunset booze cruise on the Zambezi river, and while my friend Emily bungee jumped off the bridge by the fall that connects Zambia with Zimbabwe I zip-lined from one side of the bridge to the other with my friend Stephanie.

Then we made the slow and arduous journey back to site passing through Tete province in Mozambique, then Manica, Sofala, Zambezia, and finally back to my province, Nampula all the while stopping to see friends on the way. Overall the trip was 3 weeks long and I would not have traded it for anything despite the rough travel. I had an absolutely amazing time and wish more than anything I had a better internet connection so I could send you all pictures. I do promise to post them once I am back in the States in just two months!!!

Now I'm off for my last mini-adventure in Mozambique, our close of service conference followed by a few days at a beach called Tofu in southern Moz. I'll be back in about a week and hope my inbox will be full of updates on all of you, my fabulous family and friends!

I'm still here, and as busy as ever!

They say write what you know. All I know is it has been over four months since I last updated you all on my time here in Mozambique and the only excuse I have is the time has flown and I have been very very busy. Last time I wrote was 'summer' break, but shortly after that school started again. I am teaching 11^th grade English again which is somewhat frustrating because I wanted a chance to teach science this year but my school happens to have an abundance of science teachers (who are Mozambican and therefore know all the technical terms in Portuguese far better than I could) and a lack of English teachers who can actually speak English well. Even the assistant director (think assistant principal) who helps teach English and is probably the best speaker they have asks me for help all the time on grammar issues.

Either way, I am teaching English again this year, and while it is a bit of a let down I can't deny it has been helpful to be teaching the same thing so I can use the lessons I wrote last year with some improvements. It saves me so much time which I desperately need this year since I have twice as many classes and over 350 students. Whew. That's 350 students in 4 classes by the way. Each class has roughly 90 students, some a few more and some less. Classroom management is a challenge to say the least. But I'm happy to say I am much better at it than I was last year and my Portuguese has definitely improved as well.

Outside of school I am also busier than ever. I am still helping run our town's REDES (girl's empowerment) and JOMA/JUNTOS (art) groups as well as restarting my computer club and planning this year's science fair. On top of all that my roommate and I have classes at the local youth center (started by a previous volunteer after a cyclone in 2008). Right now we have 12^th grade English classes in the afternoon and my sitemate Samantha is starting another secondary project called FUEMO (future business leaders) where she will teach students and adults alike the basics of how to start and manage their own business.

Thanks to all your generous donations we also just got full funding of our grant for the youth center! This means over the next few months my roommate and I will using this money to start a youth literacy program as part of the youth center as well as do some much needed maintenance. We are so excited to have this opportunity and cannot fully express our gratitude to everyone who donated money! Thank you so much!! You're doing a great thing and helping kids of our town have the opportunity to understand the awesome power of learning and reading, even before they start school. There is no such thing as pre-school or kindergarten here (except for a select private type that is extremely expensive) and so many of the children do not have the chance to have any exposure to books or even the alphabet very much at a young age.

Through this program we will be doing a variety of things including purchasing many children's books in Portuguese (which are both difficult to find and expensive here in Mozambique) as well as having reading hours on the weekends and organizing arts and crafts activities revolving around learning the alphabet and illustrating short stories. It should be a really enriching program for everyone and I can't wait to get started. I will be sure to post pictures of the progression of this project with my next update.

For now that is a nutshell of what I have been up to the past few months minus one huge occurrence. I WAS HOME IN THE STATES!!! It was an amazingly fast, action- and love-packed three weeks. It was also just what I needed. Having been in Mozambique for 20 months it was a necessary breather that gave me a little boost to finish up strong in these next 6 months or so. For those of you who don't know I should be finishing my service in November. After that I'm still not entirely sure what I'll be doing but my plan is to try and get a job in science communication as it relates to politics in Washington D.C. (I swear it's not just to be near my nephew, sister, and new brother-in-law but that does certainly help).

Anyway, that is all for now, and please feel free to give me ideas for future updates. ASK ME QUESTIONS. What do you want to know about my service here? What are you curious about when it comes to Mozambique and its culture, people, and schools? Let me know! I'd be more than happy to do a question and answer update soon (and it will make it sooner because answering questions is easier than thinking up new things to write every time I send these).

New Year 2012--Still in Mozambique!

January 12, 2012

Wow. 2012. Pretty crazy, huh? I realized on New Year's Eve that I spent the entire calendar year of 2011 in Mozambique. I didn't leave once. I traveled around to many different parts of Mozambique (I have now visited 8 of the 10 provinces) but never actually left the country. I'm hoping in the next year I can make it to the last two provinces I've not yet been to as well as my upcoming trip to Cape Town with a couple friends that should be really fun.

Hopefully most of you read my email from right before the Holidays but if not I have copied the more relevant portions below this one (and thank you to any of you who were so generous as to donate to our project). So what have I been up to the last couple months? Well I traveled up north to the province of Niassa for a big Thanksgiving celebration with some fellow PCVs and the Medicos Sem Fronteiras (Doctors without Borders) office up there. It was so much fun. We also went to Lake Niassa for a couple days. Then I came back to my site and had planned to host Christmas for any remaining volunteers from my group (most were home in the States for the Holidays) and all the new volunteers who just arrived in Mozambique in September.

However, on December 20, a heartbreaking tragedy befell some of our fellow volunteers down in the Southern region of Mozambique (for more information you can look here) and so all the Northern volunteers from the new group, some of whom had been at my site, traveled to Mozambique Island for a memorial service for their two fallen friends. All the other volunteers were invited to the memorial service as well and so all 15 of us who had been in Angoche left on December 24 to head to Moz Island. We spent Christmas there but then the new volunteers wanted to spend more time together to get through this difficult time and so 16 people came back to Angoche on December 28 to spend the New Year together as well. I had all those guests in my house for about a week, and while it was certainly a bit hectic, everyone helped out and it was really quite a heartwarming week. So many of them thanked me as they were leaving, saying the week of beach going and friends was exactly what they had needed. And I'll never forget, as one of them was leaving she told me, “It's like you healed us.” Needless to say the days of cleaning and getting the house back in shape after they left were completely worth it.

Now that the New Year is here I've been trying to get prepared for school to start up again. However, despite the opening ceremony being on Monday I still don't know what I'll be teaching this year. I can't say I'm all that surprised to be honest. Last year school didn't really start until about a month after the opening ceremony. And the class schedule changed completely at least four times during the first trimester. So we'll see. I've told my supervisors I can teach math, biology, or chemistry (and would prefer to teach those since they are what I studied in university) but it's difficult to argue when they say the English teachers they have aren't fluent and they want a native speaker to teach the upper level students. Either way, once I know what I'll be teaching this year I'll let you all know.

Well I'm off to enjoy my last few days of freedom before school starts back up. I hope you are all doing well back in the States, and please let me know how everything is going for you. I feel so out of the loop over here. And for those of you who don't know I will be home for about three weeks in mid to late April for my sister's wedding. I should be splitting my time between Ohio and DC (where the wedding will be). I would to see all of you while I'm there so make a note on your calendars. :)

Love,

Alissa

Short version of my pre-holiday message:

One thing my sitemates and I are hoping to accomplish in the next year is to help solidify our Youth Center as a place where kids of all ages in our town can come to learn, read, and explore. We would like to start a youth literacy program to help the youngest kids learn to read. The problem is finding children's books in Portuguese is extremely difficult and all printed books here in Mozambique are very expensive.

So in the past few months my sitemate, Margaret (who has since finished her service and returned to the States) and I have written grant to try and raise money for this new project. And in the spirit of the holidays I would like to invite any and all of you to check out or website where you can choose to donate to our youth center and aide us in buying the books and supplies we need to help the kids of Angoche. Information on our grant can be found here as well as a more detailed description of our project.

Thanks in advance for any donation you might make and I sincerely hope you all had a wonderful holiday season!!

December 20, 2011

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Sorry it has been so long since I sent an email update. I wish I had a better excuse, but I've just really been enjoying my summer break from school. I've traveled, read, started running almost every day, gone to the beach, played with my dog, and generally just enjoyed myself. I love my Peace Corps work in the village of Angoche here in Mozambique, and it has come to be home this past year.

I have officially been living at my assigned site for over a year now. Sometimes I can't believe my service is already halfway over. At this time in December 2012, I will have just come back to the States as a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer. Wow. I can't help but look back at this past year and think about what I've accomplished--and what I have yet to accomplish in my final 12 months here in Mozambique.

One thing my sitemates and I are hoping to accomplish in the next year is to help solidify our Youth Center as a place where kids of all ages in our village can come to learn, read, and explore. We would like to start a youth literacy program to help the youngest kids learn to read. The problem is that finding children's books in Portuguese is extremely difficult, and all printed books here in Mozambique are very expensive.

So over the past few months, my sitemate Margaret (who has since finished her Peace Corps service and returned to the States) and I have written a grant to try to raise money for this new project. And in the spirit of the holidays, I would like to invite all of you to check out or website where you can choose to donate to our Youth Center and aide us in buying the books and supplies we need to help the kids in our village. Information on our grant can be found here as well as a more detailed description of our project.

Thanks in advance for any donation you might be able to make. I know things are tough economically in the States, but as my mom could tell you after she visited me here in August, most Americans, no matter what their financial situation, are incredibly blessed when compared to the people of Mozambique.

If you have time to send me an email, I'd love to hear what's going on in your lives back in the US. And I sincerely hope you all have a wonderful holiday season!

Love,

Alissa

If the link above does not work for you for whatever reason, copy and paste this URL: https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=640-028

Alissa's Science Fair Students Go To Regional Competition in Nampula

After competing in their school's local science fair, Alissa and her students at Escola de Secundaria de Angoche took a trip last weekend to the regional science fair in Nampula, the province capital located several hours' away via bus. One of her students also won at the regional competition in Nampula -- he created a kind of universal cell phone charger that can be used with batteries in places where no electricity is available. Alissa and her students stayed in a modern hotel in Nampula, where she had internet access and was able to skype with us back in states. :-)

July 6, 2011 - A Day In My Life As A PCV

July 6, 2011

A belated Happy Independence Day to all of you Stateside. My sitemate, roommate and I celebrated together by making pizza and singing ridiculously loudly to all the cliched America songs you typically hear around the 4th. It was quite a night. Then both of them got sick to their stomachs from eating so much cheese (we rarely have dairy here). I was fine but they both missed a day of work. Oops. It was quite the experience overall.

A few of you have requested a kind of 'day in the life' type of update, and I think that's a great idea, so here is a 'typical' day for me in Mozambique (although I've found no day is really typical --haha).

5:15: Wake up with the sun

5:20: Take the puppy outside and then cook breakfast for him and myself

5:30: Eat breakfast, usually an egg and some vegetables

5:40: Heat up water to take my morning bucket bath

5:45: Take my bucket bath and do my hair/brush my teeth

6:00 Decide what to wear for the day and get ready for school

6:30 Make sure I have everything together and ready or school

6:40: Leave for school

6:45: Arrive at school in time for concentração (singing of the national anthem, announcements, etc).

12:10: Finish teaching for the day and head home

12:30: Cook lunch, usually something simple like some sauteed vegetables or a veggie sandwich or maybe a peanut butter and honey sandwich, it depends how much time I have

12:50: Eat lunch

1:00: Gather everything needed to teach at the Youth Center

1:30: Head down to the Youth Center with my roommate to set up for class

2:30-4: Intense English Class for 12th grade students at the Youth Center (Tuesday-Friday)

4:00-5:00: Answer any lingering questions from students and 'office hours' for students from school to come use books from the library or ask questions

5:00: Head home

5:15: Relax! Read & watch the sunset, write letters, type an email update, or play with the puppy. ☺

6:00 Cook dinner for myself and the puppy. This also varies quite a bit, but is often pasta and rarely includes meat. The only time I usually eat meat here is when we go to the restaurant in town and get chicken. (This happens once a week or less).

6:45: Eat dinner

7:25: Heat water for my second bucket bath

7:30: Take my second bucket bath

7:45: Prepare lessons, grade papers, etc.

8:45: Check that everything is ready for school the next day.

9:00: BEDTIME

So while they do vary, that's a general outline of my days here. On the weekends I have REDES and JOMA meetings as well as meetings with my computer club at school. Those usually take all of Saturday morning. Sunday is day to relax, go to the beach, and lesson plan for school. Monday I don't have school (lucky!) so the morning is spent cleaning the house and doing laundry and the afternoon is spent with my sitemate and roommate planning the youth center lessons for the week. We usually go out to dinner on Monday evenings to celebrate finishing our planning for the week and also because we usually finish kind of late and it takes awhile to cook things here.

Well that should give you a good idea of a typical day/week in my life in the Peace Corps in Mozambique. I am really excited for this coming weekend because my counterpart and I are taking four students to the regional science fair which should be really exciting. I organized (with my counterpart) a science fair for my town that happened last week, and the students with the best scores are going to represent Angoche this weekend in Nampula. It should be a lot of fun. We had 14 kids participate this year and I hope next year I can up that to closer to 25.

Well I'm off to cook dinner. I hope all is well with you and hope to hear from all of you about how your life is going!

So much love,
Alissa