March 19, 2011
Time sure does fly here in Mozambique. I can't believe it's been so long since I last wrote an update. Sorry about that. I also cannot believe it has been almost 6 months since I left the States. So much is going on both here and at home, and I've been quite busy.
This past week, sadly, I have been been sick, which was no fun at all. I was practically bedridden for five days and couldn't eat more than bread and water. Not a good time, let me say. I was bored and tired and just miserable. I did read Lord of the Flies and started reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance as well as watch a few movies, but overall it was a long and terrible week.
Thankfully, I am feeling much better now. I am sitting out here on the back balcony, enjoying the gorgeous view of the Indian Ocean and islands off Angoche, while I read and write and listen to James Taylor. First I was writing in the handsome journal I received as a gift (thank you to the Krauses) before leaving for Peace Corps, and now I am penning this update to let you all know I am still alive and well and doing my best to keep busy.
Teaching is going fairly well. School is difficult but satisfying. I gave my first test at the end of last week and it was quite the episode. I caught around 15 kids cheating (which means they will receive zeroes), and many other students were looking at each other's papers and whatnot during the test as well. It was quite frustrating. However, despite it being stressful to proctor, the students who didn't cheat did quite well, and I was pleased. The test covered school subjects, professions, family members, and the verb 'to be.' I have a few more tests to finish grading but overall the effort was admirable.
Our secondary projects are also going quite well. Last Saturday we went to the beach with our REDES and JOMA groups. It was such a nice day. We brought some snacks and swam and ate, and Audie taught a bunch of the kids how to make friendship bracelets. Quite the successful outing. But even more rewarding to me was the debate we had with them before the trip to the beach.
The previous week we had been talking to the boys after the REDES meeting and one boy said, “Sao poucos mulheres que tem couragem.” (There aren't many women who have courage.) This spurred my colleague Margaret to ask him what he thought courage was. The boys agreed that courage was when someone does something dangerous, like robbing a bank. Then one of the REDES girls who was still in the youth center who had overheard the boys asked, "What about when a girl turns down a teacher who is trying to sleep with her so she can pass to the next grade? Doesn't she have courage?" The boys listened, and although rather taken aback by her viewpoint and willingness to speak up, agreed that this, too, was courageous. Later, while discussing this interaction amongst ourselves, my sitemate, roommate and I agreed that we should host a debate with the girls and boys of our groups to discuss courage and the difference between men and women in Mozambique.
So this past Saturday before our trip to the beach, we had both groups come to the youth center and had two teams (each with girls and boys) debate the truth of a handful of different statements. Some of the statements/questions were:
* There are few women who have courage.
* It is women's job to take care of men.
* A woman can be a soldier.
* Women in Mozambique have a harder life than men.
* If a wife and husband both get home from work at the same time it is the wife's job to cook.
* If you had the strongest man and strongest woman in the world, who could lift more?
And other things of that nature.
The teams took turns arguing the pro and con of the different statements, and it went quite well. I think all of the kids got quite a lot out of it, and it was one of the first times I think they had ever had discussions like that -- especially with the boys and girls participating together equally. It was quite possibly the high point of my month. :-)
Now it is getting dark and I need to go cook dinner (I'm going to make fried rice), but I hope this update finds you all well and enjoying the spring that is coming (I know a few of you have just returned from a week in GA rowing on Lake Lanier, and to you I say I MISS YOU and GOOD LUCK THIS SEASON).
Lots of love to you all!
~Alissa
