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
11th 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 12th 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).
