REDES Workshop

I have grown up attending summer camps, youth workshops and conferences, day camps and youth group meetings.  They have been experiences that I think have contributed a lot to who I am today, how I make decisions in my life, and how I think about my future. 

My girls, I swear they are happier than they look.  That's
just the cultural thing of not smiling in photos.
From left:Lidia, Gloria, Daria, Aida, Vanda, Amina, Menia

Here in Mozambique, I had the opportunity to share these experiences and bring 6 of my REDES (girls group) girls, along with my Mozambican counterpart and co-leader Lidia to a 2 day REDES workshop.  On Saturday, we boarded a chapa mini-bus and headed to Monapo, the site of my fellow volunteer Ariel who is also the National Coordinator of REDES.  There we joined 6 other REDES groups from Nampula and Cabo Delgado provinces.  In total, the conference had 33 girls from 7 different sites, 9 Peace Corps Volunteers, and 8 Mozambican counterparts.

We started the conference on Sunday morning with some REDES songs and introductions.  I had no idea REDES had their own songs, but my girls quickly jumped in, singing their hearts out with the other girls.  Perhaps I will translate the famous “Make New Friends” song and teach it to my own girls in an upcoming meeting.

My counterpart Lidia leading her session

Following introductions, we started the workshop sessions.  The Mozambican counterparts ran almost all of the sessions, with their respective Peace Corps volunteer kind of supervising and filling in to answer questions or throw in an extra important point.  Throughout the two days, sessions included information on female biology and reproductive health, communication with partners, contraception including practicing proper condom use using a wooden penis model, HIV/AIDS transmission and prevention, HIV testing, income generation project planning, self-esteem, domestic violence and women’s rights.  It was quite the information packed two days, but the girls all seemed to enjoy themselves and learned  information we hope they will continue to pass on to the rest of their group and other friends.

Among many giggles and laughter, one girl
practices with the condom.

For most of these girls, this was probably their first time travelling anywhere outside of Nampula city.  They do learn about menstruation and pregnancy from their mothers, though usually not until they actually begin their period, and I can imagine the actual biology about what goes on during puberty and menstruation are probably never explained.  Most of these girls have experienced first-hand or know of close friends or family who have been abused, gotten pregnant in their early teens, or have HIV.  I don’t think ever in their lives has someone asked them to think about what qualities they like about themselves.  They are constantly told to use condoms, but who teaches them how to use one or why it is so important?  It was incredible seeing this group of girls engaging in discussions, sharing stories, and giving them the opportunity to see things outside of their everyday norm, showing them that they are strong and can change how things are sometimes in their culture. 

Murrupula girls in their t-shirts

On the last day of the conference, we surprised the girls by presenting each with a certificate and t-shirt.  Ariel announced, “We have a surprise for you,” after which I came out, unzipped my sweatshirt and proceeded to model the yellow REDES 2013 t-shirts.  I don’t think ever again in my life will I ever receive cheers anywhere near as loud as that!  The girls jumped out of their seats, screaming and clapping, and then chanting as I strutted from side to side, giving them a little spin.  My ears are still ringing from it.

Aside from the t-shirts, all the girls’ other favorite part was the evening dances held at the end of each day.  These girls could dance!  One group came prepared with decorated t-shirts and pompoms, others made up dances on the spot and they danced and danced the night away until about midnight the last night.  I grouped all the volunteers together and quickly created a dance to the ever popular Gangam style song, sprinkling in some classic American dance moves like the Macarena, disco, grapevine, and the monkey, much to the girl’s entertainment.

On Tuesday, it was time for everyone to head back to their sites.  For me, the greatest moment was the chapa ride home amongst non-stop chatter from my girls about the weekend and singing the songs they had learned.  I think they enjoyed themselves. I certainly did and it will be one of my favorite Peace Corps memories. J

Raise the roof!

It’s all extremely surreal to me that this is actually happening and progressing like it is, but here is the latest photo of the library!

Here is the brick I made right next to the door.
The others are on the right of the doorway, but you can't see them well in this photo.

Our roofer roofing

Saida plasters the inside walls.

Four walls and a roof now!

We have 4 walls!

It’s been a drawn out process, as most things in this country are, but I am extremely happy to report that the walls are up and completed on the library!!  The next phase will begin this weekend with work on the zinc roof and plastering over the bricks inside with cement. 

The building is about 7m long, 5m wide (a little narrower than I expected, but oh well) and about 3-4m tall (I have never been very good at estimating sizes, so I’ll get back to you with the real measurements).  Not a super huge structure, but I think, combined with the outdoor patio area, it will still serve its purpose well and there will be enough space for a few bookshelves, a table, and a chalkboard.  We also are getting an official stamp made for the library to label all our books and make things very official. J

Saide - our fearless builder

Saide and his assistant finishing the last wall

Four walls completed!

Little by Little

Still making progress!  Despite minor set backs like lack of wood for burning the bricks, lack of transport for the bricks, and the builder forgetting to include items in the original budget, things are still moving along and progressing in the library construction!  Now you can see the space for the door and the window.  There is only going to be the one window, which we thought would be bigger, but oh well, it's still pretty big by Mozambican window standards. 

Maybe another week or so left in the brick construction phase, then we'll move on to the roofing and installation of the door and window along with metal grates on each, and eventually things like bookshelves, table, painting and decorating.  Still lots to go, but little by little it's going, and still pretty exciting!

Picture from June 10th

Hakuna Matata

After almost a year of planning, May 19^th arrived and Adam and I were finally leaving for our vacation to Cape Town and Zanzibar.  In Cape Town we met up with Adam’s older brother Matt and his wife Vanessa.  Unfortunately, due to a delayed flight, Matt and Vanessa arrived about 15 hours later than planned, but it didn’t seem to put a damper on anyone’s spirit. 

Our first day in Cape Town, we explored the V&A Waterfront, a huge shopping mall, enjoyed lunch on the water and later a delicious Mexican food dinner.  (Adam and I were probably most excited for the food during our trip and did extensive anticipatory research on Cape Town restaurants.  I apologize ahead of time for the perhaps overemphasis on the delicious food we ate.) 

 

The following day we drove about 3 hours to the Inverdoorn Game Reserve for a safari.  We had originally planned on doing a multi-day safari in Tanzania, but this became nearly impossible after our original flight to Tanzania got cancelled.  Fortunately, Inverdoorn is located close to Cape Town and offered a great opportunity to do at least some game viewing.  During our three hour safari drive, we saw antelope, springboeck, lions, white rhinos, ostrich, wildebeest, buffalo, giraffes, elephants, and zebras.  Situated somewhat in the middle of nowhere, amongst low growing shrubs with beautiful mountains on the horizon, the game reserve is really an interesting setting.  We would be driving along and then suddenly see two elephants with nothing else around them, almost as if they were planted there with a green screen behind them. 

 After a quick lunch, we were all very anxious to begin our next adventure, a cheetah encounter!  Inverdoorn is also the site of the Western Cape Cheetah Conservation Center where they are working to increase the genetic diversity of the endangered animals.  We were fortunate enough to have a one-on-one interaction with Velvet, a cheetah rescued from a life of living in some greedy man’s bathtub.  For over an hour, we were able to pet Velvet, who simply relaxed, lying down, purring loudly as we each took turns stroking her back.  How many people can say they have pet the world’s fastest land animal?!  Our drive back towards Cape Town city center was one filled with reflection on our truly once in a lifetime experience.  Amazing burgers and an oreo shake for dinner completed the outstanding day.

The following day, we started our morning with breakfast in our apartment-like hotel room, taking advantage of its fully stocked kitchen and the fresh market next door.  In the afternoon, we met Friso, our wine tour driver who took us out to Stellenbosch, one of the three main wine regions in Cape Town.  We visited two wineries, one pairing the wines with freshly made cheeses and learned about the wine making process, and then walked around the town of Stellenbosch, admiring its architecture and quaint streets.  We returned to Cape Town in time for dinner, heading to a local pizza place.

For our last day in Cape Town, with the sun shining and blue skies, we drove to Camp’s Bay and enjoyed mojitos and nachos on the coastline before heading to Table Mountain.  The view atop this wonder of nature is pretty spectacular, even with some clouds blowing in over the ocean.  We celebrated our last night in Cape Town with an authentic South African dinner at Karibu on the Waterfront.  Both Matt and Adam got traditional South African braai (or BBQ) with beef, lamb and ostrich skewers and I got a Lamb Bredie, kind of like a stew but so flavorful!  It was the perfect end to our Cape Town trip.

The following day and a half were some early and long travel days before we reached Zanzibar island.  We began our first travel day at 3am in order to get to the airport for our 6am flight to Johannesburg, followed by a 6 hour layover before our flight to Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. 

Dar was the first adventure with real Africa.  Immediately upon departing the airplane, it was obvious we were far from Cape Town, a city much more European than African.  Adam and I quickly fell back in to our usual travel modes of arguing with taxi drivers over prices, ignoring people asking for money, etc.  Emphasized by such a long day already, it was quite the culture shock for someone who had never been to Africa before. 

The following morning, my birthday, was another early day as we left around 6am to get to our 7am ferry to Zanzibar.  Again, another very African experience.  First, our drive, which should have taken less than 5 minutes, took about 20 minutes as our driver first started taking us back towards the airport.  Somewhat stressed now, wondering if we’d even make our ferry, we navigated ourselves through the crowd of people at the entrance gate, of course no sense of a line visible.  We then waited in line, the only non-Africans or

non-Indians around, slowly moving our way towards the metal detectors and baggage scanners before reaching the actual boat.  We were quickly shuffled away into the VIP seating area of the ferry, an enclosed room with two flat screen televisions, air conditioning, and incredibly comfortable chairs, a escape from the chaos outside.  We all felt a sense of relief at finally being on board and en route to Zanzibar.

After the hour and a half ferry ride, we picked up our rental car, drove around for a bit attempting to get Matt’s international license, and then were finally on our way to explore the beautiful island.  First impressions, Zanzibar is incredibly green!  The end of May marks the end of the island’s rainy season, so everything was incredibly lush, so many different kinds of trees lining the road, lots of banana and palm trees.  Zanzibar is almost entirely Muslim and the green setting provided an incredible backdrop for the women’s colorful dresses and hijabs. 

Before heading to our beach resort, we drove southeast to the Jozani National Forest, eager to see the unique Red Colobus Monkey which exclusively lives on Zanzibar.  Accompanied by our guide, it was amazing how close we could get to the monkeys!  One rushed by and even touched Adam’s pant leg.  The monkeys could have cared less with us standing just a few feet from them, cameras in their faces trying to get the best angle for a picture.  They were more interested in their fellow monkeys around them than us humans watching them.  They clearly are very accustomed to humans.  After watching the monkeys for a while, our guide took us through another part of the forest, pointing out plants and informing us of their various medical uses and then to the mangrove forest.

After an incredibly long day and a half, we finally arrived at Uroa Bay Beach Resort, all of us looking forward to an afternoon filled only with relaxing poolside and looking out at the Indian Ocean,  not having to move or go anywhere for a couple days.  For my birthday, the resort made me a cake, "Happy Barthday" it said and sang a traditional Swahili song.

Now May 27^th, we left Uroa Bay and drove to Stone Town, about a square mile area of the capital city Zanzibar Town.  We spent the next two days wandering and getting lost in the narrow streets winding through Stone Town, browsing in the shops selling wood carvings, paintings, and jewelry, and watching the sunset on the rooftop terrace of our hotel.

May 28^th we did a spice tour, driving out to the spice farms and walking amongst the spice plants and fruit trees, guessing which spice this seed was or what spice came from that leaf our guide handed us, sampling the incredibly sweet grapefruit, sour star fruit, refreshing coconut water, and even receiving hand woven hats and crowns at the end of our tour. 

Later that afternoon, we did some shopping for Tanzanite, a precious gem stone found only in Tanzania and worth quite the pretty penny back in the States.  After dinner, Adam and I walked briefly through the night markets in the Forodhani Gardens just outside our hotel.  There local chefs, dressed in their chef whites, set up tables filled with all sorts of sea food from crab to octopus to shrimp.  It was pretty quiet while we were there but we could easily imagine the place packed with both locals and tourists during the height of the tourist season.

May 29^th, after some quick last minute shopping, we left early in the morning for our last fancy beach resort, Sea Cliff Resort.  Situated on a low cliff overlooking the ocean, with stairs down to the water and a bar and sitting area located on the end of a jetty, ping pong table, air hockey, foosball, pool tables, and two huge pools, we were in paradise.  The grounds of the resort were beautiful.  We enjoyed our first day relaxing in the sun and I don’t think anyone was disappointed even when it rained our last day.  Everything was still so beautiful and incredibly relaxing.  The perfect way to end our vacation…

And then it was time to say our goodbyes and return to Mozambique.  It was an amazing trip, and as you can see, we did quite a lot!  But now it’s back to work; the second trimester is more than halfway over now and I’m starting to organize this year’s science fair which will be in early July.  We have a REDES workshop coming up at the end of this month where my counterpart and I will take five girls from our group to participate in a two day workshop with other groups in the province.  And finally, I’m happy to report that the library is in the actual building phase!  It’s been a long process, but the bricks are actually being cemented in place, finally!