As time passes, I find myself less and less motivated to
keep up with this blog. Many volunteers start a blog to document their
experiences abroad but most lose interest and/or resolve to really keep up with
it. I feel myself falling into this, but a small part of me wants to
make a real effort at not giving up on this. So, here it is!
Work Update:
I am still tutoring the kids at Lemusica but I have also
started working with the HIV/AIDS education/prevention department of the
organization. After the Malaria activity I carried out with the kids at
Lemusica, Virginia (the HIV/AIDS
staff member) asked me to work with her to create some visual materials for the
palestras (talks) and community
presentations she carries out. I have also been helping her with the training
of the youth activists she works with.
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| Virginia carrying out a community training... my drawings in the background |
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| A school health fair that Virginia & Lemusica presented at |
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| They re-used my Malaria presentation for the exhibit |
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| HIV is transmitted through... |
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| Engaging youth |
Things at my original placement, ATM, have not improved and
I have the feeling that they won’t change much during my time here. It’s been a
tough placement but I’ve come to terms with this and I don’t have any grand
expectations from them. Yesterday I was talking to Lauren (a girl from my
group) about my frustrations regarding work/my placement and she said “Low
expectations, that’s the key to happiness.” I agree. We come into the Peace
Corps thinking that we are going to change the world, or at least be involved
in some great project that is going to yield tangible results. Sadly, this is
not usually the case.
Other novidades:
In the past few weeks/months, I’ve been trying really hard
to get my REDES group together. REDES is one of our secondary projects here in
Moz and it focuses on empowering young girls. I’ve been putting in the leg work
to get my group up and running, but of course, this has also been really
challenging. A handful of girls have shown interest but they always show up
super late and sometimes don’t show at all. Punctuality doesn't seem to be much of a priority here. It’s been incredibly frustrating
because when I arrived in country and heard about this project- I was really
excited to get involved. Now that I am here and actually trying to get this up
and going, it’s been kind of a disaster and I’m struggling to stay motivated to
continue with this and not give up. I guess we’ll see what happens…
Aside from trying to get my group up and going, I have also
taken more active role in REDES leadership. Two weeks ago I planned and lead
the provincial workshop for Manica. It was probably the most stressful thing I
have had to do in Moz. Aside from having very little help in the planning
process from the counterparts, it’s Mozambique… and well, if you don’t know
what that means…. Let’s just say that efficiency and logic are not common
features of life here.
The conference took place in a cool little lodge called Casa
Msika and was attended by 27 girls, 8 Mozambican counterparts/facilitators and
7 PCVs. We had two full days of sessions that covered topics ranging from
reproductive health, HIV/AIDS transmission & prevention, communicating with
partners, violence against women, and income generation. Overall, the
conference ran pretty smoothly and the girls seemed to have really enjoyed
themselves.
As far as July is concerned, I will be hosting a trainee
this following weekend and I will be despedir-ing my sitemate Shane in the
following week (WEIRD!).
Stay tuned for those updates to follow...
Oh yea, Happy fourth of July, America!
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