Mexican in Mozambique

Yesterday was World Malaria Day. To commemorate the day, I planned out an activity with the kids from Lemusica. The idea was to carry out the 'Dream Banners' activity and stress to the kids that avoiding Malaria will help them reach their dreams/goals... but the activity turned more into a Malaria themed art session, which I was ok with. I spoke to the kids about Malaria, what the symptoms are, and how to protect themselves from it. I also threw in a few facts in there- About 90% of Malaria related deaths occur in Sub-Saharan Africa, of which most happen to be children under 5. While trying not to scare the kids, I stressed to them the importance of recognizing the Malaria symptoms and telling an adult when they are feeling ill. The kids that participated in this activity are identified as OVCs (Orphans and/or Vulnerable Children) and they live in Lemusica's transit center. After our activity concluded with the OVCs, Virginia (the staff member in charge of HIV/AIDS educat...

April has been a busy month, with lots going on- both personally and professionally. I will post a recap once I get the time but I wanted to share the April newsletter for our REDES secondary project. I wrote a piece to commemorate Dia da Mulher Moçambicana (National Mozambican Women's Day) and how the work we do relates to Mozambique. Check it out! Why Women's Empowerment Matters O Empoderamento das Mulheres é Essencial P.S. Special thanks to Nicole Schatz for sending me 'The Penguin Atlas of Women in the World,' which helped me write this piece.

April 1, 2013 Last week I participated in a 3day workshop in Dondo put on by 2 professors and 4 cadets from the U.S. Air Force Academy. They have been researching BioSand Filters for some time and designed a trip/project to come to Mozambique and put on a workshop on the subject matter. There was 19 community members (church leaders, missionaries, and their students) in attendance in addition to the two members from my association (Dona Berta and Nerzita). Since my association (ATM) use to build and install BioSand Filters, they were invited to the workshop to facilitate the training and provide their testimonies. The workshop ran smoothly and I was impressed to see how critical of a role Nerzita and Dona Berta played in facilitating the workshop. Apart form attending and documenting the workshop, I also spent most of my free time with the cadets, the professors (and one of their spouses) from the Academy. They were an interesting group and I got a kick out of seeing the cadets ex...

It seems like I have a tendency to have the most underwhelming stories when it comes to injuries. The case of my 2 nd degree burn is no different. About two weeks ago, on a regular boring Tuesday morning, I was making my way to LeMusica (my 2 nd organization), which is on the other side of Chimoio. I hitched a ride into the city center and as I was getting out of the car, I stepped too closely to a parked motorcycle and burned my left calf on the fucking exhaust pipe! The wound didn’t look too terrible, so after a detour to the Peace Corps office to wrap up my wound, I headed to work at LeMusica. This was on the 26 th .  Right after getting burned Next day Fast forward to the weekend: I traveled (hitch hiked) down to Inhambane for a birthday party for two fellow Moz18ers. Shane, Haleigh and I set off at 5:45am and made our way to Inchope and eventually to Muxungue. Right outside of Muxungue, we sat on the road for a few minutes and snacke...

Being sick while living abroad is the WORST. Here are some reasons why: -Because you’re alone. -Beacause you’re alone in Mozambique (Africa). -Because if you find yourself alone and have a craving for some tomato soup, you can’t get in your little fuel-efficient Yaris hatchback and run to your local Ralph’s/Trader Joe’s (or whichever other grocery store) that carries ready made soup. If you want soup, you have to make that shit from scratch. -Because you don’t have a car, and despite being sick and feeling like death, you still have to walk to the local market/ paderia (bread store) or a Shoprite (if you’re lucky enough) to do your week’s grocery shopping (or at least enough to sustain you through your cold). -Because you just got back from a week/weekend away and your house is a total disaster. -Because you don’t have running water and you have to cart all of your own water, despite barely having enough energy to get out of bed. -Even better, the water spout is not r...

Last night, a group of us went out to dinner with the U.S. Ambassador (to Moz) and the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State. It was pretty freaking awesome! It's always a treat to network and meet people in the International Service arena and pick their brains a little. Th U.S. Deputty showed a lot of interest in us and even gave us some great compliments. He stressed the importance of the work that we're doing and the weight that this experience carries post-Peace Corps. Sometimes the monotony of every day life gets to us and we question whether we're being productive or helpful... we wonder if this is worth it or if we can do it. And then there's moments like last night- moments that encourage us and make us proud to be part of this leagacy. It was definitely a morale booster, and of course, just an incredible opportunity in and of itself.  Group Picture :)   The U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and The U.S. Ambassado...

written: feb.17/20 Tip#18: “ Understand that your frustration is about you. It is about 1) your own expectations regarding tangible achievements within your own time frame, and 2) your limitations in coming up with appropriate teaching methods.” Remember that list of 25 tips for Peace Corps Volunteers that I mentioned earlier? This is #18 and as I go through this journey that we call Peace Corps Service, I am at a point where #18 is loudly resonating in my head. This past week brought more of the ups and downs that characterizes this crazy, ridiculous, exciting, and sometimes dissapointing experience. Let’s take it back to last Monday, February 11 th . It was my first day working at a new organization (LeMusica). Since TIOS (my original organization) has been going through difficult times and work has come to a stand still while they sort out their office space fiasco, I scouted out another organization to work with. I was really excited about the possibility o...