Hosting Site Visit July 5-10:
I got to host site visit for 2 PCTs from Moz 22 group for 5 days so they can see what's life is like as a PCV. We spent the first day in Pemba at the Pemba education volunteers' house where they got to meet other volunteers. There were 13 of us total. We had a great party for July 4th with the Pemba volunteers' neighbors. On Sunday, we went to the beach in the morning before taking the chapa back to Ancuabe. I was excited to have visitors! They're the first volunteers to stay over at my site. I had a great time showing them around and cooking meals and baking together. It was unfortunate that they couldn't see the work that my org does since the training we were supposed to have with the health committees in the communities kept getting postponed. On the bright side, they got to experience "Mozambican time" and see how things work and learn how to deal with it. They also got to participate in my secondary projects!
Work:
I will have 4 new coworkers starting in August! I switched office with Amelia so now I'm in the bigger office where 2 new coworkers will join me. One will be working with me for the Juventude e Saude [youth and health] program and the other one is responsible for maternity safety program. Work has been really slow for me this month and pretty frustrating because things keep getting cancelled or postponed. I was supposed to go meet with the education director with my coordinator earlier this month to talk about the youth and health program we want to do but it still hasn't happened yet. The meeting is set for August 1st now but vamos ver! My org finished building a Casa de Mae Espera [House for waiting mothers= where expecting mothers stay at leading up to their due date to ensure that they'll get the medical help when they need it] at the hospital this month so that's an exciting news.
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| My new office space |
REDES meetings:
7/1/14 Taught the girls how to make Ojo de Dios! Got the idea from a fellow Moz 20er and help from youtube videos
7/8/14 The girls created a collage of their dreams for the future and presented it to the group. We then discussed what they have to do in order to reach their dreams.
7/1/14 Taught the girls how to make Ojo de Dios! Got the idea from a fellow Moz 20er and help from youtube videos
7/8/14 The girls created a collage of their dreams for the future and presented it to the group. We then discussed what they have to do in order to reach their dreams.
7/15/14 We talked about income generation and brainstormed possible projects we could do. Afterward I did an English lesson for them.
7/22/14 We did another English lesson and cut circles out of capulanas (part of our income generation project- selling capulana flower hair clip)
Horas das Crianças:
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| 7/2/14 Pin the tail on the donkey but malaria version: Hang the mosquito net |
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| 7/7/14 Played soccer |
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| 7/9/14 Practiced writing letter G and colored Superman |
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| 7/18/14 Practice writing letter H and colored Winnie the Pooh |
7/30/14 Played soccer. I'm horrible at it. I usually play goalie after the first few minutes so that I wouldn't have to run as much but I'm not good at blocking the ball hahaha =(
English classes:
I finally got around to setting up schedules to teach English to my coworkers and neighbors. As of now, I have 5-6 different 1 hour sessions for different group/individuals per week after work and on weekend since they're all at different level and have different availability. And of course, with Mozambican time, sessions get postponed to another hour or another day.. which sometime interferes with my Hora das Criancas which I then have to postpone that to another day. It's not my ideal preference but until I can figure out a better schedule, that's what I'm doing for now.
I finally got around to setting up schedules to teach English to my coworkers and neighbors. As of now, I have 5-6 different 1 hour sessions for different group/individuals per week after work and on weekend since they're all at different level and have different availability. And of course, with Mozambican time, sessions get postponed to another hour or another day.. which sometime interferes with my Hora das Criancas which I then have to postpone that to another day. It's not my ideal preference but until I can figure out a better schedule, that's what I'm doing for now.
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| Taking a quiz after finishing a lesson |
Vovinam:
7/28/14 Officially started my Vovinam class! We'll be meeting every Sundays. Starting with a small class to see how it goes before opening it up to the community. So far, I taught them how to bow, do basic punches, kicks, blocks, stances, and how to roll. We will be working on that for awhile so that they'll have a strong basic foundation.
Other updates:
-There's a huge ebola outbreak in West Africa right now :( Peace Corps is pulling volunteers out of Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea for now. Don't worry guys, I'm on the East coast so I am fine. My heart goes out to all West Africans and I hope they can stop the ebola epidemic soon! This outbreak is the most severe in recorded history :(
-I'm waiting for the school director to finish working on the budget list for the library project and then hopefully we can start working on writing a grant together next month.
