Updates and Whatnot…

With no luck finding a new acceptable housing option – Helen and I have committed to moving sites and teaching at the Cateme Secondary School next year.  Even though we’ve fought this moment since March, we eventually gave in and agreed to move.  Fortunately, Cateme is only 30 k from Moatize so we’ll be able to  visit AND keep our same friends/support group! Our new school is brand new and apparently beautiful. Cateme itself is a pretty interesting place – a few years back , one of the huge Brazilian mines wanted to mine a part of Moatize where a village existed.  Being the super-power that they are, the company planned and built a new village and transplanted all of the displaced residents.  And that’s where we’re headed! We’ll live in teacher housing on the school campus (no more hour commute!!!) and are moving there at the end of November.  Obviously, I’m crushed to leave the school and community I’ve integrated into here and I can’t help but feel like next year will be “year 1, round 2” as opposed to “year 2.” BUT. I’m excited to try it all again! I’ll certainly have a lot of advantages having opened up a new site here in Moatize. 

            The school year ended relatively calmly. Aside from chasing down failing students and giving them a “last chance” test to prove they should pass (most of them shouldn’t …. I mean, you don’t know what the pronoun “I” means?! We’ve got problems, kid) and announcing our official departure –  summer break came with ease. Everyone needs a break J

We had a lovely lunch with Crispen’s (one of my little welder) family.  He’s one of my favorite students and, as an orphan, was taken in by his aunt and uncle.  His “sisters” (who are really cousins) prepared quite a feast for us! We assured his aunt and uncle that he’s a good student and watched about an hour of home video of a cousins wedding (complete with footage of Crispen – who ripped his pants dancing too much at the reception… the kid’s a riot! I’m going to miss him next year).  Helen and I left very full, carrying an offering of a pumpkin, and an invitation back anytime. Mozambican hospitality gives the South a run for its money. 

            Also, we have a new addition to our house/petting zoo…. A tiny little white and orange kitten who is providing us with tons of entertainment!! Helen settled on the name Oliver (which I thought was adorable) – but now after about two weeks, we  think Oliver might be Olive (aka his female alter ego).  How two people with a degree in biology have this much trouble assigning gender to baby animals is beyond me, lol!

English Theater

One of the Peace Corps initiated projects in the Mozambican school system is an English theater compitiion. Basically, schools from around the province will come together for a weekend and present 10 minute original plays about a social issue while showing off their English skills.  This year’s theme was “Choose your Future” and our students came up with a little play about staying in school.  Being novices to the competition, we weren’t sure what to expect.  The kids wrote the play by themselves in Portuguese and then with the help of their lovely English teacher (aka, Helen and I) translated it to English.  The students are always encouraged to write the piece themselves – but normally, it comes down to a teacher stepping in and taking control.  Needless to say, we were more than proud of our students for writitng the script themselves.

Our nine boys and one girl who participated were rockstars!!!  I’m pretty sure Helen and I looked like beaming stage moms as we watched them from the side.  We didn’t win any prizes – nor was it the most action-packed play.  But hey, we had no idea what we were getting into! And now, in the words of wise little Cloves (one of my star students) “Its ok that we didn’t win, I already have ideas on how to improve for next year.”   Plus, they all got t-shirt, certificates and pocket English-Portuguese dictionaries.  Pre-dictionary, Cloves used to bring a single, folded up paper to every one of my English clases.  It was a page from the dictionary in the back of an English text book he’d found somewhere. Needless to say, the shiny new pocket dictionary is a prized possession!

The Monday following the compitetion, I had arranged to have them perform the play for the entire school body (since they weren’t able to go to the actual competition).  I was a little nervous for them – a few weeks ago, another activista group did a play.  The students seemed completely uninterested in watching and ended up talking through the entire thing.  So when my group started and the 350 people in the audience crept closer and closer in complete silence, I was shocked!! Man, those kids were mesmerized! They couldn’t look away! When the kids took their final bow and the rest of the school broke into applause – I knew it was worth it. They were ecstatic and it was the talk of school for the rest of the day!