Written on February 29, 2012:
Hey y’all,
Happy leap day! Hope all’s well up there where it’s almost Spring. Here it has finally started to hint at the fact that it will eventually cool off… as in, lately at night I can actually put a sheet over myself comfortably. A real treat.
The big news here is that I am gearing up for a momentous occasion: my dad, the Brick Man himself, is arriving in Mozambique in less than three days! I still don’t quite believe it… it’s a bit like worlds colliding to imagine anyone from home being here in Mozambique, in Mabote, in my hut. Eeee!
I have a very exciting itinerary planned for us here in Mabote, which includes such activities as looking at old photos at the secondary school of Samora Machel (Mozambique’s first president) and Fidel Castro slapping each other on the back; having a capulana shirt custom made for him by my local stylist; showing him the factory (okay, “factory” is a bit of a stretch) where they make liquor out of local fruits; and of course visiting and cooking over firewood with friends and colleagues. Some of the women are even planning to “receive” him at one of the associations with dancing and singing. I hope Mabote is ready for a tall, grey-haired mulungu to arrive speaking Spanish and asking to go hunting for bush meat with them.
Aside from that excitement, things here are up and down. As always, ten things go wrong for every one thing that goes right. But when something does finally go right it sure does feel good. I won’t go into what’s going wrong because, well, I’m in too light of a mood to attempt to spin my frustrations into entertaining anecdotes and lessons learned. So instead I’ll just tell you about what’s going right.
English classes started again this week and this time we are much more legit. We even have a name: The Community English School of Mabote. It was a bit of a rocky start last week when only two people showed up to the planning meeting and we had to reschedule, only to have my co-planners not show up to the second meeting. To be honest I wasn’t sure it was going to happen, but then this week I was pleasantly surprised by the number of people who not only showed up to the first class but actually paid money (a big deal, considering) to help cover the cost of materials. It’s still a small group but that’s fine with me. It felt good to know people really are interested enough to follow through and even contribute money.
I’m also more excited about things this time around because I have a slightly better idea of what I’m doing. In addition to now having some experience from last year, I’ve also been reading a great book* about using a dialogue approach in adult education. It’s a challenge to do here because of people’s experiences with the formal school system, which is so rigid and anti-dialogue. But the concepts behind it – borrowed from such diverse sources as quantum theory and the work of Paolo Freire, a Brazilian social activist and scholar – are very powerful.
Here’s a passage that I underlined as I was reading because it resonated with what I perceive here as a deep-seated dependence on outsiders and an automatic deference to – and even fear of – those in power (chefes): “When we do not use dialogue and instead ask learners to be passive, they do indeed learn. They learn how to be passive, to be ‘good’ employees. They learn that they have no power, except to obey.”
So not to imply that fifteen people making a “hopes and expectations tree” out of post-its by lantern light is the start of a revolution or anything… but it felt good to see them breaking out of the schoolhouse mode and becoming a cohesive group. One person wrote on his post-it that he wanted to learn English “because it has advantages in the human village.” If I had laid out a list of good reasons to learn English to try and motivate people, I would never have come up with that. And how awesome is that?
In addition to English classes, my collaboration with the new community association I’ve started working with is also going pretty right. We designed a pig-raising project last week that will hopefully be funded by their INGO donor as income generation for the association and its members. I feel a bit like a double agent because the original association I was placed with is also starting up a pig project. I assumed they knew about the second project – small town and all – but apparently they didn’t and I let it slip. (Whoops.) The first association is worried there’s not a big enough market for them both but the second association thinks there is. Who knows, maybe this can be a teaching moment on market research.
The other thing that’s going right with the new association I’m working with is that they’ve embraced an idea that my first association never seemed to be very excited about: pill organizers like the plastic ones you can buy in drug stores in the U.S., but made out of used matchboxes glued together. Maybe it sounds unsanitary, which is what the hospital said last year, but it’s not like pills are being kept in sterile conditions anyway once they get to people’s houses. And a colleague from my new association’s INGO donor is on board and suggested putting the pills in little plastic bags they give out at the hospital if they’re worried about it.
To back up, a lot of people have adherence problems with ARVs (AIDS medication). Anyone would have trouble remembering to take a pill twice a day, but it’s only compounded here by things like the low level of literacy and the intimidation that many people feel when interacting with hospital staff (again, fear and deference to those in power). People I know – even those who are community health workers at one of the associations – will often tell me they went to the hospital for something and are now taking pills but they have no idea what the pills are or why they’re taking them. Asking questions of medical staff at the hospital is not encouraged, and I’ve heard similar stories from other volunteers who work more closely with the hospitals. It’s sad.
But it would be great to finally see this idea take off. We’re planning a trial of 5-10 patients in the near future, and they also might come up with a song to go along with it to help people remember how to take their medication and why it’s important. Maybe it’s too early to add it to the list of things going right, but at least it seems to be attracting new interest. Here’s a picture in case you’re curious.
Wow, it’s now midnight… Happy March! I can’t remember the last time I was up this late in Mabote. I should sign off since I need to get up early tomorrow to do laundry before I leave for Vilankulo to meet the Brick Man. I’m going a day early for some meetings and to have a little dual-birthday dinner with my friend Safiyya. She’s another volunteer and Vilankulo regular and we’re using our combined birthday power to get a little group together.
But in case you’re worried that my dad will be sitting in Mabote the whole time missing out on exotic beach adventures, don’t be. After a few days in Mabote I’m planning on taking him down to Tofo beach where we’ll go snorkeling with whale sharks (among other sea creatures) and get knocked around by the waves in the surf capital of Moz. Not too shabby.
Tchau,
Julie
*The book is Learning to Listen, Learning to Teach: The Power of Dialogue in Educating Adults (Revised Edition) by Jane Vella. I think it has implications for any educational/training setting and even management.
