Formacoes/ Trainings

Recently I have been blessed to able to participate in two really great trainings/conferences. The first was a training for coaching youth in soccer, with a health/HIV component as well. I was asking a PE teacher for his feedback on a youth soccer program I am working on and he mentioned that he was going to a training the next week for all the PE teachers and coaches in Chokwe. So I casually invited myself, lol and he accepted. I had no idea that it would be a three day training complete with lunch each day, actually playing soccer, a manual and of course a certificate. Mozambicans are real big on certificates and cannot complete a training or conference without one to add to their resume.

Each day we have practical training where we practiced simple drills of all the basic skills and it was pretty humorous because me and my friend Elisabetta had to play with grown men who were experienced players and we had never played before. Some of the activities were practicing head butting the ball and a team building exercise where we closed our eyes and our partner led us around the field. The catch to the team building activity was that we couldn’t talk, we had to use hand motions to communicate and the motion to start walking was a slap on the butt LOL a tap on the shoulder to turn left and right. I chose to break the rules and just tell the guy to walk but he did not return the curtsy haha but all jokes aside it was harmless and my partner was a respectable guy.

It was a really great experience and opportunity to meet a lot of contacts in Chokwe. We will be starting our project soon and I was able to get everyone’s names and contacts to participate in our project! The training was led by German government and the National Mozambican Futebol (soccer) League! This was an amazing opportunity to stumble upon. We are going to invite the leader of the Moz Futebol to our final meeting with PC for our project in hopes to create a partnership between the two organizations. The best possible outcome would be that Moz Futebol funds our project and helps us train our coaches… so all prayers for that J But if nothing else Moz Futebol will be aware of our project and be able to help us promote it.

The other training was the REDES conference in July for all the groups in Gaza and Maputo provinces. REDES is a group for young girls to learn about health, women empowerment and entrepreneurship to better their futures. I have a group of around 20 girls in Chokwe. We were able to bring 3 girls from our group as well as our Mozambican counterpart. I brought two girls from my neighborhood, my counterpart and an older girl that we are friends with that might help facilitate in the future.

There was over 100 girls ages 10-24 as well as the facilitators and PCVs. It was a 4 day conference held at a high school in Macia, Gaza. We were served 3 meals a day and snacks in between. Every day was filled with sessions covering topics of HIV, self-esteem, finances, reproductive system of a woman, communication with sexual partners, yoga, how to make jewelry and more! It was awesome and it feels really great to be a part of something where you can see a tangible difference being made in the life of young Mozambican girls.

It was also a great experience to be a part of the behind the scenes organizing/coordinating part of the conference. PCVs were responsible for assisting a Mozambican facilitators in their session, preparing materials, shopping for food, preparing snacks and serving meals. Each day there was a facilitator training where our Mozambican partners discussed how things were going and asked any questions they had. PCVs were able to participate in this activity as well.

In the next year the current PCVs leading the REDES program will hand over the project to my group and I hope to be involved in the planning of conferences and other events. There are several leadership positions available for the REDES group such as curriculum development, program director and financial director. I might be interested in being the contact person for my province if possible and depending on the responsibilities. However, right now I don’t have time to be a part of leadership, I just want to continue my own group in Chokwe as well as stay active in helping planning and participating in events.

Vamos Jogar!

Me and my friend Elisabetta are working on a new project that we hope will become a new Peace Corps secondary project.  Currently the PC secondary projects are REDES, a project that teaches young girls about health, income generation projects and woman empowerment.   There is JUNTOS which includes boys and girls and teaches about HIV and health through the arts: photography, drawing, painting, dance, drama and music.   There is English Theatre where Mozambicans can practice their English by writing a play and presenting it in a competition against other PC English Theatre groups.   There is also Science Fair where students can compete in a science competition.   We are starting a competitive sports project that will include boys and girls, soccer and hopefully basketball and volleyball in the future.   We will be teaching about health, values and entrepreneurship in efforts to fight against HIV, corruption and aid dependency.  

We are including ages 11-18 that will make up soccer teams with a maximum of 20 people.  The coaches of each team will participate in a training in the beginning of the season to learn how to teach about the various health and values lessons.   Each coach will receive a manual that describes the each lesson accompanied by a related activity.  The coach will present the lessons at each game and so not only can the players can learn but the audience will have the opportunity to participate.  

The PCV and coaches will lead a life skills workshop two times per month.   The topics of the workshops will range from cooking demonstrations to practice good nutrition, guest speakers sharing information on their profession and the steps it took to reach their position, or how to make toys out of wire that the youth can sell.    The workshops are meant to put the health lessons into practice, learn how to make crafts that youth can sell, and get them excited about the future possibilities of education and careers.   At the end of the year we will have another training and follow up for the coaches.   The PCV will be responsible for checking in with the coaches throughout the year to ensure that they are giving the health lessons and participating in the preparation and presentation of the workshops. 

We have had one meeting with PC staff to explain the project and see what the steps are to get PC to fund it and put their name on it so other PCVs can participate in the future.  They liked the idea and told us to apply for a grant to fund the first year and if it goes well they will recommend the project to the public affairs office, which funds all other PC projects.  We are still working out all the logistics and trying to put together a manual which has been a long process. 

We are trying to include the community as much as possible.   We are currently working with the directors of youth sports and activities of Chokwe and Guija to get their opinions and cooperation for the project.   It is going to be huge if they can actually organize things through their side in the government and community because at the end of the day we want this to be a project run solely by Mozambicans.  

In efforts to involve the community we are also holding a competition for the high school students the design the name and logo.  We are handing out a flyer to the art and PE teachers that explains the competition and what we are looking for in the name.   We also handed out documents with the projects description, mission, vision, goals, objectives and a list of the lessons to various community members to get their opinions and to help with correcting spelling and grammar of Portuguese.   

We are getting down to the final steps of writing our grant proposal to PC and editing all of our documents.  We have had 2 games between our two towns, Chokwe and Guija.  Guija won the first game and the second game was a tie… Chokwe is going to win the next one!    After the grant is approved we will start implementing the project throughout Mozambique and start writing the very detailed manual in English and Portuguese.   The project is a lot of work but we are really excited and motivated to be completely finished by the end of our service!