I moved to Xai-Xai at the end of Feb 2013. I moved from Chokwe because of floods, but that is whole other blog to come at a later date. Xai-Xai is my province’s, Gaza’s, capital and is one of the largest cities in Gaza. I have always thought it was a beautiful city, with hills of sand and lush with banana, papaya and palm trees. The scenery is something you would expect to see in Africa and I love it. It has a big open air market with rows of capulana’s, shoes and clothes, a calamidades (used clothes) dream. At first I was nervous to move because I would be living with a host family in a bairro, filled with twisty turny dirt paths going in every direction and I am easily lost. But thankfully it wasn’t that difficult to get to and from my house, to work and the main road. Peace Corps was trying to find a new place for me to live quickly because I had been living off their dime in the national capital, Maputo, for 2 month! So eventually, when my original site still wasn’t safe to move back to, it was hurry up and find a place to live. I would be doing the exact same work, at a hospital and at a preschool. Haha who knew.
My host fam ended up being real
cool. They are definitely traditional but
I actually have some privacy which is nice… notice that I said SOME! My first night here I came home, took a
shower and was laying on my bed when my 29 year old host sister just walks
through my door and lays on the bed next to me. She still does that to this day but I don’t mind
most of the time. Her name is also
Elisa so she is my chara or person with my same name. It is
nice to be able to have someone my age that I can somewhat relate to. I also
have an older sister, Maezinha (little mother), in her 30’s who was 9 months
pregnant when I got here, now her baby Shirley is a few months old. The parents
are older, im guessing in their 60’s, and yes mom that is older for Mozambique
haha. The father, Sr Tovela, is
retired and the mother, Ester, works in the Mercado Monday through Saturday. The
father is out passearing (walking around) a lot and talking with his best
friend, papa Gabriel, the guard at the preschool I work at. That is how they found the house, they just
asked the nice neighbor next door lol The
father always has the “in America… “ questions.
Every time we are watching the news its always, “La na America la… “ I thought he would get over it after a while
but hes still asking haha. It’s a good
thing to share culture but I wasn’t prepared for the “in America” conversation
every day for the last 4 months of my service.
Even though sometimes its
annoying, it is worth it to live with a family and be able to have discussions
on the differences of culture, health systems, food, sex, poverty and debt in America
and domestic violence.
One night there was something on
TV about domestic violence and the father asked me what could end domestic
violence. The question caught me off
guard by its vast possibility of answers, I kind of chuckled and said I didn’t know.
It
just so happened that I was giving a presentation on domestic violence at the
hospital the next morning, so I was prepared for this conversation. We
started talking and I said that hitting someone doesn’t make them learn
anything but just makes them more angry and hurt. He responded that if his child is coming home
late at night and they do not listen to him when he says for them to come home
earlier, what choice does he have but to hit them. We
went back and forth a few times and I brought up gender roles and how domestic
violence mostly involves women. He said
gender roles were part of the culture here, that the men were meant to do the heavy
labor like cutting grass with a machete and the women stayed in side and
prepared food. But then I reminded him
of all of the women who carry a stack of wood on their heads, a bucket of water
in their hand and a baby on their back when they walk back from the machamba,
he gave me that one. I said I thought
it all came down to women’s rights, does a man have the right to hit his wife
when she does not prepare dinner for him?
I think Mr. Tovela would say yes, but I told him that I thought it was a
woman’s right to decide whether to cook him dinner or not and that if she
decided not to cook then he could cook his own dinner. He raised his head up and chuckled, I think
that one threw him though a loop. But
the next afternoon I was walking into the house and saw him washing some of his
socks. I had never seen him do any house
work before and asked the girls if he ever normally washes his socks. They said sometimes but he is lazy. Then I was in the kitchen and he was taking
out the trash and sweeping the floor. He
walked outside to dump the trash and says, see there is no domestic violence
here. LOL I still am not sure whether
that was a random coincidence or behavior change but ima give one point to the
team.
I feel really blessed for the work
situation that I was given in Xai-Xai. In
Chokwe I worked for an established preschool with a director who has vision and
strong leadership skills, she is always pushing forward. I learned a lot about preschools in
Mozambique over the past year and a half, stregths and weaknesses, teaching
methods, formalities etc. In
Xai-xai I stepped into a small preschool of 50ish children, with two small reed
class rooms, bare minimum materials and teachers without training. They
were extremely welcoming and receptive to any suggestions I made. They actually supervise the children! They say that the children cannot be left
alone because they will beat each other!! YES! I think this is a rarity for preschools
and even most parents in Moz. When we
make a plan to do something during a break or snack time they actually come to
me and tell me they are ready for our discussion! This type of follow through and eagerness to
learn is like a pizza to a PCV, we hardly ever get it. I feel like I get to do my whole year and a
half service over again at the preschool except I know what im doing this time
haha. Thus far, we have worked together
to teach health lessons, learn new songs, write learning objectives for each class
and create a weekly work plan, build a hand washing station, and add more
nutrition to their menu. Not only do I
feel blessed to be able to have the end of my service end this way but I also
feel that God has also intertwined benefits for my future through this negative
experience. My chefe, Ilidio, told me
that the saying in Portuguese is “sempre Deus escreve certo em linhas tortas” directly translated “God always writes right
in twisted lines.
There are also 2 little girls with
developmental disabilities who attend the preschool who I get to work with
every day. Chudy is 4-6 years old (not sure) and has down
syndrome. She is a leader and a loner
all at the same time. She doesn’t care
about what kids are doing, she wants to hang out with the adults. She
hits a lot but is also really sweet and hilarious. Her laugh kills me! She is always telling people that she is
going to hit them and then throwing her head back with laughter. The other little girl, Tacia, I think is 3 or
4, and im not sure what her diagnosis is.
Before coming to Moz I was
working in the 1 on 1 department at a developmental disability day program for
adults and I liked it. I liked it a lot
but all my co-workers LOVED it and it was their life, I wasn’t sure I felt the
same way and thought I would move on.
While I have been in Moz I have
been interested in the lack of mental health services available and wanting to
somehow get involved. I was able to
work with one little girl in Chokwe and now these two girls, all whom I have
really enjoyed working with. I have
been looking into an applied behavior analysis program through the Peace Corps
fellows program and it is amazing!
Applied behavior analysis (ABA) is basically the study of behavior change,
normally used and focused on working with individuals who have developmental
disabilities. Most fellows programs
offer 10-30k off per year but this program is a full ride, with a living stipend
and health benefits!! I found this a
while back and have been contemplating it ever since, all the while my interests
in working with people with disabilities and learning about behavior has been
growing.
When I met Chudy I could see that her behavior
was not being controlled, she doesn’t listen to any directions, just does what she
wants, hits a lot and no one really said anything. I wanted to help the teachers with what
little experience I have. When I worked
at MORE they would use reward systems to curb unwanted behaviors. I was
trying to think of something Chudy likes to try and entice her to not hit and
to listen to the teacher’s directions. I
notice that she likes to spend time with adults and likes to help so I am
trying a reward system 2 times a day where she can help set up for breakfast
and lunch if she doesn’t hit and listens.
We will see how it goes but I feel
lucky that even in Africa I have been blessed with this kind of unexpected
experience. The other little girl
Tacia was being spoon fed all of her meals when I arrived at the
preschool. I liked being around her
and wanted to help with one of the meals.
The first day I fed her, the second day I had her use the spoon with me
and by the second week she was eating by herself. At this point she is more comfortable,
eating more quickly and with less mess.
At the end of every meal she
wipes herself off and takes her plate up to be washed by herself. There
is a huge lack of information about individuals with disabilities in Moz and I
hope that eventually I will have a chance to speak a little bit with the
parents of these girls.
Now about the hospital…. Yeah I know
I lucked out with this hospital as well but im a little bitter at the
moment. It has been a long journey with
EGPAF lol Basically I focus on the
program called GAAC. It’s a program
where HIV patients form groups with neighbors or family members who live near
them and one person brings the whole groups medicines back from the hospital
each month. So instead of all six group
members having to pay for transport to the hospital every month to get their
meds, one person can go each month, cutting their time down to 1 time per 6
months. And they can cut costs even
more by contributing to transport costs each month for that one person, travel
costs split by 6 each month. The
program is great and I have an amazing counterpart who is also willing to work. I am also trying to get the busca system up
and running. Buscas are when community
health volunteers go and look for patients who have stopped coming to the
hospital and abandoned their HIV treatment.
All funding in Moz is moving from prevention to retention so this is a
pretty important system. I am
satisfied to actually be doing HIV while living in Africa, because in Chokwe it
was none existent, but the hospital’s politics and slow moving processes are
always frustrating.
Sorry I havnt written a blog in I think
6 months so I had a lot to catch up on!
