I wrote this first one in November, but I don't think I ever got around to posting it.
November 17
As I approach my second Thanksgiving in Africa I have had the opportunity to reflect on and give thanks to my experience as a chemistry teacher in Mozambique. Although I have had a wonderful time so far, I have come to the conclusion that one of the things I am most thankful for is the fact that I do not have to do this job for the rest of my life. The following paragraphs should help explain why.
The complicated, corrupt and time-consuming process of recording grades occupied the two weeks following the end of classes. David, myself and two other teachers were responsible for the grades of about 650 ninth graders. Even after applying it I still do not fully understand the process that determines who passes to tenth grade and who stays in ninth. However, I can tell you that it simultaneously (and miraculously) leaves room for corruption while still implementing a complex system of checks and balances. I think my favorite example of corruption was when I watched a colleague successfully pressure his fellow teachers into changing the failing grades of his wife (for no other reason than that she was his wife… and yes, his wife is in ninth grade). The list (of corrupt/ bad practices in Mozambican schools) goes on and on, it is all very frustrating and it paints a bleak picture for the future.
After grade processing came the tenth and twelfth grade national exams, which I helped proctor and grade. An overwhelming majority of students were trying to cheat on the national exam and, for me, proctoring was like a high stakes competition in which a good performance by me would prevent an undeserving, cheating student from making it to grade eleven (assuming corruption does not give him a passing grade further down the line). To make it even better, Mozambican students also saw exams as a contest and they generally did not hesitate to complement my roommate or myself on our proctoring skills (which, in both of our cases, are prodigious). It was not unusual to hear: Teacha’, controlou bem in a complementary tone. Which simply meant that I proctored effectively. After exams came the grading of exams. I would rather not go into too much detail regarding the grading process, but I can tell you that not a single student (out of almost 700) passed the national chemistry exam. I have a suspicion, however, that when I come back to school next January quite a few of those students will have moved on to the 11th grade.
I think that is enough about school, I would much rather write about the fun and interesting things I have been doing (though there have not been many recently). The highlight of my last month or so was an early November trip to a nearby lake (Lago Chicamba). The lake was full of crocodiles (apparently the lodge where I was staying occasionally has croc on the menu), but a Zimbabwean guy informed us that crocs do not eat white people – so it was safe to swim (for me anyway). The lodge catered mostly to Zimbabwean fishermen and it was a nice place to get away for the weekend.
I am currently prepping for about a month and a half of traveling through East and Southern Africa (Tanzania, Zambia, Botswana, and South Africa are all on the menu along with Mozambique of course). Assuming all goes, well I will see my lovely family (on the African Continent) for the first time in almost 15 months beginning in late December. In the meantime, however, I want to wish everyone a very happy holiday season.
January 10
Happy 2010! I have recently returned to my home in Mozambique after quite a lot of traveling. The following are some highlights; English teachers should note my use (or over-use) of the present continuous tense.
Eating a Thanksgiving meal (on the beach) of grilled fish and coconut rice in the very isolated Northern Mozambican village of Pangane.
Exploring the dilapidated Portuguese-era mansions on the island of Ibo in Northern Mozambique.
Avoiding the lurking hippos while crossing the Mozambique-Tanzania border via dugout canoe (the only way to cross).
Swimming in the crystal clear waters around Mtwara in Southeastern Tanzania
Walking through the unreal (and extremely old – some date back to the 12th century) Swahili Ruins at Kilwa Kisiwani in Southeast Tanzania.
Browsing the food stalls and spice markets in Stone Town, Zanzibar.
Feeling like I was in the middle of a Corona commercial on the unbelievably idyllic beaches of Zanzibar.
Bunking in a compartment with five Zambians on a 50-hour train ride from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to Kapiri Mposhi Zambia.
Watching the Zambeze River spill 100 meters over Victoria Falls in Livingstone, Zambia.
Seeing my family in the Johannesburg airport for the first time in 15 months.
Enjoying very cosmopolitan Cape Town, South Africa on my parents’ dime.
Being close enough to touch Lions, Leopards and Elephants on Safari in Kruger National Park, South Africa.
Taking the family on a tour through my village in Gondola, Mozambique.
It was a very satisfying vacation for all kinds of reasons. I would love to share my photos, but my camera broke the day after I left Gondola – so I do not have any. For the time being it is nice and relaxing to be back at home in Mozambique. Things should really start to heat up when school starts again in about two weeks.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Monday, October 19, 2009
October 18
My classes officially ended on October 16, although a majority of students and teachers stopped coming to school near the end of September. The point is, however, that as of October 16 I officially completed one year of teaching ninth grade chemistry in Mozambique. Luckily (or maybe unluckily) for me ninth graders do not take a national exam so I do not really have anyway to evaluate the effectiveness of my teaching. Were I to give myself a self-evaluation however, in would be glowing (except for the first trimester when I could not speak Portuguese to save my life).
The end of a year of teaching in Mozambique is not all fun and games. To make a broad generalization about Mozambican students (which is a bad way to consider people of any nationality) they do not study, and they are always unhappy with their grades. As a result, I have spent the last week dealing with students and their bad grades. I have to explain to them that they did not study during the year, they cheated or tried to cheat on all of my tests, they do not know anything about chemistry and they do not deserve to pass. This kind of reasoning blows their minds, in large part because many of my colleagues give students completely underserved “help” at the end of the year – which allows them to pass, thus moving on to the next grade without knowing anything. To be frank, the education system in this country leaves a lot to be desired.
Students result to some pretty desperate measures at this time of year, in fact I would not hesitate to say that most of many students put more effort into trying to get me to “help” their grade than actually studying during the year. Some students offer to buy me things, some offer other kinds of favors I even had one student forge a letter from my school director (signature and all) that mandated I change his grade. For me it is all just an exercise in saying no, and thanks to all those anti-drug campaigns in elementary school (“just say no!”) I am well practiced.
I think I mentioned something in my last post about my electricity problems, they have been taken care of (thank goodness) and I am once again living happily in Gondola.
My birthday came and went at the end of September (kudos to all of you who remembered and shame on those of you who did not). The literal Portuguese translation for getting older is: “I did years”. So I did years here in Mozambique, and I have to say it was a nice birthday. There was a gathering of Peace Corps Volunteers the weekend before and we all went out for pizza in the city. The actual day of my birthday I taught six classes (and did not tell my students because a bunch of them are older than me and it would be kind of awkward for them to know my age) and my roommate (who a year ago could not have made grilled cheese) cooked an excellent dinner of spaghetti and meatballs.
Elections (which I mentioned last time) are coming up in about a week and they are really consuming the country at the moment. As per Peace Corps policy I do not have an opinion about Mozambican politics, though I do hope the various parties can avoid any kind of violence. The combination of imminent Mozambican presidential elections and the latest dose of trouble in Zimbabwe has us (PCVs) on relatively high security alert – which, in addition to our heightened vigilance means we are not supposed to leave site.
My classes officially ended on October 16, although a majority of students and teachers stopped coming to school near the end of September. The point is, however, that as of October 16 I officially completed one year of teaching ninth grade chemistry in Mozambique. Luckily (or maybe unluckily) for me ninth graders do not take a national exam so I do not really have anyway to evaluate the effectiveness of my teaching. Were I to give myself a self-evaluation however, in would be glowing (except for the first trimester when I could not speak Portuguese to save my life).
The end of a year of teaching in Mozambique is not all fun and games. To make a broad generalization about Mozambican students (which is a bad way to consider people of any nationality) they do not study, and they are always unhappy with their grades. As a result, I have spent the last week dealing with students and their bad grades. I have to explain to them that they did not study during the year, they cheated or tried to cheat on all of my tests, they do not know anything about chemistry and they do not deserve to pass. This kind of reasoning blows their minds, in large part because many of my colleagues give students completely underserved “help” at the end of the year – which allows them to pass, thus moving on to the next grade without knowing anything. To be frank, the education system in this country leaves a lot to be desired.
Students result to some pretty desperate measures at this time of year, in fact I would not hesitate to say that most of many students put more effort into trying to get me to “help” their grade than actually studying during the year. Some students offer to buy me things, some offer other kinds of favors I even had one student forge a letter from my school director (signature and all) that mandated I change his grade. For me it is all just an exercise in saying no, and thanks to all those anti-drug campaigns in elementary school (“just say no!”) I am well practiced.
I think I mentioned something in my last post about my electricity problems, they have been taken care of (thank goodness) and I am once again living happily in Gondola.
My birthday came and went at the end of September (kudos to all of you who remembered and shame on those of you who did not). The literal Portuguese translation for getting older is: “I did years”. So I did years here in Mozambique, and I have to say it was a nice birthday. There was a gathering of Peace Corps Volunteers the weekend before and we all went out for pizza in the city. The actual day of my birthday I taught six classes (and did not tell my students because a bunch of them are older than me and it would be kind of awkward for them to know my age) and my roommate (who a year ago could not have made grilled cheese) cooked an excellent dinner of spaghetti and meatballs.
Elections (which I mentioned last time) are coming up in about a week and they are really consuming the country at the moment. As per Peace Corps policy I do not have an opinion about Mozambican politics, though I do hope the various parties can avoid any kind of violence. The combination of imminent Mozambican presidential elections and the latest dose of trouble in Zimbabwe has us (PCVs) on relatively high security alert – which, in addition to our heightened vigilance means we are not supposed to leave site.
Monday, September 21, 2009
September 20
I have not had much of a chance to update this thing because the electricity in my house in Gondola was disconnected (but I will get to that later).
The end of August saw me in Maputo (Mozambique’s capital city) for the first time in nine months. Maputo is just a few hours from the South Africa border, and there are some aspects of the city that are relatively westernized (there are also many aspects that are very third-world). I have to admit that after living in central Mozambique for nine months I received a healthy dose of culture shock (which was not necessarily a bad thing). I relished experiences that I never thought I would (sitting in traffic, for instance) as well as experiences that have been absent from my life for quite some time (like eating ice cream and bacon – though not at the same time). A few days in the capital were a nice break from day-to-day life.
Following my time in Maputo my roommate and I (but mostly him) were graced with the presence of his girlfriend. It was nice to have a new person around and she injected some excitement into our lives (again mostly his). The presence of an American girl at site brought an onslaught of questions my way (in my experience, when it comes to asking questions Mozambicans generally are extremely intrusive and completely without tact) regarding my girlfriend and when she is coming to visit. I do not have a girlfriend, thus this line of questioning (which continues as I write this; three weeks later) made me feel bad about the current state of my personal life. Anyway, Gondola is not much of a tourist destination, so following a few days at site; David (my roommate) and his girlfriend went off traveling to the more tourist friendly parts of Mozambique.
Almost immediately following their exit I was greeted at the door by a worker for E.D.M - the national electricity company that provides power to most of Mozambique. This man informed me that my school had failed to pay the electric bill for five months and he was disconnecting my electricity. Needless to say this was extremely inconvenient, given that, among other things, I have an electric stove. Later that day I chatted with my school director and he claimed to have paid all of the energy bills. I have spent the last two weeks attempting (in vain) to get the energy in my house reconnected. I have been cooking with charcoal (or just eating uncooked food, because cooking with charcoal is a pain), taking cold showers, and reading by candlelight.
I am sure that the RPCVs (former PCVs) reading this are scoffing at my complaints about a lack of electricity, but in my defense: electricity is a very difficult thing to loose 1) in this day and age and 2) when you are supposed to have it.
In other news, the Presidential election campaign officially opened here in Mozambique about a week ago. This year will mark the 1st parliamentary election and 4th presidential election in the country’s history. Peace Corps forbid me from having an opinion about politics on this publicly accessible blog (I do however, have plenty of opinions). Mozambicans from various political parties tend to approach election season like a 24-hour-a-day college football tailgate (with rallies, parties and parades through the streets that keep me up at night). It is very different from our system, but exciting all the same.
I have not had much of a chance to update this thing because the electricity in my house in Gondola was disconnected (but I will get to that later).
The end of August saw me in Maputo (Mozambique’s capital city) for the first time in nine months. Maputo is just a few hours from the South Africa border, and there are some aspects of the city that are relatively westernized (there are also many aspects that are very third-world). I have to admit that after living in central Mozambique for nine months I received a healthy dose of culture shock (which was not necessarily a bad thing). I relished experiences that I never thought I would (sitting in traffic, for instance) as well as experiences that have been absent from my life for quite some time (like eating ice cream and bacon – though not at the same time). A few days in the capital were a nice break from day-to-day life.
Following my time in Maputo my roommate and I (but mostly him) were graced with the presence of his girlfriend. It was nice to have a new person around and she injected some excitement into our lives (again mostly his). The presence of an American girl at site brought an onslaught of questions my way (in my experience, when it comes to asking questions Mozambicans generally are extremely intrusive and completely without tact) regarding my girlfriend and when she is coming to visit. I do not have a girlfriend, thus this line of questioning (which continues as I write this; three weeks later) made me feel bad about the current state of my personal life. Anyway, Gondola is not much of a tourist destination, so following a few days at site; David (my roommate) and his girlfriend went off traveling to the more tourist friendly parts of Mozambique.
Almost immediately following their exit I was greeted at the door by a worker for E.D.M - the national electricity company that provides power to most of Mozambique. This man informed me that my school had failed to pay the electric bill for five months and he was disconnecting my electricity. Needless to say this was extremely inconvenient, given that, among other things, I have an electric stove. Later that day I chatted with my school director and he claimed to have paid all of the energy bills. I have spent the last two weeks attempting (in vain) to get the energy in my house reconnected. I have been cooking with charcoal (or just eating uncooked food, because cooking with charcoal is a pain), taking cold showers, and reading by candlelight.
I am sure that the RPCVs (former PCVs) reading this are scoffing at my complaints about a lack of electricity, but in my defense: electricity is a very difficult thing to loose 1) in this day and age and 2) when you are supposed to have it.
In other news, the Presidential election campaign officially opened here in Mozambique about a week ago. This year will mark the 1st parliamentary election and 4th presidential election in the country’s history. Peace Corps forbid me from having an opinion about politics on this publicly accessible blog (I do however, have plenty of opinions). Mozambicans from various political parties tend to approach election season like a 24-hour-a-day college football tailgate (with rallies, parties and parades through the streets that keep me up at night). It is very different from our system, but exciting all the same.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
August 20
It has been about a month; time to update the blog again. Today I am going to skip the quips that I usually open with and just jump right into it.
The third trimester of teaching has been interesting, in large part because my fellow teachers have not been paid in a few months, which is causing some problems. Apparently some clever people in the Provincial Education Ministry managed to steal/embezzle an enormous amount of money (somewhere in the neighborhood of $120,000) and the result is that the Provincial Education Ministry has stopped paying its teachers. My colleagues have been threatening to strike for quite a while, but the reality is that organized labor movements do not exist in Mozambique (or in Africa, for the most part). What really happens is that teachers go on individual strikes (which just means they don’t show up to teach – this actually happens quite a bit even when teachers are getting paid, but it is definitely worse now). There have been a few days of school in which I am the only teacher that shows up to teach (lucky for me, Peace Corps faithfully deposits my living allowance into my bank account every month) which makes me feel like a scab. In all likelihood this problem will not be resolved before the school year ends and many of my students will not have certain subjects for the remainder of this trimester. Unfortunately, this just perpetuates the huge education problem (perhaps huger than any other) in Mozambique that is improperly prepared students moving up grade levels (imagine trying to teach physics to students who don’t understand algebra, or even worse – teaching students (in any discipline) who don’t understand Portuguese).
The start of August marked the inauguration of a bridge traversing the Zambezi River at Caia. The Zambezi River cuts a half-mile wide swath between Northern and Central Mozambique and the aforementioned bridge means that it is now possible for a wheeled vehicle to drive the length of Mozambique without the necessity of getting on a ferry. It is actually a pretty exciting to see this kind of development (though it was primarily paid for by the European Union). I happened to be at a hotel (attending a conference in Northern Mozambique at the time) and every television I saw was playing the equivalent of Anchorman’s (the Will Ferrell movie) Panda Watch except for the bridge – which made it Ponte (bridge in Portuguese) Watch.
I recently read a book (Dark Star Safari) by former PCV and current author Paul Theroux, in which Theroux details his trials and tribulations on an overland trip from Cairo to Cape Town. For those of you who think African geography is unimportant, Cairo to Cape Town is more or less a north-south traverse of the African Continent. Anyway, I am sure Theroux’s experiences are more relevant and interesting to me (given that I am currently a PCV in Africa), but nonetheless it is a read that I would recommend (if only because many of his views mirror my own, and are expressed in such a way that I feel like I would express them if I were a good writer). To be clear, I understand the presumptuousness of making book recommendations (I do not have delusions about becoming an Oprah-like figure) and it probably will not happen again.
It has been about a month; time to update the blog again. Today I am going to skip the quips that I usually open with and just jump right into it.
The third trimester of teaching has been interesting, in large part because my fellow teachers have not been paid in a few months, which is causing some problems. Apparently some clever people in the Provincial Education Ministry managed to steal/embezzle an enormous amount of money (somewhere in the neighborhood of $120,000) and the result is that the Provincial Education Ministry has stopped paying its teachers. My colleagues have been threatening to strike for quite a while, but the reality is that organized labor movements do not exist in Mozambique (or in Africa, for the most part). What really happens is that teachers go on individual strikes (which just means they don’t show up to teach – this actually happens quite a bit even when teachers are getting paid, but it is definitely worse now). There have been a few days of school in which I am the only teacher that shows up to teach (lucky for me, Peace Corps faithfully deposits my living allowance into my bank account every month) which makes me feel like a scab. In all likelihood this problem will not be resolved before the school year ends and many of my students will not have certain subjects for the remainder of this trimester. Unfortunately, this just perpetuates the huge education problem (perhaps huger than any other) in Mozambique that is improperly prepared students moving up grade levels (imagine trying to teach physics to students who don’t understand algebra, or even worse – teaching students (in any discipline) who don’t understand Portuguese).
The start of August marked the inauguration of a bridge traversing the Zambezi River at Caia. The Zambezi River cuts a half-mile wide swath between Northern and Central Mozambique and the aforementioned bridge means that it is now possible for a wheeled vehicle to drive the length of Mozambique without the necessity of getting on a ferry. It is actually a pretty exciting to see this kind of development (though it was primarily paid for by the European Union). I happened to be at a hotel (attending a conference in Northern Mozambique at the time) and every television I saw was playing the equivalent of Anchorman’s (the Will Ferrell movie) Panda Watch except for the bridge – which made it Ponte (bridge in Portuguese) Watch.
I recently read a book (Dark Star Safari) by former PCV and current author Paul Theroux, in which Theroux details his trials and tribulations on an overland trip from Cairo to Cape Town. For those of you who think African geography is unimportant, Cairo to Cape Town is more or less a north-south traverse of the African Continent. Anyway, I am sure Theroux’s experiences are more relevant and interesting to me (given that I am currently a PCV in Africa), but nonetheless it is a read that I would recommend (if only because many of his views mirror my own, and are expressed in such a way that I feel like I would express them if I were a good writer). To be clear, I understand the presumptuousness of making book recommendations (I do not have delusions about becoming an Oprah-like figure) and it probably will not happen again.
Friday, July 24, 2009
July 24
I realize it has been quite some time since I wrote anything and given my penchant for living an extraordinarily exciting life (sarcasm) this blog entry could potentially go on for days. In the interest of time (and length) I will proceed to highlight the highlights.
I believe I last wrote about Mozambican Independence day, which would bring me back to June 25 and the penultimate week of my second trimester here in Mozambique.
After telling my students exactly what would be on the final exam, I still had plenty of students who cheated, plenty who failed, and just a few that appeared to have been listening during my lessons. However, I can say with confidence that my second trimester of teaching went a lot better than my first.
Following my final exam, I attended a Fourth of July party at a PCV site named Mangunde. At the Catholic Mission of Mangunde, I think I was as in the middle of nowhere as I have ever been, but the party (which included a Brazilian-style pig roast) was a lot of fun.
Although school officially ended July 10th the reality is that neither students nor teachers (except me of course) showed up for the last week. I actually went to school to turn in my grades the last day before break, and I had trouble finding someone to whom I could hand my grades.
I spent the first weekend of the holidays at a meeting regarding the future of a Peace Corps Project called JOMA (I wrote about it in an earlier post if you want to refer back). In general, Peace Corps Volunteers live in different places, have very different experiences, discover their own useful ways of dealing with said experiences, and always think they are right. The result was that not a whole lot was accomplished during the meeting, but we got some stuff done and the discourse got me thinking (mostly about how ineffective “development” is in Mozambique).
Following the JOMA meeting I caught a ride to Beira (Mozambique’s second largest city which also happens to be set in mosquito-ridden swamp on the Indian Ocean) to judge a Science Fair for Sofala Province. Many of the Mozambican students have quite a ways to go in terms of understanding the scientific method, but I think the science fair (and its accompanying prizes) motivated them to think about some interesting ideas. Among the top projects were: toothpaste made from banana peels and ash, a homemade pesticide, and a study about how public urination (a serious problem here) affects plant life. I also got to spend some time in Beira, the city is primarily known for its dilapidated colonial architecture (which can be appealing), and its abundance of stores (lots of stores is among the greatest assets a city can have here in Mozambique). Crumbling buildings aside, Beira is a vibrant and interesting city, boasting attractions such as a golf course, fountain, and a mall.
Following science fair cleanup I returned to Chimoio for a few days of relaxing and eating the cookies that were left over from science fair (I ate a lot of cookies). I also spent a day at Mercado 38, which is an enormous used clothing market outside of Chimoio (imagine a Goodwill Store the size of an oil tanker - the used clothing primarily comes from developed western nations i.e. U.S.A, Europe, Australia). Anyway, it is a fun place to go and if you look hard enough you can find some great stuff.
I left Chimoio early last week for a few days in Catandica, which is a small town at the foot of the Serashoa mountains on the Zimbabwe border (the spelling on that mountain range is almost certainly wrong). I went hiking with some other PCVs on the trails that lead up and over the mountains (and harbor mainly unofficial cross-border activity between Mozambique and Zimbabwe). We spoke Portuguese with Mozambicans, English with Zimbabweans and tried to toss in a word or two of Shona (which is the local dialect for much of Zimbabwe and this part of Mozambique). The mountains were gorgeous and I am pretty sure I saw 762 meter-high Matarazi Falls in the distance (the tallest waterfall in Zim).
I realize it has been quite some time since I wrote anything and given my penchant for living an extraordinarily exciting life (sarcasm) this blog entry could potentially go on for days. In the interest of time (and length) I will proceed to highlight the highlights.
I believe I last wrote about Mozambican Independence day, which would bring me back to June 25 and the penultimate week of my second trimester here in Mozambique.
After telling my students exactly what would be on the final exam, I still had plenty of students who cheated, plenty who failed, and just a few that appeared to have been listening during my lessons. However, I can say with confidence that my second trimester of teaching went a lot better than my first.
Following my final exam, I attended a Fourth of July party at a PCV site named Mangunde. At the Catholic Mission of Mangunde, I think I was as in the middle of nowhere as I have ever been, but the party (which included a Brazilian-style pig roast) was a lot of fun.
Although school officially ended July 10th the reality is that neither students nor teachers (except me of course) showed up for the last week. I actually went to school to turn in my grades the last day before break, and I had trouble finding someone to whom I could hand my grades.
I spent the first weekend of the holidays at a meeting regarding the future of a Peace Corps Project called JOMA (I wrote about it in an earlier post if you want to refer back). In general, Peace Corps Volunteers live in different places, have very different experiences, discover their own useful ways of dealing with said experiences, and always think they are right. The result was that not a whole lot was accomplished during the meeting, but we got some stuff done and the discourse got me thinking (mostly about how ineffective “development” is in Mozambique).
Following the JOMA meeting I caught a ride to Beira (Mozambique’s second largest city which also happens to be set in mosquito-ridden swamp on the Indian Ocean) to judge a Science Fair for Sofala Province. Many of the Mozambican students have quite a ways to go in terms of understanding the scientific method, but I think the science fair (and its accompanying prizes) motivated them to think about some interesting ideas. Among the top projects were: toothpaste made from banana peels and ash, a homemade pesticide, and a study about how public urination (a serious problem here) affects plant life. I also got to spend some time in Beira, the city is primarily known for its dilapidated colonial architecture (which can be appealing), and its abundance of stores (lots of stores is among the greatest assets a city can have here in Mozambique). Crumbling buildings aside, Beira is a vibrant and interesting city, boasting attractions such as a golf course, fountain, and a mall.
Following science fair cleanup I returned to Chimoio for a few days of relaxing and eating the cookies that were left over from science fair (I ate a lot of cookies). I also spent a day at Mercado 38, which is an enormous used clothing market outside of Chimoio (imagine a Goodwill Store the size of an oil tanker - the used clothing primarily comes from developed western nations i.e. U.S.A, Europe, Australia). Anyway, it is a fun place to go and if you look hard enough you can find some great stuff.
I left Chimoio early last week for a few days in Catandica, which is a small town at the foot of the Serashoa mountains on the Zimbabwe border (the spelling on that mountain range is almost certainly wrong). I went hiking with some other PCVs on the trails that lead up and over the mountains (and harbor mainly unofficial cross-border activity between Mozambique and Zimbabwe). We spoke Portuguese with Mozambicans, English with Zimbabweans and tried to toss in a word or two of Shona (which is the local dialect for much of Zimbabwe and this part of Mozambique). The mountains were gorgeous and I am pretty sure I saw 762 meter-high Matarazi Falls in the distance (the tallest waterfall in Zim).
Saturday, June 27, 2009
June 27
June 25 was Mozambican Independence Day and I joined in the festivities celebrating 34 years of Independence from Portuguese rule. In honor of Mozambican Independence Day this entry will consist of a brief, modern history of Mozambique, because (like all countries) the history of Mozambique has had a profound effect on what it is (and what I experience) today.
Portuguese sailors (motivated by trade potential in the Indian Ocean) landed in the Mozambican port of Sofala (near present-day Beira) in 1505 and controlled most of the East African coast by 1530. African Tribal Wars characterized the next 350 years in Mozambique along with Portuguese trade along the coast (including a booming slave trade during the 19th century). The Portuguese got serious about colonization in the 20th century and began to profit from Mozambique through 1) the proximity of the modern-day port of Maputo to South Africa’s gold mines and 2) the exportation of labor to S. Africa’s gold mines (this was a clever system of exploitation by the Portuguese in which indigenous Mozambicans were forced to work in South Africa and than pay a tax to the Portuguese Colonial Government). Portugal underwent a change in government in 1926 and elected to move away from forced migrant labor to forced labor within Mozambique. The result was high agricultural production and a valuable colony for the Portuguese. During this time Mozambique was also one of the top tourist destinations in Africa – with a seemingly endless amount of beach, and one of the best game reserves in the world in Gorongosa National Park.
In the wake of WWII Colonial Rule in Africa was coming to an end (often through violent struggles for independence). Mozambique was late to the party, but in 1963 the president of Tanzania (Julius Nyerere) convinced a few seperate Mozambican liberation groups to get it together and form a united movement for independence (this would become Frelimo (Front for the Liberation of Mozambique) – the party that continues to lead the Mozambican government today). Frelimo attempted to take Mozambique by force, but 35,000 Portuguese soldiers sent for the purpose of eliminating them hindered the plan. The Mozambicans decided to run, rather than fight, and luckily for them political problems (rather than Frelimo’s activities) in Portugal resulted in negotiations for independence between the Portuguese and the Mozambicans.
In 1975 Frelimo was given leadership of an independent Mozambique without an election, taking over a country of more than 10 million people, a literacy rate of 5% and just 100 doctors (those numbers today are 54% literacy and 600 doctors). With Frelimo in power, a vast majority of the Portuguese deserted the country, taking their skilled labor, money and management proficiency with them – and as a result destroying the economy.
In the first few years of independence Frelimo did some wonderful things socially, but failed miserably economically and ultimately started leaning towards socialism. The western world was not particularly happy with Mozambique’s Marxist policies, and neighboring South Africa and Zimbabwe (Rhodesia at the time) were not thrilled with Mozambique’s independence (both countries were white-dominated at the time). The result was a S. African/Zimbabwean supported destabilization movement in the form of a group called Renamo. Renamo’s only policy was that they were anti-Frelimo. The ensuing war between Frelimo and Renamo is commonly (though somewhat mistakenly thanks to the influence of S. Africa and Zimbabwe) referred to as a civil war; the war took the lives of hundreds of thousands of Mozambicans and lasted until 1992. Since 1992 Mozambique (still under the leadership of Frelimo) has been steadily improving in all possible ways.
Not surprisingly, tourism dropped to nearly nil during the years of war in Mozambique. Travel in the country was far from safe, and hungry soldiers managed to eat most of the wildlife that once made Gorongosa such a popular destination. Tourism in Mozambique is still recovering from the damages of war. Tourism infrastructure is difficult to find outside of a few popular destinations and Gorongosa National Park is currently known more for its lack of wildlife. The natural, undeveloped beauty however is still here.
Peace Corps English teachers arrived in Mozambique in 1998 and worked primarily in the southern part of the country. Since 1998 there have been thirteen classes of Peace Corps Volunteers (my class was lucky number thirteen) consisting in the more recent years of English teachers, health volunteers, biology teachers and chemistry teachers stationed in all ten provinces.
It seems like I have experiences everyday in which I am frustrated/bothered in some way by what I perceive as the backwards way that things are done here in Mozambique. What I oftentimes fail to take into account is that Mozambique as a country is just 34 years old. The reasons behind many of the things that frustrate me here may stem from the relative newness of Mozambique. If we think, for instance, about where the United States was after 34 years of independence it brings us to 1810, on the brink of the War of 1812 (yet another war with our original British colonizers). The history of The United States after 1810 included a bloody civil war, multiple assassinations of the president and policy gems such as slavery, prohibition, and McCarthyism. The point is, that Mozambique has not yet had the chance to learn from a long history (and the mistakes that come with history). Granted 233 years after the birth of the United States we still make plenty of new mistakes, but in general the country is run relatively smoothly. The policies, traditions and notions that make it a challenge for me to live and teach here are the result of this country’s turbulent history and relative newness.
To give an example of the point I am trying to make: Education policy handed down from the National Government dictates students in ninth grade take the following subjects: Portuguese, French, English, biology, chemistry, physics, geography, math, history, and physical education. They have each of these subjects every week at least twice per week. If you are asking (as you should be) if students can learn anything in any one subject when they are taking so many, the answer is no. From my perspective this policy seems to be nothing more than an attempt to catch-up educationally after thirty years of war. Although good in theory, the policy is not working.
Anyway, happy Independence Day (American and Mozambican), it will be a chilly one here in the western highlands of Mozambique. My second trimester ends in two weeks – at which point I hope to embark on some international travel in Southern Africa.
*The history part of this entry was adapted (in part) from Bradt, Mozambique. Phillip Briggs and Danny Edmunds
June 25 was Mozambican Independence Day and I joined in the festivities celebrating 34 years of Independence from Portuguese rule. In honor of Mozambican Independence Day this entry will consist of a brief, modern history of Mozambique, because (like all countries) the history of Mozambique has had a profound effect on what it is (and what I experience) today.
Portuguese sailors (motivated by trade potential in the Indian Ocean) landed in the Mozambican port of Sofala (near present-day Beira) in 1505 and controlled most of the East African coast by 1530. African Tribal Wars characterized the next 350 years in Mozambique along with Portuguese trade along the coast (including a booming slave trade during the 19th century). The Portuguese got serious about colonization in the 20th century and began to profit from Mozambique through 1) the proximity of the modern-day port of Maputo to South Africa’s gold mines and 2) the exportation of labor to S. Africa’s gold mines (this was a clever system of exploitation by the Portuguese in which indigenous Mozambicans were forced to work in South Africa and than pay a tax to the Portuguese Colonial Government). Portugal underwent a change in government in 1926 and elected to move away from forced migrant labor to forced labor within Mozambique. The result was high agricultural production and a valuable colony for the Portuguese. During this time Mozambique was also one of the top tourist destinations in Africa – with a seemingly endless amount of beach, and one of the best game reserves in the world in Gorongosa National Park.
In the wake of WWII Colonial Rule in Africa was coming to an end (often through violent struggles for independence). Mozambique was late to the party, but in 1963 the president of Tanzania (Julius Nyerere) convinced a few seperate Mozambican liberation groups to get it together and form a united movement for independence (this would become Frelimo (Front for the Liberation of Mozambique) – the party that continues to lead the Mozambican government today). Frelimo attempted to take Mozambique by force, but 35,000 Portuguese soldiers sent for the purpose of eliminating them hindered the plan. The Mozambicans decided to run, rather than fight, and luckily for them political problems (rather than Frelimo’s activities) in Portugal resulted in negotiations for independence between the Portuguese and the Mozambicans.
In 1975 Frelimo was given leadership of an independent Mozambique without an election, taking over a country of more than 10 million people, a literacy rate of 5% and just 100 doctors (those numbers today are 54% literacy and 600 doctors). With Frelimo in power, a vast majority of the Portuguese deserted the country, taking their skilled labor, money and management proficiency with them – and as a result destroying the economy.
In the first few years of independence Frelimo did some wonderful things socially, but failed miserably economically and ultimately started leaning towards socialism. The western world was not particularly happy with Mozambique’s Marxist policies, and neighboring South Africa and Zimbabwe (Rhodesia at the time) were not thrilled with Mozambique’s independence (both countries were white-dominated at the time). The result was a S. African/Zimbabwean supported destabilization movement in the form of a group called Renamo. Renamo’s only policy was that they were anti-Frelimo. The ensuing war between Frelimo and Renamo is commonly (though somewhat mistakenly thanks to the influence of S. Africa and Zimbabwe) referred to as a civil war; the war took the lives of hundreds of thousands of Mozambicans and lasted until 1992. Since 1992 Mozambique (still under the leadership of Frelimo) has been steadily improving in all possible ways.
Not surprisingly, tourism dropped to nearly nil during the years of war in Mozambique. Travel in the country was far from safe, and hungry soldiers managed to eat most of the wildlife that once made Gorongosa such a popular destination. Tourism in Mozambique is still recovering from the damages of war. Tourism infrastructure is difficult to find outside of a few popular destinations and Gorongosa National Park is currently known more for its lack of wildlife. The natural, undeveloped beauty however is still here.
Peace Corps English teachers arrived in Mozambique in 1998 and worked primarily in the southern part of the country. Since 1998 there have been thirteen classes of Peace Corps Volunteers (my class was lucky number thirteen) consisting in the more recent years of English teachers, health volunteers, biology teachers and chemistry teachers stationed in all ten provinces.
It seems like I have experiences everyday in which I am frustrated/bothered in some way by what I perceive as the backwards way that things are done here in Mozambique. What I oftentimes fail to take into account is that Mozambique as a country is just 34 years old. The reasons behind many of the things that frustrate me here may stem from the relative newness of Mozambique. If we think, for instance, about where the United States was after 34 years of independence it brings us to 1810, on the brink of the War of 1812 (yet another war with our original British colonizers). The history of The United States after 1810 included a bloody civil war, multiple assassinations of the president and policy gems such as slavery, prohibition, and McCarthyism. The point is, that Mozambique has not yet had the chance to learn from a long history (and the mistakes that come with history). Granted 233 years after the birth of the United States we still make plenty of new mistakes, but in general the country is run relatively smoothly. The policies, traditions and notions that make it a challenge for me to live and teach here are the result of this country’s turbulent history and relative newness.
To give an example of the point I am trying to make: Education policy handed down from the National Government dictates students in ninth grade take the following subjects: Portuguese, French, English, biology, chemistry, physics, geography, math, history, and physical education. They have each of these subjects every week at least twice per week. If you are asking (as you should be) if students can learn anything in any one subject when they are taking so many, the answer is no. From my perspective this policy seems to be nothing more than an attempt to catch-up educationally after thirty years of war. Although good in theory, the policy is not working.
Anyway, happy Independence Day (American and Mozambican), it will be a chilly one here in the western highlands of Mozambique. My second trimester ends in two weeks – at which point I hope to embark on some international travel in Southern Africa.
*The history part of this entry was adapted (in part) from Bradt, Mozambique. Phillip Briggs and Danny Edmunds
Monday, June 8, 2009
June 7
It has been a while since I posted anything, but I can explain why. I think that the things that I do here in Mozambique have stopped becoming eventful to me. I have grown used to my life here and nothing that I do seems so out of the ordinary that it can warrant a blog entry. For example, I think I wrote in one of my first entries about defecating in a hole – at this point I that is something that I would not think twice about.
All that being said I suppose I will continue to write things in order to satisfy my friends, my family and most importantly, my mother.
I have been chugging away at school trying in vain (for the most part) to get my students to understand something about chemistry. I decided to start telling them exactly what I am going to put on my tests, but most students still struggle mightily. There are some students that make an effort and actually learn something, and those are the ones that I focus on. I have no qualms about playing favorites – if I did I think I would loose my mind.
Some of my recent travel has included a trip to Manica City (which is in the mountains on the Zimbabwe boarder) to play a basketball game. Manica City is the currently the home of a large population of rich Zimbabweans who have gotten fed up with their own country. As a result it is a very nice little city. You can sit down at a nice restaurant and watch the fancy cars drive by, or walk through neighborhoods full of enormous houses. The income gap here in Africa is enormous – and I have not seen a more clear demonstration of that gap in Mozambique than in Manica City.
I returned on Sunday from a trip to Beira, which is the second biggest city in Mozambique and generally considered to be (by travelers and PCVs, but not by Mozambicans) a very unpleasant place to be. It is dirty, hot, and full of Malaria transmitting mosquitoes. However, I did have the pleasure of seeing a traffic light (we don’t have any in my province), and I got to go to the beach. My fellow PCVs and I took a trip north of Beira that included a 40 km along a terribly maintained dirt road and a short boat ride to a place called Rio Savane. It is a small campsite situated on a peninsula at the confluence of the Rio Savane (Savane River) and the Indian Ocean. There were miles and miles of beautiful beach and not another person to be seen – quite frankly it was one of the coolest places I have ever been. We played games on the beach during the day, and had bonfires on the beach at night- it was a fun weekend for all that were involved.
It has been a while since I posted anything, but I can explain why. I think that the things that I do here in Mozambique have stopped becoming eventful to me. I have grown used to my life here and nothing that I do seems so out of the ordinary that it can warrant a blog entry. For example, I think I wrote in one of my first entries about defecating in a hole – at this point I that is something that I would not think twice about.
All that being said I suppose I will continue to write things in order to satisfy my friends, my family and most importantly, my mother.
I have been chugging away at school trying in vain (for the most part) to get my students to understand something about chemistry. I decided to start telling them exactly what I am going to put on my tests, but most students still struggle mightily. There are some students that make an effort and actually learn something, and those are the ones that I focus on. I have no qualms about playing favorites – if I did I think I would loose my mind.
Some of my recent travel has included a trip to Manica City (which is in the mountains on the Zimbabwe boarder) to play a basketball game. Manica City is the currently the home of a large population of rich Zimbabweans who have gotten fed up with their own country. As a result it is a very nice little city. You can sit down at a nice restaurant and watch the fancy cars drive by, or walk through neighborhoods full of enormous houses. The income gap here in Africa is enormous – and I have not seen a more clear demonstration of that gap in Mozambique than in Manica City.
I returned on Sunday from a trip to Beira, which is the second biggest city in Mozambique and generally considered to be (by travelers and PCVs, but not by Mozambicans) a very unpleasant place to be. It is dirty, hot, and full of Malaria transmitting mosquitoes. However, I did have the pleasure of seeing a traffic light (we don’t have any in my province), and I got to go to the beach. My fellow PCVs and I took a trip north of Beira that included a 40 km along a terribly maintained dirt road and a short boat ride to a place called Rio Savane. It is a small campsite situated on a peninsula at the confluence of the Rio Savane (Savane River) and the Indian Ocean. There were miles and miles of beautiful beach and not another person to be seen – quite frankly it was one of the coolest places I have ever been. We played games on the beach during the day, and had bonfires on the beach at night- it was a fun weekend for all that were involved.
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