Friday, December 14, 2012

the dog days of summer


     Since returning from Thanksgiving vacation I can’t get that mantra from Nemo out of my head- just keep swimming, just keep swimming…Yeah, year 2 is no joke. But to my credit this time of year is infamously hard for all PCVs in Mozambique. The kids are on vacation from school, colleagues are wrapping up work for the year and everyone is just counting down the days until 2013. All of this on top of the fact that for the 1st time ever in Monapo, I’m alone. My two education sitemates left after Thanksgiving to travel south to Johannesburg before catching flights back to the states. Even my quasi sitemates in the next town over (12 k away) have flown the coop! One was a Moz 15er and finished her 27 month contract in November and the other is spending the holidays in New York. The majority of the children (neighborhood kids) are also MIA. Most are off visiting family in other parts of Nampula province. Eddie, my favorite little munchkin, is out in the middle of nowhere for his initiation rites. Basically a male-only, month long ceremony where he officially becomes a man. He is seven years old. His father invited me to his “initiation rites party” which will be held when he returns from the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately, I will be gone on Christmas vacation. I promised to make cookies when I return to celebrate Eddie’s manhood.
     Work has been incredibly slow for me the past few weeks. Most of my time has been spent researching journal articles for my thesis and revising the curriculum for my secondary project, JUNTOS (the journalism youth group). As far as SCIP goes, I am just trying to collect monitoring and evaluation evidence on the stigma and discrimination program that I, along with the 3 other SCIP PCVs started in November of 2011. The 3 of us worked with the Behavior Change Manager of SCIP to create a 3-day long seminar in stigma, discrimination and gender-based violence. Fifteen community leaders from Monapo district participated in this seminar in February. Since then, I’ve been visiting these leaders in their respective communities to participate in community debates on these topics. It has been very rewarding to see the information being passed on from the leaders to other members of the community.  It is even more rewarding when you realize this information is valued by the community. Once, a community leader expressed his gratitude by explaining that his brother is chronically ill and he now understands the importance of not discriminating him or isolating him from the rest of the family. In another district, a community leader took a man to jail after beating on his wife. The words “stigma” and “discrimination” don’t exist in the local language of Makua, so these topics are really novel for most people. I have found that the community debates are often the first time people even think about these issues.
Unfortunately, unless a specific form is filled out to document participation at these debates, it is like they never occurred. And in order to get additional funding to hold more seminars, we need to provide evidence to Pathfinder International (and eventually USAID) that the community leaders who attended the initial seminar are actually doing something in their communities. So, earlier this week I got to ride around Monapo district visiting the leaders with the Behavior Change Manager from Nampula city. Luckily, I knew where 3 of the leaders lived. We were able to drive straight (or as close as we could get) to their houses. Unfortunately, I didn’t know where the other 3 lived, so we needed to stop and ask people for directions. I don’t think the driver and Nampula manager were as impressed with me as I was with myself. These leaders live in communities out in the middle of nowhere where the only landmarks for reference are a big cashew tree and maybe a 2 –room school. I was quite impressed with my memory and navigation skills. Oh the things you learn how to do as a PCV in Mozambique…
      Don’t let my lack of work and fellow Americans fool you. I’m actually enjoying these slow weeks of December. I’ve had the pleasure of finally beginning Janet Evanovich’s series (which my grandma, Mamie, is obsessed with), reading the first 4 books in a week. I also discovered the Phase 10 app on my phone and average about 25 games a day. I take 1-2 hour naps daily, long walks to the market and watch mini tv marathons of Law & Order, Sex & the City or The Big Bang Theory. It’s fabulous. I mean, when in my life will I ever have another job that allows me to live like this? Its strange because SCIP is my first job outside of a restaurant (if you don’t count the short stint I did as student liaison in the Department of Spanish & Portuguese at Temple).  I still don’t even really know how an office job works. Do I have to go into the office if I don’t have any work to do? Most Mozambicans equate sitting in the SCIP office with doing work. For example, the other day I stayed home to wait for my electrician to come over and fix my installation. While he was working I was also working. (I interviewed a community leader who mobilized his community in identifying barriers and facilitators in their surroundings that relate to stigma and gender-based violence. The community identified the lack of classrooms as a barrier for educating young girls. With the financial help of the government of Monapo district, the community constructed 3 additional classrooms at their primary school. I wrote the whole experience up as a success story for SCIP as another piece of evidence for the effectiveness of the stigma and gender-based violence seminars.) A friend stopped by and said “oh, hey, you aren’t working today?” I said “yes, I am actually working right now.” He responded with “how can you be working if you aren’t at the office?” You see, it’s very frustrating. Sometimes I know my colleagues don’t have work to do and are just sitting in the office to surf the internet. What’s the point? I’d rather just go home and play with my cat or wash dishes or bake something. Luckily, my position as a PCV allows me to do so. I probably won’t be able to do the same once I get a real office job in the states. Guess I better take advantage of this while it lasts.

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