Paul and Eli Blog in Moz

I´ve been having fun at the boys conference, the other day we started working on our microprojects, which is a whole new direction from the HIV/AIDS and gender classes. The idea is that the students learn about a type of project here, and when they go back to Nacala they can start a project of their own. They´re even shown how to apply for money for their projects, filling out paperwork and everything, which is then fast-tracked to get them about $300. My kids choose murals (well, they chose theater and I made them switch to murals- not because I´m pushy but at the last minute I found out the school already had a theater group). Its been fun, we got to paint a mural on the inside of a local PCV´s house. Its the kind of project I´d be excited to participate in, and I´m hoping my kids take it seriously and get a mural group up and running.

Last night we had a talent show, which was 1 mini theater presentation and 13 lip sync song/dance things. It was fun for me because I got to judge, and we gave pretty nice prizes to the top 3 winners (1st place got more than I earn in a day!) The school we´re at has a really nice auditorium with speakers and microphones, and the kids were really into it. At the end I got up on stage to announce the winners; they wanted to shake my hand and get a hug, then make long speaches thanking people. It was a good time. The only downer was that afterwords, someone´s phone got stolen, and there was a search of every kids bag in the place. The phone was never found, and the kids kept us up half the night with all the noise.

Today I had some free time so I decided to walk down to the market. My students saw me and asked if they could go, so I ended up going with 4 students. We spent a while walking around the market at inhambane, which is pretty touristy and had a lot of crafts (although things which I can buy for $4 in Nampula were $40 here!). While we were walking back one of the kids asked if I wanted to see a statue of Vasco de Gama, a portuguese explorer. He took us to a field behind the police station, which was full of broken buses and piles of cinder blocks. There, completely hidden from view, was a really big old stone statue. My students said it had been sent over from Portugal. I have no idea why it was hidden like that, it was the kind of thing that you usually find in the middle of the town square. Anyways, these things happen....

Tomorrow I travel back to Nacala, but it may be a 2-3 day trip, depending on connections. Then we will start with the 2nd trimester. Take care,

Paul