09/11/09

Right now is national exam time, so Becky and Stephanie both had to proctor two tenth grade national exams this morning. Meagan and I tagged along to see their school and facilities and to see a little of how things are run. However, apparently when people saw us this morning, a few of them decided that that meant that they could have the day off, so we found ourselves actually controlling two national exams today. Luckily all national exams are co-proctored, but there are 60 biology and drawing national exams with my signature on them now! Cheating is a huge problem in Mozambican schools, but luckily it’s harder to cheat (in terms of bringing in cheat sheets) on the national exams. Still, there is a ton of helpful sharing of information. It’s hard for me to even understand in many ways, because I wouldn’t want someone else benefitting from my hard work, but here the mentality is much more communal and many people simply don’t see the problem with sharing. This evening we met up with some more volunteers in the area and I met a guy who isn’t a Peace Corps volunteer, but is living in Inhambane city working for a health organization and is from Yarmouth, Maine!