23/09/10

Internet out again, so back to writing blog post by thumb on my phone which is less than fun. I was waiting for one of my classes to settle down at the beginning of class today, especially one pocket of commotion among a group of girls. I crossed my arms across my chest and have them a I'm-slightly-annoyed-but-really-it's-your-own-time-you're-wasting-and-you-guys-are-the-ones-with-a-test-tomorrow look. One of the girls was using her 6" rules to sweep something to the front of the classroom and out the door. It was a hairy spider with a body the size of a quarter and legs twice that long. The class laughed at me when i said "oh my GOODNESS!" and made a face. I asked if they had found it dead in the classroom or if they had just killed it, but one student assured me "oh no teacher, it's not dead!" REDES (girls in development, education and health) is the girls' group that I always mention--I have become very deeply invested in the project, I have my own group at site and also recently became National Director of Finances. REDES is the largest secondary project (all Peace Corps Volunteers worldwide have a primary project--mine is teaching "science" in the secondary school--but we are also very strongly encouraged to have a secondary project) in Mozambique, so large that i could foresee it becoming a primary project for PCVs in a youth/gender development sector in the future. JOMA (young people for change and action) is what developed as a result of boys wanting to participate in REDES groups, and volunteers wanting to have a group that targeted behavior change in boys. JOMA is gender-neutral and i think there are huge benefits to addressing social change through young males and a co-ed group, but I also believe that in a male-dominated society like Mozambique's, a safe place for girls to learn and develop, such as is offered by REDES, is invaluable. A few weeks ago a few fellow make PCVs, the new leadership team for JOMA, informed us, the new leadership team for REDES, that they would be initiating a prank war against REDES (I think they are bitter that they are only the second-largest secondary project here). We told them to bring it on. The pranks have begun and although they are not quite blog-appropriate, I would like to assure my readers that the score is REDES: 1 (or 2, depending on how you count), JOMA: 0. Those boys were foolish to think they could take on a group of girls, especially the strong, independent, feminist girls that the leadership roles of a Peace Corps girls' group would attract.