Frog in My Shoe

After the winter break students started showing up to enroll for the 10th grad accelerated course we are offering in February so that they can enter into the teacher training program in August. The teacher training program is for those who have completed 10th grade, and during the 2 and half year program they complete an 11th and 12th grade education and are trained to be primary school teachers.

There was nothing prepared for this enrollment process, all I know is the teachers and Director started telling the students showing up that I was in charge of those interested in applying. What? Me? I quickly figured out a system of what documents to ask from the students, how to keep track of those wanting to apply, when the test would be, etc.

Over 100 students tested for 24 spots. I don´t even think we advertised at all, it was mostly by word of mouth. Today a mother showed up with two daughters begging me to let them take the test even though more than 100 would be in line before them for these spaces. I gave in even though I told everyone I would put my foot down and stop letting students apply. She was the first mother to come with her children. All of the others came on their own, with friends, or their father came to apply for them (especially common for the daughters). I have told the students if they could do the 10th grade elsewhere they were more than welcome to apply for the teacher training program that starts in August. They tell me everywhere is full. Some try year after year to enroll into a 10th grade class.

I am told that the teacher training college used to struggle to have students enroll…I think this is a sign of the changing Angola…now families are doing a bit better financially and can afford to send their children to school. Also, perhaps people’s mindframes are changing to realize how important an education can be to have a better quality of life.

I think about how accessible education is in the US and how much we worry about getting into a certain college or university. The fact is, if we don’t get into one school we can get into another. If we can´t afford one school, there is another one that is more affordable. There are grants, financial aid, and loans. Most in the US don´t have to compete and struggle to find a school to finish the 10th grade.

We were told that Angola was lacking schools, but being the one to have to turn down dozens of students who want to be part of the 10th grade (mind you, most of the students trying to enroll are 18 years old or older) is just so heartbreaking. People shouldn’t have to fight to finish a high school level education.

*****

In other news, a frog moved into my sneaker. A scorpion pranced by my front door and a tarantula-like spider scattered passed me and Sabrina while walking through the "mountains" behind the school. We also have a little kitten named Tito to help keep away the rats that were keeping us from sleeping at night.

Walking Through Asseque

You just want to buy some onions and it turns into a whole adventure. People yelling “amiga” or even “chinesa” or “branca”, wanting us to wave hi, acknowledge them. Foreigners walking through the barrio. Sometimes a wave or a good morning is enough, sometimes not, and they keep yelling or start to follow us on our journey through the dusty neighborhood. People yelling “give me money”. “Give me your shirt”. “Help us”. “I’m hungry”. And you have to just walk on. And stop complaining about your own life. About how you don’t have well water these days or electricity or that you’re tired of eating funge and beans everyday. About how hot it is, about the cockroach that you just discovered in your bathroom, or the rat crawling around your room. Because a few yards away there is a swollen belly of a malnourished child, a roofless home approaching the rainy season, infections, disease, desperation.

Malaria (Paludismo)

One of the first things we noticed here was that when you ask someone “how are you?” the response is frequently “mais o menos” (more or less) or “via indo” (it’s going). It kind of bothered us in the beginning because people who looked totally fine would give us similar responses. Why didn’t they say they were good or doing well? Well…two months into living in Angola and I have now joined them in their less than ecstatic responses to “how are you?”

We all knew about the risk of malaria before coming here, but I didn’t think it would be this difficult to get rid of it. This area in particular has a high prevalence of malaria and it seems as though everyone is in a constant state of the disease. Our students are always sick. Teachers are always sick. Everyone is always sick. Death is all around. When you ask Angolans about malaria they laugh and say “e a nossa doenca” “it’s our disease.” It’s just a way of life, a common cold for them, only much more dangerous.

It’s just the reality. It’s one thing to talk about disease in Africa, talk about the need for vaccines and medicine and education, it’s another to experience it. I thought that if I do what I’m supposed to I would be safe. I’m healthy. I take my vitamins. I drink my bottled water. I peel my fruits and vegetables. I use bleach. I wash my hands. I sleep safely under my mosquito net. I go to the clinic when I don’t feel good. I get my malaria medicine and take it until it’s done. Malaria is vicious. One day you feel great, the next day it’s a headache. Then you feel awesome, then it’s extreme tiredness. Malaria is building up resistance to the anti-biotic treatments, not to mention that different areas have different kinds of malaria. If malaria existed in the “first world” there would already be a vaccine for it. Guaranteed.

It is just so hard to get things done, get the motivation, get people motivated when sickness takes over. Everyone loves to talk about development in Africa, but doing something, actually physically doing something about it, can be so damn hard.

Voz da Mulher

I recently finished reading the book “The Red Tent” by Anita Diamant. A lot of volunteers before me told me to bring lots of books, I wanted to and I tried but I’m glad that this one made it in. My sister-in-law let me borrow it (umm…hope you’re not looking for it because it’s kind of on the other side of the ocean right now) and it was a good escape…I’ve already passed it on for another woman to read.

Reading the “Red Tent” made me think about the 5 women who came to Angola from our school. I love that we are all women who came to this country together. I think that each one of the women who came here can offer so much to their projects.

There are three of us together in Benguela. At one point or another we believed that we would be alone at a project in Angola, but at the last minute things changed and we all ended up together. I think all three of us are grateful for this and I feel proud to work along side these two strong women. It has not yet been a month that we are living here. I think all three of us have already cried at some point, felt sick (one has malaria and typhoid fever right now!), been angry, confused, shocked, felt completely at home, totally at peace, and full of happiness. The range of emotions we have in one day here is totally radical and I’m glad we have someone to share them with.

It was almost instantly that we were told how difficult it is to enroll female students into the teacher training colleges. Our group has about 60 males and 30 females. The director of the school is female (very rare and has apparently suffered because of it) but we are they only female teachers here. It’s possible for many of the students here that we are the first female teachers that they’ve ever had and for this reason alone I think that we are needed here. Back home, females tend to dominate primary school teaching, but here it is mostly men who are teachers. Teachers are held in high status and respect here. We can easily notice the division between men and women here and the way that male teachers manipulate or take advantage of female students. I won’t go into details here, but there have been some situations that have totally disgusted me.

The three of us have had conversations about how we want to handle things in the future, or at least try to, to make a small difference if possible. To let girls know that there are other ways they can demand to be treated, other ways that they can respond to give them a place in society that is more equal. Also, to let the men know that this world is not only theirs anymore.

Hippies on the road again

On our way to the airport, not far from our school, the road was closed off. The guy directing traffic was young and had a ponytail. He motioned for us to pull up and he asked us “You must be the actors”…apparently they were filming a movie. We looked at one another..."Umm no?" He replied “Oh, well, we still need some more hippie extras if you want?”

So apparently the three of us must have looked like we were dressed to be hippies in a movie…but actually we were just dressed as ourselves…I’ve driven down that road dozens of times and have never been asked to be an extra hippie in a movie, nor do I think that will ever happen again. We were finally on our way to Angola and were so upset we couldn’t take up the opportunity! Unreal…we couldn’t stop laughing about it on our drive to the airport.

And so it began…our journey to Benguela. We stopped in Lisbon for an entire day, toured the city as zombies, fell asleep sitting on benches a couple of times, and then headed for Luanda. We were nervous about arriving into the Luanda airport because of stories we’ve heard about going through immigration…but everything went smoothly and someone was there to pick us up. When we arrived at the project close by, flamengos were lined up along the beach to greet us and so was an old friend of ours from our school, it was good to see a familiar face.

Two days later three of us took an 8 hour bus ride to Benguela, our home for the next 6 months. We were able to see the landscape…lots of it. Dirt. A lot of dirt. Everything is dusty. We arrived safely in Benguela and have settled in. Everyone is friendly and we are excited to get to work...it seems we will be very busy here.

Angola! Where's that?

For the past year I have been telling people that I'm going to Angola. Usually, the response is "Angola!...now exactly where is that?" I don't really mind, a couple of years ago I probably wouldn't have been able to point out exactly where in Africa it was. All I knew was that it was a former Portuguese colony and that my dad romanced my mom with letters while he was stationed there with the army.

I didn't know about the over 500 year presence Portugal had and that it was a major slave port where people were taken from their homeland and brought to the Americas, especially to Brazil. I didn't know that they had a poverty rate of 70%. The average life expectancy is just over 40 years old.

I didn't know that they had suffered over 40 years of war; from 1961 to 1975 they fought for their independence from Portugal. They immediately fell into civil war from 1975 until 2002. Over 500,000 people died during the civil war, two sides fueled by the two sides of the cold war. The country was pretty much ignored once the cold war ended. Today, the remaining million or more landmines (there is really nothing close to an estimate of how many landmines there are in Angola, some estimates are as high as 15 million) continue to injure, with one of the highest per-capita incidences of landmine fatalities/injuries in the world.

The good news is Angola is rebuilding and growing. Volunteers that I've known who were there for 6 months said the difference from when they arrived to when they left was unbelievable. School and health are two of the major needs, which is why I will be working at a teacher training college. More teachers means more schools and more children educated.

I am only beginning to learn about Angola's story and expand my own. I leave this Thursday with a day long layover in Lisbon. I am fueled with just about everything possible to prevent mosquito bites...from mosquito nets to citronella incense and neem oil, bee propolis and even a deet spray just in case going natural doesn't work. Here I go!