the kids camp!

Hey all!

I’m back in Quelimane on my work grind, after a great week in Mocuba, and a weekend of travel and relaxation in casa.

So last Tuesday I traveled about 3 hours north into Zambezia province to the town of Mocuba, where I helped a fellow PCV run a kids camp. As the students of Mozambique are now on their holiday break (until basically February) my fellow PCV decided to put this camp together to offer children something to do during their free time. The week was chock full of arts and crafts activities, games, sports, and time spent in the library. We had between 50-55 kids every day, and they would all show up around 7:30am, and we would start promptly at 8am. We provided breakfast and lunch everyday for the children and in the afternoon we offered a small classroom session about various health related topics – personal hygiene, malaria, hiv etc.

I was in charge of the sports aspect of the camp, we played soccer for two days and basketball for the other two. The first day of the new sport, we focused on drills and more ‘control’ activities, and the second day we played small-sided games. Having been a soccer coach for a middle school boys team in the states, it was very very interesting to see the difference between the two.

Also, as a side note – I took some time to evaluate just how ingrained the gender roles are in this country, even at a young age. We had divided the children into 4 groups, young/older boys and young/older girls. The boys were all very interested in learning how to play sports, and I could see a market improvement from the drill day to the game day, and see how they responded to suggestions and instruction for their game. For the girls . . . UGH. It was like herding cats! They were uninterested, oftentimes leaving the field or court all together to go pick mango’s, or laying down in the middle of the field etc. . . I wanted to scream haha.

Overall it was a fantastic week, spent with wonderful children, and great PCV’s. As many of you know, I am not the biggest fan of kids – but am learning that I enjoy spending time with them for a limited amount of time like this. We can play, learn and have fun . . .and then they go home to those that are responsible for them … it's a great set-up.

learning to dribble

again

learning to shoot the ball

our health sessions in the afternoon

a malaria activity we played with nets

travel back to quelimane

zambezia province, and the open road (view from the back of a truck)

I was supposed to be a part of a workshop given through ICAP for the Focal Points at the hospital in Mocuba for the GAAC program, considering I was already in town . . . but, surprise surprise, that didn't actually happen. Oh, the workshop did. . . I just wasn't a part of it. Due to no responses to my texts or calls to my supervisor, asking where exactly it was happening and what time it was starting. Oh well. Their loss. I got to hang out with kids all week and have fun.

I’m back in the city, and am catching up on all of the emails I missed last week (where I was staying had absolutely no cell service), and organizing my life for the next few weeks. I’ve also started getting people’s Christmas presents together to bring back with me, so if you all have requests- get them in now!

Xo

t