June, thus far

The weekend after last, Eli and Ruben organized an excursion for JOMA. They presented a theater piece to the students of a primary school in the matu about 20 km away from Errego. The piece dealt with gender equality and the matriculation of female and male students. The matu kids were afraid of Eli and I, so we stayed back and let the JOMA kids do their thing. Errego is smack in the middle of the union of three roads; one south to Mocuba, one northwest to Gurue, and one to who-knows-where but probably eventually Alto Molocue. I'd never been on the Road To Nowhere past the piscina, and most of the kids hadn't either, so it was exciting; pretty, hilly, and matu matu everywhere. Pictures!


JOMA in route!
















Quadrado and The Matu Kids

Last Saturday, Eli and I held Ile's Science Fair. I ran the demonstration table, and had a lot of fun handing out prizes. Fifteen of the 22 students showed up, which was a good number and lucky for us because we had exactly 15 desks. Jovencio, a JOMA kid, won with an experiment on air pressure (that I helped him with... so I'm feeling a little extra pride). Second and third place, Castelo and Cristovao (also JOMA kids), both did plant experiments. Fourth place was a female and non-JOMA member. The four of them will get to participate in the regional science fair in Nampula in August. More pictures!


Science Fair! Innocencio, a JOMA member, is the one standing, wearing one of Paul's old shirts. The kid sitting under the ribs is one of my students. The girl with the head wrap is Julietta, a JOMA member. The kid in the corner is one of Eli's students.


Jovencio, 1st place


Castelo, 2nd place



Dionisio, one of my students and also a JOMA member

Professor Bethany of Gurue came to act as a judge, and brought impressive goo (both a solid and a liquid - I told the kids that it was magic... at first) and Sweeney Todd. Tim Burton outdid himself with the macabre on that one. Eli and I are going up to participate in Gurue's Science Fair next weekend; Eli as a judge and I will run a booth. I'm excited to see the Gurue girls, since it's been nearly 2 months since I've left Ile District. The change of scenery will do me good.

The 2nd trimester is coming to an end in a few weeks, and I'm thrilled. A vacation is long overdue. I'm planning something with my training buddy, Joy, who lives in Tete province. Since we're both equally close to Malawi, I'm thinking that we'll meet in Blantyre and travel to Lake Malawi, which is supposed to be gorgeous. Tomorrow, I'm giving an ACS on the Circulatory System, and will finish up the last few weeks of the trimester with the Respitory System. And then, ferias! Ferias!