Adventures in Namaacha

On Sunday, October 16 we got our first glimpse of a secondary school. As part of the Peace Corps 50th Anniversary celebration, the trainees and a member of their family cleaned the Secondary School of Namaacha. My assignment was to sweep the classrooms. I feel terrible and am ashamed that I ever complained about the old lecture halls in the chemistry building at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. These classrooms were litered with candy wrappers, bags of chips, and balls of paper. Some rooms were covered in layers of dust and dirt so thick that with every stroke of the broom a cloud of dust would shoot up and sufficate the room. I took some pictures because I do not think my words will do justice to the terrible conditions of these classrooms. (As I mentioned before, I will post pictures when I am in a city).

Many of the classrooms had no more than twenty desks or tables, but as we have heard time and time again, these classrooms sometimes seat over 100 students. (Students are forced to sit on the floor and others stand outside and listen to class through the windows). I can already tell that I will have a difficult time adjusting to this new school setting. I am fortunate enough to have attended schools that foster learning, creativity, and a community that supports every student and family. If all of the schools in Mozambique are as cold as the Secondary School of Namaacha it is no surprise that children skip school regularly and even drop out.

I am currently in the midst of cooking for my family and wished I  would have selected another recipe. I am cooking chili, but so far my beans are overcooked and I am probably lacking some serious flavor. Luckily, I started cooking at 13:00 and have until 18:00 to finish the dish. That is five hours of flavor development!

As promised I have been writing down recipes. Over the course of the next few days I will work on converting measurements such as one pretty teacup of flour into meaningful measurements for people without the same pretty teacups as us. In regards to food and recipes, add bok choy to soup! We add bok choy to every dish and it ceases to amaze me. Also, add a little salt and chicken stock (approximately one cube) to the water while cooking rice.

Ate logo!

P.S. I finished making and eating dinner before posting this blog and I am proud to say dinner was a success!! My chili was such a hit that everyone took seconds and there are no leftovers (which is a bummer because I really wanted chili for lunch tomorrow). Looks like I will be cooking "American" food every weekend!