Want to get involved and contribute supplies or money donations to the projects I'm working on as a PCV in Mozambique? Check out the list below and start helping Mozambicans help themselves!!
Current Community Service Initiatives & Projects
What is the CLC?
The Mapinhane Community Learning Center (CLC) will be not only a
community-accessible library, but at its heart a pioneering approach in
combating illiteracy in the small Mozambican village of Mapinhane. In addition
to providing a nurturing space in which students may come to study or read
books outside of the classroom, the CLC intends to start a student-led mentorship
program between the local Primary and Secondary schools, AND implement USAID's Early Grade Reading Assessment program in which local children (grades 1-3),
are enrolled, tutored, and monitored in basic reading and comprehension skills.
This unique partnership forged between USAID, Livro Aberto and the Mapinhane
community will for the first time be able to quantify the local literacy rate,
identify specific reading skills that need improvement, and involve local
teachers and parents in promoting better reading habits.
Where will the CLC
be located in Mapinhane?
The CLC will be located in a donated classroom at the local
Primary school. It's centralized location in the community will make reading
development accessible to Mapinhane's youngest children.
How much money must we raise?
We must raise $2,315.52 before any work
on the CLC can proceed. This project adheres to Peace Corps rules
and regulations regarding fundraising and every donation is tax-deductible.
Click here to see how much we've raised so
far!!
What will the money raised go toward?
What will the money raised go toward?
- Renovations of the donated classroom
- Sponsoring of a student-designed mural
- The purchase of 4 encyclopedias, 2 atlases, 5 Portuguese dictionaries, 5 English-Portuguese dictionaries, in addition to more childrens' books in Portuguese.
- Contracting local carpenter labor to build desks, chairs, benches, window seats, and bookshelves
- Contracting a local seamstress to make cushions
- Costs related to pre-EGRA evaluations and organization/training of secondary student volunteers
Why is establishing a literacy center important? What are
the goals of the project? How feasible is the project?
In a community where literacy remains a privilege, the
Community Literacy Center (CLC) is geared toward fostering two primary goals:
(1) the development of a community-wide "culture of literacy" that
promotes the development of reading, writing and other communication skills of
local primary school students, and (2) the creation of a centralized,
accessible, and inclusive learning space that possesses the adequate tools and
resources necessary to encourage exploratory, independent learning for all
members of the community. The primary means of fulfilling these two objectives
is through (a) the creation of a community library and (b) the implementation
of a tutoring and youth mentorship program through harboring an alliance
between the local secondary and primary school.
Given that neither the local primary nor secondary school
has an established library or reading program, this project has already
received enthusiastic and total support from community members, local teachers,
and school administration. This is perhaps best evidenced by the donation of a
large classroom from the Director of the local primary school to use as our
space for the Community Learning Center and library. Students are also excited
about the Community Learning Center, as nearly two dozen children at the
primary school volunteered to help clean and prepare the classroom this last
month. Moreover, the CLC also garnered support from the USAID Early Grade
Reading grant, which already donated nearly 150 children's books to start our
library collection.
In Mozambique, illiteracy stunts the social mobility of
youth and thus long-term national development. Those who cannot read or write
are forever entrapped in cycles of poverty and subsistence living. Because of
this, and because the access to books and other learning materials is rare, we
expect at the CLC's completion, to directly impact not only the 1,000+ children
and teachers that attend the Primary School, but also the Secondary School
students who participate as tutors in our mentorship program. Moreover, we
intend to involve and engage the relatives of students who accompany their
children to literacy-centered events. Over all, in a community where education
is traditionally restricted to the classroom, the Community Literacy Center will
make reading a new, accessible reality and disarm illiteracy's grip on
Mozambican children.
Please, take time to donate TODAY. The Mapinhane
community of teachers, students, parents, and local school administration are
on-board and ready to take steps against illiteracy in their community. Click on this link and make your
tax-deductible donation NOW!
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| The "before" picture of the donated classroom at the Primary School, taken September 2013 |
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| Students helping clean out the donated classroom, September 2013 |
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| While aiding in the clean-up in September, students became "lost" reading the very books they were supposed to be organizing! I loved seeing just how changing the environment in which the books are available encourages student curiosity! |
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| Organizing the existing books and desks donated by the Primary School, October 2013 |
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Community Service Initiatives & Projects - COMPLETED
"Levanta nossas meninas"/"Raise the girls" Sports Bra Campaign
Overwhelmingly, girls and women encounter incredible discrimination and a huge number of obstacles to social advancement. Women bear the burden of housework, of children, of caring for family members, and of sacrificing their needs and desires for the benefit of men. Their subservience to men is best seen through literacy rates (61%), life expectancy rates, poverty, underage marriage, school enrollment ratios and dropout rates, lack of accessible/affordable health care, financial dependence, and opportunity for higher education and career training. It's a reality of incredible, imposing odds.
Yet, the girls at the E.S. Padre Gumiero have found basketball as a means of challenging traditional gender roles. Partnering with the Kitsap Tri-Babes, we organized a sports-bra drive for the Mapinhane girls basketball team as a means of encouraging girls to continue living healthy active lifestyles while eliminating breast pain as a deterrent to physical exercise. Together we collected over 100 sports bras!!
Overall, sports offer an excellent platform to reach out to at-risk youth and engage and encourage the development of important life-skills that could transform into real empowerment for girls and women as a whole. The sports-bra campaign opened the door to numerous conversations about body image, gender roles, seuxality, and female solidarity. Because of its huge success, we're hoping to extend our campaign to other local girls' teams when the opportunity presents itself. Until then, play on!
Overall, sports offer an excellent platform to reach out to at-risk youth and engage and encourage the development of important life-skills that could transform into real empowerment for girls and women as a whole. The sports-bra campaign opened the door to numerous conversations about body image, gender roles, seuxality, and female solidarity. Because of its huge success, we're hoping to extend our campaign to other local girls' teams when the opportunity presents itself. Until then, play on!
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| Laura, Edna, Cristina, Madalena, Joanna, Chupina |
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| THANK YOU KITSAP TRI BABES!!! |
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