Girl power

Materials needed to paint a mural in Mozambique:
- Bottle caps to chip away old layers of paint
- A large machete, also to accomplish the above
- Empty plastic liquor bottles and soda cans to cut in half and use as cups for paint
- A Frisbee, as a palette for mixing colors
- A rickety ladder that needs to be held steady by someone at the bottom
- A string attached to a pencil, to use as a compass when drawing large circles
- A water jug to stand on
- SUNSCREEN

With six people, our Peace Corps 50th anniversary mural was finished in four days and, not to brag, but it turned out great! I'm very happy about it. It was, however, quite a feat working in the scorching morning/mid-afternoon sun. The last few days, we worked two shifts- the first from 7-11 am when the sun became unbearable, and then resumed at 2pm when the area was shaded I'm not gonna lie, painting is not my preferred art form. It requires too much patience. I'd say 75% of the time I spent "fixing" letters and lines done by those with less of an eye for detail. By the end of the week, I was definitely cheiga (full of/enough) of mural painting.
I traveled up to Inharrime for the weekend for a giant REDES troca (exchange). With 130 girls, it was practically a conference! The night before the troca was spent making /writing/ decorating nametags until I thought my eyes would fall out. The girls showed up at 8am and spent the day rotating through stations: Cha cha slide, soccer, jump rope, capulana flower sewing, thank you card writing to donors, transition from primary to secondary school, nutrition/ peanut butter making, and mural painting (which I was put in charge of supervising until I decided, after watching primary school students paint a sloppy pink, yellow, and blue blob of a globe, that the perfectionist in me could not handle more wobbly lines, more paint, or more sun exposure).
Halfway through the day, a group of men wearing soccer uniforms showed up on the field and informed us that they had a game scheduled in approximately 15 minutes. When the Inharrime PCVs explained that we had the field reserved until 4pm, the men became very indignant and insisted that we take the children off the field so they could play. When it became apparent that we were not packing up, the guys started setting up on the field anyway. One man stood in the middle of the field and began blowing his whistle authoritatively. When the girls hesitantly started moving off the field, we ordered them to stay and continue their activities. At the point, a small crowd had gathered at the entrance of the field (game spectators? Or maybe drawn by all the yelling going on…) and the Inharrime volunteers had called the police and city administrators to come because the troca had been cleared with them in advance.
In the meantime, all 130 girls were sent onto the field to take up space and otherwise make it impossible for the men to play. With no PCV direction whatsoever, the girls immediately ran out and held hands in the middle of the field, singing REDES songs. When the guys began kicking around the soccer ball, primary school students swarmed them like a giant bees nest and took the ball down the other end of the field, kicking it between the opposite goal posts and cheering like a victory at the World Cup. "We are REDES girls and we want to play too!" They chanted.
The men were absolutely livid. One guy got so angry at the children chanting and dancing in circles around him that he petulantly whipped a young boy (the brother of one of the REDES girls) with his t-shirt. Later, this same man was literally chased down the street by the boy's mom, who had been called about the incident. Dressed in an elegant white sun hat and a capulana skirt, she (followed by a trail of hooting REDES girls) ran after the guy all the way to his house, where he hid and she promised to come back and let him have it.
Eventually, the city admin showed up, waving the letter that stated that REDES had the field until 4pm. As we watched the men leave (after more yelling from all sides and the feistier PCVs escorting them out) one of the girls at my side scoffed, "Those goats. No grass to eat today! Go on home," which I found hilarious. Of course, the men came back promptly at 4 with their vuvuzelas.
Throughout the day, the girls showed such spunk and strength. I was so proud of them. (Nevermind the later drama about girls taking t-shirts that they weren't supposed to…)
I came back from the troca inspired to do Income Generation projects with my REDES groups. Capulana jewelry is so fun and unique. Bottle cap earrings, flower hairpins and bows are so easy to make and easy to sell. Stay posted for more info this month about supporting my group!
XOXO-