Beach Party in Vilankulos!!!

My first trimester teaching here in Mozambique was officially over two weeks ago! After grading hundreds of final exams, my mind and body needed a break.    

I was excited to  see all of the volunteer from my group who live in the northern region for a Peace Corps three-day conference.  Because it had been a few months since we saw each other, 

we stayed up all  night catching up. 

After the meeting in Nampula city, a group of 16 volunteers from the north decided to go down south to Vilankulos in Inhambane to vacation with other volunteers from all over the country.  I had a blast being a beach bum in Vilankulos this past week. Anyway, enjoy the pictures! I'll let them speak for themselves...

My little friend I met on the beach

My friend Tram and me

Jackie and Kevin

Beach Bum

It was about $7 per night to sleep here at this hostel right on the beach.  Sweet deal, right?

Some people camped outside and it was about $5 per night!

Here's a picture of one of the huts, which has beds inside of it.

Coconuts and capulanas

What Do Fish and Mosquitoes Have in Common?

 To recognize April 25th, World Malaria Day, I've been facilitating educational activities with students at my school. In the beginning of this month, a small group of 8th grade students and I had a discussion about malaria.  Further, they drew people sleeping under mosquito nets,  people swatting mosquitoes, and other pictures that had to do with malaria.  Also, they learned malaria-related vocabulary in English.  

Afterwards, we went outside to play games.  One of the games we played was a modified 

version of "duck, duck, goose" that I made up.  One

student would be the mosquito and he or she would pick its next victim by tapping his or her head

and yelling, "Run!" The mosquito tries 

to catch the person before he or she finds the safe place (his or her original spot).  

Hypothetically, the safe place

 would be underneath a mosquito net.  

Today, we moved the discussion to a classroom and anyone who wanted to participate

was invited.  We had a trivia game where six students sat in front of the classroom

and if a student knew an answer, he or she stood up.  After, the student responded with the

correct answer, he or she received a piece of candy.  Meanwhile, a volunteer wrote down the facts on the

board while the other students copied them down.

Afterwards students had an opportunity to win more candy if they discussed what they plan to do in their community for malaria awareness.  Many students

said that today, they will tell the neighbors that it is important to go to the hospital

if they experience diarrhea, body aches, loss of appetite, fever, or other symptoms of malaria,

so that they could get tested.  They added that malaria can be prevented if people sleep

underneath their  mosquito net and that their mosquito nets should be not be used as a net for fishing.  Surprisingly, some

people actually use mosquito nets to catch food!

Stay tuned to see what the students do for World Malaria Day on April 25th!

Click here to visit my previous blog post about malaria!

Wondering what other Peace Corps Volunteers in Africa are doing this month? Click here!