REDES Conference

Peace Corps volunteers are expected to get involved in secondary projects outside of their primary function during their service. Often times, secondary projects are where you can really delve into your interests and use your specific talents. One of the projects that I'm starting to work on is REDES, or Raparigas em Desenvolvimento, Educação, e Saude, which is "a national network of girls clubs in Mozambique that promote girls’ empowerment and reduce their vulnerability to HIV through gender awareness activities, reproductive health and HIV prevention messages, technical skills-building, and planning for the future." My roommate and REDES counterpart, Redi, is already deeply involved in REDES and we have an established group. Some groups are run by PCVs, some groups are run jointly, and some groups don't have a volunteer involved at all.

The location of our conference in gorgeous Chimoio.

Two weekends ago, Redi and I packed up and headed south to Chimoio, for a regional REDES conference. The purpose of the conference was to train new members of REDES so they can successfully lead their own groups.

It was nice to get out of Tete for a while, especially since I had an official excuse to miss conselho de notas at school (widely known to be mind-numbingly awful). Even better, I was able to hitch a ride with a Peace Corps vehicle straight to the ADPP campus where we were staying!

Facilitators Wendy (left) and Joanna (right), and national REDES coordinator Mike (center)

Sessions, games and icebreakers.

The conference went great! My roommate has a leadership role in the REDES organization, so she helped facilitate some of the sessions. We talked about how to start and fund a REDES group, learned how to budget for and plan workshops and trocas, and discussed issues facing girls in Mozambique today, including HIV/AIDS, pregnancy, women's equality, and education. There was much discussion, some debate, and lots of game playing. And yes, that's my roommate in the top left putting a condom on a banana... it's super fun to be at a conference with the REDES ladies, because the are all such divas. No day is complete without a song and a dance party at the end.

On the last day, we had some time to plan our provincial workshops, which give the girls in our respective groups a chance to meet each other, teach each other something new, and go on an exciting adventure to another town. Szasha and I and our respective counterparts are working with the other REDES groups in Tete to plan a workshop in the next couple of months. Our REDES girls are already so excited!

It's exciting to be at a point in my Peace Corps service where I can start thinking about secondary projects that I want to do. I am really looking forward to working with Redi on our REDES group, and I am also hoping to get involved with a project called Books for Africa as part of a greater effort to renovate our school library and get a computer lab up and running. That's a little further down the road, through.

Well, that's about it for REDES. It was a great conference, I got to hang out with my roommate and other PCVs, we got a lot done... what else could you ask for?