Abuse of Power

Mozambique, being one of the most underdeveloped and poorest countries in the world, has an extra large portion of problems on its plate. Some of these problems you see every day, like poverty, quality of health care, and the atrocious state of education. Sometimes people ask me "How can you stand being surrounded by all that bad stuff 24/7?"

Easy! You focus on the good things. The neighbor that reads to her kids every night. The girls who participate in class just as much as the boys do. The student who finally understands the simple past tense. Even small things-- the student who smiles and says "Good afternoon, Teacher" in the hallway when you walk by. I tend to think of myself as an optimist, and those are the things I focus on.

However, I was reminded this week with a jolt that Mavudzi-Ponte is not impervious to the problems of the developing world.

Last week, I found out that one of my ninth grade girls is dropping out of school. I asked why, and found out she's pregnant -- she's barely 13 and is pregnant. It gets worse. Over the weekend, there was a lot of fofoca (gossip) and it came out that the father of her child is none other than the pedagogical director at school -- the guy who is second in command after the school director.

This is so frustrating for many reasons. First and foremost, this girl's chances of improving her station in life just disappeared. Also, setting aside the obviously huge problem of this girl being only thirteen years old, the man who got her pregnant is supposed to be helping her get ahead in life. What's that they say about actions speaking louder than words? Most frustrating is that the guy won't face the consequences of his actions -- sure, the community will make him pay a sum of money to her family for reparitions, but that sum will not be nearly enough to cover the living expenses of a baby, much less atone for his blatant abuse of power.

Redi describes the female reproductive system.

One of my secondary projects aside from teaching has been to facilitate a REDES group with my roomate, Redi. REDES is a program that coordinates girls groups all over Mozambique -- we teach them important life skills about HIV, women's empowerment, and -- extremely pertinent at the moment -- pregnancy. Just last week, Redi and I discussed the female reproductive system with our girls, which makes the timing of this scandal particulary frustrating.

Most days, I wake up, look at my community and feel pride. I feel proud of all of my hardworking students. I feel proud of the colleagues who teach despite the fact that they haven't been paid in months. I feel proud of the girls who have the guts to stand their ground. Most days.

Today, however, I do not feel pride. Today, as much as wish I didn't, I feel shame for my community. Shame that there are people who take advantage of those less powerful. Shame that the community deems rape and teenage pregnancy acceptable. Shame at the father. Shame at the lack of outrage.

Most days I am proud of Mavudzi-Ponte, but today is not one of those days.