So, rather than blog about Cuamba, I´m just going to copy and paste the letter I´ve written for the person replacing me here at site. In case the new PCV doesn´t receive it on Week 7 of PST, then here it is, long before site-placement announcements. 

As always, contact information and full names have been omitted from the original letter.

20 October 2013

Hello Moz21er(s)—

You’re almost done with PST, well on your way to starting your service and leading a more autonomous PCV life.  Congrats!  You will be replacing me and another Teacher Trainer here at the IFP in Cuamba.  This letter will give you some information about living and working in the second biggest city in the province of Niassa.  It probably won’t totally answer all of your questions, but I hope to answer many of them.  Don’t hesitate to call  or email if anything I say here needs more clarification.

You’ll be living in the school compound of the IFP, which is actually located on the outskirts of Cuamba, about 6 kilometers from the city proper.  The good news is we have plenty of stores and three markets that supply produce and other goods.  Bad news is that you have to go to town 2-3 times a week to buy groceries.  But you learn to adapt, and after about 6 weeks, for me, biking to town just became part of my routine.  The heat and the dust can be unbearable, so I minimize the number of trips to town.  And yes, invest in a good bike.  “Boleias” are rare for us Cuamba boys, and walking to the town center can take over an hour, whereas biking only about 35 minutes. 

The advantage of being so far from the city is the safety in the IFP.  We live in a walled compound, a sort of cement city built by the Japanese in 2009, surrounded by mud-hut villages, the bairros of Mendoça and Rimbane.  My housemate and I leave our bikes unlocked outside our house, and we’ve never had any problems.  People in the city, on the other hand, have seen many burglaries.  During your service, you’ll probably hear of other PCVs’ houses being broken into while they are out on vacation or in conferences.  We do not have this problem here at the IFP.  

If you´re one male Moz21er coming to Cuamba, then you would probably move in with my current housemate, Richard (Moz19).  He teaches computer classes at the secondary school of Cuamba.  If two of you are coming, then a second house would be made available.  Only two PCVs can live in a two-bedroom/one-bath house at the IFP.  You will have regular running water and electricity.  Occasional outages do occur, but the amenities are available most of the time.  The cold showers and regular electricity make living in Cuamba relatively easy compared to other, more “mato” sites. 

Another challenge that the distance of the city brings is integration.  I admit, I’m not integrated in the city.  My one favorite Mozambican is Dona Roquia—she has met many PCVs, runs a restaurant at her house near the train market, and you’ll probably visit her on your first night here.  There is also Miriam from Malawi—she works at the big Movitel store and speaks fluent English.  These are my only local acquaintances, as cultural integration is difficult when you’re in town for only a couple of hours twice a week.

I did, however, focus my integration at the IFP.  I spent a lot of time with our 30 students, the “formandos,” training to become primary school teachers of English.  I taught not just English Listening and Speaking courses, but also a TICs (Tecnología, Informática, e Comunicação, or Information Technology) class.  With the same students, I did English Club, which was also my JUNTOS and English Theater group.  We went on a hike up “church mountain” (which really is just a hill), listened to guest speakers of English, and watched movies in English.  My students are not my close friends, but we’ve developed a professional relationship that became an important part of my cultural integration. 

If I were to stay in Cuamba for another school term, I would participate in the students’ informal activities more.  They play volleyball, basketball, and soccer, and sometimes have dances on Friday and Saturday evenings.  This is what I would do differently, if I had another year at the IFP. 

Like most PCVs, I experienced isolation at site.  Cuamba is the end of the train line, and there are no paved roads linking it to other cities.  Despite this, Cuamba is still somewhat of a hub:  JUNTOS conference and English Theater take place here, so once or twice a year it receives waves of PCVs from all over Niassa, and even from Zambezia and Nampula.  Moreover, your sitemates, Colin (Health Volunteer, Moz18) and Richard are wonderfully laid-back and remarkably well-integrated in the city.  Colin lives and works in the city, and he’ll invite you to one of his splendid Sunday brunches.  Richard, as I mentioned, teaches TIC’s at the only high school in town, but he also takes regular Makua language classes, and works with Colin.  I’ll give you their contact info when I see you in PST, if not sooner.  There is also a warm and welcoming family of American missionaries who invites us to their home for dinners.  These people became my family in Cuamba and reduced my sense of isolation.

In terms of work, I found myself under-utilized.  Hence, the secondary projects/extracurricular activities.  (If you’re interested in EGRA, I recommend getting in touch with Rocio, an Argentinian missionary in town who is already doing work on literacy with kids.)  The English department at the IFP has two Mozambican English Teacher Trainers (Rafael and Suzana), and if there are two new PCV Teacher Trainers, then you’d probably be teaching no more than two classes.  The English classes are Reading, Writing, Listening, Speaking, Language Use (i.e., Grammar), and Methodology.  There’s only one group or “turma” of about 30 students studying English, so you’ll get the same students in all the classes.  In addition to your teaching load, you must also observe some of your students’ teaching at a local primary school, probably in Rimbane, which is the closest village with a school.  The students are respectful, though their language skills are low.  A few come from cities as far away as Metangula and Nampula, but most are from Cuamba. 

The technology at your disposal here at the IFP is impressive.  In addition to the computer lab, which has about 19 computers and access to the internet, we also have a “smartroom” containing a smartboard, 15 computers, an ink-jet printer, a document camera, and a flat screen television!  Ironically, this “smartroom” doubles as a “biblioteca” (a library) that suffers from a dearth of books.  The IFP director wishes to use this room for distance learning, but it is not yet connected to the internet.  Nonetheless, it’s an excellent classroom that I use regularly to present podcasts, play songs, and show movies.  I almost never use chalk since I use the smartboard and the document camera/projector. 

All in all, though Cuamba isn’t the most difficult site, it is underdeveloped.  Many are poor and poorly educated.  The roles you play here, your work as a PCV is very much needed, even if not always appreciated.  I look forward to meeting you all in PST, and again feel free to contact me if you have any concerns or just want to talk more about your site placement.