Another workshop

So ... I've got the green light to go ahead and start creating a training workshop on how to install and configure Moodle, what are its capabilities, limitations, and how we can adapt it to Mozambican secondary schools.

The training is to be held in Bilene, a little place north of the city, just south of Xai-Xai. Supposedly a weekend get away for the citizens of Maputo, a little escape to get to enjoy some nice beaches.

But for now, I'm done with my first project, and onto my next. These next few weeks are going to be super busy, but I'm going to learn a lot from this experience, not to mention and excellent opportunity to improve my Portuguese. Thankfully, some if not all the attendents can speak English, and all of them are tech savy.

I must admit that I don't know much about pedagogy, but I do know a bit about technology and its use in knowledge transfer and management. But this is a new area for me ... Learning how we learn and how the use of such technologies such as Moodle facilitate and accelerate that process. In the case of education in Mozambique, Moodle is currently used at the pedagogical university for distance education of university students, although not all subjects are offered, a current project of theirs. This project will look at the introduction of Moodle to 11th and 12th graders, but not in the same sense, i.e., reaching out to distance students. No, it is seen as a possible tool to augment the capacity of a school as there are not enough seats to accommodate the number of students in demand for education. The reasons for that are not very clear to me, but from what little I know now, is that one of the major factors is the lack of teachers. Hopefully, I will know more after the workshop as the attendees are going to be from different institutions involved in secondary and distance education.

 

Swaziland

So we needed another carimbo (stamp) on our passport. We're still waiting for our work contract to get our resident permit, till then we need to exit every 30 days. This time we decided to go to Swaziland to change things up. To get there we took a chapa to the border, then another bus from there to Manzini. On the way to our accommodation we got lost - started walking in the supposed direction and ran into some school kids. After chatting with them it was revealed we were heading in the wrong direction. Thankfully, there was a minibus passing through and offered us a ride to a junction where we could grab another bus, this time dropping us off at the correct road. The sign said welcome ... you've got another 3.5 km to go ;) so we started walking, thankfully a tour guide bus picked us up and drove us the rest of the way. Thank you!

Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary is quite a unique place. It started out as a tin mine, along with employing the local population it brought electricity to the area. In the '60s it was converted into a big game reserve  to protect the local wildlife from further persecution. Today you can stay in a traditional beehive hut surround by friendly animals, but of course you need to stay clear of the water unless you fancy a close encounter with either a crocodile or a hippo! The day was capped of with great conversations with our fellow travellers (the ones who gave us a lift) around a camp fire that supposedly been lit for the past 40 years ... topics ranged from computer stories from the 60s to philosophy.

View of a part of the Mlilwane reserve

The beehive accommodations

Hmmmm ...

And yes ... you are?

Our way back was a bit easier. We also had met up with a couple from Holland who are touring around South Africa and Swaziland. They gave us a lift to Manzini, from there we took a comfortable chapa to the border. After getting our stamps and answering a few questions we then had to ride at the back of a pickup truck to the next bus depot. The ride back to Maputo brought new definitions of the saying "like a sardine in a tin can". First the only things that seem to work on the dashboard of this heavily loaded minibus was the fuel gauge and the indicator lights. Seatbelts? why would you need them when you're squeezed between two very wholesome african mamas??? Yes we were each squeezed in our respective rows until we reached Maputo. Let's see what the next visit to the frontier would be like ... if that is, we haven't received our permit by then ;)