My girls

I knew our REDES girls were fantastic and I've enjoyed them since I've started working with them, but I've never been so proud of them until now. Two weeks ago Alex and I took a few reps from our guys and girls groups to the provincial capital for conferences. Alex took our guys and I got to take our girls. I could not believe how much different these young ladies are when there are no males around or allowed. They're all a bunch of bright, bold, intense, knowledge-hungry sassifrasses! I love seeing them have a blast hanging out and learning with girls from all over the north of Mozambique. Some of our girls have never left Angoche, so it was definitely a powerful experience for them to travel to the big city and participate in a national conference. No one will be able to alleviate even half the problems these girls face, but I got to see how powerful it was for the girls to hear "me too" from the lips of other Mozambicans. They got to share and bounce ideas off each other all week. The girls had an opportunity to hear some amazing powerful Mozambican females speak on a variety of topics such as HIV/AIDS, gender issues, leadership, health, corruption, and community activism. They also recieved technical training in computers, sewing, and art. Angoche girls definitely tore it up and represented well. Our girls are the greatest!

Here we have me and the girls singing to introduce Angoche to everyone.

I helped with the art tech. group. We paited a mural at a local primary school.

Cleaning and prepping the wall...
About half-way done...everyone had a brush in on it...

Isn't she beautiful??? The mural illustrates the ability of Mozambican women to achieve a variety of "modern" goals, but still maintain Mozambican female culture. It was a big hit. People in Nampula City loved it and were asking tons of questions about the mural and REDES.