United States Peace Corps
Peace Corps Mozambique:
Serving as a Community Health Services Promoter
I served as a health volunteer in the community of Manjacaze, Gaza Province. During my Peace Corps service, I was partnered with my local health center as well as two organizations: the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) as well as the community-based organization Centro Social da Nossa Senhora de Fátima (Social Action Center of Our Lady of Fatima). After spending my first three months at site conducting a Community Needs Assessment, my work in Manjacaze became primarily centered around issues related to malnutrition, HIV, and malaria. Throughout my service, I built strong friendships, learned Portuguese (and um pouco Changana, the local language of most of Gaza Province). The emphasis of my service was centered around patient retention on HIV treatment, which I incorporated with nutrition projects targeting vulnerable populations, especially mothers and young children.
Nutrition Work
REDES: Raparigas em Desenvolvimento, Educação, e Saude
I served at the provincial coordinator for REDES - Raparigas em Desenvolvimento, Educação, e Saude, which translates to "Young Women in Development, Education, and Health." For this, I co-planned and implemented a three-day Workshop for REDES facilitators and participants to build facilitation skills and improve knowledge in areas such as reproductive health, HIV, malaria, and self-esteem, as well as how to incorporate evidence-based interventions in local groups. Furthermore, I managed REDES groups throughout Gaza province, which included monthly data collection of regional group meetings in order to improve monitoring and evaluation processes.
Volunteer Advisory Council
I was elected to serve as the Vice President and southern regional representative for my cohort of volunteers. In this capacity, I served as a liaison between volunteers and Peace Corps staff to disseminate information, clarify policies, and take part in quarterly meetings to address volunteer concerns. We had an annual in-person meeting which included all volunteer representatives and the Peace Corps executive team. Throughout the last year, VAC leadership communicated regularly with staff as they sought to resolve ongoing visa challenges and, most recently, coordinate the evacuations of volunteers due to COVID-19.
My nutritionist colleagues and I created and delivered nutrition presentations to a group of mães mentoras, or "mentor mothers." We discussed healthy eating and enriching children's foods by serving them with mashed vegetables. When we were doing our demonstration, the mothers showed me the proper way to grind leaves for this purpose!
Pouco a
Pouco Newsletter
Pouco a Pouco (or Little by Little) is a newsletter created by volunteers serving in Mozambique. I served as an editor and contributed to an article called "Food for Thought" that discussed various nutrition topics relevent to Peace Corps Volunteers.
