Name: Rossana Solares
Age: 34
Hometown: East
Hampton, NY
Current
Job: One on One at an
Elementary School
Primary
Peace Corps Job: High School English
& Biology Teacher (8th and 9th Grade)
Site: Manje, Tete Province
Secondary
Projects: REDES
1. Where did
you go to school/study? Gimme yo background leading up to Peace Corps!
I
received my Bachelor’s from SUNY Geneseo and my Master’s in Elementary and
Special Education from Long Island University.
2.
Why did you want to join PC? Gimme your background!
My
favorite Bible verse is, “Religion that God our
Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows
in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world”, James
1:27. The Peace Corps always seemed like the best place for me to put
this into practice.
3.
Describe your site/house/living situation.
I
lived with a roommate (that’s me I was her favorite part of Peace Corps duh!) in a 2 bedroom cement home with electricity. In our
backyard we had a latrine and shower space. I liked our home and we put a
lot of work into it. We had bookshelves and shelves made, bought a mini
refrigerator and had fans. I never felt unsafe in the house or in Manje
in general.
BFFs with a broken down chapa
4.
If you want to talk about your ET at all…. (ET
means Early Termination)
Deciding
to resign from my post was a very hard decision for me. For a long time I
felt like a failure. I felt that everything I stood for was a lie.
I felt like I wasn’t living up to my reason for ever having wanted to join
the Peace Corps. The more I tried, the worst it got. I felt really
unstable with my emotions - one day I was angry, the next two days I was sad
followed by more anger etc.
5.
What is one thing you want Americans to know about Mozambique?
Mozambique
is a beautiful country! It has a vast coastline, dry desert spots, super
green spots and so so roads. Mozambicans for the most part are welcoming
and want to treat you well. They want to teach you about their country
and culture.
My host family's house
6.
What parts of service did you find most challenging?
The
hardest thing for me to try to assimilate to was the Mozambican culture of
intrusion. I did not like being questioned and watched - always. I
felt like a prisoner in my home. I felt judged for almost anything I did
or didn’t do. For a long time it was really difficult for me to dismiss
or ignore comments and stares.
7. What parts did you find most rewarding?
It became the norm for me to think the worst about a situation or
a person (Mozambican and PCV) because I felt like I was constantly being
disappointed. I found it extremely rewarding when I was proved wrong or
when I would actually give it a chance and I ended up liking the activity or
person. It is nice to be proved wrong and it helped inner me not be so
hard for no reason.
8. Do you have a student/friend highlight?
I really always enjoyed teaching my Biology 9B class. I felt
like I really connected with that specific class and they understood the
concepts and my Portuguese so the class always flowed. I loved playing
jeopardy with them, rewarding gum to those who knew the answers and making fun
of silly mistakes we would all make.
9B Students
9. Lastly,
FOOD! What’s was your favorite or go to meal in Moz?
I absolutely loved the chicken livers and gizzards that were sold
at the random chapa stops. I also really liked the rice cookies at the
Zobue stop.
Roadside snack stop for batatas!
10. Life
update! Whatcha up to… livin, thrivin, jivin…. Future plans
Once I was back home I said I would take the month of
February to settle back into “real life”. I went back to visit the
school I worked at for 4.5 years and that day I was offered a job. I was
hired after about 2 weeks of being home. I work as a one on one with a
Kindergarten boy who has emotional/behavioral concerns. For a while I
lost my love for being around children and this has been a great opportunity to
transition back into the classroom without feeling overwhelmed. I am up
for a Special Education/TESOL position in the Fall. These past 2 months
have confirmed that I made the right decision to come home.
A pop of color on the Manje school grounds in dry hot Tete
Me and Ro at a "chique" restaurant in Namaacha during training
Celebrating Teacher's Day at our Director's bar!
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