Jill Trites Teaches in Mozambique
Jill Trites with a preschool friend.
Jill Trites, a Senior Teaching Specialist in the Department of Postsecondary Teaching and Learning in the College of Education and Human Development, recently returned after volunteering for several weeks in the Beira, Mozambique, area. Jill describes her experiences there as “incredible and very powerful.” While there, Jill taught English courses to primary school students, youth, and adults and provided teacher training for the schoolteachers. She regards her teaching experiences as a significant opportunity to learn more about the culture and people of Mozambique, which is considered to be one of the poorest countries in the world with seventy percent of the population living below the poverty line.
The initial plans for Jill’s trip began nearly two years ago when an American friend who lives in Mozambique and oversees a Beira community project invited her to visit and learn more about her work. Deciding that the summertime would be the best time to go because of her teaching schedule, Jill began planning her trip, and, after talking to several friends, learned that several others were committed to going to central Mozambique as well.
Mozambique, Africa.
Earlier this year, Jill and her friends purchased their airline tickets and started collecting a variety of school and clinical supplies from family members, friends, and colleagues to take on the trip. They collected everything from flip-flops to pencils to whiteboards to antifungal cream, and the group loaded up nearly 700 pounds of donated goods in ten suitcases and delivered them to the program.
While reflecting on her experiences, Jill was quick to point out the high prevalence of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and/or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in southern Africa, and that the infection rate of HIV/AIDS among youth and women in Mozambique is astronomically high. In fact, in one of the communities where Jill volunteered, the infection rate is currently 4 out of 5 people.
Jill with three middle school students.
In Mozambique, the AIDS epidemic increases already desperate problems and creates new ones. As of last year, 1.6 million people (960,000 women) aged 15 to 49 were infected with AIDS and/or HIV, representing 16% of the country’s adult population. In 2005, 140,000 children were infected, there were 510,000 AIDS orphans, and another 140,000 people died of AIDS (University of California at San Francisco HIV InSite.)
One particular 15-year-old who made a deep impression on Jill was a tenth grader who became an adoptive father of a seven-month old baby after his cousin, the baby’s mother, passed away in May at the age of 19 from complications of AIDS. The baby’s father, age 20, died from complications of AIDS before the baby was born. This 15-year-old has received assistance through the project: the baby is able to go to the daycare center during the day so that the new father can attend high school and study.
Teacher in 1st grade classroom with students.
While working with other volunteers from the United States and Brazil on the Beira project that includes a teaching farm, a teaching bakery, a primary school, a vocational-technical educational program, a daycare center, a clinic, two preschools, a microfinance project for AIDS widows and orphans, and a nutrition program for the local hospital, Jill became convinced of her need to become further involved in the project. Jill is now working on developing an English language curriculum for the project’s primary school and hopes to return to the Beira area next summer to teach again.
Jill thanks the many people from PsTL, CEHD community members, and family and friends who helped make her trip so successful.
