About Obra Missionaria de Jesus y Maria

This organisation was set up in 1998 and was funded from Spain. It is run by Spanish, Colombian and Mozambican nuns. There is accommodation for 75 girls between 8 and 18. The girls are orphans mainly but do usually have some extended family. They are from the surrounding area or Maputo, Matola or Bela Vista or come from other areas of Mozambique.

At the age of 18 the girls have to leave and are usually taken back by their relatives. There is one girl who is currently in university and who is doing well on her course. The organisation does not arrange any vocational training for the girls.

The girls go to the local schools in the bairro. The public school next door was built with money from the same religious order and is government run, following the Mozambican curriculum. One of the nuns teaches at the school. The school is administered by the nuns. This school is for primary age children. For secondary schooling the girls attend other schools in the bairro.

The nuns organise teaching in other subjects for the girls. While Jane was visiting the girls were having a French lesson. The teacher for these lessons is from outside and at other times he pays the sisters to use the classroom to teach his own private students. There is some English teaching from volunteers and from the sisters who can speak English. The sisters want to arrange music lessons for the girls. They have an electric organ, guitars and a flute but no teacher.

The boarding school only employs one external member of staff ¡V a gardener. All the rest of the work is done by the girls ¡Vlaundering clothes, cooking and shopping as well as cleaning. While Jane was visiting some girls were preparing lunch and others were preparing macaroni for dinner that evening. The girls have a lot of very useful practical skills and are very independent.

There is a library. The sisters are looking for supplies of books in Portuguese, particularly school books covering science. There is a computer room with several computers and 2 printers. Jenny is organising some computer training but she would like help and ideas. The schools are on holiday from October until January and Jenny would like to develop a curriculum so that when the school reopens in January there is a course in place. Jenny plans to prepare a booklet for the girls to follow so that even when there isn¡¦t a teacher the girls can work on their own. Things to be covered are how to format a document, how to use simple word processing and how to print. There is no anti - virus programme on the computers. They need learning materials for the technology rooms and printer cartridges. They have had a lot of problems with the computers as some of them are so out of date. Recently a German volunteer came and helped with a lot of technical problems.

One of the sisters teaches art and craft but would like volunteers to help her. The girls do not make enough to sell. They were doing some simple embroidery, making cards and making jewellery when Jane visited.

They boarding school receives funding from Spain, from the church and also from private individual sponsors. Most of the girls are sponsored by women in Spain and Italy as well as one Mozambican woman. It costs 300-400 euro per girl per year for food.

The girls have bedrooms which are simply furnished with bunk beds or single beds and the girls keep their rooms clean. They attend the chapel every evening at 6 pm where they are very fond of learning new songs. There is a lounge for relaxation and where they practice dance. They have a TV but need a DVD player.

There are many opportunities for donating to the organisation. They always need clothes, shoes, school materials, but they are also keen to have volunteers to teach the girls. Ideas are languages teaching, music teaching, computers, or arts and crafts. When Jane visited she was struck by how confident and friendly the girls are. They are not shy of strangers. Jenny mentioned that this may be because they are exposed to all sorts of experiences that other Mozambican girls may not have. They meet foreign volunteers, they have language lessons form an external teacher. The nuns themselves are excellent educators and all have Masters degrees, so the girls are influenced by this rich environment.

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How will the ICM help?
ICM is giving this charity, a boarding school, a donation of 32,625mtn (about $1,305) for a computer and a table that will be used by up to 75 girls between the ages of 8 and 18. There is a nice computer room upstairs of the School. They have some computers already; one is new, but the others are very old and not functioning at all or those that are working are very slow and antiquated. Jenny Hammond, the contact person and now a member of the ICM, is suggesting a day when the ICM goes over and makes a formal presentation of the computer to the school.

The girls study at local government schools in the bairro and all "extras" are provided by the nuns and outside volunteers. There is no teaching of IT in the Mozambican curriculum. The volunteers that are connected with the ICM so far are Jenny, Consuelo and Sharon. Consuelo teaches English and Sharon does jewellery making. In addition, two more ICM members - Magui and Montse are also planning to teach English there regularly and are making a schedule of volunteer activities.

How can the ICM members help further?
If you are technically minded (or you know of anyone who is), you can help!! The problem of who will maintain the computers is a real one for the School. Recently they had a German volunteer out there for a day trying to fix what he could. In addition, the School needs volunteers to help with teaching the girls computer skills. The facility also needs more functioning computers. Volunteer instructors from the Maputo expat community for music, sewing, painting and other activities would be very welcome.

Why is the ICM helping?
The girls are chatty and friendly, they aren't underconfident and shy. Jane feels that ICM is helping to educate strong Mozambican women of the future. The connection between ICM club members and the school was one of the reasons that Jane favoured this project. It enables ICM to get feedback about what is happening, how the computer is being used, how the girls are progressing,etc. It would be a nice place to organise an ICM outing - Jane is thinking about doing that next year.

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