As our project portfolio continues to grow with the addition of the HIV Education workshops, it was clear to us that we would need to bring on some extra support for translation. We were so lucky to find this support in the form of Ricardo Tembe, who has joined us as a translator in addition to everyone’s favorite fellow, Eduardo. They work together to support the volunteers’ involvement at preschool and while Eddie continues to work with the Edson’s English groups and building project, Ricardo focuses on the HIV workshops.
Ricardo’s brilliant English and ease with people is far from the only thing he’s got going for him. His face is very well known around Vilanculos as a recorded artist of traditional Mozambican music. He has even had music videos recorded in Maputo! Ricardo’s passion for music has lent itself so well to facilitating the HIV workshops, the goal of which is to get people to respond to the taboo subject of HIV/AIDS through creative and unusual media.
As embarrassing as it is to admit, for the month after Ricardo started working with us we drove around town consistently blaring his CD from our car. People were often surprised to look up and see the man himself, Ricardo Tembe, sitting atop a strange white safari-truck blasting Mozambican Marimba music. While the novelty of getting to work with such a great creative spirit such as Ricardo has certainly not worn off, we have managed to get a better grip on ourselves about it (as well as the volume knob).
Ricardo has also really enjoyed getting to know the children at the preschool, especially his little favorite, Creusia!
No comments:
Post a Comment