tfjj | Mozambique: Repairing the Ravages of War Initiation Societies and Community Schooling ndigenous healing has shown itself nity schools created locally began ap- to be an effective treatment for pearing in the countrvsidc in the late i | the trauma suffered by children in 1970s. They were for the most part war-torn countries of Africa (see staffed by young people with a fewv IK AN-otes No. 10). Recent experience years of education at best who repro- in Mozambique demonstrates that duced what tiev could of the stan- other dimensions of local culture dard curriculum. mav be just as important in socially This nascent infrastructure was "grounding" a generation of young devastated, however, in the long civil people uprooted by armed conflict war launched by the rebel movement and repairing the ravages of war, in 1977. Health and education facili- The years of civil strife in that coun- ties in the countryside were largely trv left rural children and their com- wiped out because disruption of so- munities wounded in a number of cial life and particularly government ways. Children lost their parents. services to the population was one of Others were separated from their the movement's prime objeutives. En- families in the rush to escape the rollment statistics dipped dramati- fighting and ended up living with cally throughout the following de- adoptive parents or in military camps cadc and only began to recover wvhen for long periods of time. Thung peace initiatives began in 1990. people were also wounded or abused. And some were conscripted into the rebel army and forced to commit acts of violence. No. 33 At the same time, rural communi- June 2001 ties wvere largely devastated and stripped of the little infrastructure they possessed. Schools have typically kg Notes reports periodically on Iniegenmos Knowledge (JR) initiatives been few and far between in the re- in S-bSaharan Aficta.. is published moter areas of Mozambique. Under by the Africa Regi's Knowledge and i colonial rule, little was done outside lea-ing cente as part o an evolvin IK partnershIp between the World urban areas. During the few short Bank communities, NOOs,g op- years of relative stability after the met instituttos i 4atilateral orgaoizations. The Aie.ws exressed in country's hard-won independence in ths aticle -'ethose of the authors 1975, numbers of schools and stu- and slould not be attributed to the dents multiplied rapid Supply World Bani Group or its partners in this iritiativo. A webpage on IK is could not keep up with demand and, avilable at //wwwworldWuk.o-g/,afr/ as in many areas of Africa, commu- ikdft,ht - 2 Putting the pieces back together unable to offer much consistent help. So the local people went to work. In order to address the needs of unaccompa- By t e t t h unied and newly reunited children, some started to rebuild a variety of efforts was undertaken to reunite children community schools, developed community-based child so- separated from their families and to promote healing. The Mozambican National Directorate of Social Action (DNAS) caiainporm,addsg n mlmn ot spozaorbcan inatioal Diretorate of Srocials Actiont w ) t skills training initiatives. To ensure longer lasting support sponsored an initial round of programs jointly with the to the effort, C&W was transformed into a Mozambican "NGO entitled "Children, Familv and Development" (CFD). non-governmental organization Save the Children. The program remained, however, too bureaucratic to have much success in penetrating rural areas. C&W therefore A village takes charge set out on its own to collaborate directly with interested The effort bore unexpected fruit in the administrative communities. Bv 1992 it had created a network of over division of Itoculo, a remote cluster of communities in the 14,000 volunteers and succeeded in reuniting some n 12,000~~~~~~~ chlrnwt.hi aiis northern Nampulo province of Mozambique. The people of 12,000 children wsith their families. Itoculo belong to one of the country's principal ethnic Mvuch of this result was due to the initiatives of the local communities themselves. By the time they were able to groups, the Macua. Access to Itoculo is difficult and its contact with the outside world is infrequent. The most begin picking up the pieces, reuniting families and resum- ing a semblance of normal life, little in the way of social regular visitors to the area are illegal loggers bent on prof- iting from its rich forest resources, and the cotton buvers, ser-vices was left, and a government burdened by debt was wh hwu neava uin h rpmreigsa who show up once a year during the crop-marketing sea- son. There was only one elementary school in the central village of Itoculo, serving a fraction of the 30,000 people 1K N o tes living close by and none of the additional 20,000 residing would be of interest to: in the more far-flung villages of the zone, the farthest be- ing 22 kilometers away by cart track. Name By the early 1990s, many of the children of Itoculo who Instituitioni were orphaned or deprived of a normal childhood during the long years of conflict had themselves become parents and heads of households. They did not want their own chil- Ad dre.ss dren to be deprived in the same way, and they wanted to rebuild their communities. At that time, the government Department of Social Action approached leaders of the Itoculo communities to discuss ways of addressing the de- velopmental and educational needs of preschool-aged chil- _- -t ls. z.l| - ss -i. ic- s . s- . s- dren. An agreement was reached to create three * - -. escolinhas comunitdrias, or community preschools. llow- *s__ * *ever, these only lasted two short years: the standardized * i&; S ,in.:t i - I .i1 1 I . | i 111 | curriculum, the rigid model of implementation, and the _. - l - E! experience of enforced dependency on state agencies tnable - l. m g= to fulfill their promises discouraged local participation. 3i -i i l E' 1 - _The problems of unattended children remained acute and a major preoccupation of the renascent communities. 3 The first break-through came when Itoculo area residents children becoming literate in Portuguese to facilitate who had worked with C&W during the war thought of bor- communications with the outside world, Itoculo commit- rowing the model of traditional initiation societies and tee members questioned whether this learning vould be grafting it onto the escolinhas idea in order to devise a so- enough for the children to become full members of the lution. In Macua culture, as in most others across the Afri- community itself. And so they began, step by step, to can continent, youth go through traditional initiation elaborate the curriculum and revamp the organization of rites on their way to adulthood. For these rites, children the escolinhas, selecting among the methods of initiation are informally grouped into small cohorts of friends and societies ideas and models that made sense and inventing relatives as they grow toward adolescence. When a certain new ones as they moved forward. number - averaging ten to fifteen young boys or girls- Deliberations about the curriculum and escolinha orga- is achieved, the children are taken away from the commu- nization typically involved a cross-section of committee nitv to an isolated area bv an elder. There they are taught members, parents, animadores and children. Among the the "lore" of adulthood: male and female roles, the mean- innovations adopted over time by Itoculo were the following: ing of puberty, community traditions and relevant skills. * Elders were inxited in to tell stories of the traditions of Boys receive instruction in hunting and fishing, house the community and their own life experience. construction, and related matters. Girls learn about their * The committee encouraged all community members to bodies and the responsibilities of being a mother and contribute games, toys, songs and poetry that could be housewife; and they are instructed to protect themselves shared with the children. Traditional chants used to and break contact with boys. teach numeracv were "unearthed," adapted and added to the curriculum. And the schools began sponsoring or joining events to exchange these cultural resources with other escolinhas of the region. The initial idea was simply to revive the failed escolinhas * Local artisans were contacted to provide instruction in comunitirias in another form, under local control. Some their crafts. WVomen who made clay pots for cooking and of the few schooled young people in the village would take gardening shared their skills with the children, as did charge of cohorts of older children in a thatched hut weavers and dancers. "classroom" away from town and share with them the rudi- * The schedule of classes was reviewed and modified to fit ments of literacv. Three escolinhas of this type were cre- better w.ith the seasons of farming and social activity in ated. Although the initiative wvorked, communitv members Itoculo. did not think it went far enough. The younger children * After first using the standard government preschool cur- needed care as well, and things other than the three Rs riculum as the point of reference for the "academic" belonged in the "curriculum." So the communitv re- portions of the escolinha program, the committee de- quested help from CFD to expand and develop the idea. cided to adopt - and adapt - major portions of the na- CFD staff agreed to train aninmadores for the community tional adult literacy curriculum as more appropriate to school and provide some assistance with management and their objectives. organization if Itoculo residents lent material support and took charge. A committee was formed, and the collabora- Spreading the word tion was launched. CFD backing triggered an extended process of blending The first few years of experience of the escolinhas or "cross-breeding" between the community school and comunitdriass-from 1995 through 2000-have been the traditional initiation model, carried out under local successful ones. The number of these schools in Itoculo direction. Though they remained supportive of the idea of has grown to eight, and the initiative has begun to attract 4 much attention throughout the region. Starting in 1998, community learning experience. In each case, the formula other communities in Nampulo began to ask the Itoculo used for the escolinhas - outside support with substantial committee for assistance in starting similar projects, and matching resources from the community, clear account- committee members have grown increasingly proficient as ability and direct local control - has proved functional. In 'consultants" and "trainers" in their own right. Six other the year 2000, the village formally created the Associa,cao such schools now function in neighboring areas. dos Amigos da CrianWa de Itoculo (AMICI) or the Associa- In addition, the experience in managing a locally di- tion of Friends of the Children of Itoculo, to coordinate all rected initiative like the escolinhas has given committee such initiatives, the first such legally chartered entity in and community members some valuable and very "trans- the community's history. ferable" skills in collective entrepreneurship -and ones AMICI offers a unique opportunity to couple past and that they have begun to apply to a series of other local de- future in the Nampula region and to harness the best of velopment challenges, including water supply and health traditional practice in youth initiation to opportunities for services. In fact, the group has now created two formal viable rural futures in Mozambique. An infusion and selec- public schools to begin filling out local educational infra- tion of indigenous models has proved to be a vital element structure and provide a means of further training for at in the solution to the problems of a war-torn society. least some of the children who have gone through the : ~A~ Tis S'fc t,