Can you moonwalk? No? Do you fish? Do you like math? Do you play boardgames? Do you write poetry?

Our Mozambican students learned a little bit about each other today before the real work started by participating in our Ice Breaker game where they had to check off a grid of questions while finding a student or teacher who fit such categories. We learned that moonwalking was often the last space to be checked, and one skillful student who demonstrated his moves made friends with everyone!

It was a properly boisterous welcome to Maputo, Mozambique, where we welcomed a class composed not only of our regular 24 photographers, but, for the first time, eight writers. We are excited about this new path as we will expand our creative output to include journalistic research and writing as well as products such as a Sparkpage or Sway.

We needed the perfect partner to try this new idea, and our old friends at the Aga Khan Academies were eager to share their entire 9th grade class for this week. They are hosting ten students from the nearby Ana Mogas School who will all learn the photojournalism process and have access to the cameras and continuing education support we leave behind when we go.

But we’re not going anytime soon! There’s lots to be done, and we started today with brainstorming for the writers and file management for the photographers. We will produce 35,000 – 45,000 images this week, and students learned today how to organize, label and track them. I can’t give you an estimate of how many words the writers will use this week, but it might be fun to track.

Eventually I’ll be out of my blog job when the student writers take over, so I’d better brag on them when I can. Mike Spencer, headmaster of the Academy, told us that the students we have this week are amazing kids who have special talents for research and self-expression. We’ll add to their modes of expression with new languages of photography and journalism. We wish you were here to meet our students, feel the energy and learn to moonwalk with the rest of us!

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