I swear in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) tomorrow! I made it! So, there are a few project ideas that I am considering. I will just list them out here.
1. Liaise between organization that offers SAT prep courses and teachers at secondary school to train teachers to provide SAT prep to student athlete and other students.
2. Develop a Healthy Intimate Relationships course with guidance counselors for students at the secondary level.
3. Implement the Why Try program with at-risk youth at the secondary school level.
4. Partner with another volunteer to do an HIV sculpture project in the schools that increases awareness and reduces stigma of HIV.
5. Help develop a Peer Health Advisors program.
6. Create a Girl Guides group in my community
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
1st World Media Brainwashes 3rd World Nations
(Journal Entry from Sunday October 19th, 2008)
I really just don’t know what to document anymore about me experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Just about everyday is novel, but novelty is so common that it seems trivial and unimportant to speak of it. Newness is the norm in my life to the extent that things seem just the same. The other day I found myself at a house across the street from the Pastoral Center in the town of Marisule’s East Winds. The Pastoral Center is where we spent our first 3 days in St. Lucia. Strangely, when I saw it I didn’t recognize it, even in the least. I suppose this is because the context was different and my perceptive lens has changed. I could swear when we first arrived on island and drove to the Center the road and view were different. The road was smaller and more rugged than what it is now. The view was more expansive and foreign. Now, the road seems normal and the view familiar. My Lucian lenses are becoming clearer.
I find myself wondering what it would be like to never have seen roads the size of airport landing strips, roads that pass over one another in the sky and building that reach the clouds. It must be wondrous to see those things on TV. It is even beginning to amaze me. What is it like to never have seen snow or hail, to no know what it is like to have mail delivered to your front door? What is it like to be astonished that there exists a place in the world where all the children own lap tops and IPods? A place where all adults have their drivers license and cars. It is beginning to seem extraordinary even to me.
My friend asked me today about clubs in Texas. I had to correct him and assure him that ‘No, all the clubs are not like Girls Gone Wild’. He thought the club scene would be one of girls running around topless and guys having sex with them on the dance floor. I was astonished that I was being asked this in all seriousness. Then I realized, this is what they get to see on TV commercials, which leads me to another topic.
Currently, I am living in a third world nation which has access to the media and technological merchandise of the industrial first world nations. Through cable television and advertising St. Lucians are exposed to the luxuries that Americans have access to, e.g., more fast-food chains than you can name, IPods, IPhones, fashion, accessories, fancy cars, large universities, pools, Wal-Mart, enormous ball stadiums, high rises, restaurants, new shoes, boats, spas, etc, etc, etc. What do you think exposure to this media does to the ‘have nots’? Well, the same thing it does in American culture; it develops an appetite. The local markets are no longer satisfactory and the people hunger. People find themselves wanting the McDonalds, Wendys, chain restaurants, Wal-Marts, and more merchandise. They welcome the large corporations. They bring jobs and wealth they say. They don’t see how these things drown out the local markets, breed consumerism, promote materialism, increase dependence, and depersonalize society. Why don’t we show that in our media? The constant exposure to the advertisements of large businesses in the states sadly makes them want those businesses to come to St. Lucia. I wish that instead, Lucians would be driven to develop technology and projects here so that their labor won’t be exploited later by American business owners.
I don’t know, it’s just my initial thoughts and logging of the subject and I need to reflect on the topic more at a later date.
I really just don’t know what to document anymore about me experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Just about everyday is novel, but novelty is so common that it seems trivial and unimportant to speak of it. Newness is the norm in my life to the extent that things seem just the same. The other day I found myself at a house across the street from the Pastoral Center in the town of Marisule’s East Winds. The Pastoral Center is where we spent our first 3 days in St. Lucia. Strangely, when I saw it I didn’t recognize it, even in the least. I suppose this is because the context was different and my perceptive lens has changed. I could swear when we first arrived on island and drove to the Center the road and view were different. The road was smaller and more rugged than what it is now. The view was more expansive and foreign. Now, the road seems normal and the view familiar. My Lucian lenses are becoming clearer.
I find myself wondering what it would be like to never have seen roads the size of airport landing strips, roads that pass over one another in the sky and building that reach the clouds. It must be wondrous to see those things on TV. It is even beginning to amaze me. What is it like to never have seen snow or hail, to no know what it is like to have mail delivered to your front door? What is it like to be astonished that there exists a place in the world where all the children own lap tops and IPods? A place where all adults have their drivers license and cars. It is beginning to seem extraordinary even to me.
My friend asked me today about clubs in Texas. I had to correct him and assure him that ‘No, all the clubs are not like Girls Gone Wild’. He thought the club scene would be one of girls running around topless and guys having sex with them on the dance floor. I was astonished that I was being asked this in all seriousness. Then I realized, this is what they get to see on TV commercials, which leads me to another topic.
Currently, I am living in a third world nation which has access to the media and technological merchandise of the industrial first world nations. Through cable television and advertising St. Lucians are exposed to the luxuries that Americans have access to, e.g., more fast-food chains than you can name, IPods, IPhones, fashion, accessories, fancy cars, large universities, pools, Wal-Mart, enormous ball stadiums, high rises, restaurants, new shoes, boats, spas, etc, etc, etc. What do you think exposure to this media does to the ‘have nots’? Well, the same thing it does in American culture; it develops an appetite. The local markets are no longer satisfactory and the people hunger. People find themselves wanting the McDonalds, Wendys, chain restaurants, Wal-Marts, and more merchandise. They welcome the large corporations. They bring jobs and wealth they say. They don’t see how these things drown out the local markets, breed consumerism, promote materialism, increase dependence, and depersonalize society. Why don’t we show that in our media? The constant exposure to the advertisements of large businesses in the states sadly makes them want those businesses to come to St. Lucia. I wish that instead, Lucians would be driven to develop technology and projects here so that their labor won’t be exploited later by American business owners.
I don’t know, it’s just my initial thoughts and logging of the subject and I need to reflect on the topic more at a later date.
PC Policy Gets in the Way; Sorry Rasta.
(Journal Entry from Saturday October 18th, 2008)
I spoke with a Rasta today. I was at a birthday party with my host mom and he was sitting by himself. He was one of the birthday woman’s 10 children. I told him that I wanted to learn more about Rastafarianism from a real Rasta rather than just go on what I have read on the internet or through word of mouth. He said there are many different movements but the main thing with all of them is that they don’t judge people based on color or way of life, that we are all part of the human race. I asked him why Rastas are vegetarians and he said that it is because we are all animals and we should respect life. I didn’t quite understand why he thinks eating fish is okay though. He was not too eager to talk about his religion to be honest with you. He told me that it would be best for him if I just asked specific questions rather than just ask him to tell me a bit about his religion. It was an odd conversation.
Talking with him got me thinking about some of the youth development goals of St. Lucia and how some of PC’s policies and procedures make it difficult to satisfy some of the goals of St. Lucia’s youth development efforts. In some of our youth development training sessions we discussed the importance of trying to reach both the attached youth (those that are reachable through various schools and organizations) and the unattached youth (those more difficult to reach because they are not attached through schools, work, or organizations). FYI: Youth is defined as anyone between the ages of 7 and 35. Now, it occurred to me that a large majority of the unattached youth are Rastafarians. This is because many Rastas are against working for ‘the system’. They make their own way and live off the land. Many of them live in poverty and with this comes the pitfalls of poverty; lack of education, and resources, increased drug addiction and crime, and deterioration in health. Of course we would want to reach the unattached youth.
However, there are many obstacles to reaching the unattached youth. The inherent ones, to mention a few are, their lack of interest, lack of availability, lack of visibility, and the ‘systems’ lack of connection with the unattached youth. As if these things aren’t enough, PC policy adds another barrier. Any PC volunteer that ‘appears to be associated’ with anyone who does drugs, including marijuana, will be sent on the next plane home. This policy in and of itself seems to be a good policy and the reasons for it are obvious, however, the policy, unfortunately and unintentionally creates a potential barrier for PC volunteers who want to help St. Lucia to reach the unattached youth. Working with the unattached youth may mean making connections and building relationships with some people that are more likely than the attached youth to be involved in drug activity, in most cases the activity is only smoking of marijuana. This would risk damaging the PCVs image in the community by being associated with Rastas and risk being sent home. Does this mean I should not be part of the initiative to reach the unattached youth? Regretfully it is decidedly so.
I spoke with a Rasta today. I was at a birthday party with my host mom and he was sitting by himself. He was one of the birthday woman’s 10 children. I told him that I wanted to learn more about Rastafarianism from a real Rasta rather than just go on what I have read on the internet or through word of mouth. He said there are many different movements but the main thing with all of them is that they don’t judge people based on color or way of life, that we are all part of the human race. I asked him why Rastas are vegetarians and he said that it is because we are all animals and we should respect life. I didn’t quite understand why he thinks eating fish is okay though. He was not too eager to talk about his religion to be honest with you. He told me that it would be best for him if I just asked specific questions rather than just ask him to tell me a bit about his religion. It was an odd conversation.
Talking with him got me thinking about some of the youth development goals of St. Lucia and how some of PC’s policies and procedures make it difficult to satisfy some of the goals of St. Lucia’s youth development efforts. In some of our youth development training sessions we discussed the importance of trying to reach both the attached youth (those that are reachable through various schools and organizations) and the unattached youth (those more difficult to reach because they are not attached through schools, work, or organizations). FYI: Youth is defined as anyone between the ages of 7 and 35. Now, it occurred to me that a large majority of the unattached youth are Rastafarians. This is because many Rastas are against working for ‘the system’. They make their own way and live off the land. Many of them live in poverty and with this comes the pitfalls of poverty; lack of education, and resources, increased drug addiction and crime, and deterioration in health. Of course we would want to reach the unattached youth.
However, there are many obstacles to reaching the unattached youth. The inherent ones, to mention a few are, their lack of interest, lack of availability, lack of visibility, and the ‘systems’ lack of connection with the unattached youth. As if these things aren’t enough, PC policy adds another barrier. Any PC volunteer that ‘appears to be associated’ with anyone who does drugs, including marijuana, will be sent on the next plane home. This policy in and of itself seems to be a good policy and the reasons for it are obvious, however, the policy, unfortunately and unintentionally creates a potential barrier for PC volunteers who want to help St. Lucia to reach the unattached youth. Working with the unattached youth may mean making connections and building relationships with some people that are more likely than the attached youth to be involved in drug activity, in most cases the activity is only smoking of marijuana. This would risk damaging the PCVs image in the community by being associated with Rastas and risk being sent home. Does this mean I should not be part of the initiative to reach the unattached youth? Regretfully it is decidedly so.
Tedious Training
(Journal Entry from Monday October 13th, 2008)
PC training only has one week left, WOOHOO!!!
My gosh! It’s been excruciating to sit in the training room for hours on end every week. Surely, training has got to be the hardest part. It doesn’t require a lot of brain power, but it requires insurmountable quantities of patience and tolerance. Usually 10% of PCVs drop out of the PC before every being sworn in and now I understand why. It isn’t because they are homesick or incapable of doing the work. More than once in the past 6 weeks of training I felt like calling it quits because of the ridiculous dog and pony show. Some of the PCVs in the past may not be willing to put on their clown face for seven weeks, but our group has persevered and broken a PC record; not a single person in our Eastern Caribbean group has gone home yet. We must be a tough group!
PC training only has one week left, WOOHOO!!!
My gosh! It’s been excruciating to sit in the training room for hours on end every week. Surely, training has got to be the hardest part. It doesn’t require a lot of brain power, but it requires insurmountable quantities of patience and tolerance. Usually 10% of PCVs drop out of the PC before every being sworn in and now I understand why. It isn’t because they are homesick or incapable of doing the work. More than once in the past 6 weeks of training I felt like calling it quits because of the ridiculous dog and pony show. Some of the PCVs in the past may not be willing to put on their clown face for seven weeks, but our group has persevered and broken a PC record; not a single person in our Eastern Caribbean group has gone home yet. We must be a tough group!
When it Rains it Pours!!
(Journal Entry from Saturday October 11th, 2008)
Yesterday, the tropical wave hit. I am still uncertain as to what exactly a tropical wave is, but the symptoms so far seem to be rain, rain, and more rain. I don’t think it has stopped raining once since yesterday. The degree to which it is raining has oscillated between a soft mist and torrential downpour, but the rain is relentless. I speculate that a wave is a series of storms that are too unorganized to be considered a tropical depression. Nonetheless, the ‘wave’ has caused quite a commotion.
Highlights:
Mrs. B gets a call from our neighbor. Mrs. B excitedly tells me that the river that runs parallel to the road, just 100 yards away is overflowing, and the water is at our neighbor’s doorsteps!!
Mrs. B and I run to the veranda to find the water creeping halfway up our driveway!
I grab my camera to capture pictures of the dude across the way wading waist deep in water!
I run outside to find tons of people lining the streets holding their umbrellas watching the street too flooded for traffic to get through!
Even when the water recedes the people remain watching in amazement as a steady flow of traffic passes through the neighborhood; more traffic than any of us have ever seen come through the neighborhood!
Talk on the street is that the traffic came from the friends and families in surrounding areas that were phoned and wanted to see the flooding! OH MY!!
Yesterday, the tropical wave hit. I am still uncertain as to what exactly a tropical wave is, but the symptoms so far seem to be rain, rain, and more rain. I don’t think it has stopped raining once since yesterday. The degree to which it is raining has oscillated between a soft mist and torrential downpour, but the rain is relentless. I speculate that a wave is a series of storms that are too unorganized to be considered a tropical depression. Nonetheless, the ‘wave’ has caused quite a commotion.
Highlights:
Mrs. B gets a call from our neighbor. Mrs. B excitedly tells me that the river that runs parallel to the road, just 100 yards away is overflowing, and the water is at our neighbor’s doorsteps!!
Mrs. B and I run to the veranda to find the water creeping halfway up our driveway!
I grab my camera to capture pictures of the dude across the way wading waist deep in water!
I run outside to find tons of people lining the streets holding their umbrellas watching the street too flooded for traffic to get through!
Even when the water recedes the people remain watching in amazement as a steady flow of traffic passes through the neighborhood; more traffic than any of us have ever seen come through the neighborhood!
Talk on the street is that the traffic came from the friends and families in surrounding areas that were phoned and wanted to see the flooding! OH MY!!
Monday, October 20, 2008
Experience This Moment With Me
Sometimes it is hard to process my experience here. I wish I had a video camera on my shoulder to take with me everywhere I go. Then you would get to soak in all the sights and sounds along with me. So, let me try to capture for you my experience in this moment.
I close my eyes. I hear the soft beat of some Soca tunes cascading from up the road, a baby’s cries pierce through the open windows of my neighbor’s house, and the rumbling of rocks crunching under the wheels of passing cars, trucks and buses. I hear a friendly 'beep beep' between two cars that are familiar with one another, and the occasional sliding of minibus doors as passengers find their stop. There are construction workers hammering down the road, birds chirping, roosters crowing, dogs barking and the usual hissing sound men make as they watch a pretty lady walk by.
I open my eyes. I see a couple chatting on the veranda across the way, lines of laundry hang in the afternoon sun, and my neighbor is sweeping out her house with a broom made from palm leaves. The mango, guava and banana trees rustle in the cool breeze, a young boy runs through the street barefoot, and a couple of stray dogs rummage through the litter on the street for something to satisfy their hunger. I see a mountainous landscape covered in lush greenery, dotted with lovely houses that are raised on stilts. Then there is the sky; oh the clouds. Everyday I make it a point to watch the sky. It is extraordinary to always see in the sky so many different types of clouds, of all different sizes, and at different altitudes. As I look up I see the three main types of clouds, the Cirrus, the high-level wispy looking clouds; the Cumulus, the mid-level puffy heap clouds; and the Stratus, the low-level gray clouds with breaks of clear sky in them. There are also all different combinations of these three main types, and I don’t know their names, but it is a sight to see. It is truly beautiful. This doesn’t happen in the sky back home. Finally, every once in a while I see Rasta’s gallop down the street riding their horses bareback, though not at this moment.
Then there are the smells. The flavorful scent of the breadfruit, veggie, beef stew that my host mom is making drifts to the porch from inside the house, and occasional a catch a scent of the marijuana smoke that wafts from a few of the near by houses.
Just an Aside on American Politics
(Journal Entry from September 29th, 2008 9:30pm)
For the past week I have been watching the CNN and BBC coverage of America's financial crisis. I saw the news of major banks and creditors failing, watched as congress purposed a 700 billion dollar bail out bill, and watched as that bill was voted against in the House. If I, a well educated woman am left confused and uncertain, I can't imagine what must be going through the minds of the average American... fear.
It makes since to me that we cannot live on credit forever, eventually debts must be repaid. If banks lend money to millions of people that can't afford the debt, they risk inability to repay their major lenders and financial partners. I am not surprised in even the mildest sense of the word that this is happening. I only don't understand why this is the moment; what straw broke the camels back? Perhaps the answer to 'why now?' is insignificant. Americans spend beyond their means and eventually we will reap what we sow. This is not only the fault of the large corporations that okay bad mortgages and market their products in seductive ways. We as a people are responsible for entertaining our appetites. We are obese, not just in weight but in mind. However, having an understanding of this alone is not enough. We must also understand and come to accept that when we stop our glutenous consuming the engine will slow down. Retailers will down size, some will even go out of business. The immediate result will be a loss of jobs and it is inevitable. Pumping money into the machine will be worse. They say it will prolong the inevitable, but my main concern is that it doesn't confront the underscoring problem and work to change the mentality of overspending that got us here. It works to encourage the gluttony. Rather, we need to promote individual and corporate financial responsibility. Yes, America, let's band-aid the problem once again.
We need to focus on the real problem, but does anyone know how to begin to tackle the real problem? The obvious answer is to suck it up, and start living within your means. If you need a credit card to buy it then don't buy it. Save! When people gamble with their money, they take a risk. It is not the governments job to replace the money you gamble away. Now I wont pretend to have all the answers, but I know that some things are certain... Most Americans live beyond their means and this excels the problem at hand. I wish that we would stop spending our energy on acquiring the latest and greatest Ipod and start spending our energy on expanding prosperity on a community level. I feel for all the people that will lose their jobs and homes through this financial awakening. It is a tragedy. We need to work as a people to make responsible and economical decisions and also work to instill compassion, charity, and neighborliness in America and in the world.
For the past week I have been watching the CNN and BBC coverage of America's financial crisis. I saw the news of major banks and creditors failing, watched as congress purposed a 700 billion dollar bail out bill, and watched as that bill was voted against in the House. If I, a well educated woman am left confused and uncertain, I can't imagine what must be going through the minds of the average American... fear.
It makes since to me that we cannot live on credit forever, eventually debts must be repaid. If banks lend money to millions of people that can't afford the debt, they risk inability to repay their major lenders and financial partners. I am not surprised in even the mildest sense of the word that this is happening. I only don't understand why this is the moment; what straw broke the camels back? Perhaps the answer to 'why now?' is insignificant. Americans spend beyond their means and eventually we will reap what we sow. This is not only the fault of the large corporations that okay bad mortgages and market their products in seductive ways. We as a people are responsible for entertaining our appetites. We are obese, not just in weight but in mind. However, having an understanding of this alone is not enough. We must also understand and come to accept that when we stop our glutenous consuming the engine will slow down. Retailers will down size, some will even go out of business. The immediate result will be a loss of jobs and it is inevitable. Pumping money into the machine will be worse. They say it will prolong the inevitable, but my main concern is that it doesn't confront the underscoring problem and work to change the mentality of overspending that got us here. It works to encourage the gluttony. Rather, we need to promote individual and corporate financial responsibility. Yes, America, let's band-aid the problem once again.
We need to focus on the real problem, but does anyone know how to begin to tackle the real problem? The obvious answer is to suck it up, and start living within your means. If you need a credit card to buy it then don't buy it. Save! When people gamble with their money, they take a risk. It is not the governments job to replace the money you gamble away. Now I wont pretend to have all the answers, but I know that some things are certain... Most Americans live beyond their means and this excels the problem at hand. I wish that we would stop spending our energy on acquiring the latest and greatest Ipod and start spending our energy on expanding prosperity on a community level. I feel for all the people that will lose their jobs and homes through this financial awakening. It is a tragedy. We need to work as a people to make responsible and economical decisions and also work to instill compassion, charity, and neighborliness in America and in the world.
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