July 30, 2006
This past week was my one year anniversary of leaving home for Peace Corps! This time last year, I was living very happily in St. Lucia with the Bailey family. I was very fortunate to have such a welcoming family during my first weeks of living abroad. Eventually, I'm sure the PCVs here will get around to celebrating, but it has not happened yet.
In other news, I was elected the Volunteer Advisory Council (VAC) Representative for Grenada. This is a one-year position, is elected by fellow volunteers, and basically serves as a liaison for volunteers and staff. I represent the ideas and opinions of the volunteers on Grenada, assist our Associate Peace Corps Director (APCD) here in projects and activities, support volunteers in crisis, and travel quarterly to meetings to help determine Peace Corps policy and regulation. I am really looking forward to this new role and excited for a new level of responsibility! Speaking of new responsibilities, my job with the Resource Centre for the Blind is taking new formation. Instead of visiting schools, I will now be based at the Centre helping with implementation of new curriculum and activities for the students with visual impairments, developing materials for the mainstream schools, assisting in seeking funding and writing grant proposals, fund-raising, and arranging monthly meetings for the parents. I had a meeting about a month ago with my community partners and APCD. I presented some materials I had created as well as sample curriculum ideas. The meeting was a success, and I am looking forward to a new capacity in my work with the Resource Centre.
This weekend has been a nice one. Yesterday I went hiking with a guy from Sweden, Martin. He was visiting Grenada with his father for the past month. They did a lot of traveling all around Grenada and Carriacou. He mentioned wanting to hike up to one of the "off-the-beaten-path" Concord Falls. His Lonely Planet guide said it would be 15 minutes, and he asked if I would like to come. I figured it could be very interesting adventure. Indeed, it was. Sorry Lonely Planet, but your guidebook estimate was off by about 1 hour. Although we weren't tracking time and were taking our time, I'd guess it took us over an hour...maybe closer to 1.5 hours. We kept losing the trail which is not hard to do. The hiking I've done previously in the States involved clear and marked trails, free of debris and other brush. In Grenada, I have yet to be so lucky. However, I wore my trusty Chacos and waded easily through the rivers and streams when necessary. I'm much more comfortable going through water completely than hopping rocks and stones...especially when they can be moss-covered and slick. We almost didn't think we'd ever reach a fall, but lo and behold--we did! It was huge and much larger than the main Concord waterfall off the road. We met a couple sailing around the world from Florida. They had smartly hired a guide and we figured we'd somewhat follow them back. However, we decided to leave before them and figured they'd catch up. They beat us back and I still cannot figure out which route they took. By the dryness of their clothes, it was definitely NOT our path. However, it was a great experience and we had a lot of fun. I took some pictures that will sooner or later be up. Grenada really has such wonderful hiking and I need to take advantage of it more!
July 9, 2006
If you've visited the "Support" link, you have seen that Meg and I are starting a reading program/camp in her community. In Meg's community (about a 15 minute walk from me), there is a Saturday morning reading program from 10AM-12PM. It was started by a Grenadian couple that live in her community, and it is a great opportunity for neighborhood children to come and practice reading and improve their skills. This family is leaving for a couple months on holiday, and being that school is out of session, Meg and I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to expand this program into a bi-weekly camp. We will still be meeting in the community center, however, we are structuring it a little bit differently. Using the model of the Virtues Project, we are hoping to not only build on reading and writing skills, but also to use a model of positive language and virtues learning. The virtues project (www.virtuesproject.com) is based on 52 virtues (kindness, respect, love, etc.) that can be used to motivate students and recognize teachable moments. It's a great way to positively reinforce students' behavior and promote positive interactions within the classroom. We were introduced to it in St. Lucia and it is a wonderful tool not only for educators, but for families alike. Meg and I are basing our reading program on the Virtues Project style.
We have written letters to local businesses and organizations, but if anyone is interested in contributing supplies or a monetary donation, we would gladly accept it. Please e-mail me if you are interested and I can give you more information.
We are very excited about this program, and hope to provide the children with a positive experience of learning over their school holiday!
July 5, 2006
Today was the funeral for Mrs. Fergi's husband. It was at 2PM at St. Dominic's Church in Perdmontemps. I had never been to the church, however, I worked at St. Dominic's school this past year. When I first arrived, I could not find anyone I knew. There was a sea of people and no familiar faces. It was somewhat daunting, but then I found Bella. However, she wanted to sit outside and I wanted to see the ceremony and experience more of what was going on. So I decided to go inside. In Grenada, Catholic ceremonies do not have a wake before the funeral. However, when we first walked in, there was the open-casket viewing. I paid my respects to her sons and nephew as they stood in the doorway. I managed to find a seat near to Ray and Norge, a couple in my community that owns a next shop. Besides the traditional Catholic Mass, there were tributes of kind words, and many songs. Again, it was such a tribute to his life, and people were in good spirits for the most part. After a couple hours of the service, we found buses to the family cemetery, which is located behind their home. There were many wreaths of flowers placed on the grave and it was beautiful. After everything was finished, there was some food and drink for the family and friends that traveled from afar. I tried to help with the distribution. I then went home to change and came back a couple hours later to hang out at Mrs. Fergi's shop. I knew that family and friends would still be there paying respects and making sure Mrs. Fergi was not alone. The usual crowd was there and it was nice to see everyone and lime. Mrs. Fergi has immense strength. She has been holding up completely. Obviously, she is very lucky to have the support of her family. One daughter lives in Grenada, and she had two sons arrive from St. Lucia and St. Croix. Her other son and daughters were unable to get their papers processed to come down from Canada in time. However, she seemed to have a great support system around her. It was really nice to meet her family, and she'll continue to have us to support her when her family returns back.
July 4, 2006
Happy Independence Day! I love the 4th of July, and being in Grenada, I knew it wouldn't be a big deal. So, instead, we made it one! Some of us PCVs, our friend Mike--an American working in Grenada, and a few vet students from the university got together for a BBQ. We tried to make some of the traditional foods, and it was a fun way to spend the holiday. Of course, it was just another day around the island. It reminded me of celebrating the American Thanksgiving in Grenada. It was just another day for Grenada, yet here were 14 PCVs all gathered in one home to have a feast! There were no fireworks, but we played games and hung out. I hope everyone state-side had a great day/night!