(March 25, 2011)
Last night was one of the best nights of my life. You don't realize what you have until you step away from it for a while. You learn to miss it. You feel its absence. When the PC truck dropped me off in front of my host family's house in the training community yesterday evening, I felt as if my heart might explode. I heard Anita's voice call out to me from the kitchen and immediately dropped my bags, kicked off my shoes, and felt my entire body sigh with relief when I turned the corner and first saw her vibrant, lively face. We gaffed in the kitchen for hours. We ate pumpkin until we were satisfied and laughed until we had worked it all off. I then took what was the most refreshing bath of my life. A bucket bath, indeed, but I had never felt so clean. I stood completely naked for the first time in 5 days. I had never felt so free, so new, so whole. The anticipation of sleep was almost unbearable. My tired, neglected, and starved body crawled into bed, which might as well have been the palm of God's hand, and I experienced solitude as I never had before. I was alone for the first time in what seemed like a century. No need to think, feel, say, do, or be anything. I just was. I just am.
Self awareness is a slice of humble pie. I thought I really knew myself before I left home, but trust me, you have no idea who you are until you're no longer you. When you open the door of an outhouse and find yourself thinking, "Hey, not bad," you're not you anymore. When you hold a plastic babydoll in your arms and practice breastfeeding so that you can counsel nursing mothers and you think, "Wow, I really do want to have a baby one day," you're not you anymore. When you see a chicken strolling along the road in front of you and your protein-starved self thinks, "Yeah, maybe chickens are food," you definitely are no longer you. When you laugh at how pretentious you were for thinking that living in the bush for two years was somehow your duty to humanity, you are no longer you. You're actually more of yourself than you ever thought possible. You're the real you for the first time in your life. All you can do is laugh at how human you are, how conventional you've always been, and how okay you are with just being normal for the rest of your life.
My site visit was comparable to an episode of Gilligan's Island. I've been assigned to a tiny Amerindian lake community just inland from the Essequibo coast. It takes a mini-bus, a speedboat, two taxis, and another speedboat to get to my village from Georgetown. The journey was interesting enough having only a backpack, a duffel bag, and a life jacket to lug around, so I'm not exactly looking forward to traveling back to my village with all of my stuff, plus a mattress, a two-burner stove, a propane tank, a bucket filtration system, and anything else that I collect along the way. I'll be sure to document the misadventure when the time comes. But there is light at the end of the tunnel: my village is almostly painfully beautiful. Seriously, it's a tropical paradise. I have a waterfront view from my house with palm trees and lush greenery everywhere. It's isolated, completely undeveloped, pristine in its natural beauty, and almost hauntingly quiet.
My house is in the process of being built. It's actually a pavilion that's being converted into a very simple wooden house with a single bedroom and a small sitting area. The decision to convert the pavilion into a house was strategic- it's located right next door to the primary school's kitchen, meaning that my kitchen is the school cafeteria. I'm hoping that I'll at least get a few free lunches out of the deal... It looks like I'll be having the PC experience that I always anticipated- I'll have an outhouse, a washroom to take bucket baths, a rain tank to collect the water that I'll use for bathing, cooking, washing, and drinking, no internet, and no electricity. On the plus side, I will have cell phone reception and the community is placing a small solar panel on my roof, so maybe (fingers crossed) I'll have enough power to have one small bulb and to keep my cellphone and netbook charged. My village feels super isolated, but I'm actually not too far from a cluster of other volunteers along the Essequibo Coast. I also have fairly decent access to several markets and shops in nearby towns.
OK, so let's get to the good stuff... The holy job description... It's almost too good to be true. My village has a small health post with two Community Health Workers (CHWs). One of them is a trained midwife and has been single-handedly delivering all of the babies in the community for the past 17 years. In that time, she's only had to refer 5 mothers to the regional hospital. Pretty impressive, right? So this isn't necessarily part of my job description, but we currently have five pregnant women and I'll be assisting with all of the deliveries! I'm super excited! Back to the job description... Nutritional counseling/education is a huge need in my community. Because the village is so isolated and it's quite costly to get into town, most of the villagers have very poor nutrition. Here's an example of what I was fed one day in site, which can be described as the typical diet of the community: for breakfast I had two huge rotis with channa and porridge (like oatmeal), lunch consisted of an insane mound of white rice with potato curry, a pine tart served as a snack, and dinner (the most painful dinner of my life) was more roti with a plethora of chow mein. My poor belly was swollen for the rest of the week :( In order to save the bellies of my fellow villagers, the CHWs and I will be constructing home gardens throughout the village. Yay for veggies! But it gets better. Family planning and sex education are are at the forefront of the work expected of me. Teen pregnancy is as common in my village as it is in Bartow County. And better yet, the CHWs said that I don't have to teach abstinence-only sex ed! Yay for more young girls taking care of their bodies and staying in school!
My site visit invoked some major fears, doubts, anxieties, and self-realizations that just continued to cumulate throughout the week, as I had zero privacy or time to process everything that was happening around me, to me, and within me. The only time I was alone for 5 days was when I used the latrine. I bathed in the creek morning and night with my host sister. I ate with my host family. I napped in the hammock with a host family member or neighbor only steps away from me. I even slept in the bed with my host sister. There was never time to think, to process, to debrief, or even to relax. Alone time has been very much utilized since returning to the training site. I'm feeling back to myself, my new self, that is. I feel good. I feel ready. And most importantly, I've learned not to take myself so seriously.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
dirty feet and measuring tape
I'm writing this post from my modest bedroom, veiled by a partially functioning mosquito net, clad in my favorite pj pants (which I've had since I was 16) and my boyfriend's t-shirt, and listening to one of my favorite albums, Bon Iver's "For Emma, Forever Ago." This is the closest I'm going to get to home right now. I've been neglecting my blog for these past few weeks not because I haven't had anything to say, but because I didn't really know how to start recounting all of the experiences I've already had here in Guyana. The first three weeks here have flown by, making me realize that I should start writing now before I forget some of these experiences. So here goes.
In order to more effectively prepare us for the experience we will have in Guyana, Peace Corps divided our training group into two camps- urban/coastal and remote. I was sent to the remote training site along with 11 other trainees. Throughout the weeks, our remote training group has diminshed to only 7 trainees. The rest of the 20-30 something (I've already lost count!) trainees are in a city along the coast. I'm quite content to be here- It's a small Amerindian community with a population of approximately 1,500 people, located in Region 4 of Guyana. I have a fantastic host family! I live with my host mom, Anita, my host dad, Linden, my host brother, Kimmon (16), and host nephew, Robern (7). Unlike the other shy and reserved women in the village, Anita is confident, out-spoken, and full of life and positive energy. Linden is a miner and travels into the hinterland regions for work, so I haven't seen much of him, but I do know that he's an excellent conversationalist, is very attentive, and is quite the pastry chef. Kimmon received his teaching certification and now teaches at the local secondary school. He's a super smart kid, very mature for his age, and constantly listens to music on his mp3 player. Robern is a pretty cool little kid. I never knew that a 7 year old could be so self-sufficient! Lately I've been reading with him during the day or after dinner- he does great in math but seems to have fallen through the cracks in reading. I've made getting him up to speed my own little project while I'm here in the community.
I spend most of my "free" time helping Anita in the kitchen or doing daily chores, but there's always a few minutes each day to spend lounging in the hammock with a good book. Time moves slowly here but there's always so much to do! Simple chores like bathing, washing clothes, preparing meals, and tidying up take a huge chunk out of the day. On a typical day, I wake by 6:00 a.m., practice yoga outside for about half an hour, take a bucket bath, dress, and eat breakfast (usually fried plantains or a boiled egg with fresh orange juice) before heading to training sessions at 8:00 a.m. At the end of the day, I get home just in time to help Anita with dinner. I can now make four types of Guyanese bread: roti, dry bake, oil bake, and fry bake (roti is my favorite). My favorite Guyanese dishes are the curries- I can make a mean potato and eggplant curry, and pumpkin curry with roti is one of the best meals that I've ever had. Oh, and the chickpeas (which the Guyanese call channa) are delicious anytime of the day- I particularly enjoy them for Sunday brunch :) There's also no shortage of fresh fruits here- pineapples, mangoes, paw-paw (papaya), bananas, oranges, coconuts, and passion fruit are a few of the things you can literally find just lying around. We have orange and coconut trees in our own backyard. In case anyone was wondering, grating coconut is not for the faint of heart- it's quite the workout!
Our training sessions have been going well. Today I gave my first health talk at the local health post and was very pleased with how things went. The talk was on family planning (my favorite health topic) and the birth control methods available to the community. We had an audience of about 15 secondary school students and a few young adults. I never thought that after only 3 weeks in country I'd be standing in front of a group of Amerindian teenagers talking about pregancy prevention and how to effectively use condoms, considering that Amerindian communities are known to be extremely conservative and that the schools have no existing sex education curriculum, so I'm ecstatic that the topic went over so well! The community health workers have requested that our health trainees present further talks on the topics of HIV/AIDS, other STIs, and drug and alcohol abuse. I finally feel like I'm actually doing something here, which is a wonderful (and much needed) feeling.
As I was walking home this afternoon, I was approached by a woman in the community who had heard through the grapevine (which is quite extensive around these parts) that I needed a pair of slippers to wear around the house. I had never met her before, but she came running out of the house when she saw me passing by, measuring tape in hand, and quickly introduced herself before she proceeded to lean down and measure my dirty feet. She asked me if I prefered any particular pattern and if I needed them by any specific time, to which I answered no to both questions. She replied that she already had the fabric picked out for me and that I would have the slippers by tomorrow. This must be how celebrities feel during the award's season. I continued to walk home with a grin on my face and an added hop in my step when I heard a little voice call out my name in a half-giggle, half-shrill of excitement. I looked up to see the bright, pretty face of a little 4 year old girl who lives down the street. I smiled, waved back, and walked away with a warmed heart, tears in my eyes, and an even bigger smile on my face. Today was some kind of small accomplishment. Here's hoping for many more.
In order to more effectively prepare us for the experience we will have in Guyana, Peace Corps divided our training group into two camps- urban/coastal and remote. I was sent to the remote training site along with 11 other trainees. Throughout the weeks, our remote training group has diminshed to only 7 trainees. The rest of the 20-30 something (I've already lost count!) trainees are in a city along the coast. I'm quite content to be here- It's a small Amerindian community with a population of approximately 1,500 people, located in Region 4 of Guyana. I have a fantastic host family! I live with my host mom, Anita, my host dad, Linden, my host brother, Kimmon (16), and host nephew, Robern (7). Unlike the other shy and reserved women in the village, Anita is confident, out-spoken, and full of life and positive energy. Linden is a miner and travels into the hinterland regions for work, so I haven't seen much of him, but I do know that he's an excellent conversationalist, is very attentive, and is quite the pastry chef. Kimmon received his teaching certification and now teaches at the local secondary school. He's a super smart kid, very mature for his age, and constantly listens to music on his mp3 player. Robern is a pretty cool little kid. I never knew that a 7 year old could be so self-sufficient! Lately I've been reading with him during the day or after dinner- he does great in math but seems to have fallen through the cracks in reading. I've made getting him up to speed my own little project while I'm here in the community.
I spend most of my "free" time helping Anita in the kitchen or doing daily chores, but there's always a few minutes each day to spend lounging in the hammock with a good book. Time moves slowly here but there's always so much to do! Simple chores like bathing, washing clothes, preparing meals, and tidying up take a huge chunk out of the day. On a typical day, I wake by 6:00 a.m., practice yoga outside for about half an hour, take a bucket bath, dress, and eat breakfast (usually fried plantains or a boiled egg with fresh orange juice) before heading to training sessions at 8:00 a.m. At the end of the day, I get home just in time to help Anita with dinner. I can now make four types of Guyanese bread: roti, dry bake, oil bake, and fry bake (roti is my favorite). My favorite Guyanese dishes are the curries- I can make a mean potato and eggplant curry, and pumpkin curry with roti is one of the best meals that I've ever had. Oh, and the chickpeas (which the Guyanese call channa) are delicious anytime of the day- I particularly enjoy them for Sunday brunch :) There's also no shortage of fresh fruits here- pineapples, mangoes, paw-paw (papaya), bananas, oranges, coconuts, and passion fruit are a few of the things you can literally find just lying around. We have orange and coconut trees in our own backyard. In case anyone was wondering, grating coconut is not for the faint of heart- it's quite the workout!
Our training sessions have been going well. Today I gave my first health talk at the local health post and was very pleased with how things went. The talk was on family planning (my favorite health topic) and the birth control methods available to the community. We had an audience of about 15 secondary school students and a few young adults. I never thought that after only 3 weeks in country I'd be standing in front of a group of Amerindian teenagers talking about pregancy prevention and how to effectively use condoms, considering that Amerindian communities are known to be extremely conservative and that the schools have no existing sex education curriculum, so I'm ecstatic that the topic went over so well! The community health workers have requested that our health trainees present further talks on the topics of HIV/AIDS, other STIs, and drug and alcohol abuse. I finally feel like I'm actually doing something here, which is a wonderful (and much needed) feeling.
As I was walking home this afternoon, I was approached by a woman in the community who had heard through the grapevine (which is quite extensive around these parts) that I needed a pair of slippers to wear around the house. I had never met her before, but she came running out of the house when she saw me passing by, measuring tape in hand, and quickly introduced herself before she proceeded to lean down and measure my dirty feet. She asked me if I prefered any particular pattern and if I needed them by any specific time, to which I answered no to both questions. She replied that she already had the fabric picked out for me and that I would have the slippers by tomorrow. This must be how celebrities feel during the award's season. I continued to walk home with a grin on my face and an added hop in my step when I heard a little voice call out my name in a half-giggle, half-shrill of excitement. I looked up to see the bright, pretty face of a little 4 year old girl who lives down the street. I smiled, waved back, and walked away with a warmed heart, tears in my eyes, and an even bigger smile on my face. Today was some kind of small accomplishment. Here's hoping for many more.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
sick day
I've been in Guyana since Tuesday morning and have already had to take a sick day. It was really nothing, but Peace Corps apparently takes a lot of precautions when it comes to keeping their volunteers healthy. The group left out yesterday afternoon to meet their host families at the training sites, but my vomitting self didn't make the bus. I'm totally fine now, and probably would've been alright had I gone ahead with the rest of the group, but PC thought it best to keep me and two other sick trainees around in Georgetown for a few days. I feel great today! I think my body is just having a little difficulty adjusting to a new diet- I've been eating a lot of sugar, probably some MSG (they put it in everything here), and I'm pretty sure that dairy has been sneaking its way into my tummy.
The sick days haven't turned out to be so bad. We weren't allowed to leave the hotel during our first week in Georgetown, so we were all going a bit crazy and were anxious to see what Guyana is all about. One of the current PCVs is still in town and has been taking us sick ones out and about the city. We ate lunch this afternoon at JR's- a little burger joint that has VEGGIE BURGERS! and french fries :) There's also a Mediterranean restuarant in these parts that has hummus and tabouleh. I'll probably head that way in a bit for dinner. We also peeked into a video store that sells pirated DVDs from the States. I got my hands on copies of Black Swan, The Kids are All Right, Winter's Bone, and Rabbit Hole. It should be easy to keep myself entertained around here.
I'll be heading off my training site on Monday morning to meet my host family and to reunite with the other trainees. It looks like it'll be a month or so before we come back to Georgetown, so in the meantime, please send letters to keep in touch.
Peace.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
cook-up-rice training
(*Please check my previous post for updated information regarding my mailing address.)
Day three's training sessions have come to an end here in Georgetown. So much has happened in so little time, but I'll do my best to touch on all of the highlights. When we arrived in Guyana on Tuesday morning, we were greeted by many of the current PCVs, who all looked surprisingly refreshed and energized, despite the heat and humidity. Maybe they were just excited to meet us, but I jotted it down as a sign that I won't look like such a glazed donut once I learn to take care of myself in this strange place known as the "land of many waters." So it was bit cliche, I do realize, but I immediately felt like I was in the tropics when one of the PCVs handed me a young coconut and a banana :) It was a delicious and nutritious breakfast (another good sign).
The past few days we've been in training sessions designed to orient us to our projects and prepare us for living with a Guyanese host family during our 9-weeks of PST (pre-service training). I, along with 11 other PCTs (PC Trainees), have been assigned to a remote training site in Region 4 (approximately a 1 1/2 hour drive from the capital). The rest of the 20 or so PCTs have been assigned to a coastal/"urbanish" site. We're all a little bummed that we have to be separated from the rest of the group so early, but I'm confident that there will be some advantages to having such an intimate training class. And yes, this means that I'll more likely than not be placed in a remote site for my two years of service. "Remote" can mean one of a few things- I will likely be more isolated from the coastal region and probably won't have running water, electricity, etc., but I could very well be placed in a "city" that's only considered remote due to its geographic location. I should receive my placement in a few weeks, so I'll try to keep everyone posted as I know more.
I've particularly enjoyed getting to know the current PCVs who are assisting in our trainning. They have offered incredible advice and insight! It's great to see how calm and collected they all are (another good sign), as well as how confident they are in their jobs and with their integration into their communities. It's a bit trippy to think that I will be in their shoes one year from now! But I have a lot of ground to cover in the meantime.
We passed today's morning session discussing our role as community developers in Guyana and how our work will fit in to the country's existing development strategies and goals. I am so relieved to learn that we actually have a very thorough and accessible community health care plan to follow. My first three months at site will be focused on Goal 1 objectives- assessing (alongside my counterpart) the community's needs through observation and discussions with the local people. Basically, I have to figure out what the community wants to cultivate before I know which seeds to plant. As tough as this job is going to be, I'm comforted in knowing that I won't be doing it alone (if done correctly), but rather with my entire community.
Oh, and the phrase cook-up-rice is a Guyanese phrase that refers to throwing everything all together (if I understood it correctly), as in Peace Corps has thrown a ton of information at us these past few days. I look forward to sharing more once I finally get out of this hotel and into my host community for training. It's getting a little cabin feverish around here. Well, consider this my last post for at least several weeks.
Rest assured that I'm healthy, happy, and eating plenty of channa (chickpeas, as we know them). Namaste, my friends. Be good in the land of plenty.
Day three's training sessions have come to an end here in Georgetown. So much has happened in so little time, but I'll do my best to touch on all of the highlights. When we arrived in Guyana on Tuesday morning, we were greeted by many of the current PCVs, who all looked surprisingly refreshed and energized, despite the heat and humidity. Maybe they were just excited to meet us, but I jotted it down as a sign that I won't look like such a glazed donut once I learn to take care of myself in this strange place known as the "land of many waters." So it was bit cliche, I do realize, but I immediately felt like I was in the tropics when one of the PCVs handed me a young coconut and a banana :) It was a delicious and nutritious breakfast (another good sign).
The past few days we've been in training sessions designed to orient us to our projects and prepare us for living with a Guyanese host family during our 9-weeks of PST (pre-service training). I, along with 11 other PCTs (PC Trainees), have been assigned to a remote training site in Region 4 (approximately a 1 1/2 hour drive from the capital). The rest of the 20 or so PCTs have been assigned to a coastal/"urbanish" site. We're all a little bummed that we have to be separated from the rest of the group so early, but I'm confident that there will be some advantages to having such an intimate training class. And yes, this means that I'll more likely than not be placed in a remote site for my two years of service. "Remote" can mean one of a few things- I will likely be more isolated from the coastal region and probably won't have running water, electricity, etc., but I could very well be placed in a "city" that's only considered remote due to its geographic location. I should receive my placement in a few weeks, so I'll try to keep everyone posted as I know more.
I've particularly enjoyed getting to know the current PCVs who are assisting in our trainning. They have offered incredible advice and insight! It's great to see how calm and collected they all are (another good sign), as well as how confident they are in their jobs and with their integration into their communities. It's a bit trippy to think that I will be in their shoes one year from now! But I have a lot of ground to cover in the meantime.
We passed today's morning session discussing our role as community developers in Guyana and how our work will fit in to the country's existing development strategies and goals. I am so relieved to learn that we actually have a very thorough and accessible community health care plan to follow. My first three months at site will be focused on Goal 1 objectives- assessing (alongside my counterpart) the community's needs through observation and discussions with the local people. Basically, I have to figure out what the community wants to cultivate before I know which seeds to plant. As tough as this job is going to be, I'm comforted in knowing that I won't be doing it alone (if done correctly), but rather with my entire community.
Oh, and the phrase cook-up-rice is a Guyanese phrase that refers to throwing everything all together (if I understood it correctly), as in Peace Corps has thrown a ton of information at us these past few days. I look forward to sharing more once I finally get out of this hotel and into my host community for training. It's getting a little cabin feverish around here. Well, consider this my last post for at least several weeks.
Rest assured that I'm healthy, happy, and eating plenty of channa (chickpeas, as we know them). Namaste, my friends. Be good in the land of plenty.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
let's stay in touch
***UPDATE: Please send ALL mail and packages to this address during training (until mid-April)... Also, please send everything through regular mail, NOT FedEx. Send things in a padded envelope or flat-rate box whenever possible, and please hide anything valuable inside of something else. It takes about 2-3 weeks for mail to arrive from the States.
Peace Corps
Attn: Whitney Miley
c/o United States Embassy
100 Duke and Young Streets
Kingston, Georgetown, Guyana
South America
Hello, hello! I'm super busy preparing for my departure, so I'll keep this brief and promise to write more in the coming days. Here's a quick rundown of what's going on- I leave on Sunday for the PC Guyana staging event in Philadelphia. After an orientation and brief overview of things on Monday, we will take a bus to JFK and will fly to Georgetown late that evening, arriving in country early Tuesday morning. Ah! I can't believe that I'll be in Guyana in only 6 days!
More to come... Thanks for all of the continued encouragement, support, thoughts, and prayers.
Peace Corps
Attn: Whitney Miley
c/o United States Embassy
100 Duke and Young Streets
Kingston, Georgetown, Guyana
South America
Hello, hello! I'm super busy preparing for my departure, so I'll keep this brief and promise to write more in the coming days. Here's a quick rundown of what's going on- I leave on Sunday for the PC Guyana staging event in Philadelphia. After an orientation and brief overview of things on Monday, we will take a bus to JFK and will fly to Georgetown late that evening, arriving in country early Tuesday morning. Ah! I can't believe that I'll be in Guyana in only 6 days!
More to come... Thanks for all of the continued encouragement, support, thoughts, and prayers.
Monday, December 27, 2010
ode to drifters
It hit me today that I only update this blog when I'm traveling, experiencing something novel, or want to let everyone in on the latest news regarding my Peace Corps placement, but life is happening everyday amidst the chaos that surrounds a life in transition. My life is in transition, and yes, this makes me feel a little uncomfortable. It has been strange living here and there, depending on the charity of friends and family to have a place to sleep and food to eat, especially after recent years of independence and self-sufficiency. That being said, these past few months have made me very humble and appreciative for the people that I have in my life. I'm so grateful that I've been able to spend more time with my family and friends over the holidays, something that I was not anticipating at all. Karma has been good to me.
After all of the heartache and confusion that it originally caused, I'm glad that I'm here and not in Guinea right now. It turns out that right here is where I'm meant to be at the moment. I'm more than okay with that. Sure, I live for adventure and excitement, and I value spontaneity above most else, but sometimes it's good when life forces you to slow down and take a look at your own backyard, so to speak. I spent all summer long trying to cultivate inner peace, calm and awareness, but I gave up my quest for enlightenment as soon as I crossed back over the Atlantic. It's about time that I realize that I can be just as complete here as I can be anywhere else in this world.
I'm heading to Athens this weekend for the New Year's festivities and I fully intend to blow the lid off the city. My love affair with Athens continues on... I'm looking forward to a glass of Terrapin Rye Pale Ale, a plate full of anything smothered with the Grit's yeast gravy, followed by a slice of chocolate death cake and a stroll along the soured streets of downtown, accompanied by the hum of drifters and dreamers offering their souls to anyone who cares to take a moment to feel. To feel anything of significance. I'm gonna sway and drift and dream and hum with the best of them.
After all of the heartache and confusion that it originally caused, I'm glad that I'm here and not in Guinea right now. It turns out that right here is where I'm meant to be at the moment. I'm more than okay with that. Sure, I live for adventure and excitement, and I value spontaneity above most else, but sometimes it's good when life forces you to slow down and take a look at your own backyard, so to speak. I spent all summer long trying to cultivate inner peace, calm and awareness, but I gave up my quest for enlightenment as soon as I crossed back over the Atlantic. It's about time that I realize that I can be just as complete here as I can be anywhere else in this world.
I'm heading to Athens this weekend for the New Year's festivities and I fully intend to blow the lid off the city. My love affair with Athens continues on... I'm looking forward to a glass of Terrapin Rye Pale Ale, a plate full of anything smothered with the Grit's yeast gravy, followed by a slice of chocolate death cake and a stroll along the soured streets of downtown, accompanied by the hum of drifters and dreamers offering their souls to anyone who cares to take a moment to feel. To feel anything of significance. I'm gonna sway and drift and dream and hum with the best of them.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
au revoir guinea, hello guyana
Life just keeps getting crazier. As many of you know, PC Guinea was cancelled and I've been reassigned to serve in Guyana, South America. I'll be honest, the past few days have the toughest part of this whole experience so far. I didn't want to say goodbye to Guinea, in fact, I still am having a difficult time letting it go. I've spent months preparing to serve in Guinea- I've studied French, read up on the history, followed the election in the news, connected with volunteers who have served or were going to serve in Guinea, as well as constantly imagined what my life would be like there. And now it's gone. Just like that.
I've also mourned for the people of Guinea. There is such a need in the country that I'm afraid will only further be ignored and neglected under the immediate strain of its political situation. I can't help but feel selfish. I'm upset that I can't get into the country, when I'm sure that many Guineans wish that they had a way out. On a more positive note, Guinea is heading in the right direction. The Guineans have finally had their voices heard and now have the ability to hold their government accountable for its actions. Nonetheless, I can't help but envy the PCVs who'll get to go to Guinea when all of this stabilizes.
And now Guyana! I never in a million years thought that the PC would send me to South America, but they have. Initially, I was totally sold on Guyana. My placement officer told me that I would be doing Health Ed with an opportunity to work in schools with kids, something that I had demonstrated a strong interest in during the application process. However, I was very disappointed that I wouldn't be going to Africa or putting to use all of the French that has been collecting chaotically in all corners of my mind for the past several months. After speaking with my PO again and asking her for more options, she offered me an assignment in Morocco. I've always dreamed of going to Morocco, but after reading over the Welcome Book for the country, I realized that I was at best unprepared to serve there. It's imperative that PCVs in Morocco already have a strong background in French, as PST (pre-service training) focuses on acquiring language skills in Arabic. Cool, yes, but yikes! All in all, I believed that Guyana was a better fit for me.
So here's what I know about Guyana. It's located on the northeastern coast of South America, bordering Brazil, Suriname and Venezuela. The climate is tropical- hot, humid, and rainy. The country is very ethnically diverse, mostly being comprised of African and Indian immigrants. The official language is English, but Guyanese Creole is widely spoken (I'll be taught Creolese during PST:)). Because so many Guyanese are of Indian descent, Hinduism is widely practiced, meaning that vegetarianism is common and accepted :) Also, there will be an unlimited supply of coconuts!
My primary project is Community Health Education Promotion. From what I've read, Guyana doesn't have a developed or functioning health care system. In fact, there are few doctors or health care professionals available to the Guyanese that live in more rural areas of the country. Because of this, there are high maternal and infant mortality rates. Guyana also has a high rate of HIV transmission, as well as other diseases. My primary job will be to teach preventive health measures and to promote behavioral change. I will most likely be working in a school district, but I'll also have the opportunity to work in health centers or with NGOs.
That's all I have for now. I'll post again a little closer to departure time.
I've also mourned for the people of Guinea. There is such a need in the country that I'm afraid will only further be ignored and neglected under the immediate strain of its political situation. I can't help but feel selfish. I'm upset that I can't get into the country, when I'm sure that many Guineans wish that they had a way out. On a more positive note, Guinea is heading in the right direction. The Guineans have finally had their voices heard and now have the ability to hold their government accountable for its actions. Nonetheless, I can't help but envy the PCVs who'll get to go to Guinea when all of this stabilizes.
And now Guyana! I never in a million years thought that the PC would send me to South America, but they have. Initially, I was totally sold on Guyana. My placement officer told me that I would be doing Health Ed with an opportunity to work in schools with kids, something that I had demonstrated a strong interest in during the application process. However, I was very disappointed that I wouldn't be going to Africa or putting to use all of the French that has been collecting chaotically in all corners of my mind for the past several months. After speaking with my PO again and asking her for more options, she offered me an assignment in Morocco. I've always dreamed of going to Morocco, but after reading over the Welcome Book for the country, I realized that I was at best unprepared to serve there. It's imperative that PCVs in Morocco already have a strong background in French, as PST (pre-service training) focuses on acquiring language skills in Arabic. Cool, yes, but yikes! All in all, I believed that Guyana was a better fit for me.
So here's what I know about Guyana. It's located on the northeastern coast of South America, bordering Brazil, Suriname and Venezuela. The climate is tropical- hot, humid, and rainy. The country is very ethnically diverse, mostly being comprised of African and Indian immigrants. The official language is English, but Guyanese Creole is widely spoken (I'll be taught Creolese during PST:)). Because so many Guyanese are of Indian descent, Hinduism is widely practiced, meaning that vegetarianism is common and accepted :) Also, there will be an unlimited supply of coconuts!
My primary project is Community Health Education Promotion. From what I've read, Guyana doesn't have a developed or functioning health care system. In fact, there are few doctors or health care professionals available to the Guyanese that live in more rural areas of the country. Because of this, there are high maternal and infant mortality rates. Guyana also has a high rate of HIV transmission, as well as other diseases. My primary job will be to teach preventive health measures and to promote behavioral change. I will most likely be working in a school district, but I'll also have the opportunity to work in health centers or with NGOs.
That's all I have for now. I'll post again a little closer to departure time.
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