My Caribbean Peace Corps Experience

My ears are ringing as I bang the roof of the bus with the palm of my right hand to the beat of “I Love My Life” by Demarco. The 15 children squished next to me in the bus jump and sing along to the song as they wave balloons and posters out the window. “Love your children!”, “Respect us!”, “Stop beating your child!”, “Let children be children!”, are the declarations I hear from the 150 youth and children in our 13 bus motorcade as we travel through 7 communities in Dominica.

Sunday, November 20, 2011, was Universal Children’s Day. This day was created by the UN in order to bring awareness to the world that children have special rights that need to be respected. This year’s theme was “Stop Violence Against Children” and the organization I work with decided to celebrate this day across the entire island.

For the week leading up to November 20th, I, with my coworker, went from school to school and youth group to youth group in the 6 communities in our area. We didn’t want to do a boring lecture on Child Rights to the kids, so I googled Child Rights, to see if I could find a song, a video, or an activity that we could do instead. I found this great music video made specifically for Universal Children’s Day, called, “Here I Am, With a Right for Love”. So at every place we went, we brought my computer and our projector and played this music video to the kids and youth.

After the kids saw the video I asked them what they learned from the video, about what rights did they learn. It’s amazing what messages music send. The kids learned EVERYTHING they needed to learn about Child Rights…just through a short 3 minute song. It made my job a lot easier, that’s for sure. Then after, a small group of kids would meet with us and we passed out paper and markers to make posters about what they learned. The kids were very creative, with drawings and messages, very beautiful.

The big event was on Sunday. Sunday morning we brought 150 children and youth to one community named Calibishie, where we gave all the kids their posters and banners to hang on the buses and wave out the windows. At noon, our “sound truck” (a large truck with giant speakers and a dj playing music) led our motorcade on its 3 hour long journey. The truck was followed by 13 buses jammed with children and youth, as we all wined our way through 7 communities. Everyone was bouncing the buses, yelling, singing, honking horns as people stood outside and waved at us as we drove by at 5 miles per hour.

The motorcade ended in a community, named Castle Bruce, on the far east of Dominica. There we had about 300 people in attendance from all across the island. We fed lunch to everyone to get them ready for the big show of the day. At 3pm, we commenced our Universal Children’s Day celebration. Youth groups and groups of kids from different primary schools from across the country displayed songs, poems, and skits for the audience and tv cameras. These youth and children used this opportunity to speak out against abuse of children. Not only was it great to hear from them but it was fun to see how creative they were in displaying their talents. We had a great show of laughs and awareness.

Some of the great performances I loved: a group of grade six students recited a poem they created with their teacher about child abuse, it was very honest and touched the heart. Another was the Marigot youth group’s skit. They performed a skit about a mother neglecting her children by going out all night and partying while her children stay home hungry. The youth really got into, it was cool to see them having fun, but it also had a great message to it too.

This was one of my favorite events done by the East Dominica Children’s Federation! It was all about the children and youth and they all shined on this day. I hope they continue to do this every year.

Of course I have my criticisms about certain aspects of the U.S. Peace Corps, but I was really impressed with the recent event we had in September. A few weeks ago, the Peach Corps hosted an HIV/AIDs Conference in St. Lucia. They invited Peace Corps Volunteers working in the Eastern Caribbean and their counterparts to apply to attend the conference.

My two coworkers, who work with me in East Dominica Children’s Federation, and I applied to attend. This organization has never worked with any HIV/AIDs prevention or awareness before, but are interested to help reach the youth, children, and community this year. We all know that HIV/AIDS is a horrible epidemic, that continues to spread due to unhealthy sexual behavior. There are millions of dollars of aid being put to HIV/AIDs treatment and prevention. Dominica is not an active player in this yet, but East Dominica Children’s Federation has decided to play an active role in it.

We applied and was accepted to attend. It was a 2 day conference in Rodney Bay, which is a nice tourist area of St. Lucia. Of course, we all wanted to also use some time from this trip to do a bit of shopping at the mall nearby. There is not a single mall in Dominica, and I have to say, I miss them a bit.

This two day conference was all planned by current Response Peace Corps Volunteers among the Eastern Caribbean. Response Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) are a particular type of Peace Corps Volunteer. They are people who have already served 2 years or more as a Peace Corps Volunteer, and now are volunteering for only 6 months in a very specific job in a different country. Most of the current RPCVs in the islands are working with HIV/AIDs agencies. So they wanted this conference to help PC Volunteers and their counterparts to effectively make behavior change in the youth of our communities as it relates to HIV/AIDs.

The conference was very different than I expected it to be, but a good different. I expected to be bombarded with facts and information on HIV/AIDs. And leave with a head swimming. But that was the exact opposite of how the conference actually went.

The conference was full of about 25 Peace Corps Volunteers and about 50 counterparts from local organizations that work with youth among the 7 countries represented. Best practices of HIV/AIDs prevention was presented by all countries, some really great ideas were given. Then for the rest of the conference, a performance group called ASHE from Jamaica came and presented to us all a concept called, “Edutainment”. Education through entertainment.

Instead of telling us how to help youth change their behavior as it relates to healthy sexuality, they showed us. We played games, participated in activities, and laughed a lot throughout the rest of the conference.

The underlying concept within all the activities and entertainment was teaching us all to open our minds, to reconsider the misconceptions we have learned about sexual behavior and the natural judgments that are programmed in our mind. My favorite activity was when all the men had to act and thing like women and all the women had to act and think like men. They asked us to talk and act on different subjects from our perspectives as the other sex. Men were able to hear what women think men think, and visa versa. It was very eye opening for both genders to better understand how the other thinks.

In Dominica, many people like to make generalizations. “All white people are like this, all black people are like that. All woman are like this, all men are like that…” So activities like this break down those barriers and inaccurate judgments. This room was full of professionals, and many of these women and men had changes in perspectives in many ways by the end of this conference. I think we all need reminders of our wrong judgments on people, so I really appreciated the newly cleansed mind.

My coworkers and I have come back to Dominica with a new found knowledge on edutainment and we are doing our best to incorporate this into our work with the youth, to make a real positive difference. We have planned to hold a one night camp with the youth in November to use these edutainment activities with the youth. We are hoping we will be able to open the minds of the youth in a fun way, which will in turn help them change their thoughts and behavior in sexual choices, hopefully. The youth are in need of a new way to learn things; an effective way to learn things. They are tired of the lectures they get every day by their teachers and parents. So I’m excited to see their response to this new way of teaching: EDUTAINMENT.

People say The United States of America is a people of consumption. And I now see the immensity of that consumption as I compare to my life in California to my life here in Dominica. What a stark contrast between the consumption of Americans and that of Dominicans. It is true, Dominica isn’t a large exporting country, especially nowadays, with the decline in banana plantations. However, this is a poor country, and I live in a rural area, where almost ALL families around me have gardens where they grow their own vegetables and have fruit trees to eat from. With the provision of fruit and vegetables, the only things left to consume is meat, bread, milk, gasoline/maintenance for a vehicle, and entertainment.

With only about 10% of the population in my area with a vehicle, that leaves the rest of 90% with only other basic foods and entertainment for consuming. Well my friends, the country of Dominica doesn’t know what entertainment is, coming from the eyes of an American. I only now realize what vast amount of entertainment we have in The States. Honestly, I have not taken advantage of all the different entertainment available, but since living here I find that I have moments of longing for those entertainment opportunities now.

Now that I have been here for 1 year, 7 months, I have been made acquainted with the entertainment sector here in Dominica. I would like to share with you the formal forms of entertainment there are: concerts, clubs, bars, restaurants, plays, sport competitions, beauty pageants, food festivals (fish, pork, titiwi, rabbit, etc.), and of course Carnival. From this list it seems like a lot, but with a population of close to 70,000 there is only so much its citizens can uphold. I have already experienced all of these entertainment venues since being here.

You know how when you have been living in one place a long time, you have never taken the time to experience everything in the place until a visitor comes and then you show them all “tourist” things, which is when you get better acquainted with your own city? Well being a visitor to Dominica, I am determined to experience all that it has while I’m here for 2 years. So during my first year I attended as many activities as I could. I have truly enjoyed participating in them all; all being very different from those in the States. One of my favorites is during the Creole time (every October), the Creole in the Park, where many artists showcase purely Caribbean entertainment of steel pans, creole dances, traditional outfits, and creole foods.

Well now that I am half way through my second year I find that I’ve experienced everything already, and I now see that I’m yearning for something new. It makes me wonder what Dominicans do to keep themselves entertained here.

In the rural area I live in, I have observed the few types on entertainment here. There are the local rum shops, which is a small shack where alcohol is served and small stools around wooden tables with dominoes on them. At night these places usually consist of men, just hanging out drinking, talking, and some playing dominoes while others watch. The local restaurants close at about 5pm, so there is no place to hang out with friends or family in order to eat together unless it’s at your home. Every now and then there is a basketball, volleyball, netball, or cricket match occurring in the village where a lot of people love to watch and cheer. Marigot people especially are very loud and vocal people, so I tend to laugh the whole time listening to all the comments from the crowd. Also, sometimes there are concerts in our village, which occur outside at our basketball court. Either a band comes to play or just an outside dance party with D.J.s playing music.

Many of these activities occur sparingly, leaving an ordinary weekend or week night up to the fall back source of entertainment: television and internet. As I have spoken with my fellow Dominican friends and coworkers, they say that before television and the internet, more people were hanging out at the beach or the river, but now most people are held up in their homes entertaining themselves with tv and computers. Which I have to say is probably pretty similar to the rest of the world.

Part of my work here is to work with youth groups in the villages. They all complain that they are bored and have nothing to do outside of school. So we work together to try to bring about some more entertaining activities. So far we have hosted a few movie nights with a projector (there are no movie theaters here in Dominica), games night, beach days with cooking and games, and sports night. We have had some fun times, and I think the youth are realizing that they have to MAKE their own activities to make their lives more fun and exciting. Unfortunately our funds are limited and planning takes a long time so these events happen only a few times a year.

When I think back to when I was in high school in California, I always had things to go to (the mall, a fast food restaurant, a concert, a school play, sports, the movies, bowling, etc) to keep my curious mind entertained. Teenagers and young adults are similar here as they are in the States. They all want something to do when school is finished, when work is finished… there just aren’t as many options here, and I wish I could bring all those things here for the young people to enjoy and experience, for I’m also feeling a bit of that boredom the youth complain about.

The wind blowing through my hair, I take in a deep breath of fresh tropical unpolluted air, as I gaze out at the luscious green scenery surrounding me, taking my subconscious away with it. Some of my favorite moments in Dominica have been the times I have ridden in the back of a van (a pick-up truck as we call it). It’s true, it’s illegal in California, and I think in most of America. For safety reasons the law at home forbids us to sit in the bed of a truck since it is pretty dangerous. I remember the 2 times I did that in my life before coming here to Dominica, because they were special occasions in my mind. Now it has become a part of my life here in Dominica. Everyday “vans” drive by me filled with people, old and young, riding in the bed, sitting on edge, balancing themselves as the vehicle speeds around the windy corners of mountainous Dominica.

Not being allowed to drive here, I am limited to public transportation or free rides from locals. With my job assignment, I must travel between villages, everyday, and the villages are not quite walkable distances from each other. I use buses as often as I can, but times come when its easier and more time efficient to hop on the back of a “van”. Its amazing how generous people are, to stop their movement down the road to let someone on the back of their vehicle, sometimes it’s a friend but sometimes it’s a stranger. And we all know that many of us in California are so set on our mission: to get to our destination as fast as we possibly can. Also we would rarely trust a stranger to enter our vehicle, because we usually expect the worse that could happen. But these thoughts don’t even cross the mind of Dominicans.

And with these rides on “vans”, adventures are bound to occur. One time, my coworker and I hitched a ride on a “van” of a friend of hers, and we were only taking it from one village to the next, about a 5 minute ride. However, on its way to the next village, the driver had a few errands to run. The first was a quick stop at a shop, where the driver ran in and picked something up. The second was a drive up a steep hill off the main road to the government farm, where goats, sheep, cows, rabbits, and pigs are bread and sold to the public for a cheap price. We took a tour of the place as the “van” drove to the back of the property to the pig pen. Wow, they had some giant pigs in there. We sat at the back of the “van” as the driver loaded up bags of animal food on the bed. We made our way back to the main road and continued our journey to our destination. However, as we reached the beginning of the next village, once again the “van” goes up another side road to the Agricultural Center. We once again sat at the back as the driver went along with his business, he unloaded the food and chatted with the people in the office for the next 15 minutes. I finally reached home 45 minutes after I jumped on the “van”, haha, only after living here for over a year would keep me from getting frustrated about it.

Another surprising experience with a ride was when my Peace Corps friend, Mary, and I went hiking one Saturday. We decided to hike a segment of the Waitukubuli National Trail, a blog on this trail will come later. This hike was estimated to take 5 to 6 hours. So we started our hike early. However, 2 hours in, we took a wrong turn and ended up exiting the trail onto the road. Since our hike was finished and a whole day still awaited us, we decided to catch a bus to the capital. But before a bus was able to pass us, a giant dumper truck passed first. I thought it would be fun to wave my hand and ask for a ride, and surprisingly he stopped. A Rasta guy was already on the back of this truck, hitching a ride, so we joined him. The funny thing was that the truck was full of 2 by 4 planks of wood, so we stood on top of them about 10 feet off the ground as the truck whipped its way down the narrow roads to the capital city. We truly felt like we were flying as we had to duck at times under branches hanging over the road.

Out of all my rides on “vans” and trucks, my favorite is the night ride on the back of my friend’s large truck. I have some Dominican friends who carry and set up entertainment systems for concerts and parties across the country. A few times I have taken advantage of this, by hitching a ride with them to and from these concerts. Usually they all insist on putting me in the cab as we ride, but there have been a couple amazing occasions where I have been able to sit backwards on this large truck, bouncing and swaying under the beautiful stars of the Caribbean.

These experiences that are truly “Dominican”, in my mind, are the moments I will always remember.

What is a Peace Corps Volunteer? Good question. I’ve been asking myself that same question over these past 16 months. When I first applied to be a Peace Corps Volunteer, I was given a book full of stories by past volunteers, and they were all amazing stories of great projects and programs that the volunteers did in their communities. Now being a Volunteer for 1 year, I see that those stories are rare.

However, one year ago, I believed I would create a great program or project that I will be able to write about and get printed in that book. You all know that I truly enjoy helping others and that was one of my main reasons for joining the Peace Corps, but selfishly I wanted to be seen by the villagers in my community as a wonderful person that is helping to change their lives for the better. To receive praise and have a heart filled with satisfaction of a job-well-done.

EVERYONE has a different Peace Corps experience, so it’s impossible for me to answer the general question of “what is a Peace Corps volunteer?” but I can explain what it is to me. It is definitely not the one who has all the answers, or the one who can change everyone’s lives. To me, a Peace Corps Volunteer is the one who is the silent supporter, encourager, and helper to those who are already trying to change their own community.

I am working with a non-profit here called, East Dominica Children’s Federation, which is an affiliate of Child Fund Caribbean. I think they do great work here in Dominica. There are about 6 different offices all over the island that focus on youth and child development in their community. These staff are way overworked and underpaid. But they all have a passion for children and youth so they take their job seriously and work hard to accomplish the best. I enjoy working with them, because I have a similar work-ethic as them and find that we all work well together.

However, the type of work I am doing is not particularly innovative, or organization-changing, but I found that I am helping to maximize the efficiency of the great work they are already doing. I am more of a support and helping-hand, which I think is what they truly need at this time. I see that as we all work together we are accomplishing a lot as a team. We are bringing together youth into positive youth groups, putting on workshops on HIV/AIDS and dental health and are planning our summer full of fun activities for children and youth with sessions on issues that youth face in their communities. Our goal this summer is to teach these youth to make wise choices and focus on their life dreams.

However, before I found this organization to work with, I was floating around with no direction of what work to do. So I devoted my time to the Primary (aka elementary) school. Since I have no skills with teaching, I was drawn to the room called “library” that was just a room full of boxes of books. This room became my primary project at the school. Unfortunately it has been a long, frustrating struggle with this library, and I think because I made it “my own thing”. No one asked me for help with the library, I asked the principal if I could work on putting it together, and he said yes. Since I tackled the endeavor on my own, mainly because I didn’t feel comfortable asking the busy teachers, that I didn’t know, to help, I therefore was limited to my own ability and time availability.

School has just ended, today is graduation day. I am just about finish with the library now…..yep that’s over a year since I have begun work on it. Of course I have done lots of other work on other projects throughout that year, but it still seems to me that this has taken way longer than it should have. This has taught me that no matter how important I think a project is to get accomplished, I can’t do it alone. Which is why I feel like I am in the right place now, working WITH others as we create beneficial projects.

However, the library looks great! We got new bookshelves painted bright blue and yellow, a carpet and hand sewn pillows for a comfy reading area, organized books, desks, chairs, 2 computers ready to be connected with internet for research purposes, and creative decorations on the walls. There is still one thing missing though, a load of new, exciting books. We acquired a few new books, but I have seen that those are so popular that they are already getting worn by the use of the children. We are in need of more new books. Our shelves are full of books from the 80s, American history books that aren’t relevant to the children here, and books that are torn and scribbled in. Books are so expensive in the Caribbean (a Nancy Drew chapter book costs $60!) that most parents cannot afford them. I have been trying to get some new books here for awhile. My mom collected 5 boxes of used children’s books but found out that shipping it here to Dominica cost too much, so they were never sent and instead donated to a local school in California.

Now, I have made contact with a non-profit organization called Hands Across the Sea, which gets great children’s books into the hands of children in 7 different Caribbean Islands. They have graciously agreed to partner with me, but we are in need of your (my friends, family, past co-workers, and educators) help. On Hands Across the Sea’s website you can see the wish list for my school, W.S. Stevens in Marigot, Dominica. I am asking if you could contribute a few bucks to bring some much needed new books to my school’s library. Any amount will help, $5, $10, $20 or more. You can make a PayPal donation through the organization’s website: www.handsacrossthesea.net. All donations are tax deductible and you can specify that you want your gift to support me and my literacy efforts! Thank you for your support!

I sat under the clear dark sky, staring at the moon through the palm tree limb hanging above me. The five us were sitting and waiting on this moonlit beach in the middle of the night, talking and enjoying the cool breeze. The air was moist, and I put on my PLNU sweatshirt for the first time since I have been here in Dominica. Another group of 4 people were sitting nearby in their pickup truck. Every 15 minutes they got up and walked down the beach a few times and then returned to their truck. We chatted a bit with them and we all shared some wine under the bright stars. Finally as 1am rolled around, the other group left. We sat a little longer talking then at about 1:30 we begin to gather our things to start walking home. We pranced around in the black sparkling sand and splashed in the water as we made our way home. Suddenly we spotted tracks in the sand, glanced at the sandbank, and there it was, what we have been waiting for all night……a turtle.

A 25 year old Leather Back Turtle came out of the ocean onto the sand to lay her eggs. This happens every year on just a few beaches in Dominica during the Turtle Season, which is from April to September. Even though it occurs every year, very few Dominicans have spotted one, because they usually come out in the middle of the night while all are asleep. However, turtles are a desired food, but eating turtle is illegal here. There are a few turtle poachers hidden in the bushes waiting for a turtle to come on the land, lay its eggs and then they kill the turtle and steal the eggs to bring them home to eat. For this reason the Dominica Agricultural Ministry has placed Agricultural officers to watch the beaches every night during turtle season to help protect the turtle and its babies.

When a female turtle is ready to lay her eggs, she returns to the beach that she was born at, even if she is currently in Australian waters, she will take the long journey to return to her birthplace for the birth of her own babies. As the turtle comes near to shore, she scans the beach to make sure it is safe for her to land on the sand. The female turtle comes onto shore, while the father sits out in the ocean waiting for her to lay her eggs.

When we found her at around 1:30am, she was just beginning her egg laying process, which means it’s ok to go near her and watch her closely. We watched her begin digging her whole in the sand for her eggs. She used her back two feet to dig a giant hole where she then laid about 60 eggs. After they fell into the whole she threw the sand back on top of them and then began to disguise the area so that no one could find out where she buried them. She disguised it by throwing dirt around in a giant circle all around her. This whole process took about 2 hours 30 minutes. We just watched and took photos the whole time. When she finished her covering she looks around her and follows the light to find her way back to the ocean. After turtles lay their eggs, they follow light to find their way back to the ocean. Which is why turtles only come out in a bright moonlight, because when the moon shines on the water, the turtle can find its way back. However there are many instances when a turtle lands near a city and follows the city lights rather than the moonlight on the ocean. This night, the moon hid behind clouds just when she was ready to go back in the sea, so we shone our flashlight towards the ocean waves for her and she followed it like a cat follows a laser light.

The group that was with us earlier was the agricultural officers. They didn’t think the turtle was going to come to shore that night, so they left early. So we were the only ones there with the turtle and her eggs, it was a beautiful and sacred sight. When the officers are present with the turtle, they place a cloth bag under the turtle inside the hole she dug in the sand. So when the turtle lays her eggs, they fall straight into the bag without her knowing it. Then the officers burry the eggs in a different spot. This is to keep the eggs safe, so that if someone comes by within the next 2 months and sees the tracks of the turtle and the messy hill of sand that is thrown around by the turtle then they could easily dig up the eggs and take them home to sell or eat. However, since the officers weren’t there that morning, we let her lay her eggs straight in the sand and called the officer to come get the eggs the next morning. When a turtle lays her eggs, she only lays half of them, and then returns another night to lay more eggs again. But we aren’t sure when she will return. However the officers can tell us when they think her eggs will hatch, which is in about 2 to 3 months. So we will return to see those babies crawl out of the sand. And once the baby turtles are born, they run to the ocean and take care of themselves, never to see their mother and father again unless in mere passing.

I was told that these turtles were land animals a long time ago, but now have become water animals. This is the reason why it must come on sand to lay its eggs. I was amazed to see her struggles as she laid her eggs and covered them with sand. I could actually see tears coming down her eyes throughout the entire experience. It was a reminder that all animals and humans have been cursed with painful childbearing. Though it looked painful it was still a beautiful sight that I feel privileged to have seen.

Last week was a week full of Peace Corps events. Another volunteer and I were responsible for writing up all the press releases and write-ups about these events that were sent to Dominica newspapers and online news sources and to the Peace Corps Headquarters in Washington DC Below is a summary write-up we wrote together, which was sent off to a local newspaper here in Dominica, but was never printed. Also another volunteer made a video of “A Day in the Life of a Peace Corps Volunteer” where she videotaped 4 volunteers in their villages. I will post that video on my blog here soon! Please enjoy our article and photos.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the United States Peace Corps. Currently 27 Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) live and work on island. To celebrate the anniversary they hosted events around the country under the theme “Fifty Years of Education, Engagement, and Enlightenment” from 4 April to 9 April. For the celebration, the PCVs highlighted the exceptional aspects of Dominica and commemorated community members who have played vital roles in the development of the country. Past and present Volunteers, international counterparts, community partners, host families, Peace Corps staff, dignitaries, and the public joined in the week-long series of events.

With a daily exhibition at the Financial Center and the Roseau Library, PCVs showcased a large timeline featuring notable projects in which PCVs have been involved, including the founding of Operation Youth Quake in the 1980s and the establishment of a NGO dedicated to encouraging a love for reading in primary school students called Open Books, Open Minds in 2010. Dominicans who visited were asked to sign their names on a giant map of the island which highlighted the villages where Volunteers are currently serving. The exhibition is to be placed in the Dominica History Museum.

On Thursday, April 7th, ten new Peace Corps trainees were sworn-in as official Volunteers to serve in Dominica for the next two years. A ceremony was held at the University of West Indies with Peace Corps staff, current volunteers, host family members, counterparts and dignitaries present to welcome the new PCVs. They were encouraged to embrace their unique experience as an American living and working in a new country and culture. The event finished with a marvelous drama by the new PCVs given in Creole.

A luncheon was held on Friday, April 8th to accolade community counterparts and host families who have partnered with Peace Corps. “It was a great opportunity to honor those who have been part of the legacy of Peace Corps Dominica and hear their stories firsthand about how Peace Corps has affected them and been involved in their lives,” said Michelle Garavaglia, a PCV from Giraudel. The keynote speaker, Mr. Carl Pope, Chairman of the Sierra Club and former PCV, commended Dominicans for their commitment to preserving their beautiful island and discussed the awareness that results from the important cultural exchange in which PCVs and Dominicans engage. There was also a screening of a documentary created and filmed by PCVs titled, “Creole Corps: A Day in the Life of a Peace Corps Volunteer” portraying the lives of four current Volunteers living in Jimmit, Vieille Case, Cottage, and Riviere Cyrique. A number of Dominicans from other parts of the island were featured in the film as well, speaking of their impressions of the Peace Corps and ideas about what peace really means.

On Saturday, April 9th, PCVs, counterparts, and youth from across the island participated in “Go Green Roseau”, a Unity Clean-Up Service Event. Members of the community addressed the youth. The first speaker, Atherton Martin enriched the youth by encouraging them to be entrepreneurial, by using the eco-friendly and agricultural skills learned in school to create innovative businesses. Then Alvin Alexander spoke about the importance of volunteerism to keep Dominica clean and healthy; he finished his speech quoting U.S. President and founder of the Peace Corps, John F. Kennedy, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”. Lastly, Marcus Francis explained the new recycling program in Dominica to help Dominicans reduce, reuse, and recycle. He also emphasized that youth are the change agents to keep the island preserved. Following the speeches, the participants picked up trash from the parks around the capital and collected a total of 50 large bags of rubbish. The youth placed trash bins around Roseau that had been painted earlier in the week by Goodwill Primary School students. All participants enjoyed taking part in the event, 11 year old Nia James from Eggleston stated, “Today was a nice day, because we picked up all the rubbish. I picked up 302 pieces of trash!”. Ten year old Eugene Francis of Riviere Cyrique, said, “I’m glad I came here because I like to clean and make Dominica a better place”.

The week was successful in honoring a long partnership between nations and a shared commitment to service and development. “Peace Corps has been a valuable partner in development in Dominica for a very long time. The exchange of skills and culture that transpires during this collaborative effort results in long term friendships between the people of Dominica and the United States. Such exchanges help promote peace and greater understanding in mankind. Volunteers are always thankful for the opportunity to serve and leave with a different understanding of the world outside the U.S. from what they came with. Congratulations are in order on this 50th Anniversary of Peace Corps. Let us continue to build a more peaceful world through this people-to-people relationship,” said Mr. Patrick Henderson, the Associate Peace Corps Director for Dominica.

When Dominicans take a vacation, they don’t just ask for 1 or 2 weeks off like Americans, they go on leave for 1 to 2 months. Well, I just took a 1 month vacation with my family. It might just be because I am America, but I found 1 month to be a little too long for a vacation. I haven’t been on many vacations with my family before, but I think we all had a great time together traveling around the Caribbean.

I met my mom, Don, Don’s brother David, and his wife, Joan in Puerto Rico. I flew in from Dominica early so as I waited for the rest of my family, I wandered around Condado (a city in the Northern area of Puerto Rico). Wow, what a big change from Dominica, this was definitely America. This was my first time visiting Puerto Rico and I was surprised at how American it was, with large hotels, classy shops, big malls, lots and lots of cars, but the one thing that reminded me that I was in Puerto Rico was all the Spanish signs and Spanish speaking I heard everywhere. It was a very interesting mixture of cultures. But being in Dominica for a year, I was ready to familiarize myself with a few American things again. For those few hours I had alone I did what I am sure most would do to, go shopping. I found myself surprisingly happy to walk into a Walgreens, which before coming to Dominica, I don’t know if I would be that happy. But once I was inside there, I saw how cheap everything was, and went a little shopping crazy. I bought every school supply item in the store, thinking of future projects and programs I will do with the kids in Dominica. And then of course I threw in a few American candies I have missed. My vacation was starting great. And things only got better when my family and I went on an adventure outing the next night. The highlight of my entire vacation was going on this tour in the Bioluminiscent Bay in Vieques, Puerto Rico where bioluminescent plankton lived. At 9pm, we kayaked out into this almost enclosed bay with only glow sticks and the moon as our source of light. Once we stopped and began to splash our hands in the water, blue glowing specks began to dance around in the water but only for half a second before their light died away. It was absolutely amazing, we just sat around in our kayaks splashing each other for awhile, as we watched them swim all around us. This was my favorite moment in my vacation, and will never forget it.

After 2 days in Puerto Rico, we flew to St. Lucia and stayed there for 4 days. St. Lucia is similar to Dominica, in my opinion; they got similar cultures and similar landscapes. We stayed at a very nice hotel, went on a fun adventure with a canopy tour of the rainforest and ending with zip-lining in between the trees. We had some really nice relaxing days there, with great food and drinks at the restaurant. Our last relaxing night was disturbed at midnight with the sounds of explosions resembling cannons and guns, frightening us all awake out of our beds. This day marked the day of St. Lucia’s independence, which is apparently celebrated at midnight with fireworks in their capital. That next morning, we loaded onto the ferry that took us from St. Lucia to Martinique.

We only had a day and a half in Martinique, but I found myself wanting to stay longer. Another place with a seemingly interesting culture. It is a combination of Caribbean culture and French culture. I saw many different races, and ethnicities, much more diverse than Dominica or St. Lucia. I would love to stay longer and learn more about the way of life there, especially comparing the capital to the mountainous countryside. With such short time we didn’t travel far, but enjoyed a nice day touring the capital. Then in the late afternoon, by pure chance luck, we found a little ferry taking people back and forth from the capital to a village across a large bay called Pointe du Bout. We took the ferry over to this pretty, very touristy place, with expensive shops, snazzy restaurants and a bustling beach. As the sun was setting, we took the ferry back to the capital to return to our hotel.

The next day we returned back onto the ferry and my worst experience on a ferry began. The waters were extremely choppy, our giant ferry boat was tipping left, right, forward, and backward, all at once. 2 people near me were vomiting in the bags that were passed out by the attendants, I quickly put my ipod in my ears and closed my eyes as I endured the horrible 1 hour 30 min ride. We reached Dominica for a quick stop and then was suppose to head on to Guadeloupe, but my mom and I decided to get off there, because we didn’t want to face another 1 hour 30 min seasick ride. Don continued on the journey to Guadeloupe and joined my mom, David, Joan, and I in Dominica 2 days later.

For the next 2 weeks, we enjoyed Dominica’s nice hikes, tourist sites, beaches, and lovely people. My mom and Don enjoyed seeing the village I live in and I liked introducing them to the people in my life here. It was a bit strange combining my life here with people from my life back in America. Because at times in my head, they seem to be 2 completely different lives in 2 different worlds. Though it was a long vacation, it was a needed and appreciated one. I am thankful to have spent that time with my family and hope to have them visit again before I return to the States.

Four American holidays have passed over these past three months, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. All four have been VERY different than how I usually celebrate them at home. I’m in a different country, so of course one can’t expect them to be the same. Let me share my experiences with you over this past holiday season.

Halloween is a pretty popular holiday in America, most families acknowledge it and participate in some way or another. I’m not sure where Halloween originated from, but I DO know that it is not celebrated in Dominica. The kids here talk about it because they see it on TV, but no one observes it, because during October 31st, Dominicans are celebrating Independence time. All October is Creole Month, so Dominicans are busy participating in cultural activities. I spent my Halloween at the Creole Music Festival, which is a concert with different Caribbean artists. It was fun, but definitely not Halloween. Which, truthfully, now that I am not a child, I don’t care much about Halloween anymore, so I was happy for the change this year.

Thanksgiving, which is a uniquely only American holiday, is obviously not celebrated here in Dominica. Which means I didn’t get the Thursday off work, but of course I asked for the day off. Us Peace Corps volunteers decided to have our own Thanksgiving dinner. This was a first for many of us, making our own Thanksgiving meal. There is a lot of work that goes into it! Especially when you are having a meal that is feeding 25 people in a home with only 1 stove top and no working oven. We all signed up for a dish or two to bring to the meal, but with us all living an hour or so away, the food gets cold in the transportation process. Luckily Samieh, the PCV that hosted the meal, had a friend next door that let us reheat our food in their working oven. With our meal starting an hour late, which should have been anticipated, we all stood and held hands in a circle to give our thanks for the year. In our circle was 15 of us volunteers, 2 were home for the holiday, a few Peace Corps staff, and a few Dominican friends that were invited to celebrate with us. After our thanks and a prayer, our hungry stomachs ran to the kitchen to fill up plates with mashed potatoes, Butterball turkey, sweet potato pie, stuffing, veggies, and pumpkin pie, plus much more. We all enjoyed the surprisingly delicious food, the jovial conversation, and the football game on tv in the background, ALMOST making me feel like I was at home.

Christmas is celebrated in Dominica, but it’s a bit different than in the US, in my mind. I know that everyone has a different experience on Christmas in every corner of the US, and it’s the same here in Dominica. The overall impression I got from Dominicans is that Christmas isn’t a big holiday to them. Yes, since this is a Christian country, many go to church on Christmas day and acknowledge it as a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. However, I didn’t see much excitement from the kids or adults, which is pretty evident to me in the people I see in America. In the US the excitement is about the presents people are giving and receiving or the vacation destinations people are going to. With Dominica being a lesser developed country, people don’t have the extra money to buy lots of gifts or go on extravagant trips. Some families put up a few Christmas lights on their homes, set up a small fake Christmas tree, or had a few presents for the family, but most families simply made a Christmas fruitcake, some sorrel juice and shared it with friends and family who visited. In between the visits, they cooked a meal and did household chores. I told a few kids they could come over to my house on Christmas to have some cake I made and we can hang out if they want. On Christmas day, I woke up late, played Christmas music, made a cake, and just played on my computer, truly not knowing what to do with myself. I had one friend come over to visit and eat a bit of cake with me, then we met up with another friend and drove around the island running errands, ending the Christmas day with eating some cake at a friend’s house with his family. The big Christmas celebration occurs on Boxing Day, which is the day after Christmas. There are many concerts around the island. I went to a concert with a few friends. The concert was fun, it had 3 different stages with bands playing all different types of music til early morning. Not a very Christmasy Christmas but that’s how it is here in Dominica. I was told that before when the cost of living was less and people in Dominica had more money, people had more Christmas gifts, decorations and food, but times have changed.

New Year’s is celebrated completely opposite here in Dominica, it’s actually pretty comical to me. We all know that in America, on New Year’s Eve, we count down to Midnight, scream Happy New Years, cheers with champagne or sparkling cider, and kiss our date or hug our friends. Then usually we dance or hang out with our friends until early morning. In Dominica, everyone goes to church on Old Year’s Day (that is what Dominican’s call New Year’s Eve) at around 10pm, and a church service commences with praise and worship and a message. The new year is brought in while in church, and everyone goes home at around 1am; some hang out or go to a party afterwards, but most just go home after. Since my “Dominican Christmas” was a bit strange, I decided to join some of the Peace Corps volunteers’ “American New Years”, by going to an American bar near the American Medical college (Ross University) where we were able to count down, hang out and listen to fun American music.

This holiday season was a bit difficult for me, with not having my family and close friends from home, but with the help of the Peace Corps Volunteers and some close Dominican friends, I was able to enjoy it.

I have been here in Dominica for 10 months now which to me is a pretty substantial amount of time, but comparing my 252 months in the United States, one would think that 10 months in another country wouldn’t make much of an impact. However, I am constantly surprised with the continual learning and new experiences that are leaving a print in my life in all areas: emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually.

When first coming to Dominica, one goal I set for myself is to get to know the people, culture, and life of Dominica the best I can. I made this decision for multiple reasons. 1. If I’m living somewhere for 2 years I should make sure I understand where I am living. 2. To expand my knowledge of other parts of this world and in turn impacting my own thoughts and philosophies that tend to be too narrow. 3. To understand the culture well enough to figure out ways that I can best help during my short time here. Many times we hear about rich countries wanting to help others but not quite knowing how to do it, so they throw money at the wrong places, like the government of the country, hoping they will use the money wisely to help those in need. However, we all know that it doesn’t always quite end up that way. For these reasons I have been trying to live close to a Dominican life and understand the people that make up the culture, while still keeping my identity.

Over these past few months I feel like I have been learning more and more, making me feel a bit more integrated into the community as every day passes. I contribute some of these experiences to my new job. With my new assignment, I am traveling all over the North east going to elementary schools and to people’s homes. We are taking photos of children in the sponsorship program, filling out forms about the children and families, and helping kids write a letter to their sponsors. As I help with this, I meet new people, learn other perspectives, and see more areas of the country.

All the children in the Child Fund program are in families that are struggling. Many have homes with no water and no electricity. Mostly, the money given to the children go to the parents to buy food or pay bills. This has been new for me to see. Before when I was only working with the school I went from my home to the school and back, I didn’t have much opportunity to see all different life situations here in Dominica. However, now I am getting a better holistic view of the life of those living in the Northeast part of Dominica. Many here are farming families which never provide a constant income and always demand a lot of work from many members of the family.

Over the last month or so I have been able to see more of this farming land that is tucked away in the hills, far from the main road. A few weeks ago I did a hike through the hills and mountains of Marigot with my friend, many Marigot youth, and some Roseau hiking enthusiasts. We had an amazingly fun, tiring, and explorative 6 hour adventure. We crossed rivers, climbed up and down mountains and passed through many pieces of farming land. Some land was orchards of oranges, grapefruits, and lemons, some were gardens of vegetables, and some were sugar cane fields, on farmer generously shared his cane with all of us hiking through his land.

Last week I was walking through a village with a Child Fund worker, we were going to homes filling out forms. In this village we had to walk far out in the hills by homes located near their farms. When we came by one family, there was a fire burning in their yard, many people burn their old leaves and plants when clearing their land. But this fire smelled a bit different than they usually do, well apparently they found Cannabis growing in their garden and to get rid of it they gathered it up and burned it in a fire as the wind blew towards us all, haha, first time I’ve seen that before.

Last weekend I was invited by my friend and his family to help harvest a plant called sorrel. I have been trying to find a day to go to their garden, and learn a bit about how they work on it, for awhile now, so I was happy to finally go. With a knife in my hand, and snacks and water in my bag we all walked to the garden, about 30 minutes into the hills of Marigot. We brought a machete, a basket, a bucket, and burlap bags to do our picking with. His mother got an order from a buyer who wanted 5 boxes of sorrel by the afternoon. When we reached the garden, there were bushes after bushes of sorrel. Sorrel is the blooms that grow off the stems of the bush. People use the blooms to make juice and wine, it’s a Christmas time drink. So our job over the next few hours was to snap off the blooms and gather them in the bags. It was a lot of back-bending work, and admittedly I was tired and sore from just a 3 hour work. Haha, I don’t know how one can work in a garden like this all day; they are all most definitely stronger than I.

My eyes have been open to more aspects of the Dominican life. I’ve enjoyed learning more about the farms and gardens; I know there is SO MUCH I still don’t know about them, especially since I never had a single class in agriculture in my life. Also I’ve been saddened but appreciative to see some of the hidden, struggling lives of some families here.

Please pray that I will learn more and understand more of the Dominica life, and that God will show mw how to effectively help those He wants me to.