Oh my, so leave it to me to make this my 3rd posting in one evening after not posting for around 2 weeks--at least I didn't crunch it into on long blog. lol, I ramble too much as it is.

So here's an update on what I've been up to:

My pilot group of basic computer class students (4 adults) finished, sadly only with a 50% pass rate on their exam although I can explain the ones that didn't. Since then, I've started another group of 4 adults and a before school group of 4 primary school students, both on the basic course. They all seem to be chugging along nicely. I detest early morning stuff, but the 730-830, 2 days a week seem to work nicely for the primary school students. I find it humorous the younger students complain about all the material I have them learn, whereas the adults (most have never touched a computer) don't make any comments about the amount of material.

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The village council I've been coaching is like a slow sluggish engine in winter. Sometimes is wobbles a bit and chokes, but its' warming up and will soon be running smoothly. The executive group is motivated and has a great core to lead. I'm proud of the people in place and am confident that I'll be able to step back and let them stand on their own. If I'm able to do so this early in my service, I believe that it will certainly have enough time to prove sustainable by the time I leave (score 1 point for me. ^_^)

The sub-committees, which handle the various aspects of our village however still need a bit of fire under the pants. But hey, it's a new group and concept for them, so we'll need a couple months to really build the organization dynamics. With the stronger core at the lead--I'm confident they can guide the sub-committees into action. Time will tell.

We have 4 sub-committees, with at least 3 people in each.

• Sports
  
• Education & Culture
  
• Agriculture, Environment, Health, & Infrastructure
  
• Community Mobilization
  

I'll be meeting with our exec group tomorrow to draft our council constitution and draft the new management plan for our community center.
Some of the activities in the works for our sub-committees include: a community cricket game day, writing a grant proposal to get funds to build a community bulletin board, launching a reading festival event, and starting an youth executive program. The last part finds adolescent youth in the community to become Assistant _____ position to match an executive on the council. The goal will be to help prepare and empower that youth to perform the duties of the executive role and gain valuable experience.

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Drumming is coming along nicely. I can already identify which kids are now regulars and perhaps get some sort of program in place. I've had to put an age minimum of 10 in place to help reduce the chaos of kids that come during practice. Ok so the younger ones still come, but at least I can tell the youngsters upfront they won't be playing that day. I'm still having a hard time getting some of the older kids and adults out. Hopefully our new direction will seek to bring them in. I need to find an adult community partner on this if I am to implement the larger plan...

The larger plan is to build a youth-driven and adult-coached club, much like a Boy Scout troop, that focuses on volunteer roles and uses sound and motion as tools for education and recreation. I've been asking around--poking a few names out and ECHO seems to have a nice 'ring' to it. I'm sure it might be better to have an group come together to give it a name and the usual start-up papers in order to help develop a sense of ownership to the group. However, it is hard enough to get anyone outside of primary school to show interest in many things--especially if they are not getting any sort of remission. Having a name and draft papers already in place will probably make things a bit easier to get a start-up group together. So I am building the name and papers after bouncing ideas of individuals on the street and offices.

People here tend to enjoy acronyms and given the nature of the group, I thought ECHO be good for Every Choice Helps Others. What you think? We are targeting to be a group that focuses initially on music (drums and percussion) and dance (African, Afro-Carib, and Freestyle most likely) to help spread educational messages. When we're not performing or practicing--we would hope to take messages to the streets and not only learn about the issues, but learn how to talk about them intelligently (public debate?). Part of seeking out issues will also be trying to help find and implement positive solutions to overcome local issues. This will foster service learning activities and events--anything from helping repair homes to food drives. I'd like to see an environmental twist in there as well, but if I can get a group volunteering on any issue regularly--I'll take that just the same.

So if you know anyone that is looking for a bit of philanthropy, we could use some help with instruments. lol. Actually, bless the internet--I hope to learn to build a bamboo flute, shak, and other local instruments. I am searching for people here that could teach such things, but either they want too much $ to show others how to craft such things or in most areas the cultural knowledge has become forgotten already.



Saturday, Kay (one of the kid's mom and one of few community activists) and I took a group of kids up to the village of Rose Hall. The Rose Hall Cultural and Development Organization was putting on a Heritage and Culture Festival as part of the larger Vincy Homecoming/30 yrs independence nationwide series of activities. The organization's VP is the one who has been mentoring our young drummers and asked if we would be willing to perform at the festival. So with about 1 month of drumming and 1 week to practice a folk song he gave us--we went to find adventure.


Of course, West Indies time kicked in....the van to pick us up did so about 1hr 45 min after we were asked to be ready to go. Good thing we had the drums to keep the kids occupied. The event started an 1-1.5 hours late too.

The kids had fun--running amok watching the different groups perform. There was a donkey race, poetry, hand drumming, boom (stick) drumming, steel pan drumming, various types of dances, and a couple live band shows. There was a large party, called a 'blacko' afterwards--but we didn't stay for that and got the kids home. It was fun trying to find our missing van driver also--got back over an hour after the permission slips said we would be back. Fortunately, I haven't been reamed by any parents yet.


Of course, I would have taken lots of pictures, but I'm having issues with my camera battery still. mur. I did see someone I know taking many shots and he said I could get a set copy--now I just have to track that guy down again and get them...



I should mention that next time, I don't think we'll be doing a song. I kept telling the kids to slow down the speed of their singing. Of course on stage the flew through it super fast. Let's just say the song should go 5 mph, in practice they when 10-15mph and on stage they went 40 mph. It was over in a matter of seconds. Of course it might have been a saving grace that a drunken Rasta managed to get up on the stage and dance to the kids singing. This led to not only the crowds laughter, but the kids were laughing too. One of them nearly fell over laughing and was unable to recover himself--just kept laughing. Those that could stop were not able to get back into sync with each other. Yet I think it was a good thing--the kids performance might not be remembered for going super fast, but being interrupted by a drunk. I don't mind the kids had such an experience. I'm sure for most of them it was their first time on stage and there was lots of people (a few hundred at least). That coupled with only a week to practice the song we received when we've only been practicing drumming skills...yeah... It was a learning experience.







Isn't this hat ridiculous? lol...thanks Dave. I'm wearing it regularly now and it is nice to keep the sun off my pasty melon head--but a few of the locals are calling me cowboy. Interesting....

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I learned something new the other day about fishing here. They have a decent sized fish (no clue how big really, but at least the length of my arm and good girth) that they call a dolphin. Yes, it is a fish. The animal we call dolphin back home--they call a porpoise. To them there is no difference, not that it makes a big deal here in the day to day. If you didn't know the difference, read this. However, there are still people here who do not acknowledge the local food known as Black fish as actually being Pilot Whale and not a fish. (That part I've known for awhile.)


Stay happy and well
ciao tutti
~your local wannabe jedi
~Shawn

What's on your playlist?

Music, something that everybody listens to and might agree that music is a part of life that influences what we do, how well we do it, and even who we are. Many of us surround ourselves with sound that either matches our mood or in attempts to bring ourselves into a particular mindset. At local performances, when walking down the road, while working-out, studying, or perhaps as a background during tea with a friend--we surround ourselves with sounds.

So here is a quick list of artists I've been listening to lately. Some of them are reflections of who I am at this time in my life, while others are one I simply enjoy listening to regularly. Many of them I've kept on my playlist of life and those that know me could probably figure out which ones those are.

So who's on your playlist right now?

• Nightwish
  
• Josh Groban
  
• Heather Small - Proud (The background song of my blog from the youtube video below)
  
• Taiko (Japanese Drumming)
  
• Leaves Eyes
  
• Lacuna Coil
  
• Albannach
  
• Anastacia
  
• Christina Aguilera
  
• Depeche Mode
  
• Gypsy Kings
  
• Simon and Garfunkel
  
• Flogging Molly
  
• VNV Nation
  
• Within Temptation
  
• Shakira
  
• M.C. Chris
  
• Epica
  
• Hammerfall
  
• Assemblage 23
  

Music, influencing life and influenced by life

Stay happy and well
ciao tutti
~your local wannabe jedi
~Shawn

Thoughts of PCV, immersion, & technology

Geez....it feels like forever since I last posted a blog. According to blogger, it's been about 19 days--still feels like more than that. I read up on some of the blogs I follow (you should check them out too) and recall how one of them said that things here are so busy and are the 'new' is wearing off. She's right, so many things here are becoming normal and it while the little things are important--I may forget to mention them here.

Which jumps me to thoughts I've been having; they are more like curious musings actually. I recognize that perhaps I'm spoiled here with readily available internet both at my local community center and in my home. I can't speak for other PCVs around the world, but I'm fairly sure there are many of them that do not have consistent access to the internet--some perhaps not even computers. Moreover, I think back 10 or 20 years or so when computers and the internet were not the great linkage holding so many of us together.

While I can only speak for myself, I'm sure there are many other PCVs out there spending hours in front of the computer. Sure some of it is blogging and bouncing around social networkings sites, checking emails, and digging up the latest research to help prepare us for the next day's work. On one hand, I'm grateful for the internet and the time I spend on my computer. Without it, I probably would have had a much harder time learning about remedial reading coaching skills, drum lessons, various sporting rules & activities, easy-to-use business templates, and a host of other useful ventures. Yet, I wonder what is the cost of spending so much time on the computer. One principal of business economics is that of opportunity cost--everything we do is made from a choice. By pursuing one option we give up another, even if we are unaware of what that option might have been.

Sometimes I wonder if I would be spending more nights on 'the block' or in the domino sheds at the local shops or perhaps wandering down the the bayside. Sure, I do a great many things in my community--everyone in my village will attest to that. Yet as I wander down the road coming home from meetings and lessons, I still feel the outsider even though so many have done so much to bring me into the fold. I'm curious to know how I'd feel or what I'd do if I was completely disconnected from the computer. Of course, the quasi-technophile I am would experience a withdrawl period. However, Would I be forging closer bonds and ties with individuals in my community? Would I be developing those relationships and discovering things (good or bad) about my community, the place, people, and their needs that go by unspoken as I sit in my home typing away on this very blog.

Perhaps still would have gone home and curled up with a good book instead of a video display. Everything has a cost--what would I be doing if not this? I'll probably never know as long as I have my electronic umbilical cord. Often my thoughts stray to wonder if their is an entire cultural shift in the volunteer experience from the internet's communication revolution. Now PCVs share their photos, thoughts, stories, and very lives with world at large. People can see and hear about what we are doing at the very touch of a button. This also provides us with a tool to keep in a 'close' proximity. Or course, that makes for a fantastic people-based network for post-volunteer opportunities. Yet the mind still wanders--are PCVs with consistent internet services of today having different experiences as a volunteer than those who serve in areas without it or with volunteers who served before the internet and computers were household names?

Not that this really matters to my service here, just tangent my mind seems to drift on from time to time.


Stay safe and well,
ciao tutti
~your local wannabe jedi
~Shawn

The little victories keep ya going.

So I had a guest out recently. It was a nice refresher to have a visitor from home for a few days. I didn't really do the typical touristy thing and take time off to show her all around. Instead, I keep to my wonderfully busy schedule full of literacy and computer classes, meetings with community groups, mobilization efforts, and all sorts of other things that keep me bouncing around my village. It served a good glimpse into life as a volunteer. At least now, I'll have a friend back home that can relate to my efforts on the ground here. I can't speak fully for her experiences, but the trip overall was a bit of a double-edged outcome in my opinion.

Of course like most of the volunteers--she picked up on the initial judgments: the people are super nice; the scenery is gorgeous but has concerns over the mass of litter; the bewilderment of the educational systems; and the overwhelming difficulty trying to mobilize people here to participate in activities. I could tell from her reaction to some of my activities that she had great doubt over the role, duties, and expected results we were meant to fulfill. There even came a time when she asked me what the heck was I doing here....not to mean if I was being lax but rather my purpose as an individual with my background. It seems that nearly all the things I am doing don't fall into aspects of my life that I've had much training/experience.

For the most part--I'm working on creating a music, drama, and dance group; advising a tourism group; teaching computer skills classes; forming a volunteer literacy team and conducting lessons; strive to mobilize my community in developing a village council; plan and mobilize sporting events; fostering an environmental education program; and a host of other smaller duties. People who know me could attest that I don't have a musical bone at all, have never had any sort of theatrical experiences, am terrible at sports (I barely know anything about most sports really), and have great difficulty instructing literacy at remedial levels. I was brought here to help organizations, but most I haven't even been able to get my own host organization that requested me to come to SVG as their PCV to sit down and do a simple SWOT analysis or other sort of assessment inquiry. From what I understood, she felt that if the sorts of things that I am working on were to be the real needs of the community--then the PC should have put in a volunteer who is experienced in those fields. I don't assume to know the back-end of the PC process to know why they choose who they do for the places we go. However, I'm busting my tail usually 6-7 days a week and sometimes for long hours, doing my best for now.

Having a friend from home really crank down hard on the 'why are you here' button wasn't easy to deal with, but I'm still here fighting the good fight even after she left. I will say, it's a good feeling to be here because I'm making the choice to be here. That makes it much more rewarding at the end of the day. I'm slowly trying to rearrange what I'm doing here so that it better aligns with my skills & interests. Long road, but I'm still here--fighting that good fight.

Tonight I got a little victory, one of those moments that seem to instantly display an answer to the 'why am I here' question. I had just finished a long 2 hour village council meeting and was chatting with our newly chosen chairperson. That person informed me that he had been inquiring for nine years about the need to create a village council. With my help on the ground, we are finally getting that ball rolling after a few months of prep and early meetings. Crossing my fingers to continue and build momentum. Although everything we had achieved during that 2-hour meeting was enough to be happy for the day's work--the chairperson's remark about starting to fulfill a long ambition was today's real prize.

It's the little victories that are keeping me going.
I'll just have to wait and see how things flow.

Tomorrow is our 2nd day of Volleyball lessons & games. Maybe there will be another little nugget of victory tomorrow.

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On another note, I got to check my body weight at the office yesterday; I've dropped another 5 lbs--bringing me to 161.4 lbs from my original ~186 lbs. I eat a good amount regularly and don't eat 'garbage' foods...but I feel ok, so I'm going with it for now.

So much to do, so little time.

Stay well and be happy
ciao tutti
~your local wannabe jedi
~Shawn