War against apathy

It's been awhile since I posted--completely on me. I'm online almost everyday, but finding the words to say just don't come out I suppose.



So a year on island has gone by now (a year as an official volunteer on 20 October). It was one thing to say that we've been here a year and perhaps it felt as such. Yet I think it really came to me when the current volunteers (both those at the 1-yr mark and those who are still here wrapping up their 2-year service) gathered at the air-port to greet the new, incoming volunteers. The airport here is small enough that we were able to assemble along the outer fence line and proceed to scream, hoot, and pound the fence as we saw them coming off their plane. Then we lined up like complete hooligans immediately outside the arrival exit doors waving a Vincy flag for people to walk through as we chanted various things like SVG, Peace Corps, and being wonderfully obnoxious. Thankfully, security must figure it's only once a year for a very short time--so we're forgiven. ^_^ Thanks airport security.

See the all the arrival shots here!

Here's the boss-man, Mr. Cool coming through.


The arrival welcoming crew


We ventured back to the office for a little meet and greet for a few hours. It was nice to see everyone face to face--even the current volunteers. Some of us here meet up from time to time for small events, but as a group we very rarely all get together in one place. This time we had every volunteer on island there and it was very cool. Scott and I stuck around until each host parent came to pick up there respective volunteer and take them to their new homes across SVG. It was akin to watching the box of puppies seeking adoption. ^_^ This arrival was very different from our group's landing last year. We didn't do a meet and greet, but we were met by a few volunteers at the arrival doors very briefly. Didn't have much chance to say hi, because the moment we got past our greeters our host parents were already at the airports to pick us up. Also, we arrived on a Saturday and didn't have anything specific to do until Monday when our training started. This gave us a couple days to figure out something to do as we settled into our village--no word from the staff or other volunteers. This time around, they landed on a Monday and started training the next day. Neither is better or worse, but interesting to compare.

President Obama welcomes you


The whole volunteer SVG crew is now assembled!


So while that was happy, joyful times--there is still plenty to do work to do.
The past couple of weeks has posed to be rather interesting in terms of 'passing the buck'. With my time and energy focusing on the two main groups I'm working with, I've rolled up my sleeves a bit for them.
--The tourism group, Cumberland Valley Eco-Tourism Organization, really needs to come together since their efforts are going to be launched as a small business group responsible for two tourist sites. I'm trying to fill in the training gaps from the larger development projecct, rather large gaps.
--The Spring Village Action Council has been having a hard time gathering its supposed members and putting our long talked about village enhancement project to paper. Seeing that project through is my driving goal while I am here.



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With the tourism project, there is an controlling group that is responsible for strengthening and training some dozen or so community tourism groups. They are covering everything from business fundamentals, accounting, computer training, marketing, safety & security, hospitality, and all sorts of other small start-up training. However, in my opinion, much of this training (at those I've attended) seem to be nothing more than a light dusting on these topics and are not engaging the groups. A few of our group members feel that the rest of the group is not taking the upcoming responsibilities seriously enough. Sometimes I wonder if the provided 'training' in not designed in such a way as to capture the involvement and bring these members on-board. Additionally, I feel as if this light dusting called training won't be sufficient to help these groups manage their sites if they've never managed something similar before.

I've offered extensively to assist the tourism development project team in any way they might see fit. However, there is a general feeling of turfism in that anyone who is not actively working as staff on the project team or contracted by them should be involved with the training. The project liaison and I have bumped heads a few times with my attempts to do some side training for my local village group. I warned the group about this training situation long ago and they didn't seem too concerned. Now that they are starting to realize that the sites will be ready and they'll be operating them by the end of the year (if not sooner), I'm being approached to assist with all sorts of things from the business plans to site marketing to doing the computer work for them. I haven't entirely let myself do all of their work. Just this morning, one of the members was asking me why I didn't get the tourism statistics they needed and I replied because it was them that needed to get it. So we met on middle ground as I sat her down at my computer and had her use her email to communicate to the Ministry of Tourism. They must stand on their own two feet.




Marketing this group is my lastest drive for them. I have a running goal to get them an internet presence (email, social networks, and website) all up and running within two months. They will be alongside me nearly every step of the way. Thankfully, there are not webhosts with relatively easy to use interfaces that allow a person to literally drag-and-drop their way to building a website. Between that and a few tweaks of help, we should have something looking rather nice in the near future. Score one for them and since I'll make sure they can update it themselves, score one for both of us on sustainability.

I've also started to try help a local couple craftspeople to work on their product marketing as well. One of them in involved with the tourism project also--so the repeat coaching should help reinforce the concepts. I'll be happy to provide links for them in the future...

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The Spring Village Action Council has been it's own bunch of fun. We're going to meet later this evening and have lots to discuss. As a group, we were gathered to act as a networked council--bringing to the table representatives from the churches, non-church organizations, and interested individuals. We've noticed it is extremely hard to get many of the groups to respond regularly and many individuals don't seem to really acknowledge us as yet. Must strategically plan on how who we should target to expand membership and drive to enlarge ourselves in order to have sufficient numbers to share responsibilities.

We've been mapping out a development project--a somewhat ambitious one--as a tool to establish the group and provide several needed services to the community. However, without a strong membership base it seems as if our meetings are just going in circles. Tonight I hope to gain commitment to a general timeline for the project. Even if that timeline is long, it will give them something on a calendar to work along. The things we have planned out would greatly benefit the community and I fear should I be sent home early that much of this will fall through...

• Crossroad direction and neighborhood (rather than street) signs through the village
  
• Bus shed on the highway
  
• Establish a family play/relax park
  
• Establish an agricultural inputs shop
  
• Complete a bridge to gain access to part of the beach. Currently the river we cross can quickly rise to dangerous levels.
  
• Remodel parts of our community center to reflect changing interests
  
• Remodel and establish a computer training lab in one of the community center rooms.
  

We can do this, but we have to get motivated and start to write. I've told the members in the group that funding is available for those that work towards it--which has been one of their greatest concerns.

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I think the hardest part of what I do isn't facilitating any particular topic.

• It isn't working with kids--->way outside my comfort zone.
  
• It isn't patiently explaining a concept 4, 5 or 12 times to someone.
  
• It isn't trying to communicate with people while being hoarse for the past many months.
  
• It isn't doing lots of walking and hand-shaking to track down people or information to make something possible.

The hardest part about what I do is fight a war against apathy, non-motivation, and a general culture of undermining one another. I've talked on many occasions to people in my village and they will all agree on a particular idea, but none seem to have any idea as to how to start changing that culture. They will readily admit such practices run rampant in the village and the greater St. Vincent, but they won't admit to doing such things themselves. The barest strand of this aspect of Spring/Vincy culture shows that a person would like a certain level of happiness/standard of living. While this is not inherently problematic, the common thread continues that if someone else might become better off by helping that person--such as buy from a shop or contribute in any way to an organization, then a person would avoid or even work against the betterment of the person trying to succeed.

Anyone you ask shall tell you just what this community needs, but the vast majority will not provide any assistance towards the work that needs to be done. Invitations to consultations and other meetings would be announced that offer an opportunity for people come and be heard; yet the far majority do not come. Even recently, there was a land and watershed consultation done that actually had a decent turn-out and when the facilitators mentioned a potential of funding for environmental protection work, members of the audience began spinning question after question about when some group will come and fix this and that for them. The facilitators attempted to bring these people on-board with a collaborative venture, yet the audience members turned away from it. It seems apparent that the majority of the people simply want something done for them without personal investment. The local culture is one of negative criticism and perhaps it would be harder to criticize something negatively if that person had been a stakeholder on the effort.

My work here strongly discourages the "do it for them" approach and I don't believe in it either. Sadly, far too many stories have come from previous volunteers that say if you want something done, you just have to do it yourself. I've had to stoop to that before, but am trying my best to bring at least on person with me when something needs to get done. And so the war on apathy continues....

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

T-Day....so full...so good.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
So what are you thankful for? Do you know? Do you need to think about it for a moment?

Today was a good and very filling day. But let me backtrack to last night.

Brandon and I made the trek from north leeward to the Mespo on the Windward side to go see our pal Shelby--the secret keeper of apple pie making. We had ourselves a blast making apple pies entirely from scratch....lots of dough, green apples, and plenty cinnamon & sugar later we were doing awesome We made 5 pies, but only 4 made it to the feast. Of course, we had to taste test the pies for scrumdidiliumptiousness and it most certainly was. We even had apples filling mix leftover and we super snacked on it....I think we need a dentist stat. I haven't had that much sugar in a long time and we got mega-giddy. ^_^ Shelby fed us an awesome chili she made the night before and fried up some breadfruit chips to go with the guacamole we we also made. It was a blissful food night. In the morning, I climbed an orange tree and helped pick some lemons in her backyard to make for a super breakfast, but it couldn't compare to the yummy times awaiting us. (pics below)

The Taiwanese (Republic of China) Embassy had approached Mr Cool, our boss, about opportunities to become more involved with the Peace Corps. It wasn't long until the Ambassador offered to host our Thanksgiving Day event and join their volunteers with ours. The Taiwanese have 4 volunteers on St Vincent, each working in a very specific area for 2 years. The Ambassador is currently working with the Vincentian government (and after his gov't) to begin crafting their volunteer program to be more similar to the Peace Corps model of local community residence and activity. How cool is that? We were informed that the Taiwanese have a strong civil society and take great pride in their international outreach. They are certainly quite active here, much to the benefit of the Vincy people.

All of the traditional American dishes were prepared by volunteers (except for a pie and cheesecake) and the Taiwanese contributed their own native dishes. It truly was a feast to behold and no offense to my fellow volunteers to worked hard on their dishes--but I totally pigged out on the Taiwanese food! There were many vegetarian options from both groups. The atmosphere was very pleasant and the climate was great for the day. There was so much food leftover that the embassy provided us with little plastic bags to make our own take-away. Wonderful! So I currently have some very tasty treats awaiting me in my fridge for tomorrow. ^_^ (pics below)

In other recent stuff
--This was in the newspapers from this past weekend, but I forgot to mention it previously. I found this both funny and scary...
Recently, 2 boys--11 and 12--managed to sneak into the airport after dark over the fences, cross the tarmac, gain access to a jet that was staying overnight, feast on snacks and drinks, and fall asleep to be discovered the next day. Now that is a bit funny for kids, but think of what they could have been...scary.

--I wanted to hang out a bit with the other volunteers after we had our T-Day celebration, but I had to get back to my village for a 5pm meeting. I got there a bit late, 25 min or so, which many Vincy's would still consider on time. Who was there? Nobody. >.< Could a couple of people gathered and dispersed before I arrived? Those who were in the area for other reasons told me that nobody else had been around there for awhile. That was the only downer today and it was an important meeting for a tourism group I'm working with.

--Got into an interesting topic later this evening. There is an upcoming netball (similar to basketball and typically played by women) tournament and there was a woman arguing with a man about the required uniform to play the game. She said that her team would like to have the permission to wear pants (I think we could have called them shorts) as part of their uniform instead of short skirts. The man said that he is going strictly with the rules which are international and declare that women must wear the skirt as their playing uniform. It got rather heated and was my first sighting of a gender inequality--since boys who played didn't have to wear skirts. A previous tournament hosted by other people did allow women to wear pants upon request. This time the woman said that she felt it was indecent for a christian woman to wear such things--even with tights underneath. After I left them later, I asked a couple younger (potentially more open-minded women) in the village about their stance. They promptly defended that women should wear skirt regardless and men wear shorts for netball. Puts a spin on the gender perspective.

And now....pictures. ^_^
--oh yeah, I'm rapidly earning the nickname, paparazzi. It's fun to have a nickname, but I haven't figured out if it is given in fun or annoyance yet...














So Good...

Warm welcome from Ambassador Lee

Showing us US states with the names in Chinese. Way cool.









They were surprised at how well I could use chopsticks, even right or left handed

What appeared to be a small racket was actually a bug killing device of coolnes. ^_^

They doubted my ability to eat pumpkin pie with chopsticks.....I won. Btw, hats off to Steph for making a super scrumptious pumpkin pie.

The Attic--our election night party ^_^

Today is another good day in the fate of the world.
I am very proud to join so many people, not just in the U.S. but around the world, to celebrate in Senator Barack Obama's victory on 4 November.

The U.S. embassy out of Barbados invited Peace Corps volunteers through all the islands to go to designated venues for election night parties. "The Attic" was the chosen local here on St Vincent. It is a night club venue here with small jazz bar feel. Honestly, it was nothing like anywhere else on St Vincent I've walked into yet. Not to say that the rest of Kingstown in low key--I haven't been to many places here yet. However, this place looked as if it would have been at home on many Chicago corners.

When I opened the door to the place, I was greeted with blast of air conditioning...something that really took me by surprise given it gets much cooler here at night. The inside was decorated for our event, with nice tableclothes and topware. The embassy provided buttons in support of both candidates and cute little pins with attaching U.S. and SVG flags. There were a few small tvs suspended to the ceiling beams, but the real eye-catcher was the projector and screen that filled a good portion of the performance stage. It was CNN for hours--I was as giddy as a sports fan watching the superbowl or world series.

I was extremely pleased to find out that our host--the person running The Attic--was a big supporter of our purpose and was gracious to accept the embassy's rental request. He was so excited to watch the election results, he kept the place open until both candidates gave their speeches--which was one of my biggest concerns coming to the event. The embassy offered us free food--all little morsels and fruits/vegetables, but really tasty. The bar was rather pricey, as to be expected in that sort of venue, so I kept my beverages limited.

Many of the volunteers attended this event and it was good to see so many of us coming out together from all over the island. It was great for the embassy to offer us this opportunity (especially when not all of us have tvs-like me-in our homes to watch it there). I will some of us (sadly) left early or had to find unusual arrangements for after the party, because neither the embassy or the Peace Corps helped us to get back home or a hotel for after the venue. Late night in town is a vacant area--ghost town-like--and the only way home are taxis too expensive for us. So I crashed on some tile floor space in an undisclosed location and went on my merry way the next day.

At The Attic, there were more than just volunteers. There was also a representative from the embassy, who was full of stories and information for our questions. There were also many other Vincentians who had received invitations from the embassy. I got to meet and talk with the heads of a local political party. lol....they wanted to get their picture with me. They were dressed in pressed shirts and ties, actually nearly all of the guests were very nicely dressed. The email from our Peace Corps staff told us it was a casual event, so I was in a t-shirt and bandana. Oops! @_@ Oh well, it makes for an interesting picture when he shows it around. But it makes us appear not as professional--I don't like that.

People here follow U.S. politics rather closely, perhaps out of general interest or due to SVG's close ties (socially, economically and otherwise) to the U.S. It is commonplace for you to walk down the streets of Kingstown and the villages and hear people discussing U.S. politics and current events. I hear more U.S. political talk than I do local party political talk. Perhaps that will change, now that the major solitary event is over. Yet, it makes me sit back and consider just how little talk I recall hearing back home over our political state of affairs. Very little indeed either on the streets or in the offices. hum...... Sad that we'd have to go in search of it to get decent political discussions back home.

well, that was our night in a nutshell.
I'm adding the end speeches of the night in case you missed them.
They were really the best speeches I've heard in a long time.

--Senator McCain's speech was exemplary, honorable, and extremely dignified. I really think that if his campaign took the high-road his speech did, then perhaps some of the results would have been more in his favor (altough it doesn't change the reality of his positions). His speech was exactly what will be needed from his party in order to look forward and help unify us and prepare for the struggles we know are awaiting the American people.

--Senator Obama's speech was one of the best I've heard from my adult lifetime. His speech was the setting stone for this historic occassion and the key-point to unify this country. I greatly appreciated his calling out to everyone and his humility in asking for the support of everyone--that he will be a president for everyone. I believe those words. Perhaps he does not personally have all the skills and experiences yet in every subject area for the presidency, but I have the utmost confidence in his overall judgement & rationality as well as his ability to govern closer to the middle & his embrace of all people. His speech was able to well upside of me the same sort of spirit that I belive motivates others to greatness. His words brought tears to people across the world. His voice resounded our future.

--I know that in the past, I have said that I love my country and all the opportunity it offers but that I often disliked my government and the roads they have chosen to travel. I feel that the future before us will be one that is extremely difficult, but I am proud to step forward to support this government. I am proud to be working for the government under the mantle of our new president-elect. Although the Peace Corps is just a fraction of the U.S. Government--we are still representatives of our country and I am proud to be under President-elect Barack Obama's leadership. Let's see what new trails shall be blazed.

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

Ready.....Steady.....GO!!!

And it's official! I am now a fully-fledged volunteer, with all the right and duties and ups and downs that come with the role. ^_^ On Monday, the 20th, we had a good-sized ceremony at a government center with several officials and people of note. It was conducted by our boss on SVG, Mr. Cool, and our country director, Margo (out of St Lucia). One of our group was nominated to give a speech it was awesome. Normally I would have taken a ton of photos, but I was sitting in a 'special section' for us....so one of the other volunteers took some good ones. The local media crews filmed the whole thing and they told me I could get a digital copy later....just have to follow up on that.
--Here's a pic of EC78, our crew. Kudos to us, nobody quit! Actually, nobody quit from any of the EC78 crew--including those that went to St Kitts & Nevis or St Lucia. Our staff is so pleased--they say that usually 10% of volunteers drop before training ends.



So becoming a regular volunteer also means that I'm now on my own. Saturday and Sunday I moved into my own apartment in the village. It's a cute little place--kitchen, bathroom, main room and 2 bedrooms--yeah I can have guests. There are a few issues that I won't discuss here....but I will say that a previous volunteer (a couple years ago) made a real hard time for the landlady which is causing grief for the Peace Corps now. I'm in a spot that is conviently located for the places I'll be working and the locals can pass by regularly. Because lots of kids pass by there and they know my name--I get shouted out regularly. I'm still getting used to them calling out my name and when I answer, they don't. I guess they just like to same my name. ^_^

Tomorrow I am going to town to try and negotiate getting my cable internet installed. The dsl here (Cable and Wireless) is down regularly--even though the locals say it is better than the cable internet provider (Karib Cable). What sucks is the massive deposit they require for 'non-locals', even though we are here by request and will be here for 2 years. Sure we get that deposit back (or should), but coming up with the cash right away is not cool or easy. I suppose complaing doesn't help. I mean, I was expecting dial-up and for the cutthroat price of around 10% of my monthly allowance I will get a whopping 1.1 (supposedly) Mbps 'high-speed' service. It really makes me appreciate my job with Comcast back home...

For those that keep tabs on the weather--Hurricane Omar had done a quick sweep and passed over the north end of the island chain, hitting St Kitts & Nevis. Gladly, all of the volunteers and I'd hope the locals are all ok and safe. The waves caused from the hurricane came all the way down here in force. It destroyed lots of fishing boats and jetties on our northern coasts. Even Kingstown, on the southern end, of St Vincent had high waves. The pic below was taken near one of the bus terminals. Previously, there were wooden stalls that lined the row and the waves destroyed them all and washed them down the street. The wave in the pic is probably 10 feet or so high over the cement wall--probably 16 feet or so altogether as it hit the land.



Today, I attended another meeting of the Cumberland Valley Environmental Group--an organization here in the village. They meet to discuss a project that will be going on with the nearby beach. The government had requested tourism facilities be erected around SVG to help cope with the collapse of the banana trades here. After several years, this project should soon be ready to break ground and finish before the end of 2009. Although the government requested it and the European Union is helping fund it and will operate with a non-government team here, the local community will be responsibile for it after it is complete. Unfortunately, I'm learning that the community really isn't on board with this project and feel very closed out of the process. The project team is looking to me to help bring aspects of this group together and train them; whereas the local group will need my help to try and find advocates to bring them into the project process. This one will end up becoming some delicate balancing acts and seems to be one of my first activities....

I'll also be starting my 2nd pupil for computer training. The group's secretary does very well with records and seems to do a good job. She doesn't know how to use a computer--so I'll be showing her how to maximize her secretarial duties. Hopefully my payback will be learning/meeting more people here in the village. I haven't met too many adults yet and this will be a good inroads.

I think the NGO Developer role that I've been assigned to will be a good fit for me and will become a double positive. On one side, I'll be helping the people of Spring Village with skills training and organizational development and on the other side, I'll be gaining massive amounts of practical experience that will assist me in graduate school and hopefully politics & policy.

Before I kick-off here, I thought I'd toss up one last photo....
After our 'graduation', the other volunteers who have already been here a year invited us for a swim & chill on the beach at a place called Beachcombers (total tourist area and not our normal place to go). I decided it was time for another tasty round of coconut water and for only EC$2 ($1.50 away from tourist areas) it was still cheaper and better than a soda. There are 2 common kinds of coconuts--the kind you usually drink they call here a waternut. It was a bit strange to me at first, but it's growing on me. I guess this shot is a bit of a caribbean classic.




The SVG independence day is coming up on the 27th. On Sunday the 26th, I hope to be going on a trip to the island of Mustique--land of the rich and famous--on a special independence boat ride. Still have to figure out how I'm getting to town and back for that--since the buses don't usually run on Sundays...more to come later.

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