2/10/03

Ah yes, I’ve been a slacker lately. Actually it’s been a busy few weeks and I just haven’t sat down to write an entry. Here’s an update on the different aspects of my life:

Work

Work is going better these days. We had a PC training activity at the very end of January. All of the volunteers from our July group got to go up to the retreat center with the nuns. We ate well, and as Deb puts it, "played Uno until the wee hours of the early evening". On the second day of training, a co-worker for each of us came up for the day. For me, there was Mr. Modeste, the community outreach officer, and Mr. Azeez, the General Manager. The idea was to review our initial goals and progress with our agencies, and make plans for the next chunk of my time here. I was really eager to have the training so I could sit down with some people and make a more concrete and long-term work plan. So the plan hereforth is that I’ll work more closely with Mr. Modeste. That had been sort of informal before, but now it’s all formalized and we have our orders of what to do.

There is still a need for re-vamping of the satellite centers. The goal is to make the satellite centers self-sufficient while maintaining some training activities there. To do this, we’re going to start co-ops operating out of each center focusing on specific trades. The prototype will be our Bexon center, just outside of town. It’s near the banana production area. Many workers have lost jobs there recently due to the tropical storm in the fall and the end of preferential treatment of Caribbean bananas in the UK. Also, a banana tree will only produce once. After you get the bananas, you’re left with 10 feet of tree waste. So we’re going to start a co-op there that will use the banana leaves and other fibers to make paper. Initially, we’re going to conduct training in the paper-making and general business practices. There already is an interested party/business in the US that will buy our banana paper. Over time, the contract with the US buyer will be shifted into the hands of the members of the co-op. Once they are self-sufficient, they will rent time to use our paper-making machines and presses. This way, the trainees will essentially have their own business. When we see how the Bexon center operates, we’re going to implement similar things at other centers on the island with their respective trades: at Anse La Raye--leathercraft, sewing and agro-processing; at Choiseul--woodworking, basketry, clay and bamboo craft. Ideally, the co-ops for the different trades will be able to either export or sell their crafts locally.

For right now, Mr. Modeste and I are working on some of the preliminary stuff. I’m going to work on the different documents we’ll need, things like rules, regulations and responsibilities, operating procedures and contracts. Mr. Modeste is conducting assessments of the centers to see what kinds of building repairs they need.

Swimming is going well too. I’m still working with the level-ones. One boy, Akim, who was new since Christmas, has made a lot of progress. At first, he was scared to even let go of the edge of the pool, or to jump in. Now he’s doing cannonballs. Two of my guys are about to move into level two.

This Thursday I’m starting another project at the Upton Girls’ School. I’m not entirely sure what I’ll be doing there. It may be sort of on a project-to-project basis, including administrative things, facilitating groups and computer lessons. I’m hoping that I can at least be a role model or someone they think is cool (ha!). The school is for girls with a variety of problems, some who have been abused, had babies or been thrown out of home. I think it will be good for me to do something a little more emotionally challenging.

Home

Things are fine at home. I have been having an ant problem recently. These giant black ants invade my kitchen. I’ve gotten used to the occasional little ant, but these ones are really scary. Part of the solution has been to not leave Cheeto’s food out, but they still invade. I got some spray, but I’m not sure how well it’s working. I don’t want to get anything too toxic for fear that Cheeto will roll around in it or lick it or something. I’m hoping that all this, in combination with a good cleaning will take care of it.

There has been exciting news on the social front: Deb and I found a new bar. It opened up in the spot where a restaurant used to be. We’re excited just for the change of pace, but the bar is pretty cool too. It has a sports bar motif, with big TVs and different team flags up. The crowd is a little more chill and mature than Shamrock’s, where we usually go. There are pool tables and squishy chairs; no dancing like at Shamrock’s. When Deb and I went a few weeks ago, we met a number of expats whom we hadn’t met before.

Recently

The biggest news is that Mom and Will were here all last week. They came in on Saturday night, the 1^st. They stayed with me. These were our activities:

On Sunday afternoon we had a picnic with some of the area volunteers and my host family from Babonneau. I hadn’t seen them in awhile. Theresa came, with Shanet, Chelo and Krishna, and Wayne and Daryl. Everyone brought snacks to share. Shannon (one of the Canadians) had a whole harem of kids that she played with all afternoon.  Deb’s float and Andrew’s kayak got quite a bit of use. Mom, Will and I got pizza for dinner on the way home.

On Monday, we took a trip all around the island. Shannon’s friend Kelly, who is visiting from Calgary for three weeks, came along for the ride. We went to many places. In town was Bagshaw’s, a printery and t-shirt shop and Eudovic Art Studio. Mr. Eudovic is a local woodcarver artist who has a nice studio and shop. I made an appointment to meet with him, because he runs an operation similar to what we’re hoping to start at the satellite centers. He takes on trainees and shows them how to pick the right wood and how to carve it better than the average guy selling stuff on the beach. His things are really nice and Will and Kelly both bought stuff. I didn’t get a wealth of information that day from him, but I felt like I made a good connection to go and bug him another time. From there, we stopped to see the boa constrictor man who hangs out on the road to Soufriere, making for lots of local color for the tourists. We gave him a couple dollars so that Will and I could hold the snake and get our pictures taken. Just above Soufriere, we also stopped at the Piton overlook and at another art studio. After that, we went to the Choiseul Arts and Crafts. Not much was happening there, but mom bought a couple baskets.

After that, we went for lunch and a tour at the Balembouche Estate. It’s an old sugar plantation. I’ve met the girls who live there, German ex-pats.  I wanted to show the place to Mom and Will, and also to talk to one of the girls about the Choiseul Arts and Crafts. We walked around the grounds for awhile, and then had lunch. After lunch, we hurried to Vieux Fort to meet Lauren at her workplace, which is an agency for helping the handicapped with job skills.  Will had brought an old laptop and printer to be donated to a handicapped teenager in the Vieux Fort area who has a great interest in computers. We took a few pictures with Lauren and Steve, a director at the agency, and then dropped them at a meeting elsewhere in town. Our last stop was the discount liquor shop in Vieux Fort.

Tuesday we hung around town. In the morning, we had a tea with Monique, my second homestay. We made a stop at my work to meet a few people and check email. After that, we went to town with Deb and a co-worker of hers for lunch. We went to Kimlan’s, the home of the definitive roti. A roti is a typical local lunch-y or snack-y food. It’s like a burrito with curried meat or vegetables inside. Later we went to the market, and then to my swimming lesson.

On Wednesday we went to Pigeon Island. It’s a national park and part of Deb’s jurisdiction at work. There are historical sites and fort ruins from the British and the French. The unfortunate thing is that on Sunday, when we were at the beach, we had watched helplessly as a giant brush fire burned about a third of the island! But while we were there, we got to see some of the island and the sites. Later, we hung around at the beach for awhile. That night we ate a fancy dinner at a restaurant called Buzz. We went all out and got appetizers and desserts and everything. I got to play fancy for a day.

Thursday we spent the whole day in Soufriere. First we went to the Sulphur Spring and toured the volcano. There were a number of tourists at the volcano itself, but then no one else went to bathe in the hot water! Good, I suppose, because then we had the whole place to ourselves. You rub the black sulphur-y mud on your skin and then shower it off in the waterfall which has a temp of 86 F. Supposed to be beneficial medicinally.  After that, we went to a couple batik places in the town of Soufriere and rented snorkel equipment. After lunch, we went to Anse Chastanet which is a beach famous for snorkeling. It was awesome. I had never snorkeled before. There were all kinds of colorful and weird fish, reefs, corals and other little creatures.

On Friday, we made a quick stop in to the Peace Corps office so I could get some mail and so Mom and Will could meet who’s-who at Peace Corps. After that, we got ice cream at the quintessential ice cream place, and hung out at the beach for a while. In the evening, we got together a van load of people and went to the fish fry at Anse la Raye. Deb, French Jeff, and The Irish lads came with us, and we picked up Margaret near her house on the outskirts of Anse la Raye. The fish fry was a little more happening than the last time I was there. Mom and Will split a lobster that was bigger than my thigh. It was enormous. I had a taste of this and that.

Saturday was our giant hiking odyssey. Mom and Will wanted to do a hike while they were here. Deb likes hiking, so she came along. I could take or leave hiking, but I figured it would do me good. We went to the Barre de l’Isle trail in the rainforest. We thought it would be good because it’s right along the road, and we had heard that it was just a couple of miles long. So we did our hike, stopped here and there to look at trees, bugs and slugs, eat our lunch, look at the views, et cetera. Just after lunch, we came upon two signs, one that said "this way to the end of the trail" and another "this way to the hiking trail". So we went to the end and saw that it was actually a dead end. We took the other path, figuring it would loop back to the beginning of the trail or the road. The trail itself was definitely there, but a little less defined than the earlier part had been. So we just continued along. After awhile we started to wonder because we weren’t getting close to any road or town. We had been hiking for like 4.5 hours. We were all a little frustrated and then we found another sign: "beware of razor grass". We thought, great, we’ve come all this way through a rather tough hike to only find razor grass. It was getting to mid afternoon and we were not getting nearer to anywhere, so we decided to turn around because otherwise we would get stuck on the trail in the dark. So we hauled a** back, now even more grueling than before, plus with the pressure of nightfall on us. Everyone had had a fall, I had blisters and mom’s asthma was bothering her. Just as it was getting dusky, we made it back to the trail split. At least from there the trail was more defined, there were steep steps and handrails and stuff. We made it back to the road just after total darkness--grouchy and sweaty and hungry. Luckily we found a bus quickly. Back in town we found a coconut man and we each drank one. I was starting to get dizzy because Will had eaten my lunch. The coconut hit the spot. We went straight to the pizza place and inhaled the better part of two pizzas. We were all quite a sight, hobbling with stiff joints and muscle aches. I’m still sore today.

Sunday morning we recovered. We had some coconuts with Paul and Mary, a very nice morning ritual here.  Mom and Will left in the afternoon only to return to the snowy north! I went to the beach.