Monday, May 21, 2007

Two weeks ago a car carrying 4 people drove into a pole in Morrinho killing the driver. I have been informed that he had been drinking and I’m going to assume that no one was wearing seatbelts. The driver who died was a young guy, probably about my age, and his road rage mixed with alcohol was a deadly combination. It’s really sad to hear that there are accidents like this in Maio, where we have one road that goes in a circle around the island and people have the urge to drive drunk and fast.

I’m finally at a point where I feel like people know to come to me for help on projects. I’m feeling really good about my work, when it goes through, and I have a lot on my plate at the moment.

During training all the CD volunteers visited a place in Santiago called Tenda El Shadai. This is a place for drug addicts and alcoholism to go and recover through spiritual healing. Why I mention this is because a few people in Maio, inspired by the Tenda in Santiago, have began their own Tenda in Maio. I spoke with one of the founders in Maio and I am sincerely impressed with what they are doing. He asked for my help and some time this week I’m going to see the new Tenda. There are about 4 people that are living there which is a good start and they are working on the paperwork to make it official. I am thrilled that people on Maio are taking the initiative to start this place that addresses some of the most serious problems in their country. As far as I know, this is only the second rehabilitation places in all of Cape Verde so maybe the word will spread and people who are unable to get into the one in Santiago will be able to come to Maio. Anyways, I’m looking forward to helping out however I can.

The workshop on youth violence and STIs has been moved again because of the speaker’s availability. Maybe the third times a charm will come true in this case. When it does happen, I hope that I am in Maio to help out and lead the activity section like originally scheduled but it might be moved to when I’m in America.

I’m working with the environment portion of the Camara to plan out Environment Day which they told me is not April 24 or whenever the rest of the world celebrates earth day but on June 5. So we are planning on having some speakers, a parade around town, activities with associations and groups and follow up the day with a weekend beach clean up. I’m also making a coloring/activity book on the environment to give to the primary schools.

The president of the Camara told someone to talk to me to help them with their project and it makes me feel really good that the president of the Camara knows to have people ask me for assistance. That is partially why I’m here and its good to know that I am wanted here. Sometimes you really don’t know if you are needed but when people approach you to ask for something besides English lessons, it feels really good. Anyways, this project is working with primary school students (so far only girls) and they’ll be learning traditional songs and dances and will be performing around the island on the weekends during halftime of soccer games, special activities, and other locations. We met last night to see who wanted to dance and who wanted to sing and while only 2 people want to sing, I’ve been told that more people will come tonight. We’ll see what happens. This is sort of like the singing idea that Ney and I came up with a few months ago so I’m really happy to be doing it. Maybe I’ll even break out the violin for some of the songs.

Friday and Saturday we are supposed to have this huge music festival “to increase tourism” but I don’t know if I can go now. I’m scheduled to fly out on Friday for TOT (training of trainers) to help with PST and I don’t know if I can change my flight. The week of TOT is also when International Children’s Day falls and I don’t want to miss the activities from it either but I have a feeling I will have to. Oh well, at least the schools organize most of children’s day but I’ll have to let them know that I won’t be able to help like I had originally told them. The sacrifices for Peace Corps….

That’s all the complaining I’m doing for now. I am really happy with how things are going right now with work and that makes it all worth it.

Friday, May 04, 2007

This past week has really thrown me off time wise. Tuesday was International Workers Day which means a day off of work in Cape Verde and then yesterday was Dia de Santa Cruz. So work has pretty much been on a day, off a day and I keep thinking its Monday, but its really Friday.

Last weekend I went to a meeting for high school students at the Red Cross to talk to them about the Red Cross and start up a student volunteer group. I thought it went really well and the man in charge is a great contact to have. He’s lived in the states for awhile and is now here in charge of the youth program for all of Cape Verde. After the session, I sat down with him and a friend from Morro who helps with activities and we sketched out a plan including a beach clean up, activities for Red Cross Day (May 8th), and for the next few weeks.

Monday the women’s group had our monthly birthday party where we also planned out activities for the month of May. We’ll be doing a beach cleanup this Sunday and for even more incentive, one of the teachers at the high school who lives in Calheta is making pizza for snack. In a few weeks, we’re going to have a HIV+ speaker come speak in Calheta to the group and general community. I’m also going to lead a session on project design and management. Part of my computer class will add to this but we haven’t started Microsoft Word yet so it may be a little while before we get to letter writing.

Tuesday, for International Workers Day, practically everyone in Vila left to go on passeo to a beach somewhere else on the island. The Casa de Juventude arranged a group to go to a beach called Ponta Caixe which is at the northern tip of the island. It was an incredible day. We had to wake up unbelievably early to meet everyone at 6:30 and of course no one shows up for another hour. We packed the back of this huge truck and headed out armed with footballs, fishing poles, food, beverages and guitars. When we arrived we all laid out our stuff, pulled out the guitars and breakfast was prepared. The roommate and I spent a significant amount of time playing with my counterpart’s children and throwing around the football which in Cape Verde is called a “brute ball.” After hanging out a bit, my friend and I went on a walk to see the other beaches in the area and get some exercise. One beach was really rocky, covered in shells, trash washed up from the ocean and dolphin skeletons from when they beach themselves in the summer. It was strange seeing so many and I took a few bones as souvenirs. Ok, its really not that creepy. Then we hit this beautiful white sandy beach called Praia Real but it had these creepy sea creatures on it that kind of looked like slugs. Someone told us they are called agua vive which means live water but I don’t know what they are in English. They were pretty disgusting looking.

We got back just in time for lunch- xeren, kongo, and grilled pork and fish (freshly caught that morning) and basted ourselves in the sun that finely decided to come out. A while later we pulled out a soccer ball and started up a game in the sand which was awesome. There were a mixture of little kids, people my age, and a bunch of older guys. After the game I was chatting with someone when we saw a shark in the water. These crazy guys that we are with decide its a good idea to try to catch the shark so they go out towards it with a fishing pole and use fish heads as bait. Luckily the shark wasn’t lured by the fish head and no one was attacked by a shark. We got back around 6:30 singing happily in the car along the way. The whole experience was so much fun and I look forward to these weekend passeos that everyone does in the summer.

Wednesday, felt like Monday again and work was not productive since we all knew we’d have the next day off. May 3 was the day that Maio was discovered but a few years back the president of the Camara decided to change the festival to celebrate until September 8 but they still get May 3 as a holiday. There was some sort of mass by a cross near the salt pans but I skipped the activities and relaxed at home.

That’s been my week in a nutshell. Have a great weekend!