Something I wanted to share from another Peace Corps Volunteer serving in Ghana, Africa.

"I entered the Peace Corps assuming that I would spend the next two
years in a distinctly different world, full of people unlike me in
every way. Over the course of my service in Ghana, however, I learned
to see this world as one where those differences are primarily
superficial. When we define people based solely on factors such as
language, nationality, social status, or culture, we cheat ourselves
from seeing that the essence of what makes us human transcends all
borders. I am defined by many categories: I am a woman, a Native
American, and an American citizen. But, my time overseas has shown me
that first and foremost, I am a human with six billion relatives." -
Praya Baruch (RPCV, Ghana), Choctaw Nation

The good and the bad

This past weekend I found out that the burglar who broke into my friend's place (while I was there) was caught. He was caught breaking into another house and they were able to identify him. So, the police found him and made him turn in all the things that he had stolen. So my friends were able to get their computer and camera back. As you could imagine, we are all very happy about this news. Karma can really come around to bite you in the ass!

On another note though, I officially found out yesterday that one of the students that I have been working closely on reading with is pregnant again for the third time. And she is only 16. And to make matters even worse, the reason she became pregnant is because she was sexually assaulted. I wish that I could do something for her, she has had such a traumatic life already. PAM has this policy that requires girls who have second pregnancies, while in the program, to drop out. I hope that they make an exception for this girl. She was just starting to really open up socially and also starting to get the hang of reading finally. I know that if she isn't able to continue here at PAM that she will struggle with her lack of education. I hope that she will still be able to persevere and turn her life around after all this.

Giving up my rights

After hearing about the Peace Corps' mandatory vaccination for H1N1 and the flu this past week, I have become more than a little unsettled with the fact that I have apparently given up the rights to my own body by joining the Peace Corps. I contacted our Medical Officer to see if I had a choice in the matter whether I would like to receive the vaccine or not, and I was told (in summary) that yes I had a choice, but if I opted to not recieve the vaccine that I should start packing my things to go home...

I realize that my health is a matter of concern for the Peace Corps, and that if anything were to happen to me, that it would be on Peace Corps' medical tab...HOWEVER, I am pretty unpleased with the fact that I am unable to decide what injections are going into my body. This new H1N1 vaccine is brand new and scientists aren't able to know if there are going to be any lasting side effects....correct?! And yet....it is inside my body now. Thanks.

Nice Surprises

I woke up this morning, got ready to go to PAM, walked all the way there (which takes about 30 minutes) just to realize that school was closed today. I knew that tomorrow there was no school because it is midterm and Sunday is Thanksgiving so I suppose it is just a long weekend here, but I guess I missed the memo about today. While I wish I had known so that I could have slept in, I am always welcome to nice surprises! Especially after this past week.

So...I am off to the beach to have a day to myself to just relax and read out in the sun! :)

If bad things happen in threes, I don't even want to know what could happen next.

I found out yesterday that one of my Grenadian friends was attacked by a man with a cutlass (a machete). He was cut pretty badly on the back of his head, face, arms and hands. He was taken to the hospital and is stable but is in pretty bad shape.

The moment I heard what happened, I headed to the hospital to visit him. I just can't believe that this happened, and all because of this crazy man's jealousy. My friend is a farmer and apparently this man was jealous of his land and wanted to farm there himself, so he decided that he would try to kill him to get him out of the way. And supposedly this man has killed before but was released from prison.

So, on Sunday this man went up to his farm, hid in the bush, and then attacked my friend from behind! He cut him several times on the back of his head before my friend turned around to defend himself. He received several more hits to his arms and hands before he was able to pull out his cutlass and fight back. Now they are both in the hospital.

I am just so glad that he is okay. I am sad that he is injured, but more sad about the fact that this is how people deal with conflict here. I wish that people didn't resort to excessive violence to handle either issues. Or that people could have better opportunities so that they wouldn't have to resort to stealing or killing to get the things they want in life.

I take back every bad thing I have ever said about mosquitos

I know this older couple, The Sullenger's, who live here in Grenada who are on a mission with their church. They are from the same town as me and they know my parents. And the lady, Marie, used to be a school teacher, so she has been giving me some advice on things for my school attachment and what not. Well anyways, every once in a while I will meet up with them and have dinner at their place. And just to be nice they offer for me to stay the night at their nice 3 bedroom apartment near the golf course.

Last night I met up with them and we went to go see a movie (my first time at to the theatre since we got here :) and afterwards we went back to their place and had dinner. They are very sweet people and it's comforting to know that they look after me sometimes.

Anyways, after dinner I was pretty tired and went into one of the spare bedrooms, closed the door, and went to bed. In the middle of the night I kinda woke up a little because my hands were itching (I realized it was mosquito bites) and in my sleepy haze I was like "how did these sneaky things get in here"...and I looked up and noticed that the door was open. So, I was thinking, "well that's strange" because I remembered closing it "but maybe the wind pushed it open or something." So, I rolled back over and went back to sleep. A few minutes later I was still itching, so I thought to myself, I guess I'll get up and close the door again. And at that very moment that I started to sit up.....A MAN FROM IN THE SHADOWS OF THE ROOM WENT RUNNING OUT THE DOOR!!!!!!!!!!!




Out of sheer shock and terror, I jumped out of bed and ran down the hall to the Sullenger's bedroom screaming and screaming and screaming!!!!! I screamed louder than I ever knew was possible!! I'm sure I must have almost given them a heart attack. I told them that I had seen a man in my room...and I'm sure they thought that I must have been imagining things or just had a bad nightmare. But sure enough as we went out into the living room....we all realized that someone must have been in the apartment because we noticed things were missing. At first we thought that the burglar had just taken the laptop. After the shock had worn off we called the police.

We then started to look around the apartment to make sure that he was not still hiding somewhere. And we also were looking around to see how this person could have gotten in. A police officer showed up about 30 minutes later. It was then that we realized that Marie's camera and money was also taken from her purse.

We also called the landlord to tell them what happened, he and his whole family came over. And after hearing my scream, the downstairs neighbor also came up to see what was happening. After all 8 of us talked about what happened and how he must have gotten in and escaped and it all....the sun was already coming up. Needless to say, I didn't sleep after that.

In the morning we were looking around the perimeter of the house and saw one of Marie's necklaces on the ground below the 2nd story balcony (which led us to believe that he must have jumped from there). The necklace that we found had been in their master bathroom which is only accessible through their bedroom (meaning that he had also snuck into their room as well).

After all was said and done, we figured out how he got in and escaped. But it was pitch black in my room and I was completely unable to see what he looked like. And while the police did take some finger prints, I'm almost certain that this person is completely going to get away with this.

I am entirely grateful that this situation didn't escalate to anything else (i.e. injury, rape, murder), but I can't stop thinking... WHAT THE HELL WAS HE DOING JUST STANDING IN THE DARK IN THE ROOM WHERE I WAS SLEEPING??!!?! My wallet was right on the dresser...and yet no money was taken from it. That is the creepiest and scariest feeling I have ever had in my entire life.

I'm hoping that I never experience anything like this ever again.

A breath of fresh air

I attended a staff meeting at PAM today. After it's completion, I am filled with nothing but excitement and contentment (not sure if that is a word, but that's how I felt :) Our temporary manager has started to bring nothing but great ideas and progress to this program! I am thoroughly looking forward to seeing the changes that are going to happen during her time here. I think she is effectively addressing the important issues while making sure not to walk on anybody's feet in the process. She has the right qualities needed to be a successful manager and I am glad and feel blessed that she is here with us.

On another note, my work at TAMCC is slowly starting to develop. I am beginning to get a feel for what my work there is going to consist of. The counseling section of the Student Affairs Department is trying to build up a new Peer Pals program. The Peer Pals' mission is to give students the skills needed to be able to go out and implement counseling amongst their peers. To this that this mission can be accomplished, I will be helping with various seminars and small group meeting to discuss the topics that are most effecting this population of students. I am looking forward to getting more involved in this project because I can see that there is a potential for great success in this area.

But other than work, I feel like life here is going pretty well. I can finally say that I have some Grenadian friends! After the start of this new school term, I feel like more people in my community are acknowledging my presence and realizing my purpose here. I feel much more integrated and comfortable not only in my community but in Grenada as a whole. It seems like time is beginning to fly by. And while I still feel all the ups and downs along the way, the journey is becoming progressively more enjoyable as time goes on.