Well kiddos, time for another update, only this time, I actually know for sure where I´m going!!! I will officially be living in Assomada on the island of Santiago (the island I´m on now) working for two ICM centers and a CEJ (youth center). We had our official site announcement ceremony on Saturday, during which we all received a balloon with a proverb and a person´s name and site inside. We then had to pop the balloon, read that person´s proverb (mine is the title for this blog), and then announce where the person was going...it was really a unique way to have us all involved in each other´s exciting news and we all really enjoyed it:) Afterwards, our families all came to the center and we had a cross-cultural event with American food we had cooked and Cape Verdean food they had cooked, and then danced to Batuk, which is a traditional Cape Verdean music/dance. I took videos, don´t you all wish you could see?? Haha, maybe later. First I have to figure out how to get to a computer that will let me upload pictures. In the meantime, I am sending them to my Mom and Paige, so if you really want to see some pictures, bug them about it! Hehe, they´ll love me for that one...
Okay, so as before I´ve attached my journals, not as much this time as before, but we´re getting busier and busier, so there will be more to say later. Enjoy and be sure to update me on how you are all doing! PS on the link section to the right, my friend Nadia´s blog was added so if you want to check out another Trainee´s experience, feel free. Take care!
8/16/06
Now that the rains have started (the first downpours came a few weeks ago), Sao Domingos is quickly turning greener than we all thought it could in such a short time. Tiny tufts of green creep out of every crack and crevice, and the hillsides are starting to look more and more like fertile Latin America and less and less like arid Africa. The best part about the rains is how excited Cape Verdeans get. They’re constantly in a good mood in the house when it rains, so much so that you might believe the rain brings some sort of magical powers with it. And I’m starting to think it does, because not two days after the first rain, plants were growing like crazy everywhere you looked. Families immediately headed for the hills to start planting corn, peanuts, etc. and things started sprouting right away, like the flag had been waved for some sort of secret race that began among the plots of land. It’s really just a good time to be in Cape Verde—it’s more beautiful, people are happy, the air is fresher (though more humid), and resources are in greater quantity (though not necessarily in abundance). When I see my mom in the mornings after it rains, she gives me this huge grin and thumbs up and yells “Txuba!!” (rain). It comes up in most conversations, in which you’re expected to be as ecstatic as they are, since of course rain is the most glorious thing that can occur on this earth. And here, it’s kind of true, it’s so much more necessary for survival than we’re used to with all of our many ways of securing water sources. And so usually I am just as ecstatic, especially since it’s a lot warmer and only comes in quick spurts, rather than the cold rain that lasts without end for months at a time in Seattle, which I hated. In Cape Verde the rain can’t be depressing, everyone’s too happy for the promise it contains. And it’s contagious, you can’t help but share in their joy and catch yourself yelling “Txuba!!” all over the place. Plus it’s fun because the rain usually causes a giant Willy Wonka-style chocolate river that runs rapidly through the back of town. Makes you want to jump in…until you remember it’s mud.
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Tomorrow the CD (Community Development) group starts computer model school for two days where we have to teach participants from the community how to do basic functions on a computer (i.e. turn computer on, point and click, open programs, save a file, use Paint). It’s primarily for the IT subgroup, but the rest of us have to be involved on the chance we may have to informally show community members how to use computers—which is of course always more fun to do in Criolu. The “awesome” part is that there are maybe 12 working computers in the town that are pieced together from random parts, a jumbled mass of mousse, monitors, keyboards, etc. The second “awesome” part is that we’ve had about 2 days to prepare, which includes informing the community and gathering participants, preparing the lab (combining parts to see if any of the computers work), getting a well-developed lesson plan together (in Criolu), and coming up with a back-up plan in case there’s no electricity (at least a 50% chance). Awesome. True Peace Corps style, as per how the rest of training has gone so far. But I will say this: I’m thankful that these 9 weeks have prepared me for what it will look like to organize things at site, how it will really look when trying to accomplish anything. Crazy mixed-up schedules, problems with communication, changes in plans every five minutes, flying by the seat of your pants, etc. So thank you, Peace Corps. I now know what to expect when coming into a Cape Verdean organization with an American mindset—initial frustration and moderate cursing, followed by a “What the hell, it’ll happen eventually” island mentality. Awesome. Actually I kind of like how it brings out your ingenuity and flexibility, not to mention self-motivation: if you don’t force yourself to sit down and work to plan/organize things, they won’t get done. And all of this is what I’ve been mentally preparing myself for during the past year. I expected a bureaucratic US organization to be exactly as so. It’s how things work, I suppose.
8/18/06
So here’s the real story about my site (even though announcements aren’t until tomorrow): my site is secured, because I and my director want me at the all-girls ICM in Assomada, however the housing situation is the problem, and makes me want to cry a little. The option Peace Corps is initially authorized to give me is to live with a current female Volunteer starting her second year; additionally there’s another Trainee going to Assomada whom I can live with, but he’s male so we have to agree on it together on our own and then PC will approve it. The problem is that the female Volunteer strongly doesn’t want a roommate for her last year, so I talked with the male Trainee, who also wants to live alone, but would suck it up if I needed him to. Wow, what wonderful options, apparently no one truly wants me to be with them and one way or the other someone will end up “stuck” with me. Sweet. And it has nothing to do with me personally, there’s not necessarily a personality clash since none of us really know each other all that well, they just don’t want any roommate at all, but I have to go somewhere. Screwed either way I go. I know it will all work out, and things can be adjusted once we get to site (someone can move to a different site, etc.), but I don’t like the feeling of living with someone who doesn’t truly want to be living with me and will secretly be bitter the whole time. So that’s the story of Courtney’s next two years’ living arrangement. Like the last kid picked in dodgeball or something. What I keep telling myself is that no matter what the living arrangements end up being, the most important part is that I integrate into my community and fully immerse myself in the job I will be doing, that I put all of my heart into the youth in the community and into encouraging change and writing my thesis. Roommates are just a secondary concern. And we’re all here to serve, right? So they can’t be too upset, one of them will just have to be flexible. Anyway, after tomorrow I’ll be able to tell you the final resolution…
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Speaking of my job at site, I found out when we visited the ICM in Praia that if I want to, I can request to act as an edukador social, which is an informal social worker who doesn’t have an MSW (masters in social work), but still is able to do many of the tasks of a social worker, like making house visits, working with the families, etc. This is really awesome for me, because it means I can get some great social work experience under my belt for when I go back to the States and potentially try to work in that field, or if I want to work in international social work for awhile, I will have a pretty sweet resume to carry with me. Not to mention it’s a chance to jump in and do exactly what I have been wanting to do for the last year. I think it will be really helpful for me to be able to “test-drive” international social work and see if it’s where I fit or what I want to be doing after Peace Corps. Plus, with the conditions of social services in the developing world, any social work job in the future will look like paradiseJ. Okay, not really, it’s never an easy job, but with the infrastructural problems to complicate an already difficult situation, it may shape up to be a tough two years here. But the beauty I’m starting to realize of being in Cape Verde is that it isn’t in the same situation as mainland or sub-Saharan Africa, or really any other countries. Cape Verde is really a baby in the scheme of things, a brand new nation with a new Constitution and a new government that have the benefit of existing successful systems throughout the world to build off of. They are in a unique position being just above the poorest of the African countries, in that they are on the brink between poverty and great possibility (not to deny that all African countries have great possibility, but there’s a bit less work to be done before that is reached), giving us great opportunity to make some significant change. The orphanage system at the ICMs in Cape Verde have only been around for 3 years—that’s nothing! So we youth development people are hoping that there will really be some room for change, if people are willing. Nu bai odja!
8/18/06
I finally got to talk to my sisters the other day about this whole pikena deal, where guys have several pikenas (girls-on-the-side) at the same time, a situation I have been trying to understand since I got here. I wanted to see what girls actually think of the situation and if they’re completely fine with it, to see if I’m crazy for thinking it sucks. Apparently I’m not. Vandiza told me she doesn’t like it and can’t understand why some girls accept it. She won’t be with any guy who has pikenas and has been with her one namoradu for over a year, before which she was with another guy for 5 years until he started collecting his pikenas and she said “See ya.” My older sister Tania was in the same situation where she found out her boyfriend had other girls and she left. Apparently now she doesn’t want to get married at all. I wonder if that’s because she doesn’t feel she has the option of being with someone without sharing him with several other women. If so, that’s sad. But Vandiza assured me there are plenty of good guys out there, to which I replied that I have pretty high expectations—just to make sure she doesn’t start setting me up with the neighborhood “rapas”. In any case, it’s reassuring to hear that it might not solely be a deeply-rooted cultural institution, that some girls are making the decision to stand up for themselves or how they feel about the situation. And I suppose if some women are okay with this pseudo-polygamous situation (and there are plenty who are) and can lead content lives sharing their men, who am I to jump in and say they’re living incorrectly? Just because it makes me uncomfortable doesn’t mean it makes them uncomfortable, and really it’s been a part of a lot of African cultures from “the beginning”. I think the important part is that women aren’t being pushed down, hindered from making decisions that affect their happiness and their life directions. And it seems that the attitude for change for women is starting to grow among the young generation in Cape Verde, or at least is at the very beginning stage. We’ll say if any of this is just hot air, my own perceptions and thoughts, when I start integrating into my new community and get to know all the women and their feelings.
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