October 22, 2008
I have been trying to slow myself down and realize that I need to take pride in small accomplishments since I have been down here in Jamaica. Today, I think I finally made progress towards this. I am in Port Antonio for a few days trying to help a small community up in the mountains, Bellevue, finish construction of their community water system. This project has been going on for about six years and has had no progress in the last six months. After finally getting pressure from some members of the local government and some higher ups at JSIF, myself and a JSIF consultant, Nevil, were sent here to help the community finish the project.
We were initially supposed to meet the community members yesterday to go over the list of required materials, go to the bank to get money and then go to the hardware store to purchase the material. Unfortunately, this meeting fell through (not totally unexpected) and was rescheduled for 9 am this morning. This supposedly gave the community members plenty of time in the morning to make the hour long trip down from Bellevue to Porti. Luckily, this meeting happened except it started at 10:30 instead of 9, which is on time in Jamaica time.
A person would think that this meeting would be very simple: looking at the previously approved list of materials, making small adjustments for recent breakdowns, going to the bank and making the purchase…you would think. Instead, as soon as the meeting started, the community members started arguing that the list of materials was wrong and we had to go through each item (type of pipe, fittings, valves, hack saws and so on) and decide what was the actual amount they thought was needed. This new, more “accurate” list was made through a negotiation between the community members and Nevil who all had different opinions as to what was currently installed at the site. “I don’t think 3 fittings are enough, make it 6.” Either way, after about an hour, a finalized list of materials was agreed on and was submitted to the hardware store for pricing. The level of accuracy of this list is will be tested when construction starts next week.
Then came the negotiation on price with the owner of the hardware store. 90% of the prices were accepted without question. The other 10% took about 45 minutes to negotiate, resulting with Nevil calling his contact at his distributor in Kingston to get all of the pipes for about half the price. I’m still trying to figure out why this took 45 minutes, but I have stopped asking questions.
Next came the trip to the bank. Coming from the States, I thought this would be quick matter of 10 or 15 minutes without much hassle, so I stayed at the hardware store while the community members and Nevil went to the bank. After talking to the hardware store owner for over an hour and a half about his travels around the world as an employee for the cruise ship industry, they finally show back up and took another 30 minutes to pay for the material that they have already agreed on.
Now its about 2 in the afternoon and we’re all a bit hungry. We went around the corner to a small cook shop expecting that they would have some fried chicken or curried goat still on the stove. Nope. They had to cook up a new batch of chicken and goat for us, taking another hour. Finally, at about 3 the community members went off to finish some errands before heading back, myself and Nevil visited the Parish Council and made a few other stops on the way back to the Hotel.
I can’t explain why, but after spending an entire day just to purchase some material to finish a water line, I actually felt that something had been accomplished. Back home, this would have felt like an unproductive and a wasteful day. But here, it seems perfectly reasonable that it took all day just to purchase plumbing materials. We’ll see how this new definition of accomplishment holds during my service.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
GOOOOOOAAAAAL!
I finally went to my first professional football (soccer) game this past weekend, the Jamaica vs. Mexico World Cup qualifying match. What a game to see. After being defeated in the game at Mexico a few weeks ago, the Reggae Boyz were in a win or go home situation. After going up 1-0 early in the first half, the Jamaican team was able to shut down the Mexican team for the remainder of the game and win their first game, taking a big step towards advancing to the next qualifying round. This was just part of a fun, very non-Peace Corp type weekend.
After another Friday night similar to last week, I was up a little after 6 am to go to the local community pick-up football game. I’ve been going for the past few weeks and most of the guys have started to recognize me and gotten to know who I am. I do tend to stand out being the only white, non Jamaican person, so it is pretty easy for them. Most communities around the island have daily or weekly football games that the guys play in. Depending on the community and the age range, the quality of game can be pretty variable. This particular game is comprised mostly of men in their mid twenties to late thirties who have been playing pretty much all their lives and for at least a few years with each other. Needless to say, they are all pretty good and I have a tough time not falling flat on my face in front of them.
During the first game I went to, I was introduced to the group by my host mother’s son that plays and they all knew my name pretty much right away. But since that first game, as is typical in Jamaica, they have given many different nicknames, ranging from the typical “White-man” to some pretty inventive ones like “tourism” and my personal favorite “Senator McCain.” For the most part, these names aren’t meant as anything derogatory, its just part of Jamaican culture to be very upfront about appearances. If your fat, they call you “fata,” if your skinny, they call you “maga,” if you have a beard and dreds, they call you “rasta,” etc.
Another aspect of Jamaicans is that the entire island is obsessed with Obama. If Obama wins the election, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a national holiday here. I get asked very often about my political affiliation and whom I’m voting for. Come to think of it, I’ve been asked at each game about this stuff. And up until this point, I have always tried to remain some what neutral, saying I’m registered Democrat but haven’t put in my vote just yet just in case I would offend someone that might support McCain. In retrospect, this was retarded. If I didn’t expressly say that I was voting for Obama, then, by default, they figured I must be voting for McCain, and therefore earned the nickname “Senator McCain.” Imagine having one white guy running around in a football game with a bunch of Jamaicans and every time the ball came to me, they started yelling “Senator McCain!” it was pretty funny.
But, at the same time, I also got the impression that it wasn’t such a good thing seeing that none of them actually like McCain. So this past week when I got to the game, I was greeted with “Wagwan (What’s going on) Senator McCain?” At that point, I finally told them that just the day before I mailed in my absentee ballot and had voted for Obama. This then set off a discussion of why they like him for more than just the fact that he is black and all this other stuff which I just sat and listened to like usual. Then I started to notice the most amazing thing, from that point on, they actually started to refer to me by my actual name! I guess that’s all it took to get their respect. Either way, it was nice to finally not have to keep track of 10 different names while playing a game that I’m already at a disadvantage from not having played since I was in grade school.
After the game, I headed into Kingston to meet up with some other PCVs to take a trip to the Bob Marley museum and get ready for the football game. The museum is at the house that Marley lived at in a section of town called Liguanea, where he moved to once he became well known and started making money. Not to get too much into it, but I found it inspirational just to see how much this man had in terms of honor, respect and love from people world wide, yet also how simply he lived. While certainly nice, the house was no mansion. And it was also nice to really explore some of the meanings of his songs beyond the laid back, pot smoking stereo type that is often assigned to his music. He really did do so much to inform the world about the oppression and struggles he and other people like him were going through and at the same time putting that aside and spreading the idea of peace.
After that, it was off to the game. It was great walking into the national stadium and seeing a sea of black, green and gold with easily over 100 speakers spread around the track blasting dancehall music while the teams were warming up. We were able to get bleacher seats not to far up from the field near the midfield area, where we had a great view of the entire place. After the goal, the entire stadium erupted in cheers and the enthusiasm of the crowd never went down for the rest of the game.
Luckily, some of the other volunteers that came into the game were able to get some wrist bracelets that got them access to a section on the track right next to the field where Red Stripe was giving out free booze, hot dogs and cotton candy. Best of all, they were able to take these bracelets off and share the wealth. I was in the last group to go down to the Red Stripe area which near the end of the game. So while we taking full advantage of the free stuff, standing no more than 10 yards from the field, time expired and the Jamaicans won! The entire stadium erupted again and the air was filled with people throwing what ever beverage of choice happened to be in their hands. It was certainly something I never expected to experience during my time in Peace Corps, but I’m glad I did. Now lets see if they can beat Honduras on Wednesday and take another step towards to World Cup.
After another Friday night similar to last week, I was up a little after 6 am to go to the local community pick-up football game. I’ve been going for the past few weeks and most of the guys have started to recognize me and gotten to know who I am. I do tend to stand out being the only white, non Jamaican person, so it is pretty easy for them. Most communities around the island have daily or weekly football games that the guys play in. Depending on the community and the age range, the quality of game can be pretty variable. This particular game is comprised mostly of men in their mid twenties to late thirties who have been playing pretty much all their lives and for at least a few years with each other. Needless to say, they are all pretty good and I have a tough time not falling flat on my face in front of them.
During the first game I went to, I was introduced to the group by my host mother’s son that plays and they all knew my name pretty much right away. But since that first game, as is typical in Jamaica, they have given many different nicknames, ranging from the typical “White-man” to some pretty inventive ones like “tourism” and my personal favorite “Senator McCain.” For the most part, these names aren’t meant as anything derogatory, its just part of Jamaican culture to be very upfront about appearances. If your fat, they call you “fata,” if your skinny, they call you “maga,” if you have a beard and dreds, they call you “rasta,” etc.
Another aspect of Jamaicans is that the entire island is obsessed with Obama. If Obama wins the election, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a national holiday here. I get asked very often about my political affiliation and whom I’m voting for. Come to think of it, I’ve been asked at each game about this stuff. And up until this point, I have always tried to remain some what neutral, saying I’m registered Democrat but haven’t put in my vote just yet just in case I would offend someone that might support McCain. In retrospect, this was retarded. If I didn’t expressly say that I was voting for Obama, then, by default, they figured I must be voting for McCain, and therefore earned the nickname “Senator McCain.” Imagine having one white guy running around in a football game with a bunch of Jamaicans and every time the ball came to me, they started yelling “Senator McCain!” it was pretty funny.
But, at the same time, I also got the impression that it wasn’t such a good thing seeing that none of them actually like McCain. So this past week when I got to the game, I was greeted with “Wagwan (What’s going on) Senator McCain?” At that point, I finally told them that just the day before I mailed in my absentee ballot and had voted for Obama. This then set off a discussion of why they like him for more than just the fact that he is black and all this other stuff which I just sat and listened to like usual. Then I started to notice the most amazing thing, from that point on, they actually started to refer to me by my actual name! I guess that’s all it took to get their respect. Either way, it was nice to finally not have to keep track of 10 different names while playing a game that I’m already at a disadvantage from not having played since I was in grade school.
After the game, I headed into Kingston to meet up with some other PCVs to take a trip to the Bob Marley museum and get ready for the football game. The museum is at the house that Marley lived at in a section of town called Liguanea, where he moved to once he became well known and started making money. Not to get too much into it, but I found it inspirational just to see how much this man had in terms of honor, respect and love from people world wide, yet also how simply he lived. While certainly nice, the house was no mansion. And it was also nice to really explore some of the meanings of his songs beyond the laid back, pot smoking stereo type that is often assigned to his music. He really did do so much to inform the world about the oppression and struggles he and other people like him were going through and at the same time putting that aside and spreading the idea of peace.
After that, it was off to the game. It was great walking into the national stadium and seeing a sea of black, green and gold with easily over 100 speakers spread around the track blasting dancehall music while the teams were warming up. We were able to get bleacher seats not to far up from the field near the midfield area, where we had a great view of the entire place. After the goal, the entire stadium erupted in cheers and the enthusiasm of the crowd never went down for the rest of the game.
Luckily, some of the other volunteers that came into the game were able to get some wrist bracelets that got them access to a section on the track right next to the field where Red Stripe was giving out free booze, hot dogs and cotton candy. Best of all, they were able to take these bracelets off and share the wealth. I was in the last group to go down to the Red Stripe area which near the end of the game. So while we taking full advantage of the free stuff, standing no more than 10 yards from the field, time expired and the Jamaicans won! The entire stadium erupted again and the air was filled with people throwing what ever beverage of choice happened to be in their hands. It was certainly something I never expected to experience during my time in Peace Corps, but I’m glad I did. Now lets see if they can beat Honduras on Wednesday and take another step towards to World Cup.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
A Wild Friday Night...
It's pretty amusing to me how "hard" things are down here, even though I'm not nearly as busy or stressed out as I was back home. Before I came into the Peace Corps, I was working a full time job that required 40+ hours of work a week, on average about an hour and fifteen minutes of commuting each way to get to work and taking night classes twice a week after work. I also managed to train for a marathon, travel a lot on weekends to see family and friends and hold down a decently active social life in Philly where I lived at the time. On top of this even, I was able to do a bit of reading for pleasure, averaging about a book a month or even a little more.
Coming into the Peace Corps, I figured that I would not be working nearly as much or nearly as hard, I wouldn't be taking night classes and I wouldn't have the disposable income to have such an active social life. Therefore, I figured that I would have plenty of time to do a lot of reading, catching up on a lot of books I have been meaning to read but haven't gotten around to. While most of this is true, the reading part certainly is not. I've now been here for 3 months and I've completed a total of 1 book. Its not that I don't have the time, its that I'm a lot more tired than I thought I would be. I'm not sure if it is the stress of still adjusting to the new culture and ways of doing things, trying to get used to the never ending heat or just plain laziness kicking in. All I know is that when I sit down to do a little reading, I might make it a total of 5 pages into a book or magazine before I pass out.
This last Friday was a great example. After a week of traveling over a lot of the island, I was in the office on Friday to sit in on a meeting and get a few things organized. Certainly not a tough day. In reality, I don't think I accomplished anything other than working out my travel schedule for next week, which should be considered an accomplishment seeing that it took about 2 hours of talking with 10 different people to get 4 trips planned. Anyways, I was able to leave work around 4 pm, watched the parade of the Jamaican Olympic track athletes in Kingston (the Jamaicans have not stopped going crazy for Bolt for a solid month now) and made my way home by about 5:30 pm. After having some leftovers for dinner on the veranda of my host families house, I figured I would try to relax and do some reading for a few hours, then have a drink or two at the bar nearby before going to bed around 10 pm or so. Nothing to stressful, just a relaxing Friday evening. Well, I sat down to do some reading and the next thing I knew I was waking up and it was 3 am on Saturday morning.
This is not a rare occurence. Almost every night during the week, I struggle to keep my eyes open much past 8:30 or 9. Oh well, I guess I'll soon adjust, or just get a lot of sleep that I have been missing out on for the past few years.
Coming into the Peace Corps, I figured that I would not be working nearly as much or nearly as hard, I wouldn't be taking night classes and I wouldn't have the disposable income to have such an active social life. Therefore, I figured that I would have plenty of time to do a lot of reading, catching up on a lot of books I have been meaning to read but haven't gotten around to. While most of this is true, the reading part certainly is not. I've now been here for 3 months and I've completed a total of 1 book. Its not that I don't have the time, its that I'm a lot more tired than I thought I would be. I'm not sure if it is the stress of still adjusting to the new culture and ways of doing things, trying to get used to the never ending heat or just plain laziness kicking in. All I know is that when I sit down to do a little reading, I might make it a total of 5 pages into a book or magazine before I pass out.
This last Friday was a great example. After a week of traveling over a lot of the island, I was in the office on Friday to sit in on a meeting and get a few things organized. Certainly not a tough day. In reality, I don't think I accomplished anything other than working out my travel schedule for next week, which should be considered an accomplishment seeing that it took about 2 hours of talking with 10 different people to get 4 trips planned. Anyways, I was able to leave work around 4 pm, watched the parade of the Jamaican Olympic track athletes in Kingston (the Jamaicans have not stopped going crazy for Bolt for a solid month now) and made my way home by about 5:30 pm. After having some leftovers for dinner on the veranda of my host families house, I figured I would try to relax and do some reading for a few hours, then have a drink or two at the bar nearby before going to bed around 10 pm or so. Nothing to stressful, just a relaxing Friday evening. Well, I sat down to do some reading and the next thing I knew I was waking up and it was 3 am on Saturday morning.
This is not a rare occurence. Almost every night during the week, I struggle to keep my eyes open much past 8:30 or 9. Oh well, I guess I'll soon adjust, or just get a lot of sleep that I have been missing out on for the past few years.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Inspecting a Community Water System, Jamaican Style
Since I’ve been here on the island, I have been getting accustomed to many different ways of doing things. I don’t know if it is that I have started adjusting more and things don’t surprise me as much now, or if it is the fact that I try not to dwell on things that aren’t important to the job at hand, but it wasn’t until last Friday was over that I realized how strange of a day it was compared to my normal days back in the states. The day started off well, sleeping in a little and skipping my normal 5am run and having a bowl of oats porridge for breakfast. The driver from JSIF picked me up a little after 8 and we took off for our site visit to a community called Bybrook, located in the mountains of Portland parish. We were going to inspect a water system that had been installed by the community with funding from JSIF to make sure that it was functioning and could be turned over to the community.
After spending about an hour getting through the Kingston traffic, we finally got on the Junction Road, which leads through the Blue Mountains from Kingston to Annotto Bay. It’s hard to describe the experience of driving on this road. It is a two lane road (for the most part) that runs along a valley with very steep cliffs that are easily more than a 100 feet in places with a lot of blind turns and a few scattered communities on the side. The entire time you can see rain forest on the mountain slopes along with bare patches where there has been a recent landslide. About two weeks ago I was on this road during a rain storm and almost got stuck behind a small landslide. When we came around the corner of one of the sharp bends, we saw rocks and soil completely blocking one lane of traffic and only partially blocking the other. The other passenger and I got out of the car while there were still a few small rocks coming down and threw the rocks that were only partially blocking the second lane over the cliff while the driver managed to squeeze by. Luckily, this past Friday there was no rain storm and no landslides to be concerned about.
We finally met up with our community contact person in a town called Buff Bay, which is on the coast, about 20 minutes east of Annotto Bay. On our drive back to Bybrook we took a turn off the main road onto a typical mountain road that I have become accustomed to driving on. In most places, these roads are only wide enough for one vehicle to drive on, the roads are in varying condition, usually with a lot of potholes making for a pretty slow, bumpy ride. When we reached the town, we picked up another local resident who was involved in the maintenance of the water system. I have gotten used to seeing people who live out in the bush carrying machetes and other knives, but they usually carry them in there hand because how sharp they keep them. He was actually wearing his knife in his pants, with no sheath. Another thing that struck me as strange was that it was only about 11am and Ian was smoking.
I figured that at this point we would get out of the car and start hiking up to the water source, which I had been told was a 45 minute hike up into the mountains. I was mistaken. We then turned off the small mountain road onto an even smaller road leading up into the mountains that I don’t think had more than an inch or two of extra room on some of the corners that, if we fell into, would have been a long, steep drop into the gully. The places of this road where there was asphalt, it couldn’t have been more than about a ½ inch thick. Other places had some potholes that were more than 6 inches deep. After driving on this road for about 10 minutes, we finally came to a point where the driver said he couldn’t go any further (which I would have said was about a ½ mile earlier).
The hike finally began. The hike to the water source was up hill for about 20 or 30 minutes in some pretty dense bush and next to some real steep gullies. The picture (admittedly not a great one) shows one view from the trail of the mountains accross the valley. It gives some idea of what the landscape and the bush is like.
Finally, at around 10 pm, exhausted and ready for sleep, I made my way back home and passed out, getting ready for my Saturday morning football game with some of the local guys in the community. It was far from the most stressful day here, but it certainly sticks out as being unique to me.
After spending about an hour getting through the Kingston traffic, we finally got on the Junction Road, which leads through the Blue Mountains from Kingston to Annotto Bay. It’s hard to describe the experience of driving on this road. It is a two lane road (for the most part) that runs along a valley with very steep cliffs that are easily more than a 100 feet in places with a lot of blind turns and a few scattered communities on the side. The entire time you can see rain forest on the mountain slopes along with bare patches where there has been a recent landslide. About two weeks ago I was on this road during a rain storm and almost got stuck behind a small landslide. When we came around the corner of one of the sharp bends, we saw rocks and soil completely blocking one lane of traffic and only partially blocking the other. The other passenger and I got out of the car while there were still a few small rocks coming down and threw the rocks that were only partially blocking the second lane over the cliff while the driver managed to squeeze by. Luckily, this past Friday there was no rain storm and no landslides to be concerned about.
We finally met up with our community contact person in a town called Buff Bay, which is on the coast, about 20 minutes east of Annotto Bay. On our drive back to Bybrook we took a turn off the main road onto a typical mountain road that I have become accustomed to driving on. In most places, these roads are only wide enough for one vehicle to drive on, the roads are in varying condition, usually with a lot of potholes making for a pretty slow, bumpy ride. When we reached the town, we picked up another local resident who was involved in the maintenance of the water system. I have gotten used to seeing people who live out in the bush carrying machetes and other knives, but they usually carry them in there hand because how sharp they keep them. He was actually wearing his knife in his pants, with no sheath. Another thing that struck me as strange was that it was only about 11am and Ian was smoking.
I figured that at this point we would get out of the car and start hiking up to the water source, which I had been told was a 45 minute hike up into the mountains. I was mistaken. We then turned off the small mountain road onto an even smaller road leading up into the mountains that I don’t think had more than an inch or two of extra room on some of the corners that, if we fell into, would have been a long, steep drop into the gully. The places of this road where there was asphalt, it couldn’t have been more than about a ½ inch thick. Other places had some potholes that were more than 6 inches deep. After driving on this road for about 10 minutes, we finally came to a point where the driver said he couldn’t go any further (which I would have said was about a ½ mile earlier).
The hike finally began. The hike to the water source was up hill for about 20 or 30 minutes in some pretty dense bush and next to some real steep gullies. The picture (admittedly not a great one) shows one view from the trail of the mountains accross the valley. It gives some idea of what the landscape and the bush is like.I just followed the maintenance guy as close as I could while he continued smoking and I was trying to inspect the water lines as we passed. It was tough keeping up with him, even though I, who consider myself in shape, was wearing my hiking boots and he was wearing a pair of boating shoes that probably had no traction left on them. On the hike up, the maintenance guy mentioned that he had already hiked up to the water source once today, walking not only the part of the hike that we were currently doing but also the part that we had driven up from the town. This guy was a machine.
We finally got to the catchment which is a four-foot high concrete dam that impounds water so that it can be piped down to a treatment shed and storage tank. The picture below shows the catchment and the maintenance guy getting ready to drain the water. Imagine hauling all that cement, rebar, piping and other suplies up this trail, I know why it took them two years to construct this thing.
We finally got to the catchment which is a four-foot high concrete dam that impounds water so that it can be piped down to a treatment shed and storage tank. The picture below shows the catchment and the maintenance guy getting ready to drain the water. Imagine hauling all that cement, rebar, piping and other suplies up this trail, I know why it took them two years to construct this thing. While at the catchment, the maintenance guy decided to remove the “silt” build up that was behind the dam. The “silt” was really all sand and gravel and there must have been close to 1,000 pounds behind that he dug out without any question or complaint. This would have worn me out and I would have been sweating buckets by the time I was done. All this work didn’t even seem to phase him.
After about an hour at the catchment, we hiked back down to the car, with the maintenace guy continuing to smoke entire time. While driving down to the treatment and storage tanks, we met a local farmer who offered some of his crops to us. The maintenance guy cut some sugar cane, a small bushel of plantains (large bananas), two bushels of bananas and a sack full of yellow yam and cho cho (similar to a potato). While he was digging up the cho cho, we heard a loud bang come from over by the treatment house and storage tank, which was weird since we were so far out in the bush. When we got down to the treatment house, we saw water gushing out from behind the door. After opening the door and letting the water drain out, we realized that after cleaning out the silt from the dam and unclogging the pipes, the water pressure down at the treatment house was so large that it blew the top off of the sand filter.
We left the maintenance guy at the treatment house and went to get a hack saw to cut the pipes and put a temporary patch on the system. By the time we got back, which was about 15 minutes, the maintenance guy was smoking again and cleaning up the storage compartment next to the treatment shed. I then tried to help in vain while he put a temporary patch on system so that he could fix the sand filter the next day.
After all of this, I was pretty well exhausted and hungry, and all I did was hike the trail and observe the walk. On the drive back, the JSIF driver stopped at a small shop on the side of the Junction Road and we had a cup of fish soup and a plate of fried chicken, rice and peas that I devoured. It was then that I realized how phenomenal Jamaican style rice and peas are and how I’m not sure what I would be doing without them. When I got home around 7pm, I managed to get enough energy to go to a bar a few blocks away and have a few beers. While sitting on the second floor of the bar, zoning out and staring into oblivion with maybe 2 other people in the entire place, a 9 year old boy started talking to me. It caught me a little off guard to see a 9 year old boy in a bar on a Friday night, but as I said before, I’m getting used to these things. Come to find out, this boy lives with his grandparents who live next door to the bar and work as cooks in the kitchen. As a result, the boy spends almost every night at the bar, talking to whoever comes in.
After about an hour at the catchment, we hiked back down to the car, with the maintenace guy continuing to smoke entire time. While driving down to the treatment and storage tanks, we met a local farmer who offered some of his crops to us. The maintenance guy cut some sugar cane, a small bushel of plantains (large bananas), two bushels of bananas and a sack full of yellow yam and cho cho (similar to a potato). While he was digging up the cho cho, we heard a loud bang come from over by the treatment house and storage tank, which was weird since we were so far out in the bush. When we got down to the treatment house, we saw water gushing out from behind the door. After opening the door and letting the water drain out, we realized that after cleaning out the silt from the dam and unclogging the pipes, the water pressure down at the treatment house was so large that it blew the top off of the sand filter.
We left the maintenance guy at the treatment house and went to get a hack saw to cut the pipes and put a temporary patch on the system. By the time we got back, which was about 15 minutes, the maintenance guy was smoking again and cleaning up the storage compartment next to the treatment shed. I then tried to help in vain while he put a temporary patch on system so that he could fix the sand filter the next day.
After all of this, I was pretty well exhausted and hungry, and all I did was hike the trail and observe the walk. On the drive back, the JSIF driver stopped at a small shop on the side of the Junction Road and we had a cup of fish soup and a plate of fried chicken, rice and peas that I devoured. It was then that I realized how phenomenal Jamaican style rice and peas are and how I’m not sure what I would be doing without them. When I got home around 7pm, I managed to get enough energy to go to a bar a few blocks away and have a few beers. While sitting on the second floor of the bar, zoning out and staring into oblivion with maybe 2 other people in the entire place, a 9 year old boy started talking to me. It caught me a little off guard to see a 9 year old boy in a bar on a Friday night, but as I said before, I’m getting used to these things. Come to find out, this boy lives with his grandparents who live next door to the bar and work as cooks in the kitchen. As a result, the boy spends almost every night at the bar, talking to whoever comes in.
Finally, at around 10 pm, exhausted and ready for sleep, I made my way back home and passed out, getting ready for my Saturday morning football game with some of the local guys in the community. It was far from the most stressful day here, but it certainly sticks out as being unique to me.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Swearing In and Starting Service
Finally, after two months of training, we were finally sworn in as Volunteers last Thursday! 49 trainees of the 52 that showed up on island made it through the full two months. Now I have no more endless days of lectures, no more studying for tests on Peace Corps policy, and no more restrictions on traveling and staying somewhere over night.
In reality, I don’t have too much to complain about with the last week of training. PC put all the trainees up in a pretty nice hotel in Kingston which was set up as a bunch of smaller buildings on a pretty large compound. The rooms were comfortable and some even had kitchens, which made eating during the week a lot cheaper than going out every night (which we can’t really afford to do, especially with the prices in town). It was nice to finally take a shower and shave with hot water for the first time in a few months. The hotel even had a bar and a pool on site which allowed for some enjoyable nights and coffee to help wake up in the mornings.
The week in general was very relaxing. The only hard part was the final exam we had to pass in order to become volunteers. Talk about awkward, we had to sit down in front of a panel of six people and answer random questions about various PC policies, information regarding out assigned agencies, information about reports that we are required to fill out every few months and questions about Jamaican culture and Patios. The test was supposed to take about 30 minutes, but I just couldn’t talk that much about each topic, so I think mine only took about 20 minutes, including a lot of long, awkward pauses. I’m pretty sure that I answered every question wrong, but, just like most my tests in college, I got enough partial credit to pass. Other than that, there was only one day of lectures, a BBQ/pool party at a really nice apartment complex where most of the US Embassy workers live and a few late spent talking with the other trainees.
Finally, on Thursday morning, we all got dressed up in our jackets, shirts and ties (which will probably be the only time I where those things for the next 2 years) and went over to the Embassy to be sworn in by Ambassador. The Embassy itself was very impressive building to see (not to mention a little weird to actually see a bunch of other white people around) and we heard some good speeches from the Ambassador, the PC Country Director and the Jamaican Minister of Agriculture. The best speech, however, was one that one of our fellow trainees was required to give in Patios. It was hilarious to see him say “Big op tu di bassda!” (Give props to the Ambassador)
After the swearing in ceremony was over and we were all officially volunteers, we were supposed to have a few refreshments and then be taken back to our sites by our supervisors from the local agencies we are working with. However, due to the fact that Tropical Storm Gustav started to hit the island on Thursday morning and most businesses were shut down, only supervisors for 9 of the 49 trainees actually showed up. Therefore, the rest of us were loaded back onto the buses and taken back to the hotel to ride out the storm. Other than being let out to get groceries early Thursday afternoon, PC put us on lock down and did not let us leave the hotel for two days; not that we wanted to since the hotel had its own generator and water storage tanks. So while most of the rest of the island had no power and no water, we were enjoying watching movies on laptops and taking hot showers.
Other than the fact that it rained hard for two straight days, the winds were not very strong and there was limited damage around the island. The places worst hit were on the far eastern side of the island, in the parishes of St. Thomas and Portland (where I was originally posted in Port Antonio). One major bridge was cut in half and a few roads were blocked due to landslides. Most of the volunteers were finally sent back to site on Saturday except for those stationed in St. Thomas, Portland and a few other localized areas that had to spend an extra two days in the hotel before they were able to get back to their sites.
When I got back to my site there was no damage in the neighborhood, we had electricity but we had no water until late Sunday night. Fortunately, my host family had prepared by filling two large containers with about 150 gallons of water, so we never had to really go without anything.
The weirdest part about finally being done with training was that I was happy to finally be done with all the lectures and tests, however it a little scary finally being turned out on my own and PC basically saying that the next time I would have to see anyone would be in a few months when they have a large meeting in Kingston for all the volunteers. It finally hit that I would be a lot more on my own than I have been so far. Granted the fact that there is a PC support staff and there are a little under 100 volunteers around the island (two of which live a few blocks away from me) whom I’m sure I will be visiting throughout my service, but it is up to me to keep in touch, up to me to find out how to get around, and up to me get things done. It took a day or so (and a lot of sleep) to grasp this realization and come to terms with it.
The next big test comes next week when I no longer come into my agencies office on a daily basis and start setting my own schedule of traveling to job sites and trying to get work done at home. We’ll see how that works out.
In reality, I don’t have too much to complain about with the last week of training. PC put all the trainees up in a pretty nice hotel in Kingston which was set up as a bunch of smaller buildings on a pretty large compound. The rooms were comfortable and some even had kitchens, which made eating during the week a lot cheaper than going out every night (which we can’t really afford to do, especially with the prices in town). It was nice to finally take a shower and shave with hot water for the first time in a few months. The hotel even had a bar and a pool on site which allowed for some enjoyable nights and coffee to help wake up in the mornings.
The week in general was very relaxing. The only hard part was the final exam we had to pass in order to become volunteers. Talk about awkward, we had to sit down in front of a panel of six people and answer random questions about various PC policies, information regarding out assigned agencies, information about reports that we are required to fill out every few months and questions about Jamaican culture and Patios. The test was supposed to take about 30 minutes, but I just couldn’t talk that much about each topic, so I think mine only took about 20 minutes, including a lot of long, awkward pauses. I’m pretty sure that I answered every question wrong, but, just like most my tests in college, I got enough partial credit to pass. Other than that, there was only one day of lectures, a BBQ/pool party at a really nice apartment complex where most of the US Embassy workers live and a few late spent talking with the other trainees.
Finally, on Thursday morning, we all got dressed up in our jackets, shirts and ties (which will probably be the only time I where those things for the next 2 years) and went over to the Embassy to be sworn in by Ambassador. The Embassy itself was very impressive building to see (not to mention a little weird to actually see a bunch of other white people around) and we heard some good speeches from the Ambassador, the PC Country Director and the Jamaican Minister of Agriculture. The best speech, however, was one that one of our fellow trainees was required to give in Patios. It was hilarious to see him say “Big op tu di bassda!” (Give props to the Ambassador)
After the swearing in ceremony was over and we were all officially volunteers, we were supposed to have a few refreshments and then be taken back to our sites by our supervisors from the local agencies we are working with. However, due to the fact that Tropical Storm Gustav started to hit the island on Thursday morning and most businesses were shut down, only supervisors for 9 of the 49 trainees actually showed up. Therefore, the rest of us were loaded back onto the buses and taken back to the hotel to ride out the storm. Other than being let out to get groceries early Thursday afternoon, PC put us on lock down and did not let us leave the hotel for two days; not that we wanted to since the hotel had its own generator and water storage tanks. So while most of the rest of the island had no power and no water, we were enjoying watching movies on laptops and taking hot showers.
Other than the fact that it rained hard for two straight days, the winds were not very strong and there was limited damage around the island. The places worst hit were on the far eastern side of the island, in the parishes of St. Thomas and Portland (where I was originally posted in Port Antonio). One major bridge was cut in half and a few roads were blocked due to landslides. Most of the volunteers were finally sent back to site on Saturday except for those stationed in St. Thomas, Portland and a few other localized areas that had to spend an extra two days in the hotel before they were able to get back to their sites.
When I got back to my site there was no damage in the neighborhood, we had electricity but we had no water until late Sunday night. Fortunately, my host family had prepared by filling two large containers with about 150 gallons of water, so we never had to really go without anything.
The weirdest part about finally being done with training was that I was happy to finally be done with all the lectures and tests, however it a little scary finally being turned out on my own and PC basically saying that the next time I would have to see anyone would be in a few months when they have a large meeting in Kingston for all the volunteers. It finally hit that I would be a lot more on my own than I have been so far. Granted the fact that there is a PC support staff and there are a little under 100 volunteers around the island (two of which live a few blocks away from me) whom I’m sure I will be visiting throughout my service, but it is up to me to keep in touch, up to me to find out how to get around, and up to me get things done. It took a day or so (and a lot of sleep) to grasp this realization and come to terms with it.
The next big test comes next week when I no longer come into my agencies office on a daily basis and start setting my own schedule of traveling to job sites and trying to get work done at home. We’ll see how that works out.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Half Way Through Training
I have finished about half of my training here in Jamaica to become a PC volunteer. The normal PC training program has the trainees kept in one location for the duration of training (2 months), with a few site visits to active volunteers in the field. It is not until the end of training that the volunteers find out what their assignment is and where it will be. However, here things are a little bit different. This is the second year they have tried a “Site Based Training” approach where we were given our assignments and our sites after only two weeks of training. So, after spending the first two weeks on a college campus in Kingston with the other 51 new trainees, we were all shipped off to different parts of the island to be introduced to our sites and our communities that we will be working on for the next two years.
Initially, I was assigned to live in the town of Port Antonio (Porti), which is located on the north-east coast of the island in Portland Parish. As a brief side note, I highly recommend visiting Porti if you come to Jamaica – it has great beaches and awesome hiking very close by. It is not very touristy and its pretty safe. The agency that I have been assigned to is the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) which is an organization that gets money from various international aid agencies and then use this money to construct needed infrastructure on a community level. Examples of the types of work they do are the water collection and distribution projects currently underway near Porti. There are two communities located in the mountains about 5 to 10 miles south of Porti that do not currently have running water. These communities depend on water trucks, nearby streams and small rainwater collection systems to get water. They then store this water in large tanks around their houses for use when needed. This water is un-treated and needs to be boiled if it is to be used for drinking or cooking. JSIF worked with these communities to construct water catchments (small man-made ponds) to collect water at springs in the mountains near the communities. The water is then piped to holding tanks in the communities where the water can be treated and stored for use. The water is then distributed from these tanks to the houses in these communities.
These projects are community run and community constructed. Various members of the communities form a board that is in charge of handling the money given to them by JSIF and is in charge of coordinating the necessary labor required to construct the project. These board members receive training from JSIF on how to perform these duties, however the board member are not paid for this work. Therefore, the role of the PCV is to act as a facilitator to make sure that these board members, who are busy with their full time work and family obligations, are doing what is necessary to get the job done, properly handling the money, and giving technical advice on how to interpret engineering designs that may be lacking in detail. In addition, it is also required that the PCV actually performs some work and trains the community members how to do various tasks that may be new or unfamiliar to them.
So, for the past two weeks, I have been traveling around Porti with the current PCV, seeing these sites, learning how to navigate the town and adjusting to a new host family. Unfortunately, JSIF realized that the current projects in the area around Porti are almost completed and will not be able to keep me busy for two full years. Therefore, at the end of the two weeks, I was transferred to a town called Portmore in St. Catharine Parish, which is located on the south coast, near the middle of the island, about 30 minutes west of Kingston. The types of projects I have been told that I will be working on are reconstruction projects for roadways, schools and health clinics around the Portmore area that were damaged during Hurricane Dean last year. I only briefly met my new host family on Saturday for about one hour when I dropped off my luggage at their house before I was required to travel back to Kingston for another week of training at the college campus.
It has been very interesting being back here on campus with the other trainees after being at site for two weeks. Each of the 52 trainees all had very different experiences, however there are a lot of the same feelings. Some people are living in very small, rural mountain communities where there nearest town is an hour drive on horrible roads and some are in urban areas where they can walk to downtown areas. Some are within walking distance of beaches (as I was in Porti) and some have awesome hiking trails and waterfalls very close by. Some people spent two weeks just trying to talk to people and trying to figure out what people were saying, others spent two weeks working in very structured job with a boss constantly telling them what to do. In general, everyone is a little shell shocked and trying to adjust to a culture that is very different from what we’re used to.
I’m sorry for not giving more detail about my specific situation at this point, but, as I said, I was moved at the last minute and have only had one hour to meet my new host family and see my community. Hopefully I will have more detail in the next few weeks and will also have some interesting stories. I am excited to get back out to site and meet my new family and start working with my agency. So far, most of my experiences have been positive and I am remaining optimistic. Jamaica is a country of contrasts, and it will take a while to get used to it, but I am looking forward to the challenge.
Initially, I was assigned to live in the town of Port Antonio (Porti), which is located on the north-east coast of the island in Portland Parish. As a brief side note, I highly recommend visiting Porti if you come to Jamaica – it has great beaches and awesome hiking very close by. It is not very touristy and its pretty safe. The agency that I have been assigned to is the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) which is an organization that gets money from various international aid agencies and then use this money to construct needed infrastructure on a community level. Examples of the types of work they do are the water collection and distribution projects currently underway near Porti. There are two communities located in the mountains about 5 to 10 miles south of Porti that do not currently have running water. These communities depend on water trucks, nearby streams and small rainwater collection systems to get water. They then store this water in large tanks around their houses for use when needed. This water is un-treated and needs to be boiled if it is to be used for drinking or cooking. JSIF worked with these communities to construct water catchments (small man-made ponds) to collect water at springs in the mountains near the communities. The water is then piped to holding tanks in the communities where the water can be treated and stored for use. The water is then distributed from these tanks to the houses in these communities.
These projects are community run and community constructed. Various members of the communities form a board that is in charge of handling the money given to them by JSIF and is in charge of coordinating the necessary labor required to construct the project. These board members receive training from JSIF on how to perform these duties, however the board member are not paid for this work. Therefore, the role of the PCV is to act as a facilitator to make sure that these board members, who are busy with their full time work and family obligations, are doing what is necessary to get the job done, properly handling the money, and giving technical advice on how to interpret engineering designs that may be lacking in detail. In addition, it is also required that the PCV actually performs some work and trains the community members how to do various tasks that may be new or unfamiliar to them.
So, for the past two weeks, I have been traveling around Porti with the current PCV, seeing these sites, learning how to navigate the town and adjusting to a new host family. Unfortunately, JSIF realized that the current projects in the area around Porti are almost completed and will not be able to keep me busy for two full years. Therefore, at the end of the two weeks, I was transferred to a town called Portmore in St. Catharine Parish, which is located on the south coast, near the middle of the island, about 30 minutes west of Kingston. The types of projects I have been told that I will be working on are reconstruction projects for roadways, schools and health clinics around the Portmore area that were damaged during Hurricane Dean last year. I only briefly met my new host family on Saturday for about one hour when I dropped off my luggage at their house before I was required to travel back to Kingston for another week of training at the college campus.
It has been very interesting being back here on campus with the other trainees after being at site for two weeks. Each of the 52 trainees all had very different experiences, however there are a lot of the same feelings. Some people are living in very small, rural mountain communities where there nearest town is an hour drive on horrible roads and some are in urban areas where they can walk to downtown areas. Some are within walking distance of beaches (as I was in Porti) and some have awesome hiking trails and waterfalls very close by. Some people spent two weeks just trying to talk to people and trying to figure out what people were saying, others spent two weeks working in very structured job with a boss constantly telling them what to do. In general, everyone is a little shell shocked and trying to adjust to a culture that is very different from what we’re used to.
I’m sorry for not giving more detail about my specific situation at this point, but, as I said, I was moved at the last minute and have only had one hour to meet my new host family and see my community. Hopefully I will have more detail in the next few weeks and will also have some interesting stories. I am excited to get back out to site and meet my new family and start working with my agency. So far, most of my experiences have been positive and I am remaining optimistic. Jamaica is a country of contrasts, and it will take a while to get used to it, but I am looking forward to the challenge.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
The Start of Training
I have been in training for about a week now and things are going very well. The two days in Miami seem like a blur now - all I really remember was spending a lot of time in a hotel conference room talking about logistics, trying to remember 51 new people's names and eating some good Cuban food.
Arriving in Kingston was interesting. It was only my second international flight, so I was not very used to going through immigration and customs. Some how I managed to make it out of the airport first in the group and met the director and a bunch of waiting volunteers outside. It was refreshing to see so many smiling faces with welcome posters as your first sight in a foreign country. The two things that were immediately noticeable were the heat - even with a strong wind I was pretty much drenched in sweat within a few minutes, and the landscape - seeing the city of Kingston across the bay with the mountains behind it is an impressive sight.
Since our arrival, all of the trainees have been staying in a college in Kingston, having a pretty strict schedule of classes from 8 am to 6 pm and trying to get to know each other at night. One interesting thing is that all of the classroom buildings have open walls that let the wind blow through because there is no air conditioning here. Being in a computer lab on campus right now with air conditioning is a weird feeling. The heat along with all of the new information being thrown at us each day makes for long, draining days. I am happy that the showers only have cold water - it makes it much easier to cool off, even in the morning.
We were taken on a walk-about around the city of Kingston in small groups on Saturday to show us how the transportation system works, how the people interact and to start getting us ready to be on our own. The buses drive fast and full and the markets are loud and exciting. The people for the most part are warm and welcoming, but everyone has to be on guard for pick pockets and theft at all times.
The Patwa language is very interesting and fun to learn. We have been having some amazing teachers trying to help us learn the basics. They are very patient and willing to put up with our many mistakes and questions. I have started being able to pick up some parts of conversations here and there, but it is a very quick language and is not written very much, so it will be a real learning experience. Hopefully I will be able to write a post soon in Patwa and see if you can understand it.
I am excited for some field trips we have coming up soon around the city of Kingston and hopefully going to a beach soon as well. I am also very excited to learn next week were my assignment will be on the island and traveling to meet my host family the week after that.
Finally, on a sad note, I just received word from friends that a former co-worker of mine, Karan, has recently passed away. I am deeply saddened to hear this. Karan was a young man with a very bright future ahead of him. All who knew him knew that he was a funny, intelligent hard working person that made the world around him a better place. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.
Arriving in Kingston was interesting. It was only my second international flight, so I was not very used to going through immigration and customs. Some how I managed to make it out of the airport first in the group and met the director and a bunch of waiting volunteers outside. It was refreshing to see so many smiling faces with welcome posters as your first sight in a foreign country. The two things that were immediately noticeable were the heat - even with a strong wind I was pretty much drenched in sweat within a few minutes, and the landscape - seeing the city of Kingston across the bay with the mountains behind it is an impressive sight.
Since our arrival, all of the trainees have been staying in a college in Kingston, having a pretty strict schedule of classes from 8 am to 6 pm and trying to get to know each other at night. One interesting thing is that all of the classroom buildings have open walls that let the wind blow through because there is no air conditioning here. Being in a computer lab on campus right now with air conditioning is a weird feeling. The heat along with all of the new information being thrown at us each day makes for long, draining days. I am happy that the showers only have cold water - it makes it much easier to cool off, even in the morning.
We were taken on a walk-about around the city of Kingston in small groups on Saturday to show us how the transportation system works, how the people interact and to start getting us ready to be on our own. The buses drive fast and full and the markets are loud and exciting. The people for the most part are warm and welcoming, but everyone has to be on guard for pick pockets and theft at all times.
The Patwa language is very interesting and fun to learn. We have been having some amazing teachers trying to help us learn the basics. They are very patient and willing to put up with our many mistakes and questions. I have started being able to pick up some parts of conversations here and there, but it is a very quick language and is not written very much, so it will be a real learning experience. Hopefully I will be able to write a post soon in Patwa and see if you can understand it.
I am excited for some field trips we have coming up soon around the city of Kingston and hopefully going to a beach soon as well. I am also very excited to learn next week were my assignment will be on the island and traveling to meet my host family the week after that.
Finally, on a sad note, I just received word from friends that a former co-worker of mine, Karan, has recently passed away. I am deeply saddened to hear this. Karan was a young man with a very bright future ahead of him. All who knew him knew that he was a funny, intelligent hard working person that made the world around him a better place. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.
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