I’ll keep this as short as possible, but this has been a whirlwind couple of months for me and I have lots of updates. In other words: you all know me and you know that this blog is long-winded despite my pre-departure promises that it wouldn’t be… VOSOTA SARA!
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Here we go, 1st current events:
SCARY CYCLONE HEADING OUR WAY
So, apparently there are two cyclones in the area right now. One seems to be brutalizing the island nation of Vanuatu at the moment, and another is projected to become a massive storm that will smother my island of Fiji (Vanua Levu) sometime in the next 24 to 48 hours. All Vanua Levu volunteers were “consolidated” today to the two major towns on the island (Savusavu and Labasa). And starting tomorrow we will all be on “stand fast” which basically means that we have to stock up on supplies like food/water/matches/kerosene for the hurricane lamps and stay put until the office tells us we can head home.
Of the ten volunteers who would normally consolidate to Savusavu (four boys and six girls including me), I am the only girl who is on the island right now (besides one who I am told is “resisting” orders to leave her village). Being that the Peace Corps house in Savusavu is normally occupied by two of these girls who both work in town, “the girls” (meaning me alone), have been assigned to stay at the house while the boys are being put up at a nearby hotel/guesthouse. So, for the time being it’s me all alone with my backpack (with precisely one pair of underware, one clean T-shirt, and all the electronics I was planning to charge in town when I cam in this morning for the day until I received a phone call from the head of Peace Corps Fiji saying not to return to my village), a radio, some leftover curry from last night’s village Soli (fundraising yaqona session), a bottle of wine, and a laptop with an internet connection (!). Oh, I also have goodies from an EXCELENT package from my new favorite Auntie (Aunt Dianne: you are the best! I am so excited to meet you at “the” wedding! Thank you so much for the chocolates and jelli beans. We gorged ourselves on them this afternoon!)..
Tomorrow morning, before the rains hit, I will go to town and stock up on some canned food, veggies that can survive outside the fridge (so, the usual), phone credit, and likely some more beverages to help pass the time. I’m wondering how likely it is that electricity will hold up during the storm. Because, to be quite honest, being holed up with a laptop with internet access all to myself for a few days certainly doesn’t seem too shabby!
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So that’s what’s happening right this second in my life. Here’s what’s been going on in the village with work (Please bear with me; I wasn’t lying when I said I’ve been crazy busy since my last post. There’s a LOT going on in the way of projects right now…)
TUVATUVA NI SAVA WAI
(Water Filtration Project)
We have entered the "seeking funding" phase for the water project (within the first week of our funding proposal being sent out we already have commitments for almost half of the needed funds. Additionally, our Rotary partners are having weekly meetings concerning the rest. The Jeff and Steve actually said they would come to the village Monday of this week (which we'll obviously have to reschedule due to sudden weather conditions) to talk about structural stuff so we in the village can start ripping timber (our "contribution" to the project). Because our expected timeline indicates that funding will be secured by May, and construction will take place in June and July, my village would like to cut all the timber and do any necessary digging prior to the arrival of supplies.
BARASI BATINA N'IRA NA GONE NI KORO
(Teeth Brushing with the Village Kids)
Another project that has finally gotten going is the communal brushing of teeth with the village pre-school-aged kids (twelve 1-4 year-olds) to whom I distributed Sesame Street tooth brushes. (These adorable supplies were donated by Crest company courtesy of one of my dad's patients.) I also had adult-sized tooth brushes donated for the parents by the Colgate/Palmolive company in Fiji. The way I dispersed supplies, was that I gave all twelve children and one adult each (either parent, grandparent, or grown sibling) one toothbrush and crest toothpaste to take home for nighttime brushing, and I keep one brush for each (labled with nailpolish and stored between two egg cartons to keep animals and flies out; see pictures for reference) at my house. Every morning at 9am, all the kids, their parents, myself, and one of the Taba Ni Bula (Village Health Committee) members meet (/I walk the village road with my Committee partner for 30 minutes gathering up all the children) at a central tap down by the ocean to brush our teeth together.
The pre-schoolers and their parents learning to brush their teeth together.
This project has only been going on for two weeks so far, but the kids have already started asking me about when they can brush their teeth again when we meet in the days and evenings. Also, many appear to actually understand how to properly brush (after I spent the first couple days giving examples by brushing their teeth for them, and continue to do so for the young ones). Furthermore, the parents have told me that their children now even ask if they can brush their teeth at night before they go to bed. (I have no real verification of this statement, though. Whenever I ask one of my kids, “O i’o sa barasi e na ya’avi nanoa?” (“Did you brush your teeth last night”), they usually answer, no!)
After cleaning their brushes and putting them away properly, the kids get a checkup by the Village Health Worker (once a week).
The biggest challenge of this project so far has been getting the parents to appreciate the importance of attending the sessions together with their children. You see, it’s part of the village culture to allow very young children to roam rather freely, often without much adult supervision. In fact, it is not uncommon to see a very young (and often naked) child dissolve into tears and loud wailing sobs somewhere in the middle of the village, perhaps… actually rather often… in front of my house, and nobody will come to comfort them or ascertain what the problem is. This independence is also reflected in night-time rituals with the children. No child who is too young to school (from what I can tell) has a bedtime. Instead, when parents leave the house at night to watch movies wherever a generator is running or to drink yaqona somewhere, children are brought along. They tend to pass out anywhere, in almost any situation—flat on their bags, with arms and legs sprawled spred-eagle style, while the adults noisily interact all around them. Therefore, my challenge… I have attempted to require one-adult-per-child not only so that the parents can help with the actual brushing (at first, many of the kids would simply eat the toothpaste off the toothbrush immediately after it was handed to them, or chew on the toothbrush itself until the bristles are practically unusable), but I also think parental attendance will help to foster a healthy relationship between the parents and kids that can hopefully have some sort of sustainable effect after I leave the village next July.
Check out those pearly whites!
TABA NI KORO / NA LEVU N'ILAVO E NA KORO
(Village Development Committee / Village Budget)
As I stated in the previous post, I brought my village Mayor, the Turaganikoro (“T.K.”), to a Peace Corps workshop about Income Generating projects in the community setting that was held in the capital city, Suva. During our week at this conference, TK and I finally had the bonding experience I've been waiting for. As it turns out, he speaks far better English than he originally let on (making me feel insanely embarrassed for all my terrible attempts at trying to talk to him about work in Fijian… No matter how good my language skills are getting in the realm of conversation, I am basically useless when it comes to talking about projects and work). To my immense relief, we seem to be on the same page, opinion-wise, about almost every project for, and expectation we have of, the village.
Since returning from this workshop, the village has FINALLY allowed me to establish a Taba Ni Koro, or “Village Development Committee” (with members consisting of those leaders of the 10 most active village groups: Turaganikoro (Village Mayor), Qase Ni Lotu (Church Manager), Nasi Ni Koro (Village Health Worker), Soqosoqo Ni Ba: Bulumakau (The Cow Fence Committee), Taba Ni Bula (Health Committee), Taba Ni Wai (Water Committee), Soqosoqo Ni Turaga (Men’s Church Group), Soqosoqo Va’a Marama Na Vanua (Women’s Group), Mataveitokani (Youth Group), Committee Ni Koro Vuli (School Committee), and Tabana Ni Vuaka (Piggary Committee).
The Taba Ni Koro (Village Development Committee) is lead by the Men’s group leader. He reports directly to the Village Mayor, who oversees the Committee. The Development Committee has three joint-Treasurers. And I am the group’s advisor.
The first order of business, by popular request, was to develop Na Levu N’iLavo: Koro xxxx (Village Budget). We included:
-Kotikoti (money for fuel to cut every house’s compound, the church compound, the village road, the path to the beach, and the land path to the school).
- School fees (including Kindy, Primary School, “House” dues--imagine Harry Potter-style school houses you pay dues to for life--and a $100 incentive for every Secondary/Tertiary student)
-Nasi Ni Koro supplies (bus fare to bring medicine, money for first aid supplies for when the regional health centers are out, and money for the Village Health Worker to attend yearly trainings).
-All church fees (for the yearly dues of all 3 religions—Methodist, Catholic, and All Nation—in the village).
-A stipend for both the Women’s Group and the Youth to encourage project development.
-Yearly payments to the regional clan and other cultural fees.
-(A very small portion of) printing/copying fees for me.
-Money for replacement pipes/faucets/other emergency water stuff (and fuel for ripping the timber for our upcoming filtration project).
-Aome repair stuff for the village cattle gate.
The grand total came to a little over $11,100 (with church fees accounting for more than half!) for the 2010 period of April-December.
Then, we determined that there were 60 eligible individuals in the village (who are between 18-60 years old and who are relatively permanent residents) to contribute to this fund. So, the Taba Ni Koro held a meeting during which we presented the budget to these 60 people, and then together we split them into ten groups of 6 (each one headed by one of the Taba Ni Koro members).
Each group is asked to make monthly payments of about $120 per group. This equates to approximately $5.15 per person, per week, all inclusive (meaning that the frequent soli’s held for almost every organization and purpose throughout the year will cease as will all other sporadic village-related costs). We organized the village into groups, however, to ease the pressure of being held individually responsible for the consistent payments. As a group, the men can decide to plant Dalo on a monthly basis (the Taro root that can be harvested in 6 months for a profit of approximately $1 per plant), the women can get together and weave Kuta mats (that are made to order for the markets in Labasa for approximately $100 each). People can also arrange trips to go to the sea to collect Beche De Mere and other sea creatures that are brought to Savusavu on the bus and sold to the markets there. They can sell raw vegetables or baked goods such as pie and jam on the road to passing busses, and they can generally help one another when money is inconsistent (income tends to ebb and flow here in Fiji).
So far we're in month one, March, (raising money this month will allow us to pay for next month, so we can get started with paying for things in April). Surprisingly (for me), it's going very well. All the groups have been holding weekly soli's to collect their member's dues, and we are planning to have a big village soli at the end of each month with the entire village (complete with dressing up, cooking roti/curry or rice or vakalolo to be distributed as post-yaqona snacks) to consolidate the money so we can put it in the bank.
So, at the end of this month, the three treasurers and I are also planning to open a bank account in Savusavu Town with their three names on it (requiring at least two signatures to make a withdrawal). I have also been trying to organize some other PCVs from the area to come to the village later this month so we can do one-on-one money management trainings (savings calculators and such) with all the married couples and anyone else who wants to participate. This private training will help the members of my community see how they can keep up with the (seemingly) new expense of a collective village budget.
Also since returning with the TK we have made a "Small Business Committee" within the Development Committee (i.e. so it is made up of all responsible individuals to whom the community looks at for leadership and who I also trust to get work done).
First, this committee and I presented SWOT (Strength/Weakness/Opportunities/Threats) business analyses for 6 different opportunities at a Bose Va Koro (monthly village meeting). Then, we broke the village into groups (men, women, and youth) to conduct an exercise known to us here in PC/Fiji as “PACA” to see what people were most interested in. Virgin Coconut Oil came out as the clear winner, followed by Sasalu Wai Tui (probably seaweed-farming or pearl farming after talking to Minestry of Fisheries earlier today).
The next step is information gathering. Ideally, we will try to get two business plans together by the end of this year. That way, the village Dalo fund (that will equal about $300 a month starting in August this year) will go towards starting a business in the first months of 2011.
On a related note, when I was down in Suva I was also able to get the Coca Cola Organization to donate two large and sturdy recycling bags to set up in the village for collection of burnable rubbish. This way, harmful plastics can be removed from the village and burned at a central location in order to minimize the hazard to village residents (and especially the young children).
KICKBALL!!
And, when my mom comes to visit in May (as in 2 months from now), I asked her to bring Tie Dye materials so that we can make our gameday uniforms with the kids! I'm super excited. Tie Dye is the best, and we're gonna intimidate the sh*t out of those other kids in our super baddass t-shirts!
In terms of the compost toilets... well... you really don't even want to know. But I promise you, the lack of progress isn't for lack of effort on my part! I put in about three weeks worth of daily, 6-hour work days, with the newly-elected School Committee at the school in January. During that time, we were renovating the teacher's quarters and classrooms for the new year (I am a painting machine!). Thus, I have developed a TON of rapport with the new School Committee.
The School Manager has promised that, starting next month, he will make the toilets the top priority of school workdays (on the first Tuesday of every month). In April he is supposedly using the school budget to buy a bunch of fuel, and I have asked all the chain-saw owners in my village to bring their saws so we can rip the necessary timber to finish the thing. So, please cross your fingers for me!
7-8:00am – Workout inside the house. (jumping jacks, running in place, crunches, weights…)
8:30-9 – Walk the road and gather up all the pre-school-aged children and their parents.
9-9:30 – Teeth brushing!
9:30-10 – Breakfast/reading time.
10-11:30 – Water plants (by filling and carrying a huge bucket in and out of my house to all ove the compound approximately 10 times), hand wash laundry, clean house.
11:30-1 – Cook lunch, eat lunch, cleanup lunch.
1-2 – Drink tea, read, shower (optional).
2-4 – Nap (on the floor where it's cooler, in front of the door where I can catch a slight breeze, on top of a towel for the sweat... what can I say? Not all aspects of summer are glamorous).
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