We've been living with a host family for the last four weeks as part of what Peace Corps calls community based training. We have our own small two room house in a cluster of houses where various members of our extended family live. It's a good situation (except for the food...more later). We had heard from previous volunteers that "home stay" could be very difficult, but it has been great for us. There are lots of kids around all the time and we really enjoy playing with them. We are quite a novelty (they especially like David's arm hair!) so they love getting attention from us. We also brought a frisbee they can't get enough of.
We spend four hours in language class each morning and afternoons, we work at basic activities, like doing dishes and washing clothes (it's a lot harder than it sounds). Christine does most of this while David has been helping with less regular chores like cleaning drainage ditches, fixing fences, fixing gutters, etc. Our hosts are very appreciative of the work David has been doing, but the routine housework is expected of Christine. Sometimes we also have formal Peace Corps training in the afternoon.
In the evening, we hang out with our family, eat dinner and blunder through basic conversations in Aucan. Everyone is very patient with us (...including the 3 year old), although they can get a little insistent about pronunciation and some of the ritualized greetings. Christine is sewing a lot with the women in the evenings as well. She has sewn 2 pangi's (traditional Maroon wrap skirts) which she now wears almost exclusively. The food is a bit challenging. Almost everything has salt, soy sauce and chicken bouillion cubes (Maggi) in it in large quantities. Hypertension has become a serious health issue here.
The culture shock has been quite pronounced, but our hosts are very gracious and we feel welcome in our family and the village as a whole. Our lack of language (we're learning, but it's slow) is a real impediment as far as understanding what's going on in the village, but it hasn't stopped us from feeling close to the people here.
Tomorrow we are going to the village where we will be living once we complete training and swearing in. We will be staying five days to check things out and meet people there. We're a little nervous (...language) but also excited. More when we can.
David and Christine
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Still getting started
May 30, 2009
We have been in Suriname for almost two weeks now. It's been an interesting ride. For a week and a half, we were in a pretty insulated environment at a training site with all our SUR – 15 (the fifteenth group of volunteers in Suriname) mates. The training compound has full-time electricity, clean and safe water and food. It’s right in a small town with lots of amenities (good food and drink, internet, stores, etc). The training site is pretty nice, and it actually seems a little like summer camp…staff does most everything for us, meeting the new kids, listening to the “counselors”, dinner bells, singing around the steps (no campfire needed) into the night. The heat and humidity are taking some getting used to. The earplugs were a great idea. There’s quite a din in the morning when the dogs start barking, birds and bugs start chirping. Every meal has been good with a few minor exceptions – a very bitter vegetable that is locally very common and a stew that had many unidentifiable objects in it. Otherwise, we’ve been feasting on local cuisine – dishes called roti, bami and nasi – and beer. We’re not at risk of starving, that’s for sure. Also, there is fruit served at most meals – bananas, papaya, mangos, some funky grapefruit-like things that we love, along with other fruits we’ve never seen before.
We’ve heard a lot about the dangerous critters in the interior. The most dangerous are the same as in the US – bees, wasps and ants – due to risk of allergic reaction from bites and that they are quite common. Mosquitoes are also bad, but we are pretty protected with the vaccines and anti-malaria medications.
We will be in a village of 200-500 people along one of the big rivers. It is only accessible by boat, but the boat ride is only about 45 minutes to an hour depending on the power of the boat motor and the load in the boat. We will be the first PC volunteers that have been in this village. They are required to make sure we have adequate lodging, and a wash house. So, we won’t be digging our own latrine after all.
The last three days we visited a current volunteer site. This was much more like the real deal. The site we visited was on the same river as ours, about two hours further down-river by boat. Our volunteer host was extremely gracious and made us feel very welcome. The village and the river were beautiful. The site is very rural – we had electricity only in the evening. We washed our clothes, dishes and ourselves in the river. Drinking water is from rain catchment tanks, although not all the villagers had these. A common Peace Corps project could be to coordinate acquisition of catchment tanks for a village. We walked through the village several times greeting and visiting pretty much everybody – coying in Okanisi – which is a very common thing to do. I played soccer with the young men – it wasn’t pretty but it was fun. I lasted about 15 minutes. They are very good players and were gracious enough to tolerate my shortcomings.
People live off the land for the most part – there is money and monetized services but not a lot – the women work at ground and the men hunt and catch fish. Working at ground is essentially farming. This village grows cassava, watermelon, ginger, bananas, peppers, some pineapple and a root crop called tara (pronounced “tire”). It’s pretty tough work, especially in the heat here.
We leave tomorrow to live with a host family for about 8 weeks where our language and cultural training will be more intensive. Hope to post again in a month or so.
We have been in Suriname for almost two weeks now. It's been an interesting ride. For a week and a half, we were in a pretty insulated environment at a training site with all our SUR – 15 (the fifteenth group of volunteers in Suriname) mates. The training compound has full-time electricity, clean and safe water and food. It’s right in a small town with lots of amenities (good food and drink, internet, stores, etc). The training site is pretty nice, and it actually seems a little like summer camp…staff does most everything for us, meeting the new kids, listening to the “counselors”, dinner bells, singing around the steps (no campfire needed) into the night. The heat and humidity are taking some getting used to. The earplugs were a great idea. There’s quite a din in the morning when the dogs start barking, birds and bugs start chirping. Every meal has been good with a few minor exceptions – a very bitter vegetable that is locally very common and a stew that had many unidentifiable objects in it. Otherwise, we’ve been feasting on local cuisine – dishes called roti, bami and nasi – and beer. We’re not at risk of starving, that’s for sure. Also, there is fruit served at most meals – bananas, papaya, mangos, some funky grapefruit-like things that we love, along with other fruits we’ve never seen before.
We’ve heard a lot about the dangerous critters in the interior. The most dangerous are the same as in the US – bees, wasps and ants – due to risk of allergic reaction from bites and that they are quite common. Mosquitoes are also bad, but we are pretty protected with the vaccines and anti-malaria medications.
We will be in a village of 200-500 people along one of the big rivers. It is only accessible by boat, but the boat ride is only about 45 minutes to an hour depending on the power of the boat motor and the load in the boat. We will be the first PC volunteers that have been in this village. They are required to make sure we have adequate lodging, and a wash house. So, we won’t be digging our own latrine after all.
The last three days we visited a current volunteer site. This was much more like the real deal. The site we visited was on the same river as ours, about two hours further down-river by boat. Our volunteer host was extremely gracious and made us feel very welcome. The village and the river were beautiful. The site is very rural – we had electricity only in the evening. We washed our clothes, dishes and ourselves in the river. Drinking water is from rain catchment tanks, although not all the villagers had these. A common Peace Corps project could be to coordinate acquisition of catchment tanks for a village. We walked through the village several times greeting and visiting pretty much everybody – coying in Okanisi – which is a very common thing to do. I played soccer with the young men – it wasn’t pretty but it was fun. I lasted about 15 minutes. They are very good players and were gracious enough to tolerate my shortcomings.
People live off the land for the most part – there is money and monetized services but not a lot – the women work at ground and the men hunt and catch fish. Working at ground is essentially farming. This village grows cassava, watermelon, ginger, bananas, peppers, some pineapple and a root crop called tara (pronounced “tire”). It’s pretty tough work, especially in the heat here.
We leave tomorrow to live with a host family for about 8 weeks where our language and cultural training will be more intensive. Hope to post again in a month or so.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Roughing it in the Peace Corps...so far. The toughest thing we've done to date is drag our 130 lbs of luggage from one airport to another and in and out of customs. We are now hanging out in a plush cafe in the airport at Trinadad /Tobago airport. We're leaving tonight for Suriname proper, to arrive at 12:20 am. I suspect it won't be quite so relaxed tomorrow.
Our group consists of 24 people, three are over 60, then there's me and David, the rest are under 30. It's a good group and I'm looking forward to the mutual support in the rough days ahead.
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