Hallelujah my friends – my Mac is fixed and in my hands for the first time in 2 months! With that being said, I’ve made a new goal to myself of updating my blog at least once a month – hopefully even more often, depending if time and my scatterbrain agree upon it. Now, where to begin? October, November, and December have flown by. And according to the Peace Corps Cycle of Vulnerability and Adjustment Scale, I have – for the most part – followed along the lines of a “normal volunteer.” My first 4 months consisted of high highs and low lows with a lot of rough patches in the beginning – it could even have been referred to as a bipolar roller coaster. One minute I’m indulging in the gratitude of children running and hugging me as I walk into school, the next I’m stressing over the countless amount of mosquito bites on my legs that could possibly contain Malaria, Dengue, or Chickengunya. My point being – we are told the first 6 months of Peace Corps can be some of the toughest times throughout our service as they naturally endure the first exposure to the country, culture, and its conditions. As predicted – along with some other unpredicted events – this, so far, has been spot on for my personal experience. Once I hit that 6 month mark though, I sat down, re-evaluated my thoughts and experience so far, and something hit me. I am finally (knock on wood) reaching a level of contentment for the time being – and for Peace Corps standards. Although I still hit the lows and the highs as the Peace Corps Cycle predicts, I am more relaxed about them and don’t feel as strongly effected. As I told my father, “either my heart is becoming stronger, or it’s just becoming darker.” (It’s only fun to be optimistic if you throw in a drop of sarcasm every now and then, right?) All joking put aside, I’ll try my best to update on some of the events I’ve been busy with these past few months.
October:
The month of October consisted of my first expedition where I traveled to Kaieteur Falls with some other fellow volunteers in my group. This was AMAZING. Kaieteur Falls is a single drop waterfall that is four times higher than Niagara Falls. What an adrenaline rush. The mist, the scenery, the sounds of the rainforest, being there with some of my greatest friends – it will go down as one of my favorite days in Peace Corps. Anyone who ever makes their way to Guyana – I highly recommend to check it out.
I then had friends who needed their 2 cats watched for a month and a half, so naturally, I took on the duty of creating Kaylee’s Kitten Refugee. Starfish absolutely loved the company of Laluni and Kuru Kuru. Come the end of the month, I was feeding all 3 cats one day, when I noticed a 4th kitten eating food with them. Apparently I have a “kitties welcome” sign hanging on my door, as this little monster managed to sneak his way into my apartment. I was quite impressed. And naturally, I couldn’t possibly throw him on the streets, so my apartment transformed into 4 sweet darling cats with the crazy cat lady of Guyana. By the end of the month though, I had found another home for the sweet little number 4 who is now living happily in the Hinterland.
The month continued on with some hardships that have taught me to expect the unexpected, but I kept truckin’ along. As with all hardships, I continue to learn from these with the ways to carry my values and myself. I continued weeding and organizing through the books at school, which I was shocked how long it actually took – but it was all worth it in the end to see everything so nicely placed by subject. I then attended a week long conference in Georgetown where Peace Corps Headquarters came and taught a seminar on building a sustainable library, which was beyond the most beneficial session I’ve attended so far. Next came the week of reconnect, where the volunteers and Peace Corps Staff met at our 6-month mark to discuss and learn from our experiences so far. It was refreshing and rejuvenating to spend a week with my fellow volunteers, to learn from their experiences so far, celebrate Halloween together, and even pull a few good old fashioned pranks on some volunteers in the hotel. I then spent a third week in Georgetown doing GAD Task Force activities before heading back to Mahaicony. I continue to discover that timing is everything and the more I relax into it, the more everything seems to fall into place. The month of October hit some hardships, but it gracefully fell into some busy weeks of conferences followed by returning to my village where I was happily greeted by neighbors, students, and cat who reminded me how appreciated I am in the community. I ended the month feeling a little more resilient and a little more knowledgeable in all areas of my life.
November:
November quickly rolled in and out as one of the quickest months I’ve experienced so far. Laluni and Kuru Kuru made their ways back to their original home and Kaylee’s Kitten Refugee turned back into boarding the solo Starfish again. A Secondary Student named Krystal began spending every afternoon helping me subject and color code the books in the library-to-be. She has a strong passion for reading and learning, so when she heard I was developing a library in Mahaicony, she eagerly arrived with intention to help in all ways possible. I made a deal with her that for each day she helps, she may borrow a book, as long as she returns it. This 16-year-old girl couldn’t have possibly been more thrilled. Since then, she still spends each afternoon helping me label books and has even mentioned to me how she “can’t wait to have her own personal library one day.” She’s an incredibly bright young lady and although she may not realize it, her passion, love and appreciation for learning are one of the reasons that keep me in this village. Books continued to be donated to the library (thank you, thank you to all who continue to help!) and the amount of students helping me with the library during and after school continues to rise. I even had students spending 5-6 hours on Saturdays helping me organize and label the books. It has truly been a remarkable experience so far seeing how excited and determined the youth of Mahaicony are for the future library in the making. The month ended with a trip to Linden where my fellow volunteers and I celebrated the joyous American holiday of Thanksgiving. Needless to say, I have encountered my most thankful Thanksgiving yet. I look around at where my life has taken me and although it can be pretty rough at times, I know I am exactly where I am supposed to be. I once heard that when you are born, it is like you are standing in sand and God draws a circle around you in the sand. Where are you standing is EXACTLY where you were meant to be placed. In moments of silence, in moments of sitting with my neighbor watching the sunset, or watching my kitten purr safely in my home, or having my students run and hug me as I enter school – I feel I’m standing in my circle in the sand. It may not be 100% of the time that I’m in complete bliss, but I have found what makes me come alive. I wish this upon all my loved ones!
Students working in the library!
Books donated to the library…thank you Kelly!
Peace Corps Thanksgiving!
December:
First off, I will need to update on a few events prior to December to fully explain how my first week of December played out. Back in April, within my first week of arriving in Guyana, I emailed World Vets and Vets Beyond Borders with information on the overpopulation of stray dogs and cats within Guyana. World Vets and Vets Beyond Borders are organizations that come into developing countries to neuter and spay stray animals for free of cost. Anyhow, months later from sending these emails, I so gratefully received an email from World Vets acknowledging they would love to come to Guyana on a short proposal. I was ecstatic. Since then, I have been working on finding other Guyanese organizations to get on board so the project can be more sustainable. I became in contact with a member of GSPCA who I met with in December, along with another volunteer, where we discussed terms of the proposal and possible educational seminars to take place in villages on ways of treating animals. Although the proposal and these seminars are still in the making, it was rewarding to even find Guyanese locals who are just as passionate about helping bring humanity amongst the animals within their country. I also chose this day to get Starfish neutered, which he wasn’t the most thrilled about, but glad I no longer need to worry of my cat adding on to the overpopulation.
The next exciting event that occurred at the beginning of December dealt with the library. I hosted a “Sustainability Seminar” for the parents of Mahaicony Primary School at the end of November, where I discussed “the 7 steps to building a sustainable library.” I was greatly pleased by the participation of this parent session. I pretty much ended each statement during the seminar with, “but what about when I’m gone?” and “how will YOU make sure it keeps running?” This isn’t saying the library will or will not be sustainable – this isn’t saying I’ll know where the library will stand in 10 years time – but it was great to see the community pulling together and bouncing ideas off one another on ways to make it last. At the end of the session, I passed out a sheet of paper for parents who wanted to come up and help me paint the library the following day (with paint that has been so kindly donated to our school from the local police station) as we needed paintbrushes and help. About 8 parents signed up to come help me. Come the following day though, not a single parent showed up to help. I called each parent and for those that answered, I was informed of the various reasons I’ve already grown familiar with: “I needed to cook”, “I needed to clean”, “I’m working on the farm today”, etc. I wasn’t heartbroken over the matter though, as I have grown accustomed to this reality in 8 months time. I simply accepted the situation and began considering what I could do next to find more ways for the community to get involved. I didn’t end up painting the library that day, as I didn’t have paintbrushes or help, but tutored some students instead. NOW, comes the best and most unexpected part of the story. I went out of town that weekend for Thanksgiving – and didn’t return until December 2nd. When walking into school that December day, I walked by a FULLY painted library. I froze. I ran up to the HM’s (Head Master) office and was wildly pleased to discover that the parents who had signed up to paint had come up to the school that weekend with paintbrushes and painted the entire library. THESE are the small successes that keep me going. A group of parents who kept their word and truly care for the education of their children. On top of this, my student helpers, Krystal, and myself finished color-coding the books in the library. One step closer! Next comes fundraising to collect bookshelves, furnishings, and security bars for the windows. We are almost there, thanks for those who have helped/continue to do so!
Another interesting event that occurred this month has to do with the post-office in my village. For starters, the post-office in Mahaicony was what I will kindly refer to as…vintage. It was an old wooden building with broken windows that could easily pull off as a “haunted house”, but when you entered, you soon discovered it was still running as a functioning mailroom. Well, one day, in early December, I took my jolly walk to the post-office to check if anymore books had arrived when I felt was confronted with a large yard of emptiness where the post-office once stood. Where this vintage post-office had been placed, lay only broken pieces of wooden boards. I stood around staring blankly for a moment, until a local rode by on a bicycle and stopped to acknowledge my puzzlement. She informed me, “oh the post office! Ya, someone broke in. Stole mail. Broke it down.” I casually accepted this information and walked back home. It wasn’t until I told this story to a friend later and heard her reaction that I realized “hey, I guess that isn’t something that happens everyday in America.” It’s funny, the events that I have already grown so accustomed to – no longer even standout as odd to me – until I hear an outside source point it out. The good news to this story is I do still have the SAME address. My mail is now sent to the neartest post office in the village nearby, where I have still been receiving my packages – so don’t be afraid to write! 😉
The month of December also consisted of hosting the first PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention Support) Event at my school. This program works on acknowledging positive behavior, rather than pointing out negative. Each student is able to earn a total of 20 points a day – 100 points per week – or 400 points for a month – simply by coming to school and following instructions. If a child skips class though, misbehaves, or is disrespectful – they can lose points. Each month there is a special PBIS event students can attend if they earn at least 350 points. (Credit to PCV Lindsey who introduced me to this incredible program!) My HM was thrilled when I introduced the idea, so we began testing it out with the first event of “Movie Day” being recently hosted. The goal of this program is to not only acknowledge positive behavior – but to help the school branch away from corporal punishment as this is currently the main form of discipline. The school did not magically transform and become “corporal-punishment-free” in a months time, but the kids loved it and are already looking forward to next month. It’s great to see the students become so excited about following instructions and attending school – hopefully the school staff will also enjoy the benefits.
School ended with Christmas parties, lots of yummy Guyanese foods, my HM baking me a cake, and even my neighbors cooking me Cow Face and Chicken Foot as a special holiday treat. When my HM gave me the delicious pound cake she’d baked me, she handed it to me and told me “I prayed for years for someone to come help our school. God sent me the right person.” I am constantly reminded how grateful I am to be here. Next came the 8-day-trip to Barbados where I saw my mother for the first time in 8 months. We, as always, hit things off exactly as they were. I was overwhelmed with delight and gratitude to a hotel room with A/C, HOT running water (let alone any running water), daily buffets, TV with cable, white sand, a clear blue ocean – all while spending it with my mama. It was a Christmas I’ll always remember. I have now arrived safely back in Guyana and am preparing for my trip on Monday where I will adventure with some fellow volunteers to Suriname where we will celebrate the New Year. Eight months and my first term of Peace Corps has been completed, let’s see what 2015 has in store! Thank you to everyone who supports me, y’all continue to keep me going.
In closing words of Elizabeth Gilbert,
“All the sorrow and trouble of this world is caused by unhappy people. The search for contentment, therefore, is not merely a self-preserving and self-benefiting act, but also a generous gift to the world. Clearing out all your misery gets you out of the way. You cease being an obstacle, not only to yourself but to anyone else. Only then are you free to serve and enjoy other people.”
The painted library…completely done by the community!
PBIS Movie Day!
Mahaicony Primary Christmas Party!
PBIS Race to Success!
Barbados with my momma!
Barbados with my momma!
kayleepcv 