“Asé pléwé, an nou lité.”

The Prime Minister of Dominica used the Kwéyól saying for “Enough crying, let's get on with it” in a press briefing last week. He wanted to tell the people to be strong and help others. I am ready to do that.

Peace Corps continues to look at the island as a whole and our sites individually - schools and homes.  They will reach a decision with Washington and inform evacuated volunteers by Nov 10th, as mentioned in previous posts.  We will have up to three options: return to service in Dominica, serve on a different island, or end service.  I want to remain a Peace Corps volunteer so I hope to get more than just the last option.   

A short video of part of my normal ride down from Tete Morne to Roseau.


I've seen pictures and I've read stories about Dominica in the weeks since Maria.  Some are hopeful, some not so much.  Life is getting better, but still difficult for many on the island and it will continue to be that way for some months ahead.  There is a greater chance for landslide, like a recent one near Canefield.  The people will clear the road, normally in less than a day, but still some temporary difficulties.  Fresh produce will be harder to find for some time.  (Dominica supplied fresh produce to other islands so others are already feeling the impact as well.)

People will be struggling for some time as things slowly improve along with the inevitable setbacks. Do I want to be part of that?

Large landslide near Canefield, north of Roseau on the coastal road to the north
Given the difficulties and depressing conditions of Dominica – would I not be happier on a different island? All things considered, one might think that my best option would be to go to one of the other islands for Peace Corps in the Eastern Caribbean. Certainly, they would be “easier” right? (No Peace Corps site is easy in my opinion.) 
Not so fast for several reasons. 

First, I took a pledge to serve the people of Dominica, facing challenges with patience, humility, and determination. I love, want, and need challenges.  (OK, still working on patience... OK, OK, still working on the humility aspect…  But I've got this determination thing down! :-) 

But seriously, I've faced challenges of power, water, and food issues before. I knew what I might experience when I signed up for Eastern Caribbean. I was serious when I took the Peace Corps pledge and hope to fulfill it to Dominica if at all possible. I want to stand by my word and face of these challenges.
 
Second, I feel in love with the island and the people of Dominica – particularly in my community of Tete Morne: the school kids, teachers, people at church, my homestay family, and others. I want to go back to my people who are still struggling. Everyone needs help sometime and everyone needs to be able to provide help. I could go anywhere Peace Corps sends me, but my desire is to help MY community that so recently accepted me as THEIR Peace Corps volunteer.


Third, the beautify island, her tall body, has been scarred. Huge numbers of trees have been ripped out of the ground and the rest broken and stripped of leaves. (Signs of life are returning.) Landslides continue to open new scars and change the course of rivers. Man-made structures did not fair any better homes, schools, businesses destroyed or heavily damaged. The island is in such a state because of a category five hurricane ran directly over it - inflicting damage across the entire island nation – every square foot.


By rights, Maria should have been a category one or two when it crossed. However, the excessively heated ocean fueled the storm and it strengthened faster than any recorded storm. Global warming, heavily influenced by man, killed people and destroyed so much on this island and Puerto Rico. This hurricane season damaged a lot across the area including U.S. states beyond the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, our new normal.


And this leads me to explain my third reason to return. I and my country contributed significantly to this problem during my life time. True, I’ve tried to reduce my carbon footprint for decades, but I still take responsibility. The goal of the people of Dominica is to become more climate resilient - they don’t have a choice. My choice, if at all possible, is to help these strong people face and overcome the challenges I have helped cause.


So finally, what if I did go to another island? That island could also be hit by a hurricane, it would not be safer. I went through a hurricane on Dominica. I want to go through and help with the recover….

Peace Corps Strong! Dominica Strong!

Love always,
John

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