Happy Thanksgiving
Another holiday away from family, part of Peace Corps. This Thanksgiving I was among friends celebrating the American Holiday with a rather typical Thanksgiving meal. The Principal Officer and Chargé D’affaries in Grenada, Mr. Frahm and his wife hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for the Peace Corps volunteers on Grenada. And there are a lot of volunteers on the island.
The turkey, stuffing, gravy and all the food was very nice. The Peace Corps volunteers brought side dishes to go with the sides provided. I brought a roasted sweet potato and pumpkin dish seasoned with cinnamon and nutmeg syrup. (The nutmeg syrup is made from the nutmeg pericarp, the fleshy part that covers the part of the nutmeg that is used for the spice.) No recipe, just using things grown and produced on the island. The sweet potatoes were grown in my backyard. I cooked the cubed vegetables in my cast iron skillet rather than oven roasting. I made it without butter because we have a number of vegans in the group. Several people really liked it and asked how it was made – it did turn out pretty good even warmed up. Still, my personal belief is that butter pretty much makes almost any dish better.
The food was great and I ate plenty. I lost 30 lbs and about 3 inches on my waistline in my first year in Ghana. (I recovered in the second year when our living allowance was increased to account for conversion rates.) I’ve not had that problem here with such easy access to food and a reasonable living allowance. In fact I’ve switch to eating a good breakfast and one other major meal with a small snack at night just to be able to maintain my weight without much effort. But that is not likely polite conversation around these holidays, sorry.
I was able to have a number of nice conversations with other volunteers and with Mr. Frahm. Again something different between Ghana and Grenada. In Ghana the volunteers were more isolated so we tended to have a lot of in-depth discussions when we did get together – catching up and talking about world events. One of my favorite conversation topics is about consciousness, psyche, soul; our spiritual nature. Always interested in hearing about what other people believe. While talking with a few other volunteers on the subject, our host came over to join in. I would have loved to have continued the discussion, but we were all called for a group picture.
Mr. Frahm is a Mormon and I was able to chat a little later on another one of my hot topics – disaster preparation and resiliency. I knew that Mormons typically maintain a year supply of food. I believe that people on the islands with the annual risk of hurricanes should follow the practice. I was interested in how he found the practice and how that might be transferred to locals in his Temple and across the islands. He and Peace Corps, the U.S., might be able to work with the governments, NGOs, communities, families, and individuals to increase family emergency food stocks in the Caribbean. He seemed interested in continuing the conversation and had recently met with the new resiliency person in the government.
It is a challenge culturally, financially, and logistically. However, I believe that it is possible to change behavior and with training and possibly a few supplies like five gallon containers, mylar bags, oxygen absorbers, and such that most people could build up at least a four month food supply. If the government didn’t have to logistically handle food and water issues for the population in the first so many months then everyone could focus on other things.
Of course this would require a bit of work, planning, training, and publicity – but I think is a good project for the islands. It might happen at some point.
My primary project, teaching, remains in sort of a limbo as the teachers and government have not yet come to an agreement. We had one day of class last week and we are currently planning for just two this week coming. Even when we have classes most of my students don’t attend. We just have three weeks of the term remaining and the last week will not have much time to teach new material so everyone is rather frustrated. Who knows when we will move to the new school.
People say “welcome to Grenada” when talking about this frustrating subject, but this is not much different that some school districts in the states. We all hope it will be resolved soon...
Love always,
John
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| Sorry for the picture quality, but liked the picture anyway |
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| Sitting eating and chatting. You can just see me in the far back sort of middle... |
The turkey, stuffing, gravy and all the food was very nice. The Peace Corps volunteers brought side dishes to go with the sides provided. I brought a roasted sweet potato and pumpkin dish seasoned with cinnamon and nutmeg syrup. (The nutmeg syrup is made from the nutmeg pericarp, the fleshy part that covers the part of the nutmeg that is used for the spice.) No recipe, just using things grown and produced on the island. The sweet potatoes were grown in my backyard. I cooked the cubed vegetables in my cast iron skillet rather than oven roasting. I made it without butter because we have a number of vegans in the group. Several people really liked it and asked how it was made – it did turn out pretty good even warmed up. Still, my personal belief is that butter pretty much makes almost any dish better.
 |
| Fallen nutmeg showing the pericarp |
The food was great and I ate plenty. I lost 30 lbs and about 3 inches on my waistline in my first year in Ghana. (I recovered in the second year when our living allowance was increased to account for conversion rates.) I’ve not had that problem here with such easy access to food and a reasonable living allowance. In fact I’ve switch to eating a good breakfast and one other major meal with a small snack at night just to be able to maintain my weight without much effort. But that is not likely polite conversation around these holidays, sorry.
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| I certainly don't look like I'm eating only two meals a day and my weight is very stable |
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| Relaxing after dinner |
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| Nice view |
I was able to have a number of nice conversations with other volunteers and with Mr. Frahm. Again something different between Ghana and Grenada. In Ghana the volunteers were more isolated so we tended to have a lot of in-depth discussions when we did get together – catching up and talking about world events. One of my favorite conversation topics is about consciousness, psyche, soul; our spiritual nature. Always interested in hearing about what other people believe. While talking with a few other volunteers on the subject, our host came over to join in. I would have loved to have continued the discussion, but we were all called for a group picture.
 |
| All the volunteers with our APCD lower left. I'm almost always center back in these pictures |
It is a challenge culturally, financially, and logistically. However, I believe that it is possible to change behavior and with training and possibly a few supplies like five gallon containers, mylar bags, oxygen absorbers, and such that most people could build up at least a four month food supply. If the government didn’t have to logistically handle food and water issues for the population in the first so many months then everyone could focus on other things.
Of course this would require a bit of work, planning, training, and publicity – but I think is a good project for the islands. It might happen at some point.
My primary project, teaching, remains in sort of a limbo as the teachers and government have not yet come to an agreement. We had one day of class last week and we are currently planning for just two this week coming. Even when we have classes most of my students don’t attend. We just have three weeks of the term remaining and the last week will not have much time to teach new material so everyone is rather frustrated. Who knows when we will move to the new school.
People say “welcome to Grenada” when talking about this frustrating subject, but this is not much different that some school districts in the states. We all hope it will be resolved soon...
 |
| I knew it was going to be getting home after dark - this is part of the 2 mile walk home, but safe before 8 pm |
Love always,
John
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