Finals are finished and Corpus Christi holiday


I never saw those two girls in the front actually sleeping during KG nap time.

Finals are done and the grades are in. The kids did well and had a few days to relax last week. We still have two weeks of school. The major thing next week is graduation and packing up to move, because it looks like its official – the new school will be handed over the last week of school. We also had last Thursday off.

Corpus Christi


A full chapel for the celebration

Starting the procession
Thursday was a holiday on Grenada for Corpus Christi, the Catholic celebration of the Body and Blood of Jesus. Corpus Christi is the Thursday after Trinity Sunday (which is a week after Pentecost (which is 50 after Easter for Latin or Greek scholars (Easter is based on the lunar cycle as so changes))).

In the states and some other countries the feast day is moved to Sunday if you want to keep track.

Holy Cross parish is composed of the church in Munich and two daughter churches. One of these is the Chapel of Corpus Christi in De Blandeau, a village close by. So each year the three communities get together to celebrate the feast there.

After the mass there is a short procession, traditionally part of the feast day, and then a sharing of food (it was a nice feast). It was my first time to the church and I found it and the community very nice.

OK, hold the pole so and let's get started
Not all volunteers participate in local religious events and I don’t participate in all community events, nor in most Catholic events. (But I also don’t participate in all Peace Corps events as an extreme introvert.) However, I do get out frequently to participate and to be seen around the area.

Integrating into the community is not just something done at the start of service, but something that must be maintained throughout service.

Yesterday, when I could have been working on this post I went to visit a neighbor to say hi and ask about a meeting. We ending up chatting for a couple hours. We talked about this and that, about school and the children, about Peace Corps, and other topics and not much of anything.

Peace Corps was created to foster world peace and friendship, a full time job. So volunteers not only work on their primary project, but are basically “always on the clock”. The term in Ghana was living in a fish bowl. Everyone was always watching, and many times they liked to tap on the glass. In Munich I’ve been told in different ways by different community members (generally people I don’t really know) that they are always watching me, seeing what I’m doing.

This is not a threat or anything creepy and easier to take as a 50+ male. I take it that they saw the time that I noticed two old women standing with a lot a groceries after they got off the bus. I was walking home from school, but took a detour and went far out of my way to help carry the bags. Or the time I stopped a child and tied her shoe. Or when I gave up my seat to the old woman and then stood in the back for the rest of the meeting. I’m the only white guy around so I sort of stick out.

Peace Corps


I’ve still not yet received the final approval from Peace Corps for the leave I need to take so I can extend. I had been talking with the acting Country Director who approved it and sent it to DC, but he is leaving soon so I sent an email to a different person on St. Lucia to see what is happening and he kindly looked into it and seems to care about that fact that it is taking a relatively long time.

There are times when a volunteer might feel overlooked or taken for granted. But it can be like that in any organization or company. Peace Corps is not perfect. Anyone thinking about volunteering should recognize that you will be a very small cog in a part of the very large federal government.

Peace Corps posts around the world have “Country Directors” who are responsible for the program in the country (Eastern Caribbean treated as one “county” with 4 island nations). The Country Director, CD, sets the tone for the operation but is less involved directly with volunteers.

Direct involvement with volunteers is typically the responsibility of the Associate Peace Corps Director (APCD). I sent my request for leave to my APCD a month ago.

Eastern Caribbean will be welcoming a new CD to St. Lucia tomorrow. I’m sure he will eventually travel to Grenada and the other islands so he can meet all the volunteers, staff, and some of the officials. The islands make effective communication a little difficult, but many countries have travel issues. In Ghana it was several buses and a bit of walking, a minimum of 16 hours, to get to the CD, more than twice the time to St. Lucia and that is mainly because of a very long layover. And travel in Ghana is great compared to some countries where it may be multiple days from site to PC headquarters.

Each site, each country has its advantages and disadvantages – the pleasures and frustrations. But what part of life doesn’t?

Love always,
John

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pito – brewed millet

Image
Corn, rice, and millet are the common grains grown in my region of Ghana. All three are used food, but millet is also used to produce the local brew – pito, or daa in the local language. “N nyu daa” - in Dagaree means “I drink pito.” There are several varieties of millet grown here – a red and white varieties have loose heads. These are used for pito and other foods. There is also a smaller seed variety with a tight head of seeds that is mainly used for porridge. (Don't have a picture of that variety yet.) In all varieties millet grows on a stalk with the grain head at the top of the stalk. White and red millet in the field Two bundles of while millet to be used for seed next season Converting a grain to alcohol is a common practice in various cultures. It provides a way to capture and digest the nutritional value of the grain. In some places, like Germany and the beer brewing monks, the making a beer was a way to preserve the harvest. In Ghana the millet is
Read more

Yam harvesting

Image
Roger and I went to farm to harvest yam on Saturday morning, September 13, 2014.  In Ghana a yam is a root crop that is different from a sweet potato.  We have sweet potatoes here as well. Yam recently harvested Preparing a yam for boiling The yam has a white flesh – softer than a white potato. In this area the yams are planted between April and June.  Harvest continues into December and January depending on the weather and pigs getting into the field. The plant is a vine – which is grown on stakes rather than allowed the spread out.  The plants are placed on a raised bed about 2 feet high.  The beds are surrounded by flat trenches.  This allows the rains to flow around, but not wipe out the yam crop.  Intercropping seems to be common practice with yams planted in the raised bed, soybeans around the edges, and rice in the trenches.  The occasional corn or okra plant is also among the yams – although the bulk of those crops are in other fields.   Row of ya
Read more

Mid-service Training

Image
This past week was mid-service training (MST). The conference was held on St. Lucia at the Mount of Prayer Coubaril run by the Benedictine Nuns. It was a lovely place with hospitable people as you would expect from Benedictines. A couple of years ago in Ghana I was able to spend a little time at a Benedictine Abby (popular with volunteers) – so it was a nice connection with the two Peace Corps services. I got a little spoiled with the great meals and the WiFi. I intentionally don’t have WiFi at my house so I’m less tempted to stay inside. I do have better data service than Dondometeng in the Upper West - no complaints there and so none here. Their Church Their view Their conference room Getting ready for a meal My room was the only one with a television.  It did work, but I didn't watch anything. My guess is the picture was a little fuzzy because of all the estrogen, but that's just a guy theory with a dirty phone This was actually my firs
Read more