Nicknames

      It seems like almost everybody in Jamaica, or at least in Accompong, has a nickname. Nicknames are used so frequently that rarely do Jamaicans get called by their given names except in formal situations such as school or with a doctor or talking with the police. It also it is common for nobody to know a person’s birth name, even close family members. I’ve asked sisters what their brother’s real name is, and they haven’t a clue. Cousins have to think hard before being able to recall each others’ formal names. Take our friend Dowdy for example. He’s lived in Accompong for a good ten years. Yet, you would be hard-pressed to find 10 people in Accompong who know his right name.
      When we first reached Accompong, everybody seemed to introduce themselves to us with their birth name, and this caused a lot of confusion because we would be the only people in the community referring to them this way. We’d reference Oral, and no one would know who we were talking about. They’d reference Briggy, and we’d say we haven’t met him yet. Eventually it would dawn on us that we were talking about the same person. Thus, we’ve learned to always ask for someone’s pet name when they introduce themselves to us.
      Another interesting note, nobody seems to know where they got their nickname, and their pet name can be completely unrelated to their real name (i.e. Aleisha gets called Crystal). Even asking a person where they got their nickname is answered with a confused look, implying what kinda question is that?
  
      Julie’s grade 9 class is full of nicknames: Big Man, Raquel, Crystal, Curtis, Rat, Fudgie, Rukku, Sabo, Smiley, Stucky, Likkle Man, Blue, Sconnish.
      Some other Accompong nicknames: Bahwood, Dowdy, Sunny Boy, Detroit, Bongo, Challah, Kayla, Ettis, Rosie, Smurf, Cheeko, Mistro, Squint, Popsy, Pepsi, Presi, Popeye, Jerrel, Kutu, George, Wenchie, Pinky, Teacha, Bolo, Elaine, Bigga, Bagga, Briggy, Sun-Sun, Sadiki, Ashmel, Shevar, TumTum, A.J., Fattah, Pioki, Rubba, Old Soldier, Kekkle, Slimy, Mas Joe….

H-Wood Visit!

     This past week we were lucky enough to be graced with the presence of our good friend Heidi A. Wood. She flew down from Colorado (where she’s currently attending school) on Dec 9 and left this past Thursday en route to her hometown Fairbanks, Alaska.
     Of the 7 days here, we spent most of our time in Accompong, where she joined Julie for class, helped paint the library, read to our book club members, attended the school fair, met JACOM reps and Jr. Council members, learned how to make june plum and sorrel juice, hiked around, and of course did what Heidi and Julie do best, chatted endlessly together.
     Julie and Heidi did take a side trip to Kingston, in which they subsequently met up with Matt in Treasure Beach for a weekend getaway.
     Not surprising to any of us, HW blended right in with our daily lives, ‘smalling up’ in public transportation, walking through the heart of Kingston surrounded by hustlers and higglers, supervising pickney, eating all the local foods, interacting with fellow PCVs and community members, dealing with the endless male attention, taking cold showers, going with the flow. We’d highly recommend her as a future PCV, and of course will always welcome her with open arms should she decide to visit again… much love HW!

always on

     One of the most difficult things about being a PCV is that you’re ‘always on’. PC makes this extremely clear in all their paperwork even during the application process; once in country, PCVs represent PC, and the United States for that matter, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Host Country Nationals (HCNs), as they put it, are noticing what we do all the time, round the clock. It doesn’t matter if you’re just going for a stroll, or buying bread at the local shop, or talking on the phone in your pajamas on your front porch.

Jr. Council fundraiser: MOVIE NIGHT!

It’s difficult to let your guard down, or think that nobody’s thinking about what you’re doing. This is a LOT of pressure sometimes. Especially considering that many of us PCVs feel that one of the most powerful things we can do as PCVs is ‘model’. I can talk up and down to the children about how reading is important, but often times this isn’t nearly as effective as them seeing me a read a book myself, especially if it’s reading to them. Matt can educate, educate, educate about waste removal, but when he constantly picks up his own trash instead of burning it or throwing it down the gully, people are impacted.
     So, since everybody’s watching us, and we’re seen as role models, it’s important that we’re always aware of the things we say, how we say it, what we do, who and how we talk to, etc. This is tiring….and draining…I’m getting worn out just telling all of you about it.
     Plus, being a PCV comes with expectations. Expectations that the community has for you, PC has for you, PCVs have for you, you have for yourself, etc. These expectations are also a lot to live up to, especially considering that you’re a foreigner in a foreign land, living with little resources, away from your family and friends. Sometimes we feel like our community sees us as their saviors, which can be endearing and empowering, but savior shoes, well I think they’re the biggest shoes there are.
     So of course, it’s not easy trying to fit in those ginormous shoes, especially when everybody’s watching…

PCJ 104

For Review: A PC term consists of a 26-28 month commitment. 2 years of this is the actual PC ‘service’ in which you’re living and working in your respective community/organization. The first 2-4 months of any PCV's term consists of training. During this time, you’re technically a Peace Corps Trainee (PCT), and won’t become a PCV until you complete training and attend the swearomony, becoming an official Peace Corps Volunteer.

Banana Tree sprouting in our yard

-PC holds 4 major conferences/trainings throughout a PCVs service

• Pre-Service Training (PST), held the first 2-3 months in country
• Early Service Conference (ESC), held roughly 4 months after being sworn as a volunteer/after PST
• Inter-Service Training (IST), held in the middle of your two year stint as a volunteer roughly a year after being at site.
• Close of Service (COS), held in the last months of being in country

-Although PC strongly encourages PCVs to remain at their site as much as possible, there are other random PCJ obligations that pull as away from time to time

• Quarterlies, which has recently become Trimesterlies. 3 times a year, PCVs and staff hold a conference to discuss the overall functioning of PCJ. This includes everything from safety and security meetings to Open Forums with PC staff to VAC meetings. Depending on their roles, not all PCVs are required to attend these meetings, but are encouraged to do so. (For example each one of our parishes has a PCV that acts as our warden. Wardens oversee safety and security for PCVs in their respective parish, and are in direct contact with our Safety and Security Coordinator. All wardens are required to attend Trimesterlies for the safety and security meeting.)
• Wardens meetings, occurring after every Trimesterly, in which we get together with other PCVs in our parish to discuss safety and security issues.
• Random committee meetings. Jamaican PCVs have a number of opportunities to get involved in random PCJ committees and networks existing within PC circles. As mentioned before, Matt is our VAC Treasurer, and Julie serves on SPA. As a result, one of us usually has to travel into Kingston once a month to attend a meeting. 

Book club members checking out their new books after the weekly meeting

Momma Visit

       So it’s been a while….things are still going well, it’s just been a BUSY few weeks.
       Julie caught the flu and was out for a week, which of course entailed Matt waiting on her hand and foot, setting him back a week as well.
       Then Julie’s mom, Pam, came to visit for a week.
       Last week we had a Peace Corps conference Friday and Saturday, and PC staff arranged for us to dine with a US Embassy family on Thursday for Thanksgiving. Although we felt like royalty at the Embassy family’s home, and it’s always wonderful catching up with other PCVs, life still went on work-wise as Jamaicans don’t exactly celebrate Thanksgiving.
       Anyway, we’re back into the swing of things –that is until our good friend Heidi comes to visit in a week and half :).

       We’ve included a slide show of images from Pam’s trip…so you can see exactly how 'busy' we were while she was here :).
 

Switching Gears

     During the past six months in Accompong, different project ideas have presented themselves to us. Because we have almost complete autonomy to put our energy into projects that seem worthwhile, we can pick and choose what we want to do. We do this partially based on our own passion, and partially based on what the community wants and needs. Some of these ideas have flourished, while others have fizzled. One of the original, and primary, projects that the Peace Corps identified for us, through the Accompong Maroon Council, was the creation of a Junior Council. The Accompong Maroon Council is the ruling, elected body in our community. The structure of the Maroon Council goes back almost three hundred years, and at first glance, looks, and functions, much like any other town council, but one has to remember that the implications here are far greater because (remember your Jamaican Maroon history)… Accompong is technically a semi-autonomous state within Jamaica. But that is another story, for another time.
     The Accompong Junior Council… is one of the ideas that is beginning to flourish, and could begin to absorb more of our time. The idea for the Junior Council (at least as we see it) is to train a small group (less than ten) of young (17-25 year olds) to do exactly what we do as Peace Corps volunteers… community development, with a side-focus on responsible, effective leadership. The goal is to empower a small group of young people to affect positive change within their own community. The Junior Council wields no power, is accountable to, and is recognized by the “senior council”. One of the identified needs of the community is to have a community “action group”, a group of people (Junior Council) who can get things done, proactively, in Accompong. The Accompong Maroon Council model works… reactively. We think of the Junior Council as the “legs” and the Maroon Council as the head. I was recently speaking to a grant-proposal writer for-hire in Kingston who has a long history of working with Accompong. What he told me was this (paraphrased)… “Accompong does well when Peace Corps is there, projects happen, things move forward… but as soon as Peace Corps volunteers leave things begin to fall apart. They lack strong central leadership…”. What we’d like to do is to get Peace Corps out of Accompong, and move towards sustainability. As Peace Corps volunteers, as community developers, no matter what we do, it has to be “sustainable”. The creation and training of the Accompong Junior Council is one step towards this goal.
     What we have with the Junior Council is this… youth, energy, drive and passion. Practically, this is how it is looking… a brain-storming session on the project possibilities, and desires and goals of the community, training in grant-writing, action. This group has identified dozens of projects, some small and some very large, that they would like to possibly start in order to improve their community. Ideas such as… replanting the flower bed at the entrance to the community, making and distributing food to the elderly, writing a grant proposal for the rebuilding of the herbal garden hut, revitalizing the football field and school playground, re-painting the library in a way that reflects their shared heritage, and on and on and on. The most valuable thing about these ideas is that they are community generated. The tricky thing about this first step is that generating these ideas is the easy part…

Halloween Par-Tay

     As we’ve mentioned before, there exists a ‘guesthouse/eco-lodge/place of stay’ here in Accompong that’s run by a good friend of ours, Tony. Tony is an American that moved to Accompong about 7 years ago and decided to build Baboo’s Garden, a rustic getaway. Dowdy serves as Tony’s sidekick, or as Tony calls him, the General Manager at Baboo’s. Tony and Dowdy have become part of our ‘family’ here in Accompong, and we have spent many a night hanging out up at Baboo’s or traveling around with Tony and Dowdy in Tony’s truck.
     Tony also seems to be part of the greater PCV family on island, and in some circles we’ve started to call him Uncle T. This is partly because Tony is very generous with PCVs when they come to visit and carts us around to all sorts of places, while charging only a very nominal fee to cover the bare cost of us staying there and gas. It’s also probably because Tony is quite the character –which I’m sure we’ll get into at some point. (Much love T!)

     Here in Jamaica, us PCVs often get together for American holidays. It’s a great time to catch up, hang out, and freely act as American as we’d like. This past summer, it was suggested that we host Halloween in Accompong at Baboo’s. Luckily it didn’t take much arm-twisting from Tony as he loves company, loves PCVs, and loves a good party.
     So this past weekend we hosted over 30 fellow PCVs here in Accompong. Despite Matt and I being completely wiped Monday when the last couple of guests left, it was well worth the energy. Good times were had by all, and of course it’s always fun to dress up in silly costumes. Although it wasn’t pre-planned, there was a strong Jamaican theme among costumes: a dancehall queen (done by yours truly), a rasta, Sean Paul, rice and peas, and Kojo –leader of the Trelawny Maroons (done by Matt).Of course, there were numerous other non-Jamaican costumes as well.

Project #2- Book Club

       One of the relatively successful ‘projects’ that we’ve started in Accompong is the Accompong Children’s Book Club (Grades 1-6). It’s primarily Julie’s project although Matt assists in many ways.      Book Club takes place every Tuesday after school and is open to any Primary School student who can behave themselves during our meetings. The goal of the book club is to encourage reading for pleasure at a young age. Largely due to illiteracy and lack of resources (i.e. books), the idea of reading for pleasure is minimal in Accompong.
     Book Club members take a different book home each week, assuming that they’ve returned the book (in proper condition) they took home the week before. Each member is asked to read their book before the next meeting, whether this means reading it themselves, or having it read to them by someone else, usually Matt or myself –something we encourage.
     If the member has read their book and returns it in good condition, they get to add a new sticker to their chart. And IF the member fills all 10 slots on the chart –that’s ten weeks of reading-, they get a small prize!
During each meeting I pick a president, and a king/queen. The president’s role is to oversee/lead the meeting (i.e. call the meeting to order, welcome new members, remind members to behave :), ‘big up’ readers, etc.). The king and queen are chosen to sit on the author’s throne individually and present the book they read that week to the club.
     We also have a book read-aloud to the group. Lately it’s been read by Matt, however, I’m working on the idea of having ‘guest readers’ from the community come in and read. This is my favorite part of our meetings. These kids are bouncing off the walls when they get to club. But, without fail, as soon as someone starts to read to them, a miracle happens… they’re quiet… they’re still… and they pay attention. This reaffirms my belief in the need for children to be read to.
     The book club is growing with each passing week, and last week we had 28 kids show up for the meeting. I can’t tell you how encouraging it is to see all the children get SO excited to take home a book each week. They constantly refer to their book/book club when they see me. After walking home after our Tuesday meetings, it’s not uncommon to see the kids sharing their new book with their parents, or to see the parents looking through the book themselves.
     Many of the kids seem to carry the books with them everywhere they go. One of the best mental snapshots I have is of Tiandra, one of our book club members, at recess, licking from her just-bought ice cream cone in one hand while clutching her week’s book in the other. I have to admit that part of me cringed, knowing the wear and tear that occurs with such usage –especially because books were such a limited commodity in Accompong before we got here*. But the other part of me, smiled giddily watching her carry her book around, much like many other children will carry around their favorite stuffed animal or blankie. It really hit me what it’s like to grow up without access to libraries, that to a young child seem to be filled with limitless books.

*We have already said it to many of you individually, but would like to say it here publicly. To all who sent us books: Thank you, especially with heartfelt gratitude from the kids in Accompong. Please know that those books are being loved, appreciated, and cherished the way that books should be.

The Token PCV Blogpost

     One thing that almost every PCV can agree on, regardless of which country you’re serving in, is that PC service is like an extreme roller-coaster ride. Your highs are really high, and your lows are really low. And the amazing thing is that you can feel both of which many times throughout one day. Although I can’t speak for PCVs in other countries, I’m sure that almost every Jamaica PCV has at one point or another said to himself, ‘Forget this place. I’m out of here.’ Whether this feeling occurs regularly, or only once or twice, whether you’ve seriously contemplated it to the point of looking for jobs back home, or just said it in a moment of passing frustration, the bottom line is that we’ve all felt it to some degree. That’s right, us, Matt and Julie, too.

     We’ve both had points in the last 6 months that we’ve looked at each other and said, “What the heck were we thinking?’

     It can be something major: Someone in the community has royally pissed us off. The aggressiveness with males to females makes you hit your breaking point. Nobody wants to actually work for a community project. Those who do work only ever bitch and complain. People beg you everywhere you go. No business/organization ever calls you back, even though they say they will, over and over and over again.
     Or it can be something small: You just want to at least have the option to eat out, rather than cooking for yourself night after night. You want to be able to know that a certain grocery item will be at the store. You want to walk down the street and not have everyone stare. When you’re trying to build something, it’d be nice to have a few decent hand tools.

     But here’s the beautiful thing about it all. For many of the lows, there's at least one high that seems to carry you through.

     It could be barely anything at all: The afternoon rain holds out long enough for you to dry your laundry. You finally figured out how to make jam on your own. You know people at the market by name, and they know yours. All the local taxi-men know where you live, even if you’ve never met them. Getting the front seat all to yourself, when all the other passengers are crammed in the back.
     Or it could be major: Your project finally falls into place. You go to a workday expecting nobody to show, and 10 people do. You come home to food waiting at your door. You receive the care package you were waiting for weeks to come. You receive a care package you didn’t even know was coming. When you walk down the street, everyone notices and says hello. When you walk by a classroom, you hear the all the children excitedly call out your name. You feel like you’re truly needed somewhere, to a place, to a people.

What's for dinner?

     Good question. A better question is, what’s in our fridge? Or, what is bearing in the garden? Or, what has been dropped off lately by a benevolent community member?
     I do try to alternate what we have every night: Jamaican dish, non-Jamaican dish, Jamaican dish, non-Jamaican dish. This non-Jamaican dish almost always originates from a Moosewood recipe, my all-time favorite cookbook series. (I’m not sure how many Moosewood cookbooks I own in total, but I think it’s somewhere close to 15. Of course, I couldn’t leave country for 26 months without at least one in tow.)
     Cooking is a favorite pastime of mine, and I’ve especially enjoyed it since coming to Jamaica, even despite all the adjustments I’ve had to make (i.e. access to ingredients, lack of storage, new foods, limited appliances/no oven, etc.) However, I feel that some of these ‘adjustments’ have also granted me more grace from my hungry recipient (a.k.a. Matt), as he knows what I have to work with.
     Juicing is another kitchen activity that I spend a lot of time on. Coming from Alaska, we didn’t always have fruit readily available, much less growing on trees right outside our door. I’ve definitely taken advantage of the abundance of fruit here, through juicing. I take great pleasure in grabbing june plums from our tree, immediately bringing them inside to make juice with…whenever I want. Because they’re right there, just waiting to be plucked for consumption. It’s wonderful.... Anyway, some of the juices I’ve made so far include: mango, papaya, orange, banana, pineapple, cucumber, sorrel, june plum, guava, soursop, and passion fruit. And there’s more that I would like to add to my repertoire. Akeliah, one of the neighborhood girls (also one of my students), and I have plans for her to teach me how to make peanut juice and breadfruit juice next.
     Akeliah and I have also spent some time making jam. So far we’ve made june plum and guava jam, both very good, and I hope to experiment with some other fruits as well.
    I’ve decided to include a slideshow of some of the dinners we’ve had over the last couple of weeks. You’ll notice that it’s pear (avocado) season, and we have them in abundance. We also were given ‘nuff’ pumpkin recently, both foods have been augmenting many of our dishes.
Last but not least, I have to give a shout out to my multi-talented husband. No, he is not a 'bump-on-a-log' when it comes to the kitchen. Our arrangement (as it was in Alaska, and continues here) is that he cooks breakfast and I cook dinner. The highlight of Matt’s breakfasts are definitely the chocolate tea (Jamaican name for fancy cocoa) he makes for me every morning -made from the very cocoa pods he harvested, fermented, dried, roasted, pulverized, froze, and now makes into the best cocoa I have ever had in my life. Trust me, if you ever get the chance to try this stuff, you’ll agree that it is the best way to start off every day.
     And that’s how we start most days, individually reading our respective books, Matt with his self-roasted coffee and me with my delicious cocoa.

The PCV Tourist

     This is what I mean, and please excuse my frankness:
     (I have to preface this by saying that I recently read something similar on another PCV's blog. So kudos to them.)
     There are many types of tourists in this world. But for the purpose of this blog, I'm going to put them in 3 categories:

     #1: There are the all-inclusive-cruise-ship-passenger tourists. Who will book a 4-7 day trip where everything is included for a one-time fee including airfare. These tourists arrive at their destination, while a local will be waiting with drink in hand, ready to serve them. Many of these same tourists, not all, will be the same people who will readily list off all the destinations they've traveled to around the world.
     But where have they really been? In my opinion, this tourist has paid an expensive plane ticket to hear different looking people speak with a funny accent so that said tourist can go back to their master list of Destinations Traveled and check one more off. Sure, it may be that they’ve seen the actual landscape of the country, and experienced its warm tropical weather and fine beaches. But culture? I’m not so sure about that. They've never seen those different looking people in any outfit outside of that ridiculous costume the resort makes them wear. They've never been to their home or ate at their table. They haven't heard them truly laugh, or met their mother, or understand what their daily life consists of. Yet, they will tell you they've been to Thailand, to Indonesia, AND South Africa.
     Really? Have you really been there? I have to admit that this conversation can be quite frustrating:
Bob: Jamaica? You're doing the Peace Corps in Jamaica? 
Me: Yep. Jamaica it is.
Bob: I've been there. 
Me: Oh yeah, when? Where did you go? 
Bob: Oh, my wife and I took a Caribbean Cruise for our 15th wedding anniversary. You wouldn't believe the food on that ship! Anyway, we had a stop in Jamaica. 
Me: Oh. Where'd you go? 
Bob: Oh, in Ocho Rios for the day. Man, those Rastas are HILARIOUS. 
Me: Yeah. Cool.
When what I really want to say is: Bob, let's be honest for a moment. Yes, you have physically been to Jamaica. And if you want to tell people that, then that's fine. But just between you and me, we both know that you have never really, truly experienced Jamaica. 

     Okay, tourist #2. These are the people who would prefer that I call them travelers and not tourists, because they hate that word: tourist. These are the backpackers, the hostellers, the ones who don’t rent a car, but use public transportation. Usually when they travel, it’s for longer periods of time, at least a month. They use Lonely Planet or the Rough Guide to help them experience more, and usually will try to read up on the country they are visiting beforehand. Most of them truly try to get to know the culture in which they are traveling. Many of these travelers have been to a local’s home and dined at their dinner table, they even still keep in touch with some they’ve met along the way. They acknowledge the carbon footprint left behind by their favorite pastime, but they can’t help themselves. They love to see the world. Plus, don’t they lead a pretty conscientious lifestyle otherwise?

     Category #3: The Peace Corps Tourist. That’s us. I mean, we definitely live here. We eat much of the same food our neighbors do. We live off of the same budget that they do. We wash our clothes by hand. We haven’t taken a hot shower in months. We ‘small up’ in the taxis. We are affected by the local politics. For 26 months, we do all this and more. We live as our neighbors, our community and as our Jamaican families do.
     But that’s just it. For only 26 months. This isn’t the whole of my life. Come May 2012, we’ll be moving on to our next adventure. So, no matter what hardships we may face in the PC as a result of living the lifestyle that much of the developing world does, in 2 years it’s over. We all know that. And besides, if we really just couldn’t live without Nutty-Butty bars or rechargeable batteries, our parents can and will send them in the mail. (Thanks guys!)
     The beautiful thing about PC is that for 26-28 months, we move to a country and live like the host country nationals do. We don’t go to work every day and then return back to our protected housing compound, or dine at our favorite restaurant every Friday night while we share our cultural stories over a glass of red wine. But I don’t want to kid myself all the same. Because the future I’m facing is not the future my neighbors are facing. The possibilities for me are not the same as my community. And if it just gets too tough, I can decide to go home, to my personal vehicle, college degree, financially stable family, and boxes of things now residing in Judy’s basement. My Jamaican family doesn’t have that option. If it gets too tough, well, they just ‘deal widit’.
     I do realize that all of us have different motives for travel, some for the beach or scenery and others for the culture or travel hardships. Please don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that no one should ever travel because it’s pointless, or that they’ll never truly understand another culture. No sah. That’s not what I’m saying at all. I think that we should try our darndest to understand other cultures the best we possibly can….I just think that part of this understanding process is the realization that we’ll never truly grasp the whole picture.

weather update

     As some of you may know, Jamaica was hit by tropical storm Nicole this past week. This has led to all those wonderful things that come with tropical storms: flash floods, landslides, power outages, roadblocks, food shortages, etc. Although this may seem like a stressful situation, and for some communities it has been, most of the island just adapted and coped like they so often do to adverse situations. And, to be honest, it hasn’t been THAT bad.
      We were starting to get slightly concerned when earlier in the week, it looked like a rather sizable hurricane was heading straight for Jamaica, but luckily for us, the hurricane has seemed to dissipate. Otherwise we check the NOAA Caribbean map regularly to see if there are any orange or red blobs in the Eastern seas of blue.

our banana trees that were blown down this past summer

     Hurricanes and tropical storms are a reality here in Jamaica, but to be honest, we don’t really worry too much about either. This is partly due to the fact that our place could double as a bomb shelter, that PCJ does an excellent job of keeping us safe, and that living in a small, farming community, at a high elevation, we are cared for by the community, some sort of produce is almost always available, and all the water runs downhill. Probably the largest inconveniences in Accompong this past week was the couple of people who lost their zinc roofs to the strong winds, power outage (lasting Monday through Saturday), and how stinkin’ moist/damp/wet everything is after a week straight of rain, and I quite literally mean just that. Rain all day, round the clock.
     For us personally, we didn’t have to put up with too much because our Early Service Conference (ESC) was this past week. So not only were we not in Accompong, but we were staying at a resort in the tourist hotbed of Ocho Rios. In our defense as suffering PCVs, we stayed at a low-end resort (the same place where the Ministry of Education has been known to hold their conferences), and the only other touristy thing we did was go to Margaritavile on Wednesday night.
     As far as the fun factor, Margaritaville was probably one of the best times we’ve had with other PCVs. After being at our sites for 4 months and dealing with all that entails, it was great for about 20 of us to cut loose together. Margaritaville has a Wednesday night special: all you can drink for about US$8. Add the pool, waterslide, dancefloor/DJ, hottub, and the fact that because of the rain, only about 10 other people were there. Let’s just say it wasn’t the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to endure….So, where was I? Oh yeah, our trials and tribulations.
     When it comes to power outages in Jamaica, the tourist districts are last to lose electricity. As a result, we had power in Ochi all week. Originally we were supposed to head home on Friday after ESC was over, but due to roadblocks, collapsed bridges, and the like, we ended up needing two days to get home (the same journey took us 4 hours on Monday morning). Aside from this, the other hassle is that when we came home, our place smelt worse than a moldy gym shoe. There was water on the floor, everything was damp, and bacteria was growing on our walls. Remember how I said we lived in somewhat of a bomb shelter? Well, cave might be the more appropriate term. Prior to this week, we regularly have to rewash formerly clean clothes that acquire mold spores somewhere during its quiet life in our dresser drawer –and that’s with us here every day, opening the place up, running the fan 24/7, and it NOT raining round the clock for a week. So you can imagine what our place was like yesterday. Since then we’ve been trying our best to air it out, clean up the water and mold, dry out our linens in between the frequent rains, and get rid of that God-awful smell.

The Great Debate

     What is community development? What is the goal of a Peace Corps Volunteer? What are we supposed to be doing here after all?
     This is something that we discuss frequently in our PCV circles. Officially, the PC would respond by saying that we have 3 goals:

• Helping people in interested countries to meet their need for trained men and women.
• Helping to promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
• Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

     But what does that all mean? How does that play out practically? Okay, admittedly, goals 2 and 3 are a little easier to define than goal 1. So for goal 1, what exactly are those trained men and women supposed to do?  And how the heck do you make it -the million dollar word- sustainable? What really is development?       For me as complicated as it can be, it's also very simple... I'm doing what I can to become a community member just like I would be back home, to actively share what I can, no matter how large or small that may seem. Sometimes I feel that as PCVs, we get caught up in the “Big Project syndrome”. We want to make the “Big Impact”. We want to solve the waste management issue, or bring in piped water for the first time, or eradicate illiteracy. So we come in, full throttle ready to use our skills.
     But why did I join the PC? Was it to make that Big Impact? Was it to be someone's hero? To inflate my ego? Or did I join the PC simply because it was the right thing to do? Because even if I'm not able to “make a difference” it's worth my best shot anyway. Plus, even if I don't have anything to offer them, surely the people here have loads to teach me. And that should be life everywhere, right? People living together, sharing, and learning from one another?
      Days before leaving the States, I had a conversation with my current PC supervisor in which she asked me what I hoped to accomplish while serving in Jamaica. I told her that for me, I just want to live and operate in a community (preferably a small one :)) in such a way that the community starts to see me as one of them. I hope to be happy with simply being part of a community -a positive and active part-, but just a part nonetheless. So my goal, isn't to eradicate illiteracy, or solve the waste management issue, or bring in piped water for the first time -surely all noble feats. But rather, my hope is that when there's a party in town, people expect to see us there, or that when they have leftover vegetables on their farm, they send them our way, or they don't look at us funny when we join the local shop debate on who should win Digicel Rising Stars this year, because they assume we've been watching it too.
     Besides, PCVs all across the world can tell of development projects that turned out to be a complete waste of energy and resources, many of which were even done by other PCVs. They weren't sustainable; natural disasters took a toll; the people who did care, left, etc. So then what really matters anyway?
Ann, one of our favorite PC staff, has been working with PCJ for a number of years. She once told us that the most sustainable thing she ever saw done was when an adult police officer wanted to do a safety lesson with Jamaican PCVs all because of the impact a former PCV had on him as a child. Which would lead me to argue that the most sustainable thing we'll ever do here has nothing to do with what we build, create, or bring in. It's the relationships we make.
     So I don't want to get caught up in this Big Project Syndrome. I mean, don't get me wrong. I don't view these two years as simply a vacation, if that's what you're thinking. Nor do I have any problems whatsoever with having real goals. And if while we're here, some of those Big Projects happen to fall into place, well so be it. We can feel great about that too. I just want to be perfectly content if, even despite my best efforts, the only person who has changed as a result of my Peace Corps service is me.

PCJ 103

Okay here's some more info on how things are broken down here in PCJ world:

• There's currently about about 85 PVCs currently serving on island.
•  35 of us are from g81. We all came in March 2010 and will finish our tour about May 2012. (For those of you who are keeping track, it's true. We've already lost 4 people from the orginal 39 that arrived 6 months ago. A sad and difficult reality of PCJ.)
• About 25-30 g80ers. They're here March 2009-May 2011.
• About 14 PCRVs. Peace Corps Response Volunteers. These guys have served as a PCV previously, and as such are able to work as a PCRV. PCRVs serve much shorter terms, and thus their 'assignments' tend to reflect this. Many PCRVs in Jamaica are looking at a 6 month tour (4 days of which was training).
• The other 5 or so are a random mix. Basically they consist of PCVs who have extended or transferred from another post.

     These PCVs are quite literally spread across the island from Negril to Port Antonio. Some PCVs live and work in a small bush community like ourselves, while others work in rather large tourist cities such as Ochi or Negril. This means that even within the same country, PCVs can have a VERY different experience than someone who might be located just a couple hours away.
     In PCJ world, most PCVs are assigned to work with/alongside an organization. For example, our good friend lives in a larger community in St. Ann, but is assigned to work with a residential deaf school within her community. As a result, her daily work looks very different than what Matt and I experience here in Accompong. We tend to operate and work in the way which seems to be the more traditional PC experience. The 'organization' we work with is the Accompong Maroon Council, the governing body of Accompong Town. They don't have an office, or a daily schedule. We don't have to report into anybody regularly (more because of the tone we've set for ourselves, than anything else). We can go to anyone on the council if we have questions, or need their support or something, and somctimes they'll suggest things they would like us to work on. But for the most part we spend our time mostly just living in our community and doing what we can to better it.

     And really, isn't that what we all should be doing everywhere? Just living within, and AS PART of our community -that's usually where many Americans seem to miss the mark-, and doing our share to better it?

ABC (Accompong Bicycling Club)

       Imagine whizzing down a hill on a bicycle, helmetless, at 35 miles an hour, dodging potholes and broken pavement with just enough loosely strewn gravel on the road surface to function as tiny ball-bearings just yearning to grease your tires out from underneath you while simultaneously, crazed taxi men in their white Toyota Corollas come flying around the inside of every other corner regardless of which side of the road it's on, constantly leaning on their horns as warning. When you need to shift gears (if you even have that capability), you stop your bike by dragging the bottom of your feet on the ground Flintstones style because more than likely you have no working brakes, and then pick up a small wedge-shaped rock and jam it in your derailleur to keep it in the proper spot for the gear that you want. You've now begun to get a small picture of what bicycling in rural Jamaica can be.

       Over the past few weeks, partially because of the inspiration offered by Julie's new Peace Corps bicycle and my (Matt's) interest in riding, regardless of how many damn hills there are, several of the local boys have begun to show some interest in getting together and riding with me beyond the limits of Accompong and out into the countryside and to neighboring villages. Many, many people here in Jamaica bicycle, but it's almost invariably men. Just the other morning I was out for an early ride and passed over 20 other guys riding their bicycles, probably all farmers going to their fields. Most of the boys who have shown some interest in getting out and riding have their own bikes, the quality of which I'll touch on later, and have been out riding some long before I came on the scene. I'm beginning to develop the embryonic idea of creating something a little more formal, like a bicycle club, ABC.


       The biggest hurdle to getting kids out on a regular basis here is the quality of the bikes, or lack thereof. Most of the bikes here are the cheapest Chinese junk available on the market, super low-quality with parts breaking constantly. Tires are another issue, most are bald, patched, taped and pieced together remnants. The ones that are worn all the way through to the tube have another segment of tire cut and spliced into them, and as a result go thump-thump-thump-thump-thump as they turn. Patch kits are unheard of. On the flipside, these kids and adults are so good at getting by with so little that they are ingenious at solving these issues (never would I think to jam a small rock in my deraullier to keep it in the right gear) with the materials at hand (enough to make David Helmer in Alaska proud, the King of Improvisation). So when I get out and ride with these guys, invariably some problem turns up that we stop and deal with, eventually continuing on our way.

       The area immediately surrounding Accompong is very hilly, with road grades that would make a mountain goat think twice. Accompong is at the top of the hill, so regardless of which direction we ride we invariably start out riding downhill when we are fresh and have the long hard climbs coming home when we are tired. And the heat... I used to get by with simply carrying water, but here the heat just eats you up and causes you to sweat out everything quickly. As a result I carry a homemade version of Gatorade... watered down Kool-Aid with table salt and baking soda added in an attempt to replenish electrolytes loss.

       Our longest ride yet has about 20 miles, with a degree of difficulty of 7.7 :) I'd like to eventually get the point where we can ride to the Treasure Beach, about 40 miles away, spend the next day swimming and eating, camp over night and then ride home the following day. Whooppee! Bicycling in Jamaica!

alphabet soup

Peace Corps posts worldwide provide different opportunities for volunteers to participate on a variety of committees. The major ones in Jamaica are VAC, PSN, and SPA.

Matt already blogged about VAC, Volunteer Advisory Council. In Jamaica, VAC consists of an executive board of 4 PCVs. These positions are chosen by the other PCVs on island through an election. VAC bridges the gap that often occurs between PCVs and PC staff. They try their best to represent us and advocate for our issues. This summer Matt was elected for VAC, and as a result has numerous other responsibilities outside of our community.

PSN stands for Peer Support Network. PSN exists to provide support for PCVs as they face the inevitable struggles that come with PC service. About 1/3 of PCVs are chosen for PSN, and are subsequently trained to create a strong support system.

Okay, enough about Matt, PSN, and VAC. Let's talk about something more important: Julie...and SPA. SPA stands for Small Project Assistance.

“The Small Project Assistance (SPA) Program provides support for small-scale, community grants....The program is a partnership between the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Peace Corps.”

Basically, through USAID, and thus SPA, PCVs are able to apply for small grants to help fund projects they are working on. As we all would assume, resources and money are pretty scarce in the developing world. This can cause quite the roadblock for many development workers, including PCVs. SPA provides a direct link to USAID funds that are specifically set aside for PC.

Now, PCVs don't just snap their fingers, and BAM! money is available. As with any grant, they still have to write a proposal, get approval, fill out the proper paperwork, and oversee monitoring and reporting of their SPA project -among some other nitty gritty details...gotta love grants.

In Jamaica, we have a SPA committee that currently consists of a few staff members and 6 PCVs. The committee exists to decide what projects should be chosen for funding, and to provide support to Jamaican PCVs during the SPA process.

Needless to say, Julie was psyched to be chosen to sit on the committee. What a great opportunity to learn more about the interworkings of international development while playing a role in PCV projects islandwide!

why we lovey ya so

Thought we might highlight a couple of things we love about Jamaica:

~Jamaicans are crazy. And I mean this in the best sense of the word (for the most part). Whether it's the passa passa (local gossip), or the clothes worn to dances, or the way they respond to certain situations, Jamaicans are crazy. They keep life interesting. Things seem to always be lively here. Sometimes we feel like we are living in a real live soap opera, which can be tiring at times, but there's never a dull moment.

One of the best parallels of this can be seen in their flashy dress. We once heard a PCV compare Halloween costumes to the way that Jamaicans dress at dancehalls. And, uh, we'd say that's pretty accurate. Glitter. Vibrant colors. Fabrics such as polyester, velvet, chiffon, nylon; anything really, except cotton. Shiny jewelry, shoes, shirts, hair pieces, whatever. Dangly earrings. Hairstyles that make you go: “What the...? How'd they...? Huh?” Essentially, think of your basic T-shirt and jeans....now try to imagine what the exact OPPOSITE of that would be. Now add some green hair dye, speckles of silver nail polish, and multi-colored sequins, and you're probably imagining one of the looks we witnessed this last Saturday night.

This outlandishness translates into many aspects of Jamaican life. We aren't fooling around here people. We don't want no foo-foo, fenky-fenky foolishness. When Jamaicans do things, they go all out. Whether it's church service (usually averaging about 5 hours), a birthday party (big enough that the whole community, and neighboring communities come to), or basic school graduation (I left after 2 hours, but I heard it went for 3 more).

~To go along with this, Jamaicans are passionate people. This adds to the colorful, liveliness of our everyday life here. From the way they dress (as mentioned above), to the way they talk, to what they feel. When Jamaicans speak, they really speak. They gesticulate with their hands and eyes, lips and hips. They emphasize their words. They stress their tone.
And when Jamaicans feel, they really feel. When they're excited, they're dancing off the walls. When they're angry, you can see the smoke coming out their ears. When they're happy, they're rolling on the ground laughing. When they're in love with you, they follow you around everyday relentlessly, professing their undying feelings until you start to lose your mind. Trust me, happens all the time.

shop til yuh drop

Some of you might be wondering how/where we get our groceries and other household needs. Well, we thought we might outline you on how that all works round here.

As said before Accompong is relatively remote, at least for Jamaican standards. Although we do have about a dozen 'shops' in town, we usually have to do most of our shopping in Santa Cruz. The local shops average about 12 x 12 in size and tend to mostly carry Jamaican snack foods, such as beer, rum, soda, cheese chips, sweeties, etc. Some shops will also have dry goods like flour, sugar, evaporated milk, toilet paper, clothespins, powdered milk, and canned veggies. Several shops also sell the Jamaican staple, chicken, and we can even get some fish here too.

Because we live in a farming community, most produce is not hard to come by. We've had a significant amount of veggies and fruit given to us by people in the community, and we try our best to purchase/find whatever we can here. It's relatively common for someone to come to our gate asking, 'Unu need plaintain? Ripe banana?' The farm to door service is quite nice.

We also started a garden which has yet to produce, but our bok choy, scallions, and carrots look ready to harvest in another week or so. Along with this, we have plenty of trees around that have food ready to be plucked. In our yard alone we have june-plum, almond, banana, breadfruit, coconut, orange, and mango trees.

In order to support our local community, and to be connected to the land and the people here, we try to buy/get what we can here. For everything else, we go to Santa Cruz. Santa is the biggest town, and the regional hub for our parish. It's where many people from all over St. Elizabeth go to shop. It takes about 45 minutes to get there by taxi and about US$2.75 one way/person for fare. We usually hit up the outdoor market/street vendors first, get random items at the wholesale (very different from wholesales in the States), and then head to our favorite local grocery store to get most other food items we need.

Aside from food, Santa has countless other shops, hardware stores, stationery stores, furniture stores, small appliance stores, computer stores, and so on. Some of these stores can be extremely frustrating to buy from for a number of reasons. First of all, we're either provided with too much service or none at all. Many times we walk into a store and a vendor won't leave us alone to 'just look', partly due to the Jamaican higgler mentality, and partly due to the fact that we're white, which equals money/tourists to many Jamaicans. If this doesn't happen, the opposite seems to be true. You can't find someone to help you to save your life. I can't tell you how many times Matt and I are stuck waiting behind the counter for one agent to get off the phone with her boyfriend and the other one to stop talking to the guy in the back. They see us. They know we're there. They know we need help. They know we're there to spend money. They also don't care. So until we yell like the other Jamaicans do, we're not getting any service.

The second thing that can be frustrating is that many shops have most of their items behind the counter. You're not completely sure what's back there, or if what you're seeing is really what you think you're seeing, and Lord knows what the price is! The hardware store is even like this. It drives Matt crazy when he's just trying to get some nuts and bolts, and he can't just look at them up close and personal, grab what he needs, and check out like he would at Home Depot, Samson, or Ace. Back home, Matt in a hardware store is like a kid in a candy shop; here, he loathes any time he steps foot in one of these shops.

Because of the time/energy/money involved in going to Santa, we try to limit how often we go. All the same, we do enjoy getting 'out' once a week or so. We can catch some different scenery for a while, and who knows, maybe even hit up KFC for lunch.

New Wheels

That's right. Guess who got a new, flashy bicycle? Julie! PCJ just got a new shipment of bicycles in for PCVs to use. Unfortunately there aren't enough bicycles for every volunteer, so all who were interested were asked to apply and plead their case as to why they were most deserving. Well, I did, and I got one. You're now probably asking what everyone else in our community asks, “Matt, where's your bike?” Well, my friends, Matt didn't apply for one. I think largely because we really didn't feel right owning two of the few bicycles that were available, and it made more sense for me to have one then him based on our daily travel schedules. It should come as no surprise to anyone that Matt's getting his use out of it. (For those who unaware, Matt's a cyclist at heart. He's done many long-distance bike trips, one of which started in Anchorage, Alaska and ended in Camden, Maine.) I won't burst his bubble, but I told him he needed to write a blog on his little informal bike club. Hopefully my powers of persuasion will continue to prevail, and you'll soon hear more about this.

I can't be too upset about his use of MY bike, because he does make sure to clarify that it's MY bike every time people make reference to it being his. Plus, as always, he does all the mechanical work on it. Oh, and I guess we are married, so we're supposed to do that sharing thing.

Of course having a new, flashy bicycle has its obvious perks. But it also have it's downfalls. First of all, it's a new, flashy bicycle...in a poor community...a community that I'm constantly telling 'nuh money nuh run fuh we poor likkle peace corps'...in a culture that has a significant problem with stealing. As a result we constantly have to make sure the bicycle is in a secured area. We bring it in the house every night, and have it in eye sight everywhere else -even bringing it inside the building if need be.

Second of all, it causes quite the stir when I come riding by on my bike. I mean, people stare already. Still. After 3 months. We know most people by name and have had conversations with lots, but walk down the street and everybody watches, partly because there's nothing better to do. So if you're a white girl, riding by on a new, flashy bicycle, they'll drop whatever they're doing to look with their mouth gaping open as you pass. They might even offer a “Wow girl, yuh fit.” To go with this, I've never seen a Jamaican woman ride a bicycle. It seems to be a rare phenomenon, as in... “Gyal, why yuh wanna go mash up yuh pum-pum like dat?” This of course only adds to the freak show that consists of me and my bike.

This can be a little intimidating. Especially as I ride by one of the shops that sits ¾ of the way up a hill I regularly ride up. I'm already sweating in the heat, breathing heavy as I am determined to not get off the bike and walk it up the hill while my audience looks on. Many times I've ridden past as 5 or 6 guys stand outside, greeting me as I ride on up the hill. Of course, I try my best to act like it's no big deal “Afternoon!”, like I'm not about to pass out any moment “Wa Gwaan!”, I ride up hills in this heat all the time “Yea Mon.”, not strained at all “Alright.”, but praying deeply for the crest to come as quickly as possible “Likkle more.” And of course, I CAN NOT stand up and peddle. That would become the most sought after show in town, watching the white girl's bumpa dance in the air as she pumps up the hill on her bicycle. Jamaican male eyes already have a STRONG draw to check out a woman's rear-end as she walks by. Add a little elevation and bounce, well you're just asking for a fan club. So I just keep on, keeping on, hoping that one day it will be easier for me to get up the hill, or that my cycling skills/backside will cease to be as entertaining. Let's just say I'm not exactly holding out for the latter.

Project #1-Computer Lab

We thought we should probably fill you in on one of the projects we've been spending much of our time on. Before we arrived in Accompong, JACOM already had plans and most of the infrastructure in place to start an internet cafe way out here in the Jamaican bush. That's right, lucky us! Most of the work was already done. Since we've been here, high-speed internet was brought into the community -not an easy, nor cheap feat, and we were able to open up an internet cafe. Cost for internet is J$60/30 minutes, comparable or cheaper than most other internet cafes in St. Elizabeth, not to mention the fact that a taxi ride to the closest internet cafe from Accompong is J$140 one way. What a steal, huh? We're still trying to convince some of our community members of this deal, as many of them think we're overpriced. But most of these unhappy customers are in high school and would complain that it was too expensive even if it were free. Plus, that's just part of Jamaican culture, to try and haggle any price, any opportunity to get the best deal. By the way, Jamaican teenagers are much like Americans, in that they aren't spending their time researching for their next school paper, but rather they are on facebook, youtube, and instant messenger. At any given time you can walk into our internet cafe, and chances are extremely high that all five computers will be logged onto facebook. As I've said to Matt many times, facebook keeps us in business.

Speaking of researching information on the web, we're pretty sure that most of our computer users don't even know what Google is, much less how to use it. We've helped many people set up their first email account, identify the little Mozilla fox that opens up the internet, and of course create a facebook profile. Which leads to the second aspect of our computer lab: computer class. We've started with Primary School students as we have many programs readily available that are appropriate for them. However, we have hopes of eventually teaching to jr. highers, high schoolers, and adults. It has been quite the experience to see some of these kids and adults use the computer for the first time, and to realize how intimidating it must be when you don't even know where the 'on' button is. (And yes, the kids are playing educational computer games in the pictures.)

Speaking of games, one of the neat things about our internet cafe is that it's more or less become the cool hangout spot for 15-25 yr olds. This has been nice for a couple of reasons. It makes the time there more interesting and fun for us, but it also has helped us to develop relationships with some of the hardest people in our community to get to know. The internet cafe provides a structured setting, but one that's fun to be around for the average Jamaican teen. We do end up doing a lot of monitoring as a result. Just the other day, one of the boys was riding a bike at the center while smoking a spliff, and Matt got onto him, “Hey man, you know you can't have that around here.” He responded, “What is it going to do, burn up the bike?” Jamaicans never seem to lack for wit.

Anyway, we only have 5 computers available, which is more than most communities. However, it seems that most of our usual crew comes up at the same time, all 15 or so of them. (The other night we counted 21 there at one time.) They don't all use the computer. Well, at least each individual isn't a paying customer, because hardly ever do you see one person/computer. Maroons share everything, including computers. And besides, whether or not you come to use the internet, it's fun to hang out with your peers. In the meantime, why not have a group juggle with a soccer ball while you wait for a computer to free up? Or chat with the strange whities in your community? Or smoke a spliff while riding a bicycle?

I'd write more, but I have to get back to hanging out with my bredren here at the internet cafe.

Schools- Part 3

Okay, a last post about schools in Jamaica, at least for now. There were just a few random things we thought were worth mentioning:

Rain. In Jamaica, there's really only two seasons: the rainy season and the dry season. In Accompong, during the rainy season it pretty much rains every day for a good hour. That being said, imagine yourself in a school classroom with 40-odd 4th and 5th graders, surrounded by concrete walls, and a single layer sheet of corrugated zinc that serves as both roof and ceiling, not exactly the best acoustics to begin with. Now imagine it starts to downpour -because when it rains in Accompong, it rains. That's right, chaos. Matt and I have tried to talk to each other in these circumstances, literally screaming in each other's ear and we still can't hear each other.

Transportation. Getting to and from school is the responsibility of the student and their respective family. Since most rural Jamaicans don't have cars, and if they did, couldn't afford to drive back and forth every day, many Jamaican children get to school via taxi. This can be extremely expensive considering that, at best, a rural community will have a primary and junior high school. Most high schoolers throughout Jamaica have to travel long distances to get to school. Aside from the time and energy involved, the amount of money needed seems unreal. For example, the closest high school to us is about 25 minutes away, and costs J$140, roughly US$1.75, and that's one way. Now, students do get a discount of half price, but still that's almost US$9/week, and again, that's the closest high school. The Jamaican school system is not set up so that students attend the closest high school. As a result, students from our community attend schools all over the parish. Some students travel up to 2 hours one way. You start doing the math and realize why so many high school students are sitting around the community on days they should be going to school. And let's not forget that if US$9 seems like a lot to you and me, imagine how much it seems to the poor living in the developing world. A very rough estimate of average income in our community would be around $3000-$5000/year. After transportation costs there are also lunch, school fees, supplies needed, etc. Thus, we know many people in Accompong that never graduated high school, simply because they couldn't afford it.

One of the many problems that this transportation issue creates is inappropriate relationships between taxi-men and high-school girls. These relationships are as widely acknowledged as they are generally ignored and accepted, they allow some girls the ability to get back and forth to school on days that they don't have any money. Who can blame these girls? What are options do they have? Stay home, uneducated, and continue in the cycle of poverty, or do what you have to do to get out? As a result, many parents turn a blind eye because they feel just as helpless. What are their options, when they know the best chance their daughter has of a different life is education? What do they do when they can't afford to pay the fees? For most parents, this is humiliating enough. So often times they ignore what they know is going on, because there's nothing to be done about it. So leave it be, and eventually it will go away.

Accompong schools. Within Accompong we have a two-roomed basic school. Basic schools are most similar to day care/kindergarten as the age range of students is 3-6 years old. We also have a primary and junior high school that consists of 8 classrooms. Although we do have actual walls that separate each classroom, they don't extend all the way to the ceiling for some reason. That being said, for such a rural community as Accompong is, we feel that have a pretty nice building compared to many other schools.

Corporal punishment... it happens, and is widely accepted in many Jamaican school systems.

Schools- Part 2

In this post, we thought we might address the average Jamaican school building. Before doing so, we want to make sure to place another disclaimer. The posts we make are coming from our own perspective. I'm sure that others might disagree with some of our thoughts, some only slightly, while others maybe whole-heartedly. Also, we live in a rural community, very different from places such as Negril, Kingston, Port Antonio, and so on. Although we try to be as fair as possible in sharing, we still have biases. Please keep this in mind.

Okay, back to business. Especially in rural communities, primary schools often consist of a cinder-block concrete building with a zinc roof, and no interior walls or partitions. Because many school buildings have no interior walls, the classes within are separated merely by the arrangement of desks and chalkboards. Within this one room, seven or eight classes will be conducted at one time.
Let's go back to Anthony Winkler to conclude this blog:

“...without walls to physically separate the different classes you could not hear yourself think while school was in session because you were awash in a continuous and unabating blare of noise. It was sometimes a roar, constant and deafening like the endless blast of a waterfall; sometimes a splatter of wild cries and shrieks and yells from odd nooks and corners of the echoing building; but most often the regulated and disciplined chants of entire classes bellowing out separately and all at once multiplication tables, historical dates, and irregular verb tenses.

“Twice times one are one, twice times two are four, twice tiems three are six.”
Thirty children would be howling three feet away, while the class which you observed would thunder in reply,

ring, rang, rung,
sink, sank, sunk,
sing, sang, sung,

A few feet away another thirty children would be screaming a litany of historical dates:

In 1494 Columbus discovered Jamaica
In 1655 the English captured Jamaica
In 1692 an earthquake destroyed Port Royal
In 1865 the Morant Bay rebellion 'appened

Sometimes the history teacher would lead the chant with a play of humor and Socratic questioning, and you would hear an exchange that went something like this:

'What happened in 1494, children?'
'Six times five is thirty,' a clutch of banshees would shriek just then from across the room.
'Columbus discovered Jamaica!' the children would chorus happily.
'Very good,' the teacher's voice would sing above the tumult like the cry of a gull over the crash of breakers.
'Then what happened in 1655?'
Hesitation and confusion. Part of the class ventured a defiant and singsong answer, 'The earthquake destroyed Port Royal!'
But a claque of dissenters blasted out in contradiction, 'The English capture Jamaica!'
'Ring rang rung! Sing sang sung! Slink Slunk slunk!'
'Children! Children!'
'The boiling point of water is 212 degrees Fahrenheit!'
'So what 'appen in 1655?'
'Hush your mouth, Howard. You don't even know wha' 'appen yesterday!'
'Go 'way!'
'The English capture Jamaica!'
'How dat again, class?'
'Think thought thought! Bring brought brought! Fight fought fought!'
'The English capture Jamaica, Miss!'
'Five times four is twenty! Five times five is twenty-five! Five times six is thirty!'
'So what we say 'appen in 1655 again?'
'The English capture Jamaica!'
'You sure about dat, class?'
'Six times one is six. Six times two is twelve. Six times three is eighteen.'
'The English capture Jamaica, teacher!'
'A-hoa! I just want to see if you sure 'bout dat.'”

Get the picture?

Schools- Part 1

We thought we might take the time to share a little bit about how schools in Jamaica operate and function. First, we thought we might address the overall teaching style. It is quite different than what we are used to in the States. Anthony Winkler, a Jamaican author discusses this in his book Going Home to Teach. We'll paraphrase much of what he says here (while also adding some of our own thoughts in between):

In the Jamaican classroom, the Englishman taught, and as far we can see, Jamaicans still teach, mainly by rote. This pedagogy emphasizes practice and drills lessons into the student's heads until they can rattle them off in their sleep.
As a result, many Jamaican students can recite an uncanny amount of
memorized information. Their ability to commit facts and figures to memory is impressive. However, the idea of actually being able to understand and process the information that has been memorized is usually lacking.

“When I was a child attending school in Jamaica, my head spun from daily drilling in every conceivable subject by tutors trained in England. In English, we parsed hundreds, thousands of sentences without understanding how their parts were related. In arithmetic, we memorized the multiplication tables without being taught that we were learning the short-cut form of addition. In Latin, we swatted and sang out verb conjugations in unison without the faintest glimmer of what they meant. In history, we committed to memory the dates on which Lord This did that without ever being told why he had done it....
The result was that my classmates and I were collectively a bunch of idiot savants. We knew facts and figures but did not understand what they meant. Ask us to recite the principal dates of the Norman invasion of England, and we would sit back and blow you out of your chair with a blast of erudition. Ask us why the Normans invaded England and we would stare at you as if you were demented.”

This along with the common parenting style of “children are to be seen and not heard”, has been a little bit of an adjustment for us. Matt and I both tend to teach our classes in a very interactive fashion, such as calling on students individually or having class discussions, especially when it comes to topics we discuss in our guidance and counseling/life skills classes. We want to know what the students are thinking about such things. Where are they at? What are their thoughts on the subject? However, we've had to really work at developing the students' comfort level to voice their opinion and to process the information, as most classrooms do not encourage students to do this.

Even walking down the street when we stop to chat with the kids, many of them are taken aback by us even speaking to them directly. Most adults walk by without even acknowledging their presence, much less asking them how they are doing.

All the same, the parents in our community have been extremely supportive of us as teachers, or at least in the way that is culturally appropriate here. They let their children know that they are to treat us with the utmost respect. If I were to even mention to a parent that their child spoke out of turn in one of my classes, that child's butt would be sore for weeks. We've even had parents come up to us to make sure we knew that we needn't hesitate to 'beat my child' if they misbehave -even going as far as giving us pointers on which strategy works best (such as yanking on their ear, etc.).

This goes in accordance to the overall culture of the school. Students stand when I walk into a class, and uniformly great me with a “Good morning Miss Emslie.” They stand to speak when they are called on, and they constantly end each sentence with 'Miss'. “No, Miss.” “Yes, Miss.” “21, Miss.” “Tuesday, Miss.” Funny enough, the students are so used to having female teachers, Matt also gets called 'Miss' regularly out of the students' habit. I can sometimes overhear him saying, 'Miss? Do I look like I'm wearing a dress to you?'

But talk to a child directly and ask them about their life, and they become a stuttering ball of mush. Play a game with a child, and people will look at you funny. Just the other day I was interacting with 5 Primary school kids while they played with my hair (a very common practice for us whities. Kids love our hair. 'Soo soft...'). And one of the children's aunties saw me and asked, “Julie, yuh ave any pickney?' And I said, 'No, mam. Nah yet.' (Another mind-boggling thing in our community.) 'Dat's why yuh take a pickney so. Yah nah haffi deal wid dem a yuh yard.'
To Be Continued...

mattamatix

Just within the past week, Matt's life just went from about a 15 mph pace to seemingly 65mph. There are two major contributors to that change... the Accompong Farmer's Cooperative and the Peace Corps Volunteer Advisory Committee.

A couple of years ago JACOM, the group out of Minnesota that has adopted Accompong as a “sister” community of sorts helped to develop a farmers' cooperative group. Over the past couple of years it has made some slow progress, falteringly. A lack of strong central leadership locally is one of a couple of reasons why it hasn't taken off quicker. The idea of a cooperative is somewhat foreign to many of these farmers, so the idea of each man working for himself seems to be the default model. Many of the central figures in the JACOM group were here this past week, and we had a lot of time to sit down and try to formulate a plan for moving forward...

The Farmers' Cooperative at this point is going to focus on two things, starting a chicken hatchery that would supply eggs to the local people who raise chickens. Right now anybody who raises chickens drives the 45 minutes down to Santa Cruz every 3 to 6 weeks to buy chicks. We estimate that there about 20-25 people in Accompong alone who raise chickens on a regular basis, not to mention other nearby communities. If we can set up a hatchery and sell the eggs for the same price that they do in Santa Cruz, and meanwhile save people the hassle of traveling, then it might be the start of a nice profit base for the Farmers' Cooperative. The long term plan is to build a chicken coop and raise our own broilers to sell to the local sausage factory. For now though we'll stick with just the hatchery plan.

The second, and original, mission of the Farmers' Cooperative is to develop a cash crop of high quality coffee for export purposes. JACOM has already done the leg-work back home of setting up a marketing outlet for any coffee that is produced here through the Farmers' Cooperative. The eventual goal is to be growing only certified organic coffee, but that is a couple years off yet. In the next month we have a greenhouse to erect which is to be used for growing coffee trees during their first tender year before they can be transplanted into the field, and seeds to source and buy. In the meantime we are going to try a pilot program of sorts in which the Farmers' Cooperative would become the local coffee buyer and processor. We would buy “cherries”(just picked coffee beans) form local growers, pulp them, ferment them, dry them, and then export them to Minnesota where there they would be roasted, packaged and sold, with most of the profit coming back into the Accompong Farmers' Cooperative.

Peace Corps Volunteer Advisory Committee (VAC)... VAC exists in every country that the Peace Corps serves in. Essentially it is the voice of the volunteers to Peace Corps Jamaica staff funneled through an elected executive council... volunteer representation and advocacy. Matt was just elected to be Treasurer of VAC this past week. As a result his level of responsibility and workload just quadrupled. Not so much because he has a lot of funds to manage but more so because each VAC member represents all the volunteers on island. There are a lot of meetings to attend, e-mails to respond to and phone calls to make.

p.s. Because Jamaican's tend to associate 'Matt' with a doormat. Matt's new 'yard name' is mattamatix. (mathematics for all you rocket scientists out there)

cultural differences

We thought we might share a few funny good laughs we've had with Dowdy since being in Accompong. Being in a different culture, we all would expect different colloquialisms and societal norms. Sometimes it can be frustrating when you're misunderstood, and other times it can just be downright funny. For example:

Birthday suit. Apparently birthday suit means something completely different in Jamaica. We realized this the other night when we were celebrating Sammi's (another PCV and good friend) birthday. Dowdy and I were in the kitchen getting dinner ready, and I was pushing Dowdy to move quickly because Sammi would soon arrive, and she shouldn't have to wait for dinner on her birthday night. Apparently we forgot to mention to Dowdy that it was Sammi's birthday, because he responded by saying, “What! It her birtday! Yuh nah tell me! Me haffi go put pon me birtday suit!” Me: “What?! Yuh need a put pon yuh birtday suit? Dowdy, what kind of present are you trying to give Sammi? Man, yuh too faas!” Through further clarification we found that birthday suit in Jamaica means your best outfit. I guess the equivalent to our “sunday best”. Of course, all of us PCVs let Dowdy know what birthday suit means in the States, and we haven't let him forget. We still tease him about his “birthday suit”.

Hood. In the States, hood could be part of a sweatshirt/coat or what covers the engine of a car. So, let's just say you were to walk up to Dowdy sitting in his truck listening to music. You and your husband hear the rhythm, each of you in a silly mood, and when you approach, start to beat out a little rhythm together on the hood of the truck. The next day you reference this incident with Dowdy and say, “That was yesterday. Remember, when Matt and me were beating out one likkle riddim pon yuh hood?” ...And then Dowdy's eyes bug out of his head. He asks you for clarification and soon understands what your trying to say. “Mam, that is not a hood. That is a bonnet. In Jamaica, we say bonnet. You don't want to tell anybody in Jamaica that you beat out a riddim on Dowdy's hood.” And then suddenly you recall from training, that hood means something completely different in Jamaica.

Bonfire. Of course, being in another culture helps you to see all the strange things about your own culture. Just like getting married helps you to see all the strange things about your own family that you thought was normal. “No, you do it this way....” For the 4th of July weekend, us PCVs got together down in Treasure Beach, and since Dowdy's kind of like our honorary PCV, we invited him to come. On Sunday night, some of the PCVs started a bonfire on the beach. I was heading down, and quickly let Dowdy know that there was a bonfire on the beach, and that a bunch of people were down there. Dowdy: “A bonfire?” Me: “Yeah. Like a fire in the sand.” Dowdy: “So a fire? On the beach?” (obviously confused) Me: “Yeah. You know, we just kinda sit around it. ...Like a big fire....we just sit and hang out around it and talk and stuff......Man, it's just something we do.” And then I walked down to the beach, to join all the other Americans sitting on the beach, on an 80 degree night, surrounding the big fire, sitting and talking like it was normal or something. Weird.