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Published: September 21st 2006
September 21, 2006—St. Kitts, West Indies
(So...apparently I added the photos to the wrong blog entry...and I can't get them moved to this one. Since they took me about 2 hours to upload, I am just going to leave them there. So if you want to see the new photos that should go with this text, just look at the last entry in full text and scroll all the way to the bottom.)
Well, we’ve been here in St. Kitts for about a month now, and are finally getting to update the website. It’s hard to fill in the past month, especially when we are largely limited to rather flowery statements (since our website is not password protected and therefore could potentially be viewed by people who could take offense to comments, even if not intended to be negative)…but there’s a lot to say, so making a rather flowery update shouldn’t be a problem!
DAY CAMP:
We arrived here in St. Kitts/Nevis and 2 days later jumped right into life here in a local village by helping to run a week-long summer camp. The kids were all very energetic and letting off steam as it was their last week of summer break, which made for an interesting first few days as we all adjusted to each other! A “crash course” in local youth culture is a good way to put it. Overall it was a fun experience and allowed us the opportunity to meet some really great kids & young adults. It is interesting that despite the large amount of tourism during most of the year and the infiltration of US television, etc. many of the kids had never before really interacted with an American, or a ‘white person.’ (Of course not all our group is Caucasian, which at times leads to some other unique comments and statements!) Anyhow, one morning during a break some of the girls decided to “plat” my hair, which I quickly learned is what I would call braids, but here it is only a “braid” if there is fake hair braided in. That was hair-style lesson #1 for Lauren. All their questions and curiosities gave me a chance to ask them questions that I never would have been able to just go up to someone and ask. It became a great opportunity for some candid cultural exchange. Anyhow, the next day, despite my numerous explanations that my hair would not just stay “platted” without bands to tie the ends, I was immediately and repeatedly accused of ‘loosing up my hair!’ My truthful explanation of the ‘plats’ simply falling out was not well received until I made a couple more plats and said I would not touch them all day, and at the end of the day they could look at them and see if they were still platted, which of course they were not. (Their accusations/assumptions make a lot of sense, though, as they are based on the only context they’ve ever known. In fact I’m almost equally as amazed at some of the really cool things they could do with their hair using no hair ties at all!)
INDEPENDENCE DAY RACE:
Let’s see…what else? Oh, last Tuesday was Independence Day here, and on Sunday there was a “mini marathon” (which is actually a 10k, still haven’t figured that one out, but in the heat is really a wise choice) as part of the festivities. Matt ran in the race, and I rode in the Red Cross jeep that was there for medical support in case anyone went down during the race. Anyhow, the main point of this is Matt’s rather comical retelling of some of the comments yelled to him by onlookers as he ran along the main island road, through numerous villages to the capitol. More than one onlooker, genuinely showing positive support, yelled something along the lines of “RUN whitey RUN! Blackie gunna catch you!” (he was the only non-local who ran in the race) I guess it’s most comical when you think about how most people in the states would react upon hearing such a comment; here it is rather common-place. It’s hard to grasp just how race is viewed here, but easy to see that it is viewed very differently than where either of us grew up and from anywhere either of us has ever been. I have a feeling that the complexities may remain a mystery through our two years here, though hopefully with time it will become at least a little more clear.
OFFICIAL VOLUNTEERS:
Yesterday was our “Swearing in Ceremony” and we are now officially Peace Corps Volunteers. It’s kind of like a birthday though…there’s no immediate difference in the way you feel! The Governor General came to wish us congratulations, and the Prime Minister as well as other government officials attended and spoke. As a group we sang the national anthem and performed a poem/dramatic piece which was written—very well!—by one of our local trainers who has quite a knack for theatre arts.
HOUSING:
We’re currently still living with a homestay, and in 9 days will be moving into our own place. While we know that homestays are a useful part of the integration process, it will be wonderful to feel like we have our own place again after two months being temporary residents in others’ homes.
When we move out on our own, we’ll be living in a one bedroom apartment beneath the house of a couple who seems very nice, though we’ve met them only once. In the area where we’ve been placed to live and work it is VERY difficult to find housing that is safe and decent and affordable on a Peace Corps pension. Ross University has both a veterinary and nursing school close by, and the international students have done wonders to the housing market. For a fairly small and simple 2 bedroom apartment (often attached to or underneath someone’s house) people are asking $1000 US!! And that is without utilities, which are quite pricey. Speaking of which, electricity prices have almost doubled here recently, as a ‘fuel surcharge’ has been added for every unit of electricity used. This made very little logical sense to me at first (how do they charge a separate price for fuel when we’re talking about electricity…?) until we went on a wonderful tour of the sugar factory from which you can see the electricity plant which powers the entire island. When we asked, we were told that the island is run entirely on DIESEL!! The price of electricity and the surcharge started making a lot more sense at that point. Anyhow, seeing as we have less than $1000 US total per month to live on, obviously many places are out. It’s really interesting too, because they are the same places that recently would have rented for $1000 EC (which is about 1/3 as much) but once renters experience the huge money that can be had by renting to students, they seem to keep waiting for more students even if the apartment sits empty for quite some time until another one comes. So what I’m trying to say, is that although we were really hoping to find a two bedroom place for the convenience of people visiting, etc., we are quite fortunate to have been able to find a nice, safe place that we can afford. Ironically, despite the prices in this area, we hear that there are volunteers living in the country who have a 2 or 3 bedroom free-standing house with a yard for only $700EC or $800EC per month. I know that supply and demand controls prices everywhere, but on an island that you can drive all the way around in about 45 minutes the existence of such dramatic inflation in one area is much more accentuated.
SUGAR FACTORY:
We did go on a tour of the sugar factory, which I mentioned above. It was WONDERFUL! The man who gave the tour had worked there for over 40 years, and was able to explain each part of the process as we climbed higher and higher along walkways rising all the way to the ceiling of the gigantic metal structure. I should mention that this is the first year that the factory is not processing cane into sugar since 1912, I believe. It was almost eerie as we walked through and saw masks, soda bottles, etc. that looked like someone had just left there intending to pick back up the next day. From what we’re told, there was a matter of years between when the government knew the sugar business would shut down and when it did, but it ran right up to the end (which seems to be a bit of a controversial issue, as the sugar industry was being subsidized both by the local government and by outside buyers for years leading up to the closure). The closure has displaced many workers, mostly ‘middle-aged,’ who had spent their lives working in this trade and therefore have skills very specific to the sugar industry, leaving an unemployment gap that will be very difficult to fill (which may help explain why some supported leaving it running as long as possible, even while creating a financial deficit). All around the island are huge fields of sugar cane, visible from nearly anywhere you may be, that will go unharvested this year for the first time. They will be left growing until an alternate use for the land and way to avoid the unnecessary and extensive erosion that would occur if the cane were just wiped out is decided upon.
I guess that’s probably enough for now, and hopefully once we are settled in our own place we will be able to update a little more frequently. Oh, and quickly before we sign off here, we were able to spend a few days last week in two of the local primary schools as well as the special education unit and community health center. We are just beginning to get a feel for the systems and where we might fit in, and although we have some basic ideas we still have a long way to go. Luckily, the next 3 months of our time here are meant to be used for that…for meeting with local people to begin to understand their vision for development in their communities, observing more extensively in health centers and schools, and overall trying to become members of a community in which we will hopefully be well informed and therefore able to find our place here as “community development volunteers.”
We hope that all our family and friends are doing well at home or wherever you may be. We miss you and think of you often!
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Abby D.
non-member comment
interesante!
Hey you two! Brandon just gave me this link. Such a fascinating experience so far - I am eating it up. Thanks for the detail. I can't wait to hear more! Take care, Abby :-)