Fundraising

I'm looking to friends and family for help in raising money for the health awareness seminars which are scheduled for next year. I'm trying to raise about US $950 to make it happen. The money will go towards purchasing diabetes testing equipment, weight scales, fresh veggies, seeds for planting veggies, and a few other props needed to make it a success. I realize times are tough back home but if you can spare a few bucks and want to help out send me an email at jmetz06@gmail.com

Happy Thanksgiving,

Miss and love you all,

Jim

Work Update

The dry season looks as though it's coming to an end and I'm looking forward to not carrying buckets of water to my garden every day. One of the sons of my host family has been home for a week with his wife and child. The wife is Australian and it's been nice speaking english for a change. They invited a couple tourists from the nearby resort to have the sunday meal with us which was very pleasant. I rarely get
feedback on the work I'm doing and it was nice to discuss my projects with other palagis (people of european decent). So I thought it was a good time to post some blogs since I"m a little rusty in that area.

I began teaching computer classes at the primary school about two weeks ago. I was able to get 4 second hand computers from another volunteer at a very reasonable price. So far I've been teaching the very basics of computers which is good because my knowledge of computers doesn't run to deep. The principal selected 12 students from years 6,7, and all year 8 kids. We've been doing some typing programs, mouse exercises, and of course a few games. Not very many primary schools have computers so this is good opportunity for Samauga. I'm trying to teach as much English in the classes as well. After all that is what they really need to know. So now you could say I finally have a day job again. The work I did in preparing the new school proposal is pretty much finished. We are just awaiting finaly approval from Japan which hopefully comes soon. We will do some fundraising over Christmas to capitalize on overseas visitors. That's right capitalize baby! Japan will only fund half of the materials to build the school so we must find other sources.

The other major project I was working on is renovating the women's committee house into a health and activity center. This proposal is also awaiting a decision from the Australian High Comission. This project ties into what I'm really trying to do here in Samoa. A volunteer who ended his service last August, Nico, started what is known as the Joint Health Project with Peace Corps Savaii (my island) and the National Health Services (NHS). Together volunteers and nurses performed diabetes and hypertension screenings in rural areas of Samoa. When Nico left he handed me his bag of testing equipment and left it to us remaining volunteers to see the project continues. Samoa has a serious problem with diabetes and hypertension. And most can agree that there is a strong correlation between weight and health and you are more likely to have these health problems if you are overweight. There seems to be a lack of understanding in Samoa of this relationship. People eat alot and don't get much exercise. My vision is to create that awareness and give people the right information to make better decisions on what they eat and feed their families. To make that happen I am attempting to organize health awareness seminars to be directed towards women's committees in about 20 or 25 villages starting next year. The idea is to do a skit showing the relationship between weight and health, provide information about the diseases, the causes, and how to prevent from getting them. After the session the plan is to have nurses from the NHS provide free screenings to the participants. The current problem is that the NHS is lacking the necessary testing equipment. For example, the hospital in my district, which is responsible for about 15 villages has only two sphygmometers and one glucose meter. The plan
is to properly equip each of the 4 hospitals on the island as well as the 5 subcenters with enough testers to meet the needs of the people. I've been in contact with several people back who are looking for equipment to send over. So if any of you know someone who might have access to extra sphygmometers/stethoscopes or glucose meters let me know. I might be able to use your help.

The time is ticking away. Only 9 months to go and then it's time for something else. What that is I have no idea. Anybody hiring? Anything but car rental or fast food Chinese.

Feelin Groovy

I don't think I'll ever grow out of halloween. It could quite possibly be the funnest holiday of the year. This year myself and a friend decided to take the costume idea to another level. "Simon and Garfunkel" Live! A few months ago the idea was brought up and we ran with it. Spencer (Garfunkel) had the hair and the on the mark harmonies and I am a short guy with a big forehead who plays some sloppy guitar. So we learned a few tunes, and serenaded the partygoers with hits like "Cecelia", "Mrs. Robinson", "Homeward Bound", and as a bonus we covered John Denver's "Country Roads" as well as Flight of the Conchords "You're so Beautiful". While there were no prizes for musical
talent or showmanship, we played and sung our hearts out.

There's a new guy in town

That's right the village finally has new pastor. Samauga has been without a shepard since February when the previous pastor and his family moved. The village has been busy preparing the church and house. New paint job and everything. When they arrived there was a big gathering with lots and lots of food. I was told by my family that day that I would be eating with the pastor and family from now on. After furthur questioning it was understood that I would eat with them for the first 2 weeks. Each family is responsible for 3 meals while the family gets settled in. And since I"m the village peace corps it was a good opportunity for the village to feed me lots of food. Cause that's what they love to do. So for the past two weeks I've been having enormous meals. The pig, which is a very important part of the culture here, was served every night. The point is that I ate very heavily and gained 7 pounds. For those of you who know me, you know that I can eat and eat and not gain weight. I mean I've been 150 lbs. since my senior year of high school. I've finally found my tipping point. Pig.

The Marathon

Myself and 5 other Peace Corps volunteers are competing in the annual marathon tomorrow. It is a 64 mile race in which we will divide into six. Each runner runs about 2 or 3 miles, depending on the incline, at a time before handing off the baton to the next runner. We start at 5:00 a.m. and don't anticipate being done until 1:00 pm. It will be gruelling. So wish us luck, please.

Hey Chuck Noland, I can spear fish too!!

Friends and Family,

One year down, one to go. Time is going incredibly fast. The time has almost come when I have to decide what I’m going to do after Samoa. The answer as of now. I have no clue. It’s winter here so things haven’t been as hot. But its definitely not cold. I adopted a cat who keeps me company during down time. I would have preferred a dog but they are not allowed in Samauga. Apparently they were eating the pigs. And we can’t have that now. Here is an update on the proposal for a new primary school. It has been unofficially accepted. I only say unofficial because paperwork has not been signed. The donor, Japan, employs a consulting agency to oversee the project from here on out. So basically they take over my job. I went to Apia last week to finalize things with the consulting agency. The project is officially out of my hands. What happens now is they will put our proposal together to fit the Japanese format. Everything is sent to Tokyo for final approval. Which according to the consulting firm and JICA, is just a mere formality that takes a long time. In other projects the library is up and running thanks to those of you who sent books. We are getting a few computers this week so I’ll be teaching some basic computer classes to primary school students.

Unfortunately a good friend and volunteer whom we call “Nico” has ended his two years and is going back to the great state of Minnesota. In the last six months Nico has been working with local nurses doing screenings for diabetes and hypertension. The project started just by testing a few people in his village and continued on to having formal screenings. The objective was to give people a chance to get screened and be referred to the hospital to see a doctor if the results suggested. The levels of obesity, diabetes, and hypertension are extremely high here in Samoa. A good number of volunteers including myself assisted Nico in these screenings and are planning on continuing working with nurses in their community outreach program.

I’ve started spear fishing lately. It is not easy. The method I’m using is a sling shot with a 4 ft. long ¼” thick rod. You could also call it bow and arrow style too. So far I’ve stayed within the reef so I haven’t seen too many big fish yet. I got my first two the other day. Nothing to put on the wall or anything. In fact everybody I showed them to in the village just laughed. It’s a good thing I don’t have a family to feed. I hope to get some pictures up soon.

Eye Doctor for a Week

A group of ophthalmologist students from the University of Hawaii have been traveling around Samoa in the last 3 weeks providing free eye exams. They were a little short handed last week and asked if I could help. So for the last several days I've been playing eye doctor. My job was to test people for glaucoma. Using a "tonopen" you touch the persons pupil until you get a reading. Even though we only found a couple cases of glaucoma I got up close and personal with Samoan eyes. I have never seen such damage as a result of the sun. But, every patient got a free pair of shades and glasses if their prescription was available. All in all it was a very successful project and I learned a lot about eyes.

All Dialed Up in Samauga

The day has come. I have dial up internet in my little hut. This will save me some trips into the office every couple of weeks to check and send out emails for work and staying in touch with all of you. I will admit, when you are away from cnn for a year and finally have it again it really makes u realize how depressing the media is. So I hope you are all coping with the death of Michael Jackson and haven't become addicted to the news because of it.

This coconuts for MJ......

Happy 4th

We all got a little break from work this weekend with a 4th of July BBQ and softball game against the navy. They are in country doing some humanitarian work for a month. They were a little intimidating during warm-ups but when it came to game time the Peace Corps took it to them. We won 14-4. It was solid defense and line drives to the holes that made the difference. After the game we ate "ball park" hotdogs, baked beans, cole slaw, bbq chicken, with all the fixins. The navy jazz band played which was a great addition. Live music has been a long time coming.

So Happy Birthday America. You are still the best!!

Too Busy for Bloggin

Welcome back to the story of a volunteer worker in Samoa. I haven’t posted anything for a several months because I’ve been occupied with many different things. So now that I have a breather I’m sitting down to put my current situation in words for all you interested readers.

I believe the last time we got together I had mentioned that I had just turned in a couple grants. This was on May 1st. The first and “big daddy” of the grants was for a new primary school which the school committee and I submitted to JICA (Japanese aid agency). Five days later I received a call from my JICA contact who informed me that the proposal had been accepted. An enormous amount of excitement and a very long sigh of relief came upon me as soon as I got of the phone. I immediately spread the word to committee members who replied “good Simi”. (Simi is my samoan name). Let’s just say a Samoan’s reaction to good news is quite subdued compared to an American’s. Now, the way this process works is we still have to submit another proposal. This one includes a design of the proposed school, an estimate of goods and services, letter support from the government, and a strong argument of why we need the new school. The first proposal only included the strong argument. We still had our work cut out for us. Over several meetings May, the committee and I worked on getting the letter from the government and figuring out who would design the school and what it would look like. I have a friend who is also a volunteer that has an architectural background. She would not be able to come until the beginning of June to assist us in designing the school. No problem I thought, JICA did not give us a deadline. Ya see, my parents had planned a vacation from the 22th of May to the 1st of June. During this time we would be traveling to New Zealand. So on the 20th I made a random trip to Salelologa (village where office is) to print some stuff for my host brother. I also checked my email to find that JICA was now giving us a deadline to turn in everything on May 29th. All of the relief and excitement I felt a few weeks earlier melted into very explicit jibberish. Initially I didn’t think it was possible to put together a school design, come up with all the materials and prices, and get the letter of support from the government all in a day and a half. So I did what we Americans do best. Multi-task and get on the phone. Luckily I knew another volunteer who is good on adobe photoshop. He designed the school. I also knew the carpenter of the village. He and several others made a list of all the materials we would need. My host brother knew a guy who worked for the government who could get us the letter quickly. I am perfectly willing to admit that I know squat about desigining a school. But as you just learned, I do know who does. The next day we got the quotes from suppliers and I made it on the boat to the main island just in time. My parents would arrive early the next morning. We went straight to the beach were they could relax and I could stress more about organizing the proposal before submitting. To wrap up this story I was able to turn everything in to the JICA office and enjoy my time with my parents in New Zealand.

In pertaining to the other proposal, which was for sewing machines for the women’s committee, that was also accepted. The women are very excited to start learning how to use them and ready to make me some more clothes.
I think I may have found my niche here. During my first few months here you may remember that I was very busy gardening. I used compost basically because there is so much stuff here that decomposes. Lots of animals and vegatation. So I made some pretty good dirt. The same volunteer who came to my rescue on the school design is working with a group of women on a communal vegetable garden. He asked me to do a seminar on compost. So together we did a presentation which went over very well. I have become familiar with a guy from the Ministry of Agriculture who is interested in us doing more seminars in other villages.

Well that’s enough. I’m tired of typing and you’re tired of reading. Take care all and good luck.

I also want to wish a big thanks to all of you who sent books.

Jim

Happy Cinco De Mayo

In the last month I’ve been working on the library at the primary school with many of the books sent over by all you wonderful people. The principal, Mrs. Manase, is very appreciative and putting them to great use. As far as my other projects go I turned in the new school proposal to JICA (Japan’s foreign aid fund). Their initial response was that it was a good proposal. Music to my ears. If the current proposal is accepted for consideration we have to prepare a much more detailed proposal with an architectural design, estimate, and recommendation letters from the government. We are a long ways off but things are going smoothly so far.

The women’s committee has thrown in the towel in peanut production. This was Billy Ray Cyrus music to my ears. I offered to do a demonstration garden for them but they weren’t interested. The other program option for them is a sewing program. We put together a proposal for sewing machines and are awaiting a response from New Zealand Aid.

I’ve been here almost a year and it’s almost vacation time. My parents are coming in a few weeks and we’re heading off to New Zealand to enjoy the scenery of Lord of the Rings and the company of the Kiwi’s.

Chicken Wars

The chicken war is on. Since moving into my new place I have also moved my garden to right behind my “shop”. I share the fenced in area with the chief of the family who plants tobacco. Right now I have some tomato plants and green pepper seedlings. I went into Apia for a few days about a week ago and when I returned the chickens had dug up almost everything. I put up a reinforcement fence inside the existing fence. A few days ago I biked over to the neighboring village to talk to the School committee president and came back 30 minutes later. They got in again. I had an idea to build some kind of scare crow. Fences are not full proof. These chickens can fly high. I have my doubts about the “scare chicken”. But we’ll see. My host family has given my permission to kill the chickens. I have almost been attacked by one mama chicken for throwing rocks at her chicks.

A great solution would be to coop them right? Then we could fence in the pigs too eh? Not so. These animals get all their nutrition by scrounging around the village all day. I was sitting around last night thinking about how I wanted to have a dog or maybe even a cat. Since dogs are banned in my village it would have to be a cat. But then I looked around and saw all these animals just running free. I never liked cats anyway. So I have lots of pets. Pigs, chickens, a horse, a few alley cats as we call them back home.

March Madness where are you?

My parents called me the other day and informed me that the final four is set. In my last communication with the outside world they were still playing the conference tournaments. The point I want to make here is how much faster time flies out here. I was thinking the other day about “long winters” and how I couldn’t wait for them to always be over. In a place with no “long winters” there is nothing to wait for. It is a challenge remembering what day and even month it is sometimes. Since I don’t have a calendar, hate watches, and I’m always misplacing my phone, I actually have to think about it. Some of you are probably saying, “Wow, I think the sun is getting to him”. Personally, I think it’s living in a culture that could care less what day it is, except Sunday. I also blame the lack of Big Monday, Big Ten Tuesday, ACC Wednesday, Thursday’s on TNT, and Sunday Night Hoops.

Now that I’m finally settled in I’ll give you an idea of what a typical weekday might look like in Samauga.

6:30 a.m. Cock a doodle dooo

6:45 a.m. One of the big mama pigs gets an itch on her side. Using one of the wooden poles of my house, she relieves herself by rubbing back and forth. This usually gives the house a little shake. The old man comes and checks his tobacco plants (“Old man” is not considered offensive in Samoa. People take pride in their old age).

7:00 a.m. I roll out from under my mosquito net, get an update on the tobacco, and go check my garden in the plantation. Recently I’ve had fresh tomatoes and peppers every day. Sometimes there is a ripe papaya which I pick for breakfast. I plug in my electric kettle and heat water for coffee and rolled oats. I use a rubber band and piece of thin cloth for the coffee. It seems to work just fine. I throw some sugar or fruit in the oats, spread a little Skippy’s extra crunchy on some crackers and eat it. By this time I’ve cracked open my laptop and either listen to some music or watch an episode of “The Office”, or “Flight of the Conchords”.

8:00 a.m. If it isn’t too hot yet I do some work in the garden. If there is a school committee meeting I go to that.

10:00 a.m. Recently I’ve been spending my mornings working on the proposal for the new school. The committee changed their plan so I had to start over again. I’d rather not get into details in the blog but just know that I’m trying very hard to do this right. A few days of the week I visit the women’s committee. We talk about their peanut garden, village gossip, and when I’m going to settle down and get married to a nice Samoan girl. When they wrap all that good stuff up I sometimes visit different families in the village that I’ve gotten to know pretty well. By this time I’m well hyped up on cocoa Samoa (Local hot chocolate).

12:00 p.m. I return home to eat lunch. I either eat tuna sandwiches or cup-o-noodles which are great with the fresh tomatoes and peppers I picked earlier in the day. But, this will all change soon. I just got a gas stove so bring on the homemade tuna helper.

1:00 p.m. It’s hot. “Time for rest”, as the old lady always says (Remember, calling someone an old lady is cool in Samoa). Since it’s too hot to sleep, I usually do some reading or lately I’ve been working on additions to the house.

1:30 p.m. School’s out. Kids start coming for help with homework. Visits have significantly increased since I got my place. Before, when I shared a house with the high chief (who is also the old man), people did not come and visit out of a certain kind of respect for the chief. It’s not that he would have cared, but the rest of the village did.

4:00 p.m. I go to the homework center from Monday through Thursday. This is a nice break because I get to speak English. They don’t always understand me, but this is how languages are learned.

6:00 p.m. Go home and play the guitar or work in the garden until curfew. Curfew is a twenty minute period starting at 6:30 when villagers are in their homes praying. No one is allowed to walk through the village during curfew.

7:00 p.m. Dinner time with the high chief and his wife. We always eat first, followed by the rest of the family. I really enjoy this meal. Since my host family is so use to me being around, I get to see the real Samoan way of life.

8:00 p.m. I take a ride into the future in my Space Shower.

8:30 p.m. Relax, read, watch a movie on laptop, or play guitar with Va’a (see picture of Va’a on photobucket). Occasionally a kid will show up to get some homework help.

10:00 p.m. Roll back under the mosquito net and fall asleep to the itching of the pigs.

Moved in

I’m finally all moved in to my hut. I had an enormous amount of help from a local carpenter named Vaiasa. This week we are adding on a porch to do my cooking and keep my gardening tools. The homework center is well under way. I’ve been very happy so far with the kids who come. When I graduated from Lincoln High in 2001 I thought I had seen my last of algebra and chemistry. Not so, because I’m doing it all over again here in Samoa. My proposal for a new school building is almost finished. The application process is long and grueling but hopefully patience will pay off and a year or two from now they will have their school.

Welcome Back

I've spiced things up here bit to make it more interesting. Now you can check out what other volunteers are doing in Samoa as well as see what I'm reading and watching. Enjoy!!

My House is here

So I’ve got great news. My “fale samoa”, or hut, is finally built. The day was March 3, 2009 and it was a glorious day. The “mayor” who put this off again and again finally came through (with a little pressure from the high chief). This morning the muscle of the village and I went to the bush to get wood. The frame was up and sturdy in four hours. Samoans are very resourceful when it comes to construction. The nails were reused so there was no cost in getting this thing up. Finishing touches are applied by the use of a chainsaw. Coconut leaves are weaved and used as a roof. It took one day. The “mayor” made a comment along these lines. “Ua. Oh Simi. Samoa very strong, fast build house, one day ehheheh.” I replied, “more like five months buddy”. Everybody laughed, even him.

I’ll get some pictures up soon. Take care and thank you to those of you who are sending books.

Meeting and Eating

Today is the first Monday of the month. The village counsel meets every first Monday of the month. This is were all major decisions are made by the chiefs. Everyone sits Indian style around the outside of the “fale” (open house). It can be killer on your legs. If I want to do a project or have a program of some sorts, I have to go through them. Meetings start with an ava ceremony. For those who don’t know ava is the drink of choice in the South Pacific. It is a combination of water and mashed up roots from the ava plant. It tastes like dirt. But, I will say it has a nice tingly aftertaste. It numbs your mouth a bit and has a calming after effect. The older more esteemed chiefs do a lot of talking about things I don’t understand. They aren’t discussing anything. It’s more like a sermon. Then we eat. After eating issues are brought to light. Then we eat again. If there are more issues we will talk about those and depending on how long, we will eat again.

Today I had an issue. The pastor and his wife have decided to leave the village. This news came a week ago and has been a big bummer for me. Laila, the pastors wife, was fluent in English and helped me understand many things about the Samoan way of life. As many of you know I was working with them on a homework and resource center. But without their support I had to get permission from the village. As I expected, they said “fiafia”, which means happy, excited, enjoy, and party. I took that as a yes.

Following this meeting I had another meeting with the Primary School Committee. They want to do something about the condition of the primary school. It is in awful shape, even compared to the other schools in surrounding villages. I told them a few options with aid agencies and they liked what I had to say. We then walked down to the school into the hall where there were 70-80 parents, the principle, and vice principle. I was not expecting this. The school committee is under some heat because apparently they haven’t done a whole lot of upkeep. I was asked by the principle to talk about the possibility of receiving funds from overseas. So here I go again with my spiel. Before I knew it they were pleading for a brand new school.

The bar has been raised here in Samoa. The village has expectations now, and I have a big project to accomplish. Wish me luck.

Bad Blogging

Things are finally picking up here in Samauga. I’ll start out by saying that I am a horrible “blogger”. I understand that the point of a blog is to frequently provide interesting information. I’ve failed the frequently part and it is the readers job to judge whether or not it is interesting. The good thing is I should be getting dial-up internet in my house in the next few months. After that I’ll have no excuse.

Today I held my first meeting with my Peace Corps committee. Ths committee was supposed to be created before I arrived in Samauga. But, like most things here things don’t always go according to plan. But, nevertheless, I finally have a committee. The purpose of having the committee is to support me and my work. I divided my committee into for groups. Members were selected by myself and the “mayor” from different village committees. The first is the School group. In the group is Siliga, my host brother, who is very helpful and a very hard worker. Another member is Lina, who lived in Australia for a long time. She speaks great English and will be a huge help to me. The second group in my committee consists of women from the village women’s committee. They are as follows; Mafu, Malaepepa, and Pulemao. I spend a great deal of my free time at the women’s committee so I’ve gotten to know them very well. The third group is the youth who are out of school. Right now there are only two members, Saua, and Eli. The final and probably most important group for the villages sake are the older men. They are in charge of the decision making in the village as well as any major kind of project. Currently there is noone in this group. I left the selecting of this group to the “mayor”. He told me not to worry. He’s on it. He’ll let me know He’s taking his time. The meeting went great. Everybody who was supposed to show up showed up 30 minutes late. 30 minutes late is very early in Samoan time. I was very proud. I am a very lucky peace corps volunteer in that I have a projector and screen to show presentations with my laptop. So I put together a PowerPoint show explaining to the committee how best to utilize the volunteer that they requested. In the last several months I’ve come to realize that a large majority of people in Samauga didn’t understand why I was here. As I moved beyond small talk with the language I could tell that most people thought I was just here to get them stuff for free. During my meeting I strongly emphasized that this was not the way it was going to work. My job as a development worker is to help people help themselves. And to do that we have to work together. So to make a longer story shorter, I feel pretty confident that my point was understood.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year. I'm in Apia today working on a proposal for the homework center. I'm sending out an email for childrens book requests for the resource center part of the project. If you can help that would be great.