Saturday, August 29, 2009
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.
Monday, August 17, 2009
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.
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.
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