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.