Mattinhaiti's travel blogs:
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A Week and a Half as a Volunteer
Entry 9 of 14 | show all | print this entry |
I have been an official Peace Corps volunteer for 13 days now. I have to say, it feels good so far! Since swearing in on November 6th, time has flown by. After the swearing in, we returned to the Hotel Olffeson to see the vodoo band, RAM perform. The lead singer is also the owner of the Hotel. There is a book written about this hotel called The Comedians by Graham Greene. I highly recommend this book becuase as far as the decour goes, not much has changed in the last forty years since the book was written. There are artificats from the preColumbus years, vodoo flags and rooms named after the celebirity vistors like Mick Jagger, Graham Greene, Jean Claude Van Damme, etc. The Hotel Olffeson is quite a mystical place, a defient stop for anyone that comes to visit me in Haiti, hopefully all of you! A few of us liked the place so much, we stayed on Friday the 7th as well. The relaxation was needed after the hectic nature of swearing in week. Fred, Lorraine, Jessica and I were lucky enough to overhear the owner, Richard, in a discussion with a Rueters reporter which gave us a little look into the political tensions here in Haiti. As Peace Corps volunteers, we are not allowed to discuss the political climate of Haiti or the US for good reason because the country is seriously divided. Early Saturday morning, Jessica and I said goodbye to Fred (going to Ti Guave) and Lorraine (going to Cabaret) and headed out for Mirebalais. Hopefully I will see them again for my birthday in December. Fred's is the 12th so we are planning on having a big bash at the Olffeson the weekend of the 12th. There is also satelite TV so I am hoping to watch some sports that weekend as well. Jessica lives in Dufally, one hour out of Mirebalais so we take the same public bus from Port Au Prince. It is a three hour journey over the infamous Mon Cabrit, a horribly kept road that reminds me of the ride up Pikes Peak only the road to Pikes Peak is twice as wide and has guard rails. We left Saturday the 8th at 8am from the hotel and arrived at Mirebalais at 2:45pm. People say the ride takes only three hours, maybe in a Hummer. Our long journey included waiting two hours in the bus station for the bus to fill up to busting point. I was in bed that night by 6:30pm. I rested most of the next day until my delegate, Haitian counterpart, came and got me at 1pm. His name is Chantal Providence and he is a great man. He is the president of the community organization called ASCOPECB, I'll tell you what it stands for when my Creole improves. Right now he works mostly as do I on the proffesional school, CAPOFORS. This school has increased its student body each year and now they close to 250 students. I will be teaching four classses a week or English starting this morning of November, two on Tuesday and two on Thursday. My first class went well. It is a two hour class but we went over by 15 minutes. CAPOFORS also has classes in electricity, computers, nursing, mechanics and they want to start a shoemaking class. They have been using me as a secretary as of late becuase of my limited knowledge of computers which is kind of pissing me off becuase I joined the Peace Corps to get away from computers and offices. I told them today that I am not a secretary and while I am not opposed to helping every now and then, I do not want to be in the office all the time. I am an agroforestery volunteer! ASCOPECB also has a bee project and a goat breeding project both of which are pretty well funded. Chantal was the president of a slaughterhouse as well but they had a falling out. The slaughterhouse has some money though that for some reason I have to track so I have to get to know the slaughterhouse people one of these days. Back to the 9th, Chantal took me to a soccer game, Mirebalais vs. Gonaive. Gonaive is still very hot and dangerous but I guess they let the soccer team continue to travel, like Columbia in the World Cup. Mirebalais won 1-0 and controled the ball most of the time. The 10th, Lisa, the volunteer I am replaced, returned and she made some last minute introductions for me around Mirebalais. Tuesday we went to a birthday party for one of the big wigs of Mirebalais. There is a group of twenty somethings that is pretty well off, meaning they have cars and cell phones and the party was for one of them. Parties are similiar to Middle School dances here. Guys sit on one side and girls sit on the other and no one talks. The birthday boy went around and thanked everyone for coming and a few people danced. They poured Champagne on him and he made a speech. Next thing you know it was midnight and out came the food, I guess the food is the last thing at parties right before you leave. The 11th, Wednesday, we went to the market and I tried my hand at bargaining a little bit. I need some practice but I think I got some good deals. Avocados are a dime a dozen so I make guacomole regularly. Lisa and I made picklies, which is similiar to a spicy cole slaw with cabbage, carrots, hot pepper and lime. Thursday, Lisa's Haitian boyfriend came up to Mirebalais as did all the volunteers in the surrounding area for her going away party. Sarah Allen is another volunteer from my group that lives right down the road. She is a health volunteer and works at the local hospital. Theresa and Megan have been here from 21 months and they live within an hour of Mirebalais. Jessica came down as well for the festivities. The party was similiar to the birthday party, except Lisa recieved gifts and diplomas (which I made) . There was food, music and speeches for Lisa congratulating her on all the great work she did; I have large shoes to fill. Lisa left early Friday morning while Megan and Theresa stayed for internet. They left early Saturday the 15th. Saturday I acted as the temporary assistant at the school and did the same Sunday and today, Monday the 17th! When I am not being used for my medicore typing skills, I am working on a compost pile in my yard and planning a raised bed gardem. Someone is borrowing my shovel right now so I have to track that down before I can get too serious. I have also been reading about the benefits of sprouts so I want to get started on a sprouting project as well. About my house, I have three rooms, a bedroom, a kitchen and more or less a living room. I have a small porch and a huge yard enclosed by a brick wall with a steel gate on two sides and live fencing (easily penetrated by dogs, chickens and thieving little children!) on the other two sides. I have a latern in my yard as well as a working faucet for showers, no more bucket baths, I have an enclosed area for showering. I also have electricity, a blender for fresh juices and tropical cocktails and a little cat named Charlie. Charlie takes care of the rats and mouses for the nomial fee of a can of tuna fish a day. So, I realize that this entry is a little long so I will leave you now. I have access to internet on Tuesdays and Fridays so I will keep you posted every two weeks or even once a week if anything spectacular happens! If anyone needs my Christmas list, feel free to e-mail me and I will forward you a copy!
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