In memory of TimTam

  Vailoa, Samoa Western
Friday, May 11, 2007

Been a while since the last entry.  We have been busy, I gue ss, but laziness plans a big role too.  But it is time to catch up.
 
First, though nobody knew him, we will pause a moment to remember TimTam. 

TimTam

TimTam was the dog of Mat'afa Tauelia.  He started hanging with us not too long after we got here because the food was better.  When Mata'afa went into the hospital for a little while TimTam moved in.  He was kind of a wuss, letting other dogs steal food from him, but he was always happy to provide comfort and friendship by allowing us to pet him.  He took to following me, Ray says he was my dog, where ever I went, finding me in other peoples houses.  He even followed us one day when we biked to Satupaitea, about 5 km away.  Boy was he a tired puppy when we got home.  I don't know what was sickening him but one day he took himself off to the plantation to die.  
 

Kolisi map

April was a very busy month with the Global Youth Service Day World Map Mural Project to do.  All of the fancy plans I described in the funding proposal for the maps came to naught.  I had proposed 3-4 meetings with youth leaders to teach the kids about maps, finding maps on the computer, writing invitations (to the dedication ceremony), and how the project would work.  None of the selected youth leaders came for the first two meetings, so I gave up and did everything myself.  The maps went up surprisingly well for all my worrying.  Ray and I with some helpers drew the map on the wall after it was painted ocean blue.  We used a projector which meant we had to do the work at night and the enlarging of the map made the borders of some of the countries a bit fanciful but they are all more or less in the right places. 

Primary school map

Once the outline was on the wall the kids painted the countries.  The whole thing takes about 10 hours with 8-12 helpers.  The kids were great.  When the map was finished we gave t-shirts to all the helpers.  We ended up painting a world map, an oceana map and a Samoa map at the primary school.  The secondary school got a world map and a Samoa map. 

kolisi map 2

Turns out the maps use less paint than I thought.  I think we can paint a map at every school in the country.  I think I will put the maps on a gridwork so they can be put on the wall without the projector.  Can anyone suggest a product that I can seal the maps with that won't yellow in the sun?
 
Ray and Craig worked on building counters for the computer class.  Looks really nice and has 15 work stations.  Next, Ray is going to work with the year 10 design tech class to build chairs for the computer class.  Ray also got the money to build workbenches which he will do with the year 11 boys.  He has been working on curriculum design for second chance education and also a "weak boys" class.  Ray is now also the proud owner of a sailing canoe, but I will let him tell about that in the next installment.

Had a really nice Cinco De Mayo at a beach resort with a bunch of other volunteers.  Good chili rellenos, enchiladas, sopopias and bean dip.  Great time was had by all.
 
We are looking forward to a visit from Betty and Josh in 2 weeks.  It always helps having visitors to see the experience with new eyes.  We will rent a car and see more of the islands than we have done already.  Might even get a tattoo, who knows.  The "rainy" season is over now so of course it has been raining even more.  Stormy today, dare I even say it is a bit cold?