Moving Onward...

My news for the NEW YEAR is that I have been accepted to join the US Peace Corps ! and I am leaving the country in about 18 days for my assignment and training in the Eastern Caribbean.

 

Looks pretty idyllic--huh? but the Island where I will be volunteering has alot of poverty---not always apparent behind the tourist industry's promotion of paradise. But more about that in a later post--after I am there and know more. This I do know: the average temperature is 85 degrees year round, it is a tropical rain forest, and the least developed of all the Caribbean islands.

Some of you may know that in doing this I am following in my parent's footsteps--they were in the Peace Corps for 2 years around 1971 and were sent to Jamaica (also in the Caribbean). In fact, their service there and hearing so much about the Peace Corps from them over the years, is one thing that inspired me to do this.

So, I am leaving Seattle on Jan 23--not long off at all! and very busy packing and dealing with last minute affairs. I plan to start a NEW BLOG about my Peace Corps life, and will probably not be posting much here. However, when I get the new blog up and running (hopefully soon), I  will post a link here for everyone.

oh! and in case you are wondering which island by now?---I am going to Dominica Island (not to be confused with the Dominican Republic)....see above? it is in red on the map....

I really lucked out with this location and plan to make the most of it and help all I can. So far, the Peace Corps tells me I will be doing "NGO Development"---which could be almost anything. I won't know until I complete my 3 months of in country training exactly where I will be or what I will be doing....so for now I'm just going with the flow and letting that mystery be. I know everything will be ok and I am on the right path....

Kumasi Orphanage visit

On our last day in Ghana we visited the US Embassy in Accra and met the US Ambassador Donald Teitelbaum, who spent quite a bit of time talking with the kids. One of the questions he asked the kids was: what impressed you most about Ghana? Three of the kids said in response, "I am impressed by how hard everyone here works to feed, cloth and take care of themselves."

I pondered this question for awhile --- what has impressed me most? and eventually my answer came to me : watching these 10 young people --ages 9-14--take in all the sights, sounds, smells and impressions of a new country and seeing this experience transform them and expand their worldview was what impressed me most on this trip.
the students from the Anchorage Home Based After School Program on the beach in Ghana

The first service learning project we did on our trip was to visit an orphanage in Kumasi. After a tour of the facility, I wanted to go back to the bus and cry. Why? I guess my American sensibility was in a bit of a culture shock because the even though the facility was adequate---the simple rather bare bones quarters for the children made me very sad. I went with the girls to the girl children's unit--so sorry I do not have any photos of the boys interacting with the children.


The Homebase girls, however, immediatley wanted to hold the babies we saw layng in cribs, and so asked permission to pick them up. The "Auntie" in charge nodded ok--and soon each girl was holding an infant!



One of the infants was so tiny and thin--I asked why ? and the answer was--she was a preemie. When it was time to feed the babies and toddlers--Shirley Mae gently fed this tiny baby girl with a cup--there were no bottles.
We also held and played with the toddlers and older children for several hours---we had brought some health and other practical supplies for the orphanage, but one of the girls had also brought some shiny metal bracelets and a whole lot of valentine stickers to give to the children. We passed these out, and once the older children saw that the sheets of images were stickers--they excitedly peeled them off and happily stuck them all over themselves!



The young woman in the photo with me is a volunteer from the Netherlands---there were several young woman volunteering at the orphanage--from the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

This toddler was a real sweetheart....

The "Homebase kids" returned to the orphanage on another day and visited the orphanage day school (a preschool) and read to the children or colored with them--- we had also brought some coloring books and colored pencils and books for the orphanage---I wasn't along with the kids that day--but several of them told me they had a "really fun time" with the children at the Kumasi Orphanage that day. I refrained from telling them that when you give freely from your heart (as they so clearly did) you generally were rewarded by a "good time."