The Truth on Poverty

My counterpart, Ms. Lorice Pascal, is one of the most down to Earth hardworking women I have met on the island of Grenada. Her constant drive and passion for the work we do makes me want to work even harder for the organization. I didn't actually choose to work here, but since my last placement fell through, this place seemed like the perfect fit. She welcomed me with open arms and was so excited to have another volunteer working at the Grenada National Organisation of Women. GNOW has a long standing history with the Peace Corps and with each new volunteer they become more and more excited about the future. Lorice never seizes to amaze me with just how many people she knows on the island and can just pick up the phone and call at any moment. Since I'm new here, my contact list is really short, but I'm just one question away from the walking yellow pages.

Another great aspect of the counterpart-volunteer working relationship is the opportunity to ask questions and have intellectual conversations that you wouldn't otherwise be able to have with people here. I feel completely comfortable asking Lorice questions about cultural norms, working protocols and even how to cook breadfruit (I haven't mastered it yet). Today we got in a great conversation about the misperception of the Caribbean from other countries. I was explaining that many Americans vacation to the Caribbean so we have this perception that its this gorgeous island life with cocktails and little umbrellas on the beach. I'm guilty myself, having vacationed to Jamaica and the Grand Cayman islands, of not really seeing the truth of the island (ie: poverty, hunger, development issues, etc). While in Jamaica with my immediate and extended family I can remember climbing the most beautiful Dunns River Falls (which i recommend) and staying confined to this nice little touristy area. Little did I know people were starving and dying just miles away as I vacationed. Its something I am determined to not ever do again on a vacation. I want to see the truth of the places I visit as I think there is a beauty in itself of being exposed to such things.

Anyways...As Lorice and I were talking she said one of the most profoundly honest things I have heard here, she said "The interesting fact about the Caribbean is that our poverty is so picturesque". I wasn't sure how to respond to that or in fact what she exactly meant, but I could feel this deep amount of honesty about her statement. She went on to say that its hard for people not from the Caribbean to understand the fact that we have this beautiful scenery surrounding us but in truth, beauty doesn't feed our children, it doesn't clothe our people and it defiantly doesn't make us First World.

Just something to think about...

Funding!!!

I've been fretting the last couple days over the upcoming project another volunteer and I started at my work site. Funding is the number one problem many Peace Corps Volunteers face during their work related service. We are challenged by the Peace Corps staff to come up with creative ways to build projects using local resources only, but often times the only resources available are man power. I have reached this obstacle in varying ways since arriving in Grenada and subsequently this project joined the group.

Carnival is the 9th and 10th of August and incorporates the culture and history of Grenada and the Caribbean as a whole. Through music competitions, parades, pageants and dance parties people come to life in celebration of the Caribbean culture. With excessive drinking, little sleep and mass quantities of people in one area, sexual activity increases. There is a significant stigma attached to HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean and often times the term is tagged taboo. With the second largest percentage of HIV/AIDS cases in the world (only to Africa), this has become the focus of many of the campaigns recently. But sometimes the work being done is met with a total contradiction culturally, as HIV/AIDS is very stigmatized and taboo. This society is very "what happens at home stays at home", causing lots of reluctance to accept advice, information and help.

The goal of our "Staying Safe During Carnival Season" campaign is to raise the awareness of the significant prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Grenada and just how drastic the increases have been in recent years. We as an organization will be attending close to 6 events throughout the month handing out prevention kits. Inside these prevention kits will be condoms (male and female), brochures and resource information. We hope to be able to reach each parish on the island so that our voice is known and we can heighten the sense of awareness as Carnival arrives.

My major obstacle throughout the project planning and implementation has been finding funding for these prevention kits. The Ministry of Health kindly donated the condoms for distribution but I needed to find funding for the bags, ribbon and materials to print brochures. This might not sound like alot but with the budget for my organization running in the negatives consistently, this is a big chunk of money. I diligently wrote sponsorship letters to about 15 business' in hopes that maybe just a couple would help out and we were finally awarded for our hard work today. Our secretary walked in with an envelope and said it was from a sponsor. We opened it guessing it would maybe be 100 dollars (our budget was set for around 300), and it was 500 DOLLARS!!!!!!! There is a God!!!!!! This kind donation almost doubles the amount of prevention kits we can hand out to party-goers!

Just another small accomplishment that means so much to the people of Grenada and to me of course.

Scary Dude

I'm comfortably sound asleep in my bed when I'm awoken by a tap on my window. I violently roll over and see its 5:15 am, WHY is some scary man tapping on my window? I go into fight or flight and decide to remain completely still and observe the situation. He walks back and forth past my window, pausing a few times and moving on again. I hear noise in my living room that sounds like a door knob jiggling. I knew he couldn't get in my house as I have burglar bars and bolt locks, but what am I to do? I get up out of bed half asleep and turn my light on to see if he will startle and run, but nothing happens. Grabbing my phone I was determined to call my landlord upstairs:

"Mrs. Gabriel?"
"Yes Mackenzie, whats wrong?!?!"
"Sorry to bother so early, but there is a man outside my window"
"No way, let me get some clothes on and look downstairs"
"He is right outside my bedroom window"
"Oh honey...that's just Andrew, he is sweeping the grass off the walkway"

You might ask who is Andrew? He is my landlords son. He was sweeping the grass off the walkway at 5:15 am this morning. The tap on my window was him brushing off the grass he blew on it while mowing. I thought he was a robber here to destroy my life. I was prepared to die.

I was way wrong...