St.Paul Government Primary Graduation

Tuesday was the mark of new beginnings for 29 students from my primary school. The Grenada school system is a descendant of the British educational system in that there is primary and secondary school. Primary school here is from kindergarten to 6th grade and secondary school is 7th to 11th. Students here graduate at the age of 16, just shy of their junior year in the United States. The British system is tough to explain but the simplest way I can put it is in two words: Reciting and Tests. Teachers are often seen standing in front of a classroom all day making students recite things (math problems, English, spelling etc) and then testing them on it extensively at the end of the term.

This form of learning has its pros and cons but Grenadians are now finding that their children exit school with few critical thinking skills and have a hard time sharing, verbalizing thoughts and problem solving. The students aren't given a chance to critically think with hands-on activities and projects but are instead required to recite what a teacher is saying followed by a test. For example, my grade 1 students recite things all day, write little in their compositions and then are expected to remember everything they learned that day. Exams were this week and my grade 1 students had an 8 page written test of things they learned in the first week of school.

Anyways...I got off topic. At the end of grade 6 students are required to take the Common Entrance Exam which places them in their secondary school. The entire 6th grade is dedicated to studying for this test because if you do not pass (as 14 students did not), you must repeat the 6th grade and try again next year. If you pass the test you are then placed in the secondary school of your preference and continue your education until the next exam, the CXC, to complete secondary school. If you continue to fail the Common Entrance there is a similar test that can be taken but often times there are students who are 14-15 in the 6th grade because they have failed the Common Entrance so many times. It's sad.

The positive outlook though is that Grenada is looking to restructure their school system to make for less exams, more hands-on learning and more integrated classrooms/schools. Grenada is taking the right steps to ensure every student has the opportunity for a free education, it's just going to take a while.

Attached are some pictures of the graduation ceremony, all THREE and a HALF hours of it!


The choir made up of all grades of students. They sang John Lennon "Imagine"

My school

The graduates getting ready for the procession

The principal, Mrs. Peterkin

The graduates sang a John Mayer song

Great Things to Come

I feel as if I have been slacking a little bit on my blogging so I figured I should give a quick update on the happenings of Grenada.

Since last speaking with the blogging world I have been reassigned to a new primary worksite. My original worksite wasn't a great fit for me and there were significant amounts of internal conflicts concerning employees. After holding out and waiting for improvements things just weren't getting better. Thankfully the great Peace Corps staff both on island and in St.Lucia (our headquarters) were completely supportive and wanted what was best for me, that being a site change.

Last Thursday was my first official day at the Grenada National Organisation of Women. Since arriving on island I had been doing some secondary projects with GNOW on Fridays, so thankfully I was already accustomed to the workplace. The ladies at GNOW have had many Peace Corps Volunteers and are eager to have another working with them which makes it such an optimistic atmosphere to promote positive change throughout the community.

GNOW's motto is 'Empowering for Gender Equality' but doesn't incorporate all aspects of the work that's done through GNOW. For a very macho male oriented culture, this organization is pretty radical in their thinking's which really gets me fired up to help. From the time I first joined Students Against Violence Through Education at Pittsburg State University I knew I wanted to be involved in this kind of work the rest of my life but never thought I would find it on a small conservative island in the Eastern Caribbean.

The work of GNOW spans from domestic violence prevention/support, sexual assault, rape, HIV/AIDS, working in schools to promote healthy relationships, promoting legislation and sensitization of the community. My cup of tea right? This organization is powerful on the island and when things happen the news is always asking for a comment from GNOW. Never in my life have I been able to see such a grassroots movement with such potential and motivation to change. I'm getting to see work done in pushing for new legislation against sexual harassment, a protocol being made for sexual assault cases and even participating in HIV/AIDS testing booths. Just last week our organization met with a consultant from USAID that was on island surveying the HIV/AIDS epidemic (which is the second in the world) and was very interested in the work of GNOW.

I'm very blessed to be given this opportunity to move worksites to a more fitting and accepting atmosphere and cant wait to see what the future holds. For quite some time I wasn't sure I would make it the 2 years here, but I've found a new sense of motivation and drive to change and I cant wait to share the experience...

Postscript:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!!!!!!!! This is one of my favorite holidays in the States and I am sad I cant participate this year but my family has done a great job keeping me informed on the events. I even got to hear the fireworks in the background while talking to a friend, felt like I was ALMOST there.

Love and miss you guys,
Mack

4th of July Celebration

You are right, it's not the 4th of July yet but we already celebrated the occasion. Tonight was the annual independence celebration at the United States Charge d'Affairs Bernard Link's house in the beautiful Prickly Bay area of the island. This event is annual and the Peace Corps volunteers are always asked to represent themselves at the event. It was initially very intimidating walking up to the house of a U.S. government official as body guards and security lined the premises. We were cordially greeted by Mr. Link and the top U.S. Embassy official in Barbados as we walked in, both who were very excited to see that 6 of us came to the event. Wonderful food (I haven't ate that well since arriving on island), nice wine, good music and a wonderful crowd of people made the event really special. Its so nice to hear top officials, both U.S. and Grenada, show such support for the grassroots work we are doing on island. They always are so appreciative and great at expressing their support. It was a great event. I will attach some pictures!

Another Near Death Experience

I'm so tired I don't want to get up and go to the bathroom. I left the light on in the kitchen and need to turn it off. I convince myself to just get up and get it over with, but as I stand up i see this creature on the floor. Is it another cockroach? I thought I killed all those for the week. Is it one of those creepy centipede things? Or maybe its just a moth. I go to walk out of my room and it JUMPS at me like it wants to fight. Of course I scream at the top of my lungs followed by &$@%!&#^@*(@)*^$@&*@, but it continues hopping around my room. I go into survival mode and try to figure out how to get this thing (that I still don't know what it is) out of my room and decide the best route is to use a cup. I lean over still in a sleepy daze and the thing jumps out of my way (&$%@*) and under my bed. If I were this little creature I would go under my bed too, because I would know that big human thing wouldn't fit under here to find me.

As I'm moving the bed every each direction and still cursing in fright i FINALLY snatch the thing up in a cup, still not looking to see what it was, and relocate the creature outside. I remember I snapped a picture of the dark spot on the floor before I went into survival mode so I knew I could go back and figure out what it even was, because I sure as hell wasn't going to look in the cup before I threw it outside.

Now...as many of you know, I can be a bit dramatic when it comes to creatures, but it's because I just don't like them. Remember back when I first came to Grenada and that King Iguana tried to eat me? Look back in previous posts if you don't, because I thought then and there my life was over. I knew this is what I signing up for when I joined the Peace Corps. It's an irrational fear that I need to get over and it is on my list of things to conquer before I can leave my service. I've almost mastered the brutal death of large spiders that invade my house, I'm a cockroach killing pioneer and can even swat a mosquito in mid air. It seems every time I master a new skill in the art of bugs/creature/weird scary things another one comes up, like last night at 2 a.m.

So here is what I discovered this morning on my camera. THIS is the creature that had me freaking out...



HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Ok ok, I deserve to be laughed at here. But last night this thing was MUCH larger, I swear! Like I said, I'm still working on the fear of creatures. Baby steps people!

"Imagine"

The children at my primary school have a one hour lunch break (seems excessive right?) and usually finish their meals in 5 minutes. While most of the kids run around the school grounds like crazy people, a few of them enjoy music. The assistant principal at the school plays the guitar. Sometimes he gets the guitar out during school and plays songs the kids know so they can sing along. Today i heard the guitar playing a familar tone, and walked in the class to the kids knowing every word to this John Lennon song "Imagine". I wasnt sure whether to cry in joy or just smile in amazement at these wonderful children.

Whaling

"A dead whale is no good to the Caribbean; we need live whales…because we've got a burgeoning whale watching industry, particularly in the Eastern Caribbean countries that is an essential and growing part of their tourism product," he said.
--Environmentalist Dr. Fitzroy Armour


Living on a small island has opened my eyes to alot, but particularly the tourist industry, its policies and procedures and most importantly its economic impact. In the last ten years Grenada has sprouted into one of the biggest tourist islands of the Caribbean (although many U.S. tourists haven't discovered us yet). We recently built Port Louis, digging a large chuck of land out to make this Port for tourists boats, yacht and fishing charters. We dug two new docks for cruise ships, extending our capacity to up to 4 cruise ships at a time. We are constantly opening new site seeing adventures like underwater sculptures, hiking trails, historical tours and scuba diving. The tourist industry contributes to nearly half of the GDP of Grenada. So to say we are dependent on tourism is quite the understatement.

Recently the Caribbean islands have come under tough pressure from the IWC (International Whaling Commission) to vote in support of loosening the whaling regulations in the Eastern Caribbean. This pressure is primarily coming from one of our largest financial supporters: Japan. Between 1986 and 1995, Grenada received more than 15 million dollars in grant aid from Japan, and we are expecting another 5 million this year for a fishery project in Gouyave. These statistics are startling to me in a sense that we are very dependent on other countries. Slowly but surely we are losing our exporting trade and doubling our importing trade. Many of the housing developments and schools on island are built by foreigners, usually British, Chinese or Japanese. This disturbs me for many reasons but the largest be that we have VERY capable LOCAL laborers and craftsmen to build these same structures. We simply lack the funding to produce projects of such magnitude.

This week, Grenada decided to openly promote the sell of their vote in support of whaling. This means our government may not support whaling, but we are willing to take the hit in order to receive more money from the Japanese. This decision has stifling effects on the livelihood of whales in and around the Caribbean. Each year whales (and many others) venture to the Caribbean to mate and have their babies, sensing that the Caribbean Sea is a safe place for them. This new measure would rip that right away from these precious creatures who provide such beauty to our ecosystem.

I challenge every one of my readers to continue to follow the progress of this story in the Caribbean, regardless of where we all live. This could effect every one of our lives in some form or another. Its terrible that money is controlling this issue with no empathy for the animals being affected.

For more information please go to: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51887 or search Facebook for 'Grenada Friends of Whales and Nature'

Dads Day!

HAPPY FATHERS DAY DAD!!!!! Love you so much and I will see you soon!

To all of my second chosen fathers, especially Claude Powell...THANK YOU for all you do for me and the constant support! Love you!