Peace Corps Family

Peace Corps Family

Being a third year volunteer is strange…I am still a volunteer but sometimes I feel like I am a part of something else.  My Peace Corps family who I had being my strong support is now missing from my life.  The nearest Peace Corps volunteer is now a 45 minute bus ride away, which seems impossible compared to Savaii, where I could run there in 30 minutes.  All of the volunteers are away from the capital, leaving me alone all the time. 

Just as my group was a close family, the group after me is a close family, who sometimes forgets me, their older sister.  I don’t let it bother me too much as I have other things to preoccupy my time.  Being in such a small country for several years I have met so many new people, even in cities where I was not living, so my new friends help me to keep my sanity. 

Mapuifagalele

Mapuifagalele

About a month or two ago the older students from my school joined the Baha’i Youth for a visit to Mapuifagalele, the home for the elderly of Samoa.

It was such a beautiful day as the children sang beautifully and reached out to others, when normally it is the other way around with people reaching to them.  The girls all had tears in their eyes as they talked with the elderly and brought some of them up to siva Samoa, some with wheelchairs and all. 

It was nice to visit Mapuifagalele because I do not know how regular their visitors are, and it is always nice to see someone new greeting you with love.

Mapuifagalele has beautiful grounds and it was nice to make a trip there.

Zumba and Pizza

Zumba and Pizza

Being in my position at work, can cause a lot of frustrations as I try to juggle all of the volunteers, creating curriculum, paperwork, etc, but it also has its advantages.  I have met a lot of amazing people due to what I am doing, and have had the even bigger pleasure of working with many of them.

Today is one of those days I get to work with someone really special.

Several days a week I do Zumba with the children so they can have physical activities, and Zumba is one that they truly enjoy.  It is a lot of fun, for an hour playing music loud on my lawn, while the children take turns leading the group in dance. 

Today, the owners at Giordanios Pizza are sponsoring pizza and Zumba day.  It will be a lot of fun, I am really looking forward to it…especially because their pizza is so delicious!  

I can't wait until the school day is over!

The Battle: Roaches 1 Lillian 0

Roaches

Chasing cockroaches with a butcher knife is not as successful chasing them away with your foot or drowning them in the sink.  Lesson learned…You win today’s battle cockroaches… but I will be more prepared for you tomorrow!

Blood Failure

Blood Failure

Every month the Australian High Commission put on a 3k and 5 k fun run/walk.  It is a lot of fun and they get local volunteer organizations involved.  This past month, it was the Red Cross.  After the run/ walk they would have a blood donation day.  I decided, what the heck, I haven’t done so in awhile…let me donate. 

After getting my exercise, I went to the join the line on donating blood.  The line moved in no order that seemed to make sense, but after registering, I was told that it was great that I was donating because they needed B+ blood. 

What was strange about donating was they have pamphlets (in English only..) telling you who is eligible to donate blood, and who is not…but they never ask you the questions. They don’t test your blood ahead of time, don’t check your blood pressure, it is a get right to it deal.

When it was my time, I warned the person with the needle that sometimes they have difficulties with my veins so I showed both of my arms to see which was better.  He picked the one that was more convenient for where I was sitting.  After the needle was in for awhile, he took it out and I had the worst pain ever!  He apparently got it wrong and my vein was now swollen and full of pain.  He immediately went to the other arm and started successfully the new needle.   

I began to feel faint.  I knew I should have said something but I was too weak to say something.  I just tried to concentrate on being awake.  I woke up with about people around me putting wet cloths around my head and my neck and someone trying to feed me chocolate milk (disgusting!)   They had stopped the donation when I passed out.

I felt like a complete wuss.  I have donated blood so many times in America, but for some reason, my body wasn’t up for it that day.  So many people were looking at me all worried, especially a few who told me it was their first time donating.  I tried to tell them that it was a one time thing, and it normally is not that bad…but I don’t know if they believed me after seeing my ordeal. 

For the rest of my Saturday, I dealt with a horrible pain in my right arm, which continued a little bit into Saturday.  On Monday, my arm was slightly blue in the area of my bad vein.  (I would expect black and blue…but it was a cool blue color…)  I am hoping that it goes away and that is the end of my blood donation drama. 

Maybe I just have to wait for another time where they check blood pressure first to make sure I am completely healthy and ready to donate.  

One Room School House

One Room School House

 

Usually I can get by at school without a problem.  Sure we teach 8 lessons at a time, but there are usually two or three of us to teach making the impossible possible.  One day things felt doomed.

How did people do it in the olden days in one room school houses?  One teacher with so many levels… it just seemed like an impossible task without help. 

But this day I was in that situation.  My other teacher didn’t show up, and my volunteers were all sick.  I was alone.  Luckily my older students feel confident working on their own with the small directions I give them, which made things possible as I was able to have more time with the younger students who need more constant supervision. 

The day felt like the longest day of my life, but I survived my one room school house. 

Teaching at this school is giving me so many new experiences I never thought I would get….

 

Sudden Dose of Reality

Reality

Some days I feel as though I have a normal life, working, enjoying time with my friends, etc….and then reality sinks in. 

I was working on something for the NGO that I am a part of….helping to create a tee shirt and using the internet to help design it when one of my girls came into the house.  She asked what I was doing and I had her assist me with colours for the shirt to make it look more fashionable (our spelling work for the week) and then began to tell me about her day.

My student had spent the day at court because her trial was going on, and she mentioned that she saw the man that raped her and she was so angry.  She didn’t want to look at his face or have anything more to do with him.  She said that when the judge asked to point out the man who did this act to her she closed her eyes and pointed.  I asked her if she knew this man before the sexual assault and she explained it was her father.

Oh man I though…..No wonder this poor girl is constantly acting up.  She must be so confused with her life and who she can trust.

I try my best to treat all of my students like normal students….but some days they just need that extra bit of love and you can only hope that you are there for them when they need you most.