Slaying a Chicken

Paul has made it clear that he really wants chickens at site not only for eggs but also for meat.  This presents a problem.  Who is going to kill the chicken?  All I know is it's not going to be me.
Paul asked our host dad to show him how to kill a chicken, and he came through.  Here is a somewhat detailed description from my journal of what happened:

Paul and I came home to the announcement that Allan had bought a chicken so Paul could learn how to kill it.  We were looking for the chicken outside only to find out it was lying in a rice bag on the kitchen floor.

I stood outside, camera ready, but as soon as Allan put his feet on the chicken's feet, had its neck in one hand and a knife in the other, I was done for.  I couldn't watch.  I snapped a really quick photo without really looking and stepped back into the house, then stepped back out to see Allan holding a headless chicken upside down as the blood drained out, the head lying a few feet away.

Then he put the headless chicken in a bucket and poured boiling water over it to loosen the feathers.  He plucked out all the feathers, drained the anus which was another experience in and of itself, then chopped the chicken into bits.  The demolished and destoryed chicken was given to Vesta to prepare. 

I'm pretty sure my facial expressions teetered between disgust and shock during the entire process.  I'm seriously debating going vegetarian in the next two years.  Eggs are good protein and don't require headless chickens or anal cleansings.

IMPORTANT MAIL CALL MESSAGE!!!

So, the mailing address to the right of the screen will be invalid in a few days and you'll see it disappear.  When we move to our new site we will have a new address.  Unfortunately, we will not be able to post it on the blog as it will give away our location, and for our safety, we probably shouldn't publicly do that. 

If you have any mail you're sending, it's okay to send it to the address we have posted until the end of this week, but after that you'll have to use our new address.  We will get any mail you send to the embassy address for a few more weeks, so also don't worry if you just sent something.  We will still get it.  Peace Corps promised.

So what is our new address you may be asking?  That is a good question.  We will have it before we leave to our site on Wednesday and will e-mail it to as many people as we can think of.  If you don't get a mailing address by the end of the week and want it, ask someone if they have it, or just e-mail us and ask for it.  Our e-mail addresses will be the same.

With that being said, where we are going does not have any Internet access, so we'll probably be getting letters more often than e-mails.  We'll be able to check Internet at least once every three months, but can't promise anything more.  Don't be fooled by blog postings after this Wednesday.  We wrote them in advance and scheduled them to be posted at random times so you're not completely without info.

Letters it is.  Always welcome.  Never stupid.  Promise.

You should come visit us in Guyana if...

-You hate ice
-You think you can tell the difference between goats and sheep
-You have always wondered what it looks like when puppies are made
-You enjoy bugs of all shapes, colors, sizes and sounds
-You can't get enough white rice in our diet
-You think winter is EVIL!
-You think mole is a Mexican sauce (Guyanese for manure, so dont ask for it on your food)
-You like mosquitoes
-You use bug spray as a cologne
-You think curry could never get old
-You have a great thumb
-You think sunblock is for wusses
-You like to walk your pet parrot in the morning
-You see sunburns as a theraputic spa treatment
-You know what a wicket is and how many you get in a cricket match
-You enjoy green sludge in trenches surrounding your house
-You thought those Brits spoke English funny
-You enjoy watching breastfeeding in the open
-You think pet colars are an act of animal cruelty
-You think global warming is an elaborate hoax (Trust me this is ground zero)
-You wish saunas were porable
-You think you don't sweat alot
-You think the Pacific looks and smells funny after heavy rains
-You thought the spider you killed with a tissue last night was huge
-You think using single use plastics is no big deal
-You think you are a good fisherman
-You would like to see how palm trees were intended to be grown
-You want to spend time with some of the most humble, kind and hospitable people ever
-You want to see a place in the world that fully exhibits God's splendor and beaut

But for real, come visit us!

Guyanese Romance

As we have posted about many times, Guyana is a hot, humid country with grotesque infestations of mosquitos. The general routine is at about 7pm is to shower, dry off, put on bug spray and jump under the mosquito net.
The other night I was sitting on the bed playing my guitar and Alyssa came up to give me a kiss on the neck. Just a peck nothing more. But she was unexpectatedly greeted with deet!!! Which was followed by a 20 minute session of numb lips, spitting, drooling and mouth washing mixed in with my rolling on the floor laughter.
Guyana is different.

"Alyssa, Come Check Out this Toad in my Shoe!"

A few days ago I went to put on my soccer shoe and found that a local Mac-Daddy toad had made his home in my boot. Every morning since I have walked down stairs to find two warty looking eyes staring back at me.
Guyana is known for its wild life, particularly in the remote hinterlands as they would say. Since being on the coast we have found many random animals in random places. Like the toad in my shoe, or the frog that lives in our sink, or the three cats Alyssa has taken to feeding and has threatened to hide in her bags when we leave. There are the Chicken hawks that hover over the coop next door and the beautiful egrets that fly over the rice fields in the evening. There is the water snakes, crabs and fish that live in the trench and then there are the sickly looking cows that trim the soccer field daily.
Animals and wildlife are an integral part of Guyanese life. Just wait till we go to the interior and come back with worse stories than a toad in a shoe. Bring on the scorpions and anaconda.

Nights in Guyana

The nights in Guyana make up for the long hot days.  The lack of street lights takes everyone indoors and the village quiets all at once.  The breeze picks up and fools you into forgetting the earlier blaze of the scorching sun and humid winds.  The stars are numerous and a beautiful reminder.  I see constellations here the same as at home, and I'm taken back to a familiar place.  Tonight is no exception, and I feel at home.

2 Down and 33 To Go

Last week we had another member of our group, Guy 22, leave to go home.  She apparently made some poor choices and after being confronted chose to leave, realizing this was not where she needed or wanted to be.

All we know is we won't be next...pending illness or the unspeakable (baby..ahh!).

Guitar Music

I don't know if any of you have the time or the finances, but I know nothing about playing the guitar and im trying to learn. If any of you get a chance could you send us songs with guitar chords and such. Beattles, Damien Rice, Rocky V, Jack Johnson, Iron and Wine and other amazing acoustic artists would be greatly appreciated.

We know where we're going......

But we can't announce it on the blog. 

The Peace Corps asks that we don't publicly disclose exact locations of our sites, or that of other volunteers.  If you don't know where we'll be living, e-mail us or ask someone.  That being said, if you do know where we are going to be living, please make sure not to make reference of it through comments or anything public.  It is more for safety reasons than anything else.

Here is what we can tell you:
* We'll be living in the South East part of Region 8 in a remote Amerindian community.
* It is the remote site Peace Corps will be sending volunteers to this year, only accessible by plane.
* The closest village is a four hour hike away.
* The most common form of transportation is by ATV, but we can't ride one.
* There is no Internet or cell service.  There is some solar electricity in the village but we have yet to find out if we will have any of it in our own home.
* There is no running water.  Water will be obtained through creeks, streams, rain water tanks, and wells.
* We will have to grow a garden in order to help sustain ourselves, and we are currently looking into keeping chickens for eggs and meat.
* Paul will be working in the health center with a focus on mother's and children, as well as school and community health outreach.  He will also be working in youth projects and sports, possibly even wood working.  There is also a possible need for environmental education which is very exciting!\
* Alyssa will be focusing on literacy and phonics instruction, both training teachers through workshops and hopefully pulling out remedial students for small group instruction.  There are also possible needs for helping build the resource center/library (which she is very excited about) and starting a women's group such as sewing.
* There are currently no other volunteers in the area, and we will be the first Peace Corps volunteers to enter our village.
* We will be living in mud hut with a thatched roof, and we heard we may have an extra bedroom for all of you that want to visit.
* When we ask staff that has visited our village what it is like, they all start off by saying, "It's beautiful".  Our area has multiple waterfalls, and is backed by mountains, savannahs, and rainforest.
* We've heard that the village government is extremely excited to have us there, which is incredibly encouraging.
* We have no idea what food will be accessible at our site which could lead to some interesting culinary attempts (and hopefully skills).
* The village is estimated to have around 750 people, just small enough to get to know everyone, but not so small that we'll feel like we're stepping on people's toes.
* The site we choose was our number one choice, and the first one Alyssa read out of 35 possible sites, so we're very excited and feel incredibly lucky.

We leave in less than two weeks for our site and will make it there just in time for Paul's birthday on the 1st.  Poor Paul will spend his 25th birthday moving and unpacking, but this will probably be the most exciting of all our moves, and I don't think he'll mind.

For now we are just excited.  We've re-read our site packets cover to cover.  We're excited to make friends and learn our community.  We're ready to help anyway we can and start projects, even though we know we have to give it time.  We're ready to learn from our village and finally have our Peace Corps service truly become reality.

Happy Birthday Brenna!

Happy 25th Baby Sister!

I love you.  Just wanted you to know.

Hump Week and the Downward Slope

This last was officially Hump Week, or the middle week in our training that leads to our actual service. While our HVV's were absolutely incredible experiences that shed light on what we may experience they also gave us a taste of freedom. Training has been a great time for us to build on our knowledge, interact with our fellow PCTs and learn how to better integrate into Guyanese culture, but it has also been a time of frustration, irritation and exhaustion. We are ready to be done with it.

By no means do I believe I am completely prepared for my service (that would be arrogant), nor do I feel that I can not learn more from training but just that I am ready to fail and succeed on my own. Many of my colleeges are under same mindset. Everyday we endure the equatorial sun, while listening to exteremly technical information that could be vital to our success, while attempting to adust and integrate into a culture and find a way to use the precious time we have left to just breathe. It is hard.

But there is hope. We have officially began our decent into service and the light at the end of our tunnel is getting brighter by the hour. By the time you read this post we will, hopefully, have received our official site placement and our cup of endurance will again be drained.

Pray for strength and perserverance

Host Volunteer Visits: PQ edition

Last week our group had the amazing opportunity to go on our HVV, or Host Volunteer Visits. An HVV is where the Peace Corps connects trainees, us, with currently serving volunteers and then has us shadow their lives for a week to get the general feel for what our Peace Corps experience could be. Because we are married we had a unique opportunity to experience two distinctly different site locations and get a more rounded feel for what we want to experience. Because our experiences are so different we will each be sharing our own posts and stories of our separate adventures.

I (Paul) went to what Peace Corps Guyana currently considers their most remote, and difficult to get to, site in Aishalton which is 60 miles (as the crow flies) from Lethem. Lethem is a spralling town directly on the SouthWest border with Brazil. Because of its location Lethem has a large mix of Guyanese, Amerindians (native Guyanese) and Brazilians. To get to Aishalton one must take a 12 hour bus ride (not a luxury bus) from George Town. About an hour out of George Town the road loses its asphalt and becomes a single lane, pot-hole filled dirt road. Once in Lethem one must get on a 4x4 vehicle and drive over 5 1/2 hours South on a narroweer and more pot-hole filled road.

To really get a feel for what Southern Guyana and the general area South of Lethem looks and feels like you should watch Planet Earth when they are going through the African Savanahs, except think of all of that landscape without the animals. Its hot, dry and scarsely inhabited by animals or plants. Occasionally near creeks or rivers you will find your self in the rainforest, or "bush" only to be out of it again as you travel 50 meters from the water. A fellow volunteer described it perfectly as the "wild west". Completely untamed land.

In Aishalton we, Charlie (a fellow volunteer) and I, met up with a a couple who is serving down there. The husband is a community health volunteer who is working the district hospital and the wife is a education volunteer working to develop a learning and resource center. They live in the Secondary School's teachers dorms which recieved electricity the day we arrived and has running water, which includes a flush toilet. They have taken the time to develop an amazing garden which they use to throw a little variety into their diet. It was overall not the living situation I had expected for being in such a remote site.

Charlie and I spent the next five days exploring the village, learning village politics, visiting work sites and gaining knowledge on how our projects may run, swimming in Phiriah invested waters, brainstorming ideas for our own projects and overall relaxing and getting a second wind for the final weeks of training.

Alyssa's Host Volunteer Visit

The Peace Corps gives all volunteers in training the opportunity to stay with another volunteer actively serving for one week to get an idea of what a volunteer does and how they live.  Paul and I were split up for the week in order to give us each different experiences so that when we came back, we could discuss and start the process of choosing our site for the next two years.  For those of you wondering about site placement, it is competitive and we had to write essays with our top 5 sites and stating why we are best fit for them.  We'll find out Friday where we will be going.

So, back to my host volunteer visit.  I, along witha noother trainee, Kirsten, vusuted a health volunteer, Shannon, that lives just up the coast a bit in a small Amerindian community.  Coming off the boat ride, we were greeted by kids playing Phagwah, throwing colorful powder at one another celebrating spring.  We spent most of our week in the health center which is a traditional Guyanese building with walls that do not go all the way to the ceiling.  It's a small center with few supplies that are locked away in a small room.  There are three other exam rooms, and a waiting room displaying educational posters on healthy pregnancies, eating a balanced diet, and protecting yourself from HIV.  It was a slow clinic and we were able to learn a lot through questioning Shannon.  She was awesome.

We saw the school as well which has nursery, primary, and secondary combined in one.  Unfortunately, like many schools, it is short on teachers and many students spend their day without instruction and guidance.  Only half of the students enrolled in school generally attend, many having family obligations that keep them back, not to mention the fact that many have to canoe themselves to school each day, even the little ones.

I learned how to play cricket, how cassava bread is made (cassava is a staple in many Amerinidan villages), watched small children climb trees to knock down coconuts (very impressive might I add), and found out how delicous pumpkin curry with roti can be.  Don't worry.  I'll make it all for you when I come home.  It's amazing.

Me make joke (i.e. I'm going to tell you a joke)
One night, a bat started flying around Shannon's house.  Normally, this would be a problem.  In Guyana, you're thankful it's not poisonous and you move on.  However, when it starts to fly toward your head, you duck, and maybe scream...which I did.  The only problem with ducking is that you are not sure where the bat has flown too.  That is when Kirsten came running up to me, also screaming, thinking it was in my hair or on my back.  I ran forward thinking she might be right only to almost squish the little guy that had taken refuge by the kitchen sink directly in front of me.  Shannon is laughing; did I mention that?  Yes, Shannon is laughing because she knows where the bat is and that I'm about to squish it with my butt.  Thankfully, the bat jumped into the sink at the last minute, saving both itself and me.  Neighbor kids came running to make sure we were okay.  Silly Peace Corps trainees we were screaming over a bat. 

1 Down and 34 more to Go

A few weeks back we officially lost our first member of our Peace Corps Guyana 22 group. Matt apparently had a small cut on his hand that either had some sort of infection which apparently led to a more severe infection. Because they were not sure of the root cause of the infection he was required to go into George Town and it was then decided that he needed to be medically separated. He still has hopes of returning if they can discover what happened. Good Luck to you Matt!!!

Apparently it is extremely rare for an entire group of PC trainees to complete training. In fact, most groups lose at least 3 people. Which means we have two more to go to keep up with the average. It is my belief that we will lose at least 2 more by next week, lets just say they are making bad choices, and probally at least 3 more before the first year is up. Its my hope that everyone would have as great an experience as Alyssa and I are having, but people have different expectations and attitudes which could negatively shape their experiences. We shall see.

Sport and Music

We have been in training now for 3 amazing weeks. Life is begining to normalize and become routine. And the relationships within our community are truely taking shape. Throughout training they have drilled one specific and important concept of community development, INTEGRATION!!! The better you can integrate into your community, the faster you can recognize the needs of that community and therefore mobilize the community to take action.

Nothing I have found increases the speed of cultural integration like sport and music. And because as most of you know that I couldnt play a full song to save my life I have fallen back on football (soccer). The town we are currently living in has a daily soccer match, more like a kick around. At first I was just the white boy who was invading their town for a few months. Within the first three days of playing my name quickly changed from "hey white boy," to Paul and respect was passed around like the ball.

I am constantly reminded of the true clash of our cultures when im on the pitch. Me in my kangaroo leather cleats, my neighbor in one shoe the other which is on his best friends foot. The constant cow or goat that interupts the game along with the multiple patties I step in. The language, which I am slowly begining to understand. Gender roles. Are all but a few the differences I experience. But none of that matters once you sweat with the local rum shop dealer or slide tackle the rastafarian that lives on the corner. Instant integration.

The white boy who can actually play football has been a topic amongst the village gaff line (gossip line) and its strange when you pass someone on the street who you have never met and they tell you they want to try to defend you the next day. But im connected and integrating.

When a counterpart tells me they are having a hard time connecting with their community I advise them to grab a guitar or kick a ball and they will instantly connect!

Sunset

I'm sitting on a bench on the veranda and I am content.  The sun is starting to set behind the house and the breeze is blowing.  This is the time of day I stop sweating, until I try to fall asleep.  The kids are playing in the trench, which is really quite gross if you know what goes in there.  They've taken several rice bags filled with empty plastic bottles, and tied them together to make rafts.  They're having a good time pushing one another off of them.  It's good to hear kids laugh.  Paul got a couple of pictures too. 

Today has been slightly rough.  We've both had our first experience with diarrhea, which is a loose term around here.  It makes you nervous even though there are numerous reasons you can get it, most of which are harmless.  I spent most of the afternoon reading about health issues we might face while here which only led to more frustration and feeling like I had a fever.  I keep telling myself this too shall pass, whatever it may be, from the rashes I get from constantly sweating to the favorite topic of volunteers - diarrhea.  While being sick is something we're all anxious about, it's inevitable.  I'm glad I have Paul to make sure I'm okay, and to comfort me when there is little else that does.

Alyssa

(Taken from an earlier journal entry.  We're fine, in case you wanted an update)

S.U.P.S. (Stand Up Paddle Surfers) eat your heart out

This is a picture from the local drainage cannal right outside our door. These kids play on this make shift raft everyday and it makes me long for a clean six foot wave. Enjoy the Pacific friends!

Sunrise

I woke up early today to sit on the veranda overlooking the ocean and watch the sunrise.  The sun has yet to come up over the orizon, but it is beautiful and peaceful.  I'm sitting in Vesta's chair next to her bowl of mangoes.  She likes to sit out here in the late evening and cut open a few.  A tiny gama (salamander) is searching the bowl for breakfast.  Very peaceful indeed.

The breeze is blowing which is the only thing keeping the sweat from dripping.  Birds are singing a sweet song, but they are drowned out by the roosters telling us it is morning.  A fisherman is chest high in the ocean collecting his nets.  The goats, sheep, cows, and horses have yet to be led out to the seawall for the day.

I feel peaceful, not only because the morning is quiet, but I am feeling more at ease.  I have successfully done laundry by hand on several occassions, and bucket baths are quite satisfying.  I'm learning to cook and talk like the locals.  They may speak English, but that does not mean I understand them.  Thankfully and "Hello!  Good morning!" is generally enough for those not patient enough to repeat themselves for me.

Alyssa

Community Health Initiative

We have had a long week of training. Not only are we learning about a lot of Peace Corps policies and procedures but we have been looking at our project plans within our individual sectors of health and education.

After reading through the Peace Corps Guyana Community Health project plan and visiting a local clinic on Thurday I thought I would share some of my thoughts and information to give a certain context to my project and a few of the challenges that will come our way.

Guyana's health indicators are noted as the worst in the region after Haiti (that's really bad). Basic health continues to be a major priority issue in the country. The under-five mortality rate was 7.2 %, which means that that percentage of Guyanese children died before the age of 5. The under-five mortality rate is used by the UN and most nations as a good indicator of their health systems because it encompasses health risks faced by both adults and young children as well as by infants. This extremely high rate is caused mainly by diarrhea illnesses and acute respiratory infections that are primarily caused by poor sanitation and a general lack of knowledge on proper health prevention techniques. Animals poop freely around villages, drinking water is taken from trenches and canals that run through town and if foods and vegitables are actually washed, which they rarely are, they are washed by the same untreated water.

Add a HIV/AIDS infection rate of over 2.5% of the total population and a health project seems extremely daughnting.

But theres hope one person and one community at a time. We may not be able to change the system but we can and will work within the system to make a difference.

Thank you for your continued prayers!!!