I know that I have not been keeping up my promise of posting on a regular basis.  I do think about different topics to post about but I find myself unable to capture my village in words.

There are two buses that run from town through my village and last night one of them flipped over on the highway.  The bus was trying to avoid a recent rock slide and the bus lost control.  I have been told that no one from my village is in the hospital but that the local preacher took 7 passengers to the emergency room last night, including one who is pregnant.  My cousin, Judd, was on the bus and helped evacuate people.  His mom, Tatsie, was told that if it wasn’t for his son more people would have ended up in the hospital.

Events like these make me realize the importance of life.  It also gives me thanks to live in a village that cares so much about the well-being and safety of its community members.  This morning I saw a fellow villager enter the hospital and I hope that whoever he is seeing is having a good recovery.

This is the most played song in St Vincent and I love it!  Busy Signal is an artist from Jamaica and I hope to see him in concert (:

My village is quaint and beautiful with a village square where people congregate outside of the store and church.  People and children are always out and about saying their good mornings, afternoons, and nights.  Everyone knows each other and almost everyone is distantly related.

In the evenings, I play cards with the kids, attend local BBQs, and explore the town with the current PCV.  I am constantly asked if I am the current volunteer or the volunteer Amanda who served six years ago (I guess she was tall?).

On Wednesday night, I attended the monthly meeting of the banana farmers association.  They are one of sixteen fair trade groups in St Vincent and are preparing for an audit by a British company later this month. Even though there is much talk in the US regarding the lax requirements for fair trade produce, it is no easy task to the people of St Vincent . The community members must take annual classes and seminars on financing loans, first aid/cpr, etc.  While the measures are helpful and make logical sense, they are seen as a burden for these small family farms. The banana market crumbled in 1995 when St Vincent and other Caribbean islands entered the WTO, eliminating preferential treatment of banana exports to the US and UK.  Fortunately, the induction of fair trade produce allows these small island nations to compete in the global sphere. Anyways,  it was interesting to see how fair trade works at the local level. I hope to help harvest in the mountain in the next couple of weeks.

Sunday was a day of rest. My host aunt and I attended the church on the hill. It was a long walk but it was great to meet the people in the community and be welcomed.  After church, we had a huge lunch of breadfruit, baked macaroni, potato salad, and fresh guava juice.  The food here is delicious and the rastas make great vegetarian food.  I can’t wait to taste roti later this week.

The little things that people do for me in St Vincent make all the difference.  On Tuesday night I had difficulty catching a bus out of town and one lady made room for me.  The bus even drove me into my village so that I would make it home safe after dark.  I hope that I can provide little means of assistance over my next two years in the EC just like the people have helped me find my way here on St Vincent.

School started today!  Last night, the children were getting their hair done and uniforms tailored.  I will visit tomorrow and observe classes (:

Take care and have a great week.

PS: If you have time listen to Busy Signal.  They are big here in St. Vincent.

God’s willing,

Julie

My Yurumein

My Caribbean

What month were you born?

Beautiful child of the sun

Cradling a friendly sea

Crowded by land masses

Whose motherhood makes you jump and sing

Or whose shadows cause you to crawl

My Yurumein

My Caribbean

People by many races

Exploited by the church and royalty

Whose purple and cruel greed

Made martyrs of my Carib ancestry

And slaves of my African sisters and brothers

My Yurumein

My Caribbean

Inheritor of the disease of dependency

And bruised youth

Possessor of the spirit of resistance

Building national and regional organizations

Saying a decisive “no” to cultural invasion

My Yurumein

My Caribbean

Beauty and Rugged Strength

Today is your birthday

As you are delivered from your Pot-Shaped womb

And claim the resources of people, land and sea

Holding high your placards of adult education

Mass education

A political statement of change

*  This poem was shared with us during a training on SVG culture and history

I arrived in my village to the sounds of a funeral procession.  My host-niece and I walked with the black and white dressed Vincentians down to the graveyard for the prayers and songs. It was both a sad event and a celebration.  While I could understand the songs and prayers, the people spoke amongst themselves in their local dialect.  They loved the opportunity to congregate and spend time with eachother- I knew I would love this village.

My host mom, Auntie Yvette, has housed two Peace Corps volunteers and she is a good teacher, practicing patience when I am unable to understand the local dialect and accent.  She has already taught me how to cook breadfruit, rice and beans, and bush tea. Her niece, Tash, just walked in one evening with a branch and we tore off leaves from the guinea plant and put it in hot water.  I love this tea and I hope that my own house will have a guinea bush in the backyard.  The farming village’s main produce is green bananas, plantains, and yams.  Auntie Yvette also has a guava tree, orange tree, and plantain trees at her house.  I have 4 guavas a day and I can definitely get used to the produce (:

Her house is near the center of the village and her sisters and brothers live in the same area.  Everyone is out playing games, chatting, or bringing in the local produce.  This morning a donkey walked right by my front porch.  She also has 5 cats and 4 dogs, including a puppy named Bill.  The village is always busy and people sit on their porches talking with neighbors until the early evening.

Tonight, I may be sleeping over at the local church and helping out with arts and crafts and games.  Aunti Yvette wants me to join the choir.  I told her that I am tone deaf. It’s sad but kinda true.

PS:  Bill Clinton did an infomercial on the radio this morning urging people and their families to get tested for HIV/AIDS

PPS: Lucky Dube was on the radio.  That’s when I knew that everything was right.

Take care and keep in touch,

Julie

Saint Lucia is a mountainous island with beautiful rainforests and beaches.  Unfortunately, I haven’t had much time to check out the island.  On the plus side, I have spent the past 6 days with twenty-eight amazing men and women of all ages who  provide me with inspiration and happiness.  I look forward to the next two years of the Peace Corps and I will be sad to say goodbye to some of my fellow trainees for awhile.  I head out for SVG tomorrow (:  I can’t wait to meet Mr Cool!

Training has been intense but also full of funny stories and explorations.   A few mornings I have gone on runs in Castries and spent some afternoons walking down to the beach. I love to see skits from the Peace Corps Medical Officers and hear stories from the CD Margo on her experiences in Kenya, Sri Lanka, and the EC.  I have had the opportunity to eat great EC meals at the hotel and I look forward to trying some of the fruits and veggies that were presented in the nutrition session.  The PC team on St Lucia is friendly and welcoming.  It is a great l-ship team.