so I'll leave that be for now and get to the skinny.
Work has been unbelievably busy over the last few weeks. In addition
to that I have my side projects and the St. Patrick's Day Pub Crawl I
organized here in Samoa. So, it's been busy to say the least. (that
sounds familiar as well) The Pub Crawl was fun and though we went out
to have fun and enjoy the holiday we did get to share the tradition
with some Samoans so it's not what Peace Corps has in mind when they
talk about "imparting an understanding of Americans on the part of
people served," but it sure is a fun way to do it. And no worries, no
one made a fool of themselves or got in trouble so it was a success.
As for work, we are still working feverishly on our community based
health and first aid program. There has been a curveball this week,
but it may be a good curveball if that makes sense. I won't go into
details now but we are meeting tomorrow to propose the change in
approach and we will see what the department heads say. Regardless of
that meeting's results, we have sent out invitations to a
stakeholder's meeting we are going to have in April. It's going to be
a great chance to find out what is going on around the country with
regards to community health programming and where our program can fit
in and form partnerships.
The Avanoa Tutusa NGO is still moving along. We have some great
materials for World Water Day that Lilli, one of the new group 82
volunteers, developed and other volunteers can use on World Water Day
next week. We did a similar thing as an organization for global
handwashing day last year. We are hoping if we can get materials
compiled and developed then other volunteers will use them on global
awareness days. It worked for handwashing and we have high hopes for
World Water Day. Earth Day is around the corner and we are working on
that too. It's a great effort that utilizes Peace Corps Volunteers
that have an interest in a topic and provide those who are either too
busy or don't ahve enough interest in a topic to access the resources
easily and use in their schools. We are also working on coordinating
a health fair aimed at high school and college age youth here in
Samoa. We are thinking sometime in the summer, possibly July. The
time frame is a bit cramped since we are just starting the planning
but compared to a lot of planning processes I have been exposed to
here, we are starting early!
To wrap up, the reason I am writing this post at 11:00pm tonight is
because I know tomorrow will be ridiculously busy because I will be
wrapping up loose ends and trying to get as much done before I head
home for my brother's wedding. I am looking forward to seeing Whitney
again, and so soon! Same goes for the family. Whitney does still
have class and work so I will have down time while I am back to, well,
do work. Though it's not ideal, the timing of my trip really requires
that I do work while I am back home to keep things rolling. Of course
if Whit didn't have class or work I would have figured something out
like only sleeping 2 hours a night while I am back but since she does
have those obligations I will take those opportunities to keep the
ball rolling.
As I close, I want to say congrats to my friend Dan and his wife
Kristin on the birth of their second baby boy, Rowan Scott DeVore.
This of course means they are going to have to have another boy down
the road because they don't have a son named Joseph yet. Not sure why
they didn't name this one after me, they must have lost a bet or
something.
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