fries for you American folk) and drinking a massive can of Arizona
Raspberry Iced Tea, I can't help but notice the irony of the situation
because I am currently in the Peace Corps Office printing out mass
quantities of participant manuals for the health project I have been
working on. You know, the health project that encourages eating fresh
and local foods and limiting high fat (fish and french fries), salt
(french fries) and sugar (flavored iced tea) food and drink.
This project has temporarily absorbed any and all personal time and
has even gotten in the way of some of my day to day work at the Red
Cross. This was initially due to access to only a less than perfectly
functioning copy machine at the Red Cross and then exacerbated when
that copy machine broke down completely. With 30,000 pages to print a
well functioning copy machine would have been nice! After having to
print a few thousand pages using a small printer and manual duplex
printing I now have been given access to the Peace Corps Office copy
machine. After running for a while it starts to jam up frequently but
it's a step up from the printer.
We had the training for the Peace Corps Volunteers and their
counterparts this week. One in Apia for those on Upolu and on in
Falealupo For those in Savaii. It was really quite interesting to
experience the difference between the two settings. The meeting in
Apia was in a boardroom and we used powerpoint slides and a whiteboard
in addition to the discussion and activities. In Savaii we had the
training in an open Samoan fale, because there are no boardrooms in
Falealupo (or possibly in all of Savaii for that matter). We had to
adapt and utilize more group discussion techniques and some paper
visual aids. I think both trainings went well but if i had to pick
the better one I might have to go with the one in Savaii. Now I am
not sure if that can be entirely attributed to the location and
methods because there were more Samoan counterparts at that session
and we had one training under our belt from earlier in the week in
Upolu. I did get the sense that the small group and large group
discussions were effective though, which makes sense because the
traditional method of making decisions and village meetings involves
long discussions/speeches so it utilizes that in a training format
helping to create an atmosphere of facilitation rather than strict
instruction.
The view and setting for the Savaii meeting was definitely cooler than
a boardroom in Apia, that's for sure. We are out in an open fale with
a family preparing food in the traditional Samoan way on one side and
a clear view out the the ocean on the other. I wonder where I can
work back home that would have the same setting for meetings and
trainings.....if only!
Now I am back in Apia, feverishly trying to get the participant
manuals printed and delivered to the volunteers before the end of the
week. I have a feeling my evenings are booked yet again this week.
On the Red Cross side of things there isn't much to report besides the
fact that I have been moderately neglecting my duties there due to
this health project. I have to say i am a little disappointed in that
because I have really taken to this community development thing and
want to learn as much as I can about it as I work to develop the
program and then return to the states and pursue a similar path. This
week I will be back on the ball however and plan to make great strides
both because I want to and have to, as the title mentioned I am at the
three month mark. INSANE!
The new group is coming in just a few weeks and I realized, we are now
that group we heard of when we first got in but never really knew any
of them. We will be leaving before they are done with their training
so we will meet them a handful of times but will be a fleeting memory
of their experience here just like group 77 was for us.
I will leave you with that thought and I will try and get some
pictures up from the training once I get them.
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