went to Savaii with the Red Cross Communications Officer and a
videographer working pro-bono for the Samoa Challenge II Health
Project to put together some media coverage for the project. We left
mid-day Wednesday and that night I am sure I spiked a fever. Woke up
the next morning relatively ok and ready for the day. Later on
Thursday the fever came back along with a splitting headache and loss
of appetite. Friday I think my fever went down to a low grade fever
by the afternoon but I still had a massive headache, no appetite and
added diarrhea to the list. Laid low Saturday trying to recover and I
am feeling a bit better today as I feel my body is starting to
recover. An amazingly strange illness for sure, one that I can't
quite put a name to. This of course means the islands of Samoa did it
to me.
I know that may seem crazy but I have actually had similar
conversations in the previous weeks with other volunteers in my group
about the islands being out to get us. It seems that more people than
not have been faced with more medical, social or job related adversity
in the last month or two than is normal. (for here) This has lead a
group of us to determine that the island is in fact out to get us and
is putting in its last effort to get us to leave early.
Despite those efforts I believe our group will persevere. In fact, we
have our first set of volunteers set to leave this week, as
scheduled! Let the trickling off begin. My group did all get
together this weekend at a beach resort for a farewell shindig.
Unfortunately since I felt like death I was unable to go which was
disappointing. I did not go to a lot of the group events over the last
two years because they were a lower priority for me than other things
I had going on but I made the effort to make sure I was free for this
one. But when an island is out to get you, that's a tough wild card
to deal with right?!
Moving on to the next topic I wanted to spend a minute talking about
Peace Corps Volunteer job expectations. This will give you a glimpse
of the difficulties volunteers face. Volunteers on average are young
adults, well by age anyway, some are pushing adolescence as far as
they can take it. So the majority of volunteers are in their 20s, a
significant number as young as 23 or 24. Fresh out of college, ready
to take on the world blah, blah, blah. A large portion of volunteers,
in the past and the new groups as well, are placed in schools and in
addition to teaching the students they are often expected to conduct
teacher training or co-teach. I'll use this example because it seems
the most universal.
This creates difficulties for two reasons. The first is related to an
old philosophical quote that goes something like, the truly wise man
knows what he does not know. That being said, I did know a damn thing
coming straight out of college and I still don't know a whole lot in
my mid 20s, ok, ok, late 20s. I supposed the older you get the more
you appreciate this. So a large number of volunteers are expected to
teach other teachers with the theoretical knowledge and limited
practical experience that they got from their college experience back
in the states. And do this in a school system that is modeled after
the New Zealand school system that is quite a bit different than the
US. Yes, difficult.
Second, how much clout does someone in their mid 20s have in Samoa,
generally? Consider this, you often find people in their mid 20s
still members of their church youth group. So the answer is slim to
none. That isn't to say their aren't people out there who understand
and appreciate educational and work experience and do not let age be
the overriding factor, but it is rare. I mean in all reality this is
a tough position to be in in the US, I can speak from experience.
When you come in to a job and are considered at a level that, on
paper, places you higher professionally, or even equal to, those older
than you and who have worked there longer, you are going to have some
winning over to do. Throw the fact that you look way different than
everyone else and you barely speak the language........yes, difficult.
It's no wonder the one-liner Peace Corps uses is "it's the toughest
job you'll ever love." Of course being in my late 20s now and knowing
everything a person needs to know, ever, so early in my life I have to
ask if there might be a better way to utilize volunteers that might
make expectations more reasonable. Of course it really seems
development work is not an exact science and there are many variables
that need to be considered, too many to count in fact. At the end of
the day we are having a positive impact whether it's through reaching
a few of the kids that are taught or connecting with a few co-workers
and sharing professional experiences and methods that make both
parties better personally and professionally.
At the end of the day I hope we are not satisfied with that. I am not
saying that is not a great achievement, what I am saying is we need to
make sure Peace Corps is working to improve every year. The world is
changing, when Peace Corps started we were going into places with no
education system or a barely functioning one. Now we have volunteers
going into well established educational systems that more closely
resemble western systems with teachers that have had at least some
teachers education. The same holds true for work in health, the
environment and other areas. Our ability to recognize this and adjust
the role and demands on volunteers may help make the "toughest job
you'll ever love" a little less tough and a little more effective.
This gig will always be a tough one and will always demand the best
and brightest in order to have a positive, lasting impact on the
countries we serve in. As we start to leave this week I just want to
give a big "fa'amalo" to my fellow volunteers in Peace Corps Samoa
Group 81, for their perseverance and great work over the last two
years. That goes for all volunteers around the world nearing their
end of service. Malo galue ma manuia le malaga. (Good work and safe
journey)
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