New Years Is Fast Approaching

I write this blog post because not because I have something to report, but rather the contrary. Yesterday I ran errands in the nearest city, and the day before I went on a hike to pick hot peppers. The later parts of both days were simply spent hanging out with the people in the town square. A local dog has taken to me and we consider each other friends. I must decide whether to spend new years in a smaller village to my west, as I was invited to do so, or stay local. Decisions decisions.

Ferias

School is out for winter break. Out of respect for the season, the trees have lights the equal of America's, the temperature has dropped, and of course family and friends are back in town. None of these factors really affect me, but they all add to an interesting asthetic that brings a new life to the place. I am affected slightly by the school closure, because my English classes need to wait until the new year. I'm helping our development group photograph a road repair they are contracted by the local government to do. This way they can invoice the government (Camara) and get some much needed money in the org. My part in all of this is just official photographer, but I'll take any work I can at this point.
There is talk amongst the two other volunteers in my county of beginning a time consuming, very ambitious computer donation project. It sounds nearly impossible, but its been a long time since my abilities have been challenged. Many ideas like this come and go, and it could very well be a different one by the time of my next blog entry. Hopefully not.

Activities Fair

The Activities group I am part of held a fair last night in our soccer arena/public space thingy. I am incredibly impressed with the success the event had despite the last minute and informal planning. The town, with its compact size and close knit populace mobilizes at lightning speed. We kicked the even off with a donkey race through the main street of our town. After competitively riding a donkey I can safely say my life is complete. Afterwords, I started setting up carnival activities in the stadium thingy. My game was ridiculously successful as people lined up to pay money to throw a deodorant stick roller ball into empty yogurt cups for the possibilty of winning a drink or a snack. I think our organization could have made major bank off of the game, were it not for the fact I quickly ran out of drink coupons. When I returned to get more, the rest of the fair staff was so stressed out about one thing or another, I determined it was best to let them be. The language barrier and blasting sound system made it really easy for me to be left out of whatever it was that they were stressing about. I kind of wanted to stress out with them so I didn't feel so seperated from what was going on. Since, I was unable to help or even understand why anyone would be so fouled when the fair was going so successfully, I just decided to enjoy myself.
Doing so was quite easy and i passed the rest of the fair just having fun. Although the loudness made me Creole unusable I found that non verbal activities were more than fun enough. Im excited for the debrief on the activity.

My Address

Today is cloudy and even a little bit rainy, the latter of which is unusual for this time of year. I find both a welcome change, and I am making the most of the cloudy day to catch up on housework, planning, and I may even crack a book today. I received a phone call from my country director which put me in a good mood. It is not many jobs where you are excited to hear from your boss, but I suppose this one is an exception. We talked about potential work ideas and it was not only nice to hear English, but also to hear someone else who is excited about bringing improvements here. To top it off I got a good dose of flattery from him on the merits responsibility and language ability. Apparently, those two qualities are what led them to believe I am qualified to be serving out here on Mars. I was also glad to hear the (probably false) statement that I have one of the most remote sites in Peace Corps and that I must be extra careful. It made me feel a bit more rugged despite the fact that I have electricity, running water, and internet in my house. I can picture a volunteer in Peace Corps Kenya or something being unable to imagine the luxury I have here. All we would have in common is that we both still take bucket baths.
Work is good. I’ve been teaching English classes regularly, but I would really like to add more classes and information technology classes too. Last weeks meeting to secure the space for such was cancelled, due to insufficient turnout. I really have some good ideas to present to the board for the next meeting, but I feel that my age, specifically the lack thereof, is somewhat a disadvantage when trying to pitch ideas. Trying to make my ideas seem like someone elses is a challenge in English, doing so In Creole should be a real test.
A secondary group is forming in Cha De Igreja. It is an activities group to add life to the village started by a young girl and the principal of the school. Although this group meets more regularly, and considers me a founding member, they seem focused on starting a dance group. Although I agree with their intentions, I haven’t figured out what I can offer them. I told them if they wanted I could teach breakdancing/capoeria, but not much outside of that.
The group aims at doing other things too, but they don’t have the money to do them, nor the imagination to see that they can do things without it. I’m trying to pitch organized hikes, beach bonfires, and other activities as free alternatives, but being outspoken In the meetings is once again difficult due to my young age, my unfamiliarity with the workings of the village, and of course the language barrier.
Although no one is telling me I haven’t been doing enough, I have been holding myself accountable, and do feel there is something else I could be doing here. I just don’t know what or how. Outside of that, I can’t complain about anything. I get along well with the town, the weather is perfect, and I’ve taught some people to play chess so I can now pass the time. Thanks to Dustin for teaching me. I hike regularly and I am staying in pretty good shape, despite the inavailabilty of food. That’s all for now. I hope everyone back home is doing as well as I am.



My address ;
Thomas Grant Readle
Cha De Igreja
Ribeira Grande
Santo Antao
Cape Verde

Bruma Seca

I write this post from the comfort of my own home. Outside a sandy windstormy sort of phenomenon is occurring and avoiding it is the most comfortable option. This "bruma seca" is composed of sand particles and dirt and whatnot blown all the way over here from the Sahara. It wreaks havoc on plants and people, so everyone is happy when its not around.
Later today I will give my first English classes. I have no idea what to expect as far as turnout, but I have a plan as to what I will teach. For the more advanced class I will need to evaluate the students skills to figure out what I shall teach.
I finished reading a fiction book yesterday, which is very uncharacteristic of me, but my free time has afforded me a lot of new activities.
I'm considering hiding a few geocaches nearby to see if any tourists will go looking for them. dozens of French tourists pass through here every week, but few stay more than a half day. If Cha D' Igreja had more to offer, I feel they may consider staying longer which would be good for the community.
I'm not sure what the village could do on that matter, but I am excited to have a meeting at the end of the month to discuss such things with the Association I work with. I was excited to hear Friday that they are as eager to do projects as I am. Thusly, I'm preparing a list of ideas and thoughts for that meeting with the hopes that it is only ideas and inspiration that are missing from the equation of action. I posted some pictures from my vullage, and I will try to include some in the blog as well. Thats all for now.

Up To Now

I’ve decided to start posting to this blog with the hopes that I will someday have a dependable internet to post regularly. In mid July I arrived here in Cape Verde with 29 other future Peace Corps Volunteers. We began a four day orientation in the city of Praia before meeting our host families who would be our surrogate parents until we complete training. Several of us were older than our host families, but their role as cultural ambassadors was nonetheless important. My particular host family lived in a small rural village known as Mancholi. I was fortunate to have a really great host family complete with a Mom, a Dad, two host sisters, and eight goats. Training went really well, and I am sure that it will be one of the highlights of my entire experience. I really bonded with my team of fellow Peace Corps volunteers, staff, and host family. Several weeks of intensive language training later, we were asked to complete surveys describing our preferences for site placement. We had been given an overview of the islands, and a list of the host country counterparts that were at these sites. With this information we made a list of preferences which would sort of act as a tiebreaker for them in deciding where we should be placed. Factors such as job qualifications, gender, marital status, language ability and personality were the primary basis for the placement decisions. I wanted to see where Peace Corps thought I’d be best placed at so I left my preference form largely blank. I thought it might be cool to live on an active volcano, so I mentioned that if they couldn’t decide they should put me on the island of Fogo. When the verdict came in a few days later I was happily surprised, and extraordinarily curious. I was told I would be going to the island of Santo Antao in a place called Cha De Igreja. I would be a replacement for the first volunteer to come to that site, and I would be working with a development organization from that village. This was all the information I was given initially, and in the busy rush of training I was pressed for time and money to do much further inquiry. I was given a list of accomplishments my predecessor did. This list rivals the achievements most people do in a lifetime so I would certainly have some big shoes to fill. I was flattered by Peace Corps decision to place me there.
The one thing that I quickly discovered about my site is that it is arguably the most isolated site in Cape Verde. There once was a volunteer who had the island of Maio to herself, but with her no longer serving there my site probably takes the cake. To get from Santiago island to my village requires a flight, a taxi across Sao Vicente, a boat from Mindelo to Santo Antao, and another several hour taxi ride to Ribeira Grande. However, recent flooding had destroyed the road to Cha De Igreja from Ribeira Grande so the final couple hours of the journey to my site would have to be done on foot. Peace Corps and my fellow Volunteers looked out for me as I backpack by backpack moved my belongings to Cha De Igreja. About a month ago I had settled into my new home. The home was a very nice painted home in the heart of the village. It is certainly one of the nicest homes in the town. Inside I discovered a large collection of books, spices, a camera bag, some cleaning supplies, a nalgene and a note all left for me by my predecessor. I’ve been spending a majority of my time here passing time in the local plaza and getting to know my fellow villagers. Every one of them is very proud of the fact that Cha De Igreja doesn’t have crime and that one could sleep on the streets if they wanted to, and all they would have to worry about is giant centipedes. Ive gotten about a dozen or more people in my village interested in installing drip irrigation systems in the agricultural fields. These systems are far more efficient at watering plants and would allow them to save water that is ever so precious in the dry months. It seems hard to believe that drought is a big problem here when the road to my town gets washed out by torrential flooding annually but it’s true. My current occupation is now trying to get everyone interested organized so we can discuss different means of providing the plastic tube that is required for installing drip irrigation systems or “gota gota” as it’s known here. Labor is quite abundant here as free time is a luxury almost everyone enjoys. The land is there, and the interest is also very strong. There are even people who know how to install the systems right here in town. All that’s missing is an unspecified amount of that plastic tubing. I haven’t yet found the Home Depot on our island, but hopefully when I do they’d be willing to donate some of the materials.
Although the former project is what Im most focused on, I feel it is necessary to be doing a more regular kind of work here. Ive offered, and received permission, to give English and basic computer classes to all interested people here in Cha De Igreja. The school manager informs me that she will bring me a schedule I can work with soon, so I’m excited to begin soon. I get the feeling that the classes will be very popular since there is a great deal of interest in the community and no competing activities to think of.
Next time I am in civilization I will attempt to set up proper internet at my site. I am very fortunate to have such capability here in addition to water and electricity. Although there is no shower or bath to speak of, I will have my toilet repaired soon enough to claim that I probably have a good deal more amenities than most Peace Corps volunteers in Africa.

Peace Corps Volunteer - Cape Verde

Hello, my name is Grant and Monday I will leave Auburn, CA for Boston. More interesting, perhaps is that on Tuesday I will leave Boston for a chain of islands of the Atlantic coast of Africa. Those islands are Cape Verde. They will be my new home for the next 27 months as I serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer. I will be a Community Development Volunteer which is one of the most flexible assignment that the Peace Corps has. How much and what I accomplish is largely up to me.