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.