Getting there

Got about 10 more days left on this island, and then I head back to Santiago to terminate my service. Time flies, 2 years already! Anyways, I did eventually manage to get funding to make the world map, and got a little progress on some other projects. It's been a good run.

Auburn Journal

I recently got asked to answer 9 questions for the Auburn Journal about my Peace Corps experience. I was unfortunately away from my internet for a good while, and I'm not sure if my information will get published or not...so I'm going to post it here.

1. Why did you join the Peace Corps?
2. What are you doing in (your country) currently?
3. What has been the hardest part?
4. What has been the best part?
5. What are your living conditions like?
6. What are living conditions like for the people you are helping?
7. Has your safety ever been compromised? If so, how did you handle it?
8. What are things you miss from home?
9. What are things people reading this might not know about (your country) and its people?


Thank you for your interest in Auburn raised Peace Corps volunteers. I would be happy to share my story with you and Auburn (if it's not too late...I just got my email yesterday). I am a "Community Development" volunteer in the west African island country of Cape Verde.

I have wanted to join the Peace Corps since I was in middle school. I had heard about this program where the US government sends its people to other countries to make friends with people from that country. My understanding was pretty basic at the time, but as I learned more about the Peace Corps I became more and more convinced that it was a perfect fit for me. I majored in international relations in college and this was an immediate way to apply what I had learned in university.

Being a community development volunteer is all about using your imagination. Unlike the other Peace Corps assignment areas, there are no real "set in stone" objectives, schedules, or even partners. What community development volunteers do is entirely up to them. We try to motivate locals from our communities to develop projects that create a long term benefits. I have done everything from organizing farmers to adopt more efficient drip irrigation technologies to drafting business plans for bakeries. Almost all of the projects are done on a "learn on the go" basis, since no training can cover the myriad of potential projects out there. Projects are hit and miss, but when a project does succeed its tremendously rewarding. Most volunteers, myself included, in community development assignments teach English as a way to fill the time between projects. There can be a great deal of waiting for funding to get approved, or for busy seasons to pass (such as elections, holidays, or harvesting). In addition to the assorted projects and English teaching, I lead some more recreational activities such as camping trips, breakdancing classes, and chess tournaments. In my free time I enjoy talking with my new friends, hiking, and fishing.

The hardest part of my service is certainly uncertainty. I live in the most remote Peace Corps site in Cape Verde, and there are no precedents or guidebooks to follow. The question of "what should I be doing right now" is a familiar one. I've gotten much better at answering that as the last 19 months have passed, but in the beginning in can be quite daunting. Uncertainty is also very prevalent in most Peace Corps countries where volunteers need to learn a new local language. Overcoming miscommunication is as regular a part of my day here, as waiting for a red light to change in America was.

The most rewarding part of my service has been the experience living with Cape Verdeans in a village. When you live in a city (even a small one like Auburn) you tend to live more or less anonymously outside of your group of friends, family, and aquaintences. However, in a village of less than 500 people, you come know the first name of every single person you pass on your way to buy onions. Its not uncommon to stop and chat with people from all age groups and walks of life in the town square. You really get to meet people you would never get to know otherwise. I'm only 26, but my best friend in the village became a grandfather last year.

My living conditions are not what you see on the Peace Corps posters. I live in a village over an hour away from the nearest post office, yet my house is two stories, has electricity, and running water. I'm also writing this email from my bedroom, as I have recently got internet at home. This isn't Kennedy's Peace Corps anymore, and the technology Peace Corps Volunteers have these days has really accelerated what we can do out here. Many of the volunteers, at least here in Cape Verde, share project ideas with local leaders, NGOs, and each other through the internet. Although I had signed up for Peace Corps expecting the mud hut, I'm really grateful for what I can do now that I have a working cellphone and an internet connection.

Cape Verde enjoys a higher standard of living than most of the rest of Africa, but by most people's definitions it is still poor. In 2007 it graduated from the classification of least developed country to a higher level. The results of Cape Verde's success are visible on the ground level. Most people live in cement houses, most of which have electricity at least some hours of the day. Many people have running water, and I'm not the only person in my village who has internet. Starvation, was once a part of the history of Cape Verde, but is nearly unheard of now. That said, Cape Verde has a long way to go. Most people don't graduate high school, earn less than 7 dollars a day for tough agricultural labor, and have children before they turn 21.

I have never lived anywhere safer than I do now. There is truly something to be said for the policing power of a small community. People here go to great lengths to avoid offending anyone in the village. The social implications of commiting a crime here are unimaginable. If I were to buy cheese and flour, half of the village would know I was fixing to make a pizza before nightfall. The benefit to this all being that everyone treats everyone with respect because everybody knows everything. That said, when I went to a nightclub in the capital city I experienced an attempted mugging. That's a risk you run into in a big city anywhere, whether it be Los Angeles or Sao Paulo. I managed to get out of the situation by making a lot of noise, so my attackers fled for fear of getting caught.

There is nothing I miss more from home than my friends and family. Cold bucket baths, strange foods, and lack of transportation are things that are actually relatively easy to get used to. However, being away from the people that make you who you are doesn't really change with time.

The first thing people should know about Cape Verde is that it exists, and it is in fact a country. It's very hard to find on a map, but if you go out into the Atlantic Ocean west of Senegal you should see some dots there. Cape Verde is a former Portuguese colony that was used as a waypoint during the days of the slave trade. As a result the Cape Verdean people are descended from both Portuguese and Africans. The history is also reflected in the language which is a pidgin of Portuguese.

Change of weather.

Today was nice and sunny. Although this is nothing strange for Cape Verde, it did mark a change in the weather of this last week. The day started out slow, as most days do. I got together with my neighbor/friend Janine and we sat and had a nice cup of blackberry tea courtesy of my mom. We passed the time by people watching the people coming into the village. We would try to predict which of the two directions they would take at the split into town. When that game got old, we watched the fig tree and tried to guess how many leaves would fall in a period of five minutes. 13. This remained the pace of the day until my friend Niton stopped by and coaxed me to go with him for a run. We went, and it was exhausting. That exhaustion was perfect. To enjoy relaxation, one needs to be tired. Expending my energy really felt rewarding. Later that day I gave my English class again which we restarted on Monday. Monday we had 7 people, today we had 5. It is a good group though, and although they may never use English in their lives, I think we all at least have fun.

Words from friends

One of my wisier friends from back home gave me some well placed words today and for that I am grateful. Today was like any other day, however I managed to keep some good momentum by doing the right things. I fed myself fairly well today which kept my spirits high. I sweated out a good bit as I did a Ribeira run, and I got to give an English class today which had an excellent turnout of 7 people. If everyday were like today my service would be a complete success.

It's been a while

It's been a good time since I posted last. I haven't posted largely out of embarassment. The hail mary Jatropha project has fizzled. The information I was supposed to recieve about how to create such a biofuel came in the form of a facebook post, not the complete information package I was expecting. To do the training would require thousands of dollars, and I have yet to see any evidence that the product would be viable, especially at such a remote location. I have been toying with other ideas, but none have come to fruition. I have decided to set my sights lower, something I should have done a long time ago.

I am going for the easiest Peace Corps project imaginable, the World Map Project. It consists of organizing a group of people, getting 70 dollars worth of paint supplies, and spending a weekend painting a map on a wall. I've decided I can't fail at this. Although I've met with the youth group several times about this they remain unmotivated. The only thing that peaks their interest is when I speak of potential camping trips with other PCVs, because they imagine they will get to hit on the American girls. I am fundamentally disappointed, but It's no matter. I have decided to ignore the mantras we were taught during training and prepare to do this project on my own if need be. I figure if I start painting this thing myself, and others see that its more fun what they normally do they may buy into it. Worst case scenario, I'm out 70 bucks, but at least the community knows what the world looks like outside of Cape Verde.

I had some of my neighbors over to play darts today, and that was a nice relief.

Dedication

My computer has arrived! Therefore I dedicate this post to my Mom & Dad who have given me the gift of connectivity. With internet and a computer at my fingertips now I feel powerful. I have been able to continue my research on the Jatropha plant, and I have sent messages to experts online in the hopes that one will grace me with his or her knowledge on the subject. I really would love to know which machines Ribeira Alta will need to turn the Jatropha seed into a liquid that we can pour in the diesel generator to make the lights turn on. My local partner, Cesario, has been doing his part in acquiring the lands and rights for the cultivation of the plant. My role as the Peace Corps volunteer is to find out how to do the process, and find funding for the equipment and for the project in general. The internet is surprisingly vague on the matter, but hopefully by contacting individuals directly I can reach a solution. Ideally, I would like to have one on one time with someone that has done small scale biodiesel production before. However, it appears that if I succeed, I may be the only person in Cape Verde who knows how. Furthermore, I will need to be able to learn every intricacy of the process for I will have to teach the villagers how to do everything from processing the oil to machine maintenence, skills that I lack at present.

November

Since last posting things have stayed more or less the same. This month I revived the physical education class I was teaching and have been doing that consistently at 17:00 barring days where it is not possible. The exercise and music go a long way for me to relieve any feelings of restlessness I may have. The class is fun and although the turnout is variable, I could feel justified if just one person shows up. That is sometimes the case. I am still without a computer which has been the primary obstacle in accomplishing anything more substantial for the time being. On one day when I was able to borrow one I helped a good Cape Verdean friend of mine begin working on creating a business that Cha De Igreja really needs. I started by helping him fill out forms for requesting aid. On another occasion, when I had a borrowed laptop overnight I was able to form an excel spreadsheet which is the basis for a feasibility study he will do. I made it as detailed as my imagination could conceive and I found myself putting hours into it that flew by, as it was the most fun I had had in a while. When he looked over it the next day he told me that he was "muito satisfeito" with the job I had done, and those words really validated my work. It was a great feeling. I can't wait for the means to replicate the success of that small task any time I want to.
It will also help me post more often.
I've been working trying to research more for the biofuel project I've been aiming for, but the time I spend on the internet at a colleague's house isn't the same as the endless hours I can put in at home. Plus, it's just bad form when one only gets to see his PCV friends so often. However, in the brief period of time spent researching I have managed to get an idea of how the process works. The dried Jatropha seeds go into a "decortator" or something like that to remove the husks. Then they are put through a "expeller" to remove the oil. The latter piece of equipment is about $150 from where I saw it on the interweb and it seems manageable. Plus it is hand operated so no need for electricity. Stellar. However, Jatropha oil still needs to undergo a process called "Transesterification". As you might imagine from looking at the word, this is where I am getting lost. It sounds as if methanol and some other chemical are needed to transform the oil into fuel through a means which escapes me. The only information I have found is far too technical for me to decipher, and only addresses the chemistry of the process. The quest for knowledge continues. Hopefully, I can find some resources, ideally a human, to help me understand the process. Anyone know where I can get an instruction manual for a small scale Jatropha plant?

Went fishing the other day and I broke my record. 2 fish in one day...righteous.

Also, a fantastic group of PCVs from Africa came and visited making my week. Hearing tales from the continent fuels my desire to travel. I am looking forward to my friend Matt to visit for some good ol' island hopping.