Waitukubuli National Trail!

A couple volunteers and I took a day for hiking during our Christmas/holiday break. The Waitukubuli National Trail project began in February 2008 and consists of 14 sections of trail making its way around the island of Dominica. The three of us completed Section 3 which started in Bellevue and ended in Wotton Waven. We were luckily enough to finish in this village where the hot sulfur springs are! ... we soaked in the "hot tubs" after our 9 mile hike. Ahhhhh....

Waitukubuli Trail Information
http://www.avirtualdominica.com/waitukubulitrail.cfm

Section descriptions
http://www.dominica.gov.dm/cms/files/wntp_Booklet_final.pdf

Returning to Dominica

I had the privilege of visiting home in the states for a few weeks over Thanksgiving. My body was in shock once the cold struck but the beauty of the snow excited me like I'd never seen it before! I was able to meet with the students who are so kindly taking their time and possessions and donating books to the primary school where I work. Thank your for having me and all the wonderful things you are doing!

I returned to Dominica and the weather was warm and the foliage green... as usual. I quickly appreciated that but took me a few days to adjust being away from home again. Now 2 weeks back I am back at work and enjoying the Christmas festivities Dominica has to offer. Although Christmas trees and lights are not as common here when I do see them it gives me a wonderful sense of home. I have a lovely 4 foot tree in my apartment that lights things up nicely, along with a few other decorations. Christmas is definitely different here but I am making the best of it (the neighbors love my Christmas cookies!) and staying busy.

Merry Christmas to all of you!

Independence Celebrations

It is that time of year again, October and November are when Dominica takes time out to celebrate their independence on November 3, 1978.
This week in the city of Roseau the Botanical Gardens has "Creole in the Park" this is a four day event Mon-Thurs of cultural performances, local and Caribbean bands and the park is lined with restaurant vendors, souvenirs, ice cream and much more.
Today, is Creole day in the schools where everyone come in their Creole attire which for the men is black pants, white shirt and a red sash/belt. While the ladies have a more broad tradition of wearing dresses or skirts made in fabric with Dominica/Creole designs which is a multitude of red, white, yellow, blue and greens... almost resembling a plaid look. Some women also adorn their heads with headbands, wraps or head dresses. All the children look adorable in their little clothing... today we will have a local singer and children will dance one of the cultural dances.
This weekend is the "World Creole Music Festival"... a three night event starting on Friday at the Windsor park Stadium in the city. Bands and artists from all over the Caribbean come to perform and they could come on stage anytime from 7pm - 5am. The stadium has the traditional stands full with chicken, creole plates, drinks, local juices, cakes, etc.

Another exciting Independence Time!!

Dance party on Creole Day at the primary school

World Creole Music Festival

School's in session

At this time we are 4 weeks into the new school year and things are going great! I am working most days in the library keeping things organized and in check. Just last week I finally started the check out system. Students are now able to take books home and I am giving them a big responsibility to return them (what a concept). That is now keeping me pretty busy re-shelving and checking out. On Thursdays I am tag teaming with another teacher to hold arts and crafts lessons. We have done 2 successful weeks of it but its a busy day! We teach Kindergarten - 6th from 9:00am-3:30pm which only gives us 40 minutes with each class. It can be a hustle when there is a good amount of set up and clean ups.
I am very happy working at the school The teachers are wonderful and very welcoming of me and my ideas. As the year comes to a close I will be preparing some of the teachers to continue any work I have started here. I hope to know children continuing to check out books long after I am gone.

The work I've done :)

View from the balcony, outside the library door
(soon the old school there will be demolished completely)

Summer reflection

It's been awhile since I have written so I wanted to fill you in on how my summer has gone (thus far). The school year goes until the beginning of July so vacation is not quite as long as back home. However once July came I worked hard on preparing a one week summer camp for children in 3rd, 4th and 5th grades. I was going to the city and getting donations of art supplies, school materials, food and beverages. I am so proud to say that the camp was a huge success! Five wonderful days full of fun and learning. 9am-3pm including a snack and lunch break. We covered topics of science; where kid-friendly experiments took place, health, arts & crafts, games, reading and of course water balloons! I am not sure why, maybe the boredom of summer, but the children were so amazing and well behaved! I also had about six youth help through the week with supervision as well as teaching lessons. We completed the week with a fun little ceremony where the students received a certificate of completion, bag of goodies as well as special awards to some children for best behavior, attendance, in arts and in sports.

I took off some time and went swimming in the rivers and the ocean
enjoying the beautiful weather August has brought.

Reading in Dominica!

The main radio station for the island is putting on it's 3rd annual Reading Competition. I have worked with a 3rd grader from my primary school to compete. As of now we have competed in Castle Bruce against 7 others and placed 2nd. This week we were up against 9 individuals from all over the island, in round two. The top 6 moved on and we just made it through making 6th place.

The competition consists of two rounds. The first is an insert from a story, about two pages long. The second is a news article which includes more difficult words and topics. The competition will continue to get stiffer as we move along, the finals will be held in Grenada this year!

All the students are brilliant young kids with amazing reading skills. The student I am working with reads with so much enthusiasm and passion, I believe she will move on if she keeps that up.

Glad to see Dominicans putting such a good light and focus on READING!!

Tragedy Strikes

I laid in bed on a rainy Monday morning, enjoying a holiday at home to relax. As I enjoyed my relaxation tragedy was just over the mountain. In the small village neighboring mine, and where I teach at the primary school a landslide over took a home. Inside the home were three people; a man, a woman and a small boy, they were buried in the muddy mountain that collapsed on their home. The bodies yet to be found.
As the rain continued to fall hard crowds made their way and gathered around the bay and slide of earth that made its way into the sea. Firefighters and rescue teams taped off the scene; which didn't keep curious Dominicans away, and began digging through the piles and piles of mud, boulders, trees and branches. People gathering around climbed the landslide now adjoining to the rock wall to get better views, fisherman stepped in their boats and people continued passing the yellow tape. Watching as pieces of what used to be a home were pulled out a guitar halved was discovered and tossed to the side... one of the many possessions lost on this day.
As the hours passed and the rain fell, more landslides occurred. On my way back up the hill to head home we were informed of a blockage in the road. Sure enough an enormous side of a mountain had slid down positioning two palm trees perfectly in the middle of the road. My ride stopped there to turn around while I made the trek through the bushy jungle to cross the landslide. Full of mud I made it through and walked another 1/2 hour to reach my house, glad to be home, safe and resting.
Once evening came three bulldozers reached the area to clear the roads of the messes and assist in the digging of the house. As we go into the night crowds continue to gather and hundreds of people are waiting to see the discoveries under the mass of earth. The man's body was the first to be unburied, followed by the woman and 5 yr old boy. All declared dead and the funeral takes place Thursday, 3 June.









My thoughts and prayers are with all of those who have lost friends and family in this natural disaster.

A Brand New School

The primary school should have opened in September 2009 ... circumstances occurred ... 7 months later here we are! The school opening of the most modern school in Dominica. The two-story school is adorned with an art room, kitchen/home ec classroom, auditorium, laboratory, library, computer lab and classroom balconies. The grounds are still in construction and will finish in ''phase II''. The basketball court has been laid but a playing field, parking lot and sea wall must be created. Also the destruction of the 30 year old must occur over the summer months. This will make an absolutely amazing view of the ocean from the classrooms and campus.
My position is the ''librarian''; there have been 450 books donated from the wonderful state of Michigan. Other providers will donate in the beginning of the next school year. I have tagged, organized and packed about 700 books so far and continue to make the library and reading corner a fun learning environment!

Easter Holiday!

The entire family (6) came down to Dominica for Easter this year! We stayed in Mero in an amazing and perfect apartment hotel. It hosted 8 of us comfortably and its back balcony was our dining area for all meals and a gorgeous view of the Caribbean Sea. The days we didn't spend sunning and swimming on the beach we went sight seeing in the city of Roseau, Trafalgar Falls, Petite Soufriere, Scott's Head, Sulfur Springs, Screw's Spa, Portsmouth, Cabrits and others....

paint paint paint

before

after

More successful painting jobs done by the male youth. Another Saturday working hard and having fun on top of the village hill. We spent about four hours cleaning, mixing paints, painting, repainting and enjoying the time.

...Momentum...

The youth I have been working with are continuing to impress me! My counterpart and I show up on Saturday mornings to do community service and the young people consistently show up as well. Last project,we worked for 7 hours(!) on a painting and cleaning job. A bus stop which had paint peeling off, dirt and grim everywhere and just uninviting we cleaned and repainted. Once we finished it looked so nice we all took our shoes off before entering the stop! We also used some of our funds to hire a village member to clean the vines and weeds behind a mural. This was done by the previous volunteer but after a couple years it has faded. We touched it up and brightened the encouraging words on it. We had a family cook us an amazing lunch of rice, lentils and chicken which they delivered to us in a huge pot. The ten of us sat on our bench and ate, talked and laughed until we continued our work well into the afternoon.

CARNIVAL

Carnival is said to be the most festive time of the year in Dominica. Also known as 'The Real Mas', it is a pre-Lenten festival, and usually falls in February or March each year. It is hard to miss the fervour of the people's loyalty to their favorite calypsonian or pageant during the preceding months of the Calypso Final and the National Queen Show.

Parade in the city on Carnival Tuesday.

"My kids" in kindergarten made Carnival masks in art class.

I spent both days (mon & tues) in the city celebrating with friends and fellow PCVs. Monday morning consisted of a "jump up" where people dance in the streets from 4am until about 10am. The morning was then quiet until the afternoon where the dancing started again. Large trucks with speakers and sound systems set up on them slowly drove through the streets while the dancers followed the music.

MONTSERRAT!

This morning I woke up to a layer of dust along my porch banister... ?

Looking out it looked foggy... or dusty even... ?

Where I could usually watch the ocean waves roll there was a faint blue abyss where the water sat...

Montserrat a volcanic island 30miles north of Guadaloupe threw ashes 9 miles into the sky overnight. Many of the Caribbean islands are feeling effects from this with a dusty, cloudy day. It does not cause problems breathing, it is not that thick however it is covering EVERYTHING... and making quite the mess. Some of the islands closer to Montserrat have closed schools and authorities are encouraging people to stay inside, and keep windows and doors closed.

But no alarm, here in Dominica we are experiencing a thin layer of ash on houses, cars, etc. Flights have been canceled since last night, through today and authorities estimate the ash will remain for the better part of the day.

Monserrat Photo: PHOTO FROM 1997 ERUPTION

PHOTO OF AERIAL VIEW

ART ART ... Everyone loves Art!

Art class is going very well, I teach for an hour in the Kindergarten and first grade classes. We color, paint and create hands-on pieces of art! Every time I pass children from the class, on the street they say, "you comin' arts n' craps tomorrow?" (no matter the day). I am excited they enjoy my company and the lessons I bring. Below you see Mardi Gras-type masks. These were made in celebration of Carnival time in Dominica. It is a cultural event remembering and celebrating slavery and their freedom. Costumes and masks are cultural wear through parades and daily shows.

Hopes for a cleaner community

After a simple request a local corporation from the city donated 4 barrels and 5 gallons of paint for our Drum Painting Project. About 15 youth from the village took their Saturday to design and paint the barrels! After 3 hours in we ate our food off turkey and provision broth and relax. To finish the day we had to remove the covering off the top of the drum and distributed them around the village. The community has truly appreciated the work and involvement of the youth as well as the new fashionable garbage bins sitting by the roads :)

mmm.. fruit

Here is a photo of the fruit known as Sweet Sop, or Sour Sop. There is a small distinction in taste between the two, however they look the exact same (to me). The green skin is hard and pricky, the inside consists of big black seeds. The fruit itself is a sweet flavor (in this instance) it is so soft, if ripe enough, it is the texture of pudding.