Monday, March 22, 2010

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.

Friday, March 12, 2010

...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.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

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.