What's Going On, Tell Me What's Going On…

 

This past October marked one year since I started this Peace Corps adventure so its only fitting I post a blog in remembrance of my one year anniversary.  So far I have traveled through 3 different continents, 4 different countries, learned 2 different languages, went through 2 different trainings and moved a total of 6 times; what a year it has been!  The last move being into my very own place   Unfortunately my last host family did not work out due to sexual harassment by my host “dad”.  Fortunately Peace Corps was very supportive and understanding and quickly had me removed from the home.  I found a small studio apartment about 3 blocks away that is just perfect for me.  There were some difficulties at first, like getting my landlord to fix the huge hole in my front door, but it seems a frantic crying gringa gets people moving!  After finally getting my door fixed my internet USB which allows me to have internet in my apartment stopped working; actually it’s the monopolized governmental phone company ICE.  Seems there is something wrong with one of the towers only in my town, so I can access internet everywhere except in my community. Ok, I finished my rant .  Although things have been a bit of an emotional and stressful rollercoaster for me I am still grateful for the opportunity and know that there are many more great things to come. 

Life on my has taken some getting used to but I can honestly say I am enjoying it for the most part.   Although I lived pretty much on my own while in NY, it is still a different experience especially cooking every meal for myself.   At times I miss the  convenience  of take out and  a microwave but in a country bountiful in fresh fruits and vegetables I am kind of like cooking all my meals.

Other that adjusting to life on my own “work” has been changing as well.  This week marks the last day of my English class which has gone through quite a transformation.  I started out with 2 classes, about 15- 20 ppl in each class and in the end I have 1 class with about 3 faithful students!  Looking back and seeing how over 100 ppl signed up and in the end only few stuck it out to el fin, lets just say that was a learning experience for me as well.  It was my first project and I am happy I did it, other than getting the opportunity to teach  it also helped me to get to know people within the community. So even if people don’t know my name, it still brings a smile to my face to hear people call me “teacher, teacher”.  My next couple of projects I hope to get of the ground is my dance class (hip hop por paz/hip hop for peace), a world map mural painted on the wall of one of the elementary schools and the big one, a grant to build a playground.

Well I leave it at that for now before I start to ramble on.   I am looking forward to the next couple of weeks since I will be on vacation.  My lovely mother will be visiting me here in Coasta Rica and then off to the West Coast for Thanksgiving.  Since I will probably not write again until after that Happy Halloween and Happy Thanksgiving to all.  I hope you are keeping warm out there, cause its still hot over here lol.

Life As I Know It

 

So it has been awhile since my last blog and this is mainly due to the fact that I have actually been quite busy….in a Tica sense.     The 15th of this month marks my 4th month of being at site, almost 7 months being in Costa Rica and about a year of being in Peace Corps in general, so looking back I can say time has been flying by.  Last week I finished my 2 week training called IST, which is given to all volunteers after their 3 months in site.  I have to say it was an emotional, exciting, boring, and educational experience all in one but I am very proud of myself to have reached this point in my service.  Before I go into IST, I want to talk about what’s been going on in Matina for the last 3 months. 

Since my last blog I was preparing to teach my first English class for adults and kids, and after about 2 months of teaching I can honestly say it has been quite an experience… for me.  My adult class I consider to be successful and still going strong with about 15 students who attend regularly.  Attendance has dwindled since the first class when about 30 students came but I think it has worked out for the best since a class of 15 is much easier to handle than a class of 30.  I usually make up my own lesson plans using various ESL workbooks, and a other resources that I have gotten from Peace Corps.  So far I see great progress although its difficult to get them talking a lot they are generally excited about the class and learning.  My youth class on the other hand, let’s just say I am learning about patience and wondering if I have enough to work with kids.  My class started out with about 20-25 students and the last class I had about 4 students came (although that was one of the best classes I had).  I will say that this is partially my fault since I told the students that if they will not do work, and continue to come unprepared I would cancel the class which translated to the class is canceled.  I have come to terms with this and realize that this may be for the best.  There are many programs I would like to do in the future with the youth and I think by building individual relationships and learning about the things they would like to do will be better in terms of implementing long term successful programs. 

Other than my my classes I have been working with the social worker and psychologist (Interdisciplinario) in the elementary school doing different “tallers” or seminars.  I mostly work with the kids doing different educational games as an icebreaker before the sessions start.  The sessions are usually based on healthy living and lifestyles, topics such as hygiene, drug prevention, teamwork, and respecting others.  I also co-facilitate sessions with the Interdisciplinario aimed at parents of the students on different social topics such as domestic violence, child abuse and drug prevention. 

So I feel like I have been productive but at my own pace.  It’s a very different not having a set schedule and pretty much having to make up your work.  This experience is really what you make it, and I hope to make it real successful.  Going to IST has inspired me and now I am all pumped to plan projects with my community, start looking for grants,writing proposals and really get started on my work here.  IST is pretty much a Project Management and Design workshop that provides you with training and resources to begin different projects in your community.  And there are lots of things that you can do from environmental to social development.  It’s also a time where volunteers can all get together and hang out since everyone is located in different parts of the country there are rare occasions when we can all get together as a group.  Plus you can vent about your community and the hardships you may be going thru and for some there are serious problems.  For example some people live in very rural communities; My friend has 50 ppl in her community and has to walk and hour to get to the local bus.  I also used this time for a little vacation and visited one of my friend’s site in Puntarenas, where we spent time at the beach and slept in a tree house .  As a volunteer I cant afford the type of typical vacations most people consider when coming to Costa Rica so my trips include staying at hostels,going to less touristy beaches, taking hikes to waterfalls, and swimming in rivers.  Pretty much the backpacker lifestyle, but I enjoy it nonetheless.

I feel like this blog was a bit boring and long but I just wanted to catch you up on my life as I know it.  So feel free to email, write or comment.  I posted some picks below of my town, my host mom’s grandkids, the local school and some the workshops I have been facilitating.  Till next time…..Tchau

My host mom and her grandkids

Festival at the school

 

The library where I teach classes & the Centro or center of town ( its  1 block)

Matina, Matina- Oh Limón

 

It has been 1 month and about 15 days and my new site and so far I am enjoying it.  It started off a little rocky, since I had to change host families 1 week after I arrived in Matina, but I will get back to that.  First I would like to describe my town, Matina.  As I mentioned before Matina is located in the province of Limon, which has a  very distinct culture that differs from the rest of Costa Rica.  I will briefly give a history lesson about Limon and Matina in general. 

Spanish settlement of Costa Rica came from the Pacific side of the country and given the mountainous barrier, dense forests and high rainfall between the Central Valley and the Caribbean colonists were faced with a real challenge. Due to this along with the resistance of the natives, establishing permanent settlements in the Caribbean region inevitably met with failure.  Matina was one of the very few exceptions due to the cacao farms which many merchants invested in.  Therefore a railroad was built in Matina and workers were purchased from Jamaica and other regions of the country.  This is all to explain the high population of blacks within the Limon region as well as the presence of Afro-Caribbean culture, which can be found in the food as well as the patawa accent of English spoken by many Limonesas.

This was very surprising to me since I was unaware of the history of Costa Rica and Limon in general.  Since I have family in the Caribbean and growing up in Flatbush, Brooklyn this is a culture I am very familiar with and in a strange way I feel quite at home.  Speaking of home, I currently live with a new host family, unfortunately I had to leave my first host family Peace Corps chose for me and look for a new one after being in town for only a week.  That turned out to frustrating and nerve wrecking; imagine someone new moving into your town introducing themselves and asking to live with you in the same sentence.  Luckily I was able to find a new home and I am much more comfortable and happy.  I live with an older couple, no kids in the home and they are super sweet and treat me like family which I appreciate.  And my host mom cooks rice & beans, not Spanish style arroz com frijoles but Caribbean style peas and beans with fresh coconut milk and chili peppers.  Delicious!

I don’t want to make this entry too long so I will just quickly sum up what I am doing now.  Normally for your first 3 months volunteers do a diagnostic on your community, which involves doing interviews, gathering official data about the population, health, security and general attitudes of your community.  This information is then summarized and analyzed in order to plan future projects and programs for the community.  It also helps you get to know more people within in your community.  So far I have done a couple interviews but I have mainly been working in the elementary/junior high school, doing different sessions on recreational activities.  Most of the recreation in Matina is playing soccer so I have made it my goal to teach different sports and hopefully start like a basketball or tennis team.  A lot of people also want to learn English so I decided to start English classes for my community available to everyone 12 and older.  I wasn’t expecting over 100 people to sign up!  So I have got my hands full putting together lesson plans and worksheets for my new classes which will start today!  I am obviously not a teacher but Peace Corps offers many resources for volunteers interested in teaching English including official licensed classes.  Wish me luck though, this will be the first class I ever taught! 

I will end with an unforgettable moment I have already experienced in my community which always gives me a smile and motivates me.  I was walking to the supermarket from my old host home, and I was feeling a  down, and a little depressed like I wanted to give up and just go back home to the US.  This day happened to be when my old host mom told me she was going away in a week and I needed to find someplace else to live because I could not stay in her home.  Then all of a sudden I saw a group of kids coming from the school and they began to greet me by calling out “maestra maestra (teacher, teacher).”  They were on the way to an activity in the center of town but stopped and spoke to me with interest and awe, ask me when I was coming back to the school.  At that moment I thought despite my sadness I couldn’t leave, these kids are happy about me being here and there is soooo much that could be done and I want to do it.  So this is what motivates me in my town of Matina, despite my homesickness and bad days, I appreciate this amazing opportunity and the gratification that I get knowing that I am here helping people.

Till next time, feel free to email me and if you want to send anything my address is in my last blog. Thanks for all the support and I will write again to tell you how my classes are going. 

CR- Entrenamiento

In 2 weeks I will be finished training and swearing in as an official volunteer for the 2nd time. Obviously this time will be different in terms my dress and the actual ceremony (which maybe broadcasted live on television).  In the past 8 weeks I have created friendships and bonds with many people including my Tico training host family.

Training is done in San Jose, therefore I live with a family in San Jose.  I have a host dad, who works as a taxi driver, a mom, who is a stay at home mom and 1 brother and 2 sisters; Maria Jose (17yrs), Jazmin (10yrs) and Josue (6yrs).  I absolutely love and adore my  training host family, they are incredibly loving, supportive, funny and just all around awesome people.   My host sister Jazmin smoothers me with kisses and even assists me in tying my shoes.  Josue is the baby of the family and since I am still learning Spanish I hardly understand what he is saying half the time but he is so cute and loves to play around and joke so words are not that important .   My host mom truly takes care of me and is so emphatic and loving, she is the true caretaker of her whole family.  My oldest host sister is an energetic, animated, slighty loud teenager that reminds me of myself at that age, so she is like the sister I never had.  My host dad works a lot and he is a bit machismo but the love he has for his family is so evident in all his actions its hard to not love him too.  Needless to say I will truly miss my host family once I go to my official site, Matina which is in the providence of Limon.

I will talk more about my site, which I am actually visiting right now for the next couple of days, once I have spent my first month here.  I will be working on developing programs to combat some of the local social issues in Matina such as drug consumption among teenagers and young adults, lack of recreational activities for youth and children, domestic violence, child abuse, teenage pregnancy, school dropouts and delinquency.  After doing a community diagnostic my first 3 months I will be able to better assess the needs of my community as well as the resources available for potential projects.  I am really looking forward to working and living in Matina and I hope all of you continue to support me during my service.  Also if you would like to send any material, children's games or information on the issues I will be working on please feel free to email me or mail anything, except really large boxes.  My email and mailing address is below.  Until next time hasta luego !

P.S.-  If you would like to watch the livestream of me swearing in, check it out Friday, May 13th.  Below is the link!
Tico 22 Swear-In

rbp130@gmail.com
PCV Rosemarie Philip
Cuerpo de Paz
Apartado Postal 1266-1000
San Jose, Costa Rica


Pictures of my host family



Costa Rica- Pura Vida

It has been almost 3 months since my last post and 2 months since my arrival in Costa Rica.  Although my training has kept me very busy, I also found it difficult to write an un-biased and non-comparative post of my experience in CR so far.  Coming from Niger where life is so much simpler yet difficult, to Costa Rica, which reminds me of the West Indies, was not an easy transition.  I realized I really miss Niger and my experience there will always be remembered and cherished but I must put that same passion and focus into my work here in Costa Rica because there is definitely a need.
Peace Corp in every country varies but one thing that is the same is training and since this is my 2nd training in a 6 month period it can be a little bit….boring Yet I have definitely enjoyed certain parts of it and the content is also more focused on the program (Children, Youth & Families) I am working in.  My weekly schedule entails, Spanish class Mon., Wed., & Fri from 8am-3:30pm, and technical and core classes on Tuesday & Thursday form 8am-4:30pm.  The rest of the time I usually spend with my host family or traveling on Peace Corps trips to visit other volunteers of your future site.  So far I have visited 2 volunteers in 2 different parts of the country; Santa Cruz, Guanacaste & Buenos Aires, Puntarenas.  Guanacaste was dry and hot but I was able to go to the beach and saw a lot including hundreds of jellyfish in the water and and a dead crocodile on the shore! I was also able to learn about the many projects the completed by the volunteer  in that site including setting up official night classes for adults.  After doing a community diagnostic she realized many adults within her community did not have an education beyond 6th grade so working with Ministry of Education she was able to have certified teachers sent to her community to teach classes for adults.  With these classes students will be able to obtain an equivalent of a high school diploma.  The other volunteer I visited in Puntarenas, which was hot and humid but gorgeous, also completed many projects within her community.  She created a women’s group and helped them in obtaining materials and training to build a greenhouse to simulate income generation among members of her community.  She also got a grant to build a playground for the children within her community as well as many other smaller projects. 
For many Costa Rica is just another vacation site but there are also many parts of the country that are plagued with social issues and economic disparity.  Visiting other volunteers and seeing the work they have done as well as the relationships they have created within their community has inspired me.  It has also helped me realized that just because a country maybe more advanced in terms of infrastructure and technology does not mean all their problems have been eliminated and there is always work to be done.

I would also like to make a special dedication to Seyni, a Peace Corp Niger staff member that passed away from high blood pressure a couple of weeks ago.  I personally remember Seyni and am deeply saddened by his passing especially since I know our departure from Niger had a lot to do with his health.  May his soul rest in peace and my prayers going out to his family.

Some clips of Costa Rica so far!  Most are pics of the schools and children I work with.

Memories of Niger…..

 

Prior to my departure I spent 1 week 1 day living in my village working in the local hospital.  Although I was only there for a short period of time I was able to accomplish a lot and bonded with my community.  My post was located in Markowa in the Dosso region which is in the South Eastern part of the country.  I was about 2 hours away from the capital of Niger, Niamey, and about an hour away from the regional capital.  Moving day was an adventure in itself since me and 3 other PCVs were moving in on the same day; therefore all of us along with our luggage, furniture,and kittens squeezed into a Land Cruiser and headed out to Markowa. 

Once I arrived in Markowa I was greeted by the whole village and a formal meeting was done by my program manager to introduce me to my new community.  At first I was nervous; being dropped off in the middle of nowhere, miles away from any other PCV or anyone who can even speak English can be a bit nerve wrecking.  After a couple of hours of getting my head together and unpacking everything into my 2 room mud house I began to feel more comfortable and ready to meet and greet my neighbors and fellow colleagues.  Since many people living in the rural parts of Niger have never even traveled outside their village or met an American before, I was the object of attention for many Nigeriens in my village.  I was also the first volunteer to serve in Markowa, unlike some other sites where a new PCV maybe replacing a volunteer who has just finished their service.  Being the “new kid on the block” I had to endure a “hazing” phase of extensive greetings that were sometimes a bit awkward and uncomfortable for me but a sign of culture respect for Nigeriens.  This meant that every morning starting at 8am people would come visit throughout the day just to say hello; some brought gifts such as rice, peanuts, beans or whatever they had to offer and some just came to stare.  At first I was unsure how to handle 15 children standing in my front yard just staring at me cook or read a book.  Some were very shy and so I tried to engage them in conversation but with they would simply smile bashfully and continue to watch me, only talking among themselves.  Eventually I learned how to engage them by offering food and candy and even taught some of the girls how to jump rope and the boys how to play Frisbee. 

My second day in “ville” I started work immediately.  Normally Peace Corps assigns a counterpart for each volunteer who serves as a colleague, and an informal  supervisor that you work with in your assigned sector.  My counterpart was a nurse and worked in the hospital with his wife, who was a midwife.  During my first week they were both out of town for work; therefore I worked with his assistant & another nurse from a nearby village that commuted there during his absence.  I was given a tour of the hospital which was a small building with about 8 rooms; 4 rooms were used for storage, 1 room for deliveries and surgery, 2 rooms for medical consultations and baby weighing.  Like many other rural villages in Niger there was no electricity or running water in Markowa, including  in the hospital.  Supplies were scarce and sanitation standards were nothing like hospitals in the US but that was where I came in.  My purpose was to educate and promote better sanitation, increase nutritional health among pregnant women and children and to provide assistance in creating sustainable ways to increase the livelihood of the local villagers. 

Unfortunately I was unable to fulfill all my goals during my time in Markowa but what I did accomplish and memories I have will follow me always.  During my 1 week of service I assisted in 2 baby deliveries and weighing, helped conduct over 15 prenatal consultations,conducted hand washing and malnutrition seminars and simply bonded with the women and children of my village.  Even though my technical work was done in the hospital I feel my greatest work was the time spent with the children.  Sharing my life and parts of my childhood with them, like learning to jump rope and playing patty cake, was the most rewarding experience of all.  The smiles on their faces and the pure pleasure of learning something new is something I know they will always remember too.

Moving Day

My kitten Coco

My front “yard”

The kitchen

The “bedroom” in the back

Markowa!

My “kids” aka morning wake up committee

The well

The hospital

The delivery room

My counterpart and his daughter

Where in The World is Carmen Sandiego?

 I have been dreading and delaying writing this post since most of you all know by now, I am no longer in Niger.  Sadly for me and the Nigerien people life has taken a turn and Peace Corps Niger was shut down;  all 98 volunteers have evacuated the country and will not be returning.  Due to safety and security risks Peace Corps decided to temporarily close all programs in Niger until further notice. 

For me personally I never felt unsafe or uneasy while I was in Niger in general, or in my village .  The people were always nice, hospitable, generous, caring and protective and I will miss them and the unique beauty of the country.  From the smiles and laughs of the little children playing to sounds of pounded millet and farm animals that greeted me each sunrise.  Since I will not be returning to Niger I want to take time to dedicate a post to the memories I will always have of Niger, the people, and the PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) I shared it with.  I will post this blog before my departure, in 2 weeks, to my new assignment in Costa Rica!

Although Costa Rica is no Niger, Peace Corps volunteers have been serving there since 1963, responding to the need of Ticos through projects in areas of health, education, agriculture, rural & economic community development, and youth development.  I will be working in the children, families and youth sector as a youth development volunteer.  Due to increased migration from rural to urban areas there has been a subsequent social dislocation of youth throughout Costa Rica. In this project, I will be working with the Patronato Naciónal de la Infancia (PANI), a Costa Rican government agency that is similar to Child Protective Services in the US. The project's main focus is to address the needs of a broader range of at-risk communities, not just urban. The project also works with issues such as violence and abuse prevention, school retention, service learning, health, and recreation and increased participation with children, youth, and families, allowing for a more integrated approach to addressing issues that affect young people.

I leave for Costa Rica on March 1st and hope that you all will continue you to follow me on this new adventure.  I am excited about starting a new program and continuing my work in Peace Corps.  Although this blog was originally dedicated to my service in Niger, I have decided to keep my blog address instead of creating a new one.  Therefore you can still find me at www.rosiesniger.blogspot.com.  Till next time thanks for all your support ;-)