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 ;-)

Quicky!

Happy Holidays!!! Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to yu all.  I was a little sad, missing family and friends during the holidays but I sill enjoyed it for the most part.  With each holiday all the volunteers get together and try to make everyone feel like home even though we are thoudands of miles away.  We all got together and enjoyed a Christmas brunch and dinner filled with carroling and singing plus movies into the night.  All in all I enjoyed my holiday away from with other vounteers and Peace Corps Staff.  In 5 days I will be moving to my new site.  I am very excited about the move and looking forward meeting the poeple in my village and working in the hospital.   I just wanted to quickly put up a holiday post and some pics that I promised.  Till next year....sa anjima!

It's Almost Time!!!

It’s been awhile since my last update and so much has happened that I can’t type it all.  I am two weeks away from swear in and the end of training.  By January 1^st of the New Year I will placed in my new village which will be my home for the next 24 months.  I am nervous and excited all at the same time but looking forward to the change.  Well before I talk about the future let me update you on the past several weeks.

First, Happy late Thanksgiving & Happy Holidays ;-) Although Niger does not celebrate Thanksgiving, all the Peace Corp trainees got together and enjoyed a lovely feast American style.  We had a Thanksgiving committee that put together a lovely menu as well as prepared most of the food.  From sweet potatoes  to stuffing , to Nigerian style salad and sweet butter cake, all 40 trainees plus a couple of special guest sat outside under the star lit sky and enjoyed the company, food and tradition of Thanksgiving.  All this made me think of my family at home and all my favorite foods I missed but I know it will all be waiting for me when I get back.  After all the festivities of Thanksgiving calmed down it was back to business as usual and training continued. After a couple of weeks of luxury at the training site it was time for us to get our first taste of life in the bush!

For two weeks I stayed in a small village with 5 other trainees and 2 language trainers outside of the state, Maradi .  The village was a 3 hour walk to the closest main road and the only access to the market or the road was by an ox cart, donkey, horse motorbike, or camel.  During these two weeks I focused on building my language skills through intensive classes as well as talking with residents of the village who were all very welcoming and receptive to our visit.  I also had the opportunity to attend 2 naming ceremonies, which is like a baptism, where everyone in the village comes to the newborn’s home and showers the family with gifts and blessings.   The religious leader of the village names the child and then the ceremony is concluded with the killing of a sheep, which is then prepared and cooked by the women.  I also visited the well which is like going to the water cooler at work; it’s where all the action is ;-)  In most rural villages since there is no running water the main water source is either a well, pump, or foot pump.  This village had a well which was 25m deep and provided water for all residents of the village.  Women will usually wake up as early as 5am to get water from the well to provide for their daily activities which includes cooking, cleaning, and water for bathing. This is by no means a small job and women in rural villages work very hard each day carrying gallons of water, gathering firewood, cooking lunch and dinner and taking care of the children.  

Although the village was small and remote village it was one of the few which had a school for grades 2, 4, and 6.  The school was a small 2 room building used to teach over 150 children; needless to say it was overcrowded and in need of many supplies.  The school was surrounded by 2 rows of beautiful itace trees which provided shade and was also where my language classes were held.  During my free time I would sit under the trees and read  a book while watching the animals graze through the field, women carrying water on their head and children playing simple games in the sand.  My two weeks was a great experience and an opportunity to see what my future life in ville will be.   

As time narrows down and my training comes to an end the next chapter of life will begin…follow me until then ;-)

P.S. I will put up some more pics in the next few days so be sure to check back.