bush bunnies

I wish I had pictures of this weekend. I went to my buddy Siti's village to hang out with him since I'm stuck in Suva and am beginning to see the city as a curse rather than the blessing that city life usually affords me.

So I skipped town and went 'bush' for the weekend. Drank wine on Friday night, hungover Saturday morning, but after one of those I-just-puked-up-my-dinner-from-two-nights-ago kind of releases, I rallied and was reeling to go. Armed with machetes and an old flour sack, Siti and I hiked out into the woods.

We hiked all day, gathering food along the way. If I had to choose one PCV to be stranded with in the jungle, I'd pick Siti. 2 reasons:
1. He's got a beard. (It just fits the part.)
2. He's completely competent in the jungle.

He could spot the fresh-water fern (ota) from 10 paces away. He hacked a bamboo pole into submission to reach a breadfruit high in the trees. He found guava trees, cocoa trees, and orange trees and even caught a fish with his bare hands! (ok I made up that part about the fish, but he did everything else.) I forgot I was with an American and just assumed Siti had been raised in the bush and had never been to town due to his ease of movement and knowledge.

I am quite an awkward person, especially when it comes to forging rivers and bush-whacking. I made a ridiculously pathetic side-kick, and Siti and I laughed about how terrible I am at spotting curly green ferns amongst the green background of the jungle.

To be fair though, he grew up in the woods and even admitted to mushroom hunting as a wee lad. The only thing I've ever hunted was cute boys at the mall. And I dare say, I'd kick his butt any day at that competition.

After a long day of hiking, gathering, and swimming in the cool pools of the river, we headed back to feast on our food that we had found on the land. It was incredible to have 2 meals, free of charge, that we gathered and cooked ourselves. Very empowering. I have vowed to do more bush-related activities when I go back to my village. Maybe even try to grow a beard.

displaced person

Peace Corps came and pulled me out of my village (temporarily) last Thursday. Take a deep breath. Here comes the explanation.

I was living in a "temporary" house. Like I should've been in a higher house with hurricane mesh on the windows and all that about 7 months ago. No big deal to me. I like my house. However we've had some heavy rain lately and my house is always the first to flood. No good considering rain happens at night too. Very scary to think I could be swept away in my bed. So the safety and security officers came for a visit and my turaga ni koro (mayor of the village) decided not to meet with us. Then we couldn't talk to the chief because he had pnuemonia, basically on his death bed. (I got teary-eyed when I saw him laying on his mat, ailing. Thankfully, he has since recovered.)

So the security people talk to our country director and together they make a decision to pull me out of my village. They plan to pick me up the very next day, Friday, and steal me away forever. Simultaneously my program manager calls and I tell her that we, me and my villagers, have found a solution to the house problem and will start building a new toilet and shower room in an already-existing house next Monday. She says great, they have 2 weeks. However this new plan didn't get back to the people picking me up.

They show up like the Child Welfare services picking up an abused child and try to take me and all my stuff away, back to Suva. I fought them and said I'd already talked to my programing manager and we have 2 weeks to build the new house. But I still had to pack all my stuff up with my family members watching, silent tears streaming down their cheeks.

None of the youth were in the village because we are finishing our dam. They got back to the village and were upset that the elders didn't try to stop PC from taking me. They have already bought the materials and have salvaged extra cement and wood from the dam work so everything will be ready to start work on my new house on Monday morning.

My tubuqu, grandpa and chief, was trying to reassure me. "Amy don't cry. You'll be back in 2 weeks. No worries." But my bubu, grandma, was crying and I couldn't stay stoic as I kissed her goodbye. Waving goodbye to the women of my village as they stood there with babies on their hips was too much. I broke down, knowing I would be leaving for good if the house isn't finished soon.

I have full faith that my villagers can do this. Everyone at PC is skeptical, as they should be, but I think my villagers will fight for me. I hope they do. I don't want to leave Dawasamu.

i know it's early but...

I'm definitely going home for Christmas.

I found out my best friend, Smash, is pregnant! I'm so excited and I can't wait to meet my new niece or nephew at Christmas. I was kind of thinking "maybe I shouldn't go home for Christmas." Well this changes everything. I must go home. To meet the newest member of my extended family.

Also Mike let it slip that he's saving up to buy me a new bike when I get home!!!!! So I have to go home to get measured.

And I need to meet with some professors at University of Missouri--St. Louis because I think I want to study history and museum studies there.

I can hardly wait until December!

lutu na gaunisala (fallen the road)

Yeah last Saturday it rained. Rained like Noah had finished his ark and the lord was trying to destroy the earth kind of rain. I did not approve. High tide started to come in. The water kept rising and rising, coming closer to my house. Around 930pm I rolled up the 12 or so mats I have, put everything up on my table and bunk bed and went to sleep at the chief's house that happens to be on stilts.

The real problem is that the road collapsed into the river during high tide thus blocking off my whole district. We have no bus that can get up to us from Suva and no bus from the north can come down to get to Suva. So basically we are stuck in our district until the road is fixed which could take who knows how long. The bus goes all the way from Suva to a village about a 45 minute walk from my house. Apparently this is unacceptable for PC.

Friday I am going back to my village with some of the Peace Corps staff to talk to my chief and my turaga ni koro (village man). Hopefully we can figure out a solution to this situation. My house is a problem and so is the road. There really aren't any other housing options in the village other building a new one and nothing can be done about the road either, so I'm not sure how much improvement can come from this meeting Friday. We'll see.

OHS ONSFT WDRE or THE NORTH FACE

Show of hands. Who here has heard of "The North Face"? You can check it out there if you're not familiar. Wonderful products, nice quality, nice style, functional, yet sometimes costly. But you're paying for quality, right?

Imagine you are on a bus and see a kid with a nice backpack. The logo looks familiar but the words next to it are all wrong. Now imagine how this product is completely unfit for American consumption because the words aren't correct. Where is this scramble-worded bag sent? A place where consumers don't care what the label says as long as the bag is practical and costs less than $20 in their currency...

You answer Fiji. Good call. Or maybe Zambia, as I recall the myriad shirts that read Nile instead of Nike. Or shoes where the NB for New Balance was embroidered backwards.

These are the same products sold in America. So why are they so much cheaper here? It's the same bag, same shoe, same shirt, same sweatshop maker, same quality. Makes me consider our consumerism in America and how label oriented we are. Also manufacturers are completely ripping us off and we still buy into the mania that is a popular brand.

the more you know...

Here are some photos of the February Village Health Worker workshops. Each village in my district has a village health worker (nasi ni koro = nurse of the village). The first Tuesday of every month we are meeting in a different village to do basic first aid training and to give them guidance on creating an action plan to improve the health of their villages. Some villages need to focus on environmental health and trash disposal. Some villages need to focus on clean, safe water. Each village has unique needs and different resources so each action plan will be different.

It's crucial that the nasinikoro have a support network in me and Lo, but also between each other. They work alone in their villages and often feel the work is stressful or they aren't capable of making good decisions about what to do in what situation. Lo and I hope to change that.

In Feb, we explained the role of the nasinikoro and how important it is. These women were chosen by their communities to be the first person on the scene in any case of injury or sickness in the village. We have one nurse for the whole district and she's a half an hour bus ride away for some of the villages. If they come on the 6 or 7 am morning buses, they can't return home until the evening buses at around 530 or 630 pm. Plus bus fare is a problem. For this reason, it is so important for the nasinikoro to be educated on how to tend to wounds and minor ailments.

So we taught (and learned) about burns, cuts (deep and shallow), fevers (adult and infant), head injuries, nose bleeds, etc. The women learned how to use a thermometer, count respirations, and take the pulse of their 'patient'. They also practiced cleaning and dressing wounds. To close wounds, we use a butterfly dressing, which you can see one of the women cutting the medical tape into the right pattern to stretch over a wound to close it.

Next month we will probably focus on non-communicable diseases (NCD's like diabetes, cancer, heart disease) and diseases like dengue and typhoid. Lo, my counterpart and co-facilitator and the nurse of the district, and I have not discussed what the topics will be, but we'll be working on that either this week or next and preparing the activities and such. We'd also like to start making the action plans for each village or at least identify more specifically the problems in each village so that we can make more informed action plans. So that by the end of March, the villagers will have started on health improvement programs in each village.

tick tick...boom

I have a nervous tic that pulses in my lower right eye lid. Only when I'm stressed though so that's like never...

Also my little sis performed "Therapy" from the show tick tick..boom at a cabaret and apparently it was phenomenal. I believe it. I'm so proud of that cherub and bummed I missed it.