Two big things happened this week; 1.) Yesterday was Diwali and 2.) I VOTED!
I wont go in the order I wrote it- because that wouldn't be fun and voting needed to be second for dramatic effect. I feel very.... well, patriotic. I certainly never thought I would say that, let alone write it down in a place for everyone to see. But, living in a country where elections are constantly postponed due to cues and other political strife, I feel very fortunate to have the ability to draw tick marks on a piece of paper, and have it mean something. In fact, it was so satisfying that once the postage was placed on the letter, I strutted over to the FastPost bin, kissed the letter, and gently dropped it in. That's it. I VOTED, and I think I should get a sticker for that. Wheres my sticker?!
Like most Americans and the rest of the world, I'm very anxious to see what happens. Every morning I listen to the innumerable opinions broadcast on the BBC about the matter- I'm not sure its healthy to have your anxiety peak at 8am. I cant imagine what its like in the states right now, with this sort of news blaring throughout the day. I guess my 30 minute breakfast anxiety is nothing compared to what many of you are exposed to.
Diwali- the festival of lights, the Indian equivalent to Christmas, happened yesterday (Oct.28), and since almost 40% of Fiji is made of Indo-Fijian, its national holiday. Lights of all colors (I would call them Christmas lights, but that would be wrong in this context) framing many houses, fireworks everywhere, and the smell of sweet molasses coming from many kitchens consumed Lautoka. From an outside perspective, Diwali is a day for eating sweets and playing with fireworks... and both are done in excess, its fantastic.
The day itself of wasn't terribly exciting for me because the evening was spent in Nadi saying goodbye to the first of our group to be sent back to the U.S. - the cause, medical separation. Sad. I didn't feel too bad about missing the celebrations because I had been to two parties the weekend before. I even wore a salwar kamis on two different occasion. The first was a loan from a Bangladeshi doctor and the second was my first Fiji purchase of Indian attire.
It's really nice to be back in the Sugar City- Lautoka. I came back this past friday from my two week adventure to Suva. I was welcomed by 15 puppies. Three of the six dogs that guard my house gave birth while I was away. They're all really cute and I would probably be more cuddly with them if they werent infested with fleas. The owners are trying to get rid of them because there are already 6 at the house. Anybody need a puppy? No charge, you just have to come and pick it up.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Never home
I knew October was going to be a busy month filled with lots of traveling and people invading my house. It's actually been quite fun.
As a volunteer we are required to meet three times during out services (at 6 months, at a year and a half, and right before we leave). Its already been 6 months? Where has the time gone?
Our conference was held at a resort in Nadi. It was a five day workshop to see what other volunteers were doing and also learn about potential projects and additional resources. Coming into it I dreaded the thought of re-experiencing the oh so frustrating pre-service training that forced us all to endure endless hours of unnecessary time wasting. But, I was pleasantly surprised at how painless the workshop was, not to mention it was nice to hear about other peoples experiences. I'm starting to see how vastly different the lives of rural and urban volunteers are.
The day before and the days following the workshop, I had plenty of people crashing on my couch and extra bed. Lautoka is about 25 minutes from Nadi so some people who came in a day early and left a day or two after stayed and partied their little hearts out, a luxury not always available living in the bush.
It didnt stop there. The day after everyone had finally cleared out was the day of the "Stand up against poverty" campaign. A local NGO held an event (a game really) similar to the Amazing Race- which everybody BUT me seemed to know about. There were 16 teams at 25 different locations. Essentially its like a scavenger hunt with questions challenges at each sight. I was stationed at MaiMIX FM- the only radio station in the west. I wasn't very creative with my challenge because I was at the beginning of what I would later find out to be a bad case of Strep throat. Admittedly lame and boring, the challenge was to spell "Alleviate poverty." Other people had limbo contests... I cant remember any others right now, but I do remember really wanting to limbo.
Two days later I was off to Suva. Amoxycillin in one hand and a jug of water in the other. 5 and a half hours later I arrived a mess at the bus station on Sunday afternoon (Everywhere in Fiji all but shuts down on Sundays). I was sick, carrying a heavy load, nothing was open and I couldnt get a hold of my host. Everything was all wrong. All I wanted to do was turn around and go back home.
Another 5 hours passed as I sat staring at the water with my backpackers pack still on. Finally, a call came and I was off to Kaori's house. Kaori is a JICA volunteer who works at Ministry of Health headquarters in the HIV prevention section. She and I are collaborating on a club outreach project for the major cities in Fiji (Suva, Lautoka, Labasa, Nadi, and maybe Savusavu). The outreach will be focusing on condom distribution and HIV awareness. The program is in response to people feeling that accessibility is apart of the reason for not using condoms consistently. Hopefully through this and other projects and programs we can provide information and material to make it easier to access condoms throughout Fiji.
We've spent the last week in a workshop learning about Behavior Change Communication. It ended on friday, so we're just starting to make plans for our launch on December 1st, World AIDS day. It should be really fun.
I'm still here and I will be for another week. Its been a lot of work, and little down time- which is good, but unusual for Fiji as everything moves quite slowly here. I'm starting to really feel like I have a job. I foresee busy months ahead, lots of preparation and condoms... lots and lots of condoms.
As a volunteer we are required to meet three times during out services (at 6 months, at a year and a half, and right before we leave). Its already been 6 months? Where has the time gone?
Our conference was held at a resort in Nadi. It was a five day workshop to see what other volunteers were doing and also learn about potential projects and additional resources. Coming into it I dreaded the thought of re-experiencing the oh so frustrating pre-service training that forced us all to endure endless hours of unnecessary time wasting. But, I was pleasantly surprised at how painless the workshop was, not to mention it was nice to hear about other peoples experiences. I'm starting to see how vastly different the lives of rural and urban volunteers are.
The day before and the days following the workshop, I had plenty of people crashing on my couch and extra bed. Lautoka is about 25 minutes from Nadi so some people who came in a day early and left a day or two after stayed and partied their little hearts out, a luxury not always available living in the bush.
It didnt stop there. The day after everyone had finally cleared out was the day of the "Stand up against poverty" campaign. A local NGO held an event (a game really) similar to the Amazing Race- which everybody BUT me seemed to know about. There were 16 teams at 25 different locations. Essentially its like a scavenger hunt with questions challenges at each sight. I was stationed at MaiMIX FM- the only radio station in the west. I wasn't very creative with my challenge because I was at the beginning of what I would later find out to be a bad case of Strep throat. Admittedly lame and boring, the challenge was to spell "Alleviate poverty." Other people had limbo contests... I cant remember any others right now, but I do remember really wanting to limbo.
Two days later I was off to Suva. Amoxycillin in one hand and a jug of water in the other. 5 and a half hours later I arrived a mess at the bus station on Sunday afternoon (Everywhere in Fiji all but shuts down on Sundays). I was sick, carrying a heavy load, nothing was open and I couldnt get a hold of my host. Everything was all wrong. All I wanted to do was turn around and go back home.
Another 5 hours passed as I sat staring at the water with my backpackers pack still on. Finally, a call came and I was off to Kaori's house. Kaori is a JICA volunteer who works at Ministry of Health headquarters in the HIV prevention section. She and I are collaborating on a club outreach project for the major cities in Fiji (Suva, Lautoka, Labasa, Nadi, and maybe Savusavu). The outreach will be focusing on condom distribution and HIV awareness. The program is in response to people feeling that accessibility is apart of the reason for not using condoms consistently. Hopefully through this and other projects and programs we can provide information and material to make it easier to access condoms throughout Fiji.
We've spent the last week in a workshop learning about Behavior Change Communication. It ended on friday, so we're just starting to make plans for our launch on December 1st, World AIDS day. It should be really fun.
I'm still here and I will be for another week. Its been a lot of work, and little down time- which is good, but unusual for Fiji as everything moves quite slowly here. I'm starting to really feel like I have a job. I foresee busy months ahead, lots of preparation and condoms... lots and lots of condoms.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
where's the gurney?
Its a bird, its a plane, no, its a helicopter! Behind the hospital swooping down faster and closer to residential housing than should be aloud, a chopper came for some very serious medical something or other. I was on my way to another day of medical rounds this morning and couldn't wait to find out what and who is the cause of this ruckus.
I'm not going to tell you the end of the story just yet, I'm going to make you sit through another boring blog first... some incentive to read through what I have to say. So stay tuned.
The Lautoka hospital is a large building that sits on a hill across the street from the Botanical Garden. It almost looks like a hotel from a far, until you get close enough to see the smoke stack jutting out from the boiler room (which acts as a crematorium and general waste management- most things are burned- its Fiji) thats housed 30 ft from the main building. A very simple and symmetrical building, it consists of 5 levels with two wards facing each other on each floor. Its seemingly well equipped for hospital in a developing country.
Medical rounds are really fun. I've joined a team with two last year medical students, an intern, one registrar, and a consultant - that order is the basic medical hierarchy here in Fiji, with nurses answering to anyone prefaced with the two letters D and R. No specialties in our group, just general medicine (internal medicine). Basically we spend four hours (without tea breaks, do you believe that... no tea breaks! Dont they know this is Fiji?) walking through four different wards- mens, womens, ICU, and private ward (aka the pay ward- basically a place where people pay for their own rooms).
The medical students- Hilda from Kiribati and Monasa, hes Fijian- watch and answer questions when asked as the registrar writes what the consultant- Dr. Baravilala- has to say about a given patient. Its much more informal than it sounds. Me, well I'm there for show, as in I stand there, look pretty, nod and smile, and laugh on cue. Really though, I just observe and listen and viciously write down new words that I later have to look up (medicine is truly like learning a language- and I would say, anyone with an aptitude for languages should seriously consider going into medicine). A lot of times I have to hold my tongue, but sometimes I get really excited and ask away. I tell myself that I'm doing them a favor by testing their knowledge for their final exam in December.
Anyway, after rounds I head down to the library (which is so nicely placed next to the staff dining hall), look up my new words and brush up on my general biology, physiology and anatomy. After about an hour I head next door for some chow. Its good chow too, not normal hospital food- we get curry and roti and fresh fruit and dhal, mmm.
Today was pretty slow, which might be surprising from my description of my walk to work. But, turned out that the chopper wasted $3,000 of the governments money to go pick up an asthmatic man from a near by island. I found out that what I had seen was a doctor pickup. When the chopper flew back, we all pressed our faces against the window to see who had been so loudly med-evaced. The patient was fine, no gurney, no sling, nothing... he was walking! Thats all it takes, a nervous call and choppers will fly and pick you up. In fact, maybe next weekend I'll call in from one of the islands... you know, I've never been on a chopper before.
If nothing else it gave me a good, but uneasy, laugh. I kind of asked about regulations and issues concerning severity for a med-evac and the consultant said there wasnt really a system in place. In fact, he said that when he was in Suva there would be fake calls like that from the Lau group if the boats werent running properly for an extended period of time. I dont know what to say about all that except that it was a waste of money. It's really unfortunate because this man got fast care when the queue is out the door for people who are still waiting and may have traveled even farther than he did.
Okay, its almost 4:30pm and I'm off to go witness my first natural birth. yikes.
I'm not going to tell you the end of the story just yet, I'm going to make you sit through another boring blog first... some incentive to read through what I have to say. So stay tuned.
The Lautoka hospital is a large building that sits on a hill across the street from the Botanical Garden. It almost looks like a hotel from a far, until you get close enough to see the smoke stack jutting out from the boiler room (which acts as a crematorium and general waste management- most things are burned- its Fiji) thats housed 30 ft from the main building. A very simple and symmetrical building, it consists of 5 levels with two wards facing each other on each floor. Its seemingly well equipped for hospital in a developing country.
Medical rounds are really fun. I've joined a team with two last year medical students, an intern, one registrar, and a consultant - that order is the basic medical hierarchy here in Fiji, with nurses answering to anyone prefaced with the two letters D and R. No specialties in our group, just general medicine (internal medicine). Basically we spend four hours (without tea breaks, do you believe that... no tea breaks! Dont they know this is Fiji?) walking through four different wards- mens, womens, ICU, and private ward (aka the pay ward- basically a place where people pay for their own rooms).
The medical students- Hilda from Kiribati and Monasa, hes Fijian- watch and answer questions when asked as the registrar writes what the consultant- Dr. Baravilala- has to say about a given patient. Its much more informal than it sounds. Me, well I'm there for show, as in I stand there, look pretty, nod and smile, and laugh on cue. Really though, I just observe and listen and viciously write down new words that I later have to look up (medicine is truly like learning a language- and I would say, anyone with an aptitude for languages should seriously consider going into medicine). A lot of times I have to hold my tongue, but sometimes I get really excited and ask away. I tell myself that I'm doing them a favor by testing their knowledge for their final exam in December.
Anyway, after rounds I head down to the library (which is so nicely placed next to the staff dining hall), look up my new words and brush up on my general biology, physiology and anatomy. After about an hour I head next door for some chow. Its good chow too, not normal hospital food- we get curry and roti and fresh fruit and dhal, mmm.
Today was pretty slow, which might be surprising from my description of my walk to work. But, turned out that the chopper wasted $3,000 of the governments money to go pick up an asthmatic man from a near by island. I found out that what I had seen was a doctor pickup. When the chopper flew back, we all pressed our faces against the window to see who had been so loudly med-evaced. The patient was fine, no gurney, no sling, nothing... he was walking! Thats all it takes, a nervous call and choppers will fly and pick you up. In fact, maybe next weekend I'll call in from one of the islands... you know, I've never been on a chopper before.
If nothing else it gave me a good, but uneasy, laugh. I kind of asked about regulations and issues concerning severity for a med-evac and the consultant said there wasnt really a system in place. In fact, he said that when he was in Suva there would be fake calls like that from the Lau group if the boats werent running properly for an extended period of time. I dont know what to say about all that except that it was a waste of money. It's really unfortunate because this man got fast care when the queue is out the door for people who are still waiting and may have traveled even farther than he did.
Okay, its almost 4:30pm and I'm off to go witness my first natural birth. yikes.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
back on the grind
What they often leave out in talking about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is that shit happens along the way. Or maybe I just have selective hearing. It's been a while since I've written an entry because my house was broken into and I was robbed- two separate occasions. Cleaning up the mess wasnt easy...
All of that hullabaloo only took about a week so I will begin with the week after:
Working with outreach programs often allows you to attend really fun functions. Last week I went to two days of the U19 South Pacific National Rugby tournament. Teams came from Tahiti, Tonga, PNG, Vanuatu, Samoa, and the wonderful Fiji. Even though we played on our own turf, we lost by one point to the strong Tongan boys. Sad.
Boys from the PNG team
watching Vanuatu vs. PNG
The outreach involved distributing material between games and doing an assessment on the basic knowledge of HIV. The survey is a lot like a test- the idea being the the most misunderstood information will be better highlighted in future IEC material, or at least thats what I would do with it.
Funny story. I was in the post office sending a letter and what do I see? A guy wearing a Cornell tshirt. Now, with all of the second hand shops I thought it was just a funny coincidence that the shirt made its way all the way to Fiji, but since a kaivalagi (white person) was wearing it I thought I'd take my chances and ask. Turned out that John (the kaivalagi wearing the shirt) went to Cornell and after graduating in 2007 decided that he and his friend Keith (a collage mate) would buy a sail boat and sail around until they didnt want to anymore- that was almost two years ago. With them was the first time I've spent any extended period with Americans that weren't volunteers.
Loud Americans on boats
wigs were involved...
playing on expensive things- like boats that cost more than houses
The weekend crept up on me because I spent most of the time drinking with sailors. Saturday was a big day for the office. We were hosting an HIV and sports rally and tournament. It was called 'Walk in the West.' We were collaborating with STOP (the same organization that was doing outreach at the U19 rugby tournament).
After rallying the streets of downtown Lautoka it was time for the games to begin. Two sports; volleyball and soccer. I joined the soccer crowd... and we kicked ass because of me! Semi finals and we're down two points, the games are short (6 minutes a half) and we're clearly going to lose. But no, i came in like a cherry picking wonder woman to save the day- two consecutive goals with my mean right foot- tied, into overtime and we score- we made it. That right, into the finals for the Lautoka Hospital team. I'm kind of a big deal, so start sending in requests for autographs now if you want any chance of getting one.
Sweaty after the soccer games
Anyway, work is still fun and Fiji is still beautiful. I have started to attend medical rounds at the Lautoka Hospital with the Fiji School of Medicine medical students. It gives me a chance to get out of the office when things are slow and still makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something, even though I'm not really doing my job. Yesterday I spent the day in Radiology learning about different bones (broken and normal) and how to tell if fluid is leaking into someones lungs, among other things. Rounds are actually really fun and I learn a lot.
Thats all for now. More to report later.
All of that hullabaloo only took about a week so I will begin with the week after:
Working with outreach programs often allows you to attend really fun functions. Last week I went to two days of the U19 South Pacific National Rugby tournament. Teams came from Tahiti, Tonga, PNG, Vanuatu, Samoa, and the wonderful Fiji. Even though we played on our own turf, we lost by one point to the strong Tongan boys. Sad.
Boys from the PNG team
watching Vanuatu vs. PNG
The outreach involved distributing material between games and doing an assessment on the basic knowledge of HIV. The survey is a lot like a test- the idea being the the most misunderstood information will be better highlighted in future IEC material, or at least thats what I would do with it.
Funny story. I was in the post office sending a letter and what do I see? A guy wearing a Cornell tshirt. Now, with all of the second hand shops I thought it was just a funny coincidence that the shirt made its way all the way to Fiji, but since a kaivalagi (white person) was wearing it I thought I'd take my chances and ask. Turned out that John (the kaivalagi wearing the shirt) went to Cornell and after graduating in 2007 decided that he and his friend Keith (a collage mate) would buy a sail boat and sail around until they didnt want to anymore- that was almost two years ago. With them was the first time I've spent any extended period with Americans that weren't volunteers.
Loud Americans on boats
wigs were involved...
playing on expensive things- like boats that cost more than houses
The weekend crept up on me because I spent most of the time drinking with sailors. Saturday was a big day for the office. We were hosting an HIV and sports rally and tournament. It was called 'Walk in the West.' We were collaborating with STOP (the same organization that was doing outreach at the U19 rugby tournament).
After rallying the streets of downtown Lautoka it was time for the games to begin. Two sports; volleyball and soccer. I joined the soccer crowd... and we kicked ass because of me! Semi finals and we're down two points, the games are short (6 minutes a half) and we're clearly going to lose. But no, i came in like a cherry picking wonder woman to save the day- two consecutive goals with my mean right foot- tied, into overtime and we score- we made it. That right, into the finals for the Lautoka Hospital team. I'm kind of a big deal, so start sending in requests for autographs now if you want any chance of getting one.
Sweaty after the soccer games
Anyway, work is still fun and Fiji is still beautiful. I have started to attend medical rounds at the Lautoka Hospital with the Fiji School of Medicine medical students. It gives me a chance to get out of the office when things are slow and still makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something, even though I'm not really doing my job. Yesterday I spent the day in Radiology learning about different bones (broken and normal) and how to tell if fluid is leaking into someones lungs, among other things. Rounds are actually really fun and I learn a lot.
Thats all for now. More to report later.
Monday, August 25, 2008
more to do
It's been a while since I last updated the blog and theres a lot to catch up, so I'll try to keep the stories from last week brief
Monday was a normal day in the office- some typing, watching the Olympics (which I'm sad to say is now over- boohoo, there goes my entertainment at work), and wandering around with other staff. Later in the day I received a phone call from someone I had met over a beer at the Northern Club. He turned out to be the vice president of the Rotary Club in Lautoka. Since Rotary does quite a bit of outreach and philanthropic work around the west, we both agreed that attending a meeting would be a good idea for me.
The meeting was very organized. Introductions, speeches, future plans and ideas, etc. The district governor came for his official visit that night so a lot was mentioned about Rotary's involvement with eradicating Polio around the globe and further initiatives on the international level. It was great to hear, but by the end of the night I still wasn't sure what this Rotary branch was doing locally. This week, I plan to attend another meeting which will hopefully clarify current and upcoming local projects.
The next day I expected to go into work and have another normal day. The slow pace made me nervous so I decided to step out and find something else to do- write my blog, yay! Unfortunately the library was closed, so I sat accross the street under a nice big tree and started working on my project reports while I waited the 15 minutes for it to open.
While waiting and writing, a group of people began calling me from the 4th story of a building. hmm, what to do. Ignore them? yes, I'll do that, I'll just sit here and pretend to be working hard. My forehead wrinkled up and my pen began to move more fluidly. Uh oh, they're coming down, running towards me trying to get my attention. What to do? Confront them, yes, thats what I'll do. I sat there as they came towards me, only two this time.
"are you busy"
"umm, well, I have this paperwork to fill out"
"so, are you busy?"
hmm, what to say now? "no I'm just waiting for the library to open"
"well, would you like to have a massage, manicure, pedicure, and you hair styled? we're a part of the cosmetology school and we're doing our practicals today." I'm sure she sensed my confusion and skepticism so she said "dont worry, its just for practice. we have an exam coming up, so it's all free."
Okay, sounds good to me. I went upstairs where students were learning how to cut, color and style hair, do manicures, pedicures, body wraps, massages, etc. Four hours later I left feeling relaxed and refreshed, not to mention my newly painted nails and nice straightened hair :o) -- needless to say I never did get to write my blog for the day... but, I will have you know that I did make it back to work!
Wednesday afternoon another call came. A project working with sex workers of the west created an advocacy group, and I was allowed to sit in on their meeting. The project that had originally brought the sex workers together is opting to take a back seat role in the advocacy group (the politics of the whole matter is still a little unclear to me) so the ladies, men, and viaviayalewas (transgender- mtf) were told that the advocacy group would only survive if they created their own project outside of the organization- though there would still be help and support from the original project. The meeting was all about the development of the new project created internally from the sex workers themselves.
Anyway, it went well and the participants created the 'Pacific Rainbow Project' -the new name for their advocacy group, and I have offered to be the health liaison for it. This means that if any or all need condoms, materials, or testing, they will call me and I will link them to the necessary resources (i.e. the Hub Centre where I work).
-----
On Thursday, I made it back into the interior. I went to a village called Nadrau, much more rural than I was expecting, where I helped with a combined TB/HIV workshop. The ride itself was 3 hours straight into Viti Levu, which essentially means I went to the center of the largest island of Fiji. The workshop was a day event in itself and my brain was exhausted by the end. My Fijian is coming along very slowly, and its always frustrating when I go on full day events like this one.
-------
Yesterday was a very long relaxing day. A good day, a fantastic day, I would say. My friend and I hopped on a boat out to an island called Beachcomber. Its a day trip island and resort. Since it was my first time out on the island I decided to go exploring... I wanted to trek the WHOLE thing. About 15 minutes later I realized I had walked the entire coast of the island, hehe. It's tiny! A few bure (thatch roof huts), perfect white sand beach and beautiful trees.
Monday was a normal day in the office- some typing, watching the Olympics (which I'm sad to say is now over- boohoo, there goes my entertainment at work), and wandering around with other staff. Later in the day I received a phone call from someone I had met over a beer at the Northern Club. He turned out to be the vice president of the Rotary Club in Lautoka. Since Rotary does quite a bit of outreach and philanthropic work around the west, we both agreed that attending a meeting would be a good idea for me.
The meeting was very organized. Introductions, speeches, future plans and ideas, etc. The district governor came for his official visit that night so a lot was mentioned about Rotary's involvement with eradicating Polio around the globe and further initiatives on the international level. It was great to hear, but by the end of the night I still wasn't sure what this Rotary branch was doing locally. This week, I plan to attend another meeting which will hopefully clarify current and upcoming local projects.
The next day I expected to go into work and have another normal day. The slow pace made me nervous so I decided to step out and find something else to do- write my blog, yay! Unfortunately the library was closed, so I sat accross the street under a nice big tree and started working on my project reports while I waited the 15 minutes for it to open.
While waiting and writing, a group of people began calling me from the 4th story of a building. hmm, what to do. Ignore them? yes, I'll do that, I'll just sit here and pretend to be working hard. My forehead wrinkled up and my pen began to move more fluidly. Uh oh, they're coming down, running towards me trying to get my attention. What to do? Confront them, yes, thats what I'll do. I sat there as they came towards me, only two this time.
"are you busy"
"umm, well, I have this paperwork to fill out"
"so, are you busy?"
hmm, what to say now? "no I'm just waiting for the library to open"
"well, would you like to have a massage, manicure, pedicure, and you hair styled? we're a part of the cosmetology school and we're doing our practicals today." I'm sure she sensed my confusion and skepticism so she said "dont worry, its just for practice. we have an exam coming up, so it's all free."
Okay, sounds good to me. I went upstairs where students were learning how to cut, color and style hair, do manicures, pedicures, body wraps, massages, etc. Four hours later I left feeling relaxed and refreshed, not to mention my newly painted nails and nice straightened hair :o) -- needless to say I never did get to write my blog for the day... but, I will have you know that I did make it back to work!
Wednesday afternoon another call came. A project working with sex workers of the west created an advocacy group, and I was allowed to sit in on their meeting. The project that had originally brought the sex workers together is opting to take a back seat role in the advocacy group (the politics of the whole matter is still a little unclear to me) so the ladies, men, and viaviayalewas (transgender- mtf) were told that the advocacy group would only survive if they created their own project outside of the organization- though there would still be help and support from the original project. The meeting was all about the development of the new project created internally from the sex workers themselves.
Anyway, it went well and the participants created the 'Pacific Rainbow Project' -the new name for their advocacy group, and I have offered to be the health liaison for it. This means that if any or all need condoms, materials, or testing, they will call me and I will link them to the necessary resources (i.e. the Hub Centre where I work).
-----
On Thursday, I made it back into the interior. I went to a village called Nadrau, much more rural than I was expecting, where I helped with a combined TB/HIV workshop. The ride itself was 3 hours straight into Viti Levu, which essentially means I went to the center of the largest island of Fiji. The workshop was a day event in itself and my brain was exhausted by the end. My Fijian is coming along very slowly, and its always frustrating when I go on full day events like this one.
-------
Yesterday was a very long relaxing day. A good day, a fantastic day, I would say. My friend and I hopped on a boat out to an island called Beachcomber. Its a day trip island and resort. Since it was my first time out on the island I decided to go exploring... I wanted to trek the WHOLE thing. About 15 minutes later I realized I had walked the entire coast of the island, hehe. It's tiny! A few bure (thatch roof huts), perfect white sand beach and beautiful trees.
My day was spent under the sun snorkeling, napping, and reading. A good wrap up for the week I would say.
Monday, August 18, 2008
energizing the energized
This past Thursday I was able to finally get out to the Prison. Natabua Prison is about 7 km outside of Lautoka proper, it has about 200 inmates who are in for a short period of time- all others would be sent to the Suva prison. It isn't what you would call maximum security...
Upon entering the prison I was quite nervous, not because of the inmates themselves, but because of what was expected of me- I was asked to do 'energizers.' It was explained to me that these 'energizers' were useful as trust activities. So, I chose to do two; one where the group tries to get into line according to their birthday without talking, and a game of two truths and a lie.
So there I was, standing outside the gates of the Prison about to treat convicted felons like primary school children. I walked through the grounds to the 'classroom.' When we got there, it was just the two of us- me and the life skills educator who had initially asked me to come with her.
We waited while the inmates came in one by one dressed in their full orange or blue outfits. As they came in a few stopped at the sinks just outside the 'classroom'- farts, jokes and laughter came wafting in. It was amusing to see how embarrassed they were when they saw me sitting there. All I could do was giggle and suddenly I was no longer nervous...
Once the session started I got up and explained the 'energizers' and their purpose. The 10 of them seemed happy to be moving around, communicating and doing something a little different. Yes, there were a few that gave off the vibe of disinterest, but overall it was just fine under the overall circumstances.
After my little stint (which took about 25 minutes out of the two hours spent there), they all sat down and the life skills session began. The day was focused on making a priority matrix for reintegration into their communities. Many of them had families and support structures to go back to, others were focused on where to go, and everyone was concerned about money, land, and employment.
My job shifted to transcribing what was written on the board onto large sheets of paper, so I was able to listen and not feel completely useless.
I was supposed to return to the prison the next day, on friday, but unfortunately there were logistical issues that needed formal paperwork for me to enter again. Prison reform is really cool and I hope that 'Fiji time' doesnt take over and the paperwork is processed in a timely manner. Also, the life skills educator seemed to like having me around because I was able to give suggestions when she asked for it.
Anyway, so friday at the prison didnt work out, sad, so I went down to work and decided to see if I was needed there- or to watch the olympics, which has been on in the lobby all week, yay! I did neither because when I arrived everyone was getting ready for 'sports day'- a friday afternoon activity where all the nurses and medical staff get together at Shirley park and play soccer and volleyball. It was fantastic! Most people had no idea what they were doing, but we were all having fun and laughing (side note- I did get invited to play on the Lautoka Medical 7's soccer team by the medical officer, we'll see what comes of that). I was among the last to leave and was very sweaty at my departure, which was unfortunate because I was off to a family barbecue at a friends house.
-------
Saturday was a big event- a black and white formal function with an open bar, uh oh. I beautified myself and headed down to the northern club (a place where people go to swim, play tennis, squash, and drink) with two friends. The whole club was transformed and everyone looked wonderful- I'm used to seeing most of them in a t-shirt and board shorts. I danced, ate plenty of delicious food (sashimi, dumplings, curry, etc.), drank lots of wine, and chatted the night away with many of my new friends. It was a great time, and the night that started around 7 pm ended around 2:30 am.
The next day was a day to sleep in and have a small barbecue at my house. We made hamburgers. My room mate is finally starting to move in, so it was nice to have her and some of her Japanese friends around.
Nagisa's friend Hiro, funny boy, gets very drunk off of one beer, in fact it was the one he's holding that did him in that day.
Sitting down for lunch in the front room
nagisa (the room mate) and tim (another volunteer) cooking at the house- me? I'm setting the table
At President's night- the black and white function
Things are slowing back down as the week starts up again. My projects are dependent on other people right now, so there's only so much I can do while my counterpart and supervisor are both on leave.
Upon entering the prison I was quite nervous, not because of the inmates themselves, but because of what was expected of me- I was asked to do 'energizers.' It was explained to me that these 'energizers' were useful as trust activities. So, I chose to do two; one where the group tries to get into line according to their birthday without talking, and a game of two truths and a lie.
So there I was, standing outside the gates of the Prison about to treat convicted felons like primary school children. I walked through the grounds to the 'classroom.' When we got there, it was just the two of us- me and the life skills educator who had initially asked me to come with her.
We waited while the inmates came in one by one dressed in their full orange or blue outfits. As they came in a few stopped at the sinks just outside the 'classroom'- farts, jokes and laughter came wafting in. It was amusing to see how embarrassed they were when they saw me sitting there. All I could do was giggle and suddenly I was no longer nervous...
Once the session started I got up and explained the 'energizers' and their purpose. The 10 of them seemed happy to be moving around, communicating and doing something a little different. Yes, there were a few that gave off the vibe of disinterest, but overall it was just fine under the overall circumstances.
After my little stint (which took about 25 minutes out of the two hours spent there), they all sat down and the life skills session began. The day was focused on making a priority matrix for reintegration into their communities. Many of them had families and support structures to go back to, others were focused on where to go, and everyone was concerned about money, land, and employment.
My job shifted to transcribing what was written on the board onto large sheets of paper, so I was able to listen and not feel completely useless.
I was supposed to return to the prison the next day, on friday, but unfortunately there were logistical issues that needed formal paperwork for me to enter again. Prison reform is really cool and I hope that 'Fiji time' doesnt take over and the paperwork is processed in a timely manner. Also, the life skills educator seemed to like having me around because I was able to give suggestions when she asked for it.
Anyway, so friday at the prison didnt work out, sad, so I went down to work and decided to see if I was needed there- or to watch the olympics, which has been on in the lobby all week, yay! I did neither because when I arrived everyone was getting ready for 'sports day'- a friday afternoon activity where all the nurses and medical staff get together at Shirley park and play soccer and volleyball. It was fantastic! Most people had no idea what they were doing, but we were all having fun and laughing (side note- I did get invited to play on the Lautoka Medical 7's soccer team by the medical officer, we'll see what comes of that). I was among the last to leave and was very sweaty at my departure, which was unfortunate because I was off to a family barbecue at a friends house.
-------
Saturday was a big event- a black and white formal function with an open bar, uh oh. I beautified myself and headed down to the northern club (a place where people go to swim, play tennis, squash, and drink) with two friends. The whole club was transformed and everyone looked wonderful- I'm used to seeing most of them in a t-shirt and board shorts. I danced, ate plenty of delicious food (sashimi, dumplings, curry, etc.), drank lots of wine, and chatted the night away with many of my new friends. It was a great time, and the night that started around 7 pm ended around 2:30 am.
The next day was a day to sleep in and have a small barbecue at my house. We made hamburgers. My room mate is finally starting to move in, so it was nice to have her and some of her Japanese friends around.
Nagisa's friend Hiro, funny boy, gets very drunk off of one beer, in fact it was the one he's holding that did him in that day.
Sitting down for lunch in the front room
nagisa (the room mate) and tim (another volunteer) cooking at the house- me? I'm setting the table
At President's night- the black and white function
Things are slowing back down as the week starts up again. My projects are dependent on other people right now, so there's only so much I can do while my counterpart and supervisor are both on leave.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
the 'youth' workshop
Since the last entry I have been to a youth workshop. The workshop was for high school drop outs. The basis for this 3 week long workshop is income generations for squatter settlements outside of major cities.
Initially, the program itself didnt seem to have anything to do with income generation- it was a day of yoga, energizers, and learning a play. There were about 10 'youth' (in fiji this word encompasses any person that is unmarried up to the age of about 35), the youngest 14, the oldest 23. I participated in all of the activities, except for the play...
The play was centered around the issue of alcohol and domestic abuse- educational entertainment, if you will.
It was later explained to me that the 'youth' doing this workshop would have the opportunity to continue to pursue creating a theater group in the community. Currently, there is a lot of funding for programs like these. The community theater group would have to commit to doing outreach programs for the local villages and other squatter settlements.
-------
Oh... and on Saturday I went to an island and sat on the beach sipping on a strawberry daiquiri. It was fabulous, but I was a little grumpy this weekend because I slept in late the morning my friends went out on the 45 ft yacht... sad :o( --- ahhh the trials of a volunteer.
Initially, the program itself didnt seem to have anything to do with income generation- it was a day of yoga, energizers, and learning a play. There were about 10 'youth' (in fiji this word encompasses any person that is unmarried up to the age of about 35), the youngest 14, the oldest 23. I participated in all of the activities, except for the play...
The play was centered around the issue of alcohol and domestic abuse- educational entertainment, if you will.
It was later explained to me that the 'youth' doing this workshop would have the opportunity to continue to pursue creating a theater group in the community. Currently, there is a lot of funding for programs like these. The community theater group would have to commit to doing outreach programs for the local villages and other squatter settlements.
-------
Oh... and on Saturday I went to an island and sat on the beach sipping on a strawberry daiquiri. It was fabulous, but I was a little grumpy this weekend because I slept in late the morning my friends went out on the 45 ft yacht... sad :o( --- ahhh the trials of a volunteer.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)