There’s been a lot of talk of Vanuatu culture and some of the adventures I’ve been through recently, but I’ve neglected to talk about the work I’ve been doing since my arrival to Maewo.
In typical bullet point fashion, here are some of the things I’ve been up to in the last 6 months:
Participated in the school committee meeting and helped create the year’s work plan (it hasn’t really been followed, but that’s another blog entry)
Cleaned out and organized the school office and ‘library’ sections
Took inventory of all school supplies, set up a checkout system for the supplies that the teachers now use.
Gave small workshop with the Kindy teachers- we made alphabet cards and I taught them some phonics games and songs
I’ve had about 5 or 6 two-hour workshops with the 6 teachers at my primary school. Subjects included classroom management, learner centered instruction, book-making, etc.
I’ve almost completed doing a grid drawing of our world on a 3’x6’ piece of board for the World Map Project, something that Peace Corps does worldwide.
Lead a tooth brushing demonstration/talk with my site-mate Nik. We made the kids pretend to brush their teeth throughout an entire 2 minute stringband song to show them about how long they are supposed to brush…they loved it! Also created tooth- brushing posters to hang on the school board.
Throughout the first session of school I also helped with fundraisers, painted the school notice board and created announcements to put on it. I painted the office door and created LOTS of posters for my teacher’s classrooms (such as the parts of a body, or domestic animals). Later I plan on giving art lessons so that they will feel more comfortable with their own drawings, as I wont have time to be their personal artist, nor is that sustainable.
And just two weeks ago Nik and I brought 2 boys and 2 girls (age 16-25) to Ambae Island for a “Training of Trainers” workshop. Within 6 months of returning to site we are going to put on a Camp G.L.O.W./B.I.L.D. (Girls leading our world, boys in leadership development) for our village and help with another camp on our island. These camps are for young people (age 10-20ish) and include topics such as public speaking, leadership, making decisions, H.I.V., sexual health, etc. It was really exciting seeing my participants come out of their shell over the week and getting to know them better.
The thing thus far that I am most proud of (as it has utilized my art training and interest) has been working with my site mate Nik to create drawings for various workshops. He is a health volunteer so this has given me the perfect opportunity to incorporate my interests with health work around the islands.
I started off creating some drawings that fit our village better to add to an already developed P.H.A.S.T. workshop (health and sanitation). I also created some drawings related to general sanitation and the spread of viruses.
Afterwards, Nik and I storianed about the possibility of doing an entire set of pictures for an already developed H.I.V. workshop. I set to work, and created a set of around 50 or more drawings to use as part of an H.I.V. workshop. Nik took them to Port Vila last week for a Vanuatu Health Workers Workshop and I know they were going to get discussed and altered a bit.
Soon they will be shared and be put in to use around Vanuatu, which makes me feel beyond thrilled! Not just because my drawings are being used, but because I have now seen first hand how effective the use of imagery is, as opposed to just reading and taking notes during workshops. Many villagers cannot read or write and often don’t even speak Bislama, so these illustrations allow them to sit in on a workshop and still learn something.
What am I going to work on when I return to site in a few days?
Our year 3 teacher is 9 months pregnant, so I will be taking over her class for a few weeks while she has her baby.
I will continue to give teacher workshops about twice a month or as needed.
I am going to have the students help me paint the world map and complete it by Children’s Day, a national event where every school on every island gets together and plays sports. My school is hosting it for Maewo this year so we will have lots of visitors at the school at the end of July. As I said before the Maewo volunteers will be helping put on a camp G.L.O.W./B.I.L.D. on the west side of our island and then again in my village.
I have plenty of work to do, and I feel like as my service goes on I get even more. For example I was not able to complete my “Volunteer Report Form” that every volunteer is required to do for Washington 3 times a year. That will be added to my ‘To-Do’ list at site.
I’m keeping busy, don’t you worry.
