Two weeks ago, I experienced a transformational day. I began that rainy Wednesday morning at five AM, to teach my once a week early morning life skills class at the nearby secondary school. When I reached there, I found that the students were taking exams and I was told to return the following week. I saw a girl off-- she was going to Nairobi to become a nun-- and waited until daybreak (7) to collect milk for frying donuts ( a class project that morning). The milk man was late, so I walked into town and waited on a bench outside a nice woman’s store. We talked about dried fish for a while, then he came. I made donuts with the girls for visitors that were coming and they didn’t turn out very well. -- Maybe our month- long attempt to self- sustain our canteen wasn’t very bright--
I came back to the convent for breakfast, thinking how slow a day it was, how we are trying so many things but don’t know what will work, etc, and, at that moment, my supervisor, sister Christine, came in. We discussed our dreams and what we were doing. We made some adjustments, cut the donut project, decided to call a fellow PCV for a traditional oven demonstration, and decided to call a friend, Jeff, about our water tank idea. Then Jeff invited me to a board meeting at his organization.
The day snapped. Suddenly I did not need that coffee to wake me up; I was wide awake. Meeting and planning with Jeff turned into meeting with his contractor, writing up a plan and submitting my first grant. Talking about the traditional oven turned into finding the materials, gathering people and planning, then making the oven two days ago. A mosquito net project is coming through and we are currently gathering community members.
I am transitioning from mundane day to day work (which must be done in the beginning of anything to see what is going on and to establish credibility) into what I really enjoy doing. I am now going to be reducing my time spent teaching (after all, there is a reason why I am not a teacher; it is not what I really want to do all day) and increasing my time on projects and in the village. I also have some ideas for research, which may lead to who knows what. At the same time, the senior PCV who helped us with our oven (nicknamed Jesus because of his long hair and good advice) gave me some tips. I asked, "In the Peace Corps, what is success?" He said “Learning to Cope with Failure.” Then I asked, “What is failure?” He answered “If you hate the people around you every day, that is failure. If, instead of becoming more open to a new culture, you close yourself off to it and hate the people that represent it, you have failed. Some people do a lot of development work in Peace Corps. That’s fine if it is done from genuine friendship and love, but it is not the main aim.” Good advice, especially now. --- Picture above --I spent two days in the village with a girl from school and her family. I am here with her sister sorting mushrooms.--
I came back to the convent for breakfast, thinking how slow a day it was, how we are trying so many things but don’t know what will work, etc, and, at that moment, my supervisor, sister Christine, came in. We discussed our dreams and what we were doing. We made some adjustments, cut the donut project, decided to call a fellow PCV for a traditional oven demonstration, and decided to call a friend, Jeff, about our water tank idea. Then Jeff invited me to a board meeting at his organization.
The day snapped. Suddenly I did not need that coffee to wake me up; I was wide awake. Meeting and planning with Jeff turned into meeting with his contractor, writing up a plan and submitting my first grant. Talking about the traditional oven turned into finding the materials, gathering people and planning, then making the oven two days ago. A mosquito net project is coming through and we are currently gathering community members.
I am transitioning from mundane day to day work (which must be done in the beginning of anything to see what is going on and to establish credibility) into what I really enjoy doing. I am now going to be reducing my time spent teaching (after all, there is a reason why I am not a teacher; it is not what I really want to do all day) and increasing my time on projects and in the village. I also have some ideas for research, which may lead to who knows what. At the same time, the senior PCV who helped us with our oven (nicknamed Jesus because of his long hair and good advice) gave me some tips. I asked, "In the Peace Corps, what is success?" He said “Learning to Cope with Failure.” Then I asked, “What is failure?” He answered “If you hate the people around you every day, that is failure. If, instead of becoming more open to a new culture, you close yourself off to it and hate the people that represent it, you have failed. Some people do a lot of development work in Peace Corps. That’s fine if it is done from genuine friendship and love, but it is not the main aim.” Good advice, especially now. --- Picture above --I spent two days in the village with a girl from school and her family. I am here with her sister sorting mushrooms.--
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