Viaja

Viaja

So I’m recently back from almost 3 weeks away from my site…the longest stretch of time out of Chan di Igreja since I got here last September. Three weeks is too much to get into a lot of detail over, but I’ll try to give the highlights.

The original reason for my leaving was so that I could participate in a one day meeting with PC staff members to discuss volunteer issues and difficulties and ways that PC staff and volunteers might work together to resolve some of them. Just prior to my leaving for Praia for that meeting I was invited to participate in the week-long TOT (Training of Trainers…if you can believe that) sessions which are to help prepare PC staff and plan for this years’ PST (Pre Service Training) which begins when the new group of volunteers gets here in July. Then I decided I would leave for Praia a week early and take a trip to visit the island of Maio for a few days before our meeting at PC headquarters. Well, things did not go exactly as planned.

Remember to get to Praia from my village I have to take an almost three hour hiace ride to Porto Novo, an hour boat ride to Mindelo, and then, because the boat company and TACV (Cape Verde Airlines) don’t collaborate on schedules, I had to spend the night in Mindelo and wait for the first plane the following day. So, next day a cab ride to the airport, a 4 hour delay, a one hour flight, and a quick cab ride to the home of another volunteer living in Praia. Basically, what would have taken about 6 or 8 hours in the States took 2 full days.

As far as Maio goes, I couldn’t get there. The airport is still not open there. (It was due to open months ago.) I went to 6 different boat companies and tour operators looking for a boat (you may recall from a previous entry that both boats that service Maio sank in the ocean). I was assured that the only way to get there was with a man named Carlos who had a 10 person fishing boat that was taking people every other day. When I finally met him at the docks he said it was his last trip and he wouldn’t be returning to Praia. So I had a way there but no way back. (Remember this is a whole ISLAND full of people who presumably need things like food and supplies to live and who are apparently, at least temporarily, completely cut off from such things.)

So, I spent the week leading up to TOT in Praia, crashing on a couch. Praia is like a completely different country. There are jobs in Praia, plenty of them…and people living there have money. (A lot of money when compared to the people of Santo Antao.) There is cheap, reliable public transportation. There are paved streets. There are restaurants. There are bars that feature live music. There are hotels. There are swimming pools. There is a university. There are libraries. There are air conditioned grocery stores that look exactly like anything you would find in the states, complete with grocery carts, a frozen foods section, fully stocked produce department, a bakery, butchers and meat cases, a beer and liquor aisle, cosmetics, household supplies…even a pet section. Honey mustard, maple syrup, grapes, Honey Nut Cheerios, pork chops and Diet Coke…just to name a few things that had me all hot and bothered. Things I haven’t seen in a year. I was in shock not only from the supply, but from the prices. EVERYTHING is cheaper in Praia. A lot cheaper. Frozen chicken, rice, and milk were almost half priced, when compared to Santo Antao. A small TV in Praia goes for 10.700$00 CVE. The same TV in Santo Antao…32.000$00 CVE. No exaggeration. (That’s because EVERYTHING that arrives in Santo Antao has to be shipped from Praia, and port taxes paid, from Praia to Sao Vicente to Porto Novo.) All the conveniences of modern, urban life were almost enough to make me jealous. Almost.

Almost, because there is also crime Praia. My volunteer friend warned me not to walk around at night and described several incidents where volunteers living in or passing through Praia have been mugged at knifepoint. Praia has pollution. There is trash and garbage everywhere, often burning in bins and containers and certainly blowing through the streets. Not only does it provide prime breeding grounds for flies and mosquitoes, but it stinks. Praia smells the way I thought Africa would smell. Praia has dogs. Hundreds, maybe thousands of mangy, starving, wounded, aggressive, flea-ridden dogs that roam the streets at random (PC actually advises carrying rocks in your pockets to fend them off) feeding on scraps and the aforementioned trash. Every night, all night, they bark and fight and howl and yelp. It’s a pitiful situation. So, I took the good with the bad and enjoyed the restaurants and the bars and the music and the pools, but did so with rocks in my pocket and only during the day time.

The VAC meeting, where Anthony and I were at the bargaining table, poised and prepared to represent the complaints and concerns for our fellow volunteers to our Country Director…was a total loss. We were told NO to everything…even some things that we were offering. They listened to our ideas and suggestions, but basically we came away with absolutely nothing.

Then it was on to TOT in Assomada. TOT stands for the “Training of Trainers” seminar, and was for all PC staff and volunteers (like myself) who will be planning, teaching and assisting with the PST (Pre Service Training) of the new volunteers coming next month. Now this was an exercise straight from the Department of Redundancy Department. We were essentially a group of about 30 trained teachers who were being trained how to teach trainees how to teach trainers to teach. I am not kidding. The first day, we were asked to develop a series of “Ground Rules” to follow throughout the TOT seminar. Things like “Be Courteous,” “Be On Time,” “Turn Off Cell Phones,” etc. By the end of the first day (and every day thereafter) we had broken every one of them (although they stayed taped to the wall for all five days). There was also much discussion of facilitation, facilitating skills, feedback, feedback on the facilitator, and facilitating feedback...much of it led by one of the worst imaginable facilitators ever rumored to have facilitated anything…although she was a REAL nice lady. We did this for an entire week. I am not kidding. To be fair, there was some valuable information passed along. Things about Adult Learning Styles, Culture Shock, and Diversity were actually quite valuable. Also the snacks were out of this world.

Then it was on to visit my host family in Chan di Tanki, which was great. As it turns out, my brother is now the President of the Kamera in Santo Catarina, having recently won the election there by a mere 140 votes. Needless to say, he was very busy driving around (in a brand new car) shaking hands and promising to do a lot of stuff for a lot of people. He told me “they” paid noventa mil conte (which means 90 thousand thousand escudos…they do math that way here) to throw the victory party. I believe that is about equal to the entire annual budget for some of the kameras in this country. I was also showed the new tampa d’quintal (patio roof) they just bought (most likely purchased with the funds that PC provided them for housing and feeding me for two months), and I helped my dad find and seal a leak by concreting the water tank. They fed me a lot, chastised me for not calling often enough, fed me till I was ready to burst, and sent me on my way with a little tin of this tobacco which you are supposed to sniff but which, when I tried it out, set fire to my brain and melted my nose off.

Then it was on to see the other volunteers on the island of Santiago. I made it to Ribeira di Barka for their festival weekend, where I was molested on a dance floor by a very large woman with poor dental hygene, and then I ate my own body weight in grilled chicken and goat meat. Later I sat in the house of Tcheka (more on him another time) and listened to him and his entire talented family play music and sing. From there it was off to Tarrafal, which is a sweet little resortish beach town, the perfect place to spend the day snorkeling and sunning and sipping drinks, which is what we did. From there it was on to Calheta…also a blast. The volunteers there took me to a pairs dance contest for 8 year olds which was one of the best things I’ve seen since being in Cape Verde. These little bastards were all decked out in fancy duds and could spin like Kansas tornados and all had hips made of jelly. Also, the snacks were out of this world. Next day we spent on the beach where I was ganged up on in a water fight with about 30 little kids, hell bent on drowning me with their buckets. Later we gave some swim lessons to the rascals (most of them can’t swim despite having houses 10 meters from the ocean) picked up some pebbles, and went home to have some delicious chicken quesadillas and pico de gallo.

Then it was back to Praia for my mid-service medical exam. I got felt up, gave blood, had my eyes checked, a boil lanced, and my teeth cleaned, and then pooped in 3 cups to check for African brain worms. I don’t have them. With a clean bill of health, I was sent packing back to Santo Antao, after one last night in an air conditioned hotel and it’s glorious hot water shower.

All in all, a long and fairly unproductive, but fun-filled trip. I’ve now been to every volunteer site on that island, and really feel like I know Santiago almost as well as I know Santo Antao. Upon returning home to Chan di Igreja I learned that little Leo had fallen from a modest cliff and broken his arm. He is currently doing well on Sao Vicente with his father and a new cool-looking cast on his arm, and should be back in town next week. The only other update being that the well-digging machine (see a previous entry) is hard at work in the Ribeira just outside of town, and apparently did manage to tap into a small water vein last week. With a little luck and some more digging, they might be able to develop a small communal well for some of the families living near the site…so good news there and congrats to the mini-revolution. So, that brings you up to date!