Gettin' Busy!!!!

So it’s been a while since I wrote anything here, but I’ve got a real good excuse. I’ve actually been busy with WORK if you can believe that. There’s been an awful lot going on over the past month and a half, so I’ll give you the quick version.

First, we’re back on with the english classes, except this time I’m focusing on the kids in town. As of last month, Benvinda (who was just hired as the local kindergarten teacher) and I have been working with the kindergartners three times a week, teaching them the alphabet, numbers, basic nutrition, and some VERY basic english (Hi my name is_____, I am _____ years old, etc.). Believe it or not, they actually learn faster than most of my older students from the previous english classes.

Additionally, I’m teaching English 2 days a week to the 4th and 5th graders in town. They’ve already got all the “introduction and greeting” english down pretty well, so we’ve moved on to conjugating the verb “to be,” personal pronouns and augmenting their vocabulary. Basically they stay in class for one extra hour after their normal classes and we work on these topics, pronunciation, and confidence. It does a heart good to know that after 5 hours of school, there are kids in this town that are interested enough in learning english that they’re willing to stay late to take advantage of some free instruction. (I think the Friday night cartoon movies that I’m showing are a big incentive as well. 100% attendance is required for them to come to that.) We obviously don’t have textbooks or readers, so most of the work is just just done aloud, with lots of repetition.

Finally, with respect to the english classes, I’ve got a small group of high school students that come over 3 times a week for help with their homework and to practice/apply the lessons they’re learning at the liçeo (high school). That’s a lot of fun as well, as I’ve already seen a marked improvement in their grades at shcool. (I’ve been getting quite a few free meals out of the deal as well, as the parents are ecstatic that their kids grades are coming up.)

So, in addition to the english instruction, last month I was invited by to speak at Universidad Lusofona (in Mindelo on the island of Sau Vicente) about Peace Corps in general (our mission and global initiatives) and specifically about my experiences here in Cape Verde. Universidad Lusofona is a Portuguese institution, funded by private charitable donations, who’s aim it is to help provide quality educations to poor residents in Portuguese speaking countries. Essentially they build first-class universities in developing countries in Africa, and also have two campuses in Brazil, where they offer degrees in Enlgish, teaching, civil construction, accounting, management, Portuguese, architecture, law, and biology, just to name a few. According to the Lusofona Director, the group offers over 10,000 full-ride scholarships to qualified African students. (Although I’ve yet to meet a Cape Verdian who would allow you to refer to them as African, they do, nonetheless, qualify for the free tuition grants.

It was a two day seminar geared towards about-to-graduate students, and how they can go about getting jobs with their new education and shiny degrees. There were representatives from most of Cape Verde’s major employers, including the Halcyon Airlines, Enacol (think Exxon but for Africa), the shipping industry, etc. There were also sessions on how to prepare a CV or Resume, basic interview skills, how to market oneself to an employer and other pretty useful skills that perhaps we as Americans take for granted.

Anyway, I gather I was invited as the evening’s entertainment, as I was pretty much last person on the program to speak on the first night, and I was asked to speak, as I said, about my experiences as a volunteer in Cape Verde, and a little bit about volunteering opportunities here in Cape Verde, all of which have little to do with gaining employment in the “private sector” here in Cape Verde.

So there were about 250 people in the audience and I was definitely a little nervous. I’d prepared a good little slide show with pics from my time here so far, as well as a brief but thorough segment on Peace Corps (its history, the three main goals, seven global initiatives, etc.). I had also, on the advice of my country director, practiced my all-kriolu speech in front of a mirror a few times, timing it to make sure I came in under the 30 minute mark that I was allotted. However, just minutes before I was to go up front, the school director “reminded me” that I needed to be give my presentation in Portuguese. Uh….Wha? A brief wave of nausea and a bad case of the sweats struck me.

Now its true that Portuguese is the “official” language of the country, and its certainly the language spoken in the classrooms...but as I’ve said before, nobody here speaks it in the home or on the streets and in over a year here in Cape Verde, I’ve never had a conversation in Portuguese. Plus, at this point, my kriolu is excellent, and I was really looking forward to seeing some freaked out Cape Verdians as they encountered what was likely to be their first kriolu speaking white guy. Now, I’ve been studying Portuguese, and I can understand it when I hear it spoken, and I can read it, and I can even, given enough time (say, like a decade) express myself...a little. I was and am certain however, that I could not give a 30 minute presentation in front of 250 people (which included some rather technical language) at a formal event without coming across as...well...mentally deficient.

So I begged the lady to let me talk in kriolu, I explained that in my line of work, kriolu is essential, that it's an integral, probably the MOST integral part of my experience, that I absolutely NEEDED to speak in kriolu, if for no other reason than not to embarrass myself or the Peace Corps. She initially suggested that I speak in English and let her translate into Portuguese and I resisted and she resisted, but then relented thank God. So she got up to introduce me, and away we went.

Well I can tell you that that evening will definitely go down as one of my favorite and most memorable experiences in Cape Verde. As soon as I started talking, about 200 jaws hit the floor and there were expressions of disbelief written across every face in the room. These people could absolutely not believe that a white American, in country for just over a year, could speak kriolu. (It is a real testament to the Peace Corps training program that we volunteers are able to acquire the language in such a short time, and I think I did Peace Corps proud on this particular occassion, if I do say so myself.) Seeing the looks on thier faces, I knew I had their attention and it put my nervous stomach at ease, and I ended up breezing through the presentation. After doing the plugs and promos for PC, I talked ( being sure to slip in a little bit of the BAdiu kriolu from Santiago) and showed slides about and from everything including the application process, my first few nights in my home stay village, our two month training, my arrival in Txangreja, the awkwardness of all of it, the language acquisition, some of the projects that I and various other volunteers have undertaken, my impressions of Cape Verde and the culture, and then I wrapped up with a little bit about volunteerism and some of the opportunities that exist for Cape Verdians to volunteer here in Cape Verde, giving an example of a great guy from Txan di Tanki who volunteers his time to do a kids theater group. Then I thanked everyone and asked if there were any questions. Well, about 250 hands shot up and it quickly became clear that they thought I was lying.

They disbelievingly asked me things like:

Could you clarify how long you've been in Santo Antao? Just since last September? And you didn't know kriolu before you came? And you don't speak Portuguese? And you didn't know any Portuguese before you came? And you had to learn Santiago kriolu and then learn Sanpadjudo kriolu? And you can speak them both? You're staying for TWO YEARS? You are working FOR FREE? And you WANTED to leave America and come here or it's like the army? (Many Cape Verdians think the US still uses the draft system.) And you LIKE Cape Verde? You LOVE Cape Verde?

I ended up taking questions for about 15 more minutes before we had to wrap it up but I got a HUGE ego boost with a nice round of applause and lots of hand shakes as I stepped down from the podium. During the drinks and reception part of the evening I answered many more questions, exchanged contact information with a number of people interested in learning how they could volunteer with the I.N.D.P (the turtle people) and how they could start local associations like the one I work in. Afterwards I went to dinner with the school administration where we (hopefully) made some important connections and, assuming that the universities goals are in lone with those of the Peace Corps, maybe the evening will one day lead to a volunteer working in that University. (Although those details and negotiations are things WAY beyond my pay grade.)

The following night was pretty much a repeat of the first, with more questions and I notices, a lot of the same poeple in the audience...still apparently not convinced that Peace Corps was for real. I got invited out for dfrinks with several of the students afterwards which was certainly fun. So not only did I get a huge swollen head from the whole weekend, but I got to stay in the hotel in Mindelo with hot water and AC as a bonus. Really, I couldn't have asked for a better few days.

So there's one more big work project to talk about, which is the WORLD AIDS DAY TOURNAMENT that me and the local association will be putting on in Txangreja at the end f this month. I am kind of hoping to give you a real feel for what it's like to prepare, plan for, organize and fund a project here...how to operate in general in this country. So since I've already been blabbering for a while, I'll save that for next time. I've also got a good entry about US election night which I spent in Mindelo as well, and I'll get that up pending approval from the US State department. ;-)

OK, so there are some pics of my classes below, and maybe one of a sunset? I think I switched the labels on some, so the 4th graders may actually be the 5th graders and vice versa.