A Cultural Defeat

Unexplainable

I can’t even begin to put into words what I just felt, in a world so far from mine, I find myself on the verge of tears as I watch this young boy, this child of only 4 years grow up in a place so harsh, so cruel, so impatient, so neglecting, so mean to him. I make an extended effort to give him love, comfort, joy, praise, and interest every time I see him. It pains me to see how psychologically he will be at a loss. Children’s cries are only met with more beatings; these children will become the problem we volunteers are trying to change; laziness, de-motivation, boredom, violence, crime, rape, teenage pregnancy, etc. This may not be another world, but it is so completely foreign and in your face all the time you have no choice but to watch with peeled open eyes and a head strap. Seeing violence here is unusual in the sense that I don’t think they believe in what’s right and wrong. Yet they praise religion but majority of the people here have yet to read the Bible. And there are translated Bible’s so the means are there. Corporal punishment is part of their culture, its difficult to know there can and is a better way of living yet knowing that it is almost impossible to get these people to believe it and want it. I have no doubt the bursts of anger and violence these women lash out on their children is a cause and effect relationship. The oppression they feel, the neglect they get, is all released on these children and the animals. Their second rate status to the men, their over-worked and under appreciated lifestyle, its all correlated. But to me there is something wrong with a group of men sitting under the mango tree eating mangoes for hours on end as the women busily cook, clean, wash, look after the kids, without so much as a thank you. How they do it I will never know. How this country can ever expect to change, I will never know. Yet, they claim to want development, whatever that means.

Work Breakdown

Work Breakdown in Vanuatu, Paama Island 2009-2010

20% Liro/Senali Village Projects- Assist in planning, grant writing, national events & community celebrations, finished projects updates and reporting.

20% Paama Island Advising- work inside the Paama Area Council office on business advising, individual projects, loans, management, entire island projects & planning, translating documents from English to Bislama.

10% Workshops and Trainings Facilitation- conduct, plan, implement individual and group trainings or workshops on such topics as: computers, business, grants, money management, tourism, planning, health, etc.

15% Committee and Association Meetings- take part in any group meetings and trainings held in Paama as a special member and adviser. Such committee’s as: Paama Tourism Association, Paama Fisheries Committee, Liro/Senali Water Committee, PWMU women’s group, Enrionment Committee, Paama Youth Council, Paama Sports.

10% A Basket for Change- Women’s on-going income generating project to help all the women on Paama island. Working with the women representatives on quality assurance, money management, business cycling and networking with customers. Finding markets in Vila (the city capital), Luganville (second largest city in Vanuatu), Austrailia, New Zealand, and U.S.A.

10% NGO, Government, Institution Involvement- Work with different organizations around Vanuatu in providing services across Vanuatu as well as in Paama. Such involvement includes attending meeting and trainings whenever possible or working incooperation with on a special project. Ex. UNICEF (NGO) trainings and workshops, VFF & FIFA partnerships for women’s futbol events (NGO), MALAMPA Province (Vanuatu Gov.’t), Vanuatu Family Planning Health Association (NGO), Vanuatu Ministry of Health Measels Campaign 2009 ( Gov.’t), Primary & Secondary School staff, RTC on Paama, etc.

10% Peace Corps Vanuatu Gender & Development Committee- working with other Peace Corps Volunteers on running trainings and providing sufficient resources for other Peace Corps Volunteers and locals on gender sensitivity and gender roles in Vanuatu.

5% Other- Conducting a youth girls night at my house in Liro, having informal cooking classes, going to their gardens, helping other volunteers on my island, women’s futbol trainings, sports with the Secondary School girls, etc.

When not working on items above my time is spent integrating with the community and attending community events such as: marriages, baptisims, mother’s day, etc.



Work Frustrations

Delay of information reaching outer islands causing late applications and/or passed deadlines.
If Peace Corps staff and Vanuatu office could be more helpful in passing valuable information out to us volunteers by sending text messages as mail takes weeks.
If Peace Corps allocated a small amount of money in their country budget to each island and/or each volunteer to be used only for small projects, workshops, events, etc. An amount around $100 or so.
Organizational changes without giving notice and too short of deadlines.
Demotivational road blocks that stop projects from continuing or delay them, both on the local level and national level.
High expectations from our villages causing disappointments, since the locals think we can work magic and are here to give them gifts and free stuff. Also, unfair amount of work load put on us by the locals as they claim to not have the skills necessary to do what we do. When really they are just lazy and want a free hand-out with the least amount of effort possible.
Not enough time and energy when in the capital, Vila, to run around and be productive before going to back to site.