My Close of Service

Today marks a week since I have been back in America from my service in St Lucia. This will be my last post about my closing of service. My last week in St Lucia was so much fun and also terribly painful. Tuesday night, I was tricked into a big surprise party at the church. I was so shocked! Everyone brought a dish so we had a giant feast. They had games and performed dances and we all had a blast. Wednesday was my last day at the library, we had a party with all the kids and presented the awards for the star readers. I had cake and ice cream for them to celebrate. I also had my final piano lesson with Faith, I hope she continues to practice and finds a new teacher soon. The parent leader group also threw a wonderful party for me and the new volunteer Bree later that night. They baked lots of yummy treats, said so many kind words and we had a big photo shoot where everyone wanted a picture with me. They are such a great group of parents, I truly regret not getting involved with them sooner! Thursday was my big wrap up at the Peace Corps office. I had lots of things to return, forms to collect and sign and I officially finished my grant report. It has been cleared and completed, what a relief! I got to say all my goodbyes to PC staff as well as Greg and Jilia. That night was a little staff party at Ms. Ianna’s house which is always a great time. I will miss that group a lot, they always included me in their get-togethers. Friday was a mix of cleaning and organizing while people stopped by to take all my stuff I had accumulated. Dera and Ava also came to stay the night and again, surprised me with a goodbye party. Ava sang a song while they brought out dinner, bubbly and cake for me. Too many surprises and goodbyes this week. I was so drained from not getting much sleep and from the emotional overload. On my last full day in St Lucia, I spent it with my neighbour Sethfra. We went to the beach and it was the most beautiful day. Of course, I spent the whole day out with no sunscreen so I ended up getting pretty burned. Perfect, I was going home looking like a cooked lobster… My host mom Petrina came down to spend the last night with me. She helped do the final cleaning with me and kept me company. I also said goodbye to Ruby that night. Bree came for her so she could have her all next week. I was sad but very relieved that she would have such a great owner. I was so worried about that. A friend dropped by late that night to say goodbye and before I knew it, it was Sunday. August 21^st. The day I left St Lucia. The landlord came to check the house and mama and I waited anxiously for our ride before she found something wrong with the house. We didn’t hear too many comments, just some about the couch having Ruby hair. Just needs a vacuum which no one has here. I got a ride to church with all my luggage and from there, had two hours with my church family. I got to say a few words but I was so out of it, I don’t remember what I said really. Sister Leavitt drove me to the airport and then a long 24 hours of travel and waiting to get home.

My family and some friends were waiting at the airport to pick me up in Green Bay. I was happy to home and relieved to be back. There is a lot to adjust to. I can drink the tap water, the air is so dry and I’m cold all the time, mal pale isn’t funny here, everyone is rushing everywhere, endless comess and manje, it’s so white in every way, it’s so easy, no bugs or pests, you don’t have to lock up anything and people do not speak their mind. I am missing St Lucia but I also am excited to start a new adventure. I am so grateful for the time I spent in the Peace Corps. It was so hard in so many ways but it also the best two years. It really is the toughest job you will ever love. I can’t wait to return and visit my Lucian people soon. Thank you for your support and for reading my very sparse blog posts. 🙂

 

Pictures from Church

Some pictures of people I will miss from our little Vieux Fort branch. More to come.

From the top and left to right: Sister Tsmia, Emmy, Little Sky, Sister Georgiana, Sherba, Valence, Sky and her dad Rodrique and Sister Thomas.

 

One Week Left

A week from today, I will be back home. My Peace Corps service is coming to an end. It’s unbelievable to think that the 27 months have passed already and I dread leaving St. Lucia and the friends I have made here. On the other hand, returning to America is such an exciting thought, with its many luxuries. I wake up feeling different every day. For now, I am just spending every day doing as much as I can and enjoying the time I have left.

Some friends and I went on an adventure recently to a secluded waterfall up in the rainforest. With lots of mud and no sign of a path, we trekked through the bush and slipped our way to this beautiful ravine. We had to get someone from a nearby community to show us the way or we never would have made it. The waterfall was the best I have seen thus far and every fall and scrap to get there was worth it. We cooked lunch by the river and swam all afternoon. I loved it!

The parent leader group is off to a great start! We have had two meetings already this summer. Members voted for the leadership and have put together a calendar of events for the coming school year. They are an amazing group of parents and I have truly enjoyed working with them. I wish I had done this project sooner!! They are throwing a goodbye party for me after their meeting on Wednesday along with welcoming the new volunteer who will be taking my place! That’s right, the new volunteer is in the community and is just finishing her last bit of training. Her name is Bree and she will be swearing in a few days after I leave. The best part is we share the same host mother up north so she is my sese (sister). We get along great and I can tell already she will be a great fit for our community and school. We have been able to go to the beach together and also spend some time at the school to talk about projects to continue and tips for survival (for true!). We also got to go to a cricket game!! My first one!! I traveled up with some friends from Vieux Fort and met Bree and Petrina at the game. We had a blast cheering and jumping for the St. Lucia Zouks who won that night too. I have learned the game and really enjoy watching cricket. Not sure if there is any cricket back home, I will have to be on the lookout.

The library summer programme has gone so well this summer. We had six weeks of children from the community coming to check out books and work on their reading journals. This year, I have seven students who will be star readers for finishing their journals. I prepared some fun prizes for them, one being a keyring with their picture and star reader on it. Can’t wait to see their faces when they see that one. Last week we made giant bubbles outside, just for fun and the kids loved it so much. As soon as I turned around, they were covered head to toe in bubbles. I also made play dough for them the week prior and they played for hours. I had to let everyone keep their piece, there was no way I was getting that play dough back. This Wednesday is our last library day and we are having a little party to celebrate. We have been getting around 25 kids a week so I hope they all come. I have also had two teachers come to help me each week which seems like a small thing but really means a lot. They come during their vacation without being asked and they see the value of doing this programme over the summer. It’s the little successes that make all of this worth it!!

Other than the library, I have been spending the last three weeks helping with two different camps that were hosted by other volunteers. The first one was Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) which was for teenage girls ages 13-18. I was a floating counselor and helped to supervise and run sessions. The camp was overnight so everyone had beds on the floors in all the classrooms of the host school. I also provided a service project to paint a mural for the school library. I designed and drew the mural and the girls and other counselors helped to fill in the colour. It turned out great, much to my relief. I realize I forgot to mention that I came late to the camp. Reason being I got Zika the week before. It wasn’t bad except for the rash. That was the worst part. I had the red-dotted rash EVERYWHERE. It burned and itched and since I am white, I looked pretty scary, esp. to the locals. I had a day of fever and some minor joint pain too. It only took a few days to feel better and I was able to move around and still do things around the house. I would have Zika again over Chickengunya any day. After Camp GLOW, I helped with a reading camp for boys in Grades 1-3. I was there for supervision, designing and printing the t-shirts for campers and counselors and surprise, surprise, another mural. The volunteer running the boys’ camp was also at Camp GLOW so he talked me into doing a mural at his school. I just finished the mural today. No more murals for me. At least for a while.

We had a beach party on Saturday with everyone involved with Peace Corps which was great as I got to say goodbyes and enjoy the beach with the other volunteers, from all the EC groups. That was a great sight to see, volunteers from my group who are about to leave, volunteers from last year who have one more year to go and volunteers who have just arrived and are about to start their service. Everyone was jealous that I am on my way out. I remember that feeling all too well. I think I will try to go for a sea bath one more time before I go, maybe on Saturday, God willing.

I am now burdened with the cleaning of my house and the distributing of my things from my house that I am not keeping or cannot bring home. There are plenty of people to help me out, not with the cleaning but taking things off my hands. So kind of them. 🙂  I fly to Miami on Sunday and overnight before heading to Green Bay the next day. So much to do, a very scary amount of time left to do it all…