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…
Caribbean Kim 