Joys from the Weekend!

This Weekend I went to the Southwest of the Island to spend Friday Night until Sunday Early Evening with the new National Youth Council Executive Board. Every two years a new Executive is Elected by the Youth all throughout the Island. Also, the Executive Board is all Youth of the Island (15-35). Our Goal while we were there was to develop ideas of what as a Committee me are looking to achieve in the next two years. The weekend was filled with a lot of Brainstorming, Tossing Around Ideas, and having some Fun as well!

Joys!

1. Meeting most of the new members of New Executive Board!
2. Being able to Bathe TWICE in the River!
3. Seeing these BRAVE little boys jump off the Bridge into the River! It was crazy to watch! The bridge was like 10 to 15 feet from the river
4. Watching a Basketball Game!
5. Watching some Small Goal Football!
6. Being able to rest a little
7. Popcorn for Dinner!
8. Reading My Sister Blog about Austin Walking to St. Lucia. Check it out HERE
9. An AMAZING Package filled with Craft Items from Aunt Penny!! THANK YOU!!!
10. Phone Calls and Text Messages that are sent simply to Say Hello! :o)
11. A Sky Filled with STARS!!
12. As we were driving Home, watching the Sun Set behind the Mountains and then the Sky filled with Reds and Pinks once the sun was gone!
13. Post Secret Sunday!! Check it out HERE My FAV on is Above!!

You can see me...

On Television and the Dominica News Online website!

This past Saturday, after about a Month of sometimes stressful planning, it was time to put on the Roseau City Council Award Ceremony. Let me back track just a little. When one of the Peace Corps left early and she placed me in charge with another PCV to help organize the Awards Ceremony. The Council has been planning the event since April but I just jumped on board about a Month ago when ALL of the last minute items need to get taken care of.

Example: On Thursday (2 Days) before the event the 26 Triumphs were still in the United States of America, that same Thursday there was a Tropical Storm so town did not have any power,it was a National Holiday, so the programs were not printed yet, and a last minute addition of a performer was added on Saturday Morning.

Needless to say like everything else, with a few little wrinkles in that day, it all worked out at the end. The Roseau City Council Awards Ceremony recognized several Dominicans who have contributed to the development of the city of Roseau.
The Friends of the city awards, the Environmental Award, the Community Involvement Award and the Mayor’s Award are the categories under which individuals and organizations will be awarded.

Becky (the other PCV) and Myself where the backstage 'Production Team.' Making last minute changes to the schedule, getting people moving and shaking through the awards, and getting water for the MC and Citation Reader! It will not be a career change, too much stress for this girl! :o) Anyways, at the end of the Ceremony the Major surprised Becky and I with a acknowledgement of Thanks and a little Plaque. Another surprise for me was when the Major announced to the WHOLE Crowd and the individuals watching/hearing it live on local radio and TV, that I would be staying in Dominica for the next five years! The crowd roared when they heard that! At the little "After Party," because the Mayor comment I had a few individuals ask me if I was not staying and I had to gently say, 'I am here for the next 2 years doing my service and we shall see what happens after that!'

Pictures from the Event

- I learned to play the Piano while I was here... JK, I was goofy around with it -


- Myself, A Volunteer for the Event, PCV Becky, and the REAL Pianist -


- The PRODUCTION Team -


- My Island Mom Set Up All of the Awards -


- This is the Set Design, it is suppose to represent what Old Roseau Look like -

6 Pictures for 6 Months!

Time Flys When You are Having Fun...

Highlights of Activities I have done in the Last 6 Months! I will try to keep them in some order, from when I first came to present!

1. Lived with my amazing Island Mother for the first 2 Months!
2. Became an Official United States of America Peace Corps Volunteer
3. Started Michelle’s Birthday Club- It has gone one five consecutive months in a row. It is designs to celebrate any birthday from children ranging from Birth to Twelve Years Old. On average there is about 20-30 children there. My Island Mom and I run it each month with the help of older teenagers! Every month all of the children are invited but we sing to the Birthday Children of the Month! During the Party we play with Water Balloons, do a craft project, participate in other running around games, and have juice, pizza, popcorn, and cake. Each child leaves with a sweetie in their hand
6. Moved out of my fantastic Island Mother’s home into my own two bedroom apartment about 5 minutes driving from my Island Mom’s home or 15 minutes walking. It is in the next village over.
5. Started working three days a week at my Work Site. My Work Site is an agency based in town that works with Youth on the National Level. We work hand in hand with other Youth Groups and plan larger activities for the youth of the whole island not just for specific group
6. Started working a primary school (Grades K-6) once a week. While I am there, I was assigned to a teacher and assist any children who need extra help with an assignment. In the absent of the teacher I would run the classroom (there is few to no substitute teachers in Dominica), so if I was not there another teacher would have to manage two classrooms. Many days during break time you could find me sitting on the steps reading books!
7. Started my ‘Little Listeners, Big Readers’ program. The structure of the program is, I have 3 to 5 pre-school age students sit in a circle with one higher primary school child. The higher primary school child will read about 3 books or 30 minutes to the pre-school age children. The goals behind the program are to raise the literacy rate of the ‘little listeners’ by finalizing them with different stories, words, etc. In addition, the goals is to improve the confidence of reading for the ‘Big Readers’ and raise their literacy rate. In addition, it gives the ‘Little Listeners’ a role model to look up to and introduces service learning to the ‘Big Readers.’
8. At my worksite, I assisted in the running of a Leadership Workshop that took place in 6 different villages in Dominica. My duties included compile the data from the surveys, making sure the facilitating were running on time, and learning myself about different leadership styles and techniques. Also, it served as a great tool of networking and meeting different youth in Dominica.
9. Did a dinner once a month with my landlord’s daughter and her good friend introducing different cultures of food. So far, we have had Italian, Mexican, and Traditional ‘Fourth of July’ foods!
10. Started going to Village Council meetings to have a better understanding of what was going on in the Village.
11. Worked with Keira’s Book Club. Which is a program designed to get more books in the primary and secondary school’s library. There was a contest to design t-shirts and logos for the Book Club
12. Somewhere a long the line I learned how to make home made bread, pizza dough, pancakes, and various different sweet treats
13. Planned, organized, and ran a two week long summer camp for 70, 4-13 year old children. The name of the club was “Arts and Expression: Changing Lives.” During the camp we did numerous craft projects, recreational games, guest speakers, and ended the event with a graduation and a display of all of the crafts
14. Started a mini Arts and Craft Program in my village. We meet once a week for about an hour to two hours and do a different craft project each time. We usually ended the day with coloring, drawing, and/or word searches. We have made: sand art in bottles, tie-dye, homemade clay, piñata, and decorated some cookies
15. Spend two days helping out at a Pre-School camp where we tie-dyed, made yummy ‘dirt pies’ and made a village out of cardboard boxes
16. Spend the day at a Special Olympics activity
17. Currently I am helping to plan a Youth Festival that will show off all of the talent the Youth of Dominica have. By having an island wide Talent Show and then other local bands/groups perform

What is up next….
1. Continuing the “Little Listeners, Big Readers” program and hoping to expand to two to three pre-schools instead of one. Getting more of the students involved!
2. Doing a weekly arts and crafts project with the students at the Primary School (I am not sure if I will do it for the WHOLE school or just different grades, or maybe each week do a different grade so they do a craft project once a month- we shall see)
3. Do one-on-one tutoring with the Primary School students either on Maths or Literacy. Each session would be about 30 minutes and I would be working with ALL grade levels
4. Doing a Character Counts program in the Primary School. It is a program centered on six different pillars: caring, honesty, respect, responsibility, and I cannot think of the last two on the top of my head. This would be a program that myself and other teacher would be working on together for ALL the students in the Primary School
5. Once or twice a month spending the day in my village’s pre-school
6. Doing a traveling book club with Secondary Students
7. Have the Primary/Secondary school students write and draw the story of Dominica in their eyes
8. I want to start a Women Empowerment Group or a Girls self- esteem group

48 Amazing Moments

Today marked the 6 Month Mark!! I cannot believe that I have been living on the amazing Island of Dominica for SIX Months! I can still remember the moment I met my 'Island Mom'for the first time outside the Peace Corps Office, on the dark and quiet streets of Roseau when she greeted me with a HUGE Hug and at that moment I knew I would OK! The first six months has had many up and down! Times I was stressed out and ready to stream while other moments I was so Thrilled and Excited you could hear my joys off the top of Mountain!

Below is a list of 48 Events that I have had in the past 6 Months that I more then likely would of not done if I was still in Michigan!


Forty-Eight Moments I Have Had That I Would Of Not Had If I Was Still Living In Michigan (Some are Serious, Most are Funny, A lot are Random, but they are ALL me)

1. Seeing A Waterfall
2. Meeting 6 other amazing strangers that are in this journey with me and we will develop an unbreakable bond
3. Truly feel the love of my family even 2500 miles away
4. Bake Homemade Bread
5. Finding Contentment (Still Working on that one but getting better)
6. Enjoying Little Moments
7. Killing a Crock Roach without even blinking an eye
8. See Dolphins playing about 5 feet away from me in their natural habitat
9. Sweating at 8:30AM
10. See a LIVE cricket game
11. Walking with an umbrella everywhere I go
12. Greeting almost everyone when I pass them on the street
13. Learn the power of a Hug when you need it the most
14. Be in a River, Sea and the Ocean ALL in the same day
15. Knowing you found your true friend in moments of meeting
16. Trust, I mean REALLY trusting the saying “It will ALL work out”
17. Walking to town because that is my only option
18. Dancing and enjoying live music into 7AM
19. See true selflessness every day
20. Knowing what chicken the eggs I ate came from
21. Once I knew the Chicken I was eating
22. Moments that give me goosebumps
23. Feeling so far away but feeling like I am right where I belong
24. Being Cold on an Island
25. Picking fresh fruit directly off the tree that I have never seen and sometimes never heard the fruit
26. Appreciating the power of touch
27. Being OK with me (Just starting the process but it is moving well)
28. Eating Beans
29. The power and calmness holding a new born as she is falling asleep can bring to your soul
31. Solely relaying on Public Transportation
32. Making decisions based basically on me and me a lone
33. SCUBA DIVING!!!
34. Moving to a new area where nobody knows my name, where I came from, who I am! I could become this brand new person but I found I like who I am- everyone will meet that Amazing City Michelle girl I am with a little island twist!
35. Going on a Boat Ride
36. Feeling- For one of the first times I am really trying to let myself feel and observe moments- sad, angry, happy, joyful, or calm- whatever the emotions I am learning to let myself FEEL it instead of hiding it in the gut of my stomach until someone pushes me over the edge
37. Seeing a DOUBLE Rainbow while playing volleyball
38. Not sprinting to the nearest shelter when it starts raining but letting it pass knowing it will stop in moments (usually)
39. The nearest shelter is usually a LARGE Tree Leaf
40. Taking a HOT SULFUR Bath!
41. Going and Enjoying Hikes!
42. Being in River so Calm, Clear (and Cold) that I can see every last detail of my big toe and the fish swimming around it
43. Picking out my OWN piece of fresh fish from the Sea across the road and having the cook, cook it to order
44. Sleeping outside under a Mosquito Net
45. Witness Sunsets that Color the Caribbean Sea shades of red, pink, orange, and blue
46. Standing on one island and looking into the sea to see another island
47. The power of a horn- it tuts to let someone know not to back into the- to say hello, to warn someone when they are going around a curve- it is used to flirt- to grab someone attention- but rarely used for aggressive or road rage!
48. Did I mention I live on an island…

Special Olympics

On Sunday, August 30, 2009 I had the opportunity to assist in the Dominica Special Olympics. It was an extreme treat to be part of the event since I have not partaken in volunteering at Special Olympics before. It was even more special yet sad, this year because the founder of the Special Olympics, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, passed away on August 11, 2009. In her honor during the open ceremony we shared in a moment of silence to show our respects.

During the open Ceremony, a man from Guadeloupe who is involved with Special Olympics in all of the Creole Speaking Eastern Caribbean Islands: Dominica, Martinique, Guadeloupe, and St. Lucia, presented different items he had gathered to the different areas the athletes came from. The Special Olympics were for all individuals with physical or mental disabilities throughout the whole island. There were four separate groups: Roseau (The Capital), Portsmouth (In the North), Carib Territory, and one more area that I am completely blanking on. After the official march of the athletes it was time for the Games to BEGIN!
There were around 30 athletes that represented the physical or mentally disabled individuals of the island. They competed in different track and field events such as: 50, 100, and 200 meter run and walk and a relay race. After an amazing typical Creole Lunch, the athletes were re-energized and competed in standing long jump, softball throw, and a team event of Bocce Ball.

The weather was amazing and the rain held off until the very end of the day which is GREAT for Dominica. It was a true blessing to see the joy on the athlete’s faces when they ware their ribbons or medals with pride. My little Judy said to me “Look Me… Look my ribbons.” Judy has a physically disability in her legs and hips which makes it difficult for her to run and jump. Judy is very witting, determined, book smart, and has a look in her eyes that melts your heart. The goal of the Special Olympics is to have everyone feel and be a winner at the end of the day. Since the athletes train with coaches prior to the event, the coaches have an understand of the different skill levels. The Coaches will place them in appropriate “heats” so the races are close and nobody is being blown out of the water!

At the end of all of it, my heart leaped with Joy knowing these athletes that may be looked down on, mocked, made fun of or just face every day challenges had THEIR day. Their day of Joy, their day of feeling special, their day of interacting with individuals who understood a little more, their day of SUCCESS, their day of being LOVED for who they are!!

Click HERE to see pictures from the event!