A Thank You!

I want to share with you a sweet and thoughtful letter the woman I work with gave me. I will carry these kind words with me as I continue my career as a social worker and for the times I believe I have not made a change.

“ I was pretty excited in making my first craft doll as a small token of appreciation to my councilor. She is regarded by me of importance and great help. The various topics dealt with were educational and will be of great help for the enhancing of growth and improvement. Thank you for your help Michelle”



As a Thank You and good bye gift she made me a doll (who I believe looks like me, brown hair and sunglasses too big for the face!)! The dress is the Dominican Flag at the top with the liberation colors for the puff at the end. The other item is a mat made out of a rice bag and local fabrics. When she handed it to me she said, “Michelle, this is American and Dominica!” It took me a minute but if you look closer it is a map of Dominica with each parish being a different color and around the edge is red, white and blue fabrics! They were very thoughtful gifts that I will cherish for a life time!

Hiking!

Mary and I decided to go hiking a few Sundays back! I have to say we got a little off the track but we still made it from Point A to Point B! It was a lovely hike and great to spend some time with Mary. I was able to find a guava and grapefruit a long the way which made my day.



The hike took us about 5 hours (with breaks of course!) and we went through about 5 different villages. The views were incredible and I saw some of my students a long the way!

Love

These are my loves, my strength, my joy, my Peace Corps Family!




- Alicia, Myself, Austin, Mary, and Brian-

Change is Love!

-My Beautiful Niece-

For one of my assignments I asked the woman I council to explain her statement “Change comes through love!” Her explanation is extremely insightful and worth a share!

“ Love is god and god is love.
Without love there is no change
Through love comes change because is only love does the change. The power lies in love... Through love a reminder was given to the world so that change would manifest itself to prepare for the new world.
You got to love that body in order to live a healthy life style.
You got to love your work to be satisfied with a fair days work and a fair days pay... to see that all of them is given their fair share of upbringing in society.
Through love changes comes to be beneficial to all the situations. In loving one considers the other as more important than yourself. You do not seek your own interest. “

Just a little food for thought!

Fish Bowls!

This is my 400th Post!! I have been away from Michigan for 760 days!




Anyways: My Grade K students bring so much joy in my life!



Here they are making some lovely fish bowls!

Video

My volleyball coach in Michigan celebrated her 40th Birthday a few weeks ago! Her husband wanted to do something very special for her so he decided to e-mail all his friends and family and have them put together a video about how Coach Beth has touched their lives. I had a blast putting the video together and looking back on all the memories. My was a little different than others because there was a lot more pictures of me than of myself with Coach. I wanted to demonstrate to her the support and guidance she has shown me in all my different adventures of life.

If you are interested in viewing the video than click HERE

National Youth Council Awards

- My Host Mom and Myself after she did the decorations -

This past Saturday my organization honored 20 youth throughout the island in different categories. It is an amazing way to celebrate the achievements of youth and to show Dominica that youth are truly doing something GREAT on the island.



The event was held at Fort Young Hotel located in the capital. It was also good for the guest of the hotel to see a little glimpse into what Dominican youth are doing.



-The Winner and I -

I was very proud of how well the event turned out and of the youth who respect Dominica.