Blog Entry 22.05.2012
Back in my town after another busy week out; it’s been a few of those weeks where I not only have things to do, but I’m scrambling to get them done (which, I’ll admit, feels nice). While it is sad that very little of the work I’ve been doing lately has had anything to do with Environment, it is extremely nice to be busy and I have enjoyed every minute of my other random jobs.
World Map:
There are exactly three primary schools in my town: one that I tried to get involved with in Environmental Education earlier on only to be frustrated with certain teachers demanding extra pay and trainings on subjects I had no intention of teaching, one that only has younger grades (which, I will admit, I am scared of- that’s the age that throws rocks), and one on the hill that I have truly enjoyed working with.
While I’m just starting out, so far I have met with the teachers about environmental club and English curriculum ideas, provided seeds and project ideas for the club, and games and resources for remedial English lessons. So, as I walked around the school grounds one day, I realized that not one of the murals on the school buildings was a world map, and, as Peace Corps has a great ‘World Map’ project (a manual of how to draw the world map in a grid, color code it, and label it) I decided it would be a great way to spend some time.
I spent the first few days drawing out the grid (it was over 2 meters wide and 1.25 meters tall…) and the next few days Katherine, a neighboring volunteer about 2 hours to the South East, and I drew and painted in the World Map. I always tend to think highly of my geography skills until I do a project like this; usually as I search for 20 minutes to color in ridiculously small countries like Seychelles or Maldives, I realize I know nothing, and that I’ve been to a very small part of the world. There were also other challenges like, where exactly should I put the line for South Sudan? And what on earth is Zaire called these days?? Possibly the most frustrating moment though was one afternoon I set out to continue working on the map only to find some kid had taken a pen to Antarctica and (rather stupidly) written his name all over it. At the moment I threw what I’m sure the teachers considered a right little fit and they assured me they would speak to the students and find the kid who did it (which, as they had his name, shouldn’t be too hard). I slightly dramatically told them if it kept happening I wouldn’t bother finishing it- but this had taken us nearly 5 days, so I thought I had the right.
One of the biggest surprises I found with the world map came from when a few of the other teachers asked to help. We would give them a color of paint and then read off what countries were that color. As I read down the list, I truly didn’t expect her to know where Thailand or Kyrgyzstan was, but when I announced Somalia, she hesitantly looked at the map and pointed to… South Africa? As a neighboring country to Ethiopia, I thought for sure she would recognize the country; however, maybe the map is there to benefit the teachers as much as it is there to benefit the students.
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| Phase 1: believe it or not, the grid was the hardest part!! |
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| Phase 2: getting closer... |
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| Phase 3: and the finished map!! |
Project Proposals:
Within the past month, I have been meeting regularly with the environmental club and its supervisor at my local high school and we are finally on our way to getting this well and tree nursery idea underway. After a great discussion with the whole club, we decided that what the club really wanted to gain out of the following year was tree planting know-how, knowledge on tree varieties and uses, and irrigation and tree maintenance techniques. So, with that in mind, the club advisor and I devised a plan to encompass all the students’ ideas. And, now the fun part, I get to pull together all the information to write a grant proposal to get our well and supplies funded. Things are moving along, although, we’re at a standstill until we can meet again and discuss the project budget… that always seems to be the hard part here; just getting people to find the time for a small discussion.
Operation Smile:
WAS SUCH A GREAT EXPERIENCE!! We, being 10 Peace Corps volunteers, volunteered for 5 days a piece of the 10 day operation smile mission here in the Tigray region. First off, Operation smile is an NGO that provides medical surgeries for cleft lips and cleft palates- they work all over the world, but this is their first mission in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. We were divided into two shifts, the first half of the mission and the second half of the mission, and I and 4 other PCVs chose to work the second half. We spent the first couple days at the hospital during their final two days of operations- I spend a lot of time working in the medical records and filling out charts, and then separating charts, but I also got to spend a lot of time in the pre-op room and the post-op room helping with (minor) translations, playing with kids, and just talking with patients and answering questions. The last couple days we were there we spent at the shelter that operation smile had set up for the patients (about 120 patients, which means over 300 people) working again to just answer questions, monitor patients who were having complications, and, of course, play with kids. The last couple days of the mission are also doctor check-ups and clearance for the patients to leave, so we were really busy with that whole procedure- although, myself and one other volunteer got the fun job of compiling donated clothes and toys from the states into goodie bags for each of the patients; we had fun discussing if this would fit this kid, or if this girl would like this toy- it was especially rewarding to give the child with no shoes on a brand new pair of sandals (or the kid with no pants a brand new pair of pants.. how he got here with no pants is beyond me).
It was very rewarding to work with operation smile; as Peace Corps volunteers we don’t always, if ever, see the benefits or outcomes of our projects; usually our projects are teaching skills and sharing knowledge- something we hope is making a difference, but not something we can always see. With Operation Smile, you got to see a child with a cleft lip or palate go into surgery scared but determined, and then again on the other side, with a completed surgery making a wonderful, visible change. We got to hear families thank us over and over again for the surgery and the chance for their child to have a normal life without discrimination and ridicule, and after a few days of recovery we got to see children and adults see and adapt to their new lifestyle and get ready to go home. I was glad to be a part of it.
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| At the rock hewn church Gabriel Tselamao, my friend Kibrom and the priest showing me how the drums are used. |
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| Posing with the Priest for a picture in front of a few of the beautiful murals at Gabriel Tselamao |
Good morning how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because trough them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately it’s impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this I would ask you one small favor:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Ethiopia? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Ethiopia in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Calle Valencia,39
28903 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez
It’s never too early to think about the Third Goal. Check out Peace Corps Experience: Write & Publish Your Memoir. Oh! If you want a good laugh about what PC service was like in a Spanish-speaking country back in the 1970’s, read South of the Frontera: A Peace Corps Memoir.
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