Perspectives

(that's me standing along with the other editors Chrissy and Jess who are sitting down)

Hi All,


I'm still in Lome and decided to check in with you all! All is going well here. I am exhausted and again, I can't say this enough, who knew it would be so hard to format a newsletter?! I need a good nights sleep! Here's the intro letter to our newsletter...


Hello everybody!
Welcome to our first issue of Perspectives. First of all, thanks to all who submitted an article. We have a lot of great things for you to read and enjoy. We would like to continue to improve Perspectives and better define its purpose. In addition to sharing gender-related projects, we hope to create a forum for dialogue about our experiences. We also want to provide a creative outlet. Be looking for the specific focus of our next issue through EMS (our mail system). However, in this issue you will find the following viewpoints:
· Work (projects volunteers are working on, such as a computer camp in this issue)
· Committee (update from the gender and development committee)
· Food (recipes! 3 Indian ones this time)
· Staff (an interview with a staff member...the Security Officer in this issue)
· Celestial (star charts!)
· Emotional and Creative (everything from poems to reflections to drawings)
We hope you enjoy. We welcome feedback and of course future submissions!

As you can see, we are having lots of fun with the articles. Tomorrow it's off to the printer (ie the copy machine in the PC office where double-sided copies must be fed manually...yuck). Hope all the volunteers enjoy reading it. And hope you have a good night...Sleep well! I'm off to bed!

Back in Lome...

Hi All!
I hope this post finds everyone well! I am in Lome for the week working on a GEE newsletter. I arrived yesterday and will be here until Saturday. I'm enjoying the AC though the work is much harder than I thought...who knew Publisher could be so difficult?! But we are pushing on and hope to be done by Friday! Keep your fingers crossed!

On Saturday, I'll meet Nathan in Kara where we'll spend the night. All of the new volunteers who are posted in the Kara region will be there for the evening. We plan on eating lots of guinea fowl, fried yams, and local salad. And maybe a beer ;-) It should be a fun evening!

I am busy at post conducting PTA meetings (APE - Association de Parents des Eleves) in order to better inform them about the GEE program. The teacher who went with me to the science training this summer is helping me lead them and translate everything into Kabiye. So far the parents have been very interested and receptive. I probably should have done this when I first arrived at post, but, hey, better late than never, right? Plus I have a woman make local beer for everyone afterwards...you've gotta get parents to the meeting somehow! hehe Think they could try this at your local school? Better attendance?!

I am also doing a Peer Educator Training. I have forty girls and boys at the middle school who are doing the training. I am the trainer, along with the four students who went to Camp UNITE this summer. We have four afternoon sessions, in which the students will learn about HIV/AIDS, self confidence, good communication, and gender equity. We're going to sing and play games as well. Plus they will all receive school supplies upon completion. We are one week in and will have another session this next Wednesday. So far I think they are enjoying it!

And of course, as you can see from the pictures, below I am staying busy cooking and gardening. Be sure to check out all the pics! I'm sorry I can't write more...Publisher is calling! Until the next time, take care. Miss and love!

More Cooking...

I'm still experimenting...Here's the latest creations!

Chocolate fudge for our friend Winah's 2nd birthday!

Spaghetti with garlic bread and homemade ricotta cheese.

A closeup of my cheese...yep, that's right...HOMEMADE!

Blueberry muffins! Thanks Aunt MC for the dried blueberries ;-)

Girls Garden

Nathan has started a girls garden to help girls raise money for their school fees. They are planting cabbage, onions, tomatoes, and hot peppers. Here are a few pics of the work in progress...

All the girls by the well!

Nathan watering my cabbage - yep, I have a small section in the garden.

Nathan helping his friend Jermaine put up posts around the garden.

Home Garden

As I have mentioned in other posts, Nathan and I now have an "urban" garden outside our house. Here is Nathan...

Along with our planted tomatoes, radishes, and moringa trees!

Puppies!

Our next door neighbor's dog, J'adore, had four puppies two months ago. They recently came over for a bath and a bowl of milk ;-)

Expat

Become an Expat
By Bob Shacochis

Adapted for my blog ;-)
-------------------------------------------------------

When are you going to get out of school?

And I don't mean finish the degree, get a job, a life. I mean turn
your life upside down, expose it, raw, to the muddle. "Put out," as
the New Testament (Luke 5:4) would have it, "into deep water." A
headline in the New York Times on gardening delivers the same marching
orders: IF A PLANT'S ROOTS ARE TOO TIGHT, REPOT. Go amongst strangers
in strange lands. Learn to say clearly in an unpronounceable
language, "Please, I very much need a toilet. A doctor. Change for a
500,000 note. I very much need a friend."

If you want to know a man, the proverb goes, travel with him. If you
want to know yourself, travel alone. If you want to know your own
home, your own country, go make a home in another country (not Canada,
England, or most of Western Europe). Stop at a crossroads where the
light is surreal, nothing is familiar, the air smells like a nameless
spice, and the vibes are just plain alien, and stay long enough to
truly be there. Become an expat, a victim of self-inflicted exile for
a year or two.

Sink into an otherness that reflects a reverse image of yourself,
wherein lies your identity or lack of one. Teach English in Japan,
aquaculture in the South Pacific, accounting in Brazil. Join the
Peace Corps, work in the oil fields of Saudi Arabia, set up a fishing
camp on the beach of Uruguay, become a foreign correspondent, study
architecture in Istanbul.

And here's the point: Amid the fun, the risk, the discomfort, the
seduction in a fog of miscommunication, the servants and thieves, the
food, the disease, your new friends and enemies, the grand dance
between romance and disillusionment, you'll find out a few things you
thought you knew but didn't.

You'll learn to engage the world, not fear it, or at least not to be
paralyzed by your fear of it. You'll find out to your surprise, how
American you are – 100 percent, and you can never be anything but –
and that is worth knowing. You'll discover that going native is
self-deluding, a type of perversion. Whatever gender or race you are,
you'll find out how much you are eternally hated and conditionally
loved and thoroughly envied, based on the evidence of your passport.

You'll find out what you need to know to be an honest citizen of your
own country, patriotic or not, partisan or nonpartisan, active or
passive. And you'll understand in your survivor's heart that it's
best not to worry too much about making the world better. Worry about
not making it worse.