Sunday, March 6, 2011

This Last Month. and 50 yrs of PC

March 1, 2011 marked the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps. Since I am a volunteer, I feel compelled to express my gratitude towards President Kennedy for giving us this ‘experience of a life time’ . . . and of course to persuade more volunteers for the next 50 years . . . along with the rest of my usual blogging J.
 Neither Michael nor I grew up with the desire to join; in fact, it wasn’t until mid-college that we gave it any thought at all. I believe I can accredit the curriculum we have taken, and the professors who taught us, for pushing us to question our world and for opening our eyes to people that live outside the American boundaries. With this shift of thought, I cannot imagine sitting anywhere else right now other than Kibaya, TZ and I am thankful for the Peace Corps for putting me here.
Michael and I have now been teaching for over a month and a half. We are finally getting to know our students individually which makes teaching much more intimate and meaningful. We gave our students their first exams last week to see how much of our teaching they are able to understand (since it is in a whole different language). The majority of their scores were good, even though they all thought they would do horrible. When I gave the tests back to my freshmen they were so happy they asked for another one. Tomorrow morning I am gong to attempt to take my juniors into the laboratory and have them do an acid/base experiment. I believe it will be their first time working with chemicals, so we will see how it turns out. One of our frustrations is the high proportion of teachers meeting that just happens to interrupt classes. . It is mandatory for us to attend, so our syllabus falls behind and the students just sit in their classrooms. We are trying to develop some ways to push the meetings after class time.
The other day Michael interrupted our conversation because there was a little chameleon walking on my head. We wanted to keep it but our dogs will just have it for lunch.
We have a really close teacher friend, Samson, who came over this morning for our homemade banana and mango pancakes. It was very interesting explaining to him the concept of credit cards (they do not exist here) and how the majority of Americans are in credit debt. He was quite confused as to why people spend money they do not have in the first place, only to pay more for it in the long run. . We explained that it confuses us too but that, in America, the material objects you possess have more of an impact on your friends and neighbors than the red numbers in your bank account that you can keep hidden. It is so interesting how the idea of a credit card seems so normal to our culture, and yet strange and as Samson put it ‘stupid’ to other cultures. He also couldn’t believe how much we are charged for college tuition after we told him our college debt. . and that our university was not even an expensive private one. Our conversation led into African politics which was super fascinating. I think it is these cross-cultural exchanges that are rewarding.
In only two weeks we are leaving to meet up with our training class that we haven’t seen in a few months for more training, and then we are going to home with our good friend Doug to the island of Pemba for a week. Speaking of Doug, we sold our goat the other day.
 I will end with a shortened excerpt from Pres. Kennedy the day he signed the PC into action:


“The initial reactions to the Peace Corps proposal are convincing proof that we have, in this country, an immense reservoir of such men and women—anxious to sacrifice their energies and time and toil to the cause of world peace and human progress.

“We will only send abroad Americans who are wanted by the host country—who have a real job to do—and who are qualified to do that job. Programs will be developed with care, and after full negotiation, in order to make sure that the Peace Corps is wanted and will contribute to the welfare of other people. Our Peace Corps is not designed as an instrument of diplomacy or propaganda or ideological conflict. It is designed to permit our people to exercise more fully their responsibilities in the great common cause of world development.

“Life in the Peace Corps will not be easy. There will be no salary and allowances will be at a level sufficient only to maintain health and meet basic needs. Men and women will be expected to work and live alongside the nationals of the country in which they are stationed—doing the same work, eating the same food, talking the same language.

“But if the life will not be easy, it will be rich and satisfying. For every young American who participates in the Peace Corps—who works in a foreign land—will know that he or she is sharing in the great common task of bringing to man that decent way of life which is the foundation of freedom and a condition of peace.”

I apologize if this post is very sporadic. I miss you and love you all,

Melinda

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