I'm a Professional Middle-man

I wrote this in village and didn't have time to spell or grammar check it...sorry in advance...

Apparently my life in Samoa is not going to slow down any time soon, not that I am complaining, but too all my devoted readers (mom) forgive me for the extended amount of time between posts. Ok so let us rewind a bit…My wonderful, crazy Godmother and her wonderful and somewhat-more sane husband came to visit me the last week of August. As always it is soooo refreshing to see familiar faces. Ricky and Diane were so gracious and def spoiled me for the entire week (oh and I loved every minute of it!). They came to see my school and watched the kids sing one day. I also took them on a tour of my island (Upolu) and the big island (Savaii) for a day. We saw fantastic beaches, blow holes, visited super-cool peace corps volunteers, and generally just had an all around good time (this is my brouchuer for people to come visit me because its just that cool here, call my secretary at “Laura’s Tours”).
After I sent them home last week, I finished up the last week of Term 2, but the fun was only just beginning…On Saturday of last weekend the girls of 77 (am referring to the 3 other girls who are the same group as me, that would be group 77, we all came together in October 2006, and while 7 boys from our group have gone home already, the girls are all still standing strong) had a little gathering. Meghan had extra vacation days so she was allowed to rent a car and the 4 of us drove/giggled around the island. We spent the night out at Lalomanu that night. It was very nice and relaxing hanging out all together…oh and kinda hilarious. I found it pretty awesome how 4 very different girls from very different backgrounds can get along so well. Yah us!
The first Monday of the break between 2nd and 3rd term was actually one of my busier days. So once upon a time I talked to the Women’s Committee in my village and they expressed interest in obtaining sewing machines in order to make clothes for their kids and possibly start a small business selling clothes and whatnot. Well, writing the grant and purchasing the sewing machines was easy, hell it was even a piece of cake getting the machines from Apia to Tafatafa, the headache we’ve been dealing with for almost a year now is getting someone to come out and teach the women proper maintenance and use of the sewing machines. After months of back and forth with various NGOs and Ministries in Apia we were finally able to convince the Ministry of Women to come out and teach a week long seminar to our women. Monday was the first day and it was amazing. The Ministry came out at 930am and stayed until 430pm. In the first day all the women (there were about 12) made a pair of shorts and a collared shirt! At the end of the day I walked around to each lady and they held up their work and told me who it was for in their family. It was so amazing looking around the room at all these women sewing clothes for their kids and husbands and knowing I had some part in that. I couldn’t really stop smiling. I left the women briefly at 2pm to walk over to the school and teach a computer class to Year 8 (even though school is on break, they still have to go because Year 8 exams are coming up in October and this is the big crunch time). All in all a very busy and satisfying day.


Rick, Crazy and I at the blowholes in Savaii

Crazy enjoying Samoa

Sally cracking us all up in th beach fales

!!!!!! I love 77 girls! !!!!

Me and the Women's committee posing with all the goods we received from a NZ grant! Yahoo sewing machines!

All the ladies sewing me new clothes..

Chickens want to sew too!!

More women sewing...you might notice the little house in the middle left with the bright tin roof...that is my house and that is the school building peeking out of the right side of the frame...nice commute eh?

Malaki helping Ella with her sewing. Does it get any cuter?

Who is sick of seeing all my computers??

Ok I realize I'm going a little overboard with all the pics of my computers, but this week I actually started teaching computer classes (yes, me, Meghan gave me a book...I know things ok!) and it was just so exciting I wanted to share this with everyone!

So when I first saw this pic after I took it I almost cried. I mean its just so cute! That is Duane who is usually a huge troublemaker. He was so excited to learn how to use the mouse that he actually sat still for 5 whole minutes. Marie is helping him.

Ella loves playing puzzle games on the new laptop.

Computers, maps, Samoan children, oh my!

Gloria and friends checking out their new computer. Yay sustainability!

Career Day

One of my many secondary projects is working with Avanoa Tutusa which is an NGO started by Peace Corps volunteers that does different projects with youth development. Every year we put on a career day for year 12 and 13 students at the National University of Samoa. We invited businesses and government agencies in Samoa to come and have a booth in order to inform the kids on different career opportunities that are available after graduation. Needless to say, a LOT of work was put into this and thankfully it was, once again, a huge success.

Our fearless Avanoa Tutusa leaders, Tim and Erin. I also like the little girl bathing in the waterfall in the background...everyone is having fun at career day!

Eric's job was to serenade us. His booth was for the music school he works for.

Students checking out a booth

My boys from the Red Cross had a great setup

Tim being interviewed for the paper

Meghan and Miss Samoa! I was so slick after this pic, the only thing I could think to say to her was "I like your sash."...God! Idiot!

Dr. Thomsen! This is the same doctor that helped Dad and I with the 2 different health clinics when Dad visited. He is pretty much the man. We asked him to give the keynote speech for career day, since, like I said, he's the man.

What does 1500 Samoan kids in a fale look like?

Our panel of speakers. That's Tim and Dr. T on the end

The students flooding into the fale for the beginning of career day

Cat-a-pil-a

So this week I taught one of my reading groups "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" which was a favorite in my extended childhood. I thought it would be fun to have them make caterpillars out of egg cartons, what a hit! Here are some cute pics I thought I would share

My classroom. I've never had the kids this quiet and this concentrated...it only took me 22 months to figure it out!

Fai Mai and Leilolo showing off their caterpillars

They were so proud of the caterpillars...I mean that is just cute!

Leilolo working

Horton hears a who

Mountains and mustaches this is a busy month!! So Condi came. Yeah…that happened. Recently my secondary projects are taking over my life. So in Peace Corps you have your primary project, for me that is basically Malaki or teaching special needs, whatever floats your politically correct boat. Since Malaki now has a hearing aide, a trained teachers aide in his classroom, and weekly classes in Apia for children with hearing disabilities I have taken the liberty of getting involved in a few secondary projects. Secondary projects can really take on any form and can be quite fun…unless you try to do too many.
The Women’s committee approached me recently (after a year and a half in the village they finally realized I am here) and asked if I would help them organize a first aide training day. Neato in a speedo, I thought. I immediately contacted the Red Cross who was more than willing to come spend a day training the men and women of our village how to do CPR and other basic first aide training. So we were all set to go the last week of July, but one must remember that nothing is that easy in Samoa. Wouldn’t you know that the wife of the President of the Mormon church in our district (and the mother of one of our teachers) happens to pass away that week and of course the funeral is scheduled the day that our first aide training would have been (hope that doesn’t make me sound too heartless). Ah, well. E le afaina (no problem) as I have found myself saying way too much recently. We re-scheduled for August 7th to start at 9am at Leapaga’s house (the house across the street from me where my counterpart Sina lives). At 9am on said day at said house I found myself sitting with 3 chiefs and 1 lady from the women’s committee. Anger doesn’t even begin to explain what I was feeling in the moment. Then to my astonishment (although I guess I really shouldn’t have been) one of the chiefs said “oh well, Lola didn’t tell us what time the program was going to start.” This was the same chief who called me at 6am that very morning to confirm that the program started at 9am, but yeah sure, I guess I could see how this was all my fault. With gritted teeth I told the one lady to start making phone calls as I took off down the road running to as many houses as I could telling people to come to the first aide training that they had insisted I organize. By 10am we had about 12 people which I felt was a pretty good turn-out considering.
The rest of the training went smoothly. Everyone seemed interested and asked questions and at the end of the day our chiefs asked the Red Cross to come back for a second training later that month. I’ll call that a success
In even more exciting news…OUR COMPUTERS ARRIVED!!! Of course getting them off the port and to my school on the opposite side of the island was about as fun as a root canal, but we did it! Everyone is very excited and we all want to thank every person that helped make this happen.
In other current developments, my counterpart, Sina, was offered a job as a teacher’s assistant at Salealua Primary school which is about 4 villages down. Ella (Malaki’s mother) found a little girl in Salealua who also has a hearing disability and Donna (who runs our little Apia program on Fridays) negotiated a job with the Ministry of Education for Sina at Salealua School. It was bittersweet moment as it is an excellent opportunity for Sina to have a job on her own at a new school, but I was sad to see her go as she was excited to help teach computers with me and she was enthusiastic about my library program and helped check-out the books to kids every day.
Career Day is next Friday, which is when we at our little NGO, Avanoa Tutusa, invite all the kids in year 12 and 13 to attend a career fair at the National University of Samoa. Last year we had over 1000 kids and 40-50 business present. This year we are inviting schools from Upolu and Savaii. It is a LOT of planning and negotiating and will be wonderful to see go off successfully.
I’m also still working with the women’s committee to organize a sewing day to help them learn how to use the sewing machines I helped them attain through a grant from New Zealand. Is there not anyone in this country who will come teach our women to sew for a day?!
So that’s that. Hope I don’t sound too whiny. I just add those bits for satirical purposes…for your enjoyment really…


Crate of computers from America!!!

I love crate!

I also love this man! This is Leapaga wth my i'e (sarong, wrap, what-have-you) on his head to keep the sun off

Leapaga and the year 8 boys unloading the crate at our school..ps the crate weighed 284 Ilbs...its true...I saw it on the box

Super Peace Corps to the rescue!

Unloading the crate

Happy teachers with computers!

Completed computer lab! Yah! I can go home now...jk

Mr. H- we did negotiate a trade, right? Computers for Samoan children?...expect this crate to arrive on your doorstep any day now

Samoans doing CPR!

What is Samoan for CPR?

Leapaga really liked his CPR doll...he is my friend...

me and condi

Condi did a fly by of samoa and she wanted to meet some classy volunteers. I had a sign under her chair that said "Happy Birthday Mama" as it was my mother's birthday, but I didn't have to stones to ask her to pose with it, plus the other volunteers kept telling me I was gonna get shot if I asked.

Me, Meg, and Dylan front and center cheesin' at madame sec. Meghan couldn't stop staring at her shoes and I couldn't stop thinking about how she needed to eat a cheeseburger....Dylan is thinking about what he is gonna do later that night..

Hearing aides, butt boils, HECKMAN!!

Phew! July is just a little silly…really. Father dearest arrived on July 2nd…his plane was an hour early (typical) making the arrival time 430am. Of course I was wide awake making coffee and crepes. Dad came to Samoa this time around with a residential friend (by that I mean he is a resident who works with Dad and is one of his “Buds”), Jayme Stokes, and his wife, Laura Carr, who is an audiologist. Dad arrived from America looking like a young Humphrey Bougaurt and we put him on the plane 6 days later looking like Keith Richards after binge-drinking for a week and climbing coconut trees, but I digress.
Shortly after arrival our band of merry pranksters headed to Apia to fuel up on coffee and Mama’s cookies. We then scooted up the hill to the National Hospital where dad gave a riveting speech on Thyroid cancer. We mingled and schmoozed with some of the Samoan Docs who said “Gee I wish I had known you were coming, we could have put some cases together for you.”* (This was extremely “funny” to Teuila, our peace corps medical officer, and I because we had just spent the last 3 months sending emails, letters, making personal visits, and calling every single doctor in the $%&*%^ hospital informing them that my father and Jayme were coming that week. All you can do is laugh and go have something to eat.)
After a little tour of the hospital, Dad did his impression of what happens when you jump out of an airplane and your parachute doesn’t open for a couple hours. Jayme, Laura, and I wandered around Apia for a bit.
The next day (Thursday, July 3rd) Dad and Jayme went up to Med Cen so Dad could give another talk and Laura and I headed to SENESE school where I take Malaki every Friday. Laura gave an information session on Cochlear Implants to the teachers at SENESE and Loto Taumafai early intervention. She then proceeded to test a number of children with varying hearing disabilities until about 5pm. Many of the kids had been tested before and had hearing aides made in Australia, so Laura was able to re-test them and then fit them with their new hearing aides and send them on their happy, noisy way. Malaki was one of them since he broke his last hearing aide a few months ago. Three cheers for collaborative leadership and all around do-gooding!
Friday, the dynamic-Americano 4-some did rounds at the National Hospital which I found super interesting (interesting is such a nerdy word). I saw my first gun shot wound and quite a few other fun things. Laura and I then headed across the street to Loto Taumafai for more hearing tests while Dad and Jayme apparently ran a marathon and did a Whipple. I think they might have been joking….
That night we went up to the condemned American embassy that we only use for special occasions such as 4th of July, which, as it just so happened, was on that day. I don’t really know how to explain 4th of July in Samoa so it is probably best for you all to just use your own imaginations…yeah….
Saturday we loaded up all the medical supplies we could stuff in a garbage bag and headed towards the Manono Warf. Stephanie (think Asian who I went to Thailand and ‘Nam with) and I have spent the last few months planning a one day free health clinic for the people in her village (pretty much the same idea as what the Hanks fam did in my village last year). Stephanie’s digs are just cool because she is the only Peace Corps Volunteer on Manono island. One can walk around Manono in about an hour and a half and doesn’t have to worry about mangy island dogs because there ain’t none and you don’t have to look both ways when you cross the “road” i.e. sand path because there ain’t no cars neither - not sure why that needed to be in Southern Virginia hick language, but apparently it did. Anywho the clinic was totally awesome. Dad, Jayme, and Dr. Thompsen from the Ministry of Health (who helped us last year) ran the main room while a group of PCV helped with the check-in area and a craft room for the kids. Laura ran more hearing tests for the kids.
Sunday and Monday we spent laying around the beaches and patting our selves on the back for being professional do-gooders.
So that is that, pics bellow, hope you enjoy
PS- Ramesh-call me

Malaki saying thanks for the portable hearing test....notice the huge one in the foreground...that is what we have in Samoa to test kids hearing...the smaller one is Laura's from America...that will hopefully be donated to Samoa
nice face Laura

This is one of Sally's kids from Fasitootai. Laura is fitting him with his first ever hearing aide!

Nice skirts! Jayme and Dad showing off their presents from Teuila at the 4th of July party

Dad and I bringing a little bit of Charlottesville to Samoa. Dad is holding Jim Heckman's auto scope that conveniently says "HECKMAN" in case we forgot. I am also wearing a shirt from "2 Sides" restaurant only the best place to get burgers and bloody marys in cville....oh and johnny is the owner

CUTE! This is Jayme taking a little boy over to Laura's "quiet" room for hearing tests at the Manono clinic

Jayme, Dr. Thompsen, and Dad working hard at the manono clinic

Dad looking for some lost change in Stephanies nephews ear lobes.

Stephanie and her nephew. Aren't they pretty?

The whole gang of PCVs at Manono plus a few happy and healthy samoan gremli-I mean children

Dad and I on the dock of Manono. That is my island, Upolu, behind us

The kids of Manono waving goodbye to our boat

the sick commander and chief of our trip. This was out at lalomanu...he was still in charge

Me holding Dr. McPukie up at lalomanu