As you might have noticed in most of my previous posts I'm usually complaining. I'm apologizing for that right now. Part of the reason is because it's a good way to get out frustrations, and part of it is, well, because some of it really blew ass. It is safe to say that I would rather shove rusty nails in my eyes than go through training again. That's how fun it was. This is not to discourage people that want to the join the Peace Corps though. In fact, if your looking for a challenge than this is it. Also, training wasn't hard or tiresome for everyone, its just that I have this thing with learning things that have no relevance to my current or future life. I don't like to learn them. Training taught me a lot of things such as patience, understanding, what government agencies we can work with, how to sweet talk a secretary, and most importantly the rules and regulations of Peace Corps. What it didn't teach me was anything about business except for the BOCA which is detailed analysis tool for a business and of which I will be doing tomorrow. To be fare, training was not only painful for me and quite a few others, but being in my site was rough for the first couple months. Looking back at it now, I was pretty sure I was going to die of dysentery while throwing up the boiled turtle I had for dinner. No wonder I barely eat meat now. The point of all this is that it gets better. Even for a pessimist like me.
I can't tell you when or how, but one day you wake up and you think “this is why I joined the Peace Corps and I'm glad to be here”. You also might wake up and think “I wonder if I collect every tropical disease the Peace Corps will give me an award”. It just happens like that. The language starts clicking, kids hanging all over you all the time doesn't bother you as much and in some cases is even nice, you start thinking about how the US is the shitty messed up country and not the one your in because nine times out of ten the country your in is shitty because of something the US did, and just like that the sun comes out to say hi.
And so the inevitable has happened to a pessimist like me. I start thinking about why this place is better than others. One big one, taking care of thy neighbor. I'm not sure why I made that biblical but it just sounded right. A common theme in the US is to let your parent or grandparent die somewhere out of site so you don't have to take care of them. Out of site, out of mind. Luckily, in my family we have had enough of us to care for our dying elders, but the recent boom in convalescent hospitals shows this is not the norm. Here, when someone is dying. The entire community takes turns caring for them. The old man, the one I hauled out of my site in a hammock to the hospital, needs help. He needs to be watched at all times. That includes the night. So the community has gotten together and started taking turns sleeping next to him. Kids, teenagers, adults. Everyone comes and helps out. Its amazing.
I've moved into my house now and will be putting up a video later of it. About two days ago this is what I woke up to. One neighbor was starting to fix my water system that I had mentioned I wanted to do one day, one neighbor came to give me bananas, one neighbor came to give me buchu (baby bananas), and the other neighbor came and started cleaning my yard. I was blown away. I tried to return the favor later that day by making a bunch of crema (cream of wheat) for the neighbors kid. This worked pretty good until one of them came over and handed me a bowl of soup their mother had made for me. I've had people in the community come and take my dirty clothes from to wash, I've had people come and help me build or dig when I needed it, and when my hammock broke and I fell from 4 feet straight on my ass, guess who came to make sure I was OK. Everyone. They didn't even laugh at me. I've even had ten year old kids come over and ask if they could take my trash out and sweep my floor. I thought for sure they were looking for something in return. Nope. And get this, the person that took my clothes to the river not only found the key to my house in one of my pockets, but 50 cents in change. She handed to me while she showed me where my clothes were hanging to dry.
The point is that poor people usually have low education and this is no exception, but education can't teach you how to look after your fellow humans. You just go and tell someone to be nice. Education could help with them treating animals better and it probably could help them save money by learning more natural organic techniques for household cleaning and cooking, but they lack in those departments, they generously have in the care-for-your-neighbor department. We could learn a thing or two.
So I guess the point is that if you are thinking of becoming a Peace Corps volunteer just expect for the first couple months to suck. After that, you are going to learn and do things you never imagined and will start realizing the good in the bad and the bad in the good in the people around you.
Chiro Mutari....
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