Into the Jungle

For the second week of training I went on a volunteer site visit to Pikin Santi (Little Sandy) to visit Matt in North East Suriname. They were actually wrong about the name, though. The village has a lot of sand that seems to get everywhere. I took a chartered van with a few other Peace Corps volunteers to Mongo, where I boarded a motorized canoe for another couple of hours or so to Matt’s site. There I encountered the reality of life in the interior. Matt lives in a house typical of many Surinamese Maroons—a wooden, rectangular structure about fifteen by twenty feet—simple but not uncomfortable. I slept in a hammock for the first time and have thus disavowed beds for the remainder of my service. Maroons greatly value cleanliness, both of oneself and of one’s house, and given the hot and very humid weather, this makes perfect sense. Sweeping the house is a daily routine and keeps out most of the critters. Bathing occurs three times a day, generally, either at the river or in a special washhouse with buckets.

The cooking arrangement surprised me. Matt does not know how to cook rice, Suriname’s staple and the most easily accessible food, so I had to cook. I’m still not quite sure how Matt has survived on granola, canned tuna, and ramen for a whole year, but he seemed to have a system. Anyway, I found directions, of all things, on the back of the packet of rice, and that seemed to help. We tried our hand at frying some vegetables, and Matt was able to help more there. The villagers, however, would not believe that Matt had actually cooked, and they insisted that I had done all the work myself.

Matt’s Peace Corps project consists of finding a solution to guarantee clean water in Pikin Santi all the time, which may be as simple as regulating the government-provided diesel, so that the generator-operated water pumps keep the storage tank full. Matt is also teaching American culture and language classes to about twenty-three children. He has encountered some challenges in trying to teach a very broad age range, but he is working through it.

At Matt’s village I compiled a list of supplies that I will need before I open my site in August. As I am the first volunteer in my village, I will need to purchase more than some of the other volunteers. The initial list is below:

Machete, broom, dust bin, boots, plastic chairs/table, lantern, locks, buckets, saw, hammer, right angle, file/waterstone, chisel, clothesline, string, electrical wiring, bulbs, nails, shove, rake, hoe, metal grate for grilling, Tupperware, two-burner gas stove, plates, cups, silverware, pots, pans, bowls, strainer, cutting board, washcloths, large spoon, soap, bleach, toilet paper, mirror, bleach, cookbook, lighter, matches, candles, padlocks, and food, including plenty of coffee.

A First Taste of South America

I arrived in Suriname very early on Saturday morning. As we walked off the plane, the heavy South American air hit us like a wave, and we could taste it. All twenty-five of us piled into a small bus for NAKS, the training site that will function as our base of operations for much of the next three months.

My fellow volunteers are both passionate and serious. The projects that we will be engaged in are practical, and the ways in which we are supposed to perform the projects are responsible and lasting. The approach to development is similar to my dad's approach to leadership, coming along side the people to function as a conduit and a catalyst for the people to fulfill their own needs. That being said, I am sure to learn a lot more about our actual effectiveness, and if I can learn something along those lines, I will consider my time useful.

We have had a lot of learing activities already. On our second day in-country, we went into the hinterland to see what the villages look like there. We swam in a river after lunch while a dog was chewing on a piranah head on the beach. That was a bit disconcerting, but we all made it back. The Ambassador to Suriname gave a presentation today and ate lunch with us. Sranan Tongo language training is going very well. In the first day we laerned greatings and simple conversation, numbers (Dutch ones too), time, locations and directions, days of the week, and started foods. We have been very busy.

We received our site assignments today. I am in one of the remotest places for volunteers in the interior. To get to my site I have to take a bus for about four hours than a canoe for about four or five more hours. There may be an airstrip built there soon, and that is actually one of my many potential projects. I will be able to communicate by SAT phone or HF radio, but I think it will only be for emergencies. Electricity will be available in the evenings if there is enough diesel for the generator. This will be a different way of life than I am used to, but I am confident that it will be good. I will be with a few other volunteers for all but the last hour or so to my site, but then, I am on my own. I will be the first volunteer in my village ever, and apparently the people are very excited about it.

Staging

The last two days have been a whirlwind of activity. I flew to Miami early on Wednesday, and within a couple hours of checking in at the hotel, I had already met most of my training class. There are twenty six of us flying to Suriname this afternoon, and even though we come from all over the States, we have many things in common. Our trainer said that we bonded surprisingly quickly (practically instantaneously).

Training took half a day on Wednesday and all day yesterday. It was very general, but I am glad that once we get to Suriname we can get started on country-specific training right away. We covered the mission and goals of the Peace Corps, which I have mentioned several times already. We also studied the Peace Corps approach to development, which focuses on providing for needs in a way that will last and working along-side the people rather than in a top-down manner. We also learned about many Peace Corps policies regarding safety, both physically and concerning reputation of the Peace Corps, the host country, and ourselves. Staging indeed was important, but it did seem long, and I am excited to actually arrive in-country.

Today we have nothing scheduled until the late morning, when we leave for the airport. We will arrive in Suriname tomorrow morning after a stop in Trinidad. When we arrive in Suriname we will be bussed from the capital to a training area where we will stay for two weeks with Peace Corps staff. The next time I write I will have left the States.

Packing

I have less than a day before my adventures begin. Tomorrow morning I will fly from Raleigh to Miami for a two-day staging event, and on Saturday around 1 AM I will be in Suriname. During staging I will meet my twenty-something fellow volunteers and receive a short orientation to the Peace Corps in general. Most of my training, however, will take place in Suriname itself as I am immersed in Surinamese culture, language training, and jungle survival (they call it “safety,” but jungle survival sounds better).

With the exception of my backpack, the Peace Corps limits me with two bags at a combined maximum of eighty pounds to last me twenty-seven months in Suriname. This is on purpose; Americans showing up with a lot of stuff may not send the right message! I have to be careful with the number of books I can take, and while I am prepared to make sacrifices, the prospect of living without Calvin and Hobbes for over two years is starting to hit home.

I took a trip to Hillsdale College last week to see many of my friends one last time before leaving the country. I was able to play Frisbee, swing dance, and tell a myriad of stories with friends, making my final visit just about perfect. Since I graduated in three years, I was able to watch all my friends that I entered college with walk across the stage to receive their diplomas. It was a little strange to sit in the audience, but at the same time it was encouraging that once again we all were starting major chapters of our lives together, though in many different places. Adding alumni, professors, and parents, I suppose that I had never before been among so many of my friends in any one place. As I was so close to leaving for Suriname, I realized that graduation would be the last I would see of my friends for at least two years. We will all be different when I get back, but the permanent things of friendship will not, and that holds good hope.