Thursday, September 13, 2012
I'M ALIVE!
I feel as though it's been a while! I am finally at my permanent site and getting to know the place where I will spend the next two years of my life. Everything happened so quickly so I will attempt to replay my life of the last two weeks.
About 14 days ago I moved back to Takeo Town for the swearing-in ceremony that made me an official Peace Corps Volunteer (before then I was officially a Peace Corps Trainee). I received my site placement - more on that in the next paragraph - and then traveled up to Phnom Penh for one last night of celebration before leaving my fellow K6s and traveling to permanent site.
Ah the blessed day when I finally got word of where I am going to be. It was much anticipated and we had a little party for it with lots of clapping and yelling. My site is in the province of Kampong Som in southwest Cambodia. I live in a very small village outside of the provincial town - so small that as I keep telling K6, I have yet to find English, internet, or Buddha. I say this because I haven't met anyone who speaks English yet beyond a few simple words, there is no internet in my village, and it is largely Muslim unlike most of Cambodia. I am able to post this because I've made a trip into my provincial town in order to run some errands and meet other PCVs in my province.
My first day at site, after meeting my family, I fell asleep. Because what does someone who has just moved to the middle of nowhere Cambodia with a family she doesn't know or easily communicate with do? I couldn't tell you, I missed it because I was sleeping.
I did go to work the next day though. Lucky for me I live super close to the health center where I will be working and my health center director must have been expecting me. He took me into the provincial town to meet others in the health department and helped me purchase a fan (thank goodness) which my host mother asked him to do for me. The upside of Cambodian markets is that you pay for everything in cash and everything is cheap relative to the US...the downside of Cambodian markets is that you get what you pay for. Remember how I keep saying that Cambodia is sick hot? A working fan would have been worth the trip. I discovered soon after plugging in my fan that it did not work and another trip to the provincial town was in order. What I am wondering now is how many fans I have to go through until I get one that gives me some air flow. Ah Cambodian heat, what a cruel teacher you are.
I'm still learning Khmer and doing my best, though I find that when I try to speak it generally leads to a lot of laughter and even more confusion, if that's possible. On Wednesday, my Health Center Director told me to come back to the center at 4pm, for what I thought would be a village visit...I ended up at a wedding...or a funeral (more on that later), I'm still not sure which one it was. All I can do is laugh and try to keep learning.
Sometimes I revel in the simplicity of life here, other times I ache for home - not for creature comforts so much as the luxury of little things like having my parents near. Even in the middle of nowhere I have no doubt that my mother could procure a working fan better than I. While I can play soccer with my boan brohs here, I find myself hit in the most random of moments with flashes of daydreams of having a beer with my brother or wandering Chicago with my sister. How much life was more complex in the States and yet how much easier, when friends and family are but a text away, a few hours drive at the most.
I go days without hearing English besides the words I speak to myself. I could go weeks if I stayed in my village, but necessity and the need to keep my sanity will drive me to my provincial town I think. It's been about 2 months and already I can feel my English waning as Khmer takes over my brain. Not only that but Arabic is prevalent in my town and as soon as I get a hold on this national language I think I will attempt a little basic Arabic so that I can at the very least communicate a hello and goodbye. So many languages rolling around my head is completely exhausting! Do you have any idea how much glucose the brain uses up when learning a new language?! Mine may be slightly overdrawn, but I haven't talked to anyone in English in a while (well, a week or so...but it seems like an hour and forever at the same time) and so the best I can do is guess. I blank on English words, destroy my long-learned grammar, and replace English words with Khmer words without noticing until it's too late. Whenever I realize this, I fear that this expensive brain I have sitting on my neck is turning to mush.
The biggest difference between my American life and my Cambodian life is the movement. Both cultures keep on keeping on, but while American life moves at more of a jackrabbit pace, Cambodian life moves akin to that of the tortoise. Regardless, it has moved long before I arrived and will continue moving long after I leave. I only hope to build a person or two while I'm here and have faith that they will keep building people..and in good health!
I hope you can forgive me my lost English
xo-Amanda
Monday, September 3, 2012
The Naked Chickens
It's high time you meet some of my fellow K6ers...and maybe for me to explain a little how the Peace Corps tree works. Welcome to the Naked Chickens!
Peace Corps was founded in 1961 under President Kennedy who, the way we heard it anyway, basically asked some students at Michigan if they would go abroad to assist developing nations if he started the program. Enthusiastic about the idea, the students responded with a resounding "Let's do it" and Kennedy was elected the November after - probably not as a direct result of this little pep rally...but still. Peace Corps was established the following January and less than two months later, in March of 1961, the first Peace Corps Volunteers were headed to either Colombia or Ghana (there's dispute among the programs about which was first...Peace Corps drama)
An apolitical government agency (sounds oxymoronish, I know), the way Peace Corps works is by being invited by a specific developing nation for a specific reason. For example, the Ministry of Education in Cambodia asked Peace Corps for English teachers back in the early 90s. Peace Corps promptly sent over a team to assess the safety situation and found that it was not safe enough for Volunteers to work, nevertheless they signed a contract promising help when it was able to be done. They kept sending teams to find out when and if Volunteers could make it here safely, and in 2005 the first English Teacher and Teacher Training group arrived in Phnom Penh, bright eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to take on the Cambodian wilderness. That group is known as Kampuchea 1, or K1. Side note: "Kampuchea" is what Cambodians or the Khmer call, "Cambodia". It's their name for their country. As you can probably guess, K2 is the group of ETTTs that arrived a year later, and on and on. After the success of the ETTTs, the Ministry of Health had some sort of conversation with the Ministry of Education in Cambodia, and asked Peace Corps for some Community Health Education Volunteers (CHE). Hence, beginning with K4, CHE volunteers began to arrive in Phnom Penh and go through the training that I am going through now before swearing-in for 2 years of glorious heat and rice (not necessarily in the same situation). Like I said, my group is K6 and thus I am in the third group of CHE volunteers in the country. This means that my program is still very new. I expect more education will be learned at site among my community rather than in training but at least I will have some basic knowledge.
When we head to our permanent sites at the end of this week, we will be assigned to a community (referred to as "our site") and a health center where the work will start. CHEs focus mainly on five topics to cover in our two years regarding community education. Those topics include nutrition, maternal and infant health, sexual reproductive health, non-communicable diseases, and pre-natal care. Once I get to my site I will be able to assess both what the community wants (in terms of healthcare education) and what the community needs. Hopefully I will be able to assess correctly and begin projects that will benefit the community. The overall goal is education and sustainable education at that. My site will be my Khmer home for the next two years! No worries though Mom, you and I both know that home is where the heart is and mine is forever in the Midwest...and New Orleans...and Denver...
Here in training, we (the CHEs in Tramkak) are divided into language groups whom we have language with for 4 hours every day except for Sundays. Then we all come together for technical training. My group, beginning on the first day, was dubbed "The Naked Chickens" - by yours truly, naturally. The name came to us because the first chickens we saw running around Cambodia were naked. A lot of chickens have no feathers...because they're about to be eaten. Nevertheless, the name has stuck and we take pride in identifying ourselves as such - we even have a battle cry! And there's talk of a handshake or even T-shirts. Speculation...maybe, but one can always hope. A photo of my wonderful language mates is posted below. Are we not the most beautiful, intelligent-looking Peace Corps trainees or what?! (don't answer that...because I already know that your answer is a resounding "ABSOLUTELY!" and our ego can only go so big.) This photo was taken during a visit to a "Gru-Khmer", a traditional Khmer healer. From left to right: Tysor, Sally, Savin (our teacher-incredible man), JD, Neal, me, and Rich.
Wednesday is my last night with my training host family and I heard a rumor from Lena that we're having bananas and maybe beef with our rice! - Just kidding, my family is pretty well educated and my diet, though rice is the staple now, includes lots of Khmer veggies and lean meat.
Postscript: I'd like to say THANK YOU!!!! to everyone back home for all of the love and support before I left and continued love since I left. To my family and friends, if I haven't responded to you yet, know that your emails, Facebook posts, messages, tweets, texts, and mail are so incredibly appreciated and you have no idea how much they mean to me. Especially in this transition period where I am still trying to move into this country, your messages can really turn my day around. Thank you thank you thank you. If you ever find yourself across the earth and in need of communication, be sure that I will be returning the favor :).
Lots of love from Cambodia
xo-Amanda
Peace Corps was founded in 1961 under President Kennedy who, the way we heard it anyway, basically asked some students at Michigan if they would go abroad to assist developing nations if he started the program. Enthusiastic about the idea, the students responded with a resounding "Let's do it" and Kennedy was elected the November after - probably not as a direct result of this little pep rally...but still. Peace Corps was established the following January and less than two months later, in March of 1961, the first Peace Corps Volunteers were headed to either Colombia or Ghana (there's dispute among the programs about which was first...Peace Corps drama)
An apolitical government agency (sounds oxymoronish, I know), the way Peace Corps works is by being invited by a specific developing nation for a specific reason. For example, the Ministry of Education in Cambodia asked Peace Corps for English teachers back in the early 90s. Peace Corps promptly sent over a team to assess the safety situation and found that it was not safe enough for Volunteers to work, nevertheless they signed a contract promising help when it was able to be done. They kept sending teams to find out when and if Volunteers could make it here safely, and in 2005 the first English Teacher and Teacher Training group arrived in Phnom Penh, bright eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to take on the Cambodian wilderness. That group is known as Kampuchea 1, or K1. Side note: "Kampuchea" is what Cambodians or the Khmer call, "Cambodia". It's their name for their country. As you can probably guess, K2 is the group of ETTTs that arrived a year later, and on and on. After the success of the ETTTs, the Ministry of Health had some sort of conversation with the Ministry of Education in Cambodia, and asked Peace Corps for some Community Health Education Volunteers (CHE). Hence, beginning with K4, CHE volunteers began to arrive in Phnom Penh and go through the training that I am going through now before swearing-in for 2 years of glorious heat and rice (not necessarily in the same situation). Like I said, my group is K6 and thus I am in the third group of CHE volunteers in the country. This means that my program is still very new. I expect more education will be learned at site among my community rather than in training but at least I will have some basic knowledge.
When we head to our permanent sites at the end of this week, we will be assigned to a community (referred to as "our site") and a health center where the work will start. CHEs focus mainly on five topics to cover in our two years regarding community education. Those topics include nutrition, maternal and infant health, sexual reproductive health, non-communicable diseases, and pre-natal care. Once I get to my site I will be able to assess both what the community wants (in terms of healthcare education) and what the community needs. Hopefully I will be able to assess correctly and begin projects that will benefit the community. The overall goal is education and sustainable education at that. My site will be my Khmer home for the next two years! No worries though Mom, you and I both know that home is where the heart is and mine is forever in the Midwest...and New Orleans...and Denver...
Here in training, we (the CHEs in Tramkak) are divided into language groups whom we have language with for 4 hours every day except for Sundays. Then we all come together for technical training. My group, beginning on the first day, was dubbed "The Naked Chickens" - by yours truly, naturally. The name came to us because the first chickens we saw running around Cambodia were naked. A lot of chickens have no feathers...because they're about to be eaten. Nevertheless, the name has stuck and we take pride in identifying ourselves as such - we even have a battle cry! And there's talk of a handshake or even T-shirts. Speculation...maybe, but one can always hope. A photo of my wonderful language mates is posted below. Are we not the most beautiful, intelligent-looking Peace Corps trainees or what?! (don't answer that...because I already know that your answer is a resounding "ABSOLUTELY!" and our ego can only go so big.) This photo was taken during a visit to a "Gru-Khmer", a traditional Khmer healer. From left to right: Tysor, Sally, Savin (our teacher-incredible man), JD, Neal, me, and Rich.
Wednesday is my last night with my training host family and I heard a rumor from Lena that we're having bananas and maybe beef with our rice! - Just kidding, my family is pretty well educated and my diet, though rice is the staple now, includes lots of Khmer veggies and lean meat.
Postscript: I'd like to say THANK YOU!!!! to everyone back home for all of the love and support before I left and continued love since I left. To my family and friends, if I haven't responded to you yet, know that your emails, Facebook posts, messages, tweets, texts, and mail are so incredibly appreciated and you have no idea how much they mean to me. Especially in this transition period where I am still trying to move into this country, your messages can really turn my day around. Thank you thank you thank you. If you ever find yourself across the earth and in need of communication, be sure that I will be returning the favor :).
Lots of love from Cambodia
xo-Amanda
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