HOME & all the responsibilities that come with it

11/17/10

Now its for real. Now I am officially a Peace Corps Volunteer. Now all the legitimate challenges of living in a third world country are about to be thrust upon me. Now I am away from the comfort of my fellow volunteers and trainers. Now I’ve been taught all that I need to know about teaching in Chuuk. Now I am done with language training. Now I am finally with my permanent host family. Now I am finally on my permanent island in my permanent village. Now I am finally at my new home for the next two years.

I am on the island of Fefan, in the Chuuk Lagoon, in the Federated States of Micronesia. My village is called UFO. So yes, I will be away in a UFO for the next two years…. I hope they don’t have any probes over here. UFO actually stands for the name of three villages that make up a larger community. I live in the village of Ununo, with Fongen and Onongooch down the road a little ways. I believe that the village has about 500 people in it, but the exact numbers are hard to come by. Most of the community is related in some way, and they all consider themselves one big family.

As you arrive in Ununo, you will pull your small motorboat to the side of a crumbling concrete dock that juts out into the blue waters of the lagoon. The boat is then tied to a tree and you turn around to see your majestic view of the beautiful paradise before your eyes. You can see half a dozen small islands scattered throughout the lagoon and the main island of Weno is easily visible several miles to the north. The view is facing westward and is ideal for watching sunsets drop below the horizon as they are silhouetted by the myriad of tiny islands. Unfortunately there is only a little bit of sand along the shore, but swimming is ideal off the edge of the dock. To reach my house you walk away from the shore on a dirty, grassy, coral road about ten feet wide. The road is lined with giant palm trees that bend inward to form a tunnel of tropical leaves towering overhead. My home is only about a 5-minute walk up this beautiful pathway through the cathedral of palm leaves.

My house is one of the nicest places that I have been inside during my time in Mirconesia. It is recently renovated and complete with tiled floors and curtains on the windows. Its pretty much a mansion by Chuukese standards. The property is elevated off the road by 10 feet of stacked boulders and is built into the hillside. The house has an indoor kitchen with a sink that has running water. We have cupboards and shelves lining the walls of the kitchen. It even has an indoor bathroom and shower! But don’t get too excited. The shower just means there is a trickling faucet and a bucket on the ground. The indoor toilet doesn’t have running water and is flushed by pouring a bucket of water into the bowl. This may seem ghetto by American standards, but it is plush and luxurious for Micronesia. It is far nicer than the living conditions I prepared myself to encounter. We also have a generator that powers a few light bulbs most nights and can play the portable DVD player that they have. My bedroom here is actually bigger than in America and has ample shelf space. It has plenty of natural light and is well protected with mosquito screens on every opening. They even gave me a table and stool. I am ridiculously lucky to be in such a nice place. It is far better than either of my two training sites and is comparable to a slightly shabby American house.

My host family is also great. My father’s name is Benisio Joseph and he works as a specialist for the Department of Education. My mother, sister and brother are all teachers at my school! I also live with 5 or sometimes 7 kids that range between the ages of 2-11 along with my sisters husband. I am excited to have a bunch of little kids to play with, but I hope they aren’t too overwhelming like with my family in Pohnpei. My grandmother and a few of the kids stay at our house sometimes or sleep at the other house farther up on the property. It is regular for a few other teenage kids to be hanging around our house and often sleep here at night. People are constantly coming in and out of the house to drink coffee or eat food. As I mentioned many times before, everyone here is family. Even if you aren’t officially family, you are still family. Everything is shared. Extra food is always made for meals, because undoubtedly others will come wandering through and be invited to eat. Care of the kids is shared by everyone and the chores are completed by whoever is around. Nobody is a freeloader. Everybody chips in and everything gets done.

The only unfortunate part of my situation is that my host father is going to Hawaii for the next month or two to have heart surgery. I don’t know the exact details of his health and hope that he will be ok. He is a highly respected member of the community and speaks perfect English, so I was looking forward to having him help me learn Chuukese and integrate with the locals. However, I will instead have to assume “man of the house” responsibilities and adjust rather quickly.

Another circumstance that will acquire me to expedite my adjustment period is the onset of a secondary project. A volunteer named Ben has been in my village for the last two years and is about to leave. He has been an amazing help in assisting me with the language and integrating into the community. He has guided me through everything I need to know and has made my transition much smoother. However, there is one problem. He has been working on constructing a large water tank system to help with the availability of running water in the village. This is a large-scale project that will cost at least $10,000 and require months of labor. Unfortunately, it is being built on Micronesian time. Which means that it is behind schedule. Actually, construction hasn’t started yet. The supplies haven’t even been bought yet. And Ben leaves the first week of December. So basically I will have to undertake this project. He has done the planning and fundraising, but now I will have to oversee the construction and make sure that everything goes smoothly over the next few months. Peace Corps strongly recommends that we don’t even think about doing a secondary project until we have been at our sites for at least six months. We are supposed to learn the language and be a legitimate member of the society before we even consider trying to handle the huge responsibilities of doing a secondary project. However, I don’t get this luxury of an adjustment period. I am doing it now. I am a little bit nervous about taking this project over and seeing its completion, but I really have no choice. I gotta step up and handle bizniz.