Category: * Peace Corps

* Jedd Thoughts, * Michelle Thoughts, * Peace Corps

Summer Youth Camp

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Scroll over or click on a picture to see the caption:

Team builder activity
Grassroots soccer HIV awareness activities
Game about avoiding risks of HIV
HIV trivia teams choose an answer
Answering an HIV trivia question: fact or nonsense
Source staff teaches computer class
Dance lessons

One of the first things Jedd participated in as a Peace Corps Volunteer was a summer kids camp at the brand new community center put together by a group of sweet, hard-working, elderly Jamaican ladies. With that under his belt, he crafted a new summer camp especially for teens, combining inspirational videos, computer and dance lessons, life skills activities, and motivational speakers. A year later, he has coordinated the “second annual” of both camps while training a core group of young leaders who can hopefully carry on the tradition.

For the teen camp happening this week, we were lucky to recruit the help of a Response Volunteer named Doug. Response Volunteers have already served their 27-month term with Peace Corps and then choose to apply for a Response position, which is usually in a new country and usually for a shorter time commitment. Doug’s assignment in Jamaica is with a local football (soccer) club. At camp, he is doing HIV/AIDS education sessions using a program designed by Grassroots Soccer which uses interactive, soccer-related activities to break down myths and teach healthy life practices. While AIDS is not the epidemic here that you will find in places like South Africa, Peace Corps is making an effort for prevention before it’s too late.

* Jedd Thoughts, * Peace Corps

Sustainable Community Development

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One of our community volunteers assists a youth during our 1st summer camp

As Michelle and I look toward the next year (our last year) as Peace Corps volunteers, we can’t help but wonder: what should we be doing? In some ways, two years is a long time and in other ways, very short- especially when you consider trying to create a sustainable community development project. What do I mean? Michelle and I ask each other the following question:

“Will what we create here and now be something that can be sustained once we leave?”

We ask this question for a couple of reasons:

1. Isn’t this what Peace Corps is all about?
Sometimes we as PC volunteers can get caught up in all the focus on creation of projects and the “doing” aspect of our job. No hard feelings or misunderstanding between me and Continue reading “Sustainable Community Development” →

* Michelle Thoughts, * Peace Corps, Videos

Video: A Volunteer’s Thoughts

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One of the rewards of being a Peace Corps Volunteer is getting to meet amazing people who serve alongside you and making new friends who live all over the U.S. This video is an interview with a very special woman. Although we weren’t in the same training group, we were lucky enough that our terms of service on island overlapped more than a year, giving us the opportunity to share some time together here and there. In the video, she shares some of her funny stories and serious reflections from living two years in Jamaica. I think you’ll enjoy it!

If you want to see more, this is a link to the extended, “uncensored” interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed7fA20blcA

-M

* Michelle Thoughts, * Peace Corps

Mid-Service Reflections

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As we took part in our Mid-Service Conference a little more than a week ago, we had the opportunity to reflect on why we’re here and how we can make the best out of our remaining time (about 10 to 11 months). We were given the Aspiration Statements we had completed way back in 2011, before we had arrived in Jamaica. These were letters written to introduce ourselves to PC Jamaica staff. Below is an excerpt of my statement. Reading back over it has been a good reminder, and I’m also happy to say that I wasn’t too off base.

What I didn’t consider back when I was writing my Aspiration Statement, was how living in Jamaica might affect me in negative ways. If I had to sum up the biggest challenge for second-year volunteers in Jamaica, it would be the struggle to not become jaded. I don’t know if this feeling is unique to certain countries or if it’s experienced across the board in all Peace Corps placements. Our fellow volunteer, Adri, posted a reflection on this topic that I really resonated with, so if you want to understand what I mean, I highly recommend reading her blog post: Aspiration, Pessism, Inspiration- Starting Year Two. At this point in our service, I think many of us are mourning the loss of our optimism while fighting to keep a hold of hope and the passion we brought with us to our Peace Corps service.

Self-portrait on our 5 year anniversary. Also celebrating over a year of Peace Corps service.
Self-portrait on our 5 year anniversary. Also celebrating over a year of Peace Corps service.

Aspiration Statement
From an early age, Continue reading “Mid-Service Reflections” →

* Michelle Thoughts, * Peace Corps, Videos

Jamaica Taught Us…

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Our Peace Corps Volunteer training group took advantage of our recent reunion at the Mid-Service Conference last week to compile some of our lessons learned as volunteers in Jamaica. It’s a light-hearted, humorous perspective on the many aspects of Jamaican culture we’ve encountered so far. For your entertainment:

* Michelle Thoughts, * Peace Corps, Videos

Patwa Quiz: Updated

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One of our favorite things about living in Jamaica is the Patwa (or Patois) language. To give you a sample of some of the phrases we hear on a daily basis, we enlisted the help of a coworker’s daughter. She acts out six classic examples of Patwa from the Jamaican school yard. See if you can tell what she’s saying; and if you’re so inclined, post your guesses as a Comment to this post. (Current and returned PCVs don’t count!) We’ll update this post in about a week with a translation of each phrase.

UPDATE

Below you’ll find the translation of our Patwa Quiz: first, the phrase in patwa; then the direct translation in English; and finally the actual meaning, connotation, and uses of each phrase. Continue reading “Patwa Quiz: Updated” →

* Life Updates, * Michelle Thoughts, * Peace Corps

Summer Soon Come: An Update

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The colors and textures of my classroom
The colors and textures of my classroom

The photos above come from my little room at the school where I do pull-out groups and one-on-one sessions for struggling readers. On especially chaotic days, this place becomes my haven. Can you tell what each photo is? (I’ll post the answers in the comments section of this post.)

What’s Happening
The Jamaican school year continues through the first week of July. I’m currently wrapping up my last full week of classes as we will be attended our Mid-Service Conference all next week and then graduation is the Tuesday after we get back. The Mid-Service Conference (MSC) is the second of three Peace Corps conferences, strategically placed around the one-year-of-service mark. We gather with the other volunteers from our original training group and also bring a Jamaican counterpart for the first three days. We’re both really looking forward to it. Once summer break hits, we’ll be involved in some summer camps, both at my school and at the community center where Jedd volunteers; then we’ll get to take our first, big two-week leave! This summer is going to fly by.

Progress Reports
At school, I’ve done some end-of-year testing to see how the kids have progressed. I started with grade three and was sort of underwhelmed at first. There were 13 third graders that I worked with at least 20 times in the past school year (some up to 38 times each, a combination of group and one-on-one sessions). Everyone improved in one way or another, but none of them are all the way up to their grade level yet. Two of them are close. When I got to the fourth graders, I was surprised to see that many of them had advanced by two whole grade levels. I thought about how these kids had been stuck at a kindergarten level for the past three years, many of them not knowing what sound the letters make, not recognizing the most common two-letter words. With just a little more individualized attention, they finally started to move ahead! It feels really good to see that tangible improvement. I have a feeling the effect is even more significant with my grade one and two students. Next year, I plan to narrow down my classes so I can invest more time into each student and hopefully push them even further.

-M

* Jedd Thoughts, * Michelle Thoughts, * Peace Corps, Videos

Hawaiian-style Sweet Bread Recipe

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A while back, Jedd and some other Peace Corps Volunteers on island started a collaborative cooking blog called PCJ Cookshop. There, volunteers can share their recipes for dishes that can be made with ingredients that are available and affordable to Peace Corps Jamaica’s volunteers. This past week, we worked on the creation of our first cooking video together. The link below will take you to the original post where you can access other PCJ Cookshop recipes (like Jedd’s famous “Run Down”).

http://pcjcookshop.wordpress.com/2013/06/10/hawaiian-style-sweet-bread/

* Jedd Thoughts, * Peace Corps

Success? A work in progress

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I have spent the last couple of months reflecting on my time here so far and what will come of my final year of service and all I have are questions: “What am I doing here?” “Does it matter?” “What do I have to show for the time I’ve spent?” “What should I do next?” “Have I done enough?”

These questions all lead to my ever-changing definition of success.

I see the accolades and achievements showcased by the national Peace Corps headquarters of volunteers around the world doing amazing, life changing things – literally building things, planting things, and affecting so many lives. Volunteers that are helping to Continue reading “Success? A work in progress” →

* Michelle Thoughts, * Peace Corps

Topics in PCJ #5: Transportation

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See past topics: Attrition, Culture and Effectiveness, Goals, Patriotism

jamaica busWhen I ask myself and others ‘what is the single greatest thing that would most change your life as a volunteer in Jamaica’, I usually get the same response. It’s not hot water or cable TV or high-speed internet at home (although that would make a difference too). In close second might be a laundry machine- for those who don’t have it. But more often than not, the answer is: a car.

People at home might not be aware of Continue reading “Topics in PCJ #5: Transportation” →