A Unique Experience

Trying to find buoy moorings

Living and working in a developing country is such a unique experience and Jamaica is no exception. After two years working in places like Iraq and South Sudan, I felt especially prepared for the Peace Corps experience. Now that I have been at my site for 2 ½ months, I would say my previous experience made me more resilient, but I am still challenged in myriad ways and still have much to learn.

One of the downsides to this uniqueness is over the last ten weeks I have spent more time sitting in front of a fan and sipping ice-water than ever before; the month of July brought heat indices in the upper 90s almost every day. The mosquitos are relentless inside and outside of our cabin. Fortunately, my body has gotten accustomed to the bites enough that they only itch for an hour or so. Most recently, we have also been challenged by seeing a mystery illness kill six puppies in our yard while not having the access or ability to pay for professional veterinary care. We are also continuing to try and catch on to the local Patwa language and the strong Westmoreland accent it is spoken in. All things considered, we are not suffering from drought, the mosquitoes are malaria-free, we eat three square meals a day, and Jamaica is not in conflict, so we are better off than a couple billion people on the planet.

Boiling some sorrel jam with the organic farmers

The focus of the last ten weeks has been to learn about the people in my community and those in my organization. There are definitely differences between levels of education, affluence, motivation, personality among the folks in our part of Westmoreland. While learning about the people, I have also been paying attention to the assets available, the geography, and legal framework that affect farmers. Focusing on these things first helps me to understand the best role for me to play going forward. Rather than making the people and conditions fit into a project, I have the freedom to make a project fit the environment; this is the beauty of the liberty Peace Corps affords to a budding agricultural development professional.

Over the last month I have been working with the farmers to prepare for the Denbigh Agricultural Show. This is a national event that showcases the industry in grand scale. I’m looking forward to being there all three days. The only point of reference I have is the Farm Science Review back in my home state of Ohio, so this should be a fun adventure. Especially so with the event taking place during the Olympic track events and the 50^th anniversary of Jamaica’s independence. I will probably have to devote an entire blog post to this event later.

One of the turtles

Last month, a Community Development Committee (CDC) was revitalized for our area. The organization used to exist under a different name, but has not been functioning well over the last few years. I am working with the chairman of the CDC and plan to facilitate some Participatory Learning and Action activities with locals and hope that will be effective at energizing the group towards grassroots ownership of development activities. There are definitely wealthy influencers in Jamaica that would like to mold our community to their business interests rather than the people’s interests. This should be an nteresting challenge to overcome.

Some other interesting happenings are that Linnae and I accompanied a local turtle watch program to check on a nest that was due to hatch. When we got to the site, there were only two little turtles and several broken eggs. We aren’t sure what happened, but it seems to be a combination of eggs hatching at different times, some eggs spoiling in the heat, and just bad timing. Regardless, we got a kick out of watching this one make its way to the sea. If it is a female and very lucky, she may be back to the same beach in 30 years to lay a nest of her own.

Linnae and I at the chicken coop

Our common fowl flock is growing. I might be the only one around that throws feed out for chickens in the morning, so we are having some migrate into the yard. This is good news. I understand the flock started with three birds, so we will benefit from the genetic diversity. We are also taking matters into our own hands with the baby chicks. The dogs and mongooses are pretty effective predators.

Sorry I’ve been blogless for nearly a month. I will try to do better.