Getting Practical

I'm like a weed-whacking Samurai

Prepping seed trays with Tom and RADA agent

Week four of our Hub-based Training has gotten downright practical and we loved it. The week started at a nearby demonstration plot managed by the Rural Agriculture Development Agency (RADA) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. RADA is essentially the agricultural extension service of Jamaica. This particular farm consists of about two acres and is used to demonstrate hillside farming techniques for more sustainable farming. First, our group helped plant some seed trays of tomato and cabbage. Afterward we cleared weeds out of about three beds and turned the soil. The last phase was measuring out the beds and planting some Scotch Bonnet pepper sprouts at the appropriate intervals, giving each plant just a sprinkle of 20-20-20. I hope one of these demonstration plots will be nearby the site Linnae and I will end up living as they can serve as a great venue for introducing technology. 

Chris teaching us to identify contours at ZionItes

On Tuesday we switched gears a bit and took a bus up to St. Ann parish to visit ZionItes organic farm. Managed by a Rastafarian Jamaican (Chris) and his American wife (Lisa), the farm sits on 15 acres of a predominantly hillside landscape. At the time we were there I would estimate about five acres to be in production. Chris taught us about the principles of organic farming, how to use an A-frame to determine contour, and how to construct a compost heap out of locally available material. Lisa is the marketing force behind the farm. She talked to us about how she has established linkages to the high-end villas, restaurant, and hotel chefs, which has allowed them to achieve pretty high rates of return. She also does her own agro-processing in terms of making bread, salad dressing, and a killer hot sauce. While we were on the farm we picked our own salad greens to eat with our lunch of soup, fresh banana bread, homemade wheat bread, and stir fried vegetables. The contrast of Chris and Lisa made them a lot of fun to learn from. Chris is a mild-mannered, barefoot farmer living in the bush with his former NYC school principal wife with noticeable remnants of Brooklyn style. Regardless, they churn out some pretty tasty produce and seem to be having fun doing it.   

Setting up the lower barrier

There are two Aggies in this photo!

Wednesday we were visited by extension agents from RADA for some hands-on training. There is a small demo plot right next to our training center. So, with machetes in hand we chopped down and chopped up bamboo, cleared most of the grass off a hillside, and put in place a solid barrier on the bottom and planted pineapple to serve as a barrier on the top of the slope. This coming week we will further develop the plot and plant some more crops. After three days of hands-on experience, I realize how convenient it is to live and farm on flat land back home. If I lived down here, I’d probably try to make it in livestock.                                                                   

Thursday we visited one of the three certified organic farms in Jamaica, which just happens to be here in Woodford. The tour was led by the woman who runs the farm as well as the lady who is president of the Jamaica Organic Agriculture Movement (JOAM). JOAM is an NGO which serves as the certifying body on the island, whereas the USDA certifies farms in the U.S. This was another worthwhile tour, but it has become apparent that there are some obstacles to adoption of organic farming in Jamaica.  Converting to organic is a knowledge intensive process that requires more literacy and numeracy than many Jamaican farmers have. It also takes three years to convert and during which yields initially decline, so farmers would need to have sizeable savings as a buffer. There is also a ceiling for demand because the country has a fairly small middle class. There are a lot of ecologically fragile areas of the island where organic is probably the only responsible farming method, it is just going to be a struggle to get it to take root (pun intended).

Hillside beds at organic farm in Woodford

Friday we stayed inside, mainly because the rain fell most of the day. In the morning some other volunteers and I gave brief lessons on skills from our background that might be useful in the Ag/Env sector. I did mine on Participatory Learning & Action (Google it) because it complements the strategies that Peace Corps recommends for working with  a community to analyze issues and act on needs. PLA is also going to be a component of my Master’s thesis. That afternoon, a group of local farmers came for an open forum on agricultural issues. They graciously fielded rapid-fire questions from us on a range of topics. I was interested to find out that marketing was chief among their concern. I guess I expected more conversation about production issues. Some of the market problems were regular gluts, low farmgate prices, and international competition. I really look forward to having similar discussions with farmers when I get to site, I just hope they will be open and motivated to work on things at a grassroots level.

Doctor Bird (male)

On Saturday, Linnae and I went to church and attended a nine-night. We arrived at the Seventh Day Adventist church at about 9:30 am. For about the first hour there was singing and bible study. This was followed by two baptisms and communion ceremonies. The SDA communion was an interesting experience as they practice the washing of feet as Jesus washed the feet of his disciples at the Lord’s Supper. The congregation was split by males and females for the humbling practice of washing one another’s feet. One definitely feels part of the community after that exercise. The remainder of communion was pretty normal and consisted of the bread and wine. At about 3:00pm the church took a recess for lunch; Linnae and I were able to come home at that point. She and I took a nap and were pretty lazy in preparation for the nine-night (wake). The nine-night is more or less an all-night party that is held about nine nights after a person dies and a day or two before the funeral. We got there at about 10:30 and left a little after 1:00, but the party was going strong.

Monday morning marks the beginning of the end of our training. We leave Woodford on Sunday for a brief stay in Kingston where we will find out the location of our service and our counterparts for the next 24 months. We will be getting down to the business of promoting improved agricultural practices and community development in no time.

Peace Corps Masters International

I’ve started to get a little more time to get back to reviewing literature. I recently finished a book on Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and am now working on a book about mixed-method research in development. My parents are soon sending my writer’s guide, statistics book, and some other texts (how’s that for a care package?). People keep asking me what my thesis is going to be focused on, but my answer remains that it really depends on my community and the work that I will be doing there. I do feel confident that it will be nested in PRA, diffusion of innovations theory, and have a mixed-method design (qualitative and quantitative). It is a good thing this will be social science research because it gives me the flexibility to design and collect data based on local conditions. It must be incredibly difficult for a natural sciences student to do PCMI.

World’s Fastest Man

Bolt on left (100m world record holder) Powell on right (2nd fastest)

As I alluded to in last week’s post, we were hoping to catch a glimpse of the world’s fastest man Saturday at the track meet. Sure enough we got to see Usain Bolt and the world’s second fastest man Asafa Powell. The track meet was held at the national stadium in Kingston under pretty wet conditions. Rain fell in the area all day and only lightened a little bit during the races. The event included teams competing at the primary, high school, college, and club level (Powell and Bolt ran in separate clubs). It was fun to watch the runners and to experience the passion Jamaicans have for their athletes. Jamaica definitely churns out world class competitors for being a relatively small island nation.

Bolt (in lead) and Powell cruise to the finish in 400m relay

Usain Bolt: World's Fastest Man

Sunday morning was time for laundry, again. Linnae and I spent almost three hours scrubbing and scrubbing. I hate to do it, but I am going to have to start wearing more things multiple times, at least until we move to our permanent site and I have time to wash several times during the week. The sun was shining and the wind was blowing in the morning so we were confident our things would dry quickly. But, as it goes in the Blue Mountains, the clouds suddenly began to roll in over the peaks behind us and by early afternoon we had to move all the clothes to a line on the upstairs porch. The rest of the day was damp and rainy. We were sweating it a little bit since we had to leave early the next morning to travel to another parish to shadow a full-blown Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV). Fortunately, enough clothes were dry in the morning and what wasn’t I quickly dried with Linnae’s hair dryer.

Monday morning we walked down the hill to the square in Woodford to start our all public transportation journey to a small community near St. Ann’s Bay in St. Ann parish. It was about 6:00 AM when we arrived at the square on foot; there were about half of our group already waiting. A few moments later one of the buses (passenger van) rolled up and we piled in. By the time the bus was done picking up passengers in Woodford, I think we hauled 18 people to north Kingston in a bus smaller than a Ford cargo van. Once we got to north Kingston (Papine to be specific), we found the large passenger bus that would take us on the next leg of the journey to southeast Kingston to a spot called the “country bus park”. Southeast Kingston is off limits to PCVs for any purposes except traveling through, but on a bright Monday morning there isn’t too much to worry about. We took the bus to the stop closest to the bus park and walked the remaining four or five blocks through the market area. At the bus park is where most of us parted ways. Each of us had to find another smallish van/bus to take us on the next leg into the countryside. Another trainee, Linnae, and I found the one for Ocho Rios (Ochi) without any trouble. The only problem is that you really never know when you will depart, because you have to wait until the van is adequately full (the more people crammed in the more the trip is worth to the driver). We sat in the van for about hour and a couple more trainees from another Peace Corps sector joined us too. Along the way we shared stories and training experiences. Once in Ochi, Linnae, the other trainee and I hailed a taxi to take us to the library in St. Ann’s Bay where we would meet our PCV for the shadowing. We linked up with her around 10:45 AM, chatted in the library, had lunch, and hailed one more taxi to go up into the countryside where she lives and works. Five vehicles and $710J ($8.20 USD) later we had made it to our destination near the island’s north coast.

Shadowing the PCV was a great experience because we got so see how she lives and interacts with folks like her host family, supervisor, project partners, and locals. Some PCVs like her need to be very self-directed and motivated. This is because some PCVs are placed with an agency or organization that can keep them very busy, whereas others are underemployed and have to take initiative to start education and/or community oriented projects on their own. Things didn’t work out at her previous site, so she had been moved to her new community three months ago. Therefore, she was still focusing mainly on integration and building relationships and trust with the people in the area. This might seem like a waste of time, but it is actually the single most effective way to ensure personal safety in Jamaica, not to mention it is necessary for identifying needs and assets for addressing issues.

On Tuesday we went with the PCVs supervisor to do a gardening lesson at a basic school (preschool) in the much more affluent Discovery Bay. The school was run by Canadian expats and may have been better equipped than the one I once attended; definitely an anomaly on the island. The kids were great though and it was really good practice for working with that age group.

Overall, we had a good time chatting and learning from the PCV we shadowed. She gave us tips for shopping, traveling, and working as a volunteer. We cooked a great meal of snapper, yam, and a curry-pumpkin rundown and ate off of plates we borrowed from the neighbor. The community is not plumbed, so we hauled jugs of collected rainwater into the house to flush the toilet. Everyone in the community collects rain and has to be conscious of how much they use to avoid running out.

Human-Knot Icebreaker

Friday we conducted our second Eco-Camp, this time at a local elementary school with sixth graders. The focus was on celebrating Earth Day and we did activities like weeding the garden, planting trees, a nature scavenger hunt, painting rocks for the garden, and more. I led one of the scavenger hunt teams, dug holes for trees and helped some students plant a Lignum Vitae tree. Linnae helped with registration, helped paint rocks, and helped out where needed. Once again, good training and experience for us before we go out and work with Jamaican youth on our own. 

Tree planting on hillside

Just two more weeks of training remain.

 Somewhere around May 7^th we will learn our site locations and Jamaican counterparts. Once that happens we will move into our new home and stay there for a few days to get to know our host-family and the organization we will be primarily working with. Then we will be back in Kingston for a little more training and the long awaited swearing in at the U.S. Embassy. After that, it’s back to our community for 24 months!

Wedding Bells and Pickney Yells

Jamaica Sunset at 3200ft 

On Monday, about nine of us Peace Corps Trainees (PCT) had the opportunity to go to a big wedding in Kingston for a couple from here in Woodford. We all agree that it was an interesting experience. The ceremony was slated to begin at noon, but the bridal party didn’t start making their way down the aisle until about 1:45; I guess that’s “island time” at play. We found that weddings are definitely an occasion for wearing gowns and big hats or fancy suits. Most of we PCTs were comparatively underdressed, including myself. The Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) ceremony had many of the same components of an American wedding with prayer, songs, praise, and exchanging of vows. However, there was one surprising and striking difference. Our experience living with a family and in a community of SDA Christians is that they are very conservative. That being said, I have never heard a marriage ceremony so full of sexual innuendo. I guess it is common practice to make light of what happens between a bride and groom on the wedding night.

At the reception, we learned that speeches are a staple of such events. There were at least eight toasts and a couple of impromptu speeches. Additionally, there were probably five or six musical performances by very talented singers; most were family/friends. Food was served buffet style and consisted of traditional Jamaican dishes. The final toast was made around 9:15, so we rode back home to Woodford after about eight and a half hours of wedding festivities. The photographer and videographer definitely earned their pay Monday and there were some tired PCTs at training Tuesday morning.

There isn’t much to highlight about training from Tuesday through Thursday other than learning more about environmental issues on the island and preparing a half-day Eco-Camp for some of the pickneys (children) of Woodford.

Linnae at the Eco-Camp Registration Table

The Eco-Camp is an activity that is part community outreach and part training for us volunteers. It was a great way to introduce us to youth focused events while building some environmental awareness. Registration opened at 8:00 AM and about 70% of the participants (5^th & 6^th graders) were there by 9:30 with the rest trickling in throughout the morning. Linnae served as the event coordinator and me as one of four House (group) Leaders. The children played games and did activities based on things like the water cycle, competition for resources, misuse of agro-chemicals, and the plant life cycle. All in all it was a lot of fun and we learned that Jamaican pickneys are not so different from American children. They love to play games and compete, form little cliques, occasionally fight, but are generally respectful of authority. We did notice that they are a likkle (little) afraid of being wrong when asked to answer a question in front of the group. Regardless, it was great experience and practice for our next Eco-Camp which we will put on for a local 4-H group next week.

Students learning about the water cycle and run-off

Later in the afternoon on Friday, Linnae and I learned that we will soon be traveling to Saint Ann parish to shadow a current Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) who has been working there for the past several months. We will be there for a couple of nights and get to see what the PCV’s day to day activities include, how he/she lives, and also how he/she works with project partners. This particular PCV works with an organization called the Jamaica Organic Agriculture Movement (JOAM), an organization that trains and certifies farmers in organic farming. I still have much to learn about both organic and tropical agriculture, so this should be a pretty rewarding experience. It will also be a test of our ability to navigate public transportation, which is prevalent and cheap here in Jamaica. Linnae and I will be traveling with another PCT, Alyssa, who just happens to be a Texas A&M graduate. Between our Aggie and Buckeye skills I think the three of us will be just fine.

Today our Green Initiative group is going down to Kingston for a little R&R. Our agenda includes getting the best ice cream in town, watching a track meet (maybe catching a glimpse of Usain Bolt), and getting some Mexican food. We figure we might as well live a little since our permanent placements will mostly be deep rural. Speaking of which, Linnae and I don’t know yet what community we will live in for the next two years. Fortunately, our Program Manager says he has known for a while where he wants to send us, so we suspect that the site will be well prepared and appropriate for our skills and interests.

Way Back in the Hills

Greetings from the cool and misty Blue Mountains. What a difference 3000 feet makes! Linnae, I, and ten other Peace Corps Trainees from the Green Initiative program arrived in this small farming community called Woodford last week. We are now in the phase of training where we focus mainly on agriculture, environment, and culture/language topics. The days are long, but the air is cool and the people are warm. I apologize in advance if this blog seems a little long, but we haven’t had any internet access and there has been a lot going on.

We are being accommodated in the home of Lloyd and “Auntie Peggy” and enjoying their company and the company of their extended family. Four of their children and at least four of their grandchildren live in the immediate area and are a joy to be around. Just as in Hellshire, we are being well taken care of and being introduced to new aspects of the Jamaican culture and family/community dynamics.

Blue Mountains

A typical day involves waking up around 6:00 and eating breakfast around 7:00. Auntie Peggy feeds us well on things like johnny cakes, callalou, mackerel, porridge, and more. After breakfast we start our way down the hill to our training site a mile and a half away. I rather enjoy starting the day walking through the cool morning air and greeting the schoolers (school children) as they make their way to class as well. Our training is held at a currently decommissioned school building and the usual day starts with language and culture training followed by topics relevant to our jobs in agriculture and/or environment. After class is where things get a little rough for out of shape people like Linnae and I; for about 40 minutes we trudge back home for the 1.5 miles ascending a little over 500 feet. Once home, the first order of business is to take a shower.

I can usually gauge how cold the water is by how much squealing I hear when Linnae turns the shower on. There is no water heater in our home and the water in the mountains is COLD. It has been a while since adrenalin has been a contributing factor in my bathing, but it is helpful now.

On Thursday we visited a park called Holywell situated nearby at a little over 4000 feet. As the crow flies, the park is actually closer than our training site. However, the road is not considered safe enough for the Peace Corps van and we had to take a 10-15 mile detour. Once there we went on a guided tour along a trail that topped off at nearly 4400 feet. Just as we finished and were sitting under a gazebo, the mist started to roll in and the rain began to fall. I think we were literally in a rain cloud. On the way back down we stopped briefly at a roadside café where I had a cup of authentic Blue Mountain Coffee, yum.

Farming with a Rastaman

On Friday morning, Linnae, a fellow trainee named Tom, and I met with a local Rastafarian farmer for a kind of job shadowing. I was impressed by his use of limited space and the ability to get so much to grow on the hillside. There were bananas, plantains, beans, tomatoes, celery, yams, cassava, and more. The farmer then showed us how to dig a hillside bed with his hoe/mattock; it took a little bit of coaching, but I got the hang of what we were going for pretty quick.  After breaking up and leveling the soil, we made some small trenches to put some chicken manure in before transplanting celery shoots from a nearby patch. It was an honest morning’s work and now I feel like I could put a garden in if Linnae and I get placed in a home on a hillside. 

Saturday morning we attended our first Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) church service. We arrived at about 9:45 for a short bible study followed by the music and sermon that lasted until 1:00. Our host family understands that we are not SDA and that we are not used to going to church all day long on Saturday. So, we were given a ride home to relax in the afternoon while they went back for “round two”. Linnae and I took a nap and caught up on some reading until they returned at 7:00.

Scrub scrub, take in the view, repeat...

This morning (Sunday) we were able to catch up on our laundry since Saturday is our family’s day of rest. Washing clothes by hand is a chore, but I can’t complain about the view. I think we got started around 6:30am; it is important to get the laundry on the line first thing or risk it getting rained on before it dries. 

Again, sorry for the long blog post, but this is the first internet access we have had in a week. And to be honest, I haven’t missed it too much. I do miss reading the news and staying current on what is going on in the world, but we have been well entertained by our host family and are learning about the local culture to a degree that we don’t miss the world-wide web too much.