Post EST

"How I met your mother marathon today!"--PCV at training

So I just completed my Early Service Training here in Suriname. I have been a PCV for almost three months now, been away from home for a bit over five months now. I want to just give a quick run down of what has happened and what has been happening at my site recently. When I come back to the city, hopefully for Thanksgiving time, I hope to get more into the emotional aspects of staying at site, isolated from the city for a month or longer at a time. It has been tough but I want to be fair and give it another month.

So, basically right now in the village they have asked for a soccer field, a community center and English lessons. I am going to be giving English lessons twice a week for the time being and I have offered to help the lady in the gift shop with inventory, both services which the last volunteer helped with. I also plan to start computer lessons soon. At the moment, I am really focusing on training people, sharing my skills and hoping to get some of their skills in return through other avenues--crafts, fishing, etc.

The project I am most proud to be working on is a joint project with the two volunteers in the neighboring village. It is an HIV/AIDs education program that will culminate on December 1st. The project will focus on educating the 6th graders in the local village on HIV/AIDs and promoting testing in the villages. We are hoping this will be the first of many events and classes for HIV/AIDs education and prevention.

So, that's what's basically going down at the moment. When I come back in the city next--either Thanksgiving or Christmas, I'll go more in-depth on village life and the projects. Peace.