The first three months at your site have passed on by now. This was the time for you to integrate into your community. To find your place as a member. Establish your relationships with family and work. For me, the emphasis on integration into your community is the main difference between deployments with the military or traveling in general and this gig. In the military there is a distinct barrier between on and off base. You leave the host country every time you go back on base, literally. A US Base is considered to be US sovereign soil. And when you leave base to 'go out into town', when you pass through that barrier, it's like a part of it clings to you creating a mobile barrier that you carry with you throughout the town. Everyone knows your American Military. And treat you accordingly; that you are separate from them. In Vanuatu and in village, I'm trying to thin down that barrier as much as possible. So that even though I am an American, foreigner, and a PCV with that recognition of me being separate and different, there has also been a place prepared for me within the community that I want to fill. I have a host family, a work position, and a work counterpart set up for me. And I'm just doing my best to fill those roles and to be a person who lives and works in this village same as every one else. And that's your integration time.
At this point you may be in a slump. Perhaps the stress and strain has worn on you from just everything. The daily processing of living in and as a member of a new culture. First it was the ten weeks of training and now it's on your own at site. Language, food, hygiene, mannerisms, getting to know everyone, putting yourself out there, learning the expectations that they have of you, and on and on. Whatever the reason is, the Peace Corps chart on the fluctuating mood of the volunteer shows that around month three at site there's a slump in most volunteers. But don't worry, there's a plan for that. It's called Reconnect Training.
Reconnect Training is when the volunteers and their counterparts get together with program managers, provincial managers, and training staff for the next stage of our marching orders. I say marching orders but really it's 'broad outline of the program goals and various methods to accomplish those goals.' It's up to you and your counterpart to figure out your project and which methods to use to complete it.
Reconnect Training is also a chance to reconnect with the other volunteers, your staff at the office, to get out of the village for a few days, and to just take a break. And shopping. Most importantly shopping. My host mom at site has given me her wish list for items from Vila. While my town has a lot of cool stuff in our stores there are plenty of things that you can only get in either Vila or Luganvile. I'm bringing with me my empty plastic bins and bringing them back with just stuff. First being canned veggies. Mmmm beats, sweet corn, peas and carrots.
Reconnect has been good, if I focus on just the work. As was the case in training, trying to socialize or make friends with the other volunteers had been hugely stressful. And it's been stressful, lost sleep, generally a pain in the ass being in the city due to the noise of rowdy drunk people, the blaring noise of karaoke night at the saloon - never again - and the hassle of being a woman in a city where a woman walking alone after dark is generally not safe.
The training team had put together a bunch of sessions to help us out with project goals, daily life coping, and just stuff that is good to know. Meetings at the Public Health Department, healthy cooking to meet nutrition needs at site, safety and security sessions, grant writing, SolarSPELL, volunteer support network, etc etc.
Most of the volunteers came into town just before sessions and left directly after. For me I got a few extra days because of the lack of frequency of flights to and from my island. Just one of the benefits of being on a more remote island, fewer flights to get you there and thus more days in Vila. FYI, also a disadvantage for getting off island, fewer flights leaving that you may or may not be able to get on regardless of your reservation. A couple of extra days in Vila is appreciated because of the errands I can run to get things done. And WiFi. More days with WiFi.
Being in the capital city a few extra days has allowed me to seek out those departments and contacts that I think I will need for my projects. Based on my initial assessment I see the main projects being three goals:
Build a house for a nurse. We can't get a nurse sent to us from the Ministry of Health until she and her family has suitable accommodations. My role will be to teach my counterpart how to secure funding which will then be used to purchase materials for a concrete staff house.
Meeting hygiene needs of the community. That is hand washing stations built with community involvement. And awareness' and trainings on the importance of hygiene.
Nutrition and within that Non-communicable (NCD) tracking. Education and awareness' on portion control, healthy options, etc. Then also monitoring and treating the NCD cases. Hopefully reducing the prevalence of new instances of NCDs. As well as involving the agriculture component so that people can meet their vegetable portions needs since everyone grows what they eat. No market here.
So I've been to the Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization's office, and the Department of Agriculture to get connected with existing interventions. Hygiene workshops, hand washing plans, Slow Food and other nutrition interventions. That sort of thing. And that's on-top of the contacts and tools we've been set up with during the training. UNICEF, World Vision, a solar company giving away lights to school children, the Nursing College, etc. There are a lot of aid organizations working in Vanuatu.
With reconnect over it's time to head back and cut lose on getting work done. Before we were to hold back on starting a project because integration is so important. But now that that's done it's all about getting projects started. I'm excited. And I hope I can get plenty of work done at site. And I hope I can continue to 'make it here'. Of the 26 people that showed up in LA for staging, there are now 20 still serving in country. No one is kidding when they say it's a commitment and a challenge to be a Peace Corps Volunteer.
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