Six months already! My time here in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) is almost up. I leave to South Africa in 1 week! I can’t believe it! I’m gonna miss this place really. I know I keep saying it, but I really have met lots of lovely people in this country as well as the volunteers I have been studying with. I know I also keep going on about the beauty of this country, but really, you gotta see it for yourself to believe it. Everyday I still can’t believe I’m here and I’m sure most of you are still trying to find it on the map! Not many people, who are not familiar with the Caribbean, know SVG or where it is. So it’s really nice that it is mostly ‘untouched’– there are not that many tourists, which is great for the nature but not so for the economy. That might change though with this new international airport they are building which should be completed in 2011.
So what I have been doing this last month is finalizing the fundraising and preparing for the project work. We reached the fundraising target finally! The raffle was really a success and really helped us to reach our fundraising goals. We had the draw this past Saturday and despite the rain and a small audience, we did it! It’s rainy season now by the way, but I am not complaining because it’s really hot and humid throughout :) And yes we could have considered that when we were planning the date, but we really needed lots of time to organize so we couldn’t have had it earlier. Anyway we have a great experience now and can give tips to the next team or in our projects. Not sure what kind of raffle you could hold in a village in rural Africa ;) but anyway it’s about the whole experience of carrying out a fundraiser event – planning, organizing, mobilizing, etc.
This event was also a great way to connect to lots of different people and to get to know more about the people and the country as well as to inform people about our program and cause and about the situation in the places we are going to in Africa and why we are going there, as well as to share our personal backgrounds. For many, it’s the first time to personally meet people from so many different “distant” countries and it’s been great to share info – describing our home countries and cultures and learning more about this country and culture. Vincy’s are particularly proud of their food – as I mentioned earlier in an update, we are often offered all kinds of foods, especially fruits, wherever we go. The fruits are the best as there are all sorts of fruit trees everywhere and if it’s in season, the fruits are overflowing and people just pop into their backyard and grab a handful for you – coconut, mango, wax apple, sugar apple, soursop, breadfruit, plums, cherries, oranges, tangarines, etc… I love them all, but I must say the soursop is very special and unique to this region.
OK, so you get the point that I will miss this place. I even got used to the squished, loud soca music mini bus rides! And now I’m off to South Africa. For many of my team members it will be their first time to travel to the continent itself and it’s strange that I’m also feeling such an excitement as if I’ve also never been there. Maybe it’s because of a combination of a few things like it will be my first time to South Africa and it’s been a while since I was last in “Africa” and I’m going for a different reason than usual – a challenging reason! But again I will try to keep you informed as best as I can, although I already know I will have less access to internet so…not that I will be forgetting y’all. As I mentioned earlier, I will be participating in an HIV&AIDS awareness and prevention program (TCE – Total Control of the Epidemic). It’s an effective program that runs in many of the southern African countries including South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia and others. I will try and explain a bit more about it as I get into the program, but if you are already interested to read more about it, you can check it out here.
For now I’d like to thank all who have supported me during my time here in SVG. I’d like to especially thank the Vincy’s who have been so kind and generous, even befriending a “crazy” volunteer like me ;) I know you are still wondering why I would come half way round the world to give my time and work for free in this tiny country and then go off to another far away place to continue to give my time and work for free in remote areas not many people would be willing travel to…
Well, hope to keep in touch with everyone so that it may become clearer why I’m doing what I’m doing.
Ciao everyone!
BIG HUG!
