Me and Pele

Mini and So'oao, The wife and and high chief

Fili

Salai turns 5

The Wedding

Va'a

Cheeky Boys and Girls

Afternoon volleyball

Eli

Kakiva and Asuelu ready for work

Mikirooney

Runts

Trouble

Saua and Lano

Here are some random pics of food in Samoa.

The market which is full of mandarin oranges.

Tafa holding an octopus.

Stuffing a pig before cooking in the "umu" or earth oven.

Pigs getting prepped for a feast.

A closer look

A typical meal for me at night, Fish, breadfruit, and coconut cream.

Sunday meal, Everything you can imagine.

More breadfruit and chicken curry on the left.

Eating the coconut.

Really enjoying the coconut.

Getting the coconut.

One of the first projects that the village requested was to implement a sewing program for the younger women of the village. I assisted them in preparing a funds request to the New Zealand High Commission in Apia.

Head seamstresses Luana and Malaepepa check out the machines.

Words can't express

The four bosses discuss how to divide the work for making the new dresses.

First time seamstress Oli gives the new machines a shot.

Nice shorts Oli!

Laufau, Mafu, and Ala get ready for a class.

There's enough of me to go around ladies.....

The old committee houses. The house on the right was torn down and a new partition including two large rooms were built onto the house on the left.

Laloifi, myself, and Malaepepa traveled to Apia to the Australian High Commission to receive the check for building materials.

Village carpenters discuss the plan for the renovation.

Renovations begin by the men of the village.

The labour force pose next to the sign from Australia signifying their assistance.

The village gathers for a picture that ended up in the Samoan Observer, the national newspaper.

Myself and village counterpart So'oalo Siliga in front of the newly renovated committee house.

The day of the house opening ceremony features a representative from the Australian High commission, Mini, and the pastor and his wife.

Mafu and Malaepepa, members of my committee, work on the final report.

This project is still on going. The village is currently finishing the clearing of the new land for the school. We expect to start construction within the next month and it will be ready for the 2011 school year.

The road that split the old school grounds in which our proposal was based.

School committee members So'oalo Siliga and So'oalo Timo at the signing ceremony with the Japanese Ambassador.

School Committee President Lemana Ioane signs the financial agreement with the Japanese Ambassador. Japan agreed to fund materials for seven classrooms. The village will come up with the remaining funds.

Coconut trees come down in the clearing of the new land for the new school.

Local chief Tupa'i Sio makes sure no coconut goes to waste.

This guy needs to the palm fronds to make some baskets.

Locals watch on as the work continues.

This guy is slicing me open a coconut.

Fuatino, Fa'afetai, and Ime rehydrate before study time.

Vagai, Serafi, and Seipua have a laugh over the word "diameter". You had to be there.

Serafi, Seipua, and Ime, wish I would stop taking pictures so they can get back to work.

Fa'atoafe, Salamo, Fa'afetai, Vagai, Serafi, and Seipua concentrate on their copying.

Everybody celebrates after the Prize Giving Ceremony.

Musu gets ready to make a healthy feast.

Bok Choy

Cantelope

Peanuts on the left, corn on the right.

Cucumbers

Nimo practices his arithmatic

Presenting Angel, top typist in year 7, with a gift at the end of the year prize giving ceremony

Year 8 Boyz

One on one training on how to kill the chickens

Seuao, my partner in teaching, directing the class.

Samoa has been good to me over these last two years. I am entering my 22nd month of service which means only two more to go until my current contract ends. Several months ago I decided to re-up for another year. As far as I'm concerned it's official that I will be working as a volunteer for the Samoa Tourism Authority. Just like my first assignment I anticipate it will be an adventure and challenge in adjusting to a job with new faces and a having a new role. But, the tougher the duty, the greater the rewards. If it's easy it's not worth doing.

I'll be coming home for a month this fall. I'm looking at the second week of September for arriving home and hope to see as many familiar faces as possible. I'm trying to pencil in a trip to Manhattan to see the KSU-NEB game so all of you in the Aggieville area get ready. The family is planning a trip to Colorado as well so if you live near Estas Park let's get in touch. Most of my time will be in Lincoln so we can catch up at Quik Way, Pizza Hut, or the park.

I'm going to post some blogs and pics of what I've been up to for the last two years. Hope some of you get a chance to read and enjoy.

See you soon,

Jim

Back to Work,

Hello everybody, my blog just woke up. It’s been hibernating for a while. Or maybe it’s me that’s been hibernating. School starts tomorrow and I’m ready to pick back up where I left off with the computer classes. Last term ended great in that I was able to have enough classes to test the 6th and 7th graders on typing. I had some real stars and rewarded them at the prize giving ceremony at the end of the year.

The health project that I mentioned in the last blog is at a standstill. To put on the seminars we need the approval from the Ministry of Health and we have yet to receive an answer.

Regarding the new primary school proposal to Japan I’m expecting good news fairly soon…..

For the last week I’ve been a shopkeeper at my families small store. We sell the bare necessities like, sugar, salt, candy, canned fish, spam, and mutton flaps. All the things that give people diabetes and hypertension. It’s amazing to see how much sugar people go through here. So I used the opportunity to try and do a little educating. Hopefully I got through to a few.

I got a new kitty. So that makes two cats now. The elder can’t stand the new one so they go at it all day. It’s better than HBO I swear. I hope 2010 is off to a good start for everyone and look forward to seeing you all at the end of this year.

Take care all,

Jim

I'm looking to friends and family for help in raising money for the health awareness seminars which are scheduled for next year. I'm trying to raise about US $950 to make it happen. The money will go towards purchasing diabetes testing equipment, weight scales, fresh veggies, seeds for planting veggies, and a few other props needed to make it a success. I realize times are tough back home but if you can spare a few bucks and want to help out send me an email at jmetz06@gmail.com

Happy Thanksgiving,

Miss and love you all,

Jim

The dry season looks as though it's coming to an end and I'm looking forward to not carrying buckets of water to my garden every day. One of the sons of my host family has been home for a week with his wife and child. The wife is Australian and it's been nice speaking english for a change. They invited a couple tourists from the nearby resort to have the sunday meal with us which was very pleasant. I rarely get

feedback on the work I'm doing and it was nice to discuss my projects with other palagis (people of european decent). So I thought it was a good time to post some blogs since I"m a little rusty in that area.

I began teaching computer classes at the primary school about two weeks ago. I was able to get 4 second hand computers from another volunteer at a very reasonable price. So far I've been teaching the very basics of computers which is good because my knowledge of computers doesn't run to deep. The principal selected 12 students from years 6,7, and all year 8 kids. We've been doing some typing programs, mouse exercises, and of course a few games. Not very many primary schools have computers so this is good opportunity for Samauga. I'm trying to teach as much English in the classes as well. After all that is what they really need to know. So now you could say I finally have a day job again. The work I did in preparing the new school proposal is pretty much finished. We are just awaiting finaly approval from Japan which hopefully comes soon. We will do some fundraising over Christmas to capitalize on overseas visitors. That's right capitalize baby! Japan will only fund half of the materials to build the school so we must find other sources.

The other major project I was working on is renovating the women's committee house into a health and activity center. This proposal is also awaiting a decision from the Australian High Comission. This project ties into what I'm really trying to do here in Samoa. A volunteer who ended his service last August, Nico, started what is known as the Joint Health Project with Peace Corps Savaii (my island) and the National Health Services (NHS). Together volunteers and nurses performed diabetes and hypertension screenings in rural areas of Samoa. When Nico left he handed me his bag of testing equipment and left it to us remaining volunteers to see the project continues. Samoa has a serious problem with diabetes and hypertension. And most can agree that there is a strong correlation between weight and health and you are more likely to have these health problems if you are overweight. There seems to be a lack of understanding in Samoa of this relationship. People eat alot and don't get much exercise. My vision is to create that awareness and give people the right information to make better decisions on what they eat and feed their families. To make that happen I am attempting to organize health awareness seminars to be directed towards women's committees in about 20 or 25 villages starting next year. The idea is to do a skit showing the relationship between weight and health, provide information about the diseases, the causes, and how to prevent from getting them. After the session the plan is to have nurses from the NHS provide free screenings to the participants. The current problem is that the NHS is lacking the necessary testing equipment. For example, the hospital in my district, which is responsible for about 15 villages has only two sphygmometers and one glucose meter. The plan

is to properly equip each of the 4 hospitals on the island as well as the 5 subcenters with enough testers to meet the needs of the people. I've been in contact with several people back who are looking for equipment to send over. So if any of you know someone who might have access to extra sphygmometers/stethoscopes or glucose meters let me know. I might be able to use your help.

The time is ticking away. Only 9 months to go and then it's time for something else. What that is I have no idea. Anybody hiring? Anything but car rental or fast food Chinese.

I don't think I'll ever grow out of halloween. It could quite possibly be the funnest holiday of the year. This year myself and a friend decided to take the costume idea to another level. "Simon and Garfunkel" Live! A few months ago the idea was brought up and we ran with it. Spencer (Garfunkel) had the hair and the on the mark harmonies and I am a short guy with a big forehead who plays some sloppy guitar. So we learned a few tunes, and serenaded the partygoers with hits like "Cecelia", "Mrs. Robinson", "Homeward Bound", and as a bonus we covered John Denver's "Country Roads" as well as Flight of the Conchords "You're so Beautiful". While there were no prizes for musical

talent or showmanship, we played and sung our hearts out.

That's right the village finally has new pastor. Samauga has been without a shepard since February when the previous pastor and his family moved. The village has been busy preparing the church and house. New paint job and everything. When they arrived there was a big gathering with lots and lots of food. I was told by my family that day that I would be eating with the pastor and family from now on. After furthur questioning it was understood that I would eat with them for the first 2 weeks. Each family is responsible for 3 meals while the family gets settled in. And since I"m the village peace corps it was a good opportunity for the village to feed me lots of food. Cause that's what they love to do. So for the past two weeks I've been having enormous meals. The pig, which is a very important part of the culture here, was served every night. The point is that I ate very heavily and gained 7 pounds. For those of you who know me, you know that I can eat and eat and not gain weight. I mean I've been 150 lbs. since my senior year of high school. I've finally found my tipping point. Pig.

Myself and 5 other Peace Corps volunteers are competing in the annual marathon tomorrow. It is a 64 mile race in which we will divide into six. Each runner runs about 2 or 3 miles, depending on the incline, at a time before handing off the baton to the next runner. We start at 5:00 a.m. and don't anticipate being done until 1:00 pm. It will be gruelling. So wish us luck, please.

Friends and Family,

One year down, one to go. Time is going incredibly fast. The time has almost come when I have to decide what I’m going to do after Samoa. The answer as of now. I have no clue. It’s winter here so things haven’t been as hot. But its definitely not cold. I adopted a cat who keeps me company during down time. I would have preferred a dog but they are not allowed in Samauga. Apparently they were eating the pigs. And we can’t have that now. Here is an update on the proposal for a new primary school. It has been unofficially accepted. I only say unofficial because paperwork has not been signed. The donor, Japan, employs a consulting agency to oversee the project from here on out. So basically they take over my job. I went to Apia last week to finalize things with the consulting agency. The project is officially out of my hands. What happens now is they will put our proposal together to fit the Japanese format. Everything is sent to Tokyo for final approval. Which according to the consulting firm and JICA, is just a mere formality that takes a long time. In other projects the library is up and running thanks to those of you who sent books. We are getting a few computers this week so I’ll be teaching some basic computer classes to primary school students.

Unfortunately a good friend and volunteer whom we call “Nico” has ended his two years and is going back to the great state of Minnesota. In the last six months Nico has been working with local nurses doing screenings for diabetes and hypertension. The project started just by testing a few people in his village and continued on to having formal screenings. The objective was to give people a chance to get screened and be referred to the hospital to see a doctor if the results suggested. The levels of obesity, diabetes, and hypertension are extremely high here in Samoa. A good number of volunteers including myself assisted Nico in these screenings and are planning on continuing working with nurses in their community outreach program.

I’ve started spear fishing lately. It is not easy. The method I’m using is a sling shot with a 4 ft. long ¼” thick rod. You could also call it bow and arrow style too. So far I’ve stayed within the reef so I haven’t seen too many big fish yet. I got my first two the other day. Nothing to put on the wall or anything. In fact everybody I showed them to in the village just laughed. It’s a good thing I don’t have a family to feed. I hope to get some pictures up soon.

A group of ophthalmologist students from the University of Hawaii have been traveling around Samoa in the last 3 weeks providing free eye exams. They were a little short handed last week and asked if I could help. So for the last several days I've been playing eye doctor. My job was to test people for glaucoma. Using a "tonopen" you touch the persons pupil until you get a reading. Even though we only found a couple cases of glaucoma I got up close and personal with Samoan eyes. I have never seen such damage as a result of the sun. But, every patient got a free pair of shades and glasses if their prescription was available. All in all it was a very successful project and I learned a lot about eyes.

The day has come. I have dial up internet in my little hut. This will save me some trips into the office every couple of weeks to check and send out emails for work and staying in touch with all of you. I will admit, when you are away from cnn for a year and finally have it again it really makes u realize how depressing the media is. So I hope you are all coping with the death of Michael Jackson and haven't become addicted to the news because of it.

This coconuts for MJ......

We all got a little break from work this weekend with a 4th of July BBQ and softball game against the navy. They are in country doing some humanitarian work for a month. They were a little intimidating during warm-ups but when it came to game time the Peace Corps took it to them. We won 14-4. It was solid defense and line drives to the holes that made the difference. After the game we ate "ball park" hotdogs, baked beans, cole slaw, bbq chicken, with all the fixins. The navy jazz band played which was a great addition. Live music has been a long time coming.

So Happy Birthday America. You are still the best!!

Welcome back to the story of a volunteer worker in Samoa. I haven’t posted anything for a several months because I’ve been occupied with many different things. So now that I have a breather I’m sitting down to put my current situation in words for all you interested readers.

I believe the last time we got together I had mentioned that I had just turned in a couple grants. This was on May 1st. The first and “big daddy” of the grants was for a new primary school which the school committee and I submitted to JICA (Japanese aid agency). Five days later I received a call from my JICA contact who informed me that the proposal had been accepted. An enormous amount of excitement and a very long sigh of relief came upon me as soon as I got of the phone. I immediately spread the word to committee members who replied “good Simi”. (Simi is my samoan name). Let’s just say a Samoan’s reaction to good news is quite subdued compared to an American’s. Now, the way this process works is we still have to submit another proposal. This one includes a design of the proposed school, an estimate of goods and services, letter support from the government, and a strong argument of why we need the new school. The first proposal only included the strong argument. We still had our work cut out for us. Over several meetings May, the committee and I worked on getting the letter from the government and figuring out who would design the school and what it would look like. I have a friend who is also a volunteer that has an architectural background. She would not be able to come until the beginning of June to assist us in designing the school. No problem I thought, JICA did not give us a deadline. Ya see, my parents had planned a vacation from the 22th of May to the 1st of June. During this time we would be traveling to New Zealand. So on the 20th I made a random trip to Salelologa (village where office is) to print some stuff for my host brother. I also checked my email to find that JICA was now giving us a deadline to turn in everything on May 29th. All of the relief and excitement I felt a few weeks earlier melted into very explicit jibberish. Initially I didn’t think it was possible to put together a school design, come up with all the materials and prices, and get the letter of support from the government all in a day and a half. So I did what we Americans do best. Multi-task and get on the phone. Luckily I knew another volunteer who is good on adobe photoshop. He designed the school. I also knew the carpenter of the village. He and several others made a list of all the materials we would need. My host brother knew a guy who worked for the government who could get us the letter quickly. I am perfectly willing to admit that I know squat about desigining a school. But as you just learned, I do know who does. The next day we got the quotes from suppliers and I made it on the boat to the main island just in time. My parents would arrive early the next morning. We went straight to the beach were they could relax and I could stress more about organizing the proposal before submitting. To wrap up this story I was able to turn everything in to the JICA office and enjoy my time with my parents in New Zealand.

In pertaining to the other proposal, which was for sewing machines for the women’s committee, that was also accepted. The women are very excited to start learning how to use them and ready to make me some more clothes.

I think I may have found my niche here. During my first few months here you may remember that I was very busy gardening. I used compost basically because there is so much stuff here that decomposes. Lots of animals and vegatation. So I made some pretty good dirt. The same volunteer who came to my rescue on the school design is working with a group of women on a communal vegetable garden. He asked me to do a seminar on compost. So together we did a presentation which went over very well. I have become familiar with a guy from the Ministry of Agriculture who is interested in us doing more seminars in other villages.

Well that’s enough. I’m tired of typing and you’re tired of reading. Take care all and good luck.

I also want to wish a big thanks to all of you who sent books.

Jim

In the last month I’ve been working on the library at the primary school with many of the books sent over by all you wonderful people. The principal, Mrs. Manase, is very appreciative and putting them to great use. As far as my other projects go I turned in the new school proposal to JICA (Japan’s foreign aid fund). Their initial response was that it was a good proposal. Music to my ears. If the current proposal is accepted for consideration we have to prepare a much more detailed proposal with an architectural design, estimate, and recommendation letters from the government. We are a long ways off but things are going smoothly so far.

The women’s committee has thrown in the towel in peanut production. This was Billy Ray Cyrus music to my ears. I offered to do a demonstration garden for them but they weren’t interested. The other program option for them is a sewing program. We put together a proposal for sewing machines and are awaiting a response from New Zealand Aid.

I’ve been here almost a year and it’s almost vacation time. My parents are coming in a few weeks and we’re heading off to New Zealand to enjoy the scenery of Lord of the Rings and the company of the Kiwi’s.

The chicken war is on. Since moving into my new place I have also moved my garden to right behind my “shop”. I share the fenced in area with the chief of the family who plants tobacco. Right now I have some tomato plants and green pepper seedlings. I went into Apia for a few days about a week ago and when I returned the chickens had dug up almost everything. I put up a reinforcement fence inside the existing fence. A few days ago I biked over to the neighboring village to talk to the School committee president and came back 30 minutes later. They got in again. I had an idea to build some kind of scare crow. Fences are not full proof. These chickens can fly high. I have my doubts about the “scare chicken”. But we’ll see. My host family has given my permission to kill the chickens. I have almost been attacked by one mama chicken for throwing rocks at her chicks.

A great solution would be to coop them right? Then we could fence in the pigs too eh? Not so. These animals get all their nutrition by scrounging around the village all day. I was sitting around last night thinking about how I wanted to have a dog or maybe even a cat. Since dogs are banned in my village it would have to be a cat. But then I looked around and saw all these animals just running free. I never liked cats anyway. So I have lots of pets. Pigs, chickens, a horse, a few alley cats as we call them back home.

My parents called me the other day and informed me that the final four is set. In my last communication with the outside world they were still playing the conference tournaments. The point I want to make here is how much faster time flies out here. I was thinking the other day about “long winters” and how I couldn’t wait for them to always be over. In a place with no “long winters” there is nothing to wait for. It is a challenge remembering what day and even month it is sometimes. Since I don’t have a calendar, hate watches, and I’m always misplacing my phone, I actually have to think about it. Some of you are probably saying, “Wow, I think the sun is getting to him”. Personally, I think it’s living in a culture that could care less what day it is, except Sunday. I also blame the lack of Big Monday, Big Ten Tuesday, ACC Wednesday, Thursday’s on TNT, and Sunday Night Hoops.

Now that I’m finally settled in I’ll give you an idea of what a typical weekday might look like in Samauga.

6:30 a.m. Cock a doodle dooo

6:45 a.m. One of the big mama pigs gets an itch on her side. Using one of the wooden poles of my house, she relieves herself by rubbing back and forth. This usually gives the house a little shake. The old man comes and checks his tobacco plants (“Old man” is not considered offensive in Samoa. People take pride in their old age).

7:00 a.m. I roll out from under my mosquito net, get an update on the tobacco, and go check my garden in the plantation. Recently I’ve had fresh tomatoes and peppers every day. Sometimes there is a ripe papaya which I pick for breakfast. I plug in my electric kettle and heat water for coffee and rolled oats. I use a rubber band and piece of thin cloth for the coffee. It seems to work just fine. I throw some sugar or fruit in the oats, spread a little Skippy’s extra crunchy on some crackers and eat it. By this time I’ve cracked open my laptop and either listen to some music or watch an episode of “The Office”, or “Flight of the Conchords”.

8:00 a.m. If it isn’t too hot yet I do some work in the garden. If there is a school committee meeting I go to that.

10:00 a.m. Recently I’ve been spending my mornings working on the proposal for the new school. The committee changed their plan so I had to start over again. I’d rather not get into details in the blog but just know that I’m trying very hard to do this right. A few days of the week I visit the women’s committee. We talk about their peanut garden, village gossip, and when I’m going to settle down and get married to a nice Samoan girl. When they wrap all that good stuff up I sometimes visit different families in the village that I’ve gotten to know pretty well. By this time I’m well hyped up on cocoa Samoa (Local hot chocolate).

12:00 p.m. I return home to eat lunch. I either eat tuna sandwiches or cup-o-noodles which are great with the fresh tomatoes and peppers I picked earlier in the day. But, this will all change soon. I just got a gas stove so bring on the homemade tuna helper.

1:00 p.m. It’s hot. “Time for rest”, as the old lady always says (Remember, calling someone an old lady is cool in Samoa). Since it’s too hot to sleep, I usually do some reading or lately I’ve been working on additions to the house.

1:30 p.m. School’s out. Kids start coming for help with homework. Visits have significantly increased since I got my place. Before, when I shared a house with the high chief (who is also the old man), people did not come and visit out of a certain kind of respect for the chief. It’s not that he would have cared, but the rest of the village did.

4:00 p.m. I go to the homework center from Monday through Thursday. This is a nice break because I get to speak English. They don’t always understand me, but this is how languages are learned.

6:00 p.m. Go home and play the guitar or work in the garden until curfew. Curfew is a twenty minute period starting at 6:30 when villagers are in their homes praying. No one is allowed to walk through the village during curfew.

7:00 p.m. Dinner time with the high chief and his wife. We always eat first, followed by the rest of the family. I really enjoy this meal. Since my host family is so use to me being around, I get to see the real Samoan way of life.

8:00 p.m. I take a ride into the future in my Space Shower.

8:30 p.m. Relax, read, watch a movie on laptop, or play guitar with Va’a (see picture of Va’a on photobucket). Occasionally a kid will show up to get some homework help.

10:00 p.m. Roll back under the mosquito net and fall asleep to the itching of the pigs.

I’m finally all moved in to my hut. I had an enormous amount of help from a local carpenter named Vaiasa. This week we are adding on a porch to do my cooking and keep my gardening tools. The homework center is well under way. I’ve been very happy so far with the kids who come. When I graduated from Lincoln High in 2001 I thought I had seen my last of algebra and chemistry. Not so, because I’m doing it all over again here in Samoa. My proposal for a new school building is almost finished. The application process is long and grueling but hopefully patience will pay off and a year or two from now they will have their school.

I've spiced things up here bit to make it more interesting. Now you can check out what other volunteers are doing in Samoa as well as see what I'm reading and watching. Enjoy!!

So I’ve got great news. My “fale samoa”, or hut, is finally built. The day was March 3, 2009 and it was a glorious day. The “mayor” who put this off again and again finally came through (with a little pressure from the high chief). This morning the muscle of the village and I went to the bush to get wood. The frame was up and sturdy in four hours. Samoans are very resourceful when it comes to construction. The nails were reused so there was no cost in getting this thing up. Finishing touches are applied by the use of a chainsaw. Coconut leaves are weaved and used as a roof. It took one day. The “mayor” made a comment along these lines. “Ua. Oh Simi. Samoa very strong, fast build house, one day ehheheh.” I replied, “more like five months buddy”. Everybody laughed, even him.

I’ll get some pictures up soon. Take care and thank you to those of you who are sending books.

Today is the first Monday of the month. The village counsel meets every first Monday of the month. This is were all major decisions are made by the chiefs. Everyone sits Indian style around the outside of the “fale” (open house). It can be killer on your legs. If I want to do a project or have a program of some sorts, I have to go through them. Meetings start with an ava ceremony. For those who don’t know ava is the drink of choice in the South Pacific. It is a combination of water and mashed up roots from the ava plant. It tastes like dirt. But, I will say it has a nice tingly aftertaste. It numbs your mouth a bit and has a calming after effect. The older more esteemed chiefs do a lot of talking about things I don’t understand. They aren’t discussing anything. It’s more like a sermon. Then we eat. After eating issues are brought to light. Then we eat again. If there are more issues we will talk about those and depending on how long, we will eat again.

Today I had an issue. The pastor and his wife have decided to leave the village. This news came a week ago and has been a big bummer for me. Laila, the pastors wife, was fluent in English and helped me understand many things about the Samoan way of life. As many of you know I was working with them on a homework and resource center. But without their support I had to get permission from the village. As I expected, they said “fiafia”, which means happy, excited, enjoy, and party. I took that as a yes.

Following this meeting I had another meeting with the Primary School Committee. They want to do something about the condition of the primary school. It is in awful shape, even compared to the other schools in surrounding villages. I told them a few options with aid agencies and they liked what I had to say. We then walked down to the school into the hall where there were 70-80 parents, the principle, and vice principle. I was not expecting this. The school committee is under some heat because apparently they haven’t done a whole lot of upkeep. I was asked by the principle to talk about the possibility of receiving funds from overseas. So here I go again with my spiel. Before I knew it they were pleading for a brand new school.

The bar has been raised here in Samoa. The village has expectations now, and I have a big project to accomplish. Wish me luck.

Things are finally picking up here in Samauga. I’ll start out by saying that I am a horrible “blogger”. I understand that the point of a blog is to frequently provide interesting information. I’ve failed the frequently part and it is the readers job to judge whether or not it is interesting. The good thing is I should be getting dial-up internet in my house in the next few months. After that I’ll have no excuse.

Today I held my first meeting with my Peace Corps committee. Ths committee was supposed to be created before I arrived in Samauga. But, like most things here things don’t always go according to plan. But, nevertheless, I finally have a committee. The purpose of having the committee is to support me and my work. I divided my committee into for groups. Members were selected by myself and the “mayor” from different village committees. The first is the School group. In the group is Siliga, my host brother, who is very helpful and a very hard worker. Another member is Lina, who lived in Australia for a long time. She speaks great English and will be a huge help to me. The second group in my committee consists of women from the village women’s committee. They are as follows; Mafu, Malaepepa, and Pulemao. I spend a great deal of my free time at the women’s committee so I’ve gotten to know them very well. The third group is the youth who are out of school. Right now there are only two members, Saua, and Eli. The final and probably most important group for the villages sake are the older men. They are in charge of the decision making in the village as well as any major kind of project. Currently there is noone in this group. I left the selecting of this group to the “mayor”. He told me not to worry. He’s on it. He’ll let me know He’s taking his time. The meeting went great. Everybody who was supposed to show up showed up 30 minutes late. 30 minutes late is very early in Samoan time. I was very proud. I am a very lucky peace corps volunteer in that I have a projector and screen to show presentations with my laptop. So I put together a PowerPoint show explaining to the committee how best to utilize the volunteer that they requested. In the last several months I’ve come to realize that a large majority of people in Samauga didn’t understand why I was here. As I moved beyond small talk with the language I could tell that most people thought I was just here to get them stuff for free. During my meeting I strongly emphasized that this was not the way it was going to work. My job as a development worker is to help people help themselves. And to do that we have to work together. So to make a longer story shorter, I feel pretty confident that my point was understood.

Happy New Year. I'm in Apia today working on a proposal for the homework center. I'm sending out an email for childrens book requests for the resource center part of the project. If you can help that would be great.

I’ve put it off long enough. The blog is finally here. I posted the previous letters I sent through emails as well as some notes I’ve typed on my laptop. If you are reading this and have not been getting the emails and would like to, send me a message at jmetz06@gmail.com.

06/12/08

Talofa Lava!! (Hello)

TGIF from the southern hemisphere! And so ends another week of Peace Corps training. Just to give you all an idea of what I’ve been doing since arriving in Samoa here is my last 10 days in a nutshell. My training group (#80 in Samoa) consists of 13 Americans of all different types of personalities. We have been staying at Apia Central Hotel here in Apia, Western Samoa. All but a few of our training sessions are here at the hotel where breakfast is provided every morning and coffee and tea are available throughout the day. My major food staples thus far have been PBJ sandwiches, bananas, curry, and lots of fish and chips. Skippy peanut butter, Louisiana hot sauce, and Pringles are my comfort foods when I’ve had my fill of papaya and bananas. I did get a burger the other night which cured some desires, even though it was loaded up with cucumbers, beets, and a fried egg. Saturday we go to our training village for a few months. The name of the village is Amaile and it is on the eastern coast of the island of Upolu. I’ll be living with a host family for this part of training and getting a crash course of what village life is really like. We will mostly be stationed out of there until mid-august when we will be sworn in as volunteers and head off to our permanent site.

I feel like I’m picking up the language pretty quick. The locals have been very welcoming and appreciate us even more when we attempt to speak Samoan. It is a small island so apparently it’s easy to run into the same people on a frequent basis. Another trainee and myself played Frisbee in the park yesterday and it didn’t take long for about 12-15 kids to join in. hint…hint…we need more Frisbee’s down here.

I have a cell phone now. There are two cell phone providers in Samoa and it is very affordable. If any of you for some reason or another have a good and cheap international plan my number is 724-2796 I don’t expect any calls from anyone in the states anytime soon, but when Obama solves our financial problems in 2009 drop me a line sometime. I have service all over the island. It sounds like I’ll have very limited access to internet in the next couple of months so unfortunately the “blog” that I’m trying to get going will not be up for a while.

Take care,

Jim

8/30/08

It’s been a very busy couple of weeks here in Samoa. We finished up training in Amaile with a “fiafia”, which means a lot of things, but in this context it means “party”. Lots of food, dancing, and gift exchange. I now have more clothes than I could ever need. A few days later we had the swearing in ceremony so now I can officially call myself a Peace Corps Volunteer. Myself and the rest of my group spent a few days in Apia celebrating and preparing for the move to our individual sites.

I have been in my permanent village, Samauga, since Wednesday. Samauga is on the northern coast of Savaii, close to Manase which gets lots of tourism. It is by far the best part of Samoa I’ve seen so far. My village is small, with about 300 people. There are a couple small stores, primary school, and a church. Pigs and chickens roam around everywhere. Pigs are very funny animals to watch. There are four houses in my host family’s compound. I have a room in the middle house. The host father (To’afe) is the high chief of the village. His son was a very famous rugby player in Samoa a few years back. His name is Afato So’oalo. Google him. To’afe has 10 children. Most are living in Australia. At the present time there are 10 or 11 family members living here in Samauga. The family owns one of the shops in town and seems to be doing very well for themselves.

The next few months will be spent getting to know the village and improving my language. Everything at the village level is done in Samoan so if I want to accomplish anything I will need to learn it. I give my hat off to the PC language trainers. I can speak just as good in Samoan as I can Spanish. And I spent a lot more time with Spanish. Well here begins my two years as a volunteer. I want to send an invitation to all of you to come and hang out in Samoa. You won’t regret it if you do. I have a new phone and number so here it is……685-724-2796…..My address is still the same. PC handles all my mail. Some of you had asked me in emails what would be good to send….Well, burned cd’s or dvd’s are great. My I pod crashed two days before I left for Samoa. Magazines and newspapers keep me informed of what’s going on. There is very little U.S. news out here. Believe it or not, I’m a little concerned about how Paris Hilton and Britney are holding up. Haha. The thing I really miss is BBQ sauce. They import it from New Zealand but it’s just no K.C. masterpiece. All in all, getting emails are great. I have access to internet at the Peace Corps office in Salelologa.

Here is my address if you’re new to the list

Jim Metz, Peace Corps Volunteer

Private Mailbag

Apia, Western Samoa

South Pacific

Take care everyone. College football should be starting soon so go KSU and say a prayer for the Cubs

With love,

Jim

10/30/08

Wow it’s been a while! I am almost into my 6th month here in Samoa and the 3rd month in my village which is working out just fine. I’m still sharing a house with the family but have plans to build my own “fale o’o”, which is nothing more than a hut. Most Samoans live in these types of houses. They fit well to the climate here in that they have no walls and allow for a nice cool breeze. The roof is made of thatched leaves which keep the house cooler. I’m looking forward to having my own domain. Not so much for the weather but the privacy.

My language, though vastly better, still restricts me from truly understanding 100% of what is going on in my village on a day to day basis. I have been working with the “womens committee” on their vegetable garden. Two years ago they received a large grant from UNDP to develop an organic garden for the purpose of income generation and providing families with a more nutritious diet. In the present time the only thing they have are peanuts, which aren’t very profitable and although tasty, not as nutritious as one would like.

Another project in the works is a small cattle ranch. This project has a lot of potential. The village has saved enough money to buy a work truck. The “pasture” is about an hour and a half walk from the village so all the workers waste a lot of time just getting there. That seems to be the main reason they wanted a truck but will have many other uses I’m sure. Right now in Samoa the main beef supplier other than imported beef is the government and there is a good opportunity for private businesses to get into the market. In this case the business being my village. Now you are probably wondering how I fit into to this. I sometimes wonder the same thing. My “job” as a village based development volunteer is to figure that out. I’m currently looking for aid agencies (eg. Nzaid, Aussie Aid, UNDP) who will provide monetary help for whatever the project will require. I write the grant and if it is accepted the village is happy. If the village is happy I get more smiles, as opposed to curious, blank stares that say “Who are you and what are you doing here?”

Starting in January I will be helping to run a homework center in the evenings with some of the other teachers in Samauga. Originally I wanted to work in the school but after some thinking I think this will be a more effective way for me to help those that really want to learn. I’m also working with another Peace Corps volunteer on a diabetes awareness project. Our plan is to visit each family in our villages, do a short presentation, and then provide free tests to those who would like. Another volunteer did a similar project and found the results horrifying. 33% of the people he tested were positive. We expect similar results so wish us luck on this one.

I’m busy yes, but I still have a good amount of free time. I have started my own garden behind the family compound. This keeps me busy in the morning and afternoon. Preparing the land was a lot of work. There are volcanic rocks everywhere. Most of my work is digging them out. I have a compost bin and starter nursery. Currently I’m tilling the land for the main garden. How I wish I had a tiller!! Everything is done with a pick, large tooth fork, and rake. In my nursery I’ve planted corn, tomatoes, and cabbage. The corn and tomatoes are doing great but the cabbage hasn’t even sprouted. I’m not worried. I like corn and tomatoes. Don’t care much for cabbage.

I just got myself a guitar and play around with a harmonica every now and then. “Piano Man” is almost recognizable.

I’m headed into Apia, “the city” today for the weekend. There is a haloween party for all the volunteers and I’m going as a cowboy. Samoans don’t celebrate it so there aren’t any costume shops. I’ll send pics. Tuesday we are going to the embassy to be together for the election. Sounds like the economy is priority #1. We are feeling it all the way over here too. Food prices, taxi, and bus fares (the only thing I spend money on) have all gone up significantly since I got here. This last year they made huge cuts to the Peace Corps Samoa budget. Something like 1.1 million to 750,000. Don’t quote me on that but its close. Instead of two groups coming per year, one in June and one in October, there is now only one that comes in October. PC staff is also taking hits with cuts. I heard a rumor that Obama is gonna double the Peace Corps budget if he’s elected. It’s a pretty good way for the U.S. to spend money.

Well that’s all I got for now. Take care everyone and stay in touch.

Happy Halloween,

Jim

11/21/08

My village has been saving money for a work truck and they finally got it. Today there is a big party to celebrate. Whenever there is a celebration like this there is lots of dancing and eating. The picture depicts Samoan wives gone wild. Luckily I was able to crop myself out doing the freaky deaky. Haha.

11/22/08

Today Trent (neighbor peace corps) and I went for a hike/bike up to a volcano called Matavanu. It erupted 100 years ago and wiped out a couple villages not to far from Samauga. Apparently it’s still active. As you can tell it has been grown over by trees so it looks just like a canyon. Nevertheless we got some great views and a good workout.

11/25/08

It is a hot Tuesday here in Samoa. Currently I’m eating animal crackers and listening to a new playlist I put together. I woke up at 5:30 this morning and tended my garden and worked on a report for Peace Corps. There is a rooster who comes over to my window every morning at that time and makes sure I’m awake. The report is an analysis of my village which helps me to understand what the people want. My method of gathering information is visiting each family and asking them a list of questions about their family. Other questions pertain to their feelings about the village and if they have any ideas for projects. This is all done in Samoan so it is a bit frustrating at times. Just imagine a person from the other side of the world coming into your home and asking you a bunch of personal questions speaking in very bad English. Well, I’m that guy in Samoa. But eventually I think it will pay off.

11/27/08

Happy Thanksgiving!!!! The ambassador had us over for a traditional American feast. It was great. I ate so much I couldn’t move.

12/08/08

Every month the village has a meeting similar to what you might call a village council meeting. They use this time to discuss issues and plan events. Kind of like what we do. Today was the last one of the year and with this meeting any projects that can afford to be put on hold are done exactly that. This includes building my hut so the waiting continues. It has been raining for four straight days. Luckily I have a book and a guitar to get me through the downtime. My garden loves the rain. I currently have planted corn, tomatoes, bok choy, head cabbage, carrots, chile peppers, cantelope, green pepper, okra, peanuts, and cucumbers. Almost everything I’ve planted has sprouted and growing quickly. I’m hoping to eat some corn on the cob for New Years.

12/18/08

Today I worked on my Samoan-English dictionary I’m making, played volleyball and tended to my garden. I’m headed to Amaile, the training village, to visit my first host family as well as other friends from the village. My host brother Fano asked me to be a groomsman in his wedding on the 23rd. This is going to be the 3rd wedding I’ve been to since coming to Samoa. But, it’s the first I’m actually involved in. So I have to step up my game on the dance floor if you know what I mean.