Jouvert 2011

My second year celebrating Christmas in St. Kitts with Carnival as part of the two weeks of grand festivities.  Today was Jouvert and one of my favorite people watching events of all time. Since Caitlin and Jorel are here visiting, I decided it was worth dragging them out of bed at 5:00 a.m. to catch the first troupes as they entered the Circus.  Some of the Peace Corps volunteers joined the Red Devil troupe again this year, which means they started their day closer to 2:00 a.m., but from the looks of all those dancing in the streets, it wasn't anywhere near quitting time.  We watched mostly from the balcony at Ballyhoo, but caught the energy mid-way and joined the crowds in the street for awhile before heading back home so Caitlin could get the rest she needs to take care of the nasty cold and ear infection she brought with her from SoCal.


A few photos to share:

Red Devil Troupe in the Circus

Baby, it's cold outside.

Gale force trade winds kicking up my allergies and making the already treacherous bus rides feel even more like an E ticket at Magic Mountain, not to mention: baby it's cold outside - relatively speaking.  And as the wind howls through the trees and the rain pelts on my tin roof, I am reminded of  scary stuff like what happens if the electricity goes out before the XFactor comes on?  How will I survive?  It's the final week, and I must hear Josh Krajcik; his raspy voice is so soulful, reminds me of Joe Cocker and who can forget him singing "With a Little Help From My Friends" at Woodstock in 1969?


Went to my office today hoping to share some holiday cheer with my co-workers, it being Christmas week and all, but met an empty hallway with locked doors all around.  No one was there except for me, so I sang a few reindeer and Santa songs waiting for them to arrive, then finally ate the candy my friend Jill sent to me in a very festive gift box - candy I'd planned to share with everybody - played around on the Internet for a bit, and then finally moseyed on back to Cayon.  Guess I didn't get the memo explaining that Christmas/Carnival in St. Kitts is celebrated in Caribbean time from December 21 - January 5.


Walking down Fort Street in Basseterre on my way to the bus, it was clear that party time had arrived.  It was only noon but scores of people were already liming. drinking Caribe and Skol - it's always 5:00 somewhere in the world - and dancing in the streets.  Can't miss the Carnival spirit, half of the 37,000 people who live on the island will be coming into town to celebrate at some point during the week.  Soca Monarch finals on Friday, Jouvert on Monday, the Grand Carnival Parade on New Years, Masquerades, Queens and Teens shows throughout, and the Last Lap on January 4th, I think.  St. Kitts and Nevis is the only place in the Caribbean that combines Christmas and Carnival; a unique opportunity to experience the festive and vibrant culture and get in some incredible people watching.


Time for a funny before I close:
A couple was shopping at a packed mall on Christmas Eve.  Walking through the mall, the wife looked up and was surprised to see that her husband had disappeared.  She was very upset because they had much Christmas shopping to do.
Using her cell phone, she called her husband and asked him where he was.  The husband, in a calm voice said, "Honey, remember the jewelry store we went into five years ago - where you fell in love with that diamond necklace that we couldn't afford, and I told you that I would get if for you one day?  His wife, crying said "Yes, I remember that jewelry store."
"Well," he said, "I'm in the bar next to it."


And finally, a picture of the Christmas tree I put up just for Santa,  I had to have somewhere to put his milk and cookies for when he delivers Caitlin and Jorel on Christmas Eve.  
A fake tree, my first, and somewhat woebegone compared to Christmases past, but you still gotta love it.  It is Christmas after all.

And so it goes, here in the West Indies, on the island of St. Kitts, in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, four days before Christmas 2011.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

"Life in the Peace Corps will not be easy. There will be no salary and allowances will be at a level sufficient only to maintain health and meet basic needs. Men and women will be expected to work and live alongside the nationals of the country in which they are stationed—doing the same work, eating the same food, talking the same language.

But if the life will not be easy, it will be rich and satisfying. For every young American who participates in the Peace Corps—who works in a foreign land—will know that he or she is sharing in the great common task of bringing to man that decent way of life which is the foundation of freedom and a condition of peace." -  John F. Kennedy, President, United States of America

So the call was heard and some 200,000 like minded citizens have served as Peace Corps volunteers since President Kennedy made this statement in 1961, myself included. 

During the past 16 months I've learned to navigate my life through the challenges of Peace Corps - acronym speak and bureaucratic structure included - hoping to turn challenges into opportunities for self-learning and personal growth, and others into professional successes and friendship building with nationals from within my work and living communities.  I have enjoyed some success.

To this point, three things stand out as a must have for success as a Peace Corps volunteer: resilience, duct tape and an extension cord.

I think being a Peace Corps Volunteer at 60 offers a unique vantage point from which to take a look at a life lived.  A chance to slow down and reflect on the decades spent keeping busy embracing the rearing of children, or the shout out of causes that found their way into my consciousness.  There was always an urgency to find a hurt and heal it, to find a need and meet it; a bottomless well of need existed and still does, so the finding part was easy.  Looking back on six decades, it seems that  much of that life has been spent skimming the surface of others, scary to think it may have all been grounded in a need to hold on to a myopic self.

Enough reflection.  Peace Corps "have to do's" this week leave no time for further meandering.  But note to self of things to think about when the veil of fear lifts:  

What does it mean to actualize potential? 

Perhaps those braincells are lying around in the debris of the mind expanding experiences of the late 60's.

Heaven or hell.  I don't think so.  Just bones and dust, the end of lives well lived with joy abounding; or broken lives and long forgotten dreams.

Ye of little faith?  Great faith, still seeking deeper understanding from somewhere; the call of the universe notwithstanding.

I keep hearing a voice in my dreams with urgent messages that I've forgotten by the time I wake up; not the urgency of the voice, but the content of the message.  Restless nights for some time now; heavy mornings that need to be shaken awake with extra shots of caffeine, like the lingering effects of nitrous used to sedate anxiety provoked by the bully dentist.  Is it my muse calling or am I to be the new muse?

I think the chicken crossed the road having found courage and hoping to find purpose.

Rich and satisfying?  I still have ten months to cast my ballot.

And so it goes today. 

So now what do I do? The Conundrum.

Just finished submitting a purchase order for pictures of each kid receiving their trophy with the Government Minister from their constituency and also a group shot for each recipient and each Minister.  Met with the film editor and completed editing for the final version of the television program featuring individual recipient interviews that we produced before the ceremony with plans to give a copy to each honoree when its ready.  Working on the agenda for the brainstorming workshop I promised to organize with the kids for late January or early February.  (Of course, the reality of the workshop taking place depends on delivery of the promised funding for the conference room, supplies and food, so the actualization of this happening remains a question mark.)  And finally,  I completed writing an article on the program for the Serious Ting Magazine which will go to print in January. So now what do I do besides fight the challenges of funding follow through from the Ministries of Youth and Finance?


The Director wants me to spearhead the program for next year - outreach starting again in February and the rest of it including organizing, marketing, interviews, selection, profiles etc. continuing through final presentation next fall.  But I'm thinking the department should take it from here.  If the program is to be sustainable, the Ministry and the Department need to find youth department staff to take the lead and to do the work that will make it happen, and I truly believe it is to their advantage to take that lead while I'm still here and available for consultation. Besides, I'm ready to take on a new challenge and would most like to use the next couple of months finishing up with the 2011 remarkable teens promises while exploring other project possibilities that I can put some passion behind for the remainder of my Peace Corps service here in St. Kitts.


One project I would love to look into is an island wide after school program focusing on kids at the middle school level (forms one and two).  I know the St. Kitts and Nevis White Paper on Education and Policy Development claims it wants to develop such a program, and I know there are many people in the Federation who would get on board if such an opportunity were introduced - that is an opportunity coupled with government funding and a promise to allow organizers to shortcut the red tape/bureaucracy kind of support.  


I have lots of ideas of on how to make this happen too, and the practical experience of having been part of a team that developed such a program in the United States; all the way from the empty speech bubble hovering overhead during a brainstorming session starting point, to the creation and implementation of a program that replicated in eight states by the time I moved on to new ideas and in other directions.  And I have the time and energy to get a pilot program off the ground while I'm here, if all of the other stuff comes together. 


Like everything else in life there are always a thousand ifs... if you let yourself get stuck in that bubble.


And so it goes on December 5, 2011, the 25th birthday of my beautiful daughter Maggie Catherine.  Happy birthday baby girl.  Mommy loves you, always and forever.