The Most Interesting Thing You'll Read (in the next five minutes)

I often think if counting down the days until I set foot back in America is good thing. It plays strange tricks on one’s psyche. Thinking of something so far away tends to get me out of the “Peace Corps Mentality”. I begin to think of the things that will be instead of what is. I should be here mentally. I need to focus on my projects that I have worked so hard for here before looking forward. I still have nine months left here and have initiated basketball projects, wildlife collections, a children’s book, a biodiversity count with the Protected Areas of Cape Verde, and of course my data collection that I will use for my M.S. degree. There is not a lack of work to be done, only a lack of motivation. I have been living in Cape Verde for a year and a half now and have only seen three islands. That’s weird right? I guess what I am trying to say is I am feeling restless here on Boa Vista. The idea of being on a rock that would fit inside of 1604 (the loop around San Antonio) sometimes makes me a little crazy, like Jack Nicholson in The Shining. I need to explore new things. That being said, next month I have a trip planned to Senegal to participate in a little thing called WAIST (West African Invitational Softball Tournament).

WAIST is a great opportunity for volunteers to blow off some steam, a place where little judgment is passed upon letting loose. Also, the days leading up to WAIST will be host to the GAD (Gender and Development) meeting as well as the All Volunteer Conference. These meetings are exciting because they give volunteers an opportunity to exchange ideas and best practices. I think I will be presenting my basketball program at the GAD meeting. I will be sharing how I have worked with and through the basketball team to get them funded for jerseys and the work that the head coach and I are currently working towards. Our ultimate goal will be to get some professionals here to help train both the coaches as well as the players, more on this as it progresses. 

Processing lizards in the "office/lab"

My research is going well. Collecting female Cape Verde Skinks (Chioninia spinalis boavistenis) is proving very difficult. I have two theories about this; 1) the sex ratio in the population within my study area is skewed towards males. 2) The energy budget for females and males are different. In other words, females spend more time and energy with their clutch then they do foraging or other activities that would require energy outside of the burrows. I tend to believe the latter, but who knows… it’s all a big guess anyhow. I saw this picture the other day that reminds me of this dilemma. It essentially showed the more you research a topic the less you know. Questions arise that would never have been posed had you not begun researching the subject. So the more I look into the life history of this particular lizard the less I feel I know about it. I am constantly second-guessing my results and methodologies. A friend of mine, a PhD candidate at Texas A&M, assures me this is normal and not to get hung up on these things nor to make assumptions and judgments until the data is analyzed. I should stay focused on what I set out to find in the first place and not get side tracked with all the other experiments that I would like to perform. I will push through the urges to wander from the study that I have set up now and that’s easy when you have friends visiting.

I recently played tour guide to the parents of a great friend of mine, Matt Kubal. He is a PCV on Santiago and his folks spent their last few days in Cape Verde here in Boa Vista. They wanted to spend most of their time in Sal Rei and so we explored the village for three days together. I had such a good time hanging out with them; it was almost like having my own folks here, but obviously not exactly. However, the experience did get me talking with my folks again about coming to visit…. and now they have decided to take that leap of faith with me and come to Cape Verde! So I will plan their trip with great vigor and do my best to achieve ultimate travel satisfaction. It will be tough not to have a good time here. If the season cooperates, they might be able to see Loggerhead Turtle. At the very least they will get to experience a culture and country they previously did not know. That can never be taken away, we always have our experiences.  

The Beginning of The End

With turtle season coming to a close, it seems strange to look back on all of the relationships made in such a chaotic time. There are night patrols, English classes needing to be taught by yours truly and two other PCVs, sleepless mornings, and the ever impending foot injury. It is not a matter of if you will receive a debilitating foot injury, but when and how severe. 

The foot injury was a thing that never concerned me in America. I never thought, I should be careful here not to injury my feet. I think this true for two reasons:

1. 1)      Last year I wore closed toed shoes a total of 5 days in Cape Verde. This was just not the case in America. I almost despised flip-flops before Cabo Verde. These days I wear them for everything…. That is as classy as I am willing to get here. When in Rome.

1. 2)      The chances of even the seemingly insignificant injuries turning infected are much greater here. I think this has to do with a general sanitation issue throughout Cabo Verde.

Thus, cuts on feet become much more serious to me than ever before. I had bad luck with feet injuries this past turtle season and even had an unfortunate spill during a serious game of sand soccer (I still have some serious scar tissue from that incident). But, we continue on...life moves in the same speed that it did before. One must keep on no matter, and had I not, I would have missed out on some really fun people. 

There was a German girl who was really cool, demanding and all-knowing, but very fun. The English guy who just so happened to be a fellow herpetologist. I will never forget the night that my roommate and the English guy's girlfriend realized that there was more than one herpetology-obsessed person that they now knew. As we discussed new taxonomy and general evolution of squamates over many a’ brew, the blank stares that we received from our company were ignored. The Italian who could not handle the turtle patrols. A German whom I am almost positive should have been born American and many others that have left lasting impacts. The relationships formed over the course of three to four months, during such a hectically tranquil time tend to be remembered in only the best way. But of course real work was accomplished during a wonderful time on the beach working with both Natura2000 and Turtle Foundation.

A picture at turtle camp with a visiting PCV from Santo Antao

Hands-on work with these organizations affords me valuable experience as well a close working relationship with both organizations vital to my work as an ecologist for the Protected Areas of Cape Verde. Our Protected Areas team on the island of Boa Vista is nearly complete, and I will have a website for you all to visit soon. Since I have been tasked with building the website, I can probably tell you the day that the site goes live. I am also still collecting data on Chioninia spinalis boavistensis, also known as a lizard. With my current study I am be looking at reproductive cycle, diet, and habitat selection. All of this will give some insight into the life history of this particular organism, which I think is way cool. Another neat aspect is just adding to the general knowledge of the environment. We know so little, and to gain knowledge, no matter how insignificant, about one of the creatures within the phylogeny of life is an incredible thing. I know that many people think, “It’s only one lizard” or “why is it important to save one species”, but this is the wrong way to think about this issue. If this is your thought process, then my question is when do we stop saying ‘it’s only one’? Where do we draw the line on massive extinctions that we are currently seeing? We are not the pinnacle of evolution. We have merely evolved to a different state than other organisms. We are clumsy and maladapted to many of our current habitats. We need to remember that this earth cannot sustain us at the current rate of usage and extinctions that we are seeing today. Now I will come off of my soapbox and tell you a little success story about the basketball project that many of you in America are familiar with and have even pledged support. 

Coach G counting the equipment

I was sending out emails to every organization and NGO that I could think of looking for support for the women’s basketball team on Boa Vista. Then within a matter of days I found support from an unlikely source, the United States Embassy of Cape Verde. They were speedy and more helpful than I had imagined could be possible with a government entity. They were able to donate $1,700.00 USD to our cause!!! We were able to get special order jerseys, tops and bottoms, from Portugal, legitimate women’s basketballs, and cones. I gave a short speech at one of the practices where we unveiled the jerseys. All was right in the world that night. Now I am trying to find speakers and money for a Women’s Rights Day. This is proving to be more difficult than I had originally planned, but this is one of my top priorities to be finished before I leave Cape Verde. Which, for those of you counting… is not very far off these days.  

A Year In The Making

Over the past year as a Peace Corps Volunteer serving on an island in the Atlantic I have had more time for self-reflection than I have ever wanted. We constantly judge ourselves and compare ourselves to our counterparts and colleagues. I have been in this self-reflective mode heavily over the past few months, but never to the point of depression. Recently, I have come to a conclusion that changes my attitude, my demeanor, and my overall mental health; I don’t care what other volunteers are doing. Don’t get me wrong, as the administrator for the country’s PCV newsletter, and as a friend I care what other's projects are, and I wish them nothing but success. However, personally it doesn’t matter to me. My service, my life, and my projects are mine, and I don’t care about other people’s integration and sustainability of their project (both classic Peace Corps words that tend to turn us all into the egotistical and judgmental volunteer). I do what I do, because I can. I have actually found some peace and no longer see the need to judge my success as a volunteer to what others are doing. I can’t increase agricultural production by 200% because we don’t have crops, I can’t stop malaria, because we don’t have it. I am forced to focus on projects that wouldn’t exactly be my first choice, but have become surprisingly successful.

A year to the day I returned to Regina's for some pizza

I spent two weeks in America back in July and, as many of you have pointed out, I have fallen silent on my blog. I think there are two reasons for this. One, I think that after seeing everyone (I assume that my readers are mostly people I know) that reads my blog, I didn’t see the point in writing to you about what I have been doing when you already knew.  And two, I have been really busy trying to get my life back to some semblance of “normal”.  The day I got back to my island after several plane delays in Texas, Boston, and Cape Verde (about 19 hours in total of delays) I was on my way out to a small islet, Curral Velho, to assist a Cape Verdian retrieve and replace the GPS locators on the Cape Verde Shearwater.  The islet is just off the coast of the southernmost tip of Boa Vista. Curral Velho is protected nationally and inaccessible without written permission from the Cape Verde government, because it is the nesting site for many endemic (only occur here) birds. I spent a week on this islet with Samir collecting blood samples, wingspan length, weight, and of course changing the GPS units. It was an incredible experience; we spent our days fishing for lunch and dinner and our nights with the Shearwaters collecting data. I had some of the best conversations that I can remember having in months. A week alone on a tiny piece of land with one other person and you begin to understand each other intimately. Samir is an amazing person who has real potential to be a leader in the science community of Cape Verde. 

Replacing the GPS band on a Shearwater

There seems to be something about the year mark in a PCV’s service that makes us feel uneasy. I am definitely not the only volunteer that I know of who seems willing to move on. I enjoy my life and time here, but there is only so much exploring and learning that can occur on such a small piece of land in the middle of such a large ocean that lies in between such large continents. The island I live on could fit inside of Bryan-College Station, home of Texas A&M University, if you are unaware of this area, “google it”.  However, I am not too worried about all of this; I’m still doing my thing, regardless of my “feelings”. This little piece of land that I call home has also been experiencing major water problems the past few months, but the giant all-inclusive resorts still have that sparkling swimming pool, thanks RIU for giving us the shaft. The tourists continue to be ignorant and get served by locals whom are underpaid to begin with, only to return to their homes and be slapped once more with a water shortage. I had a discussion with an English guy here recently who sells luxury condos and time-shares on the beach that was originally a protected area until the government decided they could use the money. I don’t blame the English guy, it’s not his fault the land was sold, but he tried to convince me that he was practicing sustainable tourism and development! Here is a definition for those of you who are unfamiliar, “sustainable tourism is tourism attempting to make a low impact on the environment and local culture, while helping to generate future employment for local people”. This is a personal opinion, but I don’t think “luxury” suites and condos fall in that category. The word luxury itself is gluttonous. On top of all of this, I am tired of environmental organizations spreading rumors about one another, and I am tired of the stale mate style of conservation that seems to come with this. I get it, there are personalities that clash, and there are strained relations, but they are all fighting for the same thing… in different ways, but still fighting to conserve any way they know how. I guess I am just tired, in good spirits, just tired of constantly hearing rumors and bickering, pettiness really. 

On a brighter note, the women’s basketball project that some of you know about is coming together nicely. I received funding through the United States Embassy of Cape Verde for jerseys, balls, cones, and other miscellaneous training materials. However, I am still looking for the money to get some proper shoes and for at least two activity days in which myself, Gilson, and Huberta and the rest of the basketball team will raise awareness of the women’s rights issue here in Cape Verde. I constantly find this to be one of my biggest struggles with culture here in Cape Verde. Not that we have women’s rights figured out in America, because we don’t. However, I think that the issue is seriously lacking publicity here. I have found myself highly motivated by this issue, and it helps to keep me focused on something that I can actually help, maybe.

I would like to give a shout out to my mother, Paula Acre, today is her birthday. She is wonderful person and an even better mother. I love you mom.  

A Good Hope for Morabeza

“This is as close to Africa I have ever felt”, says a guy from England as we sit at a local bar in Barraca. This place, Barraca, literally means shanty or shack. It is full of recent immigrants from Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Nigeria, and of course the main island of Santiago. Barraca has grown parallel with the large hotels that are beginning to dominate some of the most beautiful and environmentally important regions of Boa Vista. As you can probably denote, this population growth has come with rapid growth of construction jobs. However, when those jobs end, there is nothing for the large population of construction workers. Barraca has become a breeding ground for some less the reputable characters, but also contains some of the hardest working, most giving people I have ever met. So as we sit there and I am doing my best to translate conversations for people in both directions I realize that he was right. This is Africa. I forget this on a daily basis. 

Many Capeverdians will swear up and down that they are not African. As if being an African is an insult. However, a recent genetic study conducted throughout Cape Verde has revealed the most frequent genes are of African descent (1).  The population is African, many things have become such a normal part of life that I forget how different life truly is, and speaking with people who don’t know the language or culture snap me back to something that I once knew. I am by no means an expert of either, but I am infinitely more experienced than those stepping off the plane today. The idea of not having to worry about if you will have water tomorrow is just one of the many things that don’t seem that strange anymore. 

I find myself drawn to Barraca, I feel safe there. When I go there I see many of my friends that I don’t generally see in other parts of the town I live in. The scene in Barraca is rapidly changing as well; many government initiatives have commenced to clean and beautify the zone. The name has even changed to Good Hope, but I don’t think the name has quite caught on yet with the majority of the population. There is another term that I like to use with this zone; morabeza. This is one of those words that will never directly translate because there is an idea and mentality behind it. My friend tells me it’s a mentality of friendship and joy, and when you come to Cape Verde you feel full of happiness because of the accepting nature of most people here. The people of Barraca are some of the poorest, but they are some of the happiest I have ever known. I use to constantly wonder what was behind someone offering me something cloaked in friendship. That feeling has slowly left me the more time I spend in places that I like to call “super-traditional Cape Verdean”.  This feeling has undoubtedly grown with my confidence in the language. I always felt as though I was falling behind in language because I had spent less time out practicing and more time working at the computer. All of that has changed in a matter of months. For the first time I feel as though I am really hearing the language. In languages, many words have a meaning because of our history or culture. Think about it… there are words that are funny because of some facet of American culture etc. The same is true in other languages, without cultural growth, language is truly difficult to understand. I attribute all of this personal growth to my work with Natura 2000. 

I was recently in Praia with Natura 2000, but representing Peace Corps for the third annual TAOLA meeting. TAOLA is the word turtle and Kriola smashed together to represent this incredibly lengthy title; The National Sea Turtle Protection Network of Cape Verde. The organization allows for all programs, large and small, to present the previous year’s data and then turtle experts from around the world critique and offer suggestions for the upcoming turtle season. This is a positive step for the protection of the third largest nesting population of Loggerhead Turtles in the world, 90% of this population is from Boa Vista.  We are also an integral breeding ground for Humpback Whales; needless to say Boa Vista is incredibly special and has a special place in my heart. The TAOLA meeting went really well and many of the smaller organizations benefited greatly having so many experts present to provide feedback. I was also very lucky to have met Adolfo. He lives in Spain, but was in Praia with Natura 2000 for the meetings. He is a herpetologist… who studies lizards… his PhD was a population study…. I obviously enjoyed speaking with him immensely. He was excited to see the things I have been working on, and added some great insight to something that I am currently trying to explain. Here is a brief overview:

• ·         Under rocks that have burrows leading to lizard nests, I have found large circular piles of spines from a common plant species on the islet. Further, the spines are occasionally refreshed with green, newly fallen spines from this plant. 

• ·         A few explanations; this is some form of nest guarding. However then the question is; nest guarding from what and how do the spines play a role. The second explanation would be to keep the nest moist and hydrated. If this is the case I will need to look at nesting success compared to nest humidity. One more possibility is that the spines could play a role in thermoregulation of the nest, which I believe would be closely tied to nest moisture.

These are the things keeping me so busy and happy over the past couple of months. The idea that I have found MY people amongst the constantly evolving life of a Peace Corps volunteer, is one of the most comforting feelings that I have ever had. I don’t think my friend Samir will ever quite understand what he has meant to my current mentality. Thank you friend, amizada de bo e muito importante para nha mentalidade e n pensa bo sabi bo ta fika nha amigo siempre. The coordinator for the national park on Boa Vista has arrived, but my future with him is currently clouded. Next month will be the year mark here in Cape Verde, and I have made it this far without the park job, not knowing the future with the parks is nothing new.

Samir presenting his data at the Third Annual TAOLA meeting

1- http://asemana.sapo.cv/spip.php?article53126&ak=1

Matt In Real Life

This time last month I was hiding in my house trying to forget that I actually am a Peace Corps Volunteer. I was continually thinking to myself that I should be doing more, right? Am I really this incompetent? It had seemed that everyone around me was doing great things; teaching, hosting environmental camps, working for kindergartens, and many other incredibly successful projects. So the less I did, the more I came to hate myself. Thoughts of wasting taxpayer money and pointless days ran rampant throughout my mind. Peace Corps brings out the best; I know this to be true without a doubt. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t one of the best or smartest in the room, but here it’s sometimes painstakingly obvious, yet still hard to admit that I am not. It’s true though, I am surrounded by 52 of the most intelligent, dedicated, and resourceful people I have ever met. Their projects and jobs are immaculate and I often find myself jealous, which I realize is a huge character flaw. There are things that I could be doing; teaching English, helping at kindergartens and so on, but these all sound so boring. I am not the guy who can go into any situation and make a job up. I am sorry if I let Peace Corps down, but I in no way ever misrepresented what I am good at and what I would be willing to do. I am just no good at teaching HIV/AIDS to youth groups, or hosting soccer camps, that’s not me. However, there is one thing that I am really good at, and that my friends is science. 

I had meeting with our new Country Director (CD), Valerie, about my lack of job and everything else that I have been complaining about on this blog for the past 9 months or so. She was disappointed to hear all of this and we talked about what could be done to change this. I mentioned the two environmental organizations on the island, Natura2000 and Turtle Foundation, and she got to work getting in contact with these two and trying to find me a placement with one, to get my working in my field. She sent out some emails and forwarded me the responses. They were nice emails that spoke highly of me, but as my CD said, “the responses were lukewarm at best”. I wasn’t as disappointed as I thought I should have been, I am almost immune to disappointment. 

During my first few months in country and during PST another volunteer told me something that I found vaguely ignorant and I slightly judged him for his comment. He told me “some of your best contacts and projects will develop at the bar scene”. I regret judging him so harshly for this, because he was right. It seems that I always have a beer in my hand when the most influential moments happen. They start small; it’s a wave, or a head nod, like I am part of a giant club that only exists when you are together at a bar. We are all guarding each other’s secrets. Danny and I are sitting at a bar on the pier called Tmanche, just having an evening beer when I see Elena and her husband Patrik, the administration for Natura2000. Elena gives me the head nod and sits down at a table in front of us to have dinner and a few beers. After they eat dinner Elena approaches me and says, “I received an email from some lady saying she was your boss and that she wanted to have a more permanent relationship”, I tell her “I would enjoy working for Natura200 and volunteering my services wherever they need me”.  She seems unimpressed but open to the idea and invites me to come in on Monday around 9 or 10. I am excited, but do my best to seem normal, a rather hard feat for me most times.

Monday comes. I am up at 6 a.m., about an hour before my alarm is to wake me. I prepare for my first day at the office. I don’t want to seem too anxious so I wait until 9:50 to leave my house. I arrive at the offices dressed a little too formal, but its ok, this is my first impression after all. I meet the crew; Carolina (Car-o-lean-a), she is a trainer for the environmental classes being held by Natura2000, Pedrin is a Spanish guy in his 40s, quiet but his presence is loud. Patrik is Elena’s husband and is the self-appointed logistical manager. Elena is the director of Natura2000, very smart, cute, and dedicated to the conservation of sea turtles. Juilieta is a large man, he is funny but his presence demands respect. Samir is a Cape Verdean guy working on his masters out of Portugal, he is smart but young, I want to teach him everything I know, and a few guys from Ireland working on whale research. Elena doesn’t wait a moment; she wants to know what my ideas are and what my plans are. I tell her about my population study that I am working on and ask for some help with methodology. We exchange data and ideas and she puts me in contact with a society I didn’t know existed, Sociedade Caboverdiana de Zoologia, which I am proud to announce am the newest member. She opened a magical science door. These people live underground because I have never seen them around town before, but here they all are, in one room, and now only an email away. There is so much intelligence here that I again begin to feel inferior, until they start asking me lizard questions!

Then I start rolling with whatever this new job is. They ask me to accompany them on whale research and turtle research and they want to be a part of my lizard study. Pedrin and I went to the small island off the coast of Sal Rei and where we found some really interesting things that have persuaded me to entirely shift my study focus. I have never felt so part of an organization that is doing work that I believe in. The science is solid and I learn that there is even a Cape Verdean science journal that is quite good. I have every intention to publish here, and Pedrin and Elena are excited about my ideas. This is what I was looking for. I have arrived at the moment that has run through my mind for so long. On my birthday I received presents and kisses. I have become part of a science family that I so desperately needed. I can breathe easier now, especially now that the Saharan sand has stopped blowing so viciously.

Long Titles and Pleasantries

I was recently in Praia (the capitol) for a 5 day meeting concerning the National Parks project document. The UNDP, United Nations Development Project, represented by Oliver Puigner (Chief Technical Specialist for both projects; Climate Change and Biodiversity) and Fabiana Issler (Regional Technical Advisor for Biodiversity) were present as well as the local government officials and my supervisor Leão Carvalho (National Coordinator for Biodiversity) for all of the preliminary meeting. We were to finalize the documents, coming to agreement on the wording and meaning of said wording. This would be a long process in one language, but three? Unreal! The first day of meetings was incredibly productive, I was doing my very best to understand the Portuguese and felt as though the other two Peace Corps Volunteers as well as myself made some great contributions that were taken seriously and even stayed permanently in the project document. Go us! The following 4 days were a slow decline to what I can only describe as a small coma. The languages being spat back and forth at lighting speeds gave me a slight headache; I guess I forgot the other official language of the UN is French. No, I don’t speak French. It was easy to drift off to another world when 1) They were speaking French and 2) they were working on part of the project that had nothing to with us *Climate change. There were several times when many things were being said in both Portuguese and French quickly and then Fabiana would look over to us and say “do you agree?” my response “I don’t know, I don’t think that any of us understood exactly what was said”. Anyhow, to get to the point, the project went official as of Thursday April 14^th. Thanks to the help of all government officials and NGOs (special thanks to Natura2000 and Elena Perez) who have a stake in this project and made contributions, my project has “officially” begun.

What does the mean to me and my future on Boa Vista? Good question reader…. I don’t know. Here is the limited amount of information that I have received from the newly hired Lazero, the local coordinator for Parque Marinho do Leste here on Boa Vista. Lazero worked at another park on São Nicolau for about 4 years and is currently living in Praia. He is due to move out here in May, fingers crossed, and will have a brand new truck with him for the park. All of this sounds promising, but I am forever skeptical. If all of this comes together and we begin work in May, I will be ecstatic. However, turtle season starts towards the end of next month and I will never be short of work with Turtle Foundation. 

In other news- 

• I will be coming home for a short visit in July! Interested in seeing your favorite blogger? No… oh.. ok

• My post that some of you may be familiar with "The Shadow of The Sahara" is receiving some national and international attention that I had not foreseen. I have received calls from Peace Corps Administration and emails from across the world telling me how much my article meant to them. I also forgot to tell you, that blog actually made the latest newsletter of Cape Verde that you can see here Nobas Newsletter

• I have started my population study on the endemic Chioninia spinalis boavistensis 

• Peace Corps Cape Verde has a new country director and she is cool!

• If you get some time or just feel like spending some more time cruising the interweb then cruise on over to Turtle Foundation and see what good work these folks are doing.

Languages Are Fun

I wouldn’t say that the word sexy is used all that frequently here in Cape Verde. However that could just be because I am not sexually appealing to many Cape Verdean women or some other circumstances I am unaware of. I tend to lean towards “other circumstances” for the mere fact that I refuse to believe I am not attractive, don’t we all? Nobody wants to hear they are unattractive or that they are fat, that’s just not polite. Unfortunately, that word, I’m afraid is lost in Kriolu, and will never to show face unless forced or bribed.

For example, if I am feeling gracious or just happen to have a package from America and have lots of treats, I will generally hand out most of the candy. The candy is always welcomed but mostly the giver is unnoticed, that’s where the bribe and forceful nature of thank you comes in. I will not give them the candy unless I hear please and thank you. I digress, politeness, why are we so polite in America? In the English language in general? We always ask things in a manner that is unsure or hesitant; “Can you please give me”, “could I please have”, “if you’re not too busy please do….”. They all seem to ask for something to be done if it doesn’t inconvenience the other person. 

I double digress, politeness… in daily conversations with even acquaintances there is almost no boundaries, physically or linguistically. The space is always much closer than American standards and the conversations can always take a hard right into the metaphorical wall. For the sake of privacy during the conversation I shall call this friend G. This is the conversation I had with my friend (at work… in front of everyone) after returning to site from Senegal and having been at site for roughly 2 weeks:

G: Matt, what’s up man? Long time since I have seen you

Me: Nothing special just getting back to life here in Boa Vista

G: How was your trip, how was Senegal? Were you safe, no problems?

Me: No problems, it was beautiful. I really like Senegal, the food, the culture, everything. I went to see this town in th (get cut off)

G: What have you been eating man? You came back fat! You’re fat now. I lost some weight, I was really sick, but have been working out too, but you’re fat now.

Me:………? Really? Like really fat? (timidly)

G: Well you know… just… fat.

Me: Ok, well I have some things to do sooooooo, talk to you later?

G: Sure thing Matt, I’ll pass by your house today

Me: Of course, peace and love

How embarrassing right? Well this is pretty normal conversation for me here; there is no filter for what can be said and location of conversation it seems. The other conversation would have been less inappropriate had I not been speaking to my friend’s girlfriend, and him being right there. We’re at a bar/restaurant just hanging out about a week after returning from Senegal, we shall call her L:

L: Good evening Matt! How are you?

Me: I’m good, how are you?

L: Good, so how was Senegal?

Me: It was good, I had a good time there. Be right back, I need to use the bathroom.

(Exit the booth, and return)

L: Woah, Matt, you came back sexy.

Me: From the bathroom?

L: Hahahaha no, from Senegal. You returned sexy.

Me:…… Really? I don’t think I changed much. Soooooo, how about that football (that’s soccer to you Americans reading) game? Did you see that goal?

Which one to believe? I don’t know, but I lean heavily towards sexy. But sadly, it’s the other conversation that I hear more. I am in no way slighting one conversational tactic or the other. I think that in English we have a way of saying things more delicately, but I enjoy the directness of Kriolu. If you want something you say, “give me”. Sound rude? This is completely acceptable. To bring this blog back full circle, I will continue to live in my own dream world, where I am “sexy”. Thanks Cape Verde, I’ll ignore the fat comments. Peace and love friends.

A Month in a Thing Called Life

I have contemplated how to write this blog for days. I have fought with myself, deleted 30 different copies of this, started and scraped it all. I had promised myself I would never allow someone to get close to me. I failed miserably. I realize this as I sit on the front steps of another volunteer’s house the day before we are to leave for Senegal. I guess I have only been “dumped” once in my life, I’m always the one who thinks to end things before serious talks ever begin, before real emotions are even an idea. Who would have ever thought a casual relationship would never work. Someone always gets hurt. This time it just happened to be me, but I am resilient. The first few days in country are slightly awkward, because we just so happen to be traveling to Senegal together. The night I realize that it is truly over (in Senegal), I let loose and have one hell of a night.

It has been so long since I have been surrounded by this many Americans, thus I felt slightly vulnerable. Unsure if I was still capable to socially communicate. Turns out… it’s kind of like riding a bike; you never forget, but you might fall and metaphorically scrape your face. In no time at all I was socially normal and ended up with some really good friends whom are serving in real Africa. I have the upmost respect for you all.

The main reason for going to Senegal was for a little thing called W.A.I.S.T (West African Invitational Softball Tournament). It was an incredible experience, 200 plus volunteers who have been living in extremely conservative, Muslim communities converging upon one softball field, dressed in the most outrageous costumes that you can imagine. Since Cape Verde only had 7 players we teamed up with the recently evacuated Niger to form the Cape Verde/Niger Refugee Spectacular (I think everyone had a different name for the team, but truly not important). A fortuitous event as they were all really cool and fantastic softball players. We won our division, whoop!! Although, the idea that we “won” is slightly misleading, half the teams we played forfeit before the first pitch… enter insanity. We were told that we were “too competitive” because we were playing sober. Drunken doubles aside, there were some really great conversations, and an information exchange that gave me some great ideas for things I could possibly do on Boa Vista. The networking that occurred during those four days is invaluable. If this was just a conference I don’t think the same relationships would have been formed.

After four sleepless nights in Dakar, Matt Kubal and I packed up our gear and decided to head north to St. Louis, pronounced San-lou-ee. The day we are leaving I’m nervous, my French is weak and my Wolof is non-existent, and by my French is weak I mean I only know some numbers. Other people are worried for us because we are going to a place called “Garage Pompeii”, a lot filled with station wagons and buses that look as though they should have been retired in the 70’s. We are dropped off on the outskirts of this so called garage, looking incredibly touristy (enormous hiking backpacks, sleeping bags, and white skin). I begin saying St. Louis, and people are speaking at me in rapid fire, but luckily pointing in the general direction of the cars for St. Louis. Without any real problems we are settled in a station wagon headed for St. Louis. The trip there is surreal; on no island in Cabo Verde can you drive for more than two hours, this trip took seven sweltering hours (Africans hate the wind, they will close windows regardless of temperature). Four market stops, two police bribes, and one new Senegalese friend later we arrive in the first Capitol of Western Africa. Thanks to a new friend, Amanda, we are put in contact with a few volunteers who reside in the area, and are able to stay for free the first two nights! I love Peace Corps Volunteers. The third night, we need to be out of the house because there is much traffic through the transit house due to some evacuations in the north. We are told about a little hut hotel on the beach called The Pelican. It’s a quaint little place that seems more like a couples retreat, but the price is right, so Kubal and I snuggle up. We spent our days walking the town, kayaking the Senegal River, and biking though the National Park. As the trip begins to slow down, so does my body. I am physically exhausted by this point and ready to go back to Boa Vista. However I still have a week of IST (In-Service Training) waiting for me in Praia… joy. 

Waiting for my flight back to Praia I see a man with a guidebook for Cape Verde from the 90’s. That book will get him nowhere. I begin a conversation with him and learn that he is a French Volunteer in Mali. He works for the French version of Peace Corps more or less. I ask him if he speaks Portuguese or Kriolu, he doesn’t. He begins shooting questions at me about where to go and what to do, clearly he needs help. I begin by giving him emergency numbers of volunteers on other islands, and after an hour or so of speaking with him I decide to take him under my wing. I show him a little of Praia and then Assomada. I call my host mother and ask her if I can bring a French guy to eat a traditional Cape Verdean plate (Katxupa). She is ecstatic; she loves to show off for guests. To the countryside we go. He loves the food and the welcoming nature, and I can’t deny that I feel truly loved there and have a longing to be with them more. After a nice visit, we return to Praia, because the next begins my training and he is on a plane to São Vicente (best of luck friend, hope all went smoothly). 

Our training is surprisingly good. I went in thinking that it would just be a wasted 5 days, but we were given useful information, and presented with NGOs willing to fund projects. Four other volunteers and I go to a place called ProSan, they specialize in composting and minimal water use toilets. I begin to see the challenges that will come with the public bathroom project that I am trying to get down with VZW, the Belgian NGO. I am in no way giving up on this project but I do need another meeting with them before I begin writing a grant. The biggest news of all though, happened because of a breach of protocol by one of the other Environmental volunteers. 

Scott, on Sãnto Antao, has met a gentleman named Oliver. Oliver is the chief technical specialist, whatever the hell that means. What he really is… the representative from the UN in charge of the National Parks Project that I am a part of. Although I should clarify this; Manuel Carvalho is the National Coordinator for this project, and Oliver technically answers to him, I digress. Scott had been sending Oliver emails asking what we were supposed to be doing and when we would begin. This is where the breach of protocol occurs. We shouldn’t be contacting Oliver directly yet because he didn’t even know we were assigned to this project. This causes a little unrest on the Cape Verdean side and next thing I know Sarah, Scott, our APCD (Associate Peace Corps Director), Manuel Cavalho, Oliver, and me are in a meeting to discuss the parks. We are officially welcomed to the project and are privy to information and maps and resources that I have been trying to find for months. Oliver then tells us that we are to return to Praia April 11-15^th for the official opening and workshop, where we are to present our islands and have a report that includes the following information; 

-           - Overall impression of the project now that we have been at your sites for some time;

-       - Key challenges or risks that you perceive, with ideas how to address them

-       - Additional or supplementary activities that you consider relevant or useful in biodiversity conservation that have not been included yet or have come up recently.

This is a wonderful opportunity to really show that I am actually competent. However, I have no way to get over to where the park is going to be, and I haven’t even seen parts of this island yet. I can’t present if I have no idea what the ecological issues are in that area. I feel an adventure is in store. I haven’t a clue how I am going to get the information I need yet, but am confident that I will figure something out... time to break some of the asinine PC rules?

I know this blog is very informative and less fun to read, and for that I apologize. The next one will be more fun, you have the Matt Acre word. I think the presence of Cabo Verde at W.A.I.S.T. will cause an influx of West African volunteers visiting, which is rather exciting! I can’t wait to see all of my newly acquired friends again. Only 345 days until my glorious return to the motherland and the next softball tournament. Paz y amor from my little spot of land in the Atlantic.   

A volunteer friend in Senegal, Kate, is a fantastic writer... check out her blog if you get some time and show some love. I realize the website is a little confusing but, she is one of the Niger refugees.
http://niger-mania.blogspot.com/

  

Belgians, Germans, Cape Verdeans, Oh My My!

We are told as Peace Corps Volunteers that we WILL experience the roller coaster ride of our lives over the next 27 months. These words are hard to comprehend as an applicant, and as you wait for your service to begin, hell even during what is known as “the honeymoon phase” of your service. After about 6-8 weeks in country you begin to see the reality of service in another country and the difficulties that come with development work in the third world. I have been at my site for almost 5 months now and believe me; I know this metaphorical roller coaster all too well. The valleys are deep, and the peaks are beautifully high. How does a volunteer come out of the depths and reach a point where he/she is able to see the future? 

As I sat at the table drinking my Coke with the Belgium NGO, I couldn’t help but cry. I had been laughing internally so long and hard, that tears had begun to form in the corner of my eyes. The two Belgians, one of them born in the U.S., but at the age of nine emigrated to Belgium, had been in country for roughly 5 days. “Matt” they say “people make appointments that they don’t keep, they make you wait for hours to talk to anyone, and when you finally do meet with someone the meeting is generally unfulfilling”.  I tell them whilst laughing/crying “I have been here in Cape Verde for 6 months, I understand your frustrations and if you want to get development work done here, then these are parts of the culture that must be understood. We can’t force development in the same sense of “development” that occurs in Belgium or America”. I think I end that part of the conversation with a welcome to Cape Verde or something else cheesy like that. The conversation then turns to the potential project that was surprisingly good. 

There is a part of Sal Rei to the north known as Baraka; this part of town is where many of the construction workers and many lower end laborers live. There is no water, no electricity, no bathrooms, and is in general quite unsanitary. They are without a doubt the ones who need the most help. I have been trying to pitch an idea to the Camâra (government) for public bathrooms/showers. However, I have been met with resistance with the main excuse being, people don’t want public, they will only use private bathrooms. They have a relatively good point; Cape Verdeans are a proud people. With this knowledge I have been asking around to my friends who live there what they think Baraka needs the most, and bathrooms is in the top three always. So I ask them if public bathrooms/showers were there would people use them, without ever hinting that is what I am thinking of doing. Point being, I think I have received an unbiased opinion of the most important things in Baraka, and to my Peace Corps friends reading this blog (damn you PACA). 

So back to the Belgians, they had thought of building some communal place in Baraka, and I thought that perhaps a bathroom/shower attached would be a good idea. They loved the idea and were incredibly excited to have met me saying, “the first few days we were here nothing happened, but then the last couple of days everything seems to be coming together. We meet you and you tell us that there is another one of you on the island (Danny)! We are very pleased to see this project coming together”. This is where the peak comes; here I am sitting with two professors from a Belgian university telling me, a 24 year-old inexperienced development worker, they are excited to work with me. We begin talking about all the other projects they will be starting in July, some of them intimately involving Danny and I. Little did they know, they were saving me, pulling me out of the storm.  

I have also been taking a few meetings with Turtle Foundation, mostly Christian, the director of the Boa Vista site. We have discussed several projects that could be important, and income generating for Cape Verdeans. One project that interests me in particular is the construction of a field guide to the reptiles and insects of Boa Vista and then having Cape Verdeans sell them to tourists. Christian is a 30 year-old ecologists from Germany, his interests in the animals of Cape Verde is unrivaled. I feel as though he is an ecologist first but, development work seems to be a close second for him, not much unlike me and probably why we get along so well. 

Now for those who read this and say, well there are no Cape Verdeans in any of these projects, calm. The man who will be running the main project in Baraka is a Cape Verdean pastor, his name is Francisco. He will be helping with the coordination of people and supplies, and will be an integral part of the entire operation. I made a point during my meeting to stress the involvement of Cape Verdeans to insure the transfer of skills and the sense of ownership. 

So, all of that being said, the roller coaster continues. And damn, the peaks are beautiful.    

I’ll be in Senegal and Praia for three weeks, so don’t think I am ignoring you, it will just be difficult for me to be in contact. Paz y Amor my landlocked friends.

The Shadow of The Sahara

The days have become long and exhausting with the arrival of the Sahara Desert sands. There is a haze that constantly seems to hang over me, with the lack of job, direction, and a good friend of mine leaving the Peace Corps early for personal reasons, it is sometimes hard to find a sense of purpose. Let me try to explain the different roles that we Peace Corps volunteers play in Cabo Verde. 

Danny, my roommate, is an ED volunteer, or an education volunteer. He teaches English classes in the primary school, where every single kid on the island between the ages of 12 and 19 attend for their education. His integration with Sal Rei has been quite flawless due to his high profile job. I, on the other hand, am a SED volunteer, or a Small Enterprise Development Volunteer. As a SED volunteer our job descriptions are generally less constricted and we are given the freedom that ED’s rarely see. Generally, we SEDs are given a counterpart and an office where we are to make connections and network to eventually produce some development projects. However, I was never assigned a counterpart; I have nowhere to go during the days, just to wander aimlessly until I fall into something. For those reading this who know me, you know this is not my style. 

I decided to take a vacation here recently to the “motherland”, Santiago. I needed to find my purpose; I needed to see my friends who surely would have words of wisdom. They could tell me what I was supposed to be doing, why I joined, and I could rediscover myself during some much needed time away from my island. I had some really deep talks with all of my closest friends, and none of the talks seemed to help, I still couldn’t see through the haze. I actually felt no different upon return to my island, still unsure and confused. It wasn’t until I sat down to write in my journal, that I had what some would call an epiphany, but I like my metaphor with the sands from the Sahara better, I had a moment of sudden clarity. The haze had been slightly lifted, the sand had cleared just enough for me to see what I had been missing the whole time. It wasn’t the talks about sense of purpose, what I could do in place of my primary project that helped. Everything changed in my mind when I saw that the time in between talks is what helped. The things I was doing and experiencing. 

I spent one night with a very good friend of mine on his mountain in the middle of nowhere, literally. We played cards, smoked a cigar, and drank some good ol’ American whiskey. We had talked earlier about my concerns, but it was the deafening silence that spoke loudest, the moments where nothing else mattered other than the time with a good friend and some cards. I had a similar experience with another very close friend on the coast of the “motherland”. He is slightly older than me and had some great words of wisdom that probably would have been great words to bask in. However, I had little interest in what he was saying, mostly due to my own ignorance, but also because the words aren’t what mattered. We spent our time together doing all of the traditional Cape Verdean things. We even woke up one morning and found ourselves killing a pig and a goat on what we would later find out was the original fort of Cabo Verde. We performed the most traditional of traditions on what many consider to be the birthplace of Cabo Verde. Time after time, site after site, pen stroke after pen stroke, I saw what I had been missing. The most ironic part of this all, during my time in America I had a quote taped to my mirror, and it’s still there as far as I know. I won’t repeat the quote word for word for fear of butchering it, but I will give you the general significance; I was always living my life for the next moment, as if the moment I was in was a hurdle that needed to be conquered before my real life was to begin. Until I realized that my life had already begun, the conquests were my life. 

I had been blinded by the sands, by the hurdles in my life. I may have no better sense of purpose, and I most definitely still don’t have a job. But, I am going to live in this moment and be whatever Peace Corps and Cabo Verde need me to be. As my roommate so eloquently said, “it’s like that scene from Batman; and if your only success is to make the job easier for the next guy, than that is what you will be.” As the sands of the Sahara cloud everything, I say, “where’s my handkerchief”.