Upcoming Plans...

I have started working on some secondary projects in the village and I’m really excited about them!

First, we have started working on a project called GLOW (Girls Leading Our World).  It’s a world-wide program that’s been done by a lot of peace corps volunteers in other countries.  Last year was the first time it has been done in Samoa, so this year will be the second.  Basically it’s a conference that is designed to teach girls from the rural primary schools in Samoa about career possibilities and education opportunities, as well as exercise and female health issues.  Last year they only had girls from the main island and it was just one day long.  This year, the conference will be two days long and will have girls from both islands.  We think it will be really exciting for the girls from Savaii because many of them have never been to the capitol city of Apia, which really is like the equivalent of going to D.C. for them.  I am heading up the GLOW project, and we have a team of about 8 volunteers working on it.  It’s been really cool for me to get to talk with some of the successful Samoan women about being involved in the conference and to network with new people.  Making appointments with people at UN Women or the Ministry of Women, Community, and Social Development is a nice change of pace from just sitting in my classroom all day, it reminds me there are other things going on out there in the real world. 

Second, we are having our English Camp next week.  It was supposed to be a 3 day overnight thing, but the parents were really nervous about sending their kids to another village to stay the night so we decided to do a 2 day DAY camp.  So the kids will come at 7:30am and then go home at 5:00pm.  We will spend one day in Patamea (3 villages down from my village) and one day in Saleaula (my village).  We were going t do a mystery/treasure hunt them one day and an animal theme the next day and then combine the two and do skits and song s for the parents the third day, but since we changed the program we may just do a bunch of different fun games all day and not really have a theme.  We are having a planning meeting tomorrow to finalize everything.  The kids are all so excited they won’t stop talking about it. I am getting kind of tired of answering the same questions over and over again, but I know I am also like that when I’m excited so I just keep smiling. 

Third, we are going to have an island wide Spelling Bee during the fourth term (November/December).  We are going to try and have all the Primary Schools in Savaii do a spelling bee and then send their top students to the district Spelling Bee and then we will have a Savaii wide Spelling Bee for all of the top students from each district.  I suggested it to all of the other volunteers and they seemed to be excited about it, so I think it will be good. 

Lastly (and most ambitiously), I have started the talk of getting a village library.  I don’t know how it is going to go, but I talked with the brother of one of the high chiefs in the village and he said he thinks it could work.  He said I just need to get some of the high chiefs on my side and then I should have the support of the whole village.  The brother lives in Bangladesh and does development work over there, so I’m sad he won’t be here to help me and work as a support agent, but it was really nice to talk with him and know that there is atleast some support already.  I’m going to work over the break on a proposal for the village chiefs and getting it translated, but it will be a very slow process.  But I would appreciate as many prayers and good vibes sent this way as possible! Also, if you want to start informing your rich friends about it, there will come a point when I will be begging for money or books I AM SURE!