It’s been a surprisingly busy term at school as I try to
wrap everything up in my service. After each week of school I was making the
trip over to Amaile, Upolu, which is the training village for Group 89. I lead
Numeracy sessions every Saturday, which was really busy, but also rewarding.
This Numeracy program is my baby and I am so impressed with how trainings went
for it; I think it can be successful! Thankfully my commute every weekend is
now finished as the new group swears in next week. There were some perks to
this weekly travel – one being that I was in the capital, Apia, for Halloween!
I got to celebrate with other volunteers. We dressed up as fruit, which was
hilarious! I was a strawberry, which was extra funny because they don’t exist
here. There’s no word in the language and I haven’t seen a strawberry in 27
months. Thus, any Samoan who saw me had no idea what I was, but at least I
cracked myself up!
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| Check out these yummy fruits! |
I’ve been able to fit in some last Samoan adventures as my
time living in the South Pacific comes to an end. One really awesome experience
was a day of hiking! Although these islands are made of volcanoes and so
mountainous, the inland sections are not occupied and have no trails. So we get
to see mountains, but we never get to climb them! I love hiking, so I’ve truly
missed that while living here. However, one weekend, two other volunteers and I
found a wonderful hiking trail. It is actually an abandoned road that was used
before the coastal road was constructed. It leads from Vaiola to Patamea and
then we continued walking to Manase. Twenty miles later, we walked a good
portion of this island!!! It was incredible!
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| Sweaty but happy hikers! |
Another incredible adventure I had was for Thanksgiving. My
third Thanksgiving in Samoa and by far my best! I was able to visit 5 islands
within 2 days (casual)! This trip included 3 islands I had never been to before
– Nuulopa, Manono, and Apolima. These three islands are located between Savai’i
and Upolu and I’ve passed them about 100 times on ferry rides. I finally got to
go see them! Nuulopa is a mini, private island that no one lives on. We stopped
there for a couple hours to swim and it was magical. Next up was Manono. Manono
is an inhabited island with quite a few villages. There are even two Primary
Schools where Peace Corps volunteers are sometimes placed. This island has no
dogs and no cars, which makes it perfect. We walked around Manono twice – once
in each direction. It takes about two hours to walk around and the views are
incredible. Some parts of the island look out to the surrounding islands,
whereas other parts look out at the open Pacific. I loved Manono and could’ve
easily lived there. I’m so happy I made it there before leaving!
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| The boat to Manono was a little more enjoyable than my normal ferry. |
And the final stop on this whirlwind island-tour
Thanksgiving was Apolima! Apolima is also inhabited with no cars, but it is
much smaller than Manono. There’s only about twenty houses, all arranged in a
semi-circle surrounded by cliffs. It is truly what I envisioned Samoan villages
to look like before moving here. The tricky part about Apolima is that you have
to be invited there in order to go there. It’s not a place with a ferry that
anyone can visit. However, one of my fellow volunteers, Craig, was bestowed a
Matai (chief) title on Apolima and therefore was able to invite me! We got to
stay with the Pastor for two nights and it was just as magical as Nuulopa and
Manono. On Apolima you can hike up both sides of the crater and get a view of
the entire village. It is just breathtaking. The whole island is solar-powered
and every house has a water tank. It’s truly self-sustainable. There are no schools,
so the school children take a boat to Upolu every Monday and stay at school for
the week, taking a boat home on Friday. We were able to catch the school boat
back when we were leaving and it was so fun riding in a mini boat with all the
children!
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| I'm so lucky to have been invited to this beautiful island. |
Aside from my weekend adventures, school has also been
wonderful. These last couple months of my service have really pulled everything
together and I couldn’t be more grateful. One giant accomplishment is that Sili
Primary School now has brand new, fully functional bathrooms! We finished our
grant!!! After applying for the grant in February, having it accepted and being
rewarded $35,000 in April, to now having it complete in November: it has been a
process to say the least. Getting supplies to a remote Samoan island is not
easy, but we did it! My villagers were at school until about 11pm each night
building and connecting pipes. I was honestly speechless to see how hard
everyone worked and how much everyone cared! It is hard to bring a village of 5
different churches together, but that’s exactly what this project did. On
Wednesday, November 29th, we had our ribbon-cutting grand opening.
LDS Charities, who funded the grant, came along with all of my village pastors,
Matai, and untitled men. It was one of the biggest ceremonies we’ve ever had!
There were pigs and cows and fine mats and Ava and all of the above! My village
truly went all out. Not only that, but three of my fellow volunteers showed up
to support me as well! I think I was too amazed to even cry, but I would’ve
been crying if I could’ve. To see so many people come together and support this
cause all for my wonderful students just filled me with gratitude: gratitude
for my village, gratitude for this grant, and gratitude for my other
volunteers. It takes a village and WE DID IT! This new bathroom block has 10
flushing toilets, two sinks with running water, and two showers with running
water!
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| New bathrooms for Sili Primary School!!! |
With that ceremony completed, my service is really coming to
a close. No more late nights putting pipes together, which I’ll surprisingly
miss. We have only two weeks left in the school year and it’s starting to hit
me that I’m actually leaving! In these next two weeks I’m going to finish up my
cultural exchange grant by putting together one last package to send to Maine.
Then, my school will have a Christmas production, and finally we will have our
Prize Giving! I am really trying to soak in time with my teachers and my host
family because I’m going to miss them all so much! Everyone has really become
family these past two years. Not only that, but my fellow volunteers have also
become my family. It is such a weird feeling that we’re all leaving and going
our separate ways. Luckily, we had one final get-together dinner where we were
invited to our Country Director’s house! It was the last time we will all see
each other and it was a night full of happiness and reflection. I’m so grateful
these people came into my life! We began as Government-issued friends, but
luckily have turned into life-long friends.
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| Group 87 together for the last time! |
Here comes December and my final month of service!
Bittersweet, bittersweet, bittersweet…
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