A Nice, Varied Photo Update

Click here to check out some recent pictures from my life. Leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Fa Mi e Si En Photo Project

The two winners with their winning photos and the two PCV Project Coordinators

Two of my fellow Peace Corps Volunteers who are located in the city decided to do a photography project all across Suriname. Every interested PCV selected a child in their respective villages and then mentored that child, teaching them how to take pictures with disposable cameras. There were about 37 child participants. Judges from the Suriname Photographer Association selected the best pictures from each child and then the top picture in two categories: Nature and Culture. My child, Angiti Dalen Van, age 10, won for the Nature category!

Angiti and I

Angiti, her guardian and myself took a trip into the city for a press conference, a private reception, a public expo and private lessons with a professional photographer and artist. It was quite the exciting weekend for her! The American Ambassador for Suriname, the Dutch Ambassador for Suriname, the Peace Corps Country Director and Suriname's Director of Culture were all in attendance.

To read more about the project, check this out from the local Surinamese news. My talented husband was the official Peace Corps photographer for all of these events. To check out his pictures, click here.

Camp Glow (and "Cheenas")

Camp Glow is a Peace Corps concept for young girls to learn life skills. Peace Corps Suriname volunteers just finished the second Camp Glow on our river. For four days, about 14 Peace Corps volunteers, seven Saramaccan cabin moms, a handful of Saramaccan guest speakers and 50 Saramaccan girls between the ages of 12 and 16 co-inhabited a tourist camp located on a small island in the middle of the Suriname River. The girls attended lessons on Nutrition & Exercise, Careers, HIV/AIDS Prevention, Gender Roles & Leadership, Sexual & Reproductive Health, and Environmentalism. Other activities included slag ball (it is similar to soft ball), soccer, volleyball, Frisbee, jump rope, hair braiding, washing in the river, movie time, Pictionary and soap-making.

All of these girls came from the Upper Suriname River, where tradition reigns and the Western worldviews are scarce. Many of the girls already have men or will very soon. Ryan and I gave the lesson on Leadership and Gender Roles as we did for the first camp, along with a Saramaccan guest speaker who is from Paramaribo. Since gender roles in careers were covered in another session, we focused on gender roles in marriage and in the home. Saramaccan culture is extremely gendered, with women carrying the majority of everyday work. “Marriage” relationships (in quotations because most Saramaccans do not get married legally but just “take a man/woman”) are so different from the Western concept that they are difficult for me to understand. Multiple wives are accepted, although influence from the Western world is changing opinions. A common problem with a man having multiple wives is that he is often unable to provide for them and their many children. In our lesson, we stressed finishing school before taking a man and having children. We emphasized the importance of finding a good man, who will work hard and help provide for the family. Ryan and I told our story- what important things we talked about before getting married, how we share housework, that we both earned the same amount of money in America, our promise to only be with each other, etc. The kids (and cabin moms!) are always fascinated by our story. The reality is that many of these girls will have co-wives. The point of Ryan and I telling our story is not to change their way of thinking to ours, but rather to expose them to other cultures and to encourage them to seek their own paths. We stressed that whether the girls had co-wives or not, finding men who would live well with them was important (after they finish school).

Another fascinating part of this culture that challenged camp logistics are “cheenas”. A cheena is a taboo/allergy/superstition. They are more prevalent upriver. One of our campers is not allowed to pass by a particular rapid in front of a particular village on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Well, our camp ended on a Tuesday and the girl would have to pass through this rapid to get back to her village, so she had to have her own boat come take her home a day early. Cheenas are taken very seriously.

The family of two other girls (sisters) had prayed to the gods right before the camp, begging them for something (I am not sure what, but possibly for the health of a family member). In exchange for the gods’ help, the family pledged to not use river water for one day. This is a huge sacrifice, since women wash themselves, their children, their clothes, their plates, etc in the river at least twice a day, every day (as if the Saramaccan lifestyle wasn’t already challenging enough). Of course, this day landed on the last day of our camp. The girls had to wash with rain water that day, while all the other campers went to the river. Later, the counselors filled up water balloons to soak all the girls. Well, the sink water is pumped from the river, so the girls were careful to step to the side to avoid contact. Later, when all the girls were getting into the boat to go home, a long discussion ensued about where was the best place for them to sit in the boat so they would not get splashed at all. The family planned to offer things like rum, clothing material, etc. to the gods when they arrived for even chancing getting wet in a boat. If the gods are angered then something bad could happen to the whole family.

I have heard of other cheenas such as if a women has twins, she can no longer eat any animals that live above the ground. For example, she can eat iguana, tapir, and peccary. However, she can no longer eat sloth, monkey or birds. They believe that if she does, something terrible will happen to the twins.

There is a village upriver from mine that does not allow white people in it. Apparently, the god who lives in the land cannot be around white people. If a white person was to go there, something would happen to the whole village and the white person or the person who bought the white person there. The same god lives in the head of a woman in one of my friend’s villages, so she has to avoid that part of the village.

This is the world that I live in. Fascinating, right?

Going back to Camp Glow, Ryan was the official camp photographer. Click here, here, here, and here to check out his vibrant pictures.

Thank yous!

Ryan and I received these AWESOME birthday cards from Mrs. Tracy’s 4^th and 5^th graders and we want to give them a special shout out. Thank you!

Ryan especially loved the cards with pictures of him killing tarantulas. Great job everyone!

We also want to say thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Tracy, my mom and dad, and Edgar and Anne for the awesome care packages. Thanks to everyone who has sent us letters recently! We genuinely appreciate your thoughtfulness and support. Those little pieces of home mean a lot to us.

One Year in Saramaaka

It is hard to believe, but we are coming up on one year since we first set foot in Suriname and it has been a wild ride! To Americans, a year seems like such a long time but to Saramaccans, it is fleeting. I must say that with the goal of integrating into a culture that is SO incredibly diverse from my own, including learning the language from absolute square one, one year is not a long time. In fact, this experience has only strengthened my belief that development workers must put in the time to truly understand a country, a culture, and a people long before they can try to “improve” anything.  There are so many things that Saramaccans do that I still do not understand why they do them but you know what? They have lived this way for generations- long before I showed up- and they have survived just fine. Yes, I have been trained in the things of the Western world and some of those things can be applied here to empower the people in order to improve their quality of life. However, in so many things I know nothing and am like an infant. It is amazing that as society “progresses”, people lose the most basic skills and knowledge, like how to just take care of yourself without all the modern conveniences.

Saramaccans left “civilized society” in this Dutch colony to escape slavery and created a life for themselves in the middle of the Amazon jungle- definitely one of the fiercest environments in the world. And they have continued to survive ever since. That is impressive. And then here I come, a college educated white girl who doesn’t know how to grow my own food, light a wood fire or kill snakes, rats, etc. and I am supposed to be educating them? Respect and relationships govern this community, not resumes and individualism. And not self-seeking relationships from heartless networking but sincere, intimate relationships with people you see every day and know well.

This experience has really opened my eyes to the reality of development work- what works and what doesn’t and what effects “charity” has on entire generations and communities. I have worked with numerous international charities/non-profits/development agencies from the pristine walls of offices in Beverly Hills and Santa Monica but diligent research and strategic meetings do not achieve the level of understanding that comes from working in the field. This is the most challenging undertaking that I have attempted thus far (and Machu Piccu was excruciating). Every day takes its toll physically, mentally, and emotionally but it has been and continues to be such an awe-inspiring experience. I have worked my way into a part of this community (worked HARD, mind you)- into its rich culture, complicated past and uncertain future. It is unlikely that I will have the opportunity to be in this unique position ever again.

Two weeks ago Ryan and I were riding in a bus from Paramaribo back to site with a driver that we know well. A couple Saramaccan men who did not know us got onto the bus and one of them asked the driver “ambe dee bakaa?” which means “who are these white people/outsiders?” With a chuckle (since he knew we understood the question), he replied, “they’re not outsiders/white people, they’re Saramaccan.” For not completing one fleeting year yet, I would say that is pretty damn good. ;)