We Brought the Whole World to Our Village

Peace Corps Volunteers have been doing the World Map Project since 1988 in over 40 countries around the world. The idea is to bring people together to create large, colorful maps of the world from which the entire community benefits. To be perfectly honest, I was a little skeptical at first. I mean, aren't things like HIV/AIDS education and clean drinking water more important than painting a pretty mural?

However, after living in our village for a year and a half, it become apparent that many children and adults have minimal knowledge of world geography. I have been asked so many times if Africa is right next to America. Or how big America and the Netherlands are, etc. I try to explain to people that you could fit about 50 Surinames inside of America but that is hard to visualize. Due to the remote location of the villages along the Upper Suriname River, schools do not always receive all of the resources that they would like. Plus, many adults in my village never went to school or received minimal education. We decided this would be a solid investment in education for all ages.

Before

After

We were right. Since completing this project, villagers of all ages, from 5 years old to the village elders have learned new things about the world and where Suriname fits into it. It has been inspiring to see the awe in their eyes when they see how big Russia is and how far the Chinese immigrants traveled from China to reach Suriname. Or that the Netherlands is about the same size, if not smaller than Suriname. I am sure many thought it was much bigger considering its influence on this small country.

6th Graders

4th Graders

The most exciting part of this project, though, was that we did it in partnership with the Peace Corps Program Worldwise Schools. Our amazing Worldwise Schools partner is none other than Mrs. Summer Tracy, of course! We have had the privilege of working with Summer's last three years of classes, mostly sharing the Surinamese culture through letters and Skype calls. This year we decided to paint world maps together! Mrs. Tracy's current 3rd grade class raised the money to buy paint, paintbrushes, etc. for our map. While 3rd-6th graders at our village school helped paint our map in Suriname (along with our headmistress, captain and two lead teachers), Mrs. Tracy's 3rd grade class painted their own map back home. 

With both maps almost finished, we were able to pull off a Skype call with all of Mrs. Tracy's 3rd graders and about 8 of our 5th and 6th grade English learners (they all won English competitions to be able to stay after school to participate). Our kids practiced their English while Mrs. Tracy's kids learned the Saramaccan greeting. Then, we showed each other our maps and finally the kids were allowed to ask each other a few culture questions while I translated. The SLOW internet cut us off a few times but overall it was a huge success! I think it is so important for children (and adults!) to be exposed to other countries and cultures.

Thank you so much, Mrs. Tracy's class, for all of your hard work fundraising and for being our excellent map making partners!

Amazing job to Ryan, as well, for being the project lead on this one and coordinating it like a champion! I like being your right hand woman.

Each child painting a country had to first find the country in this atlas, then locate it  on the blank outlined map on the wall. 

 Lastly, this project would not have gone as smoothly and as quickly without our dedicated team including the captain of our village, our headmistress and our two partner teachers- Mrs. Panka and Mrs. Main.

We took A LOT of great pictures of this project, so check out the rest here.

Flutterbies …aka Butterflies

I made a “bell list”. I called it a “bucket list” at first but Ryan did not appreciate the insinuation that I might die before I did the things on the list when, in fact, they are things that I want to do in Suriname before we move back to the states. So, I compromised and am calling it my “bell list” since it is a list of things that I want to do before I ring the bell at the Peace Corps office which symbolizes the end of my service.

Anyways, here is my first bell list blog post. Did you all know that Suriname has a butterfly park where they not only have exotic butterflies on display in a museum (dead) and a netted atrium (alive) but also breed tons of different species and then sell them to zoos and exhibits in the U.S. and Europe?

 First, they grow all of the different types of plants that the butterfly larvae eat. They place the butterfly eggs on the plants so when the larvae hatch, they can start eating. After the larvae turns into a caterpillar and forms a cocoon, the workers pick the cocoons up and put them in a holding area, then hang them upside down in a different area for the butterfly to emerge. Or, they export the cocoons. I think that’s pretty impressive. Especially since Suriname is home to the morpho butterfly- an iridescent blue one. As I mentioned in a previous post (The Amazon: terrifying and awesome), I see them frequently and they are beautiful! They are believed to be a sign of good luck.

Morpho butterfly- almost impossible to catch in a picture due to its erratic flight pattern

These are all cocoons- of multiple shapes, sizes and colors.

Newly out of his cocoon

Ryan and I enjoyed our trip to the butterfly farm and hope you like our pictures. There are more awesome ones Here.

Dolphins in Suriname!

 While we were in the city, the U.S. Ambassador to Suriname, John Nay, extended an invitation to Peace Corps for any volunteers to go on a river tour to search for dolphins with him and some of his friends/colleagues. That is when I learned that Suriname has dolphins. I know a lot about Saramaccan culture and the jungle interior but Suriname is an extremely diverse country, both in people and ecosystems. It was a wonderful experience to see another side of the country that I have called my home for the last two years. It also did this California girl’s spirit good to walk along the small beach and listen to the sound of the waves (even if they were a muddy brown instead of my sky blue).

"I love Suriname"

Not exactly a cruise ship but we loved it!

 If any of you are thinking, “wow, is that normal for Peace Corps volunteers to hang out with ambassadors?” No, I do not think it is but this is one of the perks of serving in a small country. Plus, in my opinion, Ambassador Nay is a genuinely amiable guy, excellent host and huge supporter of Peace Corps.

Ryan, I and Ambassador Nay

For more pictures, including a few from a fishing village that we visited, click here.

My Birthday Post!!

Yes, my birthday post. A month and a half after my birthday...

Like last year, I had two birthdays- one in our village and one in Paramaribo. On my true birthday, I woke up to this awesome sign on our porch:

 Ryan also bought me some glitzy earrings and the latest season of one of my shows. Yes, my husband is wonderful.

Later that morning, I helped give a hygiene lesson with our clinic nurses (as I mentioned in a previous post) and Ryan and I gave an English lesson to our 5^th graders.  At the end of the hygiene lesson, the 6^th grade teacher turned to the kids and asked, “Do you know whose birthday is today?” To which they replied, “yes- Bendemai!” Then they sang 3-4 songs to me, which is a Saramaccan tradition. It was very sweet. Another teacher who is also a village leader appeared and gave me a 1 liter bottle of soda (an appropriate birthday gift in Saramaaka). The teachers danced me around while the kids sang. Later, various people stopped by to sing to me or congratulate me on my birthday. In keeping with Saramaccan norms, Ryan baked a cake so I could hand out pieces to people who dropped by. Our 85-year-old neighbor hobbled over and gave me a bottle of peach wine. It was adorable! Then Ryan walked 20 minutes to the port near us and bought a frozen chicken so he could cook me an awesome dinner: walnut (from America) and herb encrusted chicken with mushroom and garlic mashed potatoes complete with candle light (by choice since we had electricity!) and wine. It was delicious!

Look how cute he is!!

About a week and a half later, I celebrated with a Girls Night Out in Paramaribo with most of the female volunteers in country. Actually, there is a girl in the training group after mine who has my same birthday AND age so we celebrated together. We're twins! This is Jessica:

We went out to a fancy dinner and then checked out a new lounge which was actually pretty fun. I had a blast! It’s good for a girl Peace Corps volunteer’s soul to get dressed up every once in a while. Thanks to everyone who helped me celebrate! 

Claire, Valoria, Whitney, Summer and Meghan- start getting ready for next year- we have birthdays to make up for!!! Alysha, that would be a good time for you to visit. Just saying.

More b-day pics here.