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I'm a current PCV serving in St. Lucia (a nation itself but the "country" as far as PC is concerned is Eastern Caribbean). My blog! Check it soon--within two days I'll update it about the fire at the hospital down the road. My post is pretty awesome, I gotta say. Most people speak English, public transport is fairly easy to find (except at night or on Sundays), internet isn't too expensive, cable is freaking cheap. But! Homicide rate is high, culture shock is still hard to get through, poverty, unemployment, etc. 2 PCVs in my cohort on St. Lucia, and a couple PCRVs have ETed in the year that I've been here, so it's definitely not a walk in the park for everyone.
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Sep 12, 2009 01:33
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Aggro Craig posted:Hello fellow Beach Corps member! According to a recent US survey of some sort, St. Lucia is the second poorest island in the region, after Haiti of course. They judge it based on the number people living on less than $2 USD/day. People were very upset and offended by this report. I really want to know how they got the numbers, though. I don't think any SL PCVs have beach front houses, but a couple have absolutely fantastic views. I don't think there's much trash burning here, people just leave it in the streets mostly. With my afterschool programme starting in a couple weeks, I hope to do a fundraiser in Term 2 involving a pledge drive/community cleanup day with the programme participants. Apparently a few years ago Government started a campaign to prevent litter, and it seems to have had an effect--I rarely see rats, even in the Castries, the capital and principal city. Packs of dogs are still incredibly common though. melaneyelia fucked around with this message at 13:10 on Sep 12, 2009 |
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Sep 12, 2009 13:06
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Omits-Bagels posted:I have a question: What did you all go into after your PC service? If you're still in/applying, what do you plan on doing? I'm halfway through service, and I just took a look at USAjobs.gov. Since we get non-competitive application for a year for federal jobs, I'll start applying for some about six months before COS. I wouldn't mind working as PC admin, honestly, but something involving Health and Human Services would be better. If I can't get something that way, I'll start applying for grad schools when I return to the States. Public Health or Social Service Administration, most likely. I will NOT become a teacher, that's for sure.
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Oct 26, 2009 02:40
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T-Rex Money posted:Another Beach Corps signing in (EC80). I am in the tiny island of St. Kitts (and Nevis), and I love it so far. Hi EC buddies! Is yours the house Margo says has the best view in the EC? Another PCV a few towns away from me has "the second best view." I'm in St. Lucia (I was part of the welcoming group back in August or whenever). And yeah, I live here pretty much as I would live in the States, but that's because I'm poor there. Seriously, they give us a little too much allowance, but at least I'm able to save some and put it toward debt back home. Then again my landlady is superawesome and hooks me up with cable and internet for free. Tonight I got to defend my boyfriend and myself with "Ki te nou bat mi se nou!" when a drunk gason on the bus kept pestering us verbally and physically. It worked, and freaked out his friends. "They understand our language gason!"
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Jan 24, 2010 03:08
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T-Rex Money posted:Yeah, that's probably me. There are a number of houses with great views, but mine is definitely one of the best. Good job getting backstage. I avoid talking to people as much as possible, so I didn't really meet anyone, I just told them where to go. It is sort of weird that nearly all the new group will be 50+, and hopefully they'll be able to hack it better than a couple women in EC78 (my group). Half my cohort in St. Lucia is 50+ already, though, so I think the current older volunteers can help them adjust. I'm excited because it's very likely there will be a volunteer in my town. Simone and my APCD were checking out one of the apartments at my host mom's house a couple weeks ago. I live in the second largest town on island but I'm the only one who lives and works here.
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Jan 24, 2010 16:31
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T-Rex Money posted:Melaneyelia- how is the drought treating you in St. Lucia? I've heard that they had to ship in bottles of water for everyone there, and that you're going without water in the houses currently? That's rough. It's only rained maybe one day this year so far here, but we haven't run out of water yet. We did get that water safety issues email today. I suppose I should start boiling. Don't tell anyone, but my neighborhood's actually one of the five or so in the whole country that aren't affected. Apparently officials don't know we're in the group. We are apparently on an independent water system. So at home I'm good. At work and elsewhere it's a different story. I need to go to the dentist and they told me to go on Friday at noon because that's when the water will be turned back on in that area. In general I think the water and sanitation department is dealing with it pretty well, all things considered. There was a small protest from the community of Gros Islet, complaining they can't do their Friday night Jump Ups without the water. Overall though I think everyone understands it is a crisis and they're dealing as best they can.
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Mar 4, 2010 02:47
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Hooray we get a raise! Oh man that extra $1400 USD for readjustment is looking pretty tasty. As in, it will somewhat sate the hunger of my credit card debt. Question to those RPCVs and PCVs near COS: When should I request Perkins loan partial cancellation? I have 7 months left at the moment. TreFitty posted:You can't at all choose where you're going, right? But when do you find out? Where do you guys think a guy like myself would find himself? You can request certain regions to serve in. If you get through the application process to nomination, they may even ask you more specifically what regions, but you don't usually find out about very specific placements until you're invited. Where I am (Eastern Caribbean) all of us have cell phones and probably about 2/3rds of volunteers choose to pay for internet at their homes. That kind of thing probably depends on both your specific post and how much money you want to put towards that. As far as your sinus infections, I don't imagine it would be a huge problem if it's on your record and your medical officer is sensitive to it. You could probably email someone through the PC website or talk to your local recruiter to make sure it wouldn't disqualify you from service. I'd imagine it might limit where you can serve to places with better health services (and likely better infrastructure for internet and phone), if anything.
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Mar 12, 2010 20:44
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Just put in my first couple of applications for after service. Still need to fax transcripts. Also I will never work with children again. Thanks PC for offering to pay for therapy but not a freaking mouth guard when I grind my teeth.
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Mar 26, 2010 03:54
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Barracuda Bang! posted:...yeah, this is gonna need some backstory. Well, I've learned many things in the PC and gained or advanced many skills. However, the single most important thing I've learned is that I absolutely cannot stand working with kids (esp in groups) full time. I've been having pretty bad headaches that seem to be just tension (Loratadine for two weeks didn't clear anything up, so it's probably not sinuses). There's a lot more going on in my life besides sometimes hating children (of any nationality) that I just get really stressed, I suppose. I'm clenching my jaw when I sleep, too. That also gives me headaches and toothaches. Even though I'm worried I'll wear down my teeth, PC won't pay for a mouthguard, but they'll set me up with a therapist to work out stress. Honestly, seeing or phoning a therapist sounds pretty stressful itself. pat_b posted:I've currently got a nomination to work with youth and community development in HIV/AIDS prevention, and for my prep I have to work with "at risk youth". If you don't have much volunteer or work experience with something you're assigned for the PC, it's not uncommon for them to require you to get X months of said experience. I had a friend who had to do 6 months of HIV/AIDS volunteer stuff before she was invited. Do you live in a city with impoverished urban schools? Do you live in a small town where half of the high school kids drop out or get expelled or get pregnant or have bad grades or do drugs? Just find a crappy school or an after school program to volunteer at a few hours a week. Or if any nearby domestic violence shelters have kids at them, volunteer there or with a group that goes there. Big Brothers/Big Sisters also works, etc. Check out United Way if you're having a hard time finding something.
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Apr 1, 2010 04:28
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Iwate posted:Got an interview on Monday the 14th, webcam style. Wear Chacos or Tevas.
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Jun 3, 2010 05:22
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I just wrote the rough draft for my DOS, and my boyfriend read it and his first words were, "It just seems so extremely negative it's not really pleasant to read." Am I doing this wrong?
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Aug 24, 2010 16:31
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OK, you can download my DOS here. After thinking about it, I do agree it sounds negative, but it was my experience. I mean, this is the main reason why I'm stressed out all the time and have headaches and everything. I asked my CD about it and she said she'll have a look at the draft without signing it. I know I probably just need to suck it up and make it sound good, but that just feels like it's denying my actual experience.
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Aug 25, 2010 13:31
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I cleaned up my DOS so it sounds like I didn't hate all of my service, and my CD approves. Hurray! Also, if any of you live in countries/communities with Japanese Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCVs), definitely get in touch with them. They are awesome to hang out with.
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Sep 5, 2010 15:33
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We have one guy here who was supposed to COS with the rest of us in October, but he's leaving in a few days for Kenya for a full 2-year term. I think. It seems like it's a very case-by-case kind of thing.
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Sep 9, 2010 21:00
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