Vatia Reads!

I've been trying to figure out my purpose here... other than teaching my classes... It's been a struggle that I have yet to blog about because I don't want this to be a space for complaints and venting. Some of the realities of teaching here (as an outsider) are tough to digest: corporal punishment (beating kids, hitting with rulers, etc... even though it's technically against the law), teachers who just don't care, smoking in the classrooms and right outside of the windows, unattended classes, teacher absences... It's been hard to figure out what I can do here other than teach my 9 students. I want to make more of an impact, to affect more of a change in SOMETHING... especially as an educator. I'd hoped that the teachers at my school would have been working toward goals to better the classroom environment, but I don't find that is the case. The principal has good ideas and a good heart, but she doesn't have the leadership power and motivational personality to put her ideas into action. So, I've been struggling with feeling un-used....

A few weeks ago, I decided to stop attending church in my village. I've never been a church-goer, but I was doing so out of respect for the culture and for my host family. However, I find that "religion" here is very hypocritical. While literally everyone is Christian and attends church and Sunday school, I find that most people here do not lead very Christian lives. Domestic abuse, lying, gossiping, fighting... all of this is commonplace. Seriously, I could base a soap opera on my village, which sometimes feels like a medieval town of warring families. People do not spend money for their kids. It seems that kids are not valued, except for their ability to do the household chores (is that why families have so many of them - my kids often have 67 or 7 brothers and sisters), yet in one day, the church can raise $10,700 for the preacher and families can go to bingo literally every night. All of this is pretty depressing when you're giving up a year of your life to affect some positivity on a community. I found myself wrapped up in all of these negative realities and feeling like I am making absolutely no difference. I have to remind myself daily that I am making a difference to my 9 students and to the other students in the school who get positive feedback and love from me. However, that's still not enough - not if I'm going to live in this community; not if I'm going to leave here in a year and reflect upon what I spent my time doing...

So, the Sunday after I decided not to attend church anymore, I went for a LONG walk to the next village and back. In all, it took over 2 hours, on the road over the hill and along the coastline. It's a magnificent walk, and on Sunday morning, not a soul is out there. I have FINALLY found my space to be alone! I set out on this walk with the intention to keep walking until I felt better... until I found a way to get out of this horrible funk that was just sitting on my spirit. And... I came up with an idea that excites me to the point that I get tingles when I think and talk about it: Vatia Reads! A community outreach program to promote the importance of literacy from infancy through adulthood. Using the books and supplies that YOU have graciously donated, I'll be running literacy sessions for target age groups as well as holding open library sessions to give kids access to books. In case you didn't know, there is NOWHERE to get books on this island. There is one teacher store that has about 30 titles of books. There is a public library, but it extremely difficult for kids from my village to access it... My kids don't own books at home... With no internet, no awareness of ama.zon.com or Schol.astic book clubs, the children of Vatia do not grow up knowing how to love books. So, I'm going to share that with them. I'm going to copy and paste my project proposal here. I'm waiting for final approval so that I can hold the sessions on the school campus. If, for some reason, the DoE does not agree to the proposal, I will be holding the sessions in my host family's house instead, carting the books back and forth to my classroom as necessary. I cannot wait to get this program underway! :)

Project Title: Vatia Reads!

Coordinating Teacher: Jennifer Smith

Proposed Launch Date: November 8, 2010

Project Objective: To promote literacy among the community, and to give the community (the children, in particular) access to the resources necessary to become proficient, habitual readers

Project Duration: through the 2010-2011 school year

Participating Teachers: Jennifer Smith and Leslie Blaich

Project Description:

Vatia Reads! is a program designed to promote literacy among the community in Vatia. Through regularly scheduled, interactive literacy sessions, we hope to give the community access to books, thereby improving the reading habits and levels of the children of our community. Literacy is the key to success in school and beyond. As a remote village, the members of the Vatia community have limited access to the island’s literacy resources, namely Feleti Barstow Library. This limited access, combined with limited resources on-island has led to a community of students for whom reading is an activity done at school and for homework, rather than for pure enjoyment. This project will provide access to books and organized literacy-based activities for infants and their parents, toddlers, and school-aged children. We hope that the increased availability of resources and stressed importance of literacy will lead to a community of more proficient readers, thereby increasing the opportunities available to Vatia’s children in the future.

Vatia Reads! will utilize a growing library of books donated to WorldTeach by friends and family members of WorldTeach volunteers. These books will be used to create literacy-rich activities to stimulate an interest in and love of reading. During regularly held sessions, books will be made available to read and enjoy. Students of Mt. Alava Elementary School will be able to borrow books from this library, as well. We hope to involve other teachers and members of the community so that the project becomes a permanent part of the Vatia community.

Project Details:

Session Frequency: Initially, 2 days per week (Monday & Wednesday), increasing to 4 days per week (Monday-Thursday) as participation increases.

Session Duration:  2 hours (3:30pm to 5:30pm)

Session Structure:

·         3:30-4:30: Organized activity for target group

·         4:30-5:30: Open library and continued read-alouds (open to all ages)

Target Groups:

·         Early Elementary (Levels 1-2)

·         Middle Elementary (Levels 3-5)

·         Upper Elementary (Levels 6-8)

·         Moms & Babes (Moms, infants, and children under 2)

·         Tots and Toddlers (ages 3-5) (must be accompanied by an adult)

Additional Activities:

·         Weekend trips to the public library. Goal: To set up a regular rotation of parents willing to drive a group of students to the library on Saturday mornings

·         Famous Author Celebrations

·         Young Author Celebrations (to celebrate student writing)

·         Dramatic readings/skits/plays

Organization:

·         Session activities led and organized by a teacher. The activities will include a read aloud and hands-on project related to the text.

·         Students from Levels 4 & 5 will act as librarians and monitors on a rotational, voluntary basis.

·         Additional read-alouds will be provided by older students (high school, community college), members of the community (parents, village chiefs, etc.), and invited guests (role-models and personalities from around the island).

·         Parents recruited to provide refreshments and transportation for special events

Awareness and Publicity:

The project launch is deliberately planned to coincide with National Young Readers Week (November 8-12). We hope to create buzz about both events through the following avenues:

·         Send home notices with students of Mt. Alava Elementary

·         Create signs/posters to hang around Mt. Alava Elementary

·         Logo design contest among Mt. Alava students

·         Announce the upcoming project during an assembly

·         Announcements during PTA meetings

·         Announcements made and posted at local churches

·         Notices posted at local stores

·         Notices posted at PiCED in Nu’uli

·         Contact Samoa News and local radio stations for potential publicity

Incentives (dependent on available funds):

·         Vatia Reads! pencils, bookmarks, t-shirts

·         Books

·         refreshments

Potential Growth:

·         Increase the number of sessions per week

·         Plant programs in other communities around the island

Sources of Potential Resources:

·         Additional donations of books and materials

·         Fundraising for the purchase of additional books and supplies

·         Scholastic Book Club

·         Research grant availability

November Calendar (Tentative)

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
8	9	10	11	12	13
Project Launch Celebration! 3:30-4:30 Early Elementary 4:30-5:30 Open Library		3:30-4:30 Middle Elementary 4:30-5:30 Open Library
15	16	17	18	19	20
3:30-4:30 Upper Elementary 4:30-5:30 Open Library		3:30-4:30 Tots & Toddlers 4:30-5:30 Open Library			Field Trip: Books & Swimming (Library & Swimming)
22	23	24	25	26	27
3:30-4:30 Early Elementary 4:30-5:30 Open Library (Thanksgiving Theme)	3:30-4:30 Middle Elementary 4:30-5:30 Open Library (Thanksgiving theme)
29	30	1	2	3	4
3:30-4:30 Upper Elementary 4:30-5:30 Open Library		3:30-4:30 Moms & Babes 4:30-5:30 Open Library			Field Trip: Books & a Movie (Library & Movie)

Happy Halloween!

Spirit Week and Halloween all rolled into one. It's been a distracting week as far as learning is concerned, but definitely a fun one! Most of our spirit week days were simply color-themed (boring, but for a culture into uniforms, it works well). We had "Opposite Day" in which the boys dress up as girls, and the girls dress up as boys. For a culture with a recognized 3rd gender (fa'afafines... basically males living as females), this seems a bit odd/insensitive, but it was hilarious nonetheless.

Sanele (5th Grade) and Mose (4th Grade) posing

Cassandra and Asenati (4th grade)

Mose, Solomona, and Al-Roni (4th Grade)

Al-Roni, Donovan (2nd Grade), Mose, Sanele, Cassandra, Asenati, and her brother

Mele (6th Grade) and Hosanna (4th Grade)

Cassandra, Asenati, Kitana (4th Grade), and Mele

CJ and Matalin, my host nephew and niece

Feau - my 5 year old boyfriend

We had a competition-based assembly for Halloween. The student body was split into 3 groups: Casper (my group), Pumpkin, and Ghostbusters. We had to create a flying ghost, a dramatic reading, and a dance. Our group won the competition (Yay!)! 

Kitana and Al-Roni in front of our Halloween-inspired door

Lydia gets her bag of goodies

Katerina enjoys the blow-up pumpkin and eye candy from Jenny

mmm... eye candy... delicious! Al-Roni and Hosanna

Mose, the cool lion

Solomona

Hosanna, posing

Kitana in a puletasi

Lydia as a princess

Here's a video of Casper group's dramatic reading of "Five Little Pumpkins," starring Al-Roni:

Around the World in Thirty Days

So as to not leave you with a bad taste for my experience here (as my students are wonderful, and I love to work with them every day), I want to share a fun project my students and I did. As an introduction to Social Studies and an attempt to integrate it with Reading, we went on quick tour around the world. We went to Vietnam, China, India, and Iceland before landing back in the US. We learned some different languages, populations, map skills, aspects of culture, etc. We compared the facts we learned to American Samoa, so the students started to make connections between the reading and their lives. To this day, my students will greet me with "Namaste!" in the morning and leave me with "Ming ting jiao" (See you tomorrow) in the afternoon. Here is a video of students learning to count to 10 in Chinese (I tried to add photos, but it won't let me... a problem to be solved another day):

Vatia Living

I realized the other day that I have never posted information about my living arrangements. I've shared the information on the phone and in physical letters, but many of you probably still have no concept of my living situation... So... flashback to July 31st, Moving Day:

On a drizzly late morning, the second group of volunteers, those to live on the east side of the island and the volunteers from Manu'a who would be staying with us, loaded our suitcases, boxes, bags, foam mattresses, and ourselves onto a school bus to be taken to our houses for the next year. The first drop-off, in Utulei, went smoothly. The second drop-off, for the teachers at Faga'itua High School, happened in a torrential downpour. The bus was unloaded in rain that felt like we were standing under a waterfall. Though soaked, the two volunteers were so excited to meet their host family and see their house.

Vatia was the last drop-off, and the ride over the mountain in a rainstorm was definitely an experience (now, it's completely normal, but I on that day, I felt that the bus was going to start sliding backward with the flow of water pouring down the road). Luckily, Vatia is in a climate-zone of its own, and the rain had lessened by the time we arrived at our family's house. We had seen the place on our island tour upon arrival to American Samoa, and we were excited for the beach-front location.

Now, about three days prior to moving in, my field director informed me that we wouldn't be able to move into our house right away because the family had off-island relatives who had extended their stay. We'd, instead, be staying in the family's house for a week. As eager as I was to get settled, the opportunity to get to know our host family, see the workings of a Samoan family, and perhaps be totally immersed in the culture for a week was even more exciting. So, when we unloaded our belongings into a temporary bedroom in the family's home and met our host mom and host siblings for the first time, both my housemate and I were feeling incredibly lucky. Little did we know that the family wasn't actually going to be in the house with us. They'd be staying in the traditional guest house next door (a structure much like a pagoda, with no proper windows/doors/rooms) while we stayed in their house. Awkward. The first night we were there, our host sisters (both in high school) asked us for money. Uncomfortable. From the first hour we were there, the host mom showed her true colors, yelling (growling, really) at her children to do any and every menial task. She wouldn't get up to retrieve something that was out of her reach, choosing, instead, to bark at her children to do this for her. Incredibly awkward and uncomfortable. Within the first few nights, the host sisters showed their true colors even more by berating their middle-school aged brother, who has some sort of mental handicap. They called him names I do not wish to repeat. What I was witnessing first hand was violence and abuse perpetuating violence and abuse. It was the most uncomfortable I have ever been. 

When we were informed that we'd be staying in the family's house, our understanding was that they'd be cooking us meals, since we wouldn't have a kitchen of our own or a place to keep food. This, again, was eagerly anticipated, as I hoped to learn how to make some traditional Samoan dishes. Instead, the adopted daughter (I call her the Cinderella-daughter) was (still is) forced to make food for the whole family, of which we were given leftovers to eat for dinner, alone, in the kitchen... for 3 days... Then, the food stopped. The electric burner (the only way to cook) disappeared from the kitchen and into the guest house. Any food that we put in the refrigerator promptly disappeared. We were hungry - all the time...

Shortly after we arrived, we were informed that our week-long stay in the family's home was to be extended because the off-island family hadn't actually purchased tickets to leave, and the flights were full. So, we were stuck in the uncomfortable situation for longer. We kept assuring ourselves that once we moved into our house, it would be better... We'd be able to make it our own place. We'd have a kitchen. We'd have a little bit of privacy and comfort. So, it was a blow to have that postponed... We tried to keep smiling, though... I'll admit it was more than just difficult, though. 

We were finally able to move into our house on the same day that we finally got access to our classrooms and had to report to school. You've already read about the state of the classrooms (did I mention rat, toad, and gecko poo all over everything), so imagine trying to deal with that and move into what you're about to read at the same time.

The house, the one that was to be our haven of serenity, our cottage on the beach, our time to breathe OUT after such a long time struggling with the issues of our host family and trying to commute over the mountain on a very sketchy bus schedule for continued orientation everyday... the house was disgusting. Despite claims that it was clean, it had to be one of the most disgusting places I'd seen in a long time (Ortencia, not quite as disgusting as the one house we stayed at in northern Togo). The kitchen was NOT clean and had NO running water (not just no running water - no potable water, period). There was NOWHERE to cook - no stove, no oven, no electric or gas burner... nothing (which therefore means that we couldn't even boil the water we were able to get out of the bathroom, when it worked). The cabinets were stuffed with moldy, dirty stuff... anything they wanted to store. The bathroom was beyond words. They had not cleaned out the trash can, which held all of the toilet paper - Due to poor plumbing, you couldn't flush paper (which is fine - many places in Korea are like this). But, come on - clean out the dirty paper before letting other people move in. The bathroom door was shredding. Giant cockroaches (as long as my middle finger) came out at night and were promptly carried off by a stream of ants when finally killed. The one closet (for 2 people) was filled with the family's clothes and other items they wanted to store. The living room was full of old photographs, fake flowers, and porcelain cat statues. Above the doorway to one of the bedrooms hung a picture of "Grandpa" in his coffin. NOT what we needed.

My housemate and I went through our housing contract carefully, noting everything that was not up to contract (practically everything) and contacted our field director immediately. After discussing the situation with the host mom, it was eventually determined that they were not going to make the necessary repairs on the house, and we would have to look for a new place to live. Why this was not inspected before we moved in is beyond my comprehension. Dealing with our horrible housing situation and all of the challenges that faced us with the school was sometimes more than I could handle. It eventually got to the point that I had to tell my field director that if the situation was not resolved, I might have to leave. To be unable to live comfortably and to be faced with a hostile work environment were not things that I could handle. In neither situation was I able to accomplish anything as a volunteer, so my time was being wasted.

It took a MONTH to get the housing problem resolved. We were in constant communication with our field director, who was in touch with the host family and the coordinating officials in the DOE. Eventually, the Village People came to our rescue (as was described by someone in the DOE... insert laugh), and we were moved to a new situation. The Vatia Diet, though, worked wonders.... No cooked food, only peanut butter on rice cakes. No water. ... lose 20 lbs. in 2 weeks!

Thankfully, the situation we moved to is so much better. The house is literally right behind the old one (I see Cinderella-daughter doing chores outside everyday, and I hear the mom barking at her children all afternoon), but it's a completely different world.

I live in a house with a host family. I have my own room that locks and is very spacious... a king size bed with plenty of room for another one if I wanted. The other volunteer also lives in the house in her own room. The family consists of our host mom (about 56 years old), who is a teacher currently working at the Juvenile Detention Center, her married son and his family. Mata, the host mom, is wonderful. She's very calm (the opposite of the other woman), and she seems to have a good perspective on life. Craig (the son, aged 29-ish) and Cathy (his wife) are great fun. I enjoy being able to talk with them and play pool in the evenings. Their children, Craig, Jr. (CJ - 3rd grade) and Matalin (2nd grade) are sweet and energetic. They've warmed up to us pretty well, now, so life is always interesting. We have dinner with Mata nearly every night, which, for me, is a great way to decompress from the day. Craig is the driver of one of the buses, so we have a hook-up for getting to town (though we still pay). Both Craig/Cathy and Mata have cars (well, a monster truck and an SUV), so if I ever got stranded somewhere, I have someone to rescue me. 

I am grateful everyday to be living with a caring family and to have potable water and a place to cook! 

I'll leave you with photos from the original house. I'm sure I've left things out of the saga - how the family took the toilet paper out of the bathroom; how they constantly came up to the windows and talked to us through windows in the dark, rather than using the door; how the host mom never talked to us, but rather sent her kids to tell us everything; how she told villagers that she hated us... But, I'm sure you have a feel for how awful the situation was.

Where can I hire this decorator? Fake flowers and porcelain cats. When we asked for them to be removed, the question we got was "Why?"

The "cleaned" kitchen sink... that didn't work

Under the kitchen cabinets... Can we say "health risk" anyone?

Grandpa, in his coffin, above the bedroom door

The one closet - AFTER it had bee cleaned out... what?

The extremely safe breaker box in one bedroom. "Oh, you don't have to worry about that."

Under the flooring

Freddy Kruger must have visited this bathroom door.

Ugh - disgusting shower curtain 

The lovely toilet paper we were left 

Kitchen walls

Twenty-two days later...

Another stolen moment, in the same classroom as the previous post - though this moment was slightly more planned.

The internet in Vatia is back, sort of. it works on two computers in the computer room, to which I conceivably have access for an hour before an after school, IF the principal decides to be there... and IF the computers are not being used by others, namely her daughters. So... I don't really have internet to initiate communication, but I have internet to receive communication and print quick bits for my classes. We'll see how long it takes to correct this situation. I have a new understanding for "island time."

A Stolen Moment....

unexpected... in a fellow WorldTeacher's high school classroom. A quick moment to inform the world that the internet in Vatia has not worked for the past 2 weeks. It will be fixed "tomorrow" (an American Samoan euphemism for some undetermined time in the future). I have received many boxes, but I do not have my list in front of me during this unexpected trip into cyberspace. Nor do I have a USB key with the posts I've been writing for that undetermined time in the future when I can connect once again and let you into my little slice of the world. For now, please remember that you can contact me by phone (see a previous post or my facebook page for the number), though I don't get reception in my house... I do have voicemail (despite what previous posts may have said).