Getting Technical Skills (a break from village)

Every couple of weeks during the 9 week training we will travel to a tourist hotel camp that has electricity, flush toilets, showers and soda (coke and fanta), where we meet again the other trainees from the other villages - 24 of us. It is only 12 kms for us but it takes 30-40 minutes due to the poor road condition. It is a time to take a break from village life and swap stories and experiences. The best story was told by a guy who missed the lesson about village skills back in the capital. He could not figure out why other vonlunteers had left over "clean" water from taking a bucket bath. It turned out that instead of scooping the water in a cup and pouring it on him, he was standing in the bucket and letting the soapy water fall back in the bucket. I still cannot figure out how he could get both of his feet in the bucket; it must have been very unconfortable.

This meeting happened to us the week of October 15 and we stayed in the lodge hotel for 4 days. There we learned about health and the main component was the technical skill workshops. Since we are "environment" volunteers, we have done garden bed preparation, soil mixture, composting and tree grafting. We also planted seeds so when we return back to the hotel in two weeks we can follow the vegetables progress. It will be important when we go to site to have an understanding of local flora, fauna and crops. It will give us credibility when we work with farmers and villagers.

We also had our first language test. We will be graded low/mid/high in 3 categories: novice, intermediate and advanced. I received a novice high, not bad after 2 weeks in training (language is mostly what is taught at the village). To swear in as a volunteer, a trainee needs to reach intermediate mid. Language is my biggest frustration at the moment because I cannot communicate to most of my host family members or other villagers. My host brother speaks English pretty well, though, and explains a lot about village life. It would be ever more difficult if I did not have him. Hopefully I will be able to understand the language and communicate better soon. I know it will take time and patience, but it is frustrating when I sit next to someone and all I can say are the greetings.