All-Vol

It's been a long time friends, 4 months in fact since I posted, for that I apologize.
It's been a busy, jam-packed, adventure filled, exciting stretch of time that zipped by in a flash.
I got no time to lose so I'll just start in with May- June
In early May we had the biggest awesomest annual event in Peace Corps Vanuatu
The madness that is All-Vol
aka The 2008 Peace Corps Vanuatu All Volunteer Conference

All-Vol brings together all 100+ Peace Corps Volunteers in Vanuatu, from their various sites and islands. It is a chance for volunteers to meet with the other volunteers in their project areas, attend workshops on sanitation systems, locally available grants, how to support local village committees, gender and development, and a wide variety of other workshop topics. Also it allows us to meet the other volunteers we've never seen before, exchange stories, ideas, challenges, successes.

As a whole I've been really amazed at the quality of people in Peace Corps. There are just a lot of really great people here and All-Vol is an amazing opportunity to network with them all. I've never been anywhere in my life that had such a wide variety of Americans with diverse skills, backgrounds, and home states. And as a result of the experiences we've all shared, it really feels like we have a network of close friends all over the country that would open their homes to us if we showed up on the doorstep someday. Additionally all of these people have lots of experience with development work, and I can't imagine NOT using these contacts in my future efforts to make the world a better place.

Obviously with 100 volunteers all gathered together after months of isolation in remote rural island villages, there was also a lot of celebrating and cutting loose. I can't understate how isolated a lot of these places feel, though I have had frequent access to the big city of Port Vila, and all the things that come with it (internet, grocery stores, soap) Many volunteers only get these things once every three or four months. The psychological impact of this is very strong and frequently leads to what are called Wack-e-vacs (or evacuations due to psychological issues(i.e. going bat-shit crazy beacause of all the religion, black magic, and hallucinogenic malaria medications mixing around in your mind). So when you see these pics, realize that this socialization is so necessary to our mental well-being, that even if all the other workshops, networking, collaborations, and other work related business were not going on, this would be a very valuable important conference to have.
So without further ado:
pics of All-Vol

(aka evidence)


There were a number of after hours events that involved costumes. This one of Krissy and I shows our costumes for our group talent show.









Here's a pic of fellow Wisconsinite from our training group, Tim Staffeld and his little monkey friend Troy (a good friend of ours who lived just up the road from us with his wife Jasmine, while we were in Ekipe)





Krissy and I dressed as a fellow PCV married couple Dennis and Sandra Melo
Everyone was really wierded out, because I shaved my beard, cut my hair, wore his clothes, and consequently looked TOO MUCH like Dennis. A number of people actually confused me for him and talked to me as if I was him. One volunteer, after a double take actually said "Hey Dennis, for a second there I thought you were Javi"




A final costume pic of me in my super player creepazoid mode (which was ok because everyone thought I was some other guy), with fellow volunteers Noelle, Neely, Krissy and the lonely Peace Corps Volunteers' best friend: a goat (played by Jasmine)









I organized a Physical Skills Challenge that each training group participated in.

Each group sent a male and a female to compete in each specific event.

Events were

1. Holding your breath underwater

2. Handstands

3. Push-ups

4. Splits Contest

5. and a Footrace



Here I am getting ready to start the female foot race competition.





Here's Krissy winning the women's push up contest


Next year I'm planning some additions and changes that'll make the competition even better- sports skills and mental skills components will make it the awesomest competition in Peace Corps Vanuatu Volunteer History.

Lo and behold, someone thankfully remembered to bring the camera to the Gender and Development workshop, so we have proof that work was being done.



A final pic from our balcony overlooking beautiful Port Vila Harbor at Sunset. This made all the lice, bedbugs, worms, mosquitos, tics, chiggers, scabies, ringworm, and every other parasite of our first year in country worth it.