Sparkling Revelations

Hello everyone,

I’ve been reflecting lately on how many of my friends and family members have experienced major changes in their lives since I departed from the United States in January of 2011.  Some of those alterations have been unfortunate tragedies but the majority of those shifts have generated reasons to celebrate.  The landscapes of many people's lives appear tremendously different.  Individuals are getting engaged or married, graduating from school, finding full-time jobs, and moving to faraway places for fantastic opportunities among many other changes.  Even though I haven’t been around in the US to commemorate all the wonderful happenings in people’s lives, it is simply fantastic for me to hear about all the success and happiness they have been experiencing.  

When one is in the general proximity of acquaintances on a weekly or daily basis, many variations go unnoticed.   Obviously, everyone notices the big differences in their friends’ lives like when people get married or when they have children.  However, sometimes people overlook the smaller, less apparent things like differences in personalities or alterations in physical appearances (of course, exceptions occur about appearances like when someone who has been clean shaven their entire life decides to grow a fu manchu …hmmm maybe I’ll try that out  ;) ).  Anyway, I’m quite interested to observe the “less apparent” changes that may have occurred with my family and friends when I return.  Being away from family and friends for a prolonged period of time will most likely heighten my awareness of their changes.  I’m sure people, in turn, will have amplified cognizance of the differences in my personality as well.

Change is inevitable.  Each passing moment brings something new into people’s lives.  For many individuals, their thoughts, actions, and habits transform their bearings daily as they pass through different life experiences.  In some instances, especially for people in their late teens and twenties, philosophical perspectives drastically evolve.  The early part of one’s adult life is vitally significant as people’s decisions during this stage of existence create enduring habitual patterns that may stay with them throughout the remainder of their lives.  In order to find consistent, sustainable contentedness and satisfaction, one must consciously make important decisions about their morals and value systems while they are developing into the person that they will become. 

As for my current initiatives, things are going smoothly.  Graduation time around Dominica occurred in early July.  It was spectacular to witness the hard work payoff for the graduating fifth form students of the Castle Bruce Secondary School.  The valedictorian of the Castle Bruce Secondary School for this year was a young girl who I’ve gotten to know very well.  She actually mentioned me in her speech during the graduation ceremony.  I’ve become quite close with her entire family and I’m very thrilled to see what opportunities she will encounter after secondary school.

The summer programs that the NGO workers and I have developed for the area children will start next week and they will run into late August.  We plan to have hundreds of children and young adults participating throughout the month long span of time.  The program itineraries are very similar to last summer’s programs with the exception that different topics will be covered. 

A major program coming up in the near future which will be run for the entire year is called “Dominica Pride Initiative.”  I’m quite excited for this program which we’ll be starting in August.  The Dominica Pride Initiative will focus on the culture and heritage of Dominica.  The culture and heritage of the Dominicans have been proudly passed down from generation to generation for hundreds of years.  These traditions are an important part of the Dominican lifestyle.  However, in the opinion of community leaders, the traditions are in jeopardy of being lost among the current generation of young people. 

The widespread availability in telecommunication technologies, although vastly increasing the standard of living for Dominicans, have been detrimental to sustaining their culture especially for the current youngest generation of individuals.  The youth are more interested in checking their social media webpages or text messaging a friend on their cell phone rather than appreciating the long, illustrious culture their country has to offer them.   Even though technology like computers and cell phones are widely available to Dominicans, the young people should be encouraged to appreciate and respect their culture or it will be inevitably unrecoverable.

The Dominica Pride Initiative program will involve several community entities besides my NGO including:  the Ministry of Culture, secondary schools, primary schools, scouts, and professional historians of Dominica.  This program will focus on awareness of culture but it may serve as an initiation to employment opportunities within the tourism or agriculture industries.   

The first event for this endeavor will be a hike on the Waitukubuli Trail culminating with a “one pot” meal of local foods at a river spot in the Kalinago Territory.  People who are experts in the culture of Dominica will deliver speeches to the youth who are present. 

To quickly update you all on some of my extracurricular activities, I’ve now trekked the boiling lake trail seven times in total!  Most recently, I’ve acted as a tour guide for people interested in facing the treacherous undertaking.  I’ve guided fellow Peace Corps volunteers twice in the past month to the lake.  Also, I took the Peace Corps Country Director of the Eastern Caribbean to the boiling lake while he was visiting Dominica from the Peace Corps headquarters in St. Lucia. 

Recently, Peace Corps hosted many well respected Dominicans and some current volunteers for a review of Peace Corps’ program within the Eastern Caribbean.  I was selected to participate in the procedure.  It was quite an interesting process as several great ideas surfaced to improve Peace Corps’ effectiveness in Dominica and the Eastern Caribbean in general. 

Apparently the blog service provider I use completely upgraded their blog design system between when I last posted an entry and now.  One new feature is that it shows the stats of how many people have looked at the blog.  It can break it down by day, week, month, and all time.  It also shows which countries people are from who look at the blog.  Right now people from the United States, Dominica, Russia, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados, South Korea, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom have looked at it which is fairly cool.  It's always a nice feeling to have an international audience.  ;)

Finally, I’m returning to Madison for a short visit at the end of August until early September.  The main reason for coming back around this time of year is to attend Chris Vergeront’s and Kacie O’Brien’s wedding as they get married to each other over the Labor Day weekend.  Also, I’ll be able to support and cheer on my older brother Jeff as he competes in the Madison Ironman.  Hopefully I’ll see many of you from Madison while I’m in town!  :)

All the best,

Joe

P.S.  Good luck to the West Side Dolphins competing in the upcoming All-City Swim/Dive Meet!!

P.P.S.  Check out “Where the Hell is Matt 2012” on Youtube as a friend of mine, Alicia Lemke, sings the background song of the popular video.  “Where the Hell is Matt” videos have been a legendary Youtube icon for the past eight years.  His video from 2008 has over 50 million views.  The one featuring Alicia singing which was just released already has 3.5 million views.  Enjoy.  :)