Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful X-mas and
New Years along side with your loved ones!
So much has happen since I wrote “My Frist Blog in Nepal”,
so again, I will try to make it short but detailed. Watch out!!! : >
For those of you who have crossed my path at UCR and in
life, you have gotten the impression that I am a character who is always on the
go. However let me start this entry with something that happened to me which is
completely NOT a “Marvin” thing to do. So
I have been in my permanent site for almost two months. At the beginning of my
stay in Harichaur all I have been doing is meeting people, going to my health
center and recently I have been going to my mothers’ group meetings. However, I
came to the point where I felt that I lost “my way” in a way. All I could do is
introduce myself and look pretty in front of the meetings while I let my
counterpart do all the talking. I came to the conclusion that for some time I
became dependent on my counterpart to make things happen. I KNOW, WHAT A MESS
RIGHT!!! Since when has Marvin depended on someone else to “Make it Happen”?
NEVER! I had a couple of down moments since being in Harichaur, especially when
I was sitting in my health center just accumulating sun like everyone else and
during the mothers’ group meetings where I would stare into their eyes, picking
up on words that I could understand here and there. During these moments I
would ask myself “What the hell am I going to do in Nepal for the next two
years?” I was sad because I wasn't doing anything and I’m the type of person
who hates sitting around doing nothing. I never believed that I would feel this
sense of uselessness, but I know that if I didn't I wouldn't be human and I wouldn't be a real PCV. During the couple of days that my counterpart has been god knows
where and I had time to simply think. What was it that made me a “go-getter” in
the states, UCR and in life? What was it that I left behind in the states? After
drinking a cup of milk tea, it finally hit me that what I had left behind was
my will to make it happen. If I ever wanted to make something happen all I
needed was the will and persistence. I had lost that will to make it happen
because I grew to depend on my counterpart and in a way believed that things
would fall into place by themselves, that I didn’t have to do anything, and
that was not a mentality that I had ever adopted in the states. I slapped some
sense into me and told myself that I don’t need my counterpart for every step
of the way, I mean it would be easy but I can do it on my own, I can make it
happen in community and in Nepal.
I
gathered myself up and in a way found “my way”! I remembered that I have my
life’s formula…
Optimism + Hope + Persistence/Will + A Pinch of luck = Makes
it Happen!!!
In
regards to feeling of uselessness I came to another conclusion. Being a Peace
Corps volunteer during the first few months of one’s two years service brings a
lot of FREE time. I am the type of person who would get overwhelmed with too
much free time on my hands. I decided to read and be more active, however I
still felt that sense a lack of productivity and uselessness. I’m sure it wasn't an
epic discovery, but I realized that the more time I focus on occupying my time
with “personal” things, the same level of uselessness will remain because I’m
still not doing anything productive in regards to work. If I am given a task I
like to get to work as soon as I can. Therefore, I decided to occupy my free
time with “work” related things, thus that sense of uselessness slowly diminish
because I am ACTUALLY being productive! I am working on the goal for which I
was sent to Nepal!
For
example, two weeks ago, my fellow PCV Alida Dean and I conducted a permagardening workshop in my PHC’s
forgotten garden. I love planning events and getting everything ready for the
big day, therefore, I set the date, collected the materials, found the space,
let the word spread like wild fire and got my Female Community Health
Volunteers (my girls) ready to go and this was without my counterpart’s help.
The workshop went well because the FCHVs and other members of the community who
showed up found this type of technique very interesting. Everyone helped out!
Thankfully, Alida was there to help me out, she’s the agriculture volunteer. We
work very well together; I’m so lucky to have her. To this day, our garden has
started blossoming because we have our first seedlings grow so were really
excited to see what this garden can do within the next two years. During and
after the workshops, Alida and I had requests from some FCHVs to help them make
this type of garden in their home. The idea was to get “my girls” from all nine
wards of Harichaur to pass on the idea to their mothers’ group where I will be
present to help explain it, thus working towards our goal of food security. Were
making it happen!
Also, I
led my first couple of mothers’ group meeting all by myself in the past few
weeks and especially during this month which made me feel really good because
the group was actually listening to me, me with my basic Nepali. The idea was
for my counterpart to take me to the first meetings to introduce myself,
however due to some small detours I wasn't able to go to all the scheduled
meetings during the first month. I thought that my counterpart was going to go
with my to meetings which I haven’t been to, but it got a bit busy at the PHC
thus I had to go by myself. I’m not going to lie, I was a bit nervous, but
thankfully it all went well and the mothers’ group received me with much warmth
and hospitality. I am currently working on a way to make the meetings more
interactive where we can all have a discussion about health and not have them
to listen to a lecture. I am also working on conducting a health
census/assessment for each ward. It’s going to take some time even though the
nine wards are close in proximity of one another; every ward is different where
they have different health issues to tackle. I have to find them and see what
can be done to improve their health. I know this will be difficult, but now
more than ever I’m excited to work with the mother groups and my girls. These past
experiences give me hope for the future and it pushes me to step up my game
even more.
Enough
about making it happen, on to the next exciting topic. I always wanted to have
a dog during my Peace Corps time, so after getting a little comfortable with my
family, I asked them if I could get a dog. Unfortunately, they said no, ONLY
because tigers eat them! Therefore, the dog idea was out. Then after I asked if
I could get a cat, however my little sister is afraid of cats so there goes
that idea. Also, the Peace Corpsdo not allow you to have monkeys either. I
really wanted a pet for these next two years so I was wondering what would be
okay. Then it came to me! How about rabbits? They’re easy to take care of and
don’t require a lot of time for my family’s sake, lucky that was an A-OK!!!
After the green light, I made a promise to myself that I would get my rabbits
within a month, however I got them within a week. I got a house made for my
rabbits right after the green light. I asked everyone for where I could get a
baby boy and girl rabbit? Before I get any further, let me say that Alida had
to persuade me to get two rabbits of the same sex seeing how they reproduce
fairly quickly, thus I would have too much on my hands. I was leaning towards a
no because I had already picked out their names, Artemis and Apollo (the twin Greek
gods). But after much talk, Alida convinced me to get two girl rabbits! Now back
to the search, after a day or two I was given an option and I went to see what
it was and I was presented with two fairly grown boy rabbits. They were really
cute, but I wasn't feeling it because they were too big and I wanted them as
babies so I could see them grow. Sadly, I had to decline that offer and look
for another option. The next following day, Alida, her host mother and I traveled
to this village way up in the mountains. The trip was well worth it because I found
my girls for a reasonable price! I came along many cute baby rabbits, but I
spotted my two girls. Artemis Kumari is my gray little one with a white-collar
neck and Athena Kumari is my black little one also with a white-collar neck.
After a cup of tea, Alida’s mom puts them in her shall and off we go back home.
They are so precious! Athena is such a mellow rabbit because she lets me grab
her fairly easily and is always chilling. Now Artemis is a mess! She is so
hyper and always puts up a fight with me so I won’t put her back in her house.
Everyday I let them out to play in our garden and get some sun. They are
getting so fluffy, which makes me very happy. They’re growing up so fast! I
know it’s silly, but I wanted something else to do during my free time. : >
In short,
these past two months have had many ups and downs where I have quickly learned
to adapt to many different situations based on my past experiences. Within my
village, I have been adopted as a bother, uncle and even as a father by this
one little girl who lives one house over.I got deathly sick this past week
where I threw up my life into my little red bucket about 12 times during one
night, but thankfully I’m getting better. Of course there has been many
frustrating times during these two months,but after my “epic” discovery, I
remembered that I definitely have what it takes to make it happen in my
community, in Nepal and anywhere where I decide to go!: >
Marvin Gamez-Crespin
a.k.a Kamal
p.s I have added a “Paradise Bowl” tab where it details many
of the adventures that I have experienced along side with my fellow Peace Corps
Volunteer Alida Dean, check it out!
