The Volunteer Empowerment Act

On March 1st of this year, Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT, along with cosponsor Edward Kennedy, D-MA) introduced S.732, The Volunteer Empowerment Act. It is currently under review by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

I read about the bill in a recent issue of WorldView magazine (a Peace Corps magazine). Unfortunately there wasn't much information on what the bill actually said. So, I went online and looked it up. And for the first time in my life, I read a piece of legislation from start to finish.

S.732 (summary, full text) is a bill the Peace Corps needs. Most importantly (to me) the bill would:

• Increase Volunteer input. For example, Volunteer input would be included in performance reviews of high-level staff (e.g. APCDs and Country Directors) and Volunteers input would also be sought in evaluating the effectiveness of programs and initiatives.
• Protect Volunteer rights. It would mandate whistleblower protection from administrative separation, and create an appeals process for administrative and medical separations.
• Target experienced Volunteers. The bill mandates an increased focus on recruitment of Volunteers with at least 5 years of professional experience.
• Provide additional funds for 'Third Goal' projects. The 'Third Goal' of Peace Corps - increasing domestic understanding of foreign cultures - will for the first time receive financial support in the form of small grants available to Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) and nonprofit organizations with RPCV board members.
• Increase overall funding of the Peace Corps in order to achieve President Bush's pledge to double the number of volunteers. This, to me, is the most important and by itself makes me support the bill.

Right now the bill is in committee. Most bills don't ever make it out of committee. It would be a shame if that happened to this bill. Here is a list of the members of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Please, if your senator is on this committee, take a few minutes to write them urging that they act to move this bill forward.

Gubida

Today I was in the office with Kenny and he told me that his cousin Damian was in the hospital. That morning he had been found convulsing and vomiting blood. He had had an attack like this once before, a few months earlier. That time he was taken to Ceiba for a battery of tests and no one could figure out what was wrong. So far, that was the case again. After Damian regained lucidity, the docs couldn't find anything wrong with him.

Kenny told me that most folks thought it was Gubida, the spirit of a relative or ancestor. Apparently, Damian's grandmother had died a while ago, and they had not done any of the traditional ceremonies to appease a dead spirit.

He told me, "If the hospital can't find anything then they will do a baño and a chugú." The baño is a ceremony where a pit is dug and filled with seawater collected at a certain time, then a ceremony is conducted to invite the spirit to bathe. A chugú is a day long ceremony for communicating with spirits. Participants are sometimes possessed by spirits to communicate messages and requests to the living.

I asked Kenny if he thought the problem was medical or spiritual. "I think it's spiritual," he told me. "This isn't the first time that Damian has been possessed, and other relatives of his have dreamed about his [dead] grandmother. If they do the ceremonies hopefully he will be cured."

I found it strange to be having a conversation in which spiritual beliefs were given just as much weight as science and medicine. But it also struck me that Damian was taken to the Hospital first. Only when the doctors there were stumped did people look for supernatural causes and cures. With all the Garifuna that I know well, this has been the case. They believe in both science and spirits. They are two separate but equally valid worlds. When it comes to illness, the general opinion is, "If science and doctors can't cure it, then it must be spiritual."

Where the hell have I been?

Late August to September 2: Vacation with Nina. We went to La Ceiba, Whitewater rafting on the Rio Cangrejal, and to West End and West Bay on the Bay Island of Roatán. It was a great trip, but quite a culture shock to go to such touristy places with all sorts of luxuries and the high prices that accompany them.

September 3 to September 5: Consolidated to Siguatepeque because of Hurricane Felix. The Mosquito Coast got hit fairly hard, but we barely even got any rain inland.

September 5 to September 7: Back in Trujillo. Madly running around town trying to organize a Men's Health workshop for later in the month.

September 8 to September 10: In Santa Barbara with fellow PCVs Mary, Allison, Kendra, Katie and Mollie, to celebrate Mary's birthday.

September 11 to September 13: Reconnect and Project Workshop in Siguatepeque, an annual meeting for Health and Water & Sanitation projects.

September 14 to September 16: In Comayagua, fellow health PCV Conor's site and former capital of Honduras. We gave an HIV charla and condom demonstration at a pool hall on Friday night, then watched the parades and other festivities for Honduran Independence Day on the 15th. Traveled home on the 16th.

September 17 to now: Working to promote and then run the Men's Health workshop here in Trujillo. It went well, but was poorly attended. Meetings with the local HIV+ support group; the director and head doctor of the CAI (Centro de Atención Integral - department of the hospital dedicated to HIV testing and services); preparing materials for and teaching english classes; work for online macroeconomics; killing thousands of ants that had moved into my house while I was gone; cleaning up after the killing; lot's of laundry (washed by hand of course).

Estimated Hours of Bus Travel: 50

Sorry for the long dry spell here, and for the lack of details in this entry. I'm going to try to get on top of blogging about life here and post some decent entries at regular intervals soon. Hope everyone is doing well.

Felix

I've been on vacation for the last nine days, and today I was supposed to head back to Trujillo. But that was not to be, as the Peace Corps ordered all North Coast volunteers to consolidate to Siguatepeque to ride out Hurricane Felix. I'm safe and sound in a very comfortable and modern conference center here in Siguat, so don't worry about me. But it looks like it could be bad for a lot of Hondurans. I really wish I could be in my community, but I know that it's probably best for me to be here. I'll write updates as I can.