Celebrating Halloween in Port Vila

My girl Courtney and I LOVE Halloween. It is hands down my favorite holiday ever! So she and I decided to create a "Halloween Commitee" this year, which basically consisted of the both us as co-chairs. LOL For the past month we toiled over the details of what we wanted to do and on Sunday, October 31st we had the 1st Annual Halloween Party/GAD Fundraiser in Port Vila at The Saloon Bar/Restaurant. It was a blast! Check out our pictures.

Lady Gaga, Greaser, Sue Syvester (from Glee) & Fortuneteller Madame Esperanza make their appearance.

It took a Team effort to put on the Lady Gaga outfit. Awei!

It's not an outfit without a manicure.

Even Rainbow Brite showed up...A-listers only!

Flipchart Man crashed the party! LOL J/k

Madame Esperanza attempts to kick the random dog that entered the Greaser's home.

The Onesua Presbyterian College Computer Science Department Certifies 233 Students

The Onesua Presbyterian College re-established their Computer Science Department this year after 8 years of not having a computer course or lab because their computers’ were massively infected by viruses. That’s where I come in. With the collaboration of Vanuatu’s National Training Council (VNTC) in Port Vila we implemented a Computer Science Course 1 that teaches students the basics of computers. At the beginning of the school year in February students had the opportunity to register for the course for an additional 6000 vatu. Initially, we started with almost 350 enrolled students ranging from grades 9 to 13. Throughout the academic year each student was taught how to operate a computer and use various Microsoft Programs (Word, Excel & PowerPoint). The curriculum requires a minimum of 130 hours, which was a bit frustrating to accomplish considering how many days off we had due to holidays, exams…and did I mention holidays? Nonetheless, the students were eager and excited to learn and many of them have become extremely proficient in using computers. I was most impressed with my 9th graders many of whom excelled in creating PowerPoint presentations. A few were brave enough to explore the programs and teach themselves how use additional functions that were not part of the curriculum teachings. Way to go Freshmen! I was also proud that many of my female students enrolled and gave the boys some competition for our Student of the Month.

Despite the many hiccups throughout the year from equipment breaking down to viruses and no internet service we managed to certify 233 students (70 of which were my students) by graduation on October 31^st, 2010. A feat that we are extremely proud of especially because the VNTC certification is nationally recognized and will assist our qualified students to land business jobs throughout the country.

Next year, we are looking forward to implementing a tourism business course that will complement our computer course and is also VNTC approved. Teaching computer science in the #1 worst country for computer maintenance is hard work…honestly, teaching in general is bloody hard work, but I can honestly write that watching a student go from being afraid to touch a mouse to creating a professional PowerPoint presentation with ease is worth all the headaches, sweat and tears.

Camp GLOW/BILD Arrives At Onesua Presbyterian College

OPC Students receive their Leadership Certifications

On October 1-2, 2010 the Onesua Presbyterian College in North Efate had the opportunity to experience G.A.D.’s Camp G.L.O.W/B.I.L.D with the help of Alexia Pool, Desiree Lopez, Jeff Kladder, myself and the majority of Group 23’s Peace Corps' Trainees. This was the very first time we brought the camps to my school and it was well worth it. I was a bit nervous at first because after 2 weeks of attempting to recruit male and female student participants I only managed to round up 15 by the time the camps were scheduled to begin. However, Alexia reassured me that the day we set up and paint our banner we would successfully recruite enough participants and sure enough she was right. We managed to recruit a total of 32 participants with a good balance of both boys and girls ranging from 14 to 18 years old.

It was a typical fun-filled weekend; full of laughter, relationship-building and inspiration. We split into female and male groups with Jeff leading the boys’ sessions and us women facilitating the girls. After creating our traditional camp banner with painted handprints, we established our rules for the weekend and opened with friendship bracelet making. It’s amazing how much teenagers love beads! As usual the kids were initially shy; however, by the time we began our public speaking session (Day 2) they came out of their shells and did a fantastic job speaking in front of each other with confidence. We covered an array of workshops from discussing the qualities of a great leader to the myths and facts of marijuana. In the end, our kids created a drama on a topic we had covered in our sessions and needless to say the boys’ skit on being a good leader by acting out the first encounter of the Ni-Van natives by the white man (costumes all all!) was hilarious.

I was so proud of my kids for taking the initiative to sign up to our camp and I was pleasantly surprised when my principal called me to tell me he was paying the 200 vatu for each of our 2011 Prefects (11 students), because he thought it was a great opportunity for them. We ended our second night with speeches, cake and the distribution of their certificates.
Next year, I expect our next camp will be bigger and better now that my students understand what the camp is all about. Our camps are not only a fantastic opportunity for kids to learn new skills, but they are also an opportunity for us volunteers to learn from our kids. By the end of the weekend what I took away from this experience was that my kids are a fantastic group of "leaders in the making" who are helping me live a life-long dream (I even got a little choked up when I gave my speech on dreaming big and being persistent) . I can’t express enough how proud I am of being a GAD member and Peace Corps Volunteer in Vanuatu!

1. Communication Activity --> the Human Knot

2. The Boys go all out with their skit on Leadership

3. Desi and Jeff resting before we begin our Welcome Toktok

4. Students share who they believe is a good community leaders

5. Female student participates in a communication activity

6. I run through our 2-day schedule with participants

7. Female participates making bracelets

8. Yet another communication activity with participants

9. Students decorate our banner.

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