An Uncommon Weekend – Part II

It's morning. I can smell the coffee coming from the new drip coffee maker that Lois and Scott purchased. They are coffee lovers and were heartbroken when the coffee press they brought from the U.S. broke and a new coffee pot was at the top of their budget list. They are extreme about the dark roasted bean. They researched coffee and its availability on the island before they left. When they discovered that coffee makers and beans can be difficult to find, they decided to forgo extra clothes and other items many would believe essential. Instead, they each packed ten pounds of coffee. They lugged twenty pounds of their black treasured bean from home to hotel, from hotel to hotel, from hotel to their home stay, and finally to where they are now - their final destination of these two years. This may sound extreme to those that don’t know Lois and Scott. To me, I would expect nothing different. This is a perfectly logical behavior.

Excited about the moment ahead, I asked Lois if I could take a shower. She told me where to find a towel and the process of turning the water on. I went into the bathroom, shut the door, and turned on the water – then I shouted, “Ok Lois”. Lois flipped the switch just outside the bathroom door. And what happened next was nothing short of a miracle. I only have two words to explain it. Hot water. The shower gods were shining on me. Hot water was pouring out of the shower head and onto my body. I didn’t have to hold my breath while my body acclimated to the cold water – instead the water acclimated to me. I had been dreaming of this all night. Could this be a continuation of yesterday’s dream? Or do people actually live like this? Once again I yelled, “Ok Lois”, she flipped the switch off and the hot water evaporated. I silently thanked the gods and got dressed.

I smelled the aroma of a fresh brew and moved to the kitchen for a cup of coffee. Lois was on her was out the door for a morning walk which sounded good to me. I grabbed my coffee and we slowly walked around her neighborhood. We greeted each person we passed; we moved quickly towards the side of the road when cars turned each corner at alarming speeds; and when we stopped to take in a view we were in awe. The people were friendly, we discovered a bakery, and returned ready to start the day.

We quickly put on our business clothes, left their house, and boarded a bus for that would put us in the direction of Rodney Bay. We stopped a few feet from the Bay Garden Hotel and walked to the Conference Centre. We were there to attend the First JOVC/PCV Conference. JOVCs are Japan’s Overseas Volunteer Cooperation, the equivalent of the United States Peace Corps.

This is the first time that volunteers from Japan and the United States would come together to share experiences. JOVC was established in 1965, four years after Peace Corps. The JOVC is much like Peace Corps with a few exceptions. They have two months of training, but they are trained in Japan while we are trained in country. They receive only twenty days of vacation, whereas we receive forty-eight days. We are free to travel during vacation times; they are restricted to seven countries and Japan is not one of those countries. They have two tiers of volunteers, Junior Volunteers and Senior Volunteers – those under forty and those over forty; we have a 50+ Initiative. They treat senior volunteers different because of the knowledge and experience they bring to the job. Senior Volunteers are given the opportunity to bring their families with them. They are given double wages and they are able to drive cars. Peace Corps Volunteers over fifty are treated without distinction.

Peace Corps could learn from Japan. My biggest, and probably only real criticism of Peace Corps is that they have not planned the 50+ Initiative beyond achieving increased numbers; an goal that is easily measured. They are losing the experience they are working so hard to achieve because they have no idea what to do with the experience we bring once we get here. I think they are having growing pains and hopefully the bureaucracy won’t get in the way of making meaningful change that will enable them to get the results they desire. In the meantime, sometimes I feel like their science project, and other times I feel like an anthropology experiment. Japan seems to be doing this better than the United States.

Volunteers from both sides shared processes and methodologies and experiences. We talked about areas where we could collaborate.

Before the meeting and during the breaks we had time to talk to meet each other. We didn't have to ask Sana what he was interested in. His T-shirt said it all. Many JOVCs had only been speaking English for a few months, but were able to communicate clearly and concisely. Many were motivated to join JOVC to get international business experience. They were interested in the educational and business systems in the United States as well as talking about the differences between the two countries and Saint Lucia.

It was four hours well spent. We had plans for a beach BBQ, but it was pouring rain. So here we were. Many people had prepared food for the BBQ; we brought are bathing suits and our casual clothes. We weren’t ready to say good-bye to our new friends. The room was booked in the afternoon so we couldn’t stay there. Just when it looked like the day was over, there was a solution. Stay tuned for Part III, the ending to this story…