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Wow, another month. The days seem to fly by and once in a while they seem to be stagnant. I am now able to walk, run, skip, ride the waves and yes…dance. Being the holiday season this past month, I was naturally feeling a bit sad, missing family, friends, hot apple cider and Gran’s fruitcake. Honestly, that didn’t last for too long (except Gran’s fruitcake). Whenever I get the least bit bored or think nothing exciting is going happen it always does. There is never a dull moment in my life right now and I am absolutely loving it. Lately the sky has been clear enough to see the volcanic island in the distance. It is so clear as to even make out the grooves in the mountainside. Most evenings my friend and I will watch the sunset behind the volcano from the beachside…beautiful.

I was fortunate to be invited to spend Christmas with my host family. We spent Christmas Eve sitting on the rooftop watching the sunset in the distance behind the volcano then watched the stars against the dark blackness of the sky. Christmas day was full of cooking, and visiting numerous relatives that were visiting from around the island and a few from Portugal. New Years Eve was incredible! I went to an organized party my friends were throwing on top of their roof, which overlooks all of Tarrafal, the mountains and the ocean. At midnight our group walked around the town plaza and streets drumming and dancing, then we continued to dance on their rooftop till five in the morning. New Years day consisted of more celebration (after a nap or two) and we grilled out and danced until the morning once again.

Some of you may be wondering if I have actually been doing any work…believe it or not I have. I am working on a few projects right now and am having just as much fun! Here is a brief look into my ongoing projects: ´

-- My primary project in Colonato is with the African Development Foundation of which we received a 3 year grant for supporting agricultural sustainability in Colonato. The project purpose is to increase availability of water to farmers as indicated by an increase in cultivated land in the community. As a volunteer I am helping oversee various tasks, improve management capacity and writing quarterly reports.
Other projects include:

-- Designing a youth group program to discuss HIV/AIDS, of which I can hopefully begin sessions once I am finally moved into my house.

-- I am on the language committee for Peace Corps and am compiling a dictionary of environmental terms in both Cape Verdean Kriolu and Portuguese.

-- Designing a training program to teach other volunteers how to create gardens in their communities. We are having this training at the end of January, using a current volunteer’s site where we will implement the training into actually building a garden for that community.

-- Writing a proposal to build a school garden here in Tarrafal. The idea here is to have the students participate in creating and maintaining the garden while using the profits to buy school supplies. In the process we can also teach food security and the importance of post and pre harvest management.

Until next time, my beloved family and friends!