Alive & Well in Suriname

ARRIVAL

After a five hour layover in Curaçao and a stopover in Trinidad, we landed in Paramaribo. From the airport, we trainees (Sur17) were escorted by bus to the PST training site in Lelydorp where we were met by several of the current volunteers (Sur 15 & 16).  On our second night the current volunteers were invited to join us for dinner and a reception at the training facility. We played a couple games of volleyball before dinner started and were surprised with a performance by a traditional Maroon dance group during the reception. 

Thus far, training has included sessions on safety and security, Surinamese culture and team building. The staff has been overwhelmingly friendly and supportive, and the current volunteers have provided helpful insight into culture and the type of adjustments that will need to be made on site.  Most importantly, the individuals in my training group are amazing. We are hugely diverse in terms of our respective hometowns, our professional backgrounds and interests.  Everyone has a great sense of humor and commitment to service.

OVERVIEW: WEEK 1

Although I’d read about the climate in before arriving, I had never experienced weather like that of Suriname before. It’s about 85 degrees Fahrenheit and humid (like a sauna) all day.  The blazing sunshine is periodically interrupted with all out downpours—the sky opens up and dumps was seems like a lake onto the Earth in less than 5 minutes.  The quantity and frequency of rain explains the incredibly green vegetation and colorful flowers and fruits that grow everywhere.  However, I have to say that it’s going to take some time before I get used to running in the muggy climate.  I’m learning to sweat like I didn’t think possible and am getting accustomed to taking multiple showers a day.

Among my favorite things in Suriname thus far is the food.  Spice, particularly hot peppers called Madame Cher-something-or-other, is a key ingredient to every dish. Chicken and beef are baked or fried in warm, spicy sauces and are served either with white rice, thin unleavened bread or egg noodles.  To date I haven’t had a meal I didn’t like.  Unfortunately, fresh vegetables do not seem to be a staple in the local diet.  Perhaps a garden is in store once I arrive on site…

In terms of the schedule, PST has changed significantly from previous years. Until 2011, volunteers customarily spent a week or so in Lelydorp (center-based training) before spending a few months in a home stay (community-based training). Sur17, however, will be spending several weeks in Lelydorp prior to an abbreviated host family stay. While I’m disappointed in this shift from the standpoint that a longer home stay would facilitate much faster language learning, it also means that I get to spend more time with my training class. 

LANGUAGE LEARNING COMMUNITY

Saturday was an exciting day from the standpoint that we received our language assignments, which will ultimately dictate the ethic community and geographic location of our site. I was very pleased to have been assigned to learn Aucan. Classes begin on Monday and are taught by a native-speaker. My language learning group is comprised of only four trainees, so I am very lucky in terms of the amount of one-on-one instruction I am likely to receive.

Aucans or Ndyuka are one of the five different subcommunities within the Maroon population (descendants of runaway slaves) of Suriname. Maroons make up 10% of the Surinamese population. The other four Maroon subgroups are: the Kwinti, the Matawai, the Saramaccans and the Paramaccans.   Aucans live upstream on the rivers in Eastern Suriname (i.e. the Cottica, Tapanahoni and Marowijne rivers). 

On Friday we also were instructed on how to do laundry in the hinterland (i.e. the interior). Clothes washing, “crosi wasi” in Aucan, is done in plastic buckets at the river with bar soap and a scrub brush and/or rock. We practiced today (minus the river and rock) in the yard of the training facility, much to the amusement of our host-country language instructors.

I'll try to add some pictures tomorrow but the internet connection is really slow. Cross your fingers. More details to come—stay tuned!