Introducing Jessica

About two weeks ago Jessica Ponder came to Richmond Vale Academy to work as staff. This is after her studies to become a Development Instructor and volunteer work In Mozambique... a goal we student still are having in front of us. See what she has to say:

When I told people in Mexico I was going to Africa. I faced the same question that I have asked myself so many times before. Why go so far if I could help the ones closer to me? Is not poverty the same in any part of the world?

Hunger is hunger in any language and at any place, even though you might not be the one suffering it, you can still feel it, and when the needs of the others somehow become your own needs, it’s easier to understand how the main thing is not who you are helping to, just the fact that you are doing it.

Still, you can be wondering, Why Africa? There could be many reasons, but numbers are there; one in two people in Sub Saharan Africa survive on less than one dollar per day (more than 315 million), a child dies every 3 seconds from AIDS and extreme poverty, more than one billion people do not have access to clean water, in a few words, when the rest of the world is hungry, Africa is starving.

The darkest thing about Africa has always been our ignorance of it, George Kimble said it and couldn’t be more right, we keep on trying to understand poverty as we know it, as we’ve seen it, but in Africa poverty is in a different level. The average life expectancy in Africa is 41 years, if that would be our situation, we would never have met our grandparents, and like them so many people would be missing from our lives!

Our problems will always seem more important than the others, because they are directly affecting us, but when we hear, see or live the other´s problems, we might realize we are not so bad, that of course we need to work and solve our own issues, but there are people who needs our help right away, the state of emergency for them, has became the normal status, but we shouldn’t let ourselves get used to it, it’s a matter of choice.

We cannot do everything in Africa, for sure we won’t change the world, but the tiniest effort, could make the difference, and if we are able to help Africa, we will be able to help anyone. So to answer the main question of the article, not, poverty in Africa is not the same than poverty in our home countries, it is not like anything we could imagine, but is there, and is waiting for us! Are we ready to answer that call? Hopefuly we are!

-Mauricio Mancera, Africa Team September 2009 -RVA

So what is fundrasing about?

Part of the training to become a Development Instructor is fundraising.

At the Ricmond Vale Academy, a part of the training is fundraising.

A fourteen months Africa program including food, accommodation, program, activities, excursions, travel to Africa and health insurance in Africa cost around 12.000 USD. The partcipants pay one part in tuition (apr 3500 USD) and one part through fundraising during the training (1500 USD). Further funds are raised to cover the costs through grants from our partner school IICD in USA, Humana People to People and the staff fundraises for the DI program through running the Academy's Nature and HIking Center.

Fundraising is excellent training for Africa, fundraising money and materials is done by Development Instructors at several projects in Africa. During the training at the Academy you can learn alot from the fundraising periods, for example to never give up.

Why are we here? Meet the Africa Team!

Elisabeth, Andrea, Maurizio, Nandor, Joao, Bob, Mariana, Lucas, Seon Mi, Mi-ran, Monika, Isabela, Ligia, Sara, Gabriella, Werner and Gustavo

Monica

Awaiting the commence of the training was probably one of the most nerve racking period I went through. I was not really sure what to expect and if I would be able to adjust to my new surrouning.
However, thanks to my mixed-cultural and geographical background, and of course the warm welcome of the RVA team, I felt straight at home.
My name is Monica and I am a Liberian-German, studying Media and Culture in London.
Like many others I enjoy travelling and living in a developing country where capitalist values have not yet found home in most poeples mentality.
Here in St.Vincent everyone seems very humble and people don't expect much from you, but a smile.
At the Academy, we have a lot of activities and classes, every week there is another personal challenge to be conquered. From- waiking up at 6am to prepare breakfast for 30, organizing twenty very excited primary school kids in doing educational role playing (without any resources), pitching businesses for funding...- to- just being everyday around the same (lovely) people.

My responsiblity area in the school is the vegetable garden. I have always loved eating my vegetables but never thought about working in a garden producing them myself.
Who would have thought that weeding, building garden soil, composting and planting could burn more calories than one and a half hours of a cardio work out!
It is a complete new domain for me, but one is for sure it is great fun gaining these unvaluable skills in food sustainability and in becoming self-sufficient. I enjoy learning these survival tricks side by side with friends, DIs, staff and just odinary people.

About being here, and this is one of the greatest things for me personally, you set your own goals and aims, and you are encouraged and guided but not led in becoming a Development Instructor. You are given so much space to experience things to the full and make and gain your own experiences. If you want to do something do it, if you fail-reflect- and try it another time.
The educational learning system is from a different kind as well.
Instead of, (what most of us are used to) consuming every word from your lekturer as complete -knowledge=truth-, here, everyone is giving the 'power' to argue their point and visions in a non- discrimination athmosphere. In other words, we teach one another, we point to different angles of perception and we discuss and try to understand each other.

All of this makes the Richmond Vale Academy an unforgetable adventure...for me at least...

Can you believe it?!

Coming all the way from a big city –suburb in Sweden, St. Vincent and the rest of the Caribbean with its untouched nature, warm climate, warm hospitable people and tourist-free surroundings this island surely is an ideal place. This also includes the small but yet challenging difficulties that goes with coming over here, such as the mosquitoes, cold shower in the morning, the seven o'clock breakfast, hard work and let’s not forget the absence of my favorite TV program… it’s all a part of the… adventure here at the Richmond Vale Academy. But then again these minor drawbacks are long forgotten when being at the beach, snorkeling among the colorful fishes, freely eating fruit from numerous different trees, hiking to the waterfalls and hanging out with the people over here.
Mmm!
Oh, by the way my name is Bob van den Eijkhof and I am, as you probably can see, Dutch from the beginning, but have been living in Sweden the last 25 years. I have been studying development, anthropology and working as a teacher… but like many other westernized restless souls I was looking for other options to break my daily routines. One day my co-worker told me about this academy and, knowing this was what I wanted, it didn’t take long until I got things into motion. I applied to the RVA (Richmond Vale Academy) already two weeks later. So now I am here studying in the Caribbean and later on doing volunteer work in Africa… wow, can you believe it?!