WhAt DoEs JaMiE dO?

The Price Is Right

My Peace Corps Partnership Proposal grant is complete thanks to my dear friends and family. I would like to give a personal thank you to The Baldwins, Tim & Christine Connor, Lue Ann Lott, Dr. Cynthia Brooks, the Greater Birmingham Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Group, and David, Julie, Wil, and Lexi Chadwick. Without all of your gracious donations (plus those of you who donated that I am not aware of yet) my village would not be able to lay a safe and sanitary footpath for the use of generations to come. The village is ecstatic that the money has been so graciously given and with speedy delivery as the footpath is most needed during the wet season, starting in December. THANK YOU ALL SOOO VERY MUCH.

Volunteers Learn Virgin Coconut Oil

Last week I hosted three Peace Corps Volunteers. They came to learn how to produce the amazing product, Virgin Coconut Oil. Within Peace Corps I am considered the “Virgin Coconut Oil Queen”. Lol, it fits, simply because all growing up I was called “Mom’s little Princess and the Pea”. Of course, when I was little I thought she was calling me a princess that pees, so naturally, I didn’t like my nickname at all. Nowadays, it is sooo true. Back to VCO, the three volunteers learned how to collect the coconuts, husk, scrape, squeeze, ferment, separate, filter and sun. They were also taught the properties of VCO, different ways to run a business within the village, where to purchase the supplies, how to select families who will be successful, and other necessary information for starting a VCO business.

Scraping.

Squeezing

Separating.

Filtering.

In the end, we made some VCO to use for cooking, as well as mixed up a few massage oils by adding essential oils. I hope they learned what they expected to and will be able to take their new skills back to their communities.

HIV/AIDS and STIs – That Uncomfortable Talk

A nearby Peace Corps health volunteer was also invited into my village to teach about HIV/AIDS and STIs. In Fiji, talking about sex and sensitive health issues is somewhat restricted so they have not been educated thoroughly on safe sex practices and when to visit the doctor. During the seminar the village was extremely involved, asking questions and demonstrating the correct use of a condom. Plus role plays and games, the village now has a good understanding of how fast sexual diseases are spreading within Fiji and how to protect themselves.

Lots of villagers were there.

Teaching the crowd.

Lydia playing "questions and answers".

The Smokeless “Rocket Stove” Experiment

My nextdoor neighbor, Grandmother Lowata, using the Rocket Stove.

Another Peace Corps volunteer spent some time in Fiji perfecting a smokeless stove deemed the “rocket stove”. I have recently introduced it to a family in the village to assess the benefits of making one for several families. By using the rocket stove they would spend less time in the forest collecting firewood as well as breathe in less of the harmful smoke inhaled while cooking over an open fire.

The Freshest Chicken EVER

While the volunteers where visiting, I thought it a good idea to buy a chicken from a villager, experience the killing, removing of the feathers, and cooking, therefore, eating the freshest chicken EVER. They were up for it! We bought our little mother hen and brought her up to my namesake’s house. As I handed it over to her, she immediately started to hold its mouth shut with her fingers. I hesitated, asking her if it would be quicker and less painful if we just chopped its head off. She agreed, taking me over to a raw, splintered two by four and holding its head tight across the wood, cleanly chopped the head off. I must say, I never expected this sort of brutality towards animals coming from my namesake.

My namesake suffocating the chicken.

Cutting off the head of the Mother Hen.

I quickly asked her if a chicken really runs around with its head cut off. This chicken couldn’t have gone anywhere. She was dead to the world. Anyways, the chicken was placed in a basin and boiling water was poured over her angelic, white feathers. My namesake began yanking feathers out. I was astonished at how easily they release from the chickens pink skin. I gave it a try and ended up enjoying the quick, yet tedious work.Add hot water.

Pull some feathers.

Ta da. The freshest, nakedest chicken you have ever seen.

Soon the chicken was ready to be degutted. As Ili cut open the belly and pulled out the intestines, a fresh egg splattered onto the ground. Other eggs were inside ready to develop. Each one was simply the yolk with veins running in all directions around the glossy, yellow exterior. As she continued to clean out the insides she opened the intestines and cleaned out all of the green, coagulated grass so that the intestines could be cooked into a stew with the other grotesque interiors.

Oops.

Babies in the making.

Mmm, my namesake's favorite ingredients for stew.