News from Kelly

Friends and Family -

Hello hello, I hope this letter finds everyone doing well and enjoying the holiday season. It has been a little while since I last wrote, so let's see if I can update you (semi-briefly) on some of the happenings here in Grenada.

I did get to move into my own place almost five weeks ago, and it is fabulous. It is a spacious one-bedroom apartment right in the middle of St. George's, and I have a lovely view of the lagoon. It is a good thing that I enjoy my place, because I spend enough time there - as I mentioned before, transportation stops running around 8 p.m. and, as a female who is not from this country, I am not supposed to be out on my own after dark to "be on the safe side". So I have been reading, watching movies, practicing my cooking skills - I am not half bad, although I learned that if you are multi-tasking (aka talking on the phone) and cooking, the liklihood of catching a hand towel on fire over the open gas stove increases significantly.

In addition to settling in to my new place, I have been working a bit with a couple of different organizations. I am helping Grenada Save the Children do assessments of hurricane damage in some of the communities surrounding St. George's, and it has been eye-opening to see just how many people are still without proper shelter and are even struggling to obtain food on a regular basis. There are also many people out of work since the hurricane, and this is a problem that many of the hurricane relief organizations are trying to combat by hiring Grenadians to assist in clean-up and repair. So even though people are working hard to make life feel normal again, there is still so much to be done.

I have also been working with Grenada National Council for the Disabled, which is to be my primary assignment. Our biggest focus as of late has been the organization of a trip to St. Vincent for 25 kids with disabilities from Grenada. The national council in St. Vincent has invited us to join them in a march for disabled awareness, as well as a Christmas party at the Governer General's house and lunch with the Prime Minister, all in an effort to show the Grenadian children a good time after the hurricane. It should be a lovely weekend (the event is December 2-5), and we are working really hard to iron out all of the last minute details over the next few days. And lastly, I have been spending some time at Dorothy Hopkin's Center, a home for persons with severe disabilities. It sounds like a lot of stuff as I write it all out, but don't be too impressed - this is all still a part of my "3 month integration phase", where I mostly get to know people and organizations, and start thinking about ways that I can really jump in and get involved.

And I have definitely been making some time for relaxation and a social life (I don't want to spend THAT much time in my apartment alone), trying to get to the beach at least once every week, making ventures to various parts of the island to hike and sight-see, getting involved at church, hanging out with some of my new Grenadian friends and my fellow volunteers. All of the Peace Corps volunteers got together for Thanksgiving, and we feasted on ridiculous amounts of food. It was a good time, a decent substitute for being away from home and family.

So I think that will conclude my not so brief update. Grenada is beautiful, the people are great, and I am working at finding my place here. I hope all is well with you, and if anyone feels inspired to drop me a line I would love to hear how you are doing.

Grace and Peace.
Kelly

Kelly doesn't send pictures. Bad Kelly.