Pohnpeian Bingo, Extreme Weeding, and the Dreaded VRF

I should probably start this post with an apology to my mother for being AWOL recently. I’ll try to sum up the highlights of the last two months here (plus Christmas and New Year in a separate post).

December was a wonderful month – I really needed the break from school to restore my sanity, ha ha. I played lots of Bingo with my family. Pohnpeian Bingo, by the way, is the greatest thing ever. There are like 10 different ways you can get a bingo (diamonds, “six-packs,” corners, etc.), so you’re looking for all these different patterns on six different boards. It’s like a giant puzzle. And when you play “doubles,” you have to get two of these patterns on a board to win. The first 30 times I played, I wouldn’t even realize when I got a bingo because it’s so complicated! But now that I’ve played maybe 200-300 games, I’m getting pretty good at spotting bingos!

One of my favorite days over break was when someone brought back a package of balloons from Kolonia. We played “don’t let the balloon touch the ground” for hours that evening. I got some awesome photos of the kids – they don’t quite capture the insane excitement in the room, but still…

The other highlight of break was getting to go up to the mountains of Pohnpei. It was a 1-2 hour trek up the jungle-y slope to the clearing where my family plants sakau (I can’t do sakau justice here – I’ll be writing a separate post later!). Sometimes they stay up on the mountain overnight or for several days, but this was just a daytrip for my first go. We had an amazing view of the sea – so glad I brought my camera!



Our little mountain chalet

After a quick rest to recover from the hike up, eat some food, and take pictures, the work began! We were “mut”-ing (pronounced “mutch”) which I think best translates to English as “extreme weeding.” Everyone took a machete, and we just hacked at everything coming out of the ground that wasn’t sakau. Keep in mind, this was done on a mountain slope, so we were rather precariously climbing up the rocky slope as we worked. It was kind of awesome.

After we came down and walked back through the village covered in dirt and sweat, everyone passing by asked if we had been working in the jungle. No one could believe that I had gone up there! I made my host sister promise to take me along next time they go to the jungle on a weekend!

Also, it’s time for our first dreaded VRF (Volunteer Report Form). This is how volunteers report to Peace Corps Headquarters absolutely everything we’ve done in the previous six months (it takes about 5-6 hours to fill out the whole thing). It’s rather daunting, but also a really great opportunity to look back on the progress that’s been made so far and to recognize the greatest needs for the coming period. However, Peace Corps also manages to make you feel like a total failure. Despite being constantly told that we’re expected to save the world (just have an impact on our small communities), the VRF asks questions like “Did this activity help combat Human Trafficking?” “Did this activity contribute to food security?” “Did this activity support renewable energy efforts?” Wow, Peace Corps, sorry that my teacher workshops didn’t end human trafficking! Way to make my work feel insignificant!