A view of my work in Moroni

It has been a couple weeks since our swearing-in ceremony, and my work here in Moroni is taking shape. Here’s a brief tour of what I see on my way to work.

On a side road about 100 yards down from the Palais du Peuple (parliament), you’ll find my primary work site at the University of Comoros, specifically the campus of the Institute de Formation et de Recherche en Éducation (IFERE).

This part of the university also hosts the American Corner, a resource center funded by the US embassy (they exist in a lot of different countries, including where I served previously in Kyrgyzstan). It’s a great asset for me, both for the resources it contains and as a location for different activities.

It’s also valuable to me as a space to work, especially when compared to the very small office shared by the entire English department.

I’m currently working with the English for Tourism program, and this is the classroom where one of the Comorian professors and I co-teach the courses for first and second-year students (when there isn’t a taxi drivers’ strike or one of the many other obstacles that can cancel class).

That’s what it looks like when I head to work at the university. That’s where I spend most of my time, but there’s a lot more of Moroni that I’m becoming acquainted with through both work and my own personal explorations. I’ve gotten to know a fair bit of the city in almost a month, but there’s much more that remains to be discovered.

Starting off with kind words and a song

After ten days of training that flew by at incredible speed, we had an excellent outdoor ceremony in which our group of six was sworn in and became Peace Corps volunteers (again).

The ceremony was outside under the shade of the trees in a lovely setting with a view of the ocean at the Retaj Hotel here in Moroni. It was very well attended by a variety of notables and dignitaries, and the ceremony included speeches by the Peace Corps regional director for Africa and the vice-president of the Comoros. The vice-president’s speech was especially heartening, as he spoke powerfully about his personal experience with a Peace Corps volunteer two decades ago and his great hopes for our success.

The ceremony also included all six of us singing a song in Shikomori composed for the occasion by one of the Peace Corps staff. The best that can be said about our singing was that it was energetic, but that wasn’t a problem, as we were supported by the skillful performance of Maalesh, a famous Comorian musician and all-around awesome guy. Here’s an example of his music:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUM3KFRkj0o

After the ceremony, we all went off to our respective sites, which was just a trip across town in my case. Tomorrow I will begin my work with the university, and I look forward to getting started!

Bienvenue aux Comores!

Getting from the US to this little island nation in between Mozambique and Madagascar was an odyssey (in the full Homeric sense of the word), as the mere 36 hour itinerary turned into almost 70 after the last of the four flights was unexpectedly cancelled. It was a good reintroduction to the essential Peace Corps skill of picking up the shattered pieces of the best laid plans, and it was a good initial bonding experience for us, the six Peace Corps Response volunteers who will be the first wave to reestablish the program here in Comoros.

Our first week has been eventful in all sorts of ways, starting with me learning the hard way about the terrible state of the roads just 24 hours after arrival (luckily it was my left arm- I got to go through the adventure of getting an x-ray, and thankfully no bones were broken. I’m on the mend and should be back to full strength in a couple of weeks). We’ve also seen beautiful beaches and met some incredibly warm-hearted and welcoming people.

Our training is in the American Corner at the university where I’ll be working, so I’ve been able to meet many of the people with whom I’ll be working, including the two university professors who are currently serving as our Shikomori language teachers. The teachers, students, and Peace Corps staff have all been very impressive, and the level of motivation and excitement about the return of Peace Corps is great to see. I’m really looking forward to getting started with my work here, and it seems like I will have the excellent problem of having too many good projects to work on.

It’s also clear that there will be some very big challenges, not least of which is a lack of resources (even here in the capital) that makes the poverty of Kyrgyzstan look well-off by comparison. Ultimately I am confident that with patience and perseverance I will be able to work with the excellent people here to overcome the obstacles and accomplish some great things in this beautiful little corner of the world.