Jason Pearce

I’ve posted some more great photos taken by other volunteers during the first five weeks of training. Click here to see them. This one is a great group shot.

The health and safety of the Peace Corps volunteers remains of high importance to the staff here in Guyana. And for good reason, for it is easy for us to get ill or have some kind of security concern.

For starters, we have received a host of vaccinations and still have another round to go. Here’s a list of the immunizations I’ve received to date, as well as the upcoming ones:

June 5:
MMR (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella
Yellow Fever
Rabies #1

June 12:
Rabies #2
Hepatitis A #1
Hepatitis B #1

July 3:
Rabies #3
Diphtheria
Typhoid

July 12:
Polio
Hepatitis B #2

January 2003:
Hepatitis A #2
Hepatitis B #3

Despite these precautions, several members of our group of 23 have already fallen ill. The most serious illness that one of us caught was Dengue fever, which has taken him out of training for two weeks so far. Thankfully, the Peace Corps put him up in a hotel with air conditioning.

The bad news is that according to a recent Newsweek cover story, mosquito-transmitted dengue is on the rise. Tahiti had tens of thousands of cases last year, several people died on Fiji of the severest form of dengue, and Hawaii had its first epidemic (more than 100 cases) in 50 years. And just this week, while visiting Dean in Essiquibo, I visited with another volunteer who just recently had dengue. I suppose the loss of my toenail is much better than some of the alternatives.

Last week I managed to post a 10 minute MP3 file of me talking about my first month as a Peace Corps volunteer in training. I had a lot of fun putting this “broadcast” together and hope that it will serve as a great addition to the Monologue section of my site.

I hope to record and post a new audio broadcast each month, so please be sure to return to the following hyperlink on occasion to hear the latest from me:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jasonpearce/files/Broadcasts/

The last week or so has been great. Starting with Saturday, July 6, most of us went to a fourth of July party at the US Ambassador’s house outside of Georgetown. The party was great, for we were fed hot dogs, hamburgers, baked beans, and many of the trimmings. We also had a great visit with the Ambassador, who once served as a Peace Corps volunteer himself.

On Sunday, about half of our group (10 people or so) attended a party at one of the host parent’s homes. We played card games, dominoes, and sampled some of the country’s finest rum.

On Monday, Tim (another GUY10 volunteer in training) and I traveled to Essequibo to spend the week with Dean, a GUY9 volunteer. Essequibo is located about halfway between the Essequibo river and Anna Regina, on the coast. To get there, Tim and had to ride a bus for 45 minutes, a speed boat for 45 minutes, and then a taxi ride for another 45 minutes.

It was a fun week with Dean. We attended some of his neighbor’s wedding festivities, spent time napping in hammocks, and went to a lake to go swimming. All in all, it was a great week of ‘training.’

The toenail on my right big toe, however, is getting worse and has become a bit more painful. While playing some casual volleyball at the lake on Thursday, I managed to tear more of the nail up, causing my nail to bleed around two of its edges. I’m not to pleased with this injury and hope that my nail will eventually fall of completely (or, perhaps, I’ll cut it off) and grow back in good condition. We’ll see.

Here are some more online photos for you to view. These were taken and posted by Megan Rayman.