#WININING ARC!!!!!!!!

[wackpedion]

JUYST WON MY 2ND ONE LETS GOOOOOO

I FINALLY FUKN WON A X10 BATTLE LETS FUCKING GOOOO

[trinidane-blog]

First week in Trinidad

Anxious, excited, nervous, overwhelmed, curious, fulfilled, joy… some words that I would use to describe the many emotions I have felt the first week here in Trinidad. Obviously these only skim the surface, and actually translating my impressions and experiences into words is challenging. For the people who know me, you know that I am not one to share much of myself on social media. While I could be described as an extrovert, my social media presence is very much introverted. This blog is my attempt to not only share and reflect on my time here, but also to step outside of my ‘normal self’. It is not only aimed at sharing with family and friends, but I also hope that it can provide some insight into interning abroad for future GNH students. Plus I figured writing this saves me shallowly skimming over what I have been doing over and over to everyone individually. Anyway…

I arrived a week ago, late in the evening, where I was picked up by my internship hosts Gillian and Kelly. Exhausted from a loooong trip with 2 layovers, I tried to stay present and engage in conversation, while wanting to make a good first impression. As we drove through the Port of Spain and into the hills I remember thinking ‘shit what am I doing here,’ ‘is this even for me,’ ‘can I contribute to this organisation,’ ‘they’re gonna realise I know nothing’ and many other somewhat negative thoughts filled with doubt and insecurity. To be honest, these thoughts still creep in daily, but as the week has gone on, the thought of ‘I am right where I am supposed to be,’ is weighing more and more in  my conscious mind. I think (and hope) that when my time comes to and end here, I can look back at these reflections and giggle at this doubtful thinking. Until then, I have been trying to let go of all expectations because already in my first week nothing has been as I expected. 

A little bit about the organisation I am working with;

The organistion is called “Alliance for Rural Communities” or ARC for short. They are a multi component organisation who’s overall objective is to support the development of rural communities here in Trinidad. They run several projects that work to enhance the economic and social situation for people in these communities. One of the their main ways that they support the communities is through their local chocolate production. Trinidad is ripe with vegetation, and is home to some of the highest quality cacao beans in the world. Unfortunately, this cacao is mostly exploited my conventional chocolate industry that buy the beans cheap, and export it for production in the western world. This does little to benefit the local economy and the cocoa farmers who put in the work are left with little to show for it, compared to the huge earnings that these powerful companies make. This of course is not limited to Trinidad but happens in other low income countries,  particularly in West Africa. There is so much more to this story and the corrupt nature of the chocolate industry which I won’t go into detail with, but anyone interested in learning more can watch the documentary ‘the dark side of chocolate.’ So, what ARC have done in many of the communities here, is help the local cacao farmers take advantage of this natural resource to set up their own chocolate making companies, whereby they support them to more efficiently plant, harvest and produce chocolate to be sold in Trinidad. They are currently working on also finding ways to expand onto the global market.  In summary, this all involves mobilising the farmers within the rural communities, as well as other people living there, such as the youths. This thereby creates employment opportunity and a source of income for the community. On a deeper level, it strengthens community bonds and cohesion, which are crucial factors in optimally functioning communities. The other 3 arms of the organisation are chocolate tourism, catering (with all locally sustainably produced ingredient), and youth development projects. 

Some of you (particularly people outside of  the GNH education) may be wondering how this is related to Health and Nutrition. In short, health is so much more than the individual choices we make, such as what we eat and how we move. These choices and behaviours are always underpinned by the social structures we are part of. These factors that play into our health are referred to the ‘social determinants of health’, which are the complex, integrated, and overlapping social structures and economic systems that are responsible for most health inequities. These social structures and economic systems include the social environment, physical environment, health services, and structural and societal factors. So basically, rather than working on people’s individual health behaviour, community development is a way to target the bigger picture, the social determinants of health. The reason I wanted to explain this is that I have had a lot of people ask me why this work is relevant. I have received many skeptical looks in trying to describe my internship. My parents are particularly skeptical, and to be honest, sometime I have to also remind myself how this is all relevant to health. Hope this explanation shed some light, and didn’t bore people. 

So  what is my role in the organisation? Good question. But the first week has definitely kept me busy. I have done things like sorting newly harvested cacao beans (disposing of the bad ones), learning about some of the processes of chocolate making, helping out during private workshops, and taking on practical admin tasks. Overall it has been a week of getting to know the amazing people that I’ll be working with, and trying to gain insight into the trials and tribulations that plague the rural communities, and Trinidad as a whole. I see my role as providing as much support as I can, and to gain insight into community development. Equally important, I want to absorb as much of this amazingly rich culture of Trinidad. Some of the friendliest people I have met, a culture and way of being that the Danes could learn from. 

I think I’ll end my first post there before I write a whole essay that puts everyone to sleep. I hope to go into more of my social experiences here in the next posts. Carnival is nearly here and the atmosphere is intense! I am so looking forward to it. In case you’re questioning the name of the blog, I’ll leave you with a little Trini slang lesson that I learned the very first days of being here;

lime / liming: (v) hanging out, having fun, as ‘Let’s go down to the corner and lime.’

liming: (n) a wildcard word for any social event like cinema lime, pub lime, party lime

Wine/Wining : the primary way Trinidadians and Tobagonians dance to reggae, soca and calypso. A dance involving the skilful rolling and swinging of the waist and hips. Something Trini’s are exceptionally talented at 

So working, liming and winin are all things  that I have been doing the first week and I plan to do much more of during my time here. This blog will be a documentation to all of this.