"Great expectations, on our committee Unified relations
We Rebel our Rhythm through tribulations
And treble and bass the situation with dedication"
-Jurassic 5
Expectations. Travelers, tourists, volunteers, friends, family, and all who venture out, leave not only with the luggage in their hands, but also the expectations in their hearts. My first 4 months in Pohnpei have both fulfilled and transfigured my expectations time and time again.
Jesuit Volunteers ascribe to the 4 pillars of social justice, living simply, witnessing faith, and community life. All are broad ideas, which carry with them a wide spectrum of reality from one person to the next. Truths of each can be different from one person to the next and vice versa. However, all are shaped in our heads pre-departure as an image of expectation to what life is truly like at our destination.
Expectations meet reality very early and often. When I signed up as a JV, to be honest, my mind was warped with images of helping the "poorest of the poor," like images seen in photos of Mother Theresa or others who dedicate to upholding the underrepresented, undernourished, and underscored.
Thanksgiving has been a re-shaping of my expectations to the realities of the situation here in Micronesia. At Pohnpei Catholic School, the tradition is for the kids families to bring local food for their land and donate it as a gift at mass. From there the food is brought to the sick at the State hospital and further to the prisoners in the state jail.
The donations were staggering. Bananas, mangoes, breadfruit, taro, yams, and coconuts galour. Fr. Cav said mass and his message was one that struck me. Pohnpei is a vibrant land of nourishment. Fruits and vegetables grow in abundance and with relative ease. No one goes hungry in Pohnpei. However, it is the role of the community to look after those who have little, in thanks for our abundance. As an American this notion of abundance was one I had missed. I had expected life to be short on luxuries here on island, and had shaped my expectations to miss the incredible gift of food and vegetables made available.
My 8th graders delivered the food with ease and comfort. They upheld the work as an honor and responsibility. I was very proud and honored to be associated with them, let alone to be called their teacher. More than anything, the experience re-shaped my expectations on the customs, culture, and reality of this place. People are not starving for a reason, the community is established enough to recognize the abundance, give thanks to said abundance, and give to those in need. This is not charity, or a hand-out, it is a simple reality.
I would like to call the re-shaping of my expectations a learning experience. I learned something through the experience. The work I do hear will be far out-shined by the work this place does to me. For this I am thankful for the opportunity to observe and gain insight. When I return home, my expectations will once again be re-shaped, however, the truths I have seen here will stay with me.
Some of my 8th grade girls being un-characteristically un-shy for the camera.
Our music teacher entertaining us between deliveries.
Some of the 8th grade boys loading up a pick-up full of bannanas
The girls ready to depart.
The food donated.
