Visions Service Adventures

Community Updates

What's new with our friends and partners in our program communities? This is where you can keep posted about what's happening in the communities of our program sites.

Dominica

• The Carib Model Village is soon having their grand opening. This Village is intended to promote and improve the socio-economic conditions in the Carib Territory in Salybia, east of the capital, Roseau. The village will serve as a special tourist attraction with traditional Carib buildings, craft production and sales outlets, and a cultural art-drama center. Angelica, our fantastic breakfast chef will be working at the kitchen here at the Model Village offering scrumptious meals to visitors. Brian, her son, continues working at the Model Village supporting the director with photography projects.
• Susan Sanford, youngest sister to Provin, will be graduating from college in April. Susan will have completed her Associate degree in Business. She is interested in continuing her education and is looking toward a Bachelors degree.
• Patsy continues to be a motivating force in the community. She along with several other women, under the Committee of Concerned Women, meet regularly to support the elderly and home-bound. They visit, clean, cook, run errands, etc. for those that are unable to do so for themselves. Last summer, our students had the opportunity to work with this Committee. Partnered with Committee women, our students brought small host gifts of saltfish, flour, sugar, and salt, helping the Committee to clean and visit with the elderly. The Committee much appreciated our help and we look forward to continued good work together.
• Dominica was the world's first nation to be declared a Green Globe 21 Benchmark Certified destination, a feat that only 2 other destinations have since earned. The benchmark certification shows the country's dedication to environmentally and culturally sensitive tourism, which, among other things, also ensures the local residents benefit form the tourism revenue. Green Globe 21 is one of the strongest and most acknowledged green tourism certification programs. The government of Dominica, through the certification process and other projects, has embraced ecotourism as its new form of economic development, as it has proven to become a more viable long-term alternative to the mass tourism focus of the rest of the Caribbean.

Dominican Republic

• Henri Doñe became a residential member of the VISIONS team for the first time in 2004, living with the program in Santa Fe and Sabana Perdida. He managed construction projects in both sites and spent more time in our home base and excursion life during the summer.
• Alberto Ramos has 2 great kids now, Alkelis, his daughter born in 2002 and Eder, his son born in 2004. Alberto is getting his masters degree in English and French languages. He is completing construction of his home, built as the second story on Santos and Lidia's home in Sabana Perdida. Kenia, Alberto’s wife, operates a thriving beauty salon out of their home, which will soon move to a commercial space.
• The Escuela Episcopal in Santa Fe is constructing a brand new school building in the empty lot (formerly informal garbage dump) next door. They'll move in as soon as it is completed. This may mean larger space and more rooms for VISIONS groups.

Ecuador

• Jorge was recently awarded a grant from Kindred Spirits Foundation to create an Academy of Indigenous Arts, which will bring together musicians from all over the country to share their folk traditions with others and help preserve their unique cultural identities. The Tsachila CD (with voices from Summer 2004 participants, and artwork by participant Abby Noyes) was released in June 2005; An Alternative Winter Break group from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh will be visiting Chiguilpe in January to put some of the finishing touches on the ethnographic museum started by VISIONS.

Guadeloupe

• Pierrette is doing well in Basse-Terre. As the Regional Director of the Basse-Terre Carnival, she has been busy preparing for the parades and festivities beginning January 7th, and culminating with Mardi Gras on February 28th.
• Eric and Marie-Cecil Valvert had a son, Celio, born on February 18th, 2004. Eric is anxiously waiting on the completion of the construction of his new fishing boat, which will allow him to go on fishing trips as far away as Martinique.
• Jeremy, Sydji, Jonaël and the rest of the Pierre family in the Palmiste community say hello to everyone and miss all their VISIONS friends.
• Many of the buildings destroyed in the earthquake of 2004 have since been rebuilt in Petit Anse. The new mayor's office and primary school will be ready to open in January, but the church still needs much work.

Montana

Blackfeet Reservation

• VISIONS lived in the Nizipuhwahsin School in Browning last summer (2006). The school was created as part of the Peigan Institute and teaches students completely in the Blackfeet language. Darrel Kipp continues to be involved with the school and was able to come speak with us on a couple of occasions. Many thanks to the school for offering us this wonderful homebase!
• We continued to do sweats with Tom Crawford in Heart Butte last summer and were able to help him and his family collect wood for the sweats from the mountains surrounding his house.
• We continued to work with the Blackfeet Land Trust in 2006, completing repair work on and around the main building. Dale Pepion continues to be the caretaker of the Land Trust and we really enjoyed working with him again this year.

Northern Cheyenne Reservation

• Mike and Florence Runningwolf are both doing well. Anthony, their youngest son, has gone off to college. Florence has gone back to working full time with Cheyenne Children Services and we continue to do sweats with Mike in Birney Village.
• Charlotte Rockroads (sister of Florence Runningwolf) was able to cook for our group this summer (2005) at the Head Start center in Lame Deer. It was her first summer cooking with VISIONS and she did a fabulous job.
• Sadly, the bowling alley in Colstrip (Coal Bowl) closed down before the summer of 2005.
• After a several year hiatus, Jerome Whitehawk was able to work with us some this summer on the Ashland Pow Wow arbor. It was good to connect with him again after a few years. We also worked with Mariah Maxwell in the community of Muddy Cluster, where her and Jerome live, helping to demolish an old playground and clearing the way for a new one to be constructed.

Peru

• Lucy's son, Jahir has been at home in Urubamba with Lucy and Max since November 2006. They made a room for him in their home with a hospital bed. A nurse comes weekly to see him and they are seeking a physical therapist to come work with him. Jahir doesn't look like he's in a coma and has made small improvements in alertness and responsiveness, such as more movement in his limbs and his eyes open wider. Jahir turned 18 in December.
• Nico Jara had surgery on his leg in early October. All went well; he'll have a scar but will fully recovered by this coming summer. He and Berta met Adam Liebowitz - Virgin Gorda staffer and Tortola participant alumnus - in November during his travels through South America!
• Lucy Sanchez Bossio (our cook) continues to be actively involved in "Nuevo Amanecer", the battered women's shelter she helped establish in Urubamba. On November 25, she organized a community-wide "Stop Violence Against Women" event - which was a huge success! Her CD, "Pachmama Esperanza" (Mother Earth Hope) will soon be available on the webstore of Kindred Spirits Foundation (www.kindred-foundation.org). All proceeds will go to Nuevo Amanecer.

Tortola, B.V.I.

• Father David Stedman, VISIONS's old and dear friend retired last summer after 18 years as priest of St. Paul's Church, our home base in Sea Cow’s Bay for many years. Father Stedman has been a steadfast supporter of VISIONS's on Tortola and the person who has nurtured and quietly guided VISIONS staff leaders since our first summer in 1992.
• Due to a leaking roof at St. Paul's Church, VISIONS's longtime home in Sea Cow's Bay, last year we moved to the Century House Montessori School up on Ridge Road above Road Town. It was a great location with beautiful views and a great breeze. Lots of room on the grounds with a small basketball court, garden, large porch, and a newly built playground by Visions in August of 2004. There are no showers at the school though, so we still went down to St. Paul's to shower every other day.
• Jeffrey Forbes continued to dominate this year's annual donkey races, although recent competitor Clifton Forbes scored many style points when he and his donkey momentarily lost control and ran into the crowd packed along the street's edge to witness the event.
• Jeffrey and Clifton with the help of two summer Visions programs (2003 & 2004) have completed the house designed for Jeffrey’s sister, Muriel. Over the past year the house grew to include an enlarged living space, and a projecting concrete ceiling designed to shade the sun and allow for a future second story with wrap-around upstairs porch.
• Michael's farm may be going electric! Land adjacent to Michael's organic farm has recently been purchased with the intent to build a home wired for electricity. Michael speculates that the cables could pass through his property, allowing him access. While Michael has always had water coming from a mountain spring about fifteen minutes walk up from his house (a stone dwelling built during colonial times for the processing of sugarcane), this will be the first time the property has seen electricity.

Virgin Gorda, B.V.I.

• Sojo had a son in September 2005, EJ is doing well and the light of his father's life.
• Sojo is living his longtime dream of being an organic farmer. He has a few acre plot of land next to Brigada Flax School (and across the street from his home). On his organic farm he is growing eggplant, squash, ochre, melons, bananas, papaya, and other produce. In the near future, he hopes to open up an lunch and smoothie cart on the road in front of his farm, where he will sell delicious and healthy food, all made from his homegrown, organic produce.
• My how St. Mary's Church has grown! If you were there before 2003, you would not even recognize the place. Since the arrival of Father Michael Clarke in 2002, the church has added an elementary school, computer lab, music/yoga room, playground (built by Visions), and outdoor concession stand/kitchen. They now offer wonderful programs year round, including school, bible study, meditation, yoga, dance and music classes, computer camp, summer school, and VISAR first aid, CPR, and rescue courses.
• The Baths has officially been turned into a National Park. There is now a little booth at the top (usually staffed by Ahtley Stevens) where visitors must pay a $3 entrance fee (unless you are there with Visions, who is always invited in at the local rate - free). The money goes to the National Parks Trust, to help preserve the beaches and parks.
• Julie Swartz is now the president of the Lions Club in VG. She is still also saving lives volunteering with VISAR (Virgin Islands Search and Rescue) and coordinating the summer swim lessons program for local children.