Tomorrow marks one month that I have been in-country. I’m settled in my office at the ministry in downtown Castries, a large room with windows along two of the four walls I share with Claudia, the ministry’s one communications officer. The Gender Affairs Department folks I am partnered with are in a building about a 15-20 min. walk away in Vijie, so I am back forth between the two locations several times a week. My 10-month work plan for Blueprints for Gender Equality was approved by the partner and Cuso International – it is ambitious but doable. There are several other programs and projects on gender equality and gender-based violence on the go in the Department, Blueprints is but one of them, and I am looking forward to raising the profile of the Department’s work and supporting the implementation of their gender focal point system. Essentially, the gender focal point system is a group of 22 people; one person is attached to each ministry/agency and is responsible for ensuring gender is included/considered in all policies and programs. The focal points act as the “go to” people in their ministries to assist in putting a gender sensitive lens or perspective on government programs, polices and services. Over the next several weeks, the gender relations officer, Bynta, and I will be meeting with each of the gender focal points to identify and assess their needs and how best we can support them.

I met the minister a week, and we had our photo taken together for Global Affairs Canada and Cuso International. She is very committed and keen to increase awareness of the government’s work on equality. I’ll share her office’s press release on my welcome to the country and my work on the Blueprints project once it is published.

I am so relieved and excited to share I have secured a new apartment in Rodney Bay. I signed the lease yesterday and will be moving from my apartment in the pink house on Wednesday. The apartment I’m in currently has been fraught with challenges, the biggest being that without a car I am very isolated and there is limited bus service to Grande Riviere, Corinth. Additionally, the landlady doesn’t respect the tenants’ privacy and shouts at you when you ask her to address issues with your apartment. The woman who rented the apartment downstairs moved out yesterday after only 10 days. Without getting into it all, let’s just say it has been quite a difficult situation to manage, and I am grateful to my colleagues, who understood well before I did, that I needed to move, and then helped me look for new accommodations too.

I am thrilled with the new apartment. It is centrally located near grocery stores, a mall, restaurants, banking and Reduit beach. There is even a yoga place close by. As Felecia said yesterday, “You will now be comfortable.” I still have quite the bus trip each morning to Castries for work (45+ mins due to traffic), however, once I am home, I will be able to walk wherever I need to and won’t feel so cut off. The bus trips are actually one of my favourite moments of each day (topic for a future post).

On the fun side – Felecia and Bynta took me to Gros Islet last Friday night where there is a street party every week with music, food and drink vendors, and hours of dancing. Here is a clip from the night:

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There were several groups of foreigners there, and it was strange to see them. In my day-to-day, I don’t see foreigners, maybe one a week in downtown Castries. I guess they must stay on the resorts, most of which are all inclusive. There is an expat community here, according to FaceBook anyway, but I haven’t yet come in contact with anyone from it. I suspect that may change when I move to Rodney Bay and am able to go to the gym, yoga and the beach.

It is a long weekend here (Whit Monday), and I have packing and cleaning to do in preparation for my move. Once I am settled in my new place, new routine, I will write again, and hopefully more frequently on the Island and culture. My goal was to write a post a week, but life has been so unstable it wasn’t possible, and writing about my living situation’s challenges or the ups and downs of working for/with a not for profit organization for the first time didn’t seem like entertaining reading, and in all honesty, I was entirely focussed on finding solutions to my situation… fresh start begins Thursday! 🙂