This past Saturday was a day. It was interesting, good, exciting, event-filled .... day. I was supposed to teach an English class Saturday morning but the teacher never called me to say she was at the school. (I’ve decided that instead of waiting around and looking like a fool, I’m going to have the teachers call me when they are on their way so that I can time it better. Gringo time and Salvadoran time are not the same, so I’ve adopted this system to allow me to keep my sanity.) So, instead of going to the school and teaching some basic English phrases – I’m Carol. I’m from San Miguel. Are you and your family from San Miguel? – I hung around cleaning my room and lazy-ing about.
In the afternoon we headed off to San Miguel to meet up with some of Caro’s co-workers. (My host-mom, Carolina – we've kind of been christened Carolina del Norte, and Carolina del Sur, but no one really uses that…maybe eventually it’ll stick.) Her co-workers have a fútbol team and they were going to an away game up in Morazan Department, somewhere near Perquín. Caro wanted to show me Perquín because it’s awesome, and then we would go support her friends at their game. Well, the game was actually not really anywhere near Perquín so we just went straight to the game, but it was still fun anyway. Morazan is beautiful (mountains, trees, rivers, and much cooler!) and as we got to the cancha it started to drizzle a little bit which cooled everything off nicely for the game. Caro’s co-workers won 6-0. It was a fun game because all of the team mates were cracking jokes about each other and egging each other on. And I understood a good portion of what was being said!
After the game we headed pretty much directly back to SAS because we had to arreglarse (literally arrange ourselves; to get ready) for the fiesta in which the Candidate for the Queen of the San Miguel Carnival was to be presented. But first we had to pick her up from her hair appointment in San Miguel. Each year for the HUGE carnival that San Miguel puts on, there is a reina elected. Each community under the municipal direction of San Miguel has a candidate. Saturday night here in SAS was our fiesta to officially present to the community our candidate.
So, in true style, the ADESCO arranged a dance. They hired DJ “Super Caliente” to provide the tunes, sold tickets and advertised on the local radio stations. The party was set to start at 8 pm and we got there at 7:30 to help sell tickets at the door and any other last minute preparations. No one really started showing up until 8:30, but that didn’t mean the music wasn't going! I don’t know how this whole country isn’t deaf yet. The music was so loud I could feel my jeans vibrating against my legs. I spent a good part of the night watching poor ants struggling to get away from the vibrations, but of course, they would have to walk for miles to get away from the bass. DJ Super Caliente had brought a literal wall of speakers and set them up in front of his stage. It was a monstrosity of 3 speakers x 6 speakers. At one point I was pleasantly surprised to feel a breeze inside the casa communal where the dance was being held, but as I plugged my ears with my fingers, I realized it was just the bass pushing the air. I had a mini headache the next day. I don’t know when the next fiesta is, but let’s just say I’m not really looking forward to it. =P
October 28, 2009
October 21, 2009
i'm on my way
As Rusted Root so eloquently sings – “I’m on my way”. I presented my diagnostic findings yesterday to a room full of community and school members – teachers, policemen, ADESCO members (kind of like the city council), a nurse from the local health clinic and students. These past 6 weeks I have been interviewing community members and observing classes to get a better idea of what projects are desired in the community. After my boss from Peace Corps talked for a little bit, I gave a brief introduction of myself and then launched right in. I started with the specific data gathered from the interviews. I ended up interviewing 54 families, (or 245 people) which was my goal, but not even a 10th of the households in this community! I would like to think that my data can be a rough estimation of the community as a whole, but a 10% response rate is not statistically adequate if I remember anything from stats class. Anyhow, for the families interviewed, 60% are male-headed households. This surprised me, considering how many husbands, brothers, and fathers are in the states – but I think a couple of those male heads of households are grandpas, and it’s more symbolic than anything, ‘cause mom really runs the whole show! It’s an interesting study in women empowerment. Yes, there is still machismo, but more and more women are raising their kids all on their own and gaining incredible independence because of it.
I also covered average education levels. For all people interviewed, the average grade obtained was 5th. 20-39 year olds have an average of 8th grade, 40-59 year olds have an average of 4th grade, and 60-90 year olds have an average of 1st grade. I fudged the last set to include more ages because it allowed me to have about the same number of people in each division, and it also didn’t change the average at all to include the 80-90 years olds (also because there are only 4 of them or so). The teachers present at the presentation were really pleased to see that data set! Their work is paying off! 23 families – or 42% - receive remesas, which seems a little low from what I can tell, but I think some people had pena (shame) in telling me whether they receive them or not. More than 40% of the people interviewed are under the age of 18 (42% or 104 to be specific.)
After covering those and other statistics, I launched into the section about needs identified in the community. I was grateful to my host-mom/counterpart for helping me come up with that term. I was looking for a way to say – things to work on in the community – without saying “problems”. I think in the end it came across really objective and fair. I presented the needs that were discussed in the interviews, and then presented ideas for dealing with these needs. For instance, garbage management is a big deal that pretty much all community members mentioned. Some of the ideas generated are to gestionar (work for, or towards) garbage bins and trash pickup in the community, as well as charlas (chats) about proper garbage management, recycling, composting, and reducing use of disposable containers.
Another need that was identified that I really hope to focus on is environmental conscience. I think that if we can work towards educating the kids and the community to see their environment (in all it's physical, biological and socio-cultural senses) as something to be respected and also to be proud of, achieving the other more concrete changes will be a little easier. You can tell people ‘till you’re blue in the face not to throw their trash on the ground, but if they don’t first have the appreciation for what that garbage on the ground will do, it won’t matter how many times you tell them. One of the ways I would like to increase the environmental conscientiousness here is with trips to local natural areas and parks. I think they will help the kids see that El Salvador has plenty of places to be proud of as well as open their eyes to the reality that there is so much more (literally and figuratively) out there than they know.
I continued with other needs identified in the community – home gardens (yay for vegetables!), planting trees everywhere and anywhere (yay for shade!), compost (yay for helpful bugs!), as well as general health (yay for exercise!) I’ve offered myself up for leading exercise classes or something. The nurse from the health clinic seemed really happy about that, as well as other parts of the presentation, so we’ll see where that goes in terms of networking! In the end I opened it up for questions. I didn’t really get any questions, but I got lots of “felicitaciones” (congratulations). The police were really excited that I mentioned delinquency as one of the areas in which I would like to work. The police are under lots of pressure on a national level to control delinquency. As of the beginning of October, I believe, there have been more homicides in 2009 than in all of 2008. I think it works out to about 13 a day? Anyway, there were calls for the national police chief to step down, and calls that this is proof the new government (leftist, first in 29 years or something) can’t be trusted to do anything right because they’ve actually allowed an increase in homicides. So, now the national army has been called to start patrolling with the local police forces to try and control the situation. That being said, they are looking for any ideas about how to control delinquency from the front end, as much as from the tail end. It felt really good to share the information I’ve been gathering and have it validated.
The people in attendance expressed their gratitude for having everything so well laid out. The nurse commented that for only being here for 6 weeks, I hit the nail exactly on the head with regards to the needs of the community! And the President of the ADESCO was grateful that I was able to express everything so clearly with the needs presented first, and then immediately followed them with ideas to address those needs. I think that will be one of my keys to productivity. Every time we discuss “problems”, which is a word I really don’t like, I want to reinforce the presence of solutions. (No negative Nancys here!) That’s what I’m working on right now with the Guardianes Ambientales. We’ve been identifying problems in the community, but also discussing the causes, effects and solutions. It seems to be a really fruitful discussion.
So all that being said, I really feel like I’m on my way. I have a work plan of activities that I’m excited to work on, and I presented it to community representatives, and they seemed jazzed about it as well. Of course each person had their own “pet” project they seemed to really like, but I hope that means I will have lots of help from lots of different people on each project.
I also covered average education levels. For all people interviewed, the average grade obtained was 5th. 20-39 year olds have an average of 8th grade, 40-59 year olds have an average of 4th grade, and 60-90 year olds have an average of 1st grade. I fudged the last set to include more ages because it allowed me to have about the same number of people in each division, and it also didn’t change the average at all to include the 80-90 years olds (also because there are only 4 of them or so). The teachers present at the presentation were really pleased to see that data set! Their work is paying off! 23 families – or 42% - receive remesas, which seems a little low from what I can tell, but I think some people had pena (shame) in telling me whether they receive them or not. More than 40% of the people interviewed are under the age of 18 (42% or 104 to be specific.)
After covering those and other statistics, I launched into the section about needs identified in the community. I was grateful to my host-mom/counterpart for helping me come up with that term. I was looking for a way to say – things to work on in the community – without saying “problems”. I think in the end it came across really objective and fair. I presented the needs that were discussed in the interviews, and then presented ideas for dealing with these needs. For instance, garbage management is a big deal that pretty much all community members mentioned. Some of the ideas generated are to gestionar (work for, or towards) garbage bins and trash pickup in the community, as well as charlas (chats) about proper garbage management, recycling, composting, and reducing use of disposable containers.
Another need that was identified that I really hope to focus on is environmental conscience. I think that if we can work towards educating the kids and the community to see their environment (in all it's physical, biological and socio-cultural senses) as something to be respected and also to be proud of, achieving the other more concrete changes will be a little easier. You can tell people ‘till you’re blue in the face not to throw their trash on the ground, but if they don’t first have the appreciation for what that garbage on the ground will do, it won’t matter how many times you tell them. One of the ways I would like to increase the environmental conscientiousness here is with trips to local natural areas and parks. I think they will help the kids see that El Salvador has plenty of places to be proud of as well as open their eyes to the reality that there is so much more (literally and figuratively) out there than they know.
I continued with other needs identified in the community – home gardens (yay for vegetables!), planting trees everywhere and anywhere (yay for shade!), compost (yay for helpful bugs!), as well as general health (yay for exercise!) I’ve offered myself up for leading exercise classes or something. The nurse from the health clinic seemed really happy about that, as well as other parts of the presentation, so we’ll see where that goes in terms of networking! In the end I opened it up for questions. I didn’t really get any questions, but I got lots of “felicitaciones” (congratulations). The police were really excited that I mentioned delinquency as one of the areas in which I would like to work. The police are under lots of pressure on a national level to control delinquency. As of the beginning of October, I believe, there have been more homicides in 2009 than in all of 2008. I think it works out to about 13 a day? Anyway, there were calls for the national police chief to step down, and calls that this is proof the new government (leftist, first in 29 years or something) can’t be trusted to do anything right because they’ve actually allowed an increase in homicides. So, now the national army has been called to start patrolling with the local police forces to try and control the situation. That being said, they are looking for any ideas about how to control delinquency from the front end, as much as from the tail end. It felt really good to share the information I’ve been gathering and have it validated.
The people in attendance expressed their gratitude for having everything so well laid out. The nurse commented that for only being here for 6 weeks, I hit the nail exactly on the head with regards to the needs of the community! And the President of the ADESCO was grateful that I was able to express everything so clearly with the needs presented first, and then immediately followed them with ideas to address those needs. I think that will be one of my keys to productivity. Every time we discuss “problems”, which is a word I really don’t like, I want to reinforce the presence of solutions. (No negative Nancys here!) That’s what I’m working on right now with the Guardianes Ambientales. We’ve been identifying problems in the community, but also discussing the causes, effects and solutions. It seems to be a really fruitful discussion.
So all that being said, I really feel like I’m on my way. I have a work plan of activities that I’m excited to work on, and I presented it to community representatives, and they seemed jazzed about it as well. Of course each person had their own “pet” project they seemed to really like, but I hope that means I will have lots of help from lots of different people on each project.
October 7, 2009
ground control to major tom
It’s almost my one month anniversary of being in San Antonio Silva, and I’m in a weird place right now. I feel comfortable, physically, emotionally and mentally, but I’m not totally sure of where I’m heading. I don’t know if those things seem contradictory to you, but to me they are. I have a fairly set routine which helps me pass the days, but sometimes, that’s exactly what it feels like - just waiting for another day to pass.
I wake up at 5:45 and go running, or some other form of exercise. Oh, and pretty much the whole town thinks I’m crazy as I run past them once, twice, three and four times, but that’s okay. Maybe eventually I’ll find a running buddy, and we can be weird together! (I’m afraid that not only do they think I’m crazy, but also scary. Here in El Salvador, one of the superstitions is about really sweaty people. The conventional wisdom if that if a sweaty person approaches a little child, they can infect the child with evil spirits… Well, if there’s one thing I am when I’m running here, it’s sweaty. I hope that because it’s so hot here, maybe that superstition doesn’t apply? Nevertheless, I generally run a little faster past mothers and children, in case she gives me an evil eye or something, warding off my evil, sweaty, spirit.) After breakfast, and a refreshing shower, I generally go out with my host-grandma and interview people in the community, or just go and chat. In the afternoons I spend time with my host brother, compile information from the morning’s interviews and plan English classes or meetings with my eco-club. And that’s about it. The trips to San Miguel, or community meetings, or wakes, or whatever, don’t come along that often. My life has become fairly regimented, but in a completely non-stressful and unassuming way. It’s really quite strange.
I can see the light at the end of the tunnel though; the busy, lots-of-meetings, light at the end of this two month tunnel. I officially have two groups of Guardianas Ambientales (Environmental Guardians) who will be the core of my eco-club. One group will meet Wednesday mornings because they have afternoon classes, and the other will meet Wednesdays in the afternoon because they have morning classes. I’m excited to have a group that I can focus on. It feels like something if starting to roll. However, I don’t plan on getting any “real” activities going just yet (community clean-up campaigns, compost piles etc), but instead, spend this time getting to know the kids and what they want to do with the club. In this way I feel half way in, half way out.
I also think I will be starting the English classes this week too. Though I’m still not entirely sure how I feel teaching English. A part of me is happy that I can provide a service to this community, something they are interested in (though right now, the majority of people signed up are teachers, and they are from San Miguel…) Another part of me feels completely unqualified to teach English, and therefore, I’m doing a disservice to them; another part of me is a little disappointed because I would like to spend my energy on environmental issues and finally, a tiny part of me is frustrated/afraid because a few people have expressed sentiments to me like: “oh, I can’t wait to learn English from you. In two years I’ll be fluent!” I’m frustrated because I don’t think they realize how much work that will be (for me and them) and I’m afraid that they will blame me if they aren’t fluent. I think I need to just keep reminding myself that in the end, by teaching these classes, I’m building relationships and gaining confianza (trust, confidence) with the people attending the classes. And therefore, hopefully, everyone will be more willing to work with me when I do have environmentally focused activities or projects.
So I think that’s part of why I’m feeling…a drift… right now. I’m one month in, spending time doing what I’m supposed to be doing – getting to the know my community, and letting them get to know me. But, I like to be busy, and I like to see progress and the fact that even though I’m meeting with people every day and getting lots of balls rolling doesn’t compute in my mind as progress. Also, I’m one month away from two more weeks of training, which will be a nice break before I really get working. But I have a feeling that when I get back, work will still be slow in the making. This is because the Fiestas Patronales of San Miguel are in late November (and since SAS is a part of the municipality of San Miguel, we get to party too.) And then the kids have no school in November and December, but December is one big Christmas Party and then the beginning of January is the Fiestas Patronales of Molineros (my training community) so I’m going back for those. Essentially, this all means that, maybe, come January I will have a more focused life, physically and mentally. Right now I feel like a quality candidate for space cadet of the month. Oh, and I’m still looking for a house.
I wake up at 5:45 and go running, or some other form of exercise. Oh, and pretty much the whole town thinks I’m crazy as I run past them once, twice, three and four times, but that’s okay. Maybe eventually I’ll find a running buddy, and we can be weird together! (I’m afraid that not only do they think I’m crazy, but also scary. Here in El Salvador, one of the superstitions is about really sweaty people. The conventional wisdom if that if a sweaty person approaches a little child, they can infect the child with evil spirits… Well, if there’s one thing I am when I’m running here, it’s sweaty. I hope that because it’s so hot here, maybe that superstition doesn’t apply? Nevertheless, I generally run a little faster past mothers and children, in case she gives me an evil eye or something, warding off my evil, sweaty, spirit.) After breakfast, and a refreshing shower, I generally go out with my host-grandma and interview people in the community, or just go and chat. In the afternoons I spend time with my host brother, compile information from the morning’s interviews and plan English classes or meetings with my eco-club. And that’s about it. The trips to San Miguel, or community meetings, or wakes, or whatever, don’t come along that often. My life has become fairly regimented, but in a completely non-stressful and unassuming way. It’s really quite strange.
I can see the light at the end of the tunnel though; the busy, lots-of-meetings, light at the end of this two month tunnel. I officially have two groups of Guardianas Ambientales (Environmental Guardians) who will be the core of my eco-club. One group will meet Wednesday mornings because they have afternoon classes, and the other will meet Wednesdays in the afternoon because they have morning classes. I’m excited to have a group that I can focus on. It feels like something if starting to roll. However, I don’t plan on getting any “real” activities going just yet (community clean-up campaigns, compost piles etc), but instead, spend this time getting to know the kids and what they want to do with the club. In this way I feel half way in, half way out.
I also think I will be starting the English classes this week too. Though I’m still not entirely sure how I feel teaching English. A part of me is happy that I can provide a service to this community, something they are interested in (though right now, the majority of people signed up are teachers, and they are from San Miguel…) Another part of me feels completely unqualified to teach English, and therefore, I’m doing a disservice to them; another part of me is a little disappointed because I would like to spend my energy on environmental issues and finally, a tiny part of me is frustrated/afraid because a few people have expressed sentiments to me like: “oh, I can’t wait to learn English from you. In two years I’ll be fluent!” I’m frustrated because I don’t think they realize how much work that will be (for me and them) and I’m afraid that they will blame me if they aren’t fluent. I think I need to just keep reminding myself that in the end, by teaching these classes, I’m building relationships and gaining confianza (trust, confidence) with the people attending the classes. And therefore, hopefully, everyone will be more willing to work with me when I do have environmentally focused activities or projects.
So I think that’s part of why I’m feeling…a drift… right now. I’m one month in, spending time doing what I’m supposed to be doing – getting to the know my community, and letting them get to know me. But, I like to be busy, and I like to see progress and the fact that even though I’m meeting with people every day and getting lots of balls rolling doesn’t compute in my mind as progress. Also, I’m one month away from two more weeks of training, which will be a nice break before I really get working. But I have a feeling that when I get back, work will still be slow in the making. This is because the Fiestas Patronales of San Miguel are in late November (and since SAS is a part of the municipality of San Miguel, we get to party too.) And then the kids have no school in November and December, but December is one big Christmas Party and then the beginning of January is the Fiestas Patronales of Molineros (my training community) so I’m going back for those. Essentially, this all means that, maybe, come January I will have a more focused life, physically and mentally. Right now I feel like a quality candidate for space cadet of the month. Oh, and I’m still looking for a house.
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