Ok, so i know that i may be a little bias but i think Guatemala is bad ass. I feel like i'm living in the wild west of Central America. Ok, not really. I actually feel really safe here, just about as safe as i would feel in any large city in the US. Never the less, my fellow PCVs (peace corps volunteers) keep telling me how they think our post is this close to being shut down. I don't believe them, i mean Guatemala has stayed open for almost 50 years. if you don't know your Guatemalan history (don't worry i didn't either til i came here) that means that the Peace Corps has been operating her even during the Civil War! and it was not a quiet war either, we're talking about young men's soles of their feet being cut off before they are beaten to a pulp and covered in gasoline and burned to death. I say if PCVs could handle being here during that than who am i to run away scared.
Where is this coming from you ask? well a few weeks ago i got an email saying that all non-guatemala PCVs are restricted from traveling through Guatemala for a period of time due to safety reasons:
“Heavy rains affecting Guatemala have damaged the road infrastructure, causing several sections of main roads to collapse and/or wash off... Another important event occurring in September is the Presidential, Congress and Local Authorities General Elections; which will be held in every town in Guatemala on Sunday September 11th. Due to these threats to PCVs Safety, Peace Corps Guatemala has temporarily prohibited PCV’s from other countries from traveling to or through Guatemala. This prohibition starts August 29th, 2011 and is expected to be lifted on October 3rd, 2011”.
cool right? ok, so it may be partly due to the rainy season which is no joke, but even less of a joke is the elections. they get nutz here for that.
second crazyness going on here was friday or so THE POLICE STATION IN MY MUNICIPIO WAS BLOW UP!! what!!! yea so i guess there are two versions of the story and i shall tell my preferred version (also check out http://www.prensalibre.com/totonicapan/Vecinos-Policia-San-Andres-Xecul_0_544745661.html if you read spanish or have it translated). So these two people steal a cell phone from a kid. the two people are arrested and then transferred to different police station because the neighbors are pissed and they "want to handle the culprits themselves" aka, lynch/burn/do generally bad things to them. the police don't turn them over so what do the people do? duh, blow up the police station, breaking windows and the gates and motorcycles. as far as i know no one was hurt. btw, the police here in guate are kind of a joke. much respect for them, but the general consensus is negative.
third crazyness that happened in the past week was that on saturday my friend and i were enjoying an afternoon in Xela, grabbing lunch and we were on our way back to site (well before dark) and we were on a micro (kinda like a big minivan used for travel within the city) and the crazy driver cuts off this other car. the driver was kind of an ass btw. anyway, we pull up to a stop and i hear this loud bang (no gun shot i promise). it was the pissed off driver of the other car. he got out of his car and pounded on the driver side window and was yelling. but that wasn't enough, he crossed around and started yelling through the open passenger side window, but that wasn't enough, so he climed aboard and started yelling at the driver to his face. he was so close to starting a fist fight, i was kinda scared (for the driver - a small skinny dude). best part was the angry dude! he was straight from the 80s, super long mullet all the way down his back with tight black jeans and an over sized white button up tucked in, complete with cowboy boots. but this was no ordinary mullet, it was the kind where the sides of his head were actually shaved clean. So great!
so to recap: guatemala is the shit! i love it. its dirty and grimmy and crazy in the best ways possible. but it is also amazingly beautiful with the rich culture (minus the mullet dude) and diversity. to counter all the crazyness i would like to finish with a story of how beautiful life here can be. so today i was at an intercambio (exchange/sharing) of girls groups. it was overall pretty boring, but whatev. this group is intended to help girls, especially those in rual indigenous communities with their self esteem and self empowerment. this one girl gets up to talk about her experiences with the group and how it has helped her. i kid you not, it was the most beautiful speech i've heard in guatemala yet. it was so positive and she spoke with such confidence and eloquence. she has had one of the toughest stories of any of these girls and she has come back from that to become one of the leaders/mentors for the younger girls. she aspires to be a lawyer so that she can come back to here community and help the other women find and practice their rights. how awesome is that? so cool.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Friday, August 26, 2011
lazy day.... week
I'm hanging out here in Xela today. No work got done. I tried (not real hard, but the effort was there), but my counterpart and most of the puesto staff is gone again. they're at the demonstraciones down in 4 caminos. the government isn't paying them what they said they would be paid and so they're going on a strike sort of thing. not quite a strike as we know it in the states because they'll come to work sometimes. So my counterpart has been to work about 6 days of the last 3 weeks. it's kinda hard to plan things cuz i never know if he's going to be there. I even tried to schedule some health talks and school visits with the health educators and they show up sporadically too. i know that what they're doing is important because it sucks to not be paid (i assume, i've never worked a job that didn't pay me what i was owed - i even had a job that over paid me for months, but that's another bitter story for another time).
its just hard to get into a working rhythm here, its just easier to run away to Xela and eat a burger and drink coffee in a starbucks like coffee shop. its hard when you don't know when the people you schedule things with will show up and i'm totally not comfortable going to the schools by myself yet. I've just had a week of not showing-up-ness. only one health promoter of 4 showed up to give his health talk and my kiche teacher wasn't answering her phone (no service i think...) so basically this week has just been me hanging out. which isn't a bad thing, i just feel like i'm wasting my time and your tax $ (assuming you are a tax paying american). It has just been a week of directionlessness.
now i have to turn in a monthly calendar to my project specialist for the month of september and i don't know what to put on it because i haven't talked with my counterpart to plan the month. i'm tempted to just fill it in with what i think could potentially happen because its not like the actual calendar is going to be up-to-date for more than a week anyway.
ok, enough downer speak. things in my little corner of the word are going pretty well beside all that above. i'm starting to feel more comfortable with the health post staff (when they're there). we're starting to form a new group of health promoters so i have something to focus my energy on. we have 3 promoters from the old group that we're going to use as our co-trainers, so i have to figure out what that means. they were the 3 (out of 20) who were consistently there and prepared and ready to go. we just have to find a way to utilize their energy and focus it in a productive way.
A friend suggested that i read a book, Switch: how to change things when change is hard, and i bought it and started reading it. really good book and really applicable for my work here (Check it out). anyway, these pilas (on top of it) promoters would be considered "bright spots" and we should use them to model the desired action. so my plan is to tweak them and use them to capacitar the new promoters. sounds like a plan huh? we'll see. ok i think its about time to take off. i wanna go buy some bread, soap and beans before i head home. love you all! wish me motivation!
its just hard to get into a working rhythm here, its just easier to run away to Xela and eat a burger and drink coffee in a starbucks like coffee shop. its hard when you don't know when the people you schedule things with will show up and i'm totally not comfortable going to the schools by myself yet. I've just had a week of not showing-up-ness. only one health promoter of 4 showed up to give his health talk and my kiche teacher wasn't answering her phone (no service i think...) so basically this week has just been me hanging out. which isn't a bad thing, i just feel like i'm wasting my time and your tax $ (assuming you are a tax paying american). It has just been a week of directionlessness.
now i have to turn in a monthly calendar to my project specialist for the month of september and i don't know what to put on it because i haven't talked with my counterpart to plan the month. i'm tempted to just fill it in with what i think could potentially happen because its not like the actual calendar is going to be up-to-date for more than a week anyway.
ok, enough downer speak. things in my little corner of the word are going pretty well beside all that above. i'm starting to feel more comfortable with the health post staff (when they're there). we're starting to form a new group of health promoters so i have something to focus my energy on. we have 3 promoters from the old group that we're going to use as our co-trainers, so i have to figure out what that means. they were the 3 (out of 20) who were consistently there and prepared and ready to go. we just have to find a way to utilize their energy and focus it in a productive way.
A friend suggested that i read a book, Switch: how to change things when change is hard, and i bought it and started reading it. really good book and really applicable for my work here (Check it out). anyway, these pilas (on top of it) promoters would be considered "bright spots" and we should use them to model the desired action. so my plan is to tweak them and use them to capacitar the new promoters. sounds like a plan huh? we'll see. ok i think its about time to take off. i wanna go buy some bread, soap and beans before i head home. love you all! wish me motivation!
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Small victories
So its what... the third week in site? I was freaking out for the first one and a half weeks or so... i think i'll be ok. the town is quite a quiet town. i have started to get to know some people and it seems like everyone is interested in know who this gringo (le gringe in kiche btw) and what is she doing here/what is she going to give us.
that btw is something that has been bothing me a lot since i've been here. the whole, what project is this gringo going to bring culture. i was talking to one of the health educators today as we were doing some house visits and she totally agreed with me. she works for this governmental program called mi familia progresa and they just recently handed out a bunch of vegi seeds to the families for them to grow their own vegis with the hope that they will provide a more balanced diet for their families. anyway, the educator was saying that yea, there was another program that handed out seeds but the stipulation was that you had to use only organic fertilizer and some other rules which led to a bunch of families dropping out because the organic fertilizer is difficult to make/maintain. she told me that a lot of people here want these things, like free vegis or in my case latrines, water tanks, improved stoves or cement floors, but they don't wan to work hard for it. its what they call the project culture, and i guess it happens in a lot of "developing" nations. places like the US and Japan etc. come here and dump projects on the people and then they leave. on the surface it sounds like a win win, these people get stoves and the americans get a sense of pride. but what does that do for the guatemalan sense of self determinaiton. they didn't have to work for these project and the are essentially getting hand-me-downs or excess from the providers.
its something that i really don't want to do, so when people ask what i'm doing here i focus on the education portion of the work i'm doing, but they all know that i am a potential project for them. bummer dude. while talking with the educator i was telling her that i don't want these families to change their health practices while i'm here just to get a project and when i'm done or they finish the project they can just go back to pooping on the floor or eating corn and beans all day. you know what she told me? yea that will probably happen for the majority of families. WHOMP. But, she said that maybe a few will actually change their habbits. one can only hope.
other than that not too much going on here either. this week has actually be a lot better than last week. i've been keeping pretty busy all week. i've been going out with the health educators and doing some house visits to families participating in this government program for poor people. its pretty interesting to see the poorest of the poor here. the less fortunate families have houses made out of adobe (bricks made of mud and straw) and have no cement floors or flusing toilets etc. the animals just run around doing whatever they like. yesterday i remember i went to visit a house and there was a little girl around 2 or 3 and while we were talking with the mom i hear this farting noise. i turn to see what made the noise and it was the girl popping a squat, taking a piss and poop right in the middle of the patio. that's not even the hardest part though. there's one familiy (not sure if i told you about them) that has two little boys 3 and 4 years old. they are so malnourished its insane. a lot of kids here are malnourished becuase they're so poor and because all they eat is corn and beans, but these kids are crazy sick. the 4 year old only weighs 15lbs and is 70cm tall and the 3 year old weighs 15lbs 12oz and is also 70 cm tall. it just blows my mind.
the good thing is that the health post is keeping a good eye on them. this week they are getting a visit 3 times, although we'll see what good that does. they also get packets of nutrient boosing peanut mush. its all the kids eat. the packet is about the size of a deck of cards and sometimes the kids won't even finish the whole package in one day. i think there must be something else worng with them.
anyway. other than house visits i've been sitting through some meetings. yesterday there was a meeting of midwives and that was interesting (and by interesting i mean incredibily boring). it was about 3 hours long and i didn't understand a word because it was all in Kiche, but it was good to be there and the ice breaker i did with them really seemed to tickle them. speaking of kiche, i had my first lesson on monday. its such an interesting language and i'm really excited to learn more of it. i'm trying to pick up a few phrases here and there outside of the class. like today i learned the difference between saying good bye to someone you know and a stranger. i also learned how to say esta bien (its ok/very good). small victories i guess.
that btw is something that has been bothing me a lot since i've been here. the whole, what project is this gringo going to bring culture. i was talking to one of the health educators today as we were doing some house visits and she totally agreed with me. she works for this governmental program called mi familia progresa and they just recently handed out a bunch of vegi seeds to the families for them to grow their own vegis with the hope that they will provide a more balanced diet for their families. anyway, the educator was saying that yea, there was another program that handed out seeds but the stipulation was that you had to use only organic fertilizer and some other rules which led to a bunch of families dropping out because the organic fertilizer is difficult to make/maintain. she told me that a lot of people here want these things, like free vegis or in my case latrines, water tanks, improved stoves or cement floors, but they don't wan to work hard for it. its what they call the project culture, and i guess it happens in a lot of "developing" nations. places like the US and Japan etc. come here and dump projects on the people and then they leave. on the surface it sounds like a win win, these people get stoves and the americans get a sense of pride. but what does that do for the guatemalan sense of self determinaiton. they didn't have to work for these project and the are essentially getting hand-me-downs or excess from the providers.
its something that i really don't want to do, so when people ask what i'm doing here i focus on the education portion of the work i'm doing, but they all know that i am a potential project for them. bummer dude. while talking with the educator i was telling her that i don't want these families to change their health practices while i'm here just to get a project and when i'm done or they finish the project they can just go back to pooping on the floor or eating corn and beans all day. you know what she told me? yea that will probably happen for the majority of families. WHOMP. But, she said that maybe a few will actually change their habbits. one can only hope.
other than that not too much going on here either. this week has actually be a lot better than last week. i've been keeping pretty busy all week. i've been going out with the health educators and doing some house visits to families participating in this government program for poor people. its pretty interesting to see the poorest of the poor here. the less fortunate families have houses made out of adobe (bricks made of mud and straw) and have no cement floors or flusing toilets etc. the animals just run around doing whatever they like. yesterday i remember i went to visit a house and there was a little girl around 2 or 3 and while we were talking with the mom i hear this farting noise. i turn to see what made the noise and it was the girl popping a squat, taking a piss and poop right in the middle of the patio. that's not even the hardest part though. there's one familiy (not sure if i told you about them) that has two little boys 3 and 4 years old. they are so malnourished its insane. a lot of kids here are malnourished becuase they're so poor and because all they eat is corn and beans, but these kids are crazy sick. the 4 year old only weighs 15lbs and is 70cm tall and the 3 year old weighs 15lbs 12oz and is also 70 cm tall. it just blows my mind.
the good thing is that the health post is keeping a good eye on them. this week they are getting a visit 3 times, although we'll see what good that does. they also get packets of nutrient boosing peanut mush. its all the kids eat. the packet is about the size of a deck of cards and sometimes the kids won't even finish the whole package in one day. i think there must be something else worng with them.
anyway. other than house visits i've been sitting through some meetings. yesterday there was a meeting of midwives and that was interesting (and by interesting i mean incredibily boring). it was about 3 hours long and i didn't understand a word because it was all in Kiche, but it was good to be there and the ice breaker i did with them really seemed to tickle them. speaking of kiche, i had my first lesson on monday. its such an interesting language and i'm really excited to learn more of it. i'm trying to pick up a few phrases here and there outside of the class. like today i learned the difference between saying good bye to someone you know and a stranger. i also learned how to say esta bien (its ok/very good). small victories i guess.
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