¡Viva México!

In late October, all of the volunteers in my cohort got together for our Mid-Service Training (MST).  It was a great time to see everyone as well as gear up for the next year of training.  Following this, D.H., one of my close friends and fellow Q’eqchi volunteer, and I took a vacation up to Mexico City.  If you’re like me, you may have been under the assumption that Mexico as a whole was a dry, desolate place filled with adobe shacks and drug lords.  Despite the fact that we were going to the city, I still didn’t anticipate much more than your typical developing country big city: dirty, probably kind of smelly, maybe some skyscrapers, and poor.  Upon landing, I realized that everything that I had anticipated was completely wrong.  There was a solid infrastructure, beautiful multilane highways, buses with air conditioning and toilets, and insane skyscrapers, just to mention a few things. 

To get to the City, D.H. and took a bus from Belize City up to Cancun, Mexico and then caught our flight out of Cancun.  At some point during the bus ride, we had to stop to get passports stamped and that sort of thing.  When we got off the bus, I knew we weren’t in Belize any more.  The road had opened up to four lanes and there were light poles on the side, things I hadn’t seen since I arrived to Belize a year and a half ago.

Once at the airport, we just had to hope and pray that our flight hadn’t been canceled.  We just so happened to be flying the day after Hurricane Patricia, the strongest hurricane in history, had made land fall.  D.H. is one of those people that is almost impossible to read, but I assure you, I appeared nervous enough for the both of us, especially once we were up in the air.  Every time the plane hit some turbulence, I was white knuckling it.  Luckily we arrived safely to Mexico City, grabbed some authentic Mexican street food, and were on another bus down to the smaller city of Puebla.

The day after we arrived in Puebla, we took a trip down to the historic district.  It was crazy to be in an actually city again.  There was historic architecture everywhere and the place seemed filled with this sort of Mexican culture and pride.  Once we were at the forts, I learned that Puebla was actually the site of the Cince de Mayo battle with the French that we continue to celebrate today.  It was really cool to see a city that had been so significant in Mexican history and that we still celebrate today.

 

The following day, D.H. and I decided we wanted to go on a hike, but we had no idea where to go for such an activity.  We scoured the internet and wracked the brains of our hosts that we had found on Air BNB.  We were at this for probably about an hour before we decided on a place called Alchichica.  Again, we hopped on a bus (yes, with toilets) and were on our way.  Eventually, someone indicated that we should probably get off, which was lucky because we probably would have continued to travel to God knows where and had no idea that we had driven right past the old sulfur lake. 

The hike ended up being incredible! There was a ridge on the far end away from the road that rose way above the lake and allowed for an incredible view of the surrounding farms.  The hike wasn’t too arduous in the beginning; there was a nice little path and the hills weren’t too steep.  At one point, though, we realized that to make it to the top, we’d have to ditch the path.  Anyone who knows me knows that veering too far from the path freaks me out a little bit.  At one point while walking along the ridge, if we’d have fallen to the left or to the right, we’d have rolled all the way to the bottom.  The hike, though, was just a reminder to me that, sometimes, to get the best view, you just gotta leave the trail behind.  I suppose the same can be said for life. 

The following day, we made our way back to Mexico City where we would spend the remainder of our trip.  The difference between little, old Belize and this metropolis where I would be spending the next five days was insane.  Just the sheer number of people was enough to blow my mind.  I had come from a country of about 360,000 to a city of 8.5 million.  We reached the city (and all its traffic) about an hour to an hour and a half before actually making it to the bus stop; along the side of the road was a sea of houses, buildings, and humanity.  Once we arrived, D.H. and I spent the rest of the day just getting to see the city and taking it all in. 

During our second or third day, we decided to just kick it some.  We went and visited the Anthropology Museum where we got to meet Lucy, or at least see her bones.  My favorite exhibit, though, was the Mayan one.  We had also heard about a Little Seoul that was fairly close to the museum, and since D.H. is Korean, it only made since to go check it out and see if we could find any Korean food.  We found one little hole in the wall place that was incredible! I had never had Korean food before, but it was awesome! Definitely want to try it again.

After that, I put in a request to go see a movie in a movie theatre, again, something that I haven’t done in a year and a half. It’s particularly difficult considering that there are approximately… zero in Belize.  We saw the movie The Walk, which I really liked – spoke a lot about following your dreams and I’m a fan of that, so it got my thumbs up.  After that, I decided to ditch all the Mexican food and go for a personal pizza from Dominos.  If there’s two things that I had a lot of growing up, it was going to the movies and eating Dominos pizza. 

At another point during my time in the city, I wanted to search for the Clemson game.  I believe they were playing N.C. State or someone like that, so not a huge game, but, still, all games are important if you’re trying to go undefeated.  The day before, I had asked a little restaurant near our hotel if they had ESPN.  They said that they did and that it would be fine for me to watch the game there.  I got to the restaurant about 15 minutes before kickoff, we find ESPN, and low and behold, football.  The only problem was that this football was not American football, but Belizean and Mexican football AKA soccer. Turns out that in Mexico, they just have ESPN Deportes.  Luckily, they had internet so I was able to Gamecast the game while searching for the nearest Hooters on my iPod (I had heard that there was a chance Hooters may have the game).  Found the address.  Got to the Hooters.  Asked if they had American channels.  No dice.  By the time I got back to my original restaurant to watch the rest of the game on Gamecast, it was midway into the second quarter.  You’d think that in a city of 8.5 million people there would be somewhere that promoted American football…  Either way, Clemson got the win, so I was happy regardless. 

The next day, D.H. and I headed to the ruins of Teotihuacan, an ancient Aztec city.  Before going, I didn’t expect much more than the ruins I had seen in Belize at Xunantunich or Nim li Punit, but these ruins were on an entirely different level.  There wasn’t just one temple, but three, all connected by a mile long road lined with ancient merchant stands.  I have never seen anything like that before.  At one point, I was sitting at the top of one of the temples looking out over everything, and I realized that if you were to take away the tourists, this would be very similar to what it would have looked like hundreds, if not thousands, of years ago.  In past trips to ruins, I always wanted to be able to do this – put myself back in time so that I could see what the people then saw.  There, at Teotihuacan, I was able to do that.  It was incredible.

 

On my last day in Mexico City, November 1, D.H. and I went into a small suburb of Mexico City called Mixquic (Mizkeek) that we had heard was poppin’ for Dia de los Muertos.  The biggest day for Dia de los Muertos is the second, so a lot of people were still setting up decorations, but the place was still packed.  There had to have been thousands of people there that came out to see the decorated graves and the old church.  I thought it was interesting that in the cemetery of that old church, there is a statue of an Aztec god that remains there to watch over the dead.  It was interesting to see the ancient believes still mixed in with modern day Christianity.  We hung out for in the suburb for a few hours trying all the different food and visiting decorated graves.  Right before we were going to head out, there was a small parade that marched through the crowd carrying giant figures that seemed like something out of Nightmare before Christmas.  Even though I didn’t get to experience the big day, it was still awesome to get to dip my toes into something that is so uniquely Mexican.  Who knows if I’ll ever have that opportunity again?

The next day, I said goodbye to D.H., who was staying to meet up with another friend, and began my journey back down to Belize.  I left the apartment about 7:00 in the morning and arrived to Belize about 6:00 PM… the next day.  That’s right, 35 hours of travel.  It was rough.  On the way out, I said goodbye to the big cities, the infrastructure, the metro, and of course, the street food.  I would miss the 60 degree weather and being able to use a toilet on the bus, but as I sat there halfway through the 11 hour bus ride between Cancun and Belize City, I began to think of the caldo that I would surely eat when I got back to the village and my mouth started watering.  I began to think of all the people in the village that I would get to see again and share stories with.  Yup, I was ready to be back home.

Back to School! And Other Stuff

Sorry for the three month old blog post, but my computer broke.  Such is life in a developing country…

Nothing is a more reliable, and terrifying, indicator of how fast my Peace Corps service is going as major events that take place in the village and even in my household.  To a villager, these would seem like normal annual events, but for me, it’s a reminder that I have just one more year left.  September was full of these little reminders. 

To start with, I had my last first day of school with the kids and teachers in the village.  It was actually a little bizarre to see different faces in all their different classes.  Not having last year’s Standard VI class there was also odd.  Instead, as is typically the case with schools, a new group of students had taken their place.  Luckily, I have developed a very good relationship with this group during the previous year, but it’s an adjustment having to call them the “seniors” of the primary school.  And next year, they will hopefully all be in high school and another group will replace them, and so continues the cycle.  It’s crazy to think that one day, even the little Infant class won’t be so infant any more. 

With the start of the school year came new goals that I’ve set for myself and the school, one of the biggest being the student leader program.  This year is the year where I start to hand over the program, creating what will hopefully be a sustainable program that will teach students about the importance of leadership years down the road.  After a roller coaster ride during the nominations and election process (there was a lot of, “Are you running or not?” going on), I’m happy to say that we have a great, motivated group of kids looking forward to the coming year.  One of the boys is also hilarious.  He came by my room one day and we had the following exchange:

Felipe: “I used to be a spider once, but I changed.”

Me: “Oh? What kind of spider were you?”

Felipe: “SUPERMAN!!”

I don’t know if I’ve been in the village too long or what, but I thought it was hilarious.

The big thing that they are looking forward to is fundraising for a trip to Xunantunich, a Mayan ruin in central Belize.  This trip will, hopefully, include trips to the capital where students can meet with some of the leaders in the government as well as healthy cooking lessons in Punta Gorda.  This is going to be a rather expensive trip, though, so I’m happy to have a teacher at the school who is very excited in learning how to write grants and proposals.  Together, I’m hoping that we can knock out a grant to help fund the trip.  This way, not only the students are benefitting but so is the teacher, and, ultimately, the school.

They will also be continuing to help the school through a variety of projects and other clubs.  The first of these is to continue work in the library, something that was a huge success among all of the students last year.  The main difference this year is that I’m not working it.  I’ve set up a system with the student leaders and the teachers in which two days a week, they open up the library.  This way, it can continue once I’m gone.  I am also going to work with the teachers on opening up a few clubs that the student leaders have said the other students would be interested in.  These include an art club, a gardening club, and an exercise club.  The student leaders are also going to work to bring a tire park to the village using old recycled tires.

I have also started a BRO Club, BRO being short for Boys Reaching Out, with the Standard IV-VI boys in the village.  So far we’ve only had two meetings, the first as an introduction to the club, the second on goal setting.  For the next meeting, we’re going to watch Cool Runnings and ask the boys to identify the different aspects of goal setting that we talked about during the second meeting.  We tried to do this during the second half of that meeting, but I went to move the desk that my computer was on and it went crashing down (hence the reason I’m typing a September/October blog post in December; also, it should be noted that originally, this was typed in early November, but my computer broke again so here we are, December).  The boys seem to have enjoyed the first few meetings and are really into the idea of watching movies to reinforce the different lessons we’ve discussed.  Some future lessons will be teamwork, gender and racial equality, and healthy living.  I’m even working with some of the other volunteers to get a BRO camp up and running where different BRO clubs from all over the country will get together for a week long camp.  This is one of the projects that I’m most excited about!

This coming year, I’m also trying to work a lot more with the Community Health Worker.  One of the things we decided to focus on this year was working hard to make sure that we got the minimum required one school visit.  I’m excited to say that, not only have we done the lessons, but that he has been a major motivator!  In September, we taught Infant I-Standard II students about brushing teeth, and then passed out tooth brushes and paste that were giving to us from the Hillside Clinic.  Then, in October, we gave a lesson to Standard III on having good hygiene.  I’m extremely proud of the growth that I’ve seen in him.  He seems excited and motivated about the health of the village.  He is in an extremely difficult position, but he’s doing a great job.  None of the work that I’m doing would be possible without him. 

Another reminder of how long I’ve been here is Independence Day, you know, the party in the village where they rip the ducks heads off. Yeah, it’s really been a year since I first witnessed that.  This year, though, I decided not to attend.  Instead, I played volleyball with some of the boys and younger men in the village.

Independence Day was also an excuse to have festivals for the weekend leading up to it.  On Friday, the school had its queen pageant in which three or four older girls at the school collect money.  Each dollar is equal to a vote.  They then had a talent show where they had to recite poems, do dances, and answer questions.  Between each round, there was a chance for the audience to donate more money to the girl they thought performed the best.  The whole event is a big deal in the village, and loads of families came out to support their favorite “contestant”.  This was also a great way for the school to raise money.

The following day, there was a football marathon in the village.  Ten teams participated and about a hundred fans or more, including the Area Representative, came out to watch.  My friend, Dan, even came out with his village’s team to play, and they actually took first place!

In the past few months, the latrine project has also continued at an impressive pace.  By the end of December, we should have over 20 latrines constructed!  That being said, donations are still very welcome!  Make sure that if you’re interested in donating, you clearly indicate that this is for San Vicente Latrine Project, Ac Yuam Development group. Any donations are welcome.  The villagers are also extremely grateful for everything that you all have done!

Other than that, I’ve been involved in a decent amount of work outside of the village.  I was able to Skype a group of Clemson students interested in doing Peace Corps and tell them about my experience as well as what Peace Corps is all about.  I’m also working on some drawings for a friend who is putting together a manual for the Community Health Workers that will make house visits much easier.  It will also act as a way to explain difficult concepts to them so that they can take that knowledge and pass it to the village. 

It hasn’t been all work here, though.  I’ve also taken some time to get out of the village and relax with friends.  In general, volunteers get three personal days a month that do not accumulate where they can go and take time outside of site, as well as two vacation days a month that we can accrue.  For example, if I want to go into PG for a night, I’ll use a personal day.  If I want to go on a week and a half vacation to Mexico, I’ll take my vacation days.  In early October, I decided to use some of my personal days to go to Caye Caulker and hangout with some other volunteers.  This just so happened to coincide with the Clemson-Notre Dame game.  Needless to say, I had a blast!

Side note: Go Tigers, yeah?! 12-0! Whoda thunk it after losing so many key pieces on defense.  They look great, though! Defense will need to tighten up some against UNC in the ACC Championship game, but I have full faith that they’ll come out motivated and ready to play! 

Aside from that, I’ve also been waking up to run around 5:00 most mornings.  I signed up for a half marathon in Placencia, but weather here has gotten pretty rainy so a lot of mornings I wake up and play on my iPod while listening to the rain outside.  In other words, training hasn’t been going too well.  Just looking forward to spending time with the other volunteers.  Should be a great weekend!

Some other things I’ve noticed that have made me go, “Wow, have I really been here that long?”:

My host nephew turned 7.  He was 5 when I got here. 

I have seen my host family construct a completely new house out of cement in which I am know living.

I put my host nephew in a head lock and started play fighting with him in a semi-public place.  He got angry, pushed me off, and said, “I’m not a baby! You can’t just come and play with me whenever you want!” I now kind of know how parent feel when their kids say that they are embarrassing them.  That wouldn’t have happened a year ago, but he is in high school now.  I blame the change on that.  Apparently, though, he still is kind of a kid at heart.  That evening, he came and jumped in my hammock and wouldn’t leave until I picked him up and dragged him out my room, laughing the whole time.  Kids, man, they grow up so fast…

Oh, We're Halfway There?

On September 6, 2014, something crazy happened.  I got on a bus, road it for two and a half hours over a partially unpaved road, and got off in a little village of 400 people where I would be spending the next two years of my life. Getting off of that bus, I had no idea what was going to happen, no idea where to go from there (literally, I had to get someone in the village help me get to my house). Luckily, it had been a sunny day and I didn't have to hop in the back of a truck with a rolled up foam mattress and 100 pounds of stuff, for lack of a better word (most of which I now know is completely unnecessary) for the last 20 minutes of the journey.

What was I supposed to do? There I was, this white guys, this saq, surrounded by staring family members and other members of the village, attempting to speak in a language that I was supposed to know about topics I knew nothing about.  It was terrifying, especially for someone like me who feels uncomfortable standing out in a crowd.  I'd lived my life blending in and going unnoticed.  I learned within that first hour that there would be none of that in the village.

But what else could I do except embrace it?  I had to get out of my comfort zone, live in the awkward, as we like to say here.

I slowly began to shed the old life that I'd left behind.  I got rid of a lot of that extra baggage that I'd been carrying around, both literally and figuratively.  I learned (and am still learning) how to live with less.  There are so many things that I took for granted in the States, electricity for starters.  Who knew, I'd be able to live without electricity and internet?  Before, it would have been crazy to even imagine that.  Now, I don't just live the life, I love it!  Imagine how much less stressful it is to be able to connect with actually people as opposed to obsessing which of your old high school friends is getting engaged or pregnant.  Being able to sit down and live in the moment is a great thing!

This change has also allowed me to focus more on the environment.  Living in the village where almost everything comes from nature is a pretty awesome thing.  When people do have electricity, where does it usually come from?  The sun.  What about the water to wash clothes, dishes, or even yourself? The river or, my favorite, the rain.  The people in the village can live a life where they are leaving almost no environmental footprint and that is an awesome thing! But when I look back at the life I used to live, I wasn't cognizant of the impact that I was having on the environment just in my day to day life.

That being said, I'm not trying to slander the American lifestyle.  Yes, there are a lot of things that Americans do that are completely unnecessary.  You don't need to look further than the Hollywood lifestyle to see all of the excesses that people around the world strive for.  But there are also many things in America and other developed nations that are great, such as easy and available access to education.  You also rarely hear horror stories about child birth, whereas in the village almost every mother has one.  I have even heard a story about a woman who had to get helicoptered out by British soldiers while she was giving birth because she was having complications and there was no other way to the hospital.  On top of that, almost everyone has a safe place to store their waste, which, believe me, should not be taken for granted.

Part of embracing the village life didn't just mean shedding aspects of my old life, but also learning from the villagers and living their lives.  It means building actual relationships with the people.  This is something, however, that I'm still going to have to improve upon.  I mean, I've done a great job getting to know the kids and a few select families, but I'm still not living the village life.  I rarely go to the farm or play soccer with the men in the village, something that would be really fun to do as far as integrating is concerned.  If your a man in the village, you do at least one of those two things on a regular basis.  I also have based my service around work, so many of the people that I interact with know me on that level.  They see me as a white guy that came in to do work.  They don't see me helping out in the fields as much or playing football.  The way that I have been shaping my first year of service could almost come off as detached.

The thing that bothers me the most is that this is how I wanted my service to go.  Prior to service, I had to write and aspiration statement.  Recently at the Mid-Service Training, all of the volunteers were given their aspiration statements again and asked to reflect on them.  To be quite frank, mine sucked.  It was so work oriented that I was embarrassed I had written something like that.  I wanted to go in and build relationships so that work could get done.  It seemed like those relationships were nothing more than a means to an end, and to be honest, I'm ashamed of that.

The purpose of this post isn't to beat myself up.  I'm actually really proud of the work that I've been doing in the village.  The latrine project is going really well and I've had the opportunity to teach women, with the help of the Community Health Worker, about how to have a health pregnancy and new born. I've worked with the school to teach children about preventing Non-Communicable Disease and we even had a health fair to try and educate the villagers on these topics.  On top of that, I have a lot of projects coming up that I think will be really important for the village, especially since they're projects that the village wants to see happen.

The point of this post is, instead, to show that, yes, on September 6, 2014, something crazy did happen: my life changed forever.  I will never be the same person again.  But this change isn't static. It's a constantly evolving process, and as the halfway point in my service has come and gone, I realize that there are still a lot of changes I need to make.  If someone asks me to go help them chop, unless I have already committed my time to someone else, I need to go.  If I'm invited to go play a game of football out on the field, I need to swallow my pride and go out there and play, damn it! Bring on the blisters and sore feet!  Isn't that what Peace Corps service is really all about, anyway - getting dropped off in a village and just embracing it?

During the final year of my service, my main goal is to actually do the Peace Corps like it was meant to be done.  Not just to live in a community, but to actually be a part of that community, not because I want to get future work done, but because I want the people to know just how important to me they all are.  My experience wouldn't be the same if it weren't for the awesome people of San Vicente, and I want to make sure that by Close of Service next year, they all know that.

I can't talk about mid-service without also mentioning the amazing cohort that I have.  If it weren't for them and their constant support, things would definitely no be the same.  So, on that note, cheers to another year guys.  Let's do work!

Maternal Health Month!

A few days ago, I was reading an article in Nat Geo on the impact of Gandhi and his lasting legacy on India.  It was a really good article, but it also had a quote that I've probably heard before but forgot.  Anyway, this time it left its impression in my mind:

"A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history."

Just wanted to throw that out there.  So, now, let's talk about toilets.  The project is coming along well.  We have been able to get the floors put in for seven families, and enough wood is coming in that we should be able to have at least six toilets finished here in the next week or so.  That being said, we still need to put floors in for 24 toilets with 23 of those needing wood and zinc roofing as well.  If you're interested in donating money, please feel free to!  I've broken up the costs below (in USD) in case you want to specifically donate the flooring, roofing, or the frame for the structure.

2 bags of cement: $22.00
1 rod of steel: $12.50
16 buckets of sand: $16.00
3 sheets of zinc: $36.00
12 boards for wooden frame: $46.50
Wood, zinc, and cement nails: $5.00

With these prices, the cost to build an entire toilet is $138.00.  To finish the next 24 toilets, it will cost about $3,500.00 once transportation costs are taken into account.  Any little amount helps and it really means a lot to the people here.  The other day, I was helping a family put their flooring in when the son began to tell me how appreciative they were for the toilet.  He said that no one had helped them with anything like this before.

Alberto mixing the cement for his family's toilet

It really made me happy to see this kind of genuine appreciation, but it wouldn't have been possible without the help of those who have donated to this point.  If you're interested in donating, you can go to www.row.org and click on the "Donate" tab.  From their select "One Time Gift".  On the page that appears, you will see a "Donate" button (if you are interested in sending in a check as opposed to putting in your credit card information, select the "click here" below the "Donate" button for instructions).  For an electronic donation, select the "Donate" button.  On the secure webpage, fill in your information.  When you get to "Donation Details," type "Ac Yuam Development Project, San Vicente Latrines" and for "Donation Destination" select Belize.  And that's it! As I've said, any donations are greatly appreciated!  Every little bit helps!

Aside from toilets, I also gave maternal and child health lessons to the mothers in the village with the help of Emiliano, the Community Health Worker in the village.  To try and make it sounds a little more exciting, I advertised it as Maternal and Child Health Month.  We gave lessons on having a healthy pregnancy and delivery, warning signs in children and mothers, breastfeeding, and healthy weaning foods children 6 months to two years.  We even had a nurse come in do a lesson on family planning.  Over the course of the five lessons, we average 18 women per meeting, nearly a quarter of the women of childbearing age.

The lessons went really well.  For the first, my friend Rachel came in to help get the women excited and to open up dialogue.  They had a very candid discussion about the difficulties of going to the hospital to give birth.  During the next lesson, it was just Emiliano and I, but we handled it despite my limited knowledge of the Q'eqchi language.  The women were particularly surprised that I knew about all the different discomforts that came with being pregnant. For family planning we had 32 women come out! It was awesome to see so many there.  I'm not sure how many times they had been educated on the different birth control methods that were available to them.  Even if they don't start using the birth control method tomorrow, they at least know it exists now, and if at some point they decide to stop having children, I can only hope they take action and seek out the different methods that they learned about.  During the breastfeeding lesson, I whipped out a "baby" (made of my dirty laundry) and began to demonstrate breastfeeding.  They thought it was hilarious! For the final lesson, I asked my friend Sarah to come in to help me cook some food that would be appropriate for children that were weaning off of breast milk.  The lesson was a huge success and I think the women really enjoyed it!  

Overall, the lessons were pretty successful, but what I was happiest about was the amount of work that Emiliano put in.  The goal of Peace Corps is sustainability, mainly through the work that we pass on to our work partners.  It's awesome to see how he has transformed from someone not wanting to do lessons to someone who agrees to be at 5 in one month.  That's a huge commitment for someone who is also helping his father build a house and running his farm to make sure his family has the food they need to survive.  We have begun filling out his Ministry of Health forms that are required and have begun to plan lessons at the beginning of the month to make sure that we get his minimal of one village and one school lesson.  I can only hope that his enthusiasm continues to grow over the next year and beyond.

Aside from this, I'm continuing to work with the villagers, including my family, on non-health related topics, such as helping with building houses.  When someone builds a traditional Mayan house, they call all the village men together to gather cahun palm fronds (if you want to know what that is, you can google raffia palm; I'm not sure if it's the exact same, but they look very similar) and then sew them together using the beams of the roof as support.  Well, since I can't really climb or cut much and I've never been good at sewing, I usually just toss up the string for the men to sew the roof on with. I'm proud to say that I went 19-29 during my last outing.  Not quite Deshaun Watson type numbers, but I'll take it.  It was really just nice to be out and working with the men of the village, something I don't find myself doing as often as I'd like.  I've also been helping my host dad build his cement house which is looking really good.  I learned how to throw plaster!

Really, though, the highlight of the month came when I was sitting with one of the high school students, just talking and hanging out. He asked if there was going to be another Peace Corps volunteer after me.  I was honest with him and said I didn't know but I hoped so.  To this he replied, "Well, if so, I hope he's as good as you."  This was the ultimate compliment I could have received.  If I'm ever struggling through the day or if someone is unhappy or impatient with the latrine project, I just remember this.  It's what it's all about.  People might remember my work, but more importantly, they'll remember me and the person I was.  If I did great work but was disliked by the village, that's what they would remember and talk about to future volunteers or visitors in the community.  To be thought of as "good" is the ultimate compliment.  This conversation will be in my mind for the next year.  No matter what happens in my day, I now know that at least one person sees me as good.  What more could I ask for?

Let Raise Some Money!

It’s crazy how life as a Peace Corps volunteer can go from 0 to 100 in the blink of an eye.  Following the end of the school year field trip, I had to figure out how I was going to spend my summer.  During that trip, over half of the school and I along with a handful of parents made our way to Belize City at around 3:30 AM.  We started out at the airport, somewhere that none of the students had ever been.  They were fascinated by the size of the planes and the number of people that each could hold.  My parents were actually heading out from Belize that day, and even though I didn’t get to see them at the airport, I did get to see their airplane and point it out to all the kids.  Following the airport, we made our way to Old Belize for a tour of the museum and then we headed over to the Belize Defense Force barracks.  The BDF actually offers a lot of opportunities following service, and a few of the kids have mentioned wanting to join the BDF in the future, so it was cool for them to see what life may be like if they decide to take that step in life.  Then, for the highlight of the trip, we headed to the Belize Zoo.  Though it was a small zoo, there were loads of animals that I had never seen before, such as a tapir.  There was also a jaguar that was just posing for pictures.  The students had a great time traveling around Belize City area.  I had a great time being with the kids.  We ended up getting back to the village around 10:00 PM, exhausted but happy. 

For about three days during mid-July, I sat in my hammock and read magazine after magazine.  Luckily, I was also reading Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot at the time, so I had a pretty large task ahead of me in that.  I had worked on some small tasks here and there for upcoming projects, but really didn’t have too much planned for the imminent future.  That plus the rain was enough to convince me to take some down time.  It got to the point that I decided I would go to Punta Gorda for the day with hopes of finding some work to do.  I don’t think I have had a day to rest since.

July really pulled my attention to two main projects: latrines and data collection.  The first was the latrine project that I have been working on since February.  Ac Yuam Development Project (AYDP) got some donations, thanks to Trinity Episcopal Church and Mrs. Peggy Pinnell, and so I had to figure out how to get the money from Rivers of the World (ROW), the organization storing and transferring the money for the latrines, to the AYDP bank account (also big shout out to ROW for all their help). 

This may sound like a relatively easy task.  The money was sent from the U.S. and made it to the bank pretty easily.  The problems came, though, in getting the money from the bank into the bank account.  The bank required an email from ROW specifying who they wanted the money to go to.  Naturally, I didn’t think this would be too complicated, so I sent the bank’s email address to ROW and hopped on my bus back to the village.  I waited a week to go back into town again thinking that there would be some money in the bank account, but, alas, the bank had given me the wrong email address.  So it was on to Take 2 with another address.  Though it took about a week and a half, I’m happy to say that we now have enough money in the account to buy materials for six latrines for families in the village!!

On that note, if you’re interested in donating, it’s a pretty easy process.  Just follow this link: http://row.org/donate/ and click the "One Time Gift" button. On the next page click the blue "Donate" button OR to donate by check, click the link below that button for instructions.  IF YOU SEND A CHECK MAKE SURE TO INCLUDE IN THE MEMO AC YUAM DEVELOPMENT PROJECT, SAN VICENTE LATRINES! You'll fill out your information and at the bottom of that page you'll see Additional Details.  At this point, you will type "San Vicente Latrines".  Then for Donation Destination select "Belize" from the menu.  Any little amount helps!  The latrines will cost about $300 USD to construct one.  We’re aiming to build 30.  The villagers are already excited and constantly asking when they can start to dig their hole and build their toilet.  I’m hoping that by giving the villagers the first toilet, they will be more motivated to build their next one, however many years down the road that may be.  I also need to say that this is not a PC funded project and I am not responsible for managing funds (though I help the group members by keeping the book and a budget) but in assisting with the implementation of the project.

While all this was going on, I was in and out of Belmopan working with four other volunteers on a way to better Peace Corps Belize’s data collection system.  This is very different from my main project in the village because it focuses on long term changes that will happen within Peace Corps Belize.  Whereas in the village, there’s very little structure and implementing change is a long term process, with the data collection, we are making changes that will hopefully better the data collection system within the next few months and will last for years. 

Now many people scoff at the idea of data collection in Peace Corps.  It’s something that can be kind of a pain for Peace Corps Volunteers who feel that they need to be making relationships and developing change, not collecting data and information about the people, and for the most part, they’re right.  One of the things I’ve noticed since being here is that change is more likely when relationships have been developed; however, I think it’s incredibly important to quantify that change which is taking place.  The goal of Peace Corps is to create sustainability in our sites, essentially to work ourselves out of a job.  Collecting data, especially long term behavior change for individuals, is the only way to prove that sustainable change is taking place.

I like to use an example of a hypothetical man with diabetes.  When the first PCV arrives at site, the man’s diabetes is out of control, but once the volunteer arrives, the man begins going to lessons about how to control his diabetes.  After that volunteer’s time is up, another volunteer comes in and makes sure that the man continues to take his pills and eat healthy, but the man no longer needs to go to lessons on controlling diabetes because he already has it down.  By the time the third volunteer comes in, the man has his diabetes completely under control.  Without following this man’s individual change throughout multiple Peace Corps generations, there’s no way to show that the man has undergone a behavior change.  I think that with the perfect combination of personal relationships and data collection, Peace Corps as a whole can begin to achieve, and prove, its sustainability.

Really, that about sums up my July.  I have a lot of big projects coming up that I’m excited about.  We’re going to be having Maternal and Child Health lessons in the village and also going to start building latrines!! With all this, August is looking to be much busier than July!

Tour de Belize 2015

Almost immediately following the village health fair, I was on a bus with some other PCVs on my way to San Antonio, where I would see my family for the first time in a year.  Along with them was my aunt from Ireland, who I haven’t seen since we traveled through France two years ago.  I got there about an hour before them, giving me time to plot my surprise entrance as well as ask a member of the resort staff if there was anyone that could do some laundry for me.  I hadn’t done laundry for about two weeks, so the only “clean” clothes I had were the ones I was wearing.  All of the clothes I had in my bag were in need of a good wash.

When my family finally arrived, it was, again, this bizarre feeling that two worlds were colliding.  I was seeing them in a setting where I had never imagined them before.  Not only that, but I was also their source of guidance throughout the vacation, something that had rarely happened before.  Usually, I’m the one that relies on them for information, such as how to get from point A to point B or where it was exactly that we were going.  This time, the roles were reversed. 

Their arrival also brought about this weird feeling that I hadn’t really been gone that long.  Yes, a year is a long time, but since I’ve been in Belize, I talk to my parents more than I used to when I was in college.  I know what’s going on in their lives, more or less, and even get to see their faces occasionally through Skype.  I was expecting to see them and be surprised about their changes in appearance and even spend the first few days getting caught up on their lives, but outside of my brother’s new look and catching up some with my aunt, that wasn’t really the case.  This, ultimately, was a blessing in disguise.  Instead of focusing on all the things I’d missed over the past year, we got to spend our time in the present.

The first day of the adventure, we went out to Rio Blanco National Park, just a short ride down the road from the resort.  After five minutes or so of hiking we came across the Rio Blanco falls, probably one of the larger waterfalls in the district.  Just to the left of the falls, there’s a cliff that’s probably some 20 feet over the surface of the water where you can jump in if you’re feeling up to it.  It was awesome!

There was also this sign, which we all got a good laugh from. 

The next day was a day that I’d been looking forward to for months: the day that I could take my family to my site.  I had set up a charter to pick us up from the neighboring village, where I heard the bus would stop, and take us into my site; however, as things sometimes go in the village, the charter had forgotten, so we were forced to do the three and a half mile walk through the hills.  Luckily we arrived around 8:00 AM so it wasn’t too hot yet and, really, outside of increasing our heart rates some on the up-hills, it wasn’t too bad.

Once we arrived, we went by the school, simply for the fact that it would be a comfortable spot to relax after our hike.  Naturally, I was a little surprised when the principal told me that the school would be having an assembly to welcome in my family.  This gave the teachers and students some time to speak about some of the work that I’d been doing at the school so that my family would have a better idea of what exactly I’ve been doing here.  It also allowed my family the opportunity to meet the people that I’d told them so much about over the phone.  It was a great welcome to the village!

After that, we went to my house in the village and met my host family.  It wasn’t long before everyone was talking, laughing, and eating hot caldo.  There was a bit of a learning curve for my family, but by the time we finished they were using the tortillas as spoons, just like the Maya.  Once we finished our lunch, we went on the grand tour of the village.  We stopped by houses where I spend a lot of time, and my mom was even asked to take some pictures for people that she could send back once in the States.  Then, in an effort to avoid getting soaked by a threatening rain cloud, we made our way back to the school where we spent the rest of our time in the village.  Overall, it was an awesome trip! 

The Standard V/VI class even wrote notes to me thanking me for a good year and helping with their health class.  I think some of the kids think I’m leaving for good, so those were fun to read.  I wonder how the kids will react when they see me back in the village. Anyway, gonna miss those kids for the next week and half.

The next few days consisted of zip lining and just kind of relaxing at the resort and touring the grounds with the owner.  Then, come Sunday, we were off to Hopkins.  I had never been there before, so I was really looking forward to seeing something totally new.  The cool thing about Hopkins is that, even though it can be touristy, it is still a Garifuna village first where people go out every day to fish for their dinners and where cassava is king.  My family was also very excited because this was the first place that we stay on the trip that had AC.

On our first full day in Hopkins, we decided to take a boat out with a guide and go snorkeling.  The reefs were amazing and we saw all sorts of colorful fish.  In the afternoon, we went out to a reef that was a little deeper.  This gave use the opportunity to see larger fish and more of them.  We saw two or three schools of fish and even a huge sting ray.  It was probably 3-4 feet in diameter with its tail protruding another 3-4 feet from the back of its body.  You could also sit facing out from the reef and look out into empty ocean, something that left me with a bit of an eerie feeling, especially when I imagined a shark swimming up. 

The following day, my mom, aunt, and I took a guide out to Cokcscomb Reserve.  The first part of the hike was mostly used to search for animals, with the obvious goal being to find a sleeping jaguar.  Unfortunately, no jaguar was to be found… We did, however, see a coati, a small raccoon like animal, as well as tapir tracks and even one small jaguar print.  After this we decided to do a more difficult hike up to an observational point that was incredible.  One the way down, we even stopped to swim some in a little stream with a small waterfall. 

After a final, relaxing day at Hopkins used to take in some sun/allow our sunburns to heal, we made our way up toward Belmopan.  We stayed at another forest lodge that, again, had no AC.  This little detail caused some tension among the family, but I’m very happy to say that they toughed it out and didn’t let it put a damper on the trip.  Soon after arriving at the resort, we made our way into the Belmopan and made a quick stop by the Peace Corps office so that my family could meet the PC Staff.  It was a great visit and allowed my family to see all the work that goes into making sure that I am well trained, safe, and doing my job. 

The next morning, we made a trip out to Xunantunich.  Even though I’d been there before, it was still awesome to see.  It’s crazy to me to hear about how the Maya lived so many years ago.  I can’t even imagine how their lives would have been or how they were able to do the things that they did, such as build a temple that still remains the tallest building in the country.

To finish up the vacation, we stopped by to see my host family in Armenia.  It was great to see them and how they interacted with my family.  We made the mistake of giving a Chic-Fil-A cow to one of the boys while the other one was asleep.  When the sleeping one woke up, he refused to participate in picture taking until his brother gave him the cow.  Thankfully, they worked out an agreement and everyone was a part of the photo shoot. 

The final night was spent in a nice, AIR CONDITIONED hotel that we all loved.  It was, ironically, the first hotel that I stayed at when I came into Belize.  I remember thinking a year ago how it was just like any other hotel, but after spending a year in the jungle, I realized that what I originally thought was just a hotel was in fact paradise, equipped with AC and over 100 channels.  It was a great way to spend the last night with my family and top off an unforgettable vacation!  

Thanks for everything guys!

Ac Yuam

Life at site over the past two months can be described best as nonstop.  I’m not just talking about working at the school or having lessons in the village, but there have also been some very important events that took place, and I was lucky enough to be a part of them.  I was invited by the village Chairman to attend the first communion and baptism of his five youngest children as well as dine with them afterward.  Then, just a few weeks after that, I was also invited to the high school graduation in PG and asked to come eat with two of the students’ families.  In each case, the main dish was pork; however, I don’t eat pork, so I was a little concerned about the possibility of having to refuse the food.  Somehow, though, each family had heard of my dietary habits and cooked a chicken just for me.  There may have been times in the past when I didn’t feel that I was integrating into the village as well as I would like, but after these celebrations, I’m starting to realize that people are slowly beginning to adopt me as a member of the village.

The largest celebration, though, came when my host brother got married.  The week prior to the wedding, people were already arriving.  By the eve of the wedding, there were over 100 people there to help cook and celebrate the event.  One group of people that came was from a village where there was another volunteer, so she came up to be a part of the celebration as well.  It was great to have her company, too, because nothing feels lonelier than being the only American surrounded by, what would eventually be, 250 Q’eqchi strangers.

The day of the wedding was awesome!  Buses had come from three or four other villages bringing family and friends of the couple.  At one point, I was speaking to someone and the conversation went something like this:

"Daniel, are you ready for the couple to tie…"

"…the knot?" I said, being the American that I am.

"No, tie their necks," my acquaintance informed me.

Yes, that is correct.  They do not, in fact, tie the knot in Q’eqchi weddings.  Instead, they tie their necks.  Now if you are like me, you may have the image of this couple walking down the aisle on their way to the gallows (and really, at this juncture in my life, I feel like a trip down the aisle and a trip to the gallows are synonymous); however, the neck tying was nothing like that.  As the couple stood in front of the packed church and said their vows, the preacher put a loosely fitting rope in the shape of an infinity symbol around their necks to signify unity and a connectedness that would last for eternity.  After the kiss (which came as a shock to my friend and me considering how much we know about the lack of affection that many Q’eqchi people show) everyone moved next door to my house where beef was served with a side of poch.  Overall, it was a great experience and something that I will remember for the rest of my life.

Aside from my busy social calendar, I have also been able to make time for work.  Most of my work continues to be at the school.  The world map that the students drew and painted is finally finished in the library.  Yes, there are still some little things that need to be completed, but those are only minor details.  The bulk of the map is finished.  I won’t lie to you either.  Going into this knowing that the map would be drawn by a bunch of adolescent boys, my expectations were pretty low; however, now that the map is complete, I can say that I am shocked.  Never in my mind would I have expected it to look as good as it does.  The students did an excellent job!  They have been able to leave a lasting legacy at the school through this project.  The principal, who will be switching schools next year, even liked it so much that he asked for the resources to do it at his next school! 

Side note: for anyone interested, this is not a project that is strictly Peace Corps.  This project can be done by anyone in any country.  It can be used to teach children about the world and even the different cultures around the world.  If this is something you’re interested in, let me know and I can try and get you the information.  It’s something that I definitely want to take back with me to the U.S.

 

Another school activity that I was fairly involved in was helping to train the boys football (like soccer football, not American football) team in preparation for the district finals.  Really, what this meant was going out and playing football with the boys every day after school for about two weeks.  Tough work, I know.  The kids had won the zone tournament but still needed a lot of work to be competitive in the districts, especially since they are pretty small. 

Training had been going well until the day before the tournament, three of the kids decided to disrespect the principal.  The principal quickly told the students that they would not be going to PG the following day and gave them back any money they had donated to help fundraise the vehicle.  It was immediately obvious that these kids were crushed.  Two walked out of the meeting on the verge of tears.  I decided I should probably go out and talk to them to make sure they were alright.  One of them is extremely smart and has loads of potential, but since he’s 14 he could technically drop out whenever he wants.  I really just wanted to make sure that he wasn’t planning on “sticking it to the man” by dropping out of school and ruining his future.

When talking to the students, they told me that they were just planning on going to the tournament on the bus the following morning separately from the team.  We talked more about it and decided that it would probably be best if they at least got the principal’s approval instead of just trying to show him up the next day.  They came up with a heartfelt apology and quickly went to the principal to get approval to support the team.  More tears were shed during this apology, and by the end, the principal was fully convinced that the kids would never disrespect him or any other authority figure again.  They did, however, also have to apologize to their teammates.

The next day, the whole team was off to PG to compete.  The boys won the first game easily but would have to wait five hours in the sun until their next match against a team that was much bigger and had had a first round by.  The boys came out nervous and gave up two quick goals in the first five minutes.  They held them for the final 15 minutes (the games were only 20) but they weren’t able to ever put a goal.  It was an unfortunate way to end the season but the kids brushed it off quickly as kids usually do and were joking around by the time we’d reached the car.  Still, though, to come from the back o’ bush and finish top 5 out of the 50 plus teams in the district is something to be proud of.  That being said, though, you better believe that I will make sure training starts much earlier next year.

Aside from these mini projects, my main work at the school was in giving lessons on the prevention of non-communicable diseases.  This was something that I had been working on for a few months with the goal of having the students present what they learned at the health fair.  In order for this to happen, though, it was obviously important that my CHW and I were able to set up a health fair.

Originally, we wanted this fair to be at the end of May, but due to questions in the budget, the date continued to get pushed back.  The last possible day for the fair was on June 9, the day my family came into town.  Well, we were finally able to nail down this date a week and a half beforehand giving me very little time to get out invitations.  At one point, I was on the bus and had to give a letter to a villager of a different village and have her pass it off to a nurse in that village.  It was quite a stressful time.  I didn’t have confirmations until the day before the fair, and that wasn’t including the nurse in the neighboring village.  By that point, though, I decided what would be would be.  I could no longer do anything.  Luckily, there were four other volunteers who said they would help, so worst case, we would have three stands on diarrheal disease and hygiene. 

Luckily, though, all but one person invitee came.  Even the nurse from the neighboring village showed up.  The topics of the fair varied from vector control to diarrheal disease prevention to birth control and family planning.  We were even able to do cooking demonstrations for the children and members of the community.  By far, though, the biggest success, in my mind, was the fact that we had 34 women of childbearing age come and for an hour, they stood crowding around the birth control and healthy pregnancy booth.  About 60% of the village is under the age of 20.  This means that people are having a lot of babies and there are a lot of tweens that are going to be popping out kids soon.  To me, maternal and child health as well as family planning is one of the major targets for my CHW and me.  I was stoked to see so many women interested in the topic. 

Then there’s the latrine project.  Yes, that is still in full swing.  It’s a long process and I find myself constantly telling the villagers to just have patience, supplies are on the way.  There have been some major developments, though.  The first came when my CHW and I got a group together that would be in charge of the funds.  The name of the group is Ac Yuam Development Project.  Ac Yuam (pronounced Ak Tyuam) means New Life in Q’eqchi and was something that really resonated with me when brainstorming with my language coach about a name.  The goal of this group is not just to fundraise for latrines but for any needs that they see in the community.  Essentially, this group will hopefully bring new life into the community in a sustainable manner.  The next step in the process is to open up a bank account for the group.  I’m hoping that this can be done by early July.  At that time, we can begin to buy supplies and build latrines.  Expect details to come soon on how to donate to the cause!

All of your support, not necessarily for the projects but also for me, helps more than you can know!  Thanks for everything! 

First Vacation!

Right before I posted my last blog post, I had just finished up an excellent vacation with two of my good friends, Annie and Nicole.  Though they were only here for a few days, we had a blast! So much so that Nicole forced me to make this a separate blog post.  

I met them at the airport on Thursday where we quickly caught up before jumping in a taxi and making our way to the Belize City bus terminal.  We got lucky and had an awesome cab driver along the way.  He told us about the different events that'd be going on in the city and pointed out some upcoming projects that the city was working on.  I felt like it was a good introduction to the city for the girls (and for myself, having never been before).  It worked out even better that we got to the terminal at the same time as a bus heading down to Placencia, where we would be staying the next three nights.  

The bus trip was relatively uneventful except for we got warm sweet bun... You can't really beat warm sweet bun on a bus ride with friends.

After what was an extremely long bus ride down to Placencia, we dropped off our stuff and went out to meet some other volunteers at one of the local bars.  It was like two separate worlds were colliding. Thus far during service, I've had my Peace Corps world and my not Peace Corps world.  It wasn't until that moment at the Tipsy Tuna that they both collided and, with the exception of all the embarrassing stories that were told of me, it was awesome!  I really need to commend the girls, too.  I think when it was all said and done they'd been up for 23 hours or something crazy like that.  Despite that fact, they were up and at it early the next morning.

After getting some breakfast and sending off some of the volunteers, Nicole, Annie, the remaining volunteers, and I went out to the beach for the rest of the day.  The whole weekend was a pretty overcast, but there were times that were sunny during the day.  It was honestly the best day we could have had at the beach, so we made the most of it.  For lunch, we went down to this tiny restaurant off the dock to get some authentic Belizean food.  The food was great and the owner was amazing.  She conveyed everything that one would attribute to a Belizean: welcoming, kind, and carefree.  That afternoon, we spent some time jumping off a pear out into the sea until it was finally time to send off two more Peace Corps friends and start getting ready for dinner.

With the weather being a little iffy, we weren't really sure what we were going to do for dinner. One of the options was this restaurant called Tranquilo, which was supposed to be incredible, but it is on a dock off an island, so if the weather wasn't great, there was a chance it could be kind of an uncomfortable dinner. We decided to risk it, though, and it ended up being a great bet.  While we were waiting for the water taxi that would take us out to the restaurant, a couple just married came out, the bride still in her wedding dress.  You can imagine it was a little awkward when we showed up and employees began asking us if we were with the wedding party, but we handled it.  Overall, it was an incredible meal, especially the lionfish that I tried from Nicole's plate.  If you're ever in Placencia, I would highly recommend it, especially if you time it right for sunset.  

Or if you prefer the version with the manatee trying to drink my beer, there it is... 

The next day was rainy again, but Nicole and Annie were able to get out and see some manatees.  Other than that, though, most of the time was spent inside resting and getting ready for "The Fight of the Millennium" that would be later that night between Pacquiao and Mayweather.  After the fight, Nicole and I had some drinks on the beach and talked about all the reasons that she should join Peace Corps! We'll see if I was convincing enough.  Only time can tell.

The next day started early with a pretty rough bus ride into Armenia to see my host family from the village.  I couldn't let Nicole and Annie leave without getting to experience some of the Mayan culture.  It was great to see my first Belizean home again.  They are doing great! The youngest is doing really well in school and was at the top of his Infant I class.  He was speaking to me in English and everything, something that the Infants at my site struggle with.  Though the menu changed last minute and we had rice and beans instead of caldo, Nicole and Annie still got to experience some of the culture, such as playing Uno in a thatch house (alright, maybe minus the Uno).  Annie even used a latrine.  Nicole and I were both very proud. 

Time in the village was short lived, though, and as soon as lunch was over, we were on our way to Belmopan to stay with my embassy family, where Annie was back in her element. 

And then, just like that, the next morning came, and it was time to head back into Belize City to find the girls a taxi driver that would get them back to the airport safely.  Though short lived, I don't think it could have been a better trip.  There were drinks, karaoke, and sweet buns the size of a human head.  There were manatees, thatched homes, and pit latrines.  There were friendships formed, stories told about past lives, and memories that I'll take with me forever, and for all of these things, I am most grateful.  Thanks Annie and Nicole for coming down and sharing a part of my life that I won't be able to share with many people in the States once I return.  I had a great time!

Finding Grass

The past few weeks have been the busiest of service so far.  There are times that I find myself thinking that there’s too much to get done in the limited electricity setting that I find myself living in, yet somehow I’m still able to complete (most of) the work I have planned while at the same time managing to enjoy myself and my community. 

The latrine project that I am working on with my community work partner is finally beginning to take shape.  I am continuing to make house visits around the village asking the villagers who attended the diarrheal disease lessons how to prevent and manage diarrhea as well as when it is important to go to the hospital with diarrhea.  Naturally, this has led to an improvement in my Q’eqchi, especially when it comes to talking about poop.  I may not know much conversational Q’eqchi, but I could go on for days when talking about diarrhea.

We have also been able to get in contact with a group in the States that is willing to collect donations from the U.S. and wire them into an account that will be made up of community members who have been involved in the project.  My work partner and I will begin identifying people during the next month that we think would be able to support the group, which will ultimately be used for any community development projects that have been identified by the villagers.  To help in understanding how to set up a project of this magnitude, I was able to take a trip out to another volunteer’s site who is also working on a latrine project.  I was able to get information from her about building latrines, how to set up and run a village-based group, people to contact about fundraising, and where to find the best deals for supplies in town.  It was incredibly helpful!

Once the group has been registered as an official group, we will begin to ask for donations from the States.  Ideally, we will be able to come up with an Adopt-a-Family type situation where families in the States will get information on a family that they’ve decided to “adopt.”  Of course this will all take place with the families’ consent.  This way people who decide to donate can have a connection with the families in the village that lack toilets.  More information about this to come!

Aside from the latrine project, my work partner and I are also making headway on the health fair.  We finally have an agenda, a list of invitees, and a budget.  Right now all that’s left to do is get a set date, which I’m pushing to be June 4, but we shall see.  If all of the presenters can come, I think it has potential to be very successful.  For now, I’m just going to continue giving lessons at the school about Non-Communicable Diseases so that the kids can help present information to the villagers at the fair.

Things at site aren’t all about work, though.  Most of the time I’m hanging out with people in the village watching movies on my computer, helping them with household chores, or even just talking.  At one point, I went to go help one of the kids in the village throw beans.  What happens is that when the farmers gather their beans, there tends to be a lot of dried grass and dirt.  Throwing them with bowls helps to clean out some of that dust.  Naturally, never having done this before, my first few throws were terrible… I completely missed the tarp a few times and other times, I wouldn’t throw them high enough to allow the wind to blow out the dust.  It was at this point that the 13 year old corrected my technique, and by the time I finished I was a pro.  The whole experience was just one of those reminders that I don’t, in fact, know everything, and that there are even times when a 13 year old can teach me something.

At another point in time, I was hanging out after school with some of the kids.  I was on my way home when I grabbed my book bag off the ground and stopped to talk with some of the teachers and students.  It was then that I felt something crawling on my chest.  Unfortunately, my first reaction was to grab and throw it, not flick it.  It turns out that if you try and grab and throw a scorpion, you get stung and it’s not like a bee sting.  It’s a full out sting that put me in more pain than I’d been in in a while.  My hand swelled up and there was a tingling sensation all the way up my arm and even into my mouth and lips.  It was crazy! The pain lasted a few days, but things are all good now, thankfully.

Of all the things that have happened in the past month, though, one thing in particular stands out to me as a real “lesson learned” moment.  There had been a bulldozer in the village that was charging people absurd fees to level out certain things like plots of land or the road that leads out to the farms which will just become uneven again as soon as the first rains come and the horses begin to walk the road.  On top of the price, the bulldozer was getting rid of grass from the village and leaving plots of dust in its place.  This is what really frustrated me about its presence.  All I wanted was my grassy yard back!

Just days after the bulldozer left, it began to rain more than it had at any other point during the dry season.  We had a week straight of rain, and all the dust turned into mud.  I had to start wearing my boots around the village and needed to focus on every step that I took in an effort not to fall.  What did I do about this? I complained about it: to the teachers, the kids, the host family, everyone!  To me, it was the bulldozer’s fault, so I continued to complain about that to everyone.  Essentially, I was full of negativity during that week of rain (now, admittedly, over a problem that is pretty minuscule in the grand scheme of things).

During the few days of rain, I began reading a book called The Tao of Pooh which considered the different types of people and how they relate to Taoist principles by looking at characters from Winnie the Pooh.  One of the ideas that the book presents is the importance of looking at potentially negative situations but seeing the good that can come from them and knowing that whatever happened occurred for a reason.  Literally within a day of reading this, I stepped outside and saw in the mud something I hadn’t seen since the bulldozer left: grass.  Had it not been for the rain, there would have been no grass. 

This made a profound impact on me.  It taught me to acknowledge the negative but also know that it did happen for a reason.  There will be times at site when something bad happens (probably it’ll be bigger than just losing some grass), but I’m going to need to take that negative and make it into something better, either through my actions or, more simply, my observations.  There was nothing I could have done about the rain, but I was able to notice that something good did come from all that rain and mud.  Because I was focused on finding the good from the not so good, I was able to find a positive – I was able to find grass. 

Keeping On

 Things are finally starting to feel kind of normal around here.  To most of the villagers, I feel like I seem more like just another person in the village as opposed to the strange white guy that’s working at the school.  I’m used to village life and have a routine that’s pretty set.  I’ve become adjusted to the slow pace of life in the village, and actually enjoy it much more than the stress that comes with rushing around in town checking email, making sure that I’ve bought everything for the next week, contacting everyone back in the States.  That sort of thing.  When you only have about 6 hours to get yourself situated for the next week, it gets pretty stressful, especially now that work is starting to pick up at site.  I feel like it gives me much more to do when I come into town. 

The main project that I’m focusing on is still the latrine project.  I’ve finished up with all the classes, and they were a huge success!  The CHW and I averaged over 30 people at each of the meetings, a huge number considering there are only 65 families in the village.  Almost half of the families had someone in attendance, so I was stoked about that!  The first three meetings were pretty awkward.  I would stand up and talk about poop in broken Q’eqchi that would then have to be translated by the CHW in order for the people to understand.  The last meeting, however, was completely different.  We spoke about diarrheal disease prevention with an emphasis on proper hand washing.

At one point, I was demonstrating how to wash hands.  I poured a little water and started to rub with soap for 20 seconds.  The usual.  Everything had gone pretty smoothly until I went to wash the soap off.  I finished pouring my water bottle when I realized I still had soap on my hands.  The audience thought it was hilarious.  Especially when I told them not to use a dirty towel or pants when all I wanted to do was wipe off the remaining soap.  Just at that point, an older man walked in late and came up to me, asked how I was doing and shook my dripping hand.  A look of disgust and confusion flashed across his face, and though for just a second, the participants didn’t miss it.  They died and began telling me to wash my hands again.  If only I had more water…

Now that the classes are over, I’ve started doing house visits to ask the participants questions about the classes – how to prevent and manage diarrhea, when to go to the hospital, even why do they need a latrine.  The biggest challenge now is finding out how to get enough money to bring in sand for the cement before the dry season ends.  I think I have a plan, though, that will be cutting it close, but hopefully will lead to latrines being built by around August. 

I’ve also started giving lessons at the school on the prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCD), such as diabetes.  The plan is to have a health fair in the beginning of June where the students can come out and do skits and draw posters to teach the villagers about how to prevent NCDs.  On top of that, there will be various booths set up that teach about healthy eating and cooking where some of the villagers will use locally grown foods and sell them to people in the village.  The hope is that the people will enjoy the food and be encouraged to start a garden, or at least eat the healthier foods.  I’d also like to have maternal and child health booths for the mothers in the village.   Though my CHW and I are just in the beginning stages of planning, I’m already excited about the health fair and think that it has potential to be very successful!

A lot of the ideas that I have for the health fair are coming from another fair that I attended that one of the volunteers set up in her village.  Her health fair was awesome, but I was even more excited to get to see her and a few other volunteers in their villages.  They live in beautiful villages and it was fun to kind of experience and day in their lives.  I got to walk around and talk with people in the village and see how differently they live from the villagers in San Vicente.  The two villages I visited are only a few miles apart and even they are very different.  It’s something that I find very interesting.  What factors led to the villagers living so differently even though they are so close together?

Well, other than those two projects, the Student Leader Program is still going pretty strong at the school despite the fact that I’ve had to switch my focus more toward the community based projects.  They sell bananas with the help of some of the teachers and have even raised enough money to start buying toilet paper for the classrooms, something that students had to bring before.  If you thought you might have to go in class, you brought toilet paper.  Now they won’t have to worry about that.  The Student Leaders have also said they would be interested in buying buckets of water with a tap at the end as a way to continue to emphasize proper hand washing.  To top it all off, the world map is slowly coming along.  The students and I will begin to draw the countries sometime over Easter break, so I’m stoked about that!!

Really that’s about it.  I’m reading Don Quixote right now which is an incredibly long book, but I’m finally nearing the end.  Anyway, I read something that really stuck out to me: “Let us live while we can, speak while we may, and at present pursue our journey.”  I really liked that!  It stuck out as a reminder to me to just keep living.  Celebrate the highs and push through the lows.

And here, just because I haven't posted pictures in a while: