Mural pics pleaseeeeeee

dear new year

Hello New Year.

First things first, I must apologize to you for failing to keep up with my resolution of writing more than one blog entry a month. The book isn`t looking too hot either. But January has probably been my busiest month ever. Here are my rambling excuses:

The month started a little weird, meeting new faces at the health center as many new work contracts began while others ended. Although it was a little awkward to continue my work in the New Year without the presence of my old counterpart (yes she was let go on bureaucratic government crap I won`t bother boring you with), it was also interesting not to feel like the new kid and actually being able to show new workers around. In short, life feels well, settled… although I am still looking for a new counterpart.

School is beginning again which means that I had to finish my vacation courses with my two youth groups. As I originally planned, both groups got the chance to do two final projects: paint murals on the environment. Thanks for the help and fundraising of my oh so awesome friend Jen who came to visit from the States, I was able to buy paint to accomplish both murals outside my health center and outside the school of one of my aldeas. How did it really work? Simple: to start the participants were split up in groups two weeks ahead of time and told to think of an idea and message for the murals on the environment. The best idea would get to paint their message and drawing on the murals with the help of everyone else. The outcome of the contest was really amazing, although I was scared that the kids just wouldn`t get it (giving them a blank poster and being told to just make something up isn`t really something they are used to). Day of judging went great and I was really impressed with the creativity and messages of all the group although I was a little bummed about having to pick winners!

We started painting the following week and I think all the kids were very much overwhelmed by the space they had to cover (probably didn`t help that school was starting too). A lot of them were just complaining that they couldn`t paint, draw or didn`t know what to do, but after a little direction from other oh so awesome volunteers that came to help ,they began drawing their murals away and before you knew it, all the kids were working together, just painting away. It truly was a great experience and I loved that these kids got to work on their creativity and their self-esteem, working on something they had never done before. The bad news is that neither murals were done in a day and we had to schedule another day to finish…. Unfortunately, only one person ended up showing up the next day in my casco urbano and only four people in my aldea. I think the kids were probably sick and tired of 101 hours of painting and maybe I did push the kids a little hard, but what is change without a little shoving? So the next meeting I gave them a huge guilt speech and we will be finishing off the health center mural tomorrow. The other mural in my aldea was just finished this last week. This one turned out really nice, with a great message about garbage disposal (the town is littered with garbage).

In general, it really was a great experience although very stressful trying to manage the participation of so many kids working at once on something they had never done before.
So I am finished with the youth groups this year and done with the project and now planning on my next secondary project: recycled bottle project to extend my health center (although I am pushing for the project in my aldea where garbage is a huge problem).

What else, what else… I also work with different NGOs here…. One of them has recently asked me to help them start women`s groups here in my municipalidad, so I am currently working on that, and so far it looks as we have at least two on the ground to start receiving charlas on reproductive and child health. I am really looking forward to have the training sessions started! I`m also beginning to work a lot with the women`s commission here. The commission was started in November after our Mayor was finally convinced to authorize it. Next challenge: trying to get them an office. A Women`s office is pretty standard in every muni of Guatemala, except for mine. It turns out that the mayor is not a big fan of the commission because ``women are not supposed to do things like that`` (and yes I quote). Anyone that knows me can only imagine the fire brewing in me waiting to feud with the muni. So I don`t quite fight, but I pester, a lot. And next Monday I will pester with a meeting with the alcalde to try to get their office.

My reunions with the health promoters are doing well although I have been having a hard time keeping attendance stable. I have them currently split into two smaller groups, which facilitates a lot of the aprendizaje. This month we worked on Respiratory Infections and next month, we will be doing workshops on Disaster prevention and response (was not originally planned but pretty relavent given everything happening in Haiti and the geographical position of Guatemala). Next week I will also be starting my health promoters group in one of my aldea, which I am really excited about too, because health education is virtually non-existent there.

I still do my radio show once a week, although I need to find a new Kiche translator since my counterpart is now gone. Good news is that I just got a bike, and can just ride right to the radio station and back, scarring off all the local inhabitants along the way.

And last but not least I am super excited about a new project that is starting in my department that is aimed to combat malnutrition, which is being administered by the UN and coordinated by a Guatemalan government agency, focusing on nutrition and agriculture education. About 70 percent of Toto suffer from chronic malnutrition and San Andres, like many municipios, is plagued with malnutrition, which has left me overwhelmed at times not knowing where to begin to confront the problem. So as you can imagine, I am super happy that this project has arrived. Right now, I am currently working with them to find the families in my aldeas to participate in the program. I think it`s a really great opportunity and I can`t wait to start the capacitaciones and maybe try out some tire gardens!

The new year also began with new midwifery trainings as always and workshops with health vigilantes working with my NGO that covers the rest of my aldeas. I also got the chance to go visit a domestic violence shelter coordinated by an NGO in Xela, where victims and families stay for 4 to 6 months at a time, until they are rehabilitated back into society. I learned a lot from the visit and the system implemented to help victims rehabilitate and not fall back into the cycle. I`m currently trying to help them with donations of equipment and games to work with the kids living there.

So I guess this is a work entry, but I just thought I`d try to make you understand, New Year, what I have been up to. Other plans for the rest of the new year? Maybe a women`s march in March, starting a library, trying to clean out an oober contaminated river, not driving myself crazy if I can`t get any of these things done and taking time to take care of myself.

That`s it, I guess that`s my new years resolution: helping others to help me take care of myself. I know a bit abstract but I don`t make sense when I`m tired. It`s almost 7PM on a Saturday night, which is close to Peace Corps midnight.

Saludos.

And a Christmas picture please...

And since I know we are all obsessed with pictures.... Here is a host cousin taking part in a Guatemalan Christmas tradition... Roasting marshmallows?? Saber.....

Kissing Baby Jesus

I kissed Baby Jesus Thursday night. The event was of huge significance in my Guatemalan life given the fact that I have been to Church about 7 times in my entire life (this includes weddings and funerals). It was no random Thursday night, it was Christmas Eve, or as we call it here la ``Noche Buena.`` La Noche Buena is a very big ordeal, and far more important than Christmas day here.

I was fortunate enough to spend my very first Guatemalan Christmas with my previous host family and got the chance to partake in typical Guatemalan customs. My 2009 Christmas timeline began on the 24^th, with the construction of none other than a highly complex nativity scene. What began as a simple baby Jesus manger table turned into a sophisticated bamboo rooftop house for little baby Jesus. Four hours later, we all gathered together to have the traditional Noche Buena dinner: Tamales. Tamales are a typical Guatemalan staple food that are made of corn mush, a tiny piece of meat, and a salsa-like saucy paste. I know it kind of sounds gross, but they are actually quite tasty, especially after they are wrapped in palm leaves and cooked over open fire. Later on, we also got to roast marshmallows over the open fire, which made me quite confused as to where I was exactly.

Lucky for me, my old host family is not really religious, which meant that I got to skip 10 o`clock mass. But going to church is of utmost high importance even for the least religious and so we made our way to church just before midnight to pay our respects. The apex scene of this blog entry goes a little like this: the church is full, mass has just finished, as we take our place in an endless line just at the outskirts of the church. I am not quite sure what we are waiting for, and I let the awkwardness in me fade away as we slowly make our way up. But then just as I start getting serious, thinking about my family, my future, my service…. I see him…. I see large baby Jesus, the target goal, and what everyone has been waiting in line to do: to kiss him. I turn to the other volunteer behind me and whisper… ``what do we do???``… We decide that whatever my host sister does, we will dutifully follow as well. Lucky for us, she kisses him. I am next: the person next to me has already kissed him. I have a minor freak out as everyone stares at the only two blonde twins in the church… I know it sounds like it should be simple, but in a few split seconds, thoughts run through my head: ``Oh god, I`ve never done this before….How do I do it? What if I don`t do it right?? I hope I don`t offend anyone?... Where do I kiss it?? Looks like the foot might be a good option…. Ok here it goes…`` I inhale it and I do it. I look back at the other volunteer and I can tell the same thoughts are going through her head. Apparently she decides the foot is a good option too. We scurry out of there, whispering about our awkwardness until we realize we sped walk so fast out of there that we left my host family behind.

We wait outside the entrance for my host family, and are reunited by their laughter and banter at our exit strategy. We are quickly reunited outside by the midnight bells, the celebration of baby Jesus, and a trillion spectacle of fireworks. And by trillion, I am not exaggerating… Fireworks are shooting from 3 different spots behind the church, two behind the muni building, at least 5 other spots in different points of the village, as many others shoot smaller fireworks out on the streets around the park. It is a shower of fireworks, the best show I have ever seen.

Christmas here is about baby jesus, but also about fireworks. Guatemalans are fireworks fanatics, especially around Christmas; and all around Guatemala at this time, every family crowds and runs the streets with their different favorite fireworks, whether the volcan, cuetes, and other names I can`t quite remember. It`s a science really that kids begin to learn earlier than they even learn how to say the word ¨bomba.¨

The rest of the Christmas weekend was spent relaxing, destressing about stuff I am not supposed to stress about, playing soccer, and painting away. Painting is a hobby I have recently taken up, thanks to the help of my host sister who is a great painter… She even got me a paint set for Christmas! I was truly grateful, especially since it is not a typical Guatemalan tradition to give gifts on Christmas.

I suppose the universality of Christmas is that of a time to be grateful anywhere one might be in the world. I will end then on that note: I am especially grateful for the creativity that this experience has allowed me to develop. I am grateful for my host family, and for the people that for some reason or another just keep returning to the meetings I have for them. I am grateful for the familiar faces I now call family, and familiar mountains I now call mine. I am grateful for my own family and friends at home who think that what I am doing is great, although I think it`s actually quite ordinary and frustrating at times. So thank you life, thank you world, thank you Guatemala. Oh yea and thanks for reading this.

the eyes of san andres

I know, don`t judge me, it`s been a while. But sometimes writing a simple blog entry can be overwhelming. Where do you start when days feel like a lifetime? My brother once suggested that I post a picture up on every blog entry, and just write about that. Well here goes nothing: The picture above was taken by Alex, a ´boy or perhaps a young man, with down syndrome. Alex is the only disabled boy I know in my town and in all of a Guatemala. Alex has never gone to school because there is no ``special education`` for him; his education lies within his eyes. He is the eyes of San Andres, watching, walking, spending his days and nights observing the happenings of the town. He, of course, has taken a liking in us Gringos and I often wonder if even he can understand the cultural differences between us.

As you can tell, Alex is an amazing photographer, which I must say did not surprise me much since he spends his 24-7 on details and beauty that most of us never even bother to notice. The photo above takes place at my feria, my town`s annual celebration of its patron saint. It is a week`s full of madness, street vendors, fried food, drunks, mass, fireworks, concerts, marimbas, street dogs and strangers who think I`m a stranger in my own town. The man in the picture is part of a company of masked dancers from a nearby town, hired to dance drunkenly out of rhythm. San Andres is known for its factory of musicians and so our feria turned into a monton of concerts, accompanied by these comical and somewhat drunk dancers sweeping away our main plaza (and yes the one in the background is in a disguise I believe made to resemble Osama Bin Laden – it`s ok really… cultural sensitivity doesn`t translate well here sometimes, so don`t take it personally). Anyway, I plan on buying Alex a disposable camera soon, and who knows, if he actually really takes a liking and proves to be responsible with it, maybe I`ll opt to fundraise to get him a digital camera.

I also met a new Peace Corps volunteer, well a returned PCV who had served in the 1970s in Guatemala. I was lucky enough to meet him and discuss how his experience had been so different from what we have today. Today, we have easy internet access, dependency on cell phones, printers, memory sticks, laptops and this blog. It makes you wonder really how technology has just completely changed what it means to be a Peace Corps volunteer… for better or for worse. The good news is that due to technology, you get to read this, but as volunteers we also tend to stray away from our communities more than we ought to because we have the United States on our cell phones and computer screens (I`m not judging, I`m guilty too.)
But enough about that, now for the juicy work stuff: while one of my youth groups is still holding up strong, I`m starting to have some trouble trying to keep the other one alive in my aldea, whose kids keep wanting to just learn about music and painting, and not about the goodies of HIV, domestic violence, et al (can you blame them really??) Speaking of domestic violence, I spent the last week giving charlas on the topic to mothers of family. While it was all well and rewarding, the problem is still evident: how can we educate the husbands???? For one part, I`m trying to get a hold of the different professional associations comprised of men in my town (they are big weavers and painters here) and capacitaring them. And I am also trying to plan out a monthly attendance requirement for husbands of families receiving money from the government with my health center educators.

So, what am I up to this week? Doing a radio show and workshops with my youth groups on HIV-AIDS, in honor of international AIDS day Dec. 1st, and preparing for my first health promoters group next week. I am a little nervous to see who, if anyone shows up, because I`ve put a lot of effort in advertising and getting my muni involved during the midst of feria, which has been extremely difficult. But as we say in Guatemala - saber! What will be, will be….
Since the last time we met, I also found out that my counterpart will be leaving the health center due to budget cuts, which as you can imagine, really sucks. But I`m not giving up on her yet, and will naively do everything I can to save her job. Good news is that I nominated her to be recognized by Peace Corps for her work with HIV-AIDS education and she got it! Current status: trying to get through to the boss man in the area de salud.

Talking of reproductive health… Congratulation to Amber and her little Aidan, whose birth made me actually want to be back in the States real bad (well just for a moment).

And on a final note, one of my goals here in Peace Corps was to write a book, as talentless as my words might be, and well I`ve finally started. It turns out it`s not about Guatemala at all, as I had planned it to be, but about my family. Cheesy, I know, but distance and alienation has a twisted sick way of making you reflect.

Ears wide open

View of my town, on my way to one of my aldeas located on top of the mountain

Sometimes a great work day in Guatemala is to do nothing and simply listen; simply listen to the things you can learn on a daily basis just from being quiet and really paying attention to the people and environment around you. I often hear talks of contemporary issues, inappropriateness, personal struggles, ironies and daily frustrations of a developing nation all fit to be part of an Allende, Marquez book I will inevitably never write. These conversations pass on every day, and I murmur on, telling myself to write them down but, as you may have guessed, they are instead always forgotten and inevitably turned into wondering, vague thoughts in my head… Therefore as a meak attempt to contradict my last statement, the conversation Iremember today takes place at lunch time at my health centro between two of my educators: ``I then asked the señora if her husband was drunk when he beat her, and she responded… `No seño, my husband doesn`t drink, he`s a preacher, we`re evangelicals.``


I suppose the phrase is more tragically ironic within Guatemalan borders but these statements are not uncommon here and domestic violence unfortunately is a huge problem in my pueblo. Guatemala, like many societies, is traditionally conservative, where men`s say is often the only way. Although many just accept the spousal abuse as maybe God`s will, others who may no longer tolerate it, have no idea as to how to even get out of it. After all, there are at least five children to look after, what would it matter what Mama feels? It is neither a topic that is even discussed in the town, let alone confronted by the local or national government. The sad part is that many neighbors just turn a deaf ear to sudden screams or noises. To fight domestic violence here simply begins by encouraging neighbors to report any incidents or suspicion, which may sound easy, but hard when impunity characterizes the judicial system here. Good news is that I have a contact with an NGO that specifically deals with domestic violence in Xela and have been thinking about collaborating with them, even do a march with the NGO and another nearby volunteer in April for women`s month.


Time here flies and I`m finding myself busy even for the holiday and feria season, trying to pull off two vacation youth groups in my urban center and in one of my aldeas. If I can actually get kids to attend, the group would meet on a weekly basis to focus on activities and charlas on health, gender, selfesteem, vices, and eco-friendly topics… The plan is to have at least the groups in my aldea culminate the activities into a large eco mural final project at the school (garbage is a huge problem there, and perhaps a mural might give more of an incentive for these kids to keep the community, their playground clean!)


I also plan to start my health promoter groups in my aldea and urban center within the next two months and need to start promoting, and soliciting space and money from my muni. I have began working extensively with all of the midwife groups in my aldeas and am looking forward to developing a stronger relationship with them and with the help of my oh so awesome midwife mom in the States. I`m even thinking about arranging a Toto midwifery conference as a long term goal for these groups by the end of my service. I`m also beginning to train health vigilantes in the aldeas run by my NGO and am excited to get things moving along with them as well… I plan to have them help me do home visits and diagnostics that I simply have not had the time to do and hopefully if there is time, to help me with construction projects in these communities…. Anyway, in conclusion, I AM BUSY! Which I use as an excuse for the consistent bad grammar in these entries...


I`ve also moved into my apartment and have never been happier about it, although it is pretty much empty at this point in time…. Moving-in day was quite a frenzied saga, Spindler stlye… I of course did not start moving in until 7PM at night, under steady rain… I had planned to use the health centro`s pick up, but surprise, surprise, it wasn`t there and instead, I began lugging some of my things to my house, until I realized that my spaztic hands could not open my gate….Leaving my stuff to soak under the rain, I go back to the health center to see if the pick-up was back, only to realize that a knife I had left at the center (to use for tire gardens I will be doing) had disappeared… Those who know me well may have guessed that I had grown quite frustrated and irritated with the situation at this point, which inevitably turned into an oh so dramatic, tearful, quasi-nervous breakdown… As I kept interrogating over-night workers about my knife, the pick up and its humble driver finally came pulling in (after all this was a favor he was doing for me), to which I am sure that he was sure I had gone mad, almost crying over a knife. All judgment aside, he still agreed to help me, and as we reached my old headquarters, surprise, surprise all the lights were out once again in that sector in our town…. Long story short, we moved all of my things in the dark, tripping and bumping over everything but completing the moving-in mission succesfully with a lot of built up anxiety and nerves. And for the record, I did find the knife the next day, hidden between posters as I had last left it…. Oops…


On a Guatelaman note, today is San Simon day, the controversial indigenous patron saint of booze, cigars and cigarettes…. Our town has our own special altar and as a result, the town is partying and it looks like I won`t get to sleep too soon with the bands and fireworks still raging on… Good news is that the feria stands are up and I can get my oh soooo yummy fix of churros… Oh gracias San Simon…

If not, you will be happy to hear that peer pressure follows everywhere because all over Guatemala right now volunteers are still trying to figure out their Halloween plans… As for me? Staying in site. Yep that`s right, after all I didn`t plan to have Halloween follow me all the way to Guatemala.

And on a foot note… I managed to royally screw up my foot, walking down the steps of my Mercado and now it looks like I won`t be able to run the marathon I was supposed to do next weekend in Antigua… Total bummer and my foot looks like a blown up eggplant.


Off to the cemetery now, it`s Dia de los Muertos and I`m out integrate, AKA stalking Guatemalans in the cemetery adorning and taking care of tombstones.

Saludos pumpkin heads.

May the force be with... me?

You can find me today living in the moment of a Friday afternoon, or whatever time zone you are now reading this, listening, once again, to a very super cheesy Mexican Ranchero singer blasting from my centro`s reception. A lot has happened since we last encountered and I`m not too sure where to begin. Well for starts, I did go back to NYC all in a dream-like minute trip. While I was really nervous to go back, I found it pretty easy to acclimate back (despite the initial shock- being around so many water fountains, shiny, oh so juicy fruits and garbage pales.) I was a little bummed to leave everyone, all of whom I saw for a split second, but as soon as I stepped on Guatemalan soil, I felt great again.
Since being back, everything has sort of fallen into place and work has piled up; I`ve started working a lot with my health NGO that covers most of my aldeas. The initial contact comes to you as an awkward story: I had been trying to get ahold of this NGO for quite some time now, and when I received an invitation to one of their meetings in Xela, I was super stoked; unfortunately the invitation giver was not going to be there and so I just showed up to the meeting unannounced, to no one`s knowledge at the headquarters and you can imagine the welcome party was well, non-existent. The health educators would barely look at me and I forced myself to stay, pretending to work on a poster until I finally received an invitation to help with a hygiene charla the next week.
What can I say it was one of the most awkward moments of my life, but much of the work here is forced and while I hated every minute of that meeting, it is always worth your time at the end of the day, especially when you are trying to establish relationships and work. Long story short, I ended up showing up to the charla the next week well-equipped with a gigantic toothbrush, mouth poster, and huge paper candies. The charla was a hit, and while I had to leave the next day for the States, the NGO asked me to leave the materials for them to use in the following days.
And so now a week after being back from the States, I find myself in great status with both the NGO and the Centro, both of whom have a hint of rivalry toward one another. I believe the slight animosity stems from a serious lack of staff within the NGO, all of whom work in the poorest of places (we are talking only 3 educators, 1 doctor, and a hipodermist for thousands of people), it also doesn`t help that the NGO funding is always at threat of being cut.
Anywho, peace corps here is much like showing up to work one day saying you got the job, although they were never even having interviews, or well, they were never looking for anyone at all…. Moral of the story: Being forced out of your comfort zone is always worth it (well so far).
Malnutrition has been buzzin` about Guatemala`s ears, and most recently I got personal with it. Most of the worst has hit the East, which is on the other side of me, but my municipio is not that better off. Last Friday, I was introduced to a 13 pound 1 year and 10 month old baby, and was told to give them a consultation by my NGO. I did the best I could to give this woman and her drunk husband the best advice I could, what type of alimentos to give, how many times a day, et al, but blank stares were all that were reciprocated. It was clear that the baby needed to go to the hospital, the kid was barely alert, let alone walk. I convinced them to meet me at the health center this week, only to be told by my boss doctor that the kid would not be accepted into the hospital because beds are super limited and his case was not acute enough to be admitted…. The area nutritionist did recommend to go to another government office where the baby could at least get a medicinal milk that would inject his body with carbs and at least help him to start eat again. Unfortunately, that office only advised me that the milk is only being given now to 3 month olds or younger, and that older ones should instead take vitacereal (supplemental cereal provided by the govnt), which is great advice really, given that my municipio has been out of vitacereal for almost two months now.
I spent the entire day running around with this family to drop them off empty-handed. The only thing I can do now is to follow up with weekly home visits, but the whole experience has taught me a lot about the way that bureaucracy works around here and has me thinking about reworking my work to fill in this empty vacuum for these family that have no access to health education and whose kids are only deteriorating away, waiting to be accepted in the hospital on their death bed. The challenge is just incredibly overwhelming, and it`s not something that I can just do on my own obviously. But it`s making me think and plan.
And it all makes you wonder really, billions of foreign dollars are flowing into the country in order to help with the malnutrition crisis, but where is this money going? Keep throwing it in E.U.
I know this is a really charged entry, but as I said earlier a lot has been happening, and while overwhelmed with the fact that there are oh so many needs and that I am only one body, I feel ready to refocus my work in my aldeas and confront it… poco a poco.
Saludos.