All about YOU

Hellooooooo reader!

So I´ve realized that I´ve been selfleshly blabbing about myself all this time without even bothering to ask you: How are YOU doing?? I know that you might be reading this which in turn, makes you think you´re in contact with me, but the truth is I never hear from you! Come on, we all have facebook, send me a message, let me know about life in the States, because believe it or not there are things that we miss once in a while (you know like a good old burger, Obama, a clean creek, a Republican or two, et al).... Any corky news, new babies??? Let me know, would loveee to hear from you.

Well that´s it about YOU, on to boasting about myself: All is really good here! I am actually in Brazil right now visiting my father for a short bit, and will be back off to Guatemala at the end of this month. It will be a year this month too that I have been in Peace Corps Guatemala! Can you believe it?? Time sure flies...

I think the culture shock here has hit me harder than when I came back to NY. Like Guatemala, Brazil is a latin country, which has left me perplexed when seeing white people, tall people, interracial people, and beautiful fru-fru neighborhoods. I suppose it shouldn´t be a shock since I used to live here but somehow I feel like I´ve returned as a stranger in my home. Brazil has grown and become very rich since I was last there, and the physical results are apparent.

On the Guatemalan front, work has been good, and always finding myself busy, trying to be a superhero and do a million things at once. But when you are dealing with poor indigenous communities, there are always things that should have been done better, a different way, a mistake, or more things that could be done. So I´ve been trying to calm myself down and be easier on myself, reminding little Esther that it is this way specifically because much of the work is new to these communities....

If not, I´m excited to continue on with the second halfish part of my service, which entails focusing more on construction projects here with poor families (letrines, cement floors, water tanks, stoves depending on the needs)... I´ll also be trying to do a mini project building with recycled bottles stuffed out of plastic garbage (I think we´re going to start small and build benches)... I know it sounds crazy but check it out, I think you´d find it interesting:

http://www.puravidaatitlan.org/english.html

It would be awesome to do a mini project wherever YOU are too (I told you this is all about YOU)! It is so easy and really interesting too! It has gotten alot of attention here... Even Barbara Walters flew down to interview a fellow volunteer who built an entire school out of these bottles (at least that´s the Peace Corps rumor)!!

Anyway, I am really excited to build things here and get down and dirty!! I´ve also been thinking more and more to go back to school for Public Health and maybe International Devlp´t. I know a long shot from my original Poli Sci undergraduate degree right??

Since this is still about YOU, I think you deserve some pics:

Kids getting wild at the Dia Del Carbaval in February....

My dog developing a new compulsive habit of roof-climbing

Fellow pcvs enjoying the mountain view during a 4 hour hike.....

OK YOU, send me some news!!

Saludos,

Es

About a dog.

 

Every volunteer that has ever gotten dog has made it their duty to blog about it.  So here is my go -

yes, like you in the USA, we volunteers often make irrational decisions that almost always involve buying a dog.  Hey we need comfort too here,so without further ado, I would like to introduce you to..... Tay`in (don`t ask what it means, I just made it up):

Yes... she`s as terrifying as she looks. She goes through my garbage, gets into packs of sugar, rice and cookies, eats other dogs` puke, and the list goes on.  But she puts up with me too and my crazy eccentric ways, so I guess we kinda complement each other that way.  I may not eat garbage or other people`s puke but I ain`t no picnic either.  And hey we`re disciplining each other: Tay`in can already sit, and me, well, I don`t know, I`m learning to lay down and just relax on a stormy afternoon.

 

Ok, I got the dog thing over with. I`m sorry if this is starting to sound like a chore, but it kinda is.  It`s not your fault really, it`s just that wrapping my thoughts around what I have been doing for the last few hundreds hours of my life is pretty challenging.  Ok, I`m listening to some Michael Franti now and I`m relaxing... Here comes the word diarrhea:

 

The biggest events this month were two women`s marches we organized with my health center in my urban center and one of my aldeas.  March 8th marked International Women`s day, and we all agreed here that it was super important to not only do a march in my urban center but in one of my mountain villages, where such a thing had never happened before.  Keeping with the Guatemalan style of doing things, everything was super last minute, trying to solicit bread and drinks for the estimated 900 women attending. Breaking our backs was worth it in the end- we had the help and collaboration of the muni and different ngos, which all came together in a chaotic but yet beautiful way.  We even had a few newspapers at the larger march in my urban center!

 

The  one in my mountain village was what suprised me the most.  We gave most of the women a piece of poster and told them to draw or write a message to express themselves a week before the march; most of them just responded that they did not know what to draw, or write, but I simply told them to draw a woman, a family, something pretty, or heck even a flower if they wanted, to show how they felt.  What I saw the day of the caminata was amazing...

 

As usual I was running late, and as I was coming around the corner... I saw them: 200 women, being led by the local mayors, crowded with handmade posters with creative, amazing statements and drawings, declaring and expressing their rights as indigenous women.  The view was just spectacular.  Here is what I saw:

   

Well, you get the point.  I was a proud mama!!! This was something that had never happened before in these women`s lives nor in such a conservative rural village.  Not only were they out in full force, but the men, the leaders of the village, were there too telling them once in a while to be louder, and to make themselves heard!  I`m still convinced it all might have been a dream...

Talking of women, I`d like to thank my mum and bro too for helping with donations for a domestic violence shelter that I have been trying to help located in a city near me (it is one of five in the entire country!!)  You guys are awesome!!!

 

I also recently went to go visit two friends of mine who live in one of the most remote sites in peace corps, and it was amazing to see how different their experience is to mine.  I think we all go into peace corps with the idea that we will become all ``sensei`d`` with our souls while maybe helping some people along the way.  Most of us are shocked to find out when we get here that it`s the exact opposite.  We live more comfortably than we`d like to admit; we are more dependent on each other as a community than we may have been to anyone in the States.  And I certainly have been way busier than I have ever been in the States.  But these two friends.... well, they got that site... 7 hours away from me, quite literally on the mexican border, where there are no electricity and water, and where absolutely no one speaks spanish.  It`s a beautiful, strange Guatemala out there, and I definitely look foward to visiting them soon.

Let`s get personal now... How am I feeling at this exact moment? I`m happy.  Hey, who knew that happiness came with a job I knew nothing about a year ago and occasional fleas? I guess we all find our happiness in the most awkward of ways.

I think I`ll stop here, I`m lazy, and a bit sick.  But hey, I gave you lots of pictures, so don`t complain.

Saludos.

 

Esther

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.