My Hard Corps Life

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Asamblea General

Yesterday I had my asamblea general. Every PCV has to invite the community to a meeting and present themselves, Peace Corps, and what they've learned about the community. It's kind of like a right of passage.

I really stressed that I'm here to work as a team with the community. Of course, I used a punny futbol reference to explain teamwork that included a part where I jump around and scream "Gooooooooooal!!!"

Nobody thought it was funny.

Overall, I think the asamblea went well. A decent amount of people showed up, and I had representatives from the police and the local branch of Fundación Campo, an amazing micro-finance organization. My promotor de salud spoke and then the police talked about how they're working to keep the youth out of trouble.

The wild turnout

Soy de Chicago

Otinia and the promotor in the front row

I used visuals to explain my role as the PCV

I think they liked it!

Not pictured is my dear friend Maria. I never would have been able to pull off my asamblea without her! I've been sick with a cold all week, but she came out to help me even when I was hacking and snotting all over the place. She's a good friend!

CORN- It's what's for dinner!

I'm always surprised to find the similarities between El Salvador and my home in the midwest. Corn's a big deal here. Everything's made from corn- tortillas (a typical Salvadoran will consume between 4-6 tortillas a day), tamales, riguas, pupusas. Corn is easily the most important staple here. Next is frijoles, which is funny, because Illinois is the corn and soybean state. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Right about now everyone in the country is drying out their corn. Some people have their own fields, some people buy hundreds of corn husks off their neighbors. The first step to corn ownership is drying the corn out on a tarp in the middle of the road. Why the middle of the road? Well, it's hot and there's a lot of sun there. Who cares about cars. Once you dry out your corn on the cob, you sit for hours on end just picking the kernels out. I've found that older people can do this relatively fast. It's almost a scientific fact that they posses acute corn kerneling skills.

Then you take the thousands of corn kernels and lay them out in the sun. Again, it's best if you lay the tarp out in the middle of the road.

I tried to think of a corny caption, but I got nothin.

BTW this is my favorite part of my commute. Too bad this pic is from a cloudy day.

People soak the dried out corn kernels in water then take it to the molino to make the corn mash all us PCV's have grown to love. Corn mash makes for good deep fried things, too.

Or you just boil the corn and eat it.

Monday, November 4, 2013

Big days

I have a horrible habit here of doing absolutely nothing for a whole day, then the next day I try to cram in everything I avoided. Yesterday I really shoved a lot of information gathering in one day, and I learned a lot about the community.

In the morning I went over to Ana's house (I mentioned her in a previous post) and I walked with her and her family to the Catholic church. Honestly, church is something I've been stealthily avoiding since I got to site. Yes, I know going to church is a great way to meet people and be seen in the community... but I just can't get over the whole 3-4 hour long commitment. I made an exception yesterday because the music group Bendición was crowning the queen of saint's day. Saint's day is a lot dia de los muertos, but a lot less fun. People typically clean up the grave sites of their loved ones and decorate the grave stone with flowers.

Bendición visited me in my second week to see if I can help them fund raise for new instruments. I asked them a million questions, most importantly "What have you done so far to raise money?" So they invited me to the crowning ceremony, which ended a contest similar to the one at corn fest where you buy votes and some girl ends up with a crown.

The girl who won was 6 years old, and cranky. She didn't even care that she won! I think some of the teenagers were pissed about it. They asked me (as the honored guest) to put the sash on her. I tried making her smile, but this is all I got.

So happy.

Then I visited with Otinia, talked about my big plans for my asamblea general coming up on Wednesday. This is basically a community meeting where I introduce myself and Peace Corps, why I'm here, what kind of projects I can do. It's kinda a big deal since first impressions matter so much. Also, I want to clear up any misinformaiton people have spun about PC. Some people have it in their minds that I'm their volunteer, that I'm here to do their work, and not work with any other part of the community. That doesn't sit well with me. It actually makes me incredibly uncomfortable and irritated. I just hope that my asamblea puts things into perspective.

Vaquito, the last PCV's dog who lives with Otinia. He follows me everywhere!

I then posted up a handmade flier for my asamblea at the pupusaria. The pupusa lady hustled me for a higher priced pupusa- queso con lorocco- but I couldn't care less, I was so hungry. I scarfed down my pupusas then ran in the pouring rain to the ADESCO meeting in Hoja de Sal.

I learned a lot about their organization. Their sole purpose right now is to get the casario access to drinking water. There are about 10 members. Their first question, of course, is what can you do for us? I told them that I'm an open resource, I focus on capacity building, I'm a representative to NGOs, I can help organize the community. I got a lot of blank stares. I think they were waiting for me to say dinero or fondos. The meeting dragged on as 10 voices shared 10 opinions on what they need to do and what I can do and how we do that together...

After 3 hours, I broke. I told them that I'm not here to build water tanks with my bare hands, I'm here to get them ready to find organizations who can and want to build the water tank. But before we go around asking the municipality or NGOs, we have work we need to do. We need a name, we need a census, we need community support. We need to answer where you gonna build it, who's land is it, how many lives will be improve by access to clean water? I'm all for sunshine and rainbows, world peace and happiness, blablabla. But at my core I'm a businesswomen. I know there's a process to community development. Play by the rules, have the information ready, and you'll have a grant in your pocket by the end of the year.

That got some people on board. I think they started to see that after the water tank they'll want to fix the road, then get waste management, then a casa comunal, then, then, then! There's never really an end to what this community needs. I'm only here for 2 years, but with a strong administration and mission this ADESCO can get it all done. They just need to see the big picture.

Some of my closest friends still don't know what I'm doing here. I hope that rant gives you some idea. It's ambitious, but I love it.

Friday, November 1, 2013

My home!

Here's a quick video tour of my new digs! It's like Peace Corps Cribs over here!

Let's get personal

As a Peace Corps Volunteer I'm expected to work with lots of organizations, women's groups, cooperatives- you name it. But I'm starting to think personal relationships are going to shape my service as well.

There's a woman who lives next door to me. I won't share her real name, so let's call her Ana. Ana lived in Virginia some years back where she gave birth to twin girls. One day while Ana was at work she got a call from her partner that one of the baby twins was in the hospital. She was charged with neglect, then before there was even a trial she got deported. The girls stayed in the US because they were born there, so by law they're American citizens. They were put in foster care and eventually adopted.

The girls are almost 8 years old now. The last time Ana had contact with the adoptive parents was in 2009, after a PCV helped her communicate with the girls' case worker. The parents sent some pictures and a letter saying they don't feel comfortable being in contact, so could she please send letters to the Department of Family Services where they'll collect them in a file for the girls to read when they turn 18? Shouldn't be too much trouble. Thanks, have a nice life.

Now, listen. I don't want to get into a debate on America's immigration policy. (Thought I will say it sucks and it's degrading.) But I just don't understand how it's ok to take children away from their mother, and leave her with no real way to tell them that she doesn't know why they were taken away but she still loves them very much. If there was a case against Ana I guess I'd see the "protective services" part, but she wasn't afforded due process. Just a pair of handcuffs and a plane ride south.

She hasn't shared her story with another gringo since 2009, when the PCV helped her get some photos and that letter from the adoptive parents. Listening to her speak makes me feel angry and sad at the same time. I'm ashamed too, because I can't explain to her why the adoptive parents don't have to talk to her again or tell her how the girls are doing. She didn't ask me to get her kids back. She knows there are forces against her that are much stronger than a Peace Corps Volunteer can handle. She would like to send a letter. The girls only speak English, so I'd have to translate what she wants to say. Maybe we could give the caseworker a call, in case she lost Ana's number.

I'm no lawyer, but I do speak impeccable English and I can surf the web like a pro. I don't know what I'll be able to do, but I'm going to do whatever it is I can to help this woman.

Videos

Check it out!

#TBT (one day late)

I’m going through all the pictures on my hard drive to try and find something appropriate to share with my community for my asamblea general. So far I’ve learned:

Damn, I used to be skinny in high school.

I also have a lot of friends in high school that I don’t talk to today. That’s too bad.

My sister has a special way with pictures.

Bahaha.

My mom went paragliding in San Diego once. I totally forgot!

Bac!

That almost pixie haircut I got just days before high school graduation… was a bad choice.

Not my best look.

I spray painted my name on a rock on the shore somewhere in Edgewater once. At least I think it was Edgewater. Who knows.

Ooooo so cool.

I wore this yellow sweater a lot.

Best thrift store find ever.

My cousin made this awesome 18^th birthday scavenger hunt in which I had to do many things before midnight, such as riding in a shopping cart, dance the Soulja Boy on the side of the road whenever it comes on the radio, and kiss my grandparents goodnight. I loved it.