This time last year...

The year countdown to my Completion of Service (COS) date has begun. Let’s see, if my official COS date is July 16, 2011, and today is August 25, 2010, that means less than 11 months to go. And that, my friends, IS SCARY! I’ve heard plenty of PCVs say that the second year just flies by. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE FIRST YEAR?! I thought it was supposed to be dreadfully slow. The truth is I can’t even remember having a slow month!

I think maybe it would be beneficial to review the key events of my service so far.

July 20, 2009: First day of work.

During July and August I worked with a local NGO, Alianza, giving health talks to women’s groups and to junior high students. I spent time at the health center getting to know the staff and work dynamics. I helped some volunteers from the University of Dayton with an improved wood-burning stove project, learning how the stoves are made and translating for them. My counterpart also told me that he had picked out two communities for me to work with. The two communities are 30-45 minute walks from the pueblo, and once a month members of the health center staff go out to the communities to monitor the growth of children under five and give vitamins, vaccines, and desparasitantes to the kids who need it. Since July, I have been to almost every single visit made by the health center staff not just to help out, but primarily to get to know the mothers and kids.

September 22, 2009: Site visit from Project Specialist. An excerpt from my journal entry on that day: “Ana Isabel’s visit went really well. We talked in Spanish the whole time! Yay me! And I told her what Isman (my counterpart) said about my Spanish and waiting until it’s better, and she said that’s silly, that I speak nice and slow and clearly…It was so good to hear positive feedback from Ana Isabel about my Spanish…After our lunch we met with Dr. Samayoa and Isman. How exciting that I could follow all of it! The interaction between Ana Isabel and Isman was interesting. I guess because I gave Ana Isabel a mediocre impression of Isman, that he’s not a super counterpart (at least not so far as being supportive and encouraging goes). And Isman on the other hand seemed to be on the defensive, and even brought up a comparison between my site and Abby’s site, how they’re completely different places; he said he imagines Abby is already getting busy with different activities, more experiences. Ana Isabel was like, “No, really it’s about the same.” Ana Isabel is great. Really. And she indirectly suggested ways I should/could get busy. She’s sneaky, in a good way…So, I feel good from Peace Corps side of things—I know Ana Isabel and Basilio both have confidence that I’m going to do good things here. But Isman! I don’t freakin’ know what it is!...I just don’t feel like we’re equals, that he’s guiding me as an equal. Rather, I feel like he’s a supervisor who sort of feels burdened by my presence, who doesn’t know what to do with me. But this is only month 2. Tranquilo, LT. This is the first time he’s worked with Peace Corps, the first time he’s worked with a gringa. You’ll have plenty of time to show him how incredible, independent, and hard-working you are. Not that it matters what Isman or Peace Corps thinks. What matters is that you are true to yourself, that you are honest, that you do everything you can to be what God has called you to be…Patience attains all things.”

I’m just thinking this is going to be a ridiculously long blog entry (which, um, wouldn’t be unusual) if I continue sharing old journal entries. But that entry was very telling for me about everything I was going through my first months in site. My insecurities about my Spanish level, my confusing relationship with a counterpart who didn’t seem interested in working together (still doesn’t?), but my satisfaction with the support I felt from my Peace Corps bosses and my eagerness to get to work.

October, November, December 2009: Getting to know more people in my site, making friends, giving health talks to women’s groups, trying to start a group of health promoters in the two communities with the educator who covers those communities but not having very much success due to lack of communication and planning.

February 7, 2010: SAINTS WIN THE SUPERBOWL!

February 10, 2010: Journal excerpt, “ (after writing about how 4 different people asked me to teach them English and helping a 7 year old learn how to read) Silly silly Lauren. But my project!! Health charlas, home visits…what am I doing?! Of course, I have decided it’s not rocket science. I think tomorrow and Friday I’m going to try to find Isman and sit him down and write out a plan and timeline for the year…I don’t really think he cares. But I want him to be informed of—and heck, maybe even take part in?—my plans.”

February 18, 2010: Journal excerpt, “Today was a pretty glorious day. And I feel kind of rotten for being so negative about Isman, because he was awesome today at the meeting with the COCODE in El Jícaro. I don’t know why I didn’t have that meeting months ago. Maybe my Spanish wasn’t good enough? I didn’t have the self-confidence I needed yet? Who knows? Because I was still trying to figure out who to work with at the Centro and how? I will say that I still disagree with Isman that your Spanish needs to be better in my site than in Abby’s site…that makes no sense to me. Basically, it sounds like he’s saying people in Abby’s site (i.e. ladinos) are smarter than people in my site (i.e. Mayans) because they can understand bad Spanish. Not only do I think he’s wrong about ladinos being smarter than Mayans (he doesn’t say that explicitly, and maybe he doesn’t think that, but at times he does seem a little racist), but to me it makes more sense NOT to need great Spanish in a place where the majority of the people learned Spanish as a second language. But anyway. I finally feel like I’m getting somewhere!...I’m just glad it didn’t take me a year to get stuff going. I wish it had only taken 3 months, but what can you do?...On the way to El Jícaro with Isman I told him everything I was planning on saying. He advised me to emphasize that I’m a volunteer and not making any money…waited almost an hour for enough COCODE members to show up…gave my shpiel. Then Isman followed. Mentioned this being the first time the Centro has had a Peace Corps Volunteer. When we left, I think I said something about how I thought things went well, and Isman said something along the lines of he’s felt bad because he hasn’t been helping me. He also said something about my learning to speak in public, then asked about Abby again and made the comment about being able to have poorer Spanish in her site. Sometimes I think he thinks Abby and I should switch sites.”

So, since that meeting with the COCODE in El Jícaro, and the meeting with the COCODE in the other community, I have been busy meeting with health promoters and giving them workshops on things like diarrhea, respiratory infections, nutrition, hygiene, and environmental health/waste management.

April 12-16, 2010: Midservice Training. Learned about the steps to developing a successful project (with our counterparts) and went out to some volunteers’ sites to build stoves and cement floors.

April, May, June, July, August 2010: Working! Preparing workshops for promoters. Helping them plan their own health activities in their communities. Tagging along with site mate Charlie on his water deposit project to see how they’re built. Helping more University of Dayton volunteers with a water filter project. Hosting Healthy Homes trainees so they could practice their skills and get a better idea of what it’s like to be a volunteer (that was in June). Visiting homes in the communities to get an idea of what sort of conditions they are living in. Still not working directly with my counterpart, though he has come to a few of the promoter trainings. Midservice Conference. Submitted physician assistant program applications.

All of this is just to say, I have been in site for over a year, and I feel pretty good about what I’ve done. Sure, I don’t have a great working relationship with my counterpart, but that’s Peace Corps, right? You identify the people you can work with and you work with them. Build THEIR capacity, teach a man to fish, sustainable development…I think you get what I’m trying to say.

And my Spanish? Leaps and bounds, I tell you. I have definitely gotten over my insecurities as far as that goes.

Next steps? I am currently in the process of working with the promoters in both communities to write a project proposal for cement floors, latrines, improved stoves, and water deposits. We are working with 60 families in each community, or 120 families total. The promoters will receive workshops on the construction, use, and maintenance of the appropriate technology and then train the participating families. Together we are planning a system for monitoring the progress and results. We will be using local resources and labor, the community will be contributing at least 30% of the budget, but there are still lots of costs to be covered. It’s really quite exciting, though awfully intimidating at the same time. I guess I just want to give you a heads up that I will soon be sending out emails and letters soliciting financial contributions. Every little bit helps.

Um, I should also say that I am considering extending for another year (!). But I did apply to physician assistant programs and right now my applications are under review. I hope to hear something about interviews by the middle of September. And interviews would mean a trip home! But I’m just trying to think of plan B in case PA school doesn’t work out.

ANYWAY. A blog post has been long overdue, and maybe my sporadic (adj stopping and starting; scattered; occurring in bursts every once in a while) entries don’t do justice to my experience. But thank you for reading, and I am infinitely grateful for all the emails, letters, packages, and support I have received.

I think too much. That’s why I don’t write more blog posts.