27 Months…I’ll try to sum it up

27 months is the amount of time I’ve lived in Paraguay either as a Peace Corps trainee or as a volunteer. 27 months filled with: hard work, learning, integration, drinking terere, making new friends, speaking Spanish and mishimi guarani, adapting to every situation, planning projects, hanging at the train station, riding an emotional roller coaster, fighting off mosquitoes and much much more.

The larger projects/ projects that I enjoyed the most

In the beginning it was about integration, learning the language and analyzing the community to see what they really need/want and adapt my abalities to those situations and try to help. It took awhile, a long while to find these “needs” in which I could actually do something. But while waiting for the right project I made some amazing friends within the community. I was assigned to work in the local savings and loan cooperative where I knew immediately I wouldn’t be spending much of my time. I was eventually inveted to a commuity and cultural center meeting where I fit right in. immediately we started working together on the planning process, making a vision and mission statement, making goals and then made the annual plan of activities. This basically took up all of my time for a god while. On the side I was teaching English, working in school gardens and drinking terere.

As the group became more formalized and the goals and vision of the group and the train station became clearer and larger we decided to apply for a SPA grand and improve the basic fixings such as lighting, bathrooms, bought chairs a printer and a desk and a few more necessities for the library which is located in the train station which serves as the community center.

About 6 months before the end of my service, February, I was asked by the principle for Borja, 2km away, to be the computer teacher for the entire high school. So every Wednesday until I finished I went to Borja and taught kids who had never touched a computer how to use Microsoft office, save documents, make folders and use a typing program. It was very rewarding work.

At the same time that I started teaching computers I took two local girls to a leadership camp in wchi we were assigned homework in the end. The girls were to start a local youth group and do a community project. We formed a group of 11 girls and decided on the name MOCOS ( movimiento de companeros salvadorenos). MOCOS means boogers. The group decided to install trash cans around town. I’m not going into details because it was one of the most stressful projects, but a very good learning experience for everyone. I will say that working with the local mayor was a nightmare. But….in the end trash cans were installed. Then the girls had the opportunity to go to the follow up leadership camp as a reward for all their hard work. Well..no one went. So basically I would have done the project if it weren’t for them and the homework from the first camp then no one went to share their experiences….!

It may seem that I was always working but really there was a LOT of free time. I took a month vacation when my parents and brother came, to Argentina. Hung out and drank terere with my buddies in site. Chase and Kimmy were able to visit after being stuck in brazil with out a Paraguayan visa, yes all Americans need a visa to visit Paraguay. Liz also came for an awesome week. Although it rained almost the entire time, and we had a crazy ciudad del este experience, it meant a lot to me! I was also fortunate to make great friends with in Peace Corps. That allowed me to travel around Paraguay and see how other Peace Corps volunteers live and be a tourist at the same time. And of course I can’t forget about David. My rock. He defiantly helped me understand all of the awkward cultural moments and he was the shoulder in which I cried on when I missed home, had hard days work or just needed a cry. We always have so much fun together and I am excited to continue the journey. I was NEVER board when he was around. I am the luckiest girl in the world to have found my best friend and fiancée while in the Peace Corps.

Growing up

As my
service is coming to an end I am starting to make reflections back on my two
years as a Peace Corps volunteer and on my life.

Before
coming to Paraguay I was doing fine, I´d finished college, worked a little in Kenya
with microfinance and was pretty sure I wanted a career in microfinance.
Looking back on that time period and even earlier on in my life I´ve realized
that I´ve just been going with the flow or doing what was expected of me and
didn´t think much about what I was actually doing or actually wanted. Just an
example…In college I got decent grades and managed to do all my work, but the
truth is, I don´t remember much of anything, how I felt, what subjects I really
liked etc. Taking for granted the awesome opportunity my parents gave me.

After two
years, of lots of free time/time to think, I´ve realized how much I´ve really
gown as a person. I can honestly say now I am an experienced leader who wants to
do more with her life, more than just get by and have fun. Paraguay and the
Peace Corps have taught me how to plan and execute projects, write grants,
organize groups, speak Spanish, adapt to a new culture, be a better person and appreciate
all the work that people do within their communities to make it a better place.
I´ve become a lot more patient and flexible which I consider qualities very key
in the success of any project, job, family etc.

I´m not
trying to put myself on a soap box, I just wanted to write down how I am feeling.
I really do feel Peace Corps has enabled me to develop as a person and find my
true self (and true love) finally.

Who knows
what the future holds. I do know that I will give 100% in a job hunt in which I
hope to find a good fit for my skill set. Also I will give my all at whatever
job comes my way and hope to be able to contribute in more then what are my responsibilities
are in any give task. I fell as if I could be a success story of the Peace
Corps, maybe I´ll end up being a recruiter…

Visa Update

Well as you all know, I think, David and I are planning on getting married. Around Christmas time he had proposed and now we are waiting until I am done with my service as a peace corps volunteer. Our plans are to go back to the United States with a fiancée visa. The fiancée visa allows only 3 months to get married and if we don’t get married before that time is up David will have to return to Paraguay. Luckily I have the love and support of my family which is VERY helpful; I don’t know what we would do without them. I am so excited and can’t wait to start planning everything but I have to be patient because we have a long road ahead of us.

There are plenty of twists and turns, jumping in and out of hoops and much more involved in the process of actually getting married. Some say that love doesn’t have borders, but it’s not as easy as that. The United States has its process, for good reasons, and we are going through it right now.

Right now we are waiting to hear from Immigrations. We had filled out about 5 forms, letters were written, photos and a check were sent to start the process. Online it says the California service center takes about 5 months to process this first round of paper work. Our papers were accepted on February 10th so 5 months would be in July. Now we are just waiting, patiently. I finish my service in August to hopefully by then we will have heard something.

Once he’s accepted by immigrations we have to go through the embassy. There is a whole other set of paper work and back round checks to go through there. He will have to get a medical check and go to an interview at the embassy. I hear this process is shorter than immigrations, I hope. Therefore if things go smoothly, cross fingers, we will be home in September or October.

So keep us in you thoughts. We are very excited to get married and start the next stage in our lives, together.

SPA Grant Project

SPA stands for Small Project Assistance. Peace Corps Paraguay receives a bit of money each year from USAID to give out as grants to volunteers who solicit them for sustainable projects within their respective communities. Once all the money has been used the volunteers who want a grant have to wait until the next time when money arrives.

I decided to apply for a SPA grant with the association that works with the community and cultural center that is located in the train station. We had done a needs assessment with a German NGO called, GTZ, and our number one, two and three needs were illumination, bathroom and chairs. I thought to myself, hey we have the opportunity to access some money why not try.

So after three months of filling out the grant paper work we were ready to turn it in. It was quite the process. First..I've never written a grant and having to do it in Spanish for the first time was hard. Second..Paraguayans don´t like to do paper work, so it was like pulling teeth for them to come over and help. Third...Once we got the money EVERYONE wanted to be involved and change the entire project for their personal likings. That was really hard for me. Ony about half of the association helped write the grant and do the research for the budget on what the project would cost.

Well once we had the money a few issues came up. The people who would be installing the lightning wanted more money for labor, people from the group wanted more lighting here and there, well why not just build a modern bathroom instead of fixing up the latrine? We had received the exact amount of money that we asked for. There was no room to budge. I don´t know if it was my fault and that wasn't clearly stated in the beginning or if the people didn't understand the concept of a budget and that's why we needed a list of ALL the materials we would need for the project before hand to be able to make a list of all the costs. But luckily the president is a very smart woman and put the money in the cooperative so not just anyone could go spending money.

Literally two days after we had the money I made it my personal mission to buy the chairs. The train station had about 8 chairs making it hard to have meetings, classes or any other event at the station. Cynthia and I went into Villarrica and bought 45 beautiful plastic chairs. In the budget we had gotten the price for 50 but after 2 months of waiting for the money the prices went up. But we still got 45 chairs.

Next the lighting guy (who upped his labor 300 mil), Julio and I went to Villarrica to buy all the materials that would be needed to redo the entire lighting system of the train station. The association wanted to fix the lighting because there was the problem of low tension in the station due to the neighbor being a carpenter and every time he used his machines the lights would turn off and on inside making it impossible to use the computer. Second there were two lights in total out side that worked making it hard to have activities at night. So we made a whole new line of electricity which is now apart from the “house” part of the station where the people live and have their workshop.

We had decided to fix up the old latrine that has 4 stalls instead of building a modern bathroom. That was an essential need because whenever there are events held at the train station there was no where to use the bathroom, very unsanitary. The bathroom was cleaned, floors were fixed, painted inside and out, New doors were put onto every stall and locks installed.

Also in the budget we put in a printer and acrylic white board which were bought. We left those to be the last things bought due to a rise in cost in a lot of materials so we wanted to make sure we had enough money.

Since we've bought chairs, installed the lighting and fixed up the bathroom, night meetings have been arranged to be held at the station, we've had cultural events without having to rent chairs saving money and new courses are now being offered. The train station is a beautiful place and a key part of the history of San Salvador. Just a little bit of sweat and hard work paid off.

Disclaimer

I live in Paraguay. I have been learning and speaking spanish for two years now. My english is terrible. I´ve was never a good speller in the first place and it has come to my attention that my spelling has become even worse. Along with bad spelling in my blog, due to using paraguayan computers that don´t have spell check in english, you´ll also find words used in the wrong context or words that just shouldn´t be there all together. For example..I said my house had a lot of "commodities" went I ment to say "amenities". Sorry for the craziness. Attached are a few more pics of my house and daily life here in paraguay living as a peace corps volunteer.

Laundry Mat

Day Spa ( liz came to visit)

The front of my house

Welcome to my life.

I’ve officially been in Paraguay for 23 months. Its defiantly been an emotional rollercoaster like they told us it would be in training. But there have, luckily, been more ups than downs. Well that’s besides the point.

This blog entry isn’t about my feelings or any of that. I wanted to take you on a tour of my “crib”. Instead of the tv show about the life of the rich and famous and their houses, cars and excess of unnecessary things, there should be a show about how us peace corps volunteers survive.

The volunteers in Paraguay are very spoiled. Every volunteer has electricity. Thanks to the Itaipu Dam one of the worlds largest hydroelectric dams which is split between Brazil and Paraguay. Almost all volunteers have running water, and if they don’t they have a well. If the volunteer brought a computer they have internet, thanks to Tigo and their internet modem. We all have fans, without a fan you would literally die. If the volunteer has a modern bathroom, which is likely unless they live way far out in the middle of no where, their shower will have a hot water head. Some have coffee pots, tvs, electric heaters, blenders, pressure cookers, comfortable beds, hot water heaters, electric ovens and other fun things.

I don’t know of any volunteers that have a washing machine but now days almost every Paraguayan household has a washing machine. There was once a volunteer I knew that had air conditioner, chuchi, but she finished her service. Other than her I am not aware of volunteers with air. But again these days in Paraguay it is becoming very common to have air conditioner. The poor little fan isn’t enough.

As for the style of the house there are a few basic designs. If you live in the “campo”, you house would most likely be made out of wood planks with a tin roof. The floor may be compacted mud, concrete, brick or tile. Other stiles of house are brick, which is cheaper, with a white wash finish. Then that white wash can be painted one or two of many beautiful colors.

My current house, where I’ve been for a year, is very nice. When I was preparing to come to Paraguay I would have never have guessed I would be living in a house with such great commodities and in such comfort, besides the humidity and bugs. Thanks to the volunteer who lived in San Salvador for 4 months before I came, I have a tv, which as helped improve my Spanish. In my house I have a living room with a big table and six chairs, two bedrooms, each room with a double bed and mattress, a modern bathroom with a hot shower, kitchen fully equipped with shelves, sink, stove and fridge. All of which came with the house, except the comfy mattress I bought. I pay 300 mil a month for rent which is about $75. My electricity bill is usually 30 mil or $7.50 and my water costs 13 mil, $3.25. It doesn’t seem like much, but being a peace corps volunteer I don’t get paid a ton so after rent, electricity and water it takes about a quarter of my monthly allowance. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. One of the only things that really sucks is washing clothes by hand, but I’ve gotten pretty good at it and will be very thankful for the washing machine when I get home.

My back yard is a mini forest filled with pomelo and mango trees. I have one mandarin tree and some other trees without fruit. Right now is pomelo season and I LOVE pomelo juice. I don’t have any animals but it looks like I do since my yard is always full of chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, dogs and the occasional cow that all belong to my neighbors. Sometimes I have the urge to kill them all but then everyone would hate me. Only if I take a neighbor some food will they give me an egg or two. They should really pay me for the food I feed them.

Here are some pics of my beautiful house and all its glory! Enjoy.

the back of my house/washing station
my moto

central heating and cooling

bed/office

where i keep food

beauty salon

Politics

Where do I live? What does it mean to be involved in politics?
What actually is the job of the mayor?
Can a community actually work together to accomplish a common goal?
What does it take to look at a specific project and the benifits for the community instaed of what the personal benifits are?

These are just a few of the questions that were running through my head after I heard that there was a physical fight down at the municipalidad between members of the city council.

Backtrack..

Today I was talking to the secritary about how the council is so divided by the different political parties. She told me that nothing was going to be accomplised in 5 years, none of the peojects will get passed, due to the childlike behavior of grown adults acting as city council members who call themselves politicans.

The same afternoon I met with the mayor´s wife. I am going to teach computer classes at her school. We went to the municipality to print off my lesson plans. When we arrived there were tons of people and I felt awkward and told her I could just come back the next day, I didn´t want to be in the way.

That night is when it all went down. Apparently the council had asked the mayor to make a copy of the budget. He didn´t. So one of the members pulled out 50 mil and told the president of the council to go make copies for the group. He said since the mayor doesn´t have any money to do so he would just pay for the copies, the guy decided to be a smart ass. A guy on the other side of the table, from another political party, didn´t like the way the guy with the money was talking. So he stated to yell, the guy with the money pushed the table. ( oh yeah the room they are in is TINY) They both ran from their sides of the room and met in the middle. Throwing punches, wreastling, meanwhile the secritary is yelling for help out the window which over looks the city plaza. At some point in the midst of it all one guy grabbed the brick holding the door open and hit the other guys face with the brick. One woman apparently ran leaving one of her shoes in the room. Finally the police showed up and the two guys were haulded to Villarrica and the hospital.

Nancy´s husband, Oscar, said it perfectly “these people aren´t politicians, they don´t care about the town, each and every one of them is apart of the council for person reasons.”

That next morning I had to go to the municipality beacuse I had made a request for money to take participants to the business workshop, and it was the day before the workshop I had to get the money. When I arrived the mayor looked like he hadn´t slept at all. Luckily I got the money.

That evening I went to the mayor´s house because I had plans to print off my lesson plans with his wife. She made a funny comment “Good thing we didn´t stick around last night at the municipality for the party.”

Then I stated to ask myself, How does everything I am involved in right now have something or someone to do with the municipality?
What does it take to stop such a vicious cycle of corruption?
Will San Salvador ever grow up?

I am really fed up with corruption. The people are finatics for their political groups. They spend all day talking and stratigizing. Who they will vote for depends on what they get of the deal of voting. It has nothing at all to do with the person or their ideas, just what is in it for them. I know this has been going on FOREVER but I have never had to deal with it, see it, or hear about it all day long. I am tired of saying “you know the guy you are voting for is a narcotrafficer.” Equally they vote becuse that person gives them money.