Estados Unidos

             I have now been back in Guatemala for four days.  Despite the return of minor stomach issues (soft ice-cream poop consistency), things are off to a positive start.  Funding for new promotional materials has been granted and will soon be printed, the latrine project materials are all collected  and it now only lacks construction and paperwork (although, a ton), I have cleaned and de-roached my house, and the rainy season has been tranquil thus far-- knock on wood.  My trip stateside was simply perfect and provided the reboot I needed to complete the last third of my service.  Here are some photos from my trip.  I undoubtedly have a wonderful family and awesome friends. #winning

Visiting with my Babci (Grandma)

 

 

24th Cumpleaños in NYC

Garett's (mi hermanito) grad party

Syracuse

Oneida Lake- Central NY

Overwhelmed in Wegmans

Perspectiva

 

Living in a developing country for an extended period of time irrefutably gives you a different perspective on life- and the one you left behind.  The faucet has been letting out dark brown water as a result of the heavy rains that are a daily part of life this time of the year.  Despite the fact that upwards of 97% of tap water in Guatemala is contaminated, when your toilet looks like a chocolate fountain it is obvious a brief opening of the mouth in the shower will likely result in hours on the crapper. Yesterday I took a warm shower under the murky water.  I am fairly certain I am at least a tad bit cleaner than before I showered. This may seem to be a negative experience, but having a shower, a warm one at that, is actually a convenience.  We recently went through a three week drought without water here in my aldea.  Likewise, in comparison to the tarp outside my neighbors use as a showering area, I am quite fortunate.  I have experienced a change of perspective in a plethora of areas, from everyday accommodations to larger scale issues.

Later in the week I will be taking a 10+ hour round trip to the capital, Guatemala City, to meet with a doctor.  I won’t deny a 10+ hour trip is exhausting to anyone and I am not particularly looking forward to it or the possibility of pooping myself on the bus.  This access to healthcare, funded by the U.S., gives me a huge advantage over the large majority of Guatemalans. In general, most developing countries do not have organized healthcare.  Unfortunately, many of these countries additionally have the highest child bearing rates; family planning and population control are significant issues to be aided as well. (A topic which could be expanded on exponentially, but requires their cultural perspective to be considered in the solution.)

 

Being away from the United States has made me aware of a sense of entitlement many of us hold.  I highly doubt I would have joined the Peace Corps without medical coverage nor do I feel anyone in the world should be without it.   The harsh reality is a majority of the world is without medical coverage.  In a nutshell, Peace Corps has taught me appreciation. Yes, new medical coverage plans in the U.S. may result in longer lines, but at least there is a line to wait in.  I have experienced a similar change in perspective regarding schooling.  This past week we held  a half-day training with 15+ teachers regarding the implementation of environmental education into their lesson plans.  In the middle of a water classification workshop, a number of the teachers had an extremely hard time with simple math (i.e. 1% of 1,000).  Calculating that only 1% of the earth’s water is usable fresh water was a difficult task for a handful of those who are teaching the kids.  This gave me a differing perspective and deeper sense of appreciation.

Yes, we should always strive to improve our lives, our systems, our regulations, etc.  Yes, long-lines, high-unemployment rates, and not having the highest education system in the world can be frustrating.  But taking a step back and taking a look at life from a global perspective can sometimes make all the difference.  In fact, I could make a lengthy list of individuals who would give it all, even leave their families to illegally flee to the states to send back remittances, to see their children make it through high-school. 

I will be back in the U.S. of Awesome in just two weeks for a visit.  I can’t wait to appreciate a clean/hot/sandal-less shower, delicious food, comfortable transportation, and my loving family and friends.  In the meantime, it is important to be aware of my change in perspective, while continuing to take everything with a sense of humor.  

Toothbrush holders in the  classrooms

Humor is perhaps a sense of intellectual perspective: an awareness that some things are really important, others not; and that the two kinds are most oddly jumbled in everyday affairs.-Christopher Morley

27 Month Marathon

 

This Sunday marked the 37^th annual Coban Half-Marathon.  Kenyan Peter Cherouiot took first place with an impressive time of 1:03.51 .  The marathon is the largest event of the year in nearby Coban; thousands of tourists and locals gather to watch, cheer, participate, and celebrate the event.  Work as of late has been a half-marathon in itself, full of projects and traveling.  These have included a world map project with the local school, a flossing lesson, a dental workshop with 450+ children at the Chicoj School, a latrine maintenance and importance presentation, and the construction of two bottle schools.

Salmar- one of the two communities participating in the SPA Latrine Project

Luckily, no teeth fell out and the students were receptive to adding floss into their daily hygienic routines.   Cardboard tooth costumes and all, Luis, Winfrey, and I put on a half-day dental workshop at the Chicoj School, focusing on the functions of a healthy mouth, proper brushing techniques, the negative effects of sugars and candies, and preventing plaque build-up.  Each of the thirteen classes then practiced brushing, which will become daily habit- each class is building holders to store their brushes.  It was refreshing to work with teachers who want to be change agents in bettering the practices of their students.  Each student is paying money, a mini-investment, to promote a sense of ownership and worth in their brushes and toothpastes.  This money is being reinvested into school projects, specifically in this case- world maps.   Special thanks again to Drew University- Luis Pena, Liverpool Annex, and everyone else who has donated to this secondary project.

 Nick- Captain of the project

 

This past week, Nick and I traveled up to northern Alta Verapaz with the PC Security Director to check on the current status of the two bottle schools being constructed in two rural communities.  It was awesome to see the advances in the projects, the communities coming together to build a place for learning (and learn about inorganic trash), and directly spend some time with the families and community leaders.  One family in San Francisco, one of the two communities, provided a feast of tamales, a chocolate drink, and adorned the hut area with palms.  This generosity and showing of respect, especially in a community and area that has so little, was one of those feel-good cliché moments in Peace Corps- but nevertheless brought a smile to my face.  Although the area is currently off-limits, we will be returning for the inauguration of each school at the end of June with PC Security.   Again, thank you to Liverpool Annex, Kayla McAndrews, my Mom, and everyone else who has helped in funding the schools through Hug it Forward.  The communities appreciate it!

 

This week we will be holding a three-day community tourism workshop, mainly with members of Vivienete Verapaz (www.vivienteverapaz.com), our alliance of ten community tourism sites in the region.  Objectives of the trainings and meetings include business plan writing, forming of a mission and objectives, product/service analysis, and marketing/promotion.  Hopefully the event will move us forward in planning for the future, forming a cohesive vision, and understanding how to achieve that.  Only ten months remain in my service here in Guatemala, but like any race, every step counts until the finish line.

 

As a Lent tradition, alfombras, or carpets, are created in the streets of Guatemala, specifically during Holy Week.  The alfombras are laid down as a welcoming symbol for the arrival of Jesus, similar to the palms in religious tradition.  Originally made from flowers and feathers in the 1500’s, the process rooted in Spain often causes roads to be blocked off for hours at a time.  The entire Catholic community participates in the process.  Each person’s ‘plot’ in front of their home or place of work is decorated with pride.  Today, the majority of the alfombras are made with colored saw-dust and sands, but are decorated with candles, flowers, foods, statues, you name it…  A procession takes place throughout the town, in which varying numbers of ‘floats’ are carried by hundreds of men.  I was told being able to carry the large Jesus float, symbolic of the carrying of the cross, is a major honor in the religious community.  Check out some fotos from the week:

And sometimes Y

A,E,I,O,U & sometimes Y. This is a phrase my weekly English class of middle-aged students and soon to be tour-guides have repeated over and over.  Every word is made up of consonants and vowels; there is at least one vowel in every word.  The Y was initially left out by the students when learning the vowels early on.  Students often want to jump to the finished word or phrase- as we as humans may instinctively want and only analyze the final product, service, ability, or effect.  The Y, or WHY, is something that has become relevant in many projects I am currently undertaking.  The cause is often times the most overlooked and integral aspect that needs to be changed.  Students may be having trouble because they do not understand the opposite adjective-noun placement in the English language, the differing base sounds that form words, or how to make the ‘th’ sound.  Kamille and I have made fools of ourselves sticking our tongues out to teach and stress ‘th’is aspect of pronunciation.  Without analyzing, asking and solving the why, we are merely constructing a palace on unsteady ground.   This basic concept transfers over to a number of areas. 

The dental workshops we have conducted are aimed to educate kids on the importance of mouth hygiene through brushing and flossing both properly and regularly.  In addition to preventing dental caries, dental hygiene – or more simply- healthy teeth are necessary for eating and talking.  On an inevitable superficial scale, appearance affects job opportunity.  Likewise, overall health affects long-term availability to work and productivity while present.  The message can be skewed that toothbrushes are the solution, but this is not the case.  Behavioral change, one of the harder tasks one can face, is where the problem lies.  Lack of access to health-care undoubtedly plays a role in the shockingly high number, an estimated 60% of rural children currently have some sort of tooth decay, but this is not the entire cause of the epidemic.   Excessive snacking on junk-foods, lack of education on nutrition, and soda (”water”) being the regular cheap drink of choice by children are the roots of where the problem lies- the why- and for this reason are the areas we are targeting to create an increased awareness and understanding about.

Empty bottle+ plastic bags+ chip wrappers+ a little effort= ‘eco-brick.’   Gather and create thousands of these +cement + wire +metal slabs for the roof +a lot of hard work + community teamwork and bonding and you have a school.  (Add in NGO support, specialty workers, etc.. you get the drift).  The Chibulbut School is currently collecting plastic waste and forming these ‘eco-bricks’ to be used in the construction of two schools in Lachua, Alta Verapaz, to the north closer to Mexico. The project promotes community leadership, ignites a sense of ownership and mutual identity with the children who aid in constructing it, and uses garbage, in effect cleaning streets along the way – it is an ingenious thing. 

Despite this fact, especially with my school that is collecting the materials for schools being built elsewhere, a disconnect for my students has been the why.  Yes, the filled bottles will create a school.  Yes, the streets where they collected the waste are cleaner in this moment, but it is not merely about filling the bottle.  No, you should not buy more Tortrix chips if you are short on wrappers to complete an eco-brick.  No, plastic bottles should not be a priority to buy in the future because you can construct things out them.  Plastic bags are not biodegradable, light merely breaks them down into smaller and smaller particles that contaminate the water supply and soil.  Likewise, plastic bottles do not decompose for thousands of years.  The goal is to construct a place to learn, while fostering environmental learning in the process...to turn a negative into a positive with hopes of gradual behavioral change and understanding for the next generation.   

 

Growing up, my mom always played a video entitled “Everybody Poops” for the children she watched in daycare.   I can still recall the chorus line- She is a super-duper-pooper™.  Everyone does indeed poop, but not everyone has a sanitary location to do so.  This past week I met with community leaders I will work alongside to complete the training and construction of 14 latrines, with the same number of rural families.  The two communities, Santa Ine’s Chicar and Caserio el Salmar, will each have seven families participating in the SPA (Small Project Assistance- USAID) funded project.  Having a seat and semi-private place to defecate is certainly an aspect many of these families will thoroughly appreciate. 

Again, there is an extreme underlying why.  In the coming weeks we will be holding workshops with the families explaining the maintenance, upkeep, process, and reasoning behind the importance of sanitary waste management.   Over 15% of early childhood deaths are due to diarrhea, over 2/3 of the time the result of inadequate sanitation.  Chronic diarrhea has also been known to compromise development and growth, leading to increased chance of illness down the road.  Numerous studies have demonstrated a strong association between improved latrines and reductions in diarrheal disease, with the improved latrines yielding results of increased height and weight among children users.  Improved sanitation is a large step towards a healthier and happier community.

 

Looking at the big picture, or examining the why, is beneficial in almost all problems and situations.  I have recently been contemplating how this cause-effect mindset can be applied to other activities and lessons, including our tourism alliance, customer service practices, and  the planning of a recycled materials playground/trainings at the cooperative school.   I have also been sparked to think in reverse, to the life I left behind.  I am in constant contact with families who have dirt floors and minimal food, but they are undoubtedly happy.  The why.  This introspection is something I hope to apply to my life into the future.  Ultimately, the power to create change is within each individual. As I’ve told many of my students, you do not need one of the common A-E-I-O-U vowel words to do so, but a positive attitude and to T-R-Y, where the sometimes y is applicable.

 Donate to Hug it Forward and Support Bottle Schools!

World Wise Connection!

http://www.eaglestarreview.com/Articles-c-2011-04-13-103428.114134-sub13349.114125-LHS-Annex-students-raise-funds-for-Bottle-Schools.html#axzz1JPd9Yj00