lunes, 30 de julio de 2007

From hand bags to A-frames

Today we learned how to build A-frames. It was the first time we actually got to go out and build something, and the first time I used a machete. It was absolutely exhilirating! I kept trying to chop a tree branch with the machete, but was getting nowhere. So one of my fellow volunteers told me just to pretend the branch was someone I really didn't like, and whack it! Another told me ¨just take out all your anger on it!¨ ¨But I don't have any anger!¨I exclaimed. But even so, I seemed to be able to whack harder at the branch when I pretended I did have anger to be released. I loved it, and hope I get the chance to use one every day when I'm at my sight!

These A-frames are used to measure the slope of land, so farmers know how far apart to plant their rows of crops. And between each row, so the land doesn't erode, they have to place either rows of rocks, which is extremely time consuming, or another type of plant. We learn a little bit about something new every day. Just so that they show us everything we could potentially be doing once we get to our sites. Last week, we learned how to make hand bags out of chip bags. A way to get rid of the trash in the towns, and also an income generation project especially for the women. I am excited about what we get to learn next. By the time I get out of the Peace Corps, I'm going to be able to build my own house, grow my own food, and make fire by rubbing two sticks together! But seriously, I really did learn how to make a fire today by rubbing two sticks together. I didn't try it yet, though. That will be saved for only extreme circumstances!

miércoles, 25 de julio de 2007

Michael Jackson to the Rescue

I think my emotions finally came up all at once in one day, when I started feeling sick. I have been absolutely fine up till this point. I have been meeting awesome people, adapting to the food and my surroundings fine, not missing home too much, etc. I thought I was integrating really well.

Then came Monday. I woke up feeling very queasy, and couldn´t concentrate all day. Finally, at the end of the day, I went to one of the staff members and told her how I was feeling. To my dismay, she ended up calling the doctor, who sent me to the hospital right away, just to make sure it wasn't dengue, a deadly disease contracted from mosquitos. I immediately began crying in the middle of the lobby of the Peace Corps office. I didn't want to go to the hospital, it was nothing, I swore to it! But they sent me anyway. The entire time, I still teared up thinking about how I wished I could at least call my mom and tell her what was going on, and how much I missed her. Then I began to think about everything else that I missed from the states, and all the doubts started to come and haunt me.

Tears were about to well up in my eyes once again, when ¨Billy Jean¨ by Michael Jackson came on the radio. I immediately brightened up, thinking of the numerous awesome 80s nights I had spent with my good friends in the States. I started humming to the music, and looked over at the driver, who happened to know the song too! We laughed, and started talking about how much we loved Micheal Jackson. Who would have known? Michael Jackson would help a peace corps volunteer in need!

sábado, 21 de julio de 2007

What is Development?

We watched a video this week about development, and the different ways people have tried to help underdeveloped countries, but to no avail. It was very interesting, but even more interesting was a story that one of my fellow PCTs (Peace Corps trainee) shared with the group.

There was a lawer, recently graduated from Harvard law, who went down to Mexico, where he met a fisherman. This fisherman lived a simple life. He would only go out in his boat and fish for about 2 to 3 hours every day for his family, then come home and eat.

The lawyer told him 'sir, do you realize that if you improved this boat, and went out farther into the sea, you could catch more fish, and make more money?'

the fisherman asked, 'then what?'

'Well, you could start to sell the fish in the nearest town, and make even more profit, and maybe begin your own fishery.'

the fisherman's eyes began to widen with curiosity 'then what?'

'Well, you could then move your fishery to LA, and make even more money, and export the fish all over the country.'

Still curious as to how it would help him, the fisherman asked 'then what?'

Excited by his curiosity, the lawyer told him 'well, I suppose you would eventually have to move to New York City and start buying and selling stock on Wallstreet.'

'then what?' The fisherman asked

'Then you could retire with your family, and move to a small town in Mexico and go fishing 2 or 3 hours a day!'

This story really opened my eyes to exactly how much development we want to be doing in the towns we are placed. Some define development as the 'improvement of quality of life.' Well, who defines the quality of life? I think the Peace Corps has the right idea, of sending one or two people into a town at a time, living among them, and then finding out what they need to improve based on the desires of the townspeople. But there is a very fine line, I think. And it can be easy to cross. They keep emphasizing that we can't just go into our town with some huge plan of saving the world, and making all these great big changes, because we don't even know what they want. Sometimes, you don't even see the impact you made when you leave, it could even take years after that for something to happen. It is one of the most important things I need to remember.

martes, 17 de julio de 2007

Living the simple life

I was talking to one of my fellow volunteers the other day about how simply they live here. The host families we are living with right now are actually pretty well off compared to how we will be living in a few months. Even so, they are very conscious about the amount of electricity they use, because it is very expensive. They also have to conserve their water, so I have to take bucket baths, and even when they wash their dishes, they use barely any water.

I know when I was in Costa Rica, I didn´t really experience anything like this, because the people I lived with were even better off than I am in the States. But when I was in Guatemala, the town me and my older sister stayed in was very small, and the water was only turned on for an hour three times each week, because it was so scarce. For some reason, it hasn´t really hit me until I got here how much energy we use on a daily basis and don´t even stop to think about it. I know that we hear constantly how much more energy people from the States us than the rest of the world. But it doesn´t really become reality until you actually experience how other people live, and how it is such a different mind-set than you´ve ever experienced.

Before I came here, I read a few times that one of the hardest things for volunteers is coming back to the States. I am beginning to understand more why that is.

sábado, 14 de julio de 2007

my first entry

I tried one other time to post an entry and it didn't seem to work. So here we go, I am trying again.

I have been here in Honduras for three days, and it feels like a million years since I have been at home. Already, I am adapting to the culture very well, and loving everything my host mother cooks for me. Today I had a wonderful creamy soup with carrots and some other foriegn vegetable in it I had never had before. I am hoping that she will teach me how to cook some of these things, because I know that when I'm living on my own, it will be wonderful to be able to cook like that for myself. Some people have asked if I miss American food. Not at all. I think the food here is mostly local and freshly made anyway. I big step up for me, from processed and greasy food I get in the states!

I am very excited to get out and start working on my project, which is called protected areas management. We have already been told that we will have to be extremely creative and resourceful when we are out there, because half of the resources we will need to do our project will not be available. So I am excited to tap into the creative side of my mind. I really do not think that I have or will ever be challenged like this again! It is truly an experience I think every American should go through!