community solutions-- visual health and youth empowerment

These are some photos from our recent workshop with a great ngo- community solutions.
they were founded by two ex-peace corps volunteers in guatemala and we are lucky enough to be participating in their pilot program in here in ecuador.
we are learning all about visual health including how to give eye exams. We will be selling reading glasses and are now educated in how to test the people in order to give them the correct perscription and make sure they understand how to use their glasses. many people living in rural towns believe they are simply losing their sight and have spent years unable to read or sew. the moment a person recieves the correct perscription and realizes they are not going blind is an amazing moment! with community solutions and a select group of committed young people we will be organizing campaigns in nearby communities to better educate people about visual health and give eye exams and sell reading glasses and sunglass and very reduced rates. This program also functions as a small business for the youth involved who will make a small profit. This is a great opportunity for the young people in palmar who often struggle to find work. It empowers them and creates a chance for them to help themselves and help their community. This is only a very brief summary of some of the work we have been doing with community solutions. i hope to write more soon!

Leadership Conference 2008

Club Kiwanis Churquiragua and the Peace Corps Ecuador Gender and Development Committee Leadership Conference 2008

**** so this conference was something that another volunteer grace and i were in charge of last year---- it was one of the greatest challenges i faced during peace corps and by far one of the most amazing experiences of my life. we had to plan and run this conference in everyway... right now i can only upload a coupla photos but hopefully more soon. i have fallen way way behind updating my blog as this conference was nearly a year ago but asi es la vida. much love!!!****

“Eres la Luz que Ilumina el Camino”

The 9^th annual Club Kiwanis Churquiragua and Peace Corps Ecuador Gender and Development Committee Leadership Conference was held July 31- August 3 2008 at the Sacred Hearts Retreat Center in Conocoto, Pinchincha. 55 young Ecuadorian women from various provinces and cultural backgrounds were selected and spent four days attending seminars and workshops on small business, sexual education and developing leadership skills through teamwork.

The young women arrived in the afternoon of July 31st at the scenic and peaceful Sacred Hearts Retreat Center where they were assigned small groups to help the girls meet new people and develop new friendships. The first activity was a motivating and passionate presentation by a past scholarship recipient, Verónica Paucar who spoke about overcoming the many obstacles she faced as a young indigenous mother attending the university and how she rose above the challenges and graduated.

The first night each young woman presented something to the group that represented her home and/or culture for “Cultural Night” which has become a Leadership Conference tradition. This night served to break the ice between the girls and increase their self-confidence.

The first full day focused on small business workshops: how to find funds and how to start and maintain a small business. These workshops were given by PCVs and Elvira Bravo, a successful business woman from Mindo. The girls also participated in two hands-on craft-making workshops where they learned how to make earrings and weave bracelets. PCVs from Anti-TIPs (a peace corps volunteer run-initiative that educates and works to prevent human trafficking) defined and presented the reality and risks of human trafficking in a dynamic workshop.

The evening activity was the showing of “Bend it Like Beckum”, an inspirational movie that highlights a young woman who overcomes many challenges in order to pursue her dream of playing soccer.

The second full day focused on sexual and reproductive health with workshops on: Sexuality and Affection in Adolescence, “Me and my Sexuality”, HIV/AIDS and a question and answer segment which allowed for the girls to ask questions without feeling self-conscious.

The last morning included a poster contest where the girls split into small groups and were given materials to make a poster representing the conference and what they learned. Each group presented and explained their poster. The contest was followed by an awards ceremony where each girl was presented with a certificate commemorating her achievement.

Interwoven through-out the conference were several activities to build self-esteem, inter-personal growth and team building.

1.) Each morning a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) led an optional aerobics class to promote healthy body images and get the girls motivated to start the day.

2.) The young women were given daily journal writing exercises to encourage self-expression and personal reflection.

3.) “Como dejar que mi propia luz brille”. In their small groups the girls each lit a candle as they shared what they learned at the conference that they would bring back to their communities.

4.) The bonfire on the last night was a very unifying event in which the girls wrote one thing they thought they could not do on a piece of paper and one by one each girl threw her piece of paper in the fire and said, “ I can”.

Overall, the conference was very successful in that the participants were exposed to new information and given the tools and increased self-esteem to put their knowledge into action in their communities.

Below are several of the many similar quotes from the participant’s evaluations:

“Si la veo distinta ya que con estos temas, hemos aprendido a valornos a nosotras mismas a los demas a toda la sociedad, estas temas nos han impulsado a seguir adelante.”

“Ahora primero me valora como persona tengo una Buena autoestima, mi manera de ver el futuro es major porque sea como sea voy a cumplir mis metas como la mujer de la provincial del cañar (Veronica Paucar)”

“Si, porque voy prepara para el futuro voy con mas fuerza a superar todas las adversidades que se me pueden presenter voy con las ganas, la fuerza, la Amistad, el Corazon y el recuerdo de lo que aprendi aqui”

Our community bank began in January 2009 with 20 members. The majority of those involved are active participants in our youth group while the remaining associates are parents and neighbors of said youth. Our community bank meets every Saturday night to update the group on the status of funds, give out loans, address issues, hold a weekly raffle and plan future fund raising events. As of March 2009 we have held two big events including a town bingo night and a raffle of foodstuff both of which (on top of our weekly raffle) were very successful in increasing our bank’s balance. For May we are planning a mother´s day raffle.

The community bank is an experiment for me as well as the youth group and we are learning how to do this as we go and while the peace corps manual has served as an instrumental and important guide it has been just that, a guide. I never thought I could start a community bank of all things. I am terrible with numbers and math but I really really believe in the project.

What is a community bank? A community bank is a group of committed people who pay a certain amount of money each week ( the amount is decided by each group in our case we pay $1.50) and the money paid is kept in a sturdy wooden box about the size of a basketball that has three locks with three keys. The group elects a board consisting of a president, secretary, treasurer and two auditors, three of these officers keep a key and the treasurer keeps the box so that in order to steal money a total of four people would have to conspire against the group. After a certain amount of time in our case three months the bank is ready to give small loans to members with the following stipulations: the loan is to be paid back within one month with 10% interest. The idea is that these small loans would be used towards micro-business plans etc but the member is not required to explain to the group the reason for the loan. In one month the loan is re-paid to the group with the 10% interest. The idea is that people keep taking loans to better their lives and the money made from the interest stays within the group so that when the bank liquidates ( as we plan to in one year) each member will receive back all of their weekly payments plus the interest. In order to increase the income a group may decide to fund raise for example we have done a raffle and a bingo night. All the profits are returned to the bank box and eventually to the members.

Many women in my village aren’t allowed to work because their husbands won’t let them but the community bank is a chance to earn a little extra cash and perhaps through a loan start a small business out of their home.

We gave out our first loans this past Saturday which is really exciting! I am nervous to see that everything gets paid back but I guess only time will tell.

Carnaval Madness

We recieved this official email from Peace Corps. While it's from Bolivia we recieved in here in Ecuador as Carvnaval is an important and popular holiday here as well as most latin american countries. Anyway-- I laughed so hard while reading this. Carnaval consists of small children throwing water balloons and such. It's this happy, fun family type holiday that happens before lent. Anyway... the here is to keeping americans safe abroad!


WARDEN MESSAGE
U.S. EMBASSY LA PAZ, BOLIVIA
February 13, 2008

This warden message is being issued to advise U.S. citizens traveling to and residing in Bolivia that for the duration of the month during Bolivia's "carnaval" season, it is common to encounter groups of people throwing water balloons at both pedestrians and vehicles (sometimes frozen which can cause injuries). It is advisable to remain aware of your surroundings while walking and to avoid areas where people are congregating with water balloons, squirt guns, and other liquid projectiles. If you are in a vehicle, keep your windows rolled up while you drive around the city.

For the latest security information, U.S. citizens traveling abroad should regularly monitor the Department's internet website at http://travel.state.gov where the current worldwide caution, travel warnings and travel alerts can be found. Additional information is available in the country-specific information for Bolivia at http://travel.state.gov and on the embassy web page at http://bolivia.usembassy.gov.
Current information on travel and security in Bolivia may be obtained from the Department of State by calling 1-888-407-4747 within the United States, or, from overseas, 1-202-501-4444. These numbers are available from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays). U.S. citizens traveling or residing overseas are encouraged to register with the appropriate U.S. embassy or consulate on the State Department's travel registration web site at https://travelregistration.state.gov.
U.S. citizens may contact the Consular Section of the U.S. Embassy in La Paz, Bolivia, via e-mail at consularlapaz@state.gov or by telephone at (591-2) 216-8297 during business hours or (591-2) 216-8500 after hours and on weekends. The Consular Section is located in the U.S. Embassy at 2780 Arce Avenue in La Paz, Bolivia. The Santa Cruz Consular Agency can be reached by telephone at (591-3) 351-3477 and the Cochabamba Consular Agency can be reached by telephone at (591-4) 411-6313.

Knives + fridge + a silly gringa= problems

me with the massive ice chunk


I feel compelled to write this entry and share my sad tale in hopes of sparing some other volunteer or whoever the same sad fate. Last month when my freezer freaked out and the ice grew beyond what could be kept and i could nolonger close my fridge i decided to take a knife to the ice. I felt so powerful chopping away at the massive chunk of ice- breaking off pieces and feeling it´s icy coldness (it´s hot here and it felt like a bit of wisconsin). After several hours of hard work I managed to get out about 1/3 of the ice and was able to close my fridge once again. Well.... last week after several days without electricity I realized that I had stabbed my fridge. When the electricity came back my fridge never got cold and the ice began to melt exposing the stab wounds. I still had no real clue that it was the stabbing that was causing my fridge to malfunction. While talking to several friends in town they mentioned how the volunteer before me had used a knife to get rid of extra ice and had stabbed her fridge and damaged it. They laughed telling this story, i mean how crazy does someone have to be to take a knife to their fridge. I turned red and confessed that I too had used a knife and that i too had accidently stabbed my fridge. They told me not to worry. The volunteer before me was able to get her fridge (which is currently my fridge) fixed and that miguel´s cousin is the fridge repairman. So we found Jerardo sitting barefoot on the malecon and walked back to my house. He took one knowing look at my broken fridge and told me that when i stabbed it i had struck gas which had all leaked out. So very very sad. Jerardo was great though. We went to the city the next morning so he could buy the supplies and then he fixed my fridge. 40 bucks total but i was thrilled that my fridge was not dead. But then.... several days later i realized it´s not cold again. Jerardo fixes it again. another 20 bucks. Now 60 dollars in the whole and my fridge appears to be in good health. So here is hoping that this is the end of the fridge saga. But my sage wisdom is-- please! never knife out your ice! just unplug your fridge and let it melt naturally.


rainy season

so the rains have come to palmar and the things are green again and the dust has settled! it´s wonderful. but oh-- the pure mud and mosquitos. just thought i would send you a coupla mud photos, also some of our quails and the giant hole that miguel and i dug.

Here are a coupla of New Years Poems

Gratitude.

I am content
waking alone
brush the sand from my sheets
slip my dirty feet into my dirty flip flops

light the stove, boil water
for coffee
and mutter something like a plea
for salvation

I doubt this will keep me
from all the wrong that I have done
but still, I wake with this desire
to let it fall away
be new
and wear my life like the most beautiful dress
that I could never afford



under the pelican´s blessing

returning with silver gifts from
deeper waters
the boats come to shore

hard shoulders
bearing plastic buckets of fish
pressing through the shallow waves

returning to offer
the next meal, pay rent
and clothe the children

hard shoulders and cracked lips
returning after the sea has rattled their bones
all through the darkness
and they will wake do the same tomorrow

New Years in Ecuador!

Happy new year to everyone!
One of my very favorite Ecuadorian customs is the burning of viejos when the clocks strikes midnight on New Years eve. What exactly am i talking about? I mean burning life sized human figures in the streets-- well, sometimes human. In the weeks leading up to january 31rst the streets fill up with papermache hulks, sponge bobs, political figures, heads, limbs etc.

The tradition changes from town to town and especially between the culture of the sierra and the coast. In Palmar we burn the good and the bad and believe in doing so we will start the new year fresh. It is also said that if you take on the task of making, building or buying a viejo that you must keep doing that in the years to come or risk having a bad year. The photo below is Marcelo building our viejo: both he and miguel are in charge every year of this important task.

Once the clock strikes midnight the viejos are lit on fire in the street and most of the time firecrackers and other fireworks are thrown in as well to add to rowdyness. Then it´s time to jump of the burning papermache dolls. With my youth group only the boys do this and i am okay with that. I have never been cool with leaping over flaming people dolls.

This year was extra special because my sister, Amelia was visiting. It was really great because my youth group celebrates new years on the 30th so they can be with their families on the actual 31rst. So we had the traditional ecuadorian new years on the 30th and then went to puerto lopez to meet up with some other volunteers to celebrate with a gringo twist.

It´s really sad to think this is my last new years in palmar and in ecuador. I have spent the past four new years in latin america but i believe 2009 will bring me stateside for new years eve. But... who knows?

I am considering taking on the commitment and starting to make my own viejo and carry this wonderful tradition home to the streets on wisconsin. So if you see a gringuita burning a papermache doll in the snowy street next year, don´t call the cops but rather enjoy the light and let the year burn and start the new year fresh.

Election night in Quito

Last night in a crowded, smoky bar in Quito, Ecuador, surrounded by my fellow americans and ecuadorian friends, I watched as Barack Obama was elected president and history was made. I will never forget this election, where I was and how in one evening I felt my faith in my country renewed. I was really taken by the strong sense of community that I felt among americans living abroad- united by a shared hope for a better future. Over beers and conversations, we cheered and speculated as election results came in and eventually when the results were tallied and Obama was named president we cried and hugged and high-fived with joy and relief.
This is my third presidential election in which I was able to vote and my first time in which I felt such hope for positive change. I am very proud to say that I voted for barack obama and that even though voting here in ecuador as a peace corps volunteer was quite difficult I was able to jump through all that red tape and fill out my ballot and have my say. Cheers to the next four years!