Please excuse the lack of posts in the last month or so. My calendar has been filled with Peace Corps events that, unfortunately have left me with little time to write. However, the madness is beginning to slow down and I want to take a few minutes to reflect on the last month.
I typically try to fill my blog with upbeat anecdotes and snapshots of my life here. However, I have to admit, I haven´t always given a full picture of what my life has been like. So I´m going to level with you- it´s often really challenging. I spend most days in an office where I often don´t feel understood and although my Spanish level has gotten much better lots of things are still lost in translation. Then there´s the cultural differences which often still catch me off guard and leave me a little baffled.
As a result of all of these challenges I spent a good amount of time in the last month really evaluating my reasons for being in the Peace Corps and living in this community. There were days when I felt like the impact that I can have here is so minimal compared to what I could be doing living in a community in the US.
My mom and grandma came for a visit in the midst of all of this and got to hear about all of my struggles and challenges (if you see either of them...give them a hug for being such good listeners). We spent 5 days in my town, during which time we celebrated my 24th birthday. It was an amazing time, and I was so blessed by all of the people in my town who invited us over for a meal, or a snack, or coffee and shared with me how much they appreciated that I am living and working in their town. It was a definite turning point for me when I realized that the true impact of the PC experience often is the friendships you make. So even though I don´t expect the challenges to disappear, I am going to go back into my work with new eyes and motivation.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
A Development Conundrum
Here’s one for all of my friends who are doing and/or studying development…
Guatemala has a long history of development agencies, missions, and various government projects trying to better the lives of the people living here. Unfortunately in the past that has often meant simply giving things- houses, wells, toothbrushes, schools, Bibles, etc. As a result many people have become so accustomed to having things given to them that they expect that model of development and aren’t interested in any other kind.
I ran into this issue this past week when visiting a community. An international development agency is interested in doing some clean water projects in my municipality, which is one of the poorest in the whole country. They approached the Municipal Planning Office with the requirements, and we in turn, went to present them to the communities. One specific community we went to is one of our poorest, with incredibly high malnutrition and child mortality rates. The women in the community have to walk for over a mile up and down a really steep ravine to retrieve dirty water which they use for cooking, bathing, and drinking, causing all kinds of sickness. The proposed project would pipe clean water from a nearby spring directly into the community.
The requirements of the project say that there needs to be a counter on each water spigot to insure that the spring is not being over-taxed and that everyone in the community gets a fair share of the water. The project also requires that a town committee be formed to be in charge of the maintenance and repair of the tubes and faucets and that each family pay a yearly 12 Quetzales ( $1.50…not much, even by Guatemalan standards) to the town committee, that they will in turn use only to repair broken pipes.
The co-workers I went to the community with feel that this is a culturally appropriate and fair system and are excited to see the project happen in a community that needs it so desperately. However, as we sat in the town meeting listening to the people talk after we presented the project, we realized that they saw it differently. They said that they are not interested in a project a) in which they have to pay a yearly fee, and b) in which their water consumption will be monitored. Basically, the meeting ended with them saying, that they didn’t think the project requirements were fair and they weren’t interested in the project. We convinced them to allow the engineer to return again and talk to them, and we’re hoping that they’ll have time to consider what they might be missing out on and will change their minds.
So here’s the conundrum that I keep rolling around in my head… this community desperately needs water but because in the past NGOs and other groups have just given things the community feels that to be expected to pay when they are already very poor is unfair. Maybe the NGO should just drop the requirements and give them the project anyway? After all, it will improve their lives, won’t it? But then, if we just give them the project doesn’t that reinforce this bad system of getting without having to give in return? Isn’t that disempowering? Maybe the community won’t take care of the water system as well because they don’t have their own money invested in it? So maybe they shouldn’t get the project? But kids are dying and living with horrible diarrhea as a result of the bad water they’re drinking. The fields are dried up because of lack of rain and people are going hungry because they can’t possibly carry enough water to keep their fields producing.
I just simply don’t know the answer. This development stuff seemed much simpler in a classroom.
Guatemala has a long history of development agencies, missions, and various government projects trying to better the lives of the people living here. Unfortunately in the past that has often meant simply giving things- houses, wells, toothbrushes, schools, Bibles, etc. As a result many people have become so accustomed to having things given to them that they expect that model of development and aren’t interested in any other kind.
I ran into this issue this past week when visiting a community. An international development agency is interested in doing some clean water projects in my municipality, which is one of the poorest in the whole country. They approached the Municipal Planning Office with the requirements, and we in turn, went to present them to the communities. One specific community we went to is one of our poorest, with incredibly high malnutrition and child mortality rates. The women in the community have to walk for over a mile up and down a really steep ravine to retrieve dirty water which they use for cooking, bathing, and drinking, causing all kinds of sickness. The proposed project would pipe clean water from a nearby spring directly into the community.
The requirements of the project say that there needs to be a counter on each water spigot to insure that the spring is not being over-taxed and that everyone in the community gets a fair share of the water. The project also requires that a town committee be formed to be in charge of the maintenance and repair of the tubes and faucets and that each family pay a yearly 12 Quetzales ( $1.50…not much, even by Guatemalan standards) to the town committee, that they will in turn use only to repair broken pipes.
The co-workers I went to the community with feel that this is a culturally appropriate and fair system and are excited to see the project happen in a community that needs it so desperately. However, as we sat in the town meeting listening to the people talk after we presented the project, we realized that they saw it differently. They said that they are not interested in a project a) in which they have to pay a yearly fee, and b) in which their water consumption will be monitored. Basically, the meeting ended with them saying, that they didn’t think the project requirements were fair and they weren’t interested in the project. We convinced them to allow the engineer to return again and talk to them, and we’re hoping that they’ll have time to consider what they might be missing out on and will change their minds.
So here’s the conundrum that I keep rolling around in my head… this community desperately needs water but because in the past NGOs and other groups have just given things the community feels that to be expected to pay when they are already very poor is unfair. Maybe the NGO should just drop the requirements and give them the project anyway? After all, it will improve their lives, won’t it? But then, if we just give them the project doesn’t that reinforce this bad system of getting without having to give in return? Isn’t that disempowering? Maybe the community won’t take care of the water system as well because they don’t have their own money invested in it? So maybe they shouldn’t get the project? But kids are dying and living with horrible diarrhea as a result of the bad water they’re drinking. The fields are dried up because of lack of rain and people are going hungry because they can’t possibly carry enough water to keep their fields producing.
I just simply don’t know the answer. This development stuff seemed much simpler in a classroom.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Cultural Mishaps
Though I feel I’m fairly well integrated into my community by now and generally get what’s going on culturally, there are always moments when things come up and surprise me, as happened in the following story…
I was taking a walk through town when I noticed one of the kids I play soccer with crying outside her house. I stopped to ask her what was wrong and she informed me that her grandma had died. Not knowing what to say to her, especially since I’m unfamiliar with the customs surrounding deaths here, I just sat with her a while. After a while, she grabbed my hand and informed me that we were going to see the body. It actually wasn’t as strange as I thought it would be. The family was all there, and seemed glad that I would care enough to come in. So again, I just sat a while to show that I was concerned for them.
Later on in the afternoon I went to visit a friend for our weekly coffee and telenovella (if you don’t know that is, Wikipedia it, I cannot describe). We talked briefly about the death of my neighbor and my friend told me that she didn’t want to go view the body because her husband has the same infirmity and she’s afraid that he’ll die too if she goes there. I mentioned casually that I had been to visit the family, not thinking anything of it, and she immediately pushed me over to the pila (sink) and dunked my head in the water!!! She then instructed me to wash my face and hair while she watched! Whoa.
Apparently there is a lingering traditional belief that if you view a dead body you can carry death around with you. We had a good laugh about it later, probably when she saw the shocked look on my face and realized I had no idea what was going on.
Here’s to clean faces and learning new things!
I was taking a walk through town when I noticed one of the kids I play soccer with crying outside her house. I stopped to ask her what was wrong and she informed me that her grandma had died. Not knowing what to say to her, especially since I’m unfamiliar with the customs surrounding deaths here, I just sat with her a while. After a while, she grabbed my hand and informed me that we were going to see the body. It actually wasn’t as strange as I thought it would be. The family was all there, and seemed glad that I would care enough to come in. So again, I just sat a while to show that I was concerned for them.
Later on in the afternoon I went to visit a friend for our weekly coffee and telenovella (if you don’t know that is, Wikipedia it, I cannot describe). We talked briefly about the death of my neighbor and my friend told me that she didn’t want to go view the body because her husband has the same infirmity and she’s afraid that he’ll die too if she goes there. I mentioned casually that I had been to visit the family, not thinking anything of it, and she immediately pushed me over to the pila (sink) and dunked my head in the water!!! She then instructed me to wash my face and hair while she watched! Whoa.
Apparently there is a lingering traditional belief that if you view a dead body you can carry death around with you. We had a good laugh about it later, probably when she saw the shocked look on my face and realized I had no idea what was going on.
Here’s to clean faces and learning new things!
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