Literally. As for strange cultural moments, this one’s a winner. Yesterday I met my Peace Corps friends David and Emily at a sandwich shop for lunch. The sandwiches and the conversation were great and we decided to prolong our joy with coffee and some of the homemade cake on offer. I ordered the chocolate cake with strawberry mousse (before you decide you want a slice, keep reading…) Our cake arrived and I immediately noticed that mine was emitting a strange sour odor. So I took a bite, which confirmed my suspicions that something was off about it. I forced David and Emily to try it too (such good friends) and with their additional confirmation brought it downstairs to the pastry counter to return it.
The woman at the counter gave me a look like I was insane and the following conversation ensued:
Charlotte: Excuse me, but I think this cake might be sour.
Waitress: No, it’s fine.
Charlotte: Well, I tasted it and it tastes really funny.
Waitress: (sticks her hand in the mousse and licks her finger) That’s just the way it is
Charlotte: Oh, well I don’t think I want it. It tastes sour to me.
Waitress: (sticks her finger in the frosting and then licks it) No, it’s fine.
Charlotte: Okay, well I still don’t think I want it.
Waitress: (takes chunk of the cake and shoves it in her mouth). No, it’s really fresh.
Charlotte: Okay, that´s fine. I´m just going to go back upstairs.
Waitress: (pushing the cake, with her finger prints all over it, back to me) Don´t you want this? It´s really fresh.
Absurd.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
This is what I do...
Now that I have spent six months in my site and in my office I thought I’d try and take a few minutes to explain what it is my office does and what I do within it. But first, a little history…
Guatemala in recent history has been a very difficult place to be a woman. Many people who study Guatemalan culture and development comment that there is a special group of people here who face triple barriers to growth. This group is poor, indigenous women. First, they face challenges because they are women: women are often viewed and treated as second class citizens. Girls aren’t sent to school with anywhere near the frequency as their brothers, there are huge rates of domestic violence, and women don’t have the voice in their communities that their husbands do. Second, they are poor, making their daily struggle for food and health much more challenging than their neighbors who have more resources. Often the entire day of a poor woman is spent on life-sustaining activities such as carrying water and planting corn, leaving no time for self development or a small business to try and bring in extra income. Lastly, being indigenous adds into the mix another challenge. Though the Mayan societies here were once thriving and prosperous, years of oppression since the Spanish invasion has pushed Mayan people groups to the fringes- both literally, often into the far reaches of the mountains where public services are scarce and farming difficult, and figuratively, calling their religious practices “witchcraft” and forcing children to stop wearing their traditional dress in order to attend school, which was taught in Spanish, not their native tongues.
I’m glad to report that some of this is changing. The Mayan cultures and languages have been officially recognized and people are now encouraged to wear their typical dress and speak their native languages. The government and many individuals are also attempting to combat the “machismo” that causes the mistreatment of women. This is where the Municipal Women’s Offices come into play. Since the later part of the 90´s the national government has been opening women’s offices in municipalities. The goals of these offices (though they differ a bit depending on the municipality and the coordinator of the office) are to 1) combat violence against women, 2) improve the economic situation of women, and 3) increase citizen participation of women.
My Peace Corps program is called Municipal Development and my assignment is in the Municipal Women’s Office in an area of the country where “the triple barrier” is clearly in place. My town is 95% indigenous and the 6th poorest municipality in the country. The main goals of our office are to improve the lives of the women through projects (like clean water and improved stoves) and through training in various topics from how to prevent domestic violence and citizen participation. Our office doesn’t receive funds from the municipality so what we can do is somewhat limited. However, through coordinating with various institutions the office has been able to organize 39 women’s groups in different communities and assess the needs of their families and communities. Through meetings we have with these women we are teaching them their legal rights and how to advocate for their needs.
The goals of the Municipal Development project of Peace Corps are to strengthen the function of the office through training them in organization, using computers, archiving documents, and giving participatory talks with the women and to increase citizen participation in the town. Up until this point my work in the office has been to learn about the office and the community and to assess how I might be able to help. Now that I’ve integrated into the office I’m beginning to really dive into work. I’m excited to see where the next 18 months in this office take me and what kind of work I’m able to do with my counterparts. I’ll keep posting about specific projects that I’m working on so you can get a picture of what my PC experience is like.
My counterpart, Marìa, speaking with a group of the women we work with. 
Guatemala in recent history has been a very difficult place to be a woman. Many people who study Guatemalan culture and development comment that there is a special group of people here who face triple barriers to growth. This group is poor, indigenous women. First, they face challenges because they are women: women are often viewed and treated as second class citizens. Girls aren’t sent to school with anywhere near the frequency as their brothers, there are huge rates of domestic violence, and women don’t have the voice in their communities that their husbands do. Second, they are poor, making their daily struggle for food and health much more challenging than their neighbors who have more resources. Often the entire day of a poor woman is spent on life-sustaining activities such as carrying water and planting corn, leaving no time for self development or a small business to try and bring in extra income. Lastly, being indigenous adds into the mix another challenge. Though the Mayan societies here were once thriving and prosperous, years of oppression since the Spanish invasion has pushed Mayan people groups to the fringes- both literally, often into the far reaches of the mountains where public services are scarce and farming difficult, and figuratively, calling their religious practices “witchcraft” and forcing children to stop wearing their traditional dress in order to attend school, which was taught in Spanish, not their native tongues.
I’m glad to report that some of this is changing. The Mayan cultures and languages have been officially recognized and people are now encouraged to wear their typical dress and speak their native languages. The government and many individuals are also attempting to combat the “machismo” that causes the mistreatment of women. This is where the Municipal Women’s Offices come into play. Since the later part of the 90´s the national government has been opening women’s offices in municipalities. The goals of these offices (though they differ a bit depending on the municipality and the coordinator of the office) are to 1) combat violence against women, 2) improve the economic situation of women, and 3) increase citizen participation of women.
My Peace Corps program is called Municipal Development and my assignment is in the Municipal Women’s Office in an area of the country where “the triple barrier” is clearly in place. My town is 95% indigenous and the 6th poorest municipality in the country. The main goals of our office are to improve the lives of the women through projects (like clean water and improved stoves) and through training in various topics from how to prevent domestic violence and citizen participation. Our office doesn’t receive funds from the municipality so what we can do is somewhat limited. However, through coordinating with various institutions the office has been able to organize 39 women’s groups in different communities and assess the needs of their families and communities. Through meetings we have with these women we are teaching them their legal rights and how to advocate for their needs.
The goals of the Municipal Development project of Peace Corps are to strengthen the function of the office through training them in organization, using computers, archiving documents, and giving participatory talks with the women and to increase citizen participation in the town. Up until this point my work in the office has been to learn about the office and the community and to assess how I might be able to help. Now that I’ve integrated into the office I’m beginning to really dive into work. I’m excited to see where the next 18 months in this office take me and what kind of work I’m able to do with my counterparts. I’ll keep posting about specific projects that I’m working on so you can get a picture of what my PC experience is like.
My counterpart, Marìa, speaking with a group of the women we work with. Girls in one of the communities we work in.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
In Celebration of Water
Early Tuesday morning my counterpart, María called me and told me to hurry to the office, that we were leaving for Nueva Esperanza (New Hope, in English). Nueva Esperanza is one of the farthest communities in the municipality where I work and the recent recipients of a water project from the central government. I wrote a blog a few weeks ago about working with the women from this community to fill out socio-economic surveys so they could propose the project, which they were approved for.
The community is made up of roughly 300 people and is 3 hours away from the municipal offices where I work. The women’s group of the community is particularly well organized and have formally evaluated their needs; they simply needed the assistance of our office in advocating for those needs. Each of the 32 women in the group received a water collecting system that will provide running water in their homes (the community previously had no running water or electricity- a project that will take a lot more time to complete). This effectively will service the whole town with water.
When we arrived in Nueva Esperanza the whole community awaited us with live marimba music, food, and decorations. After they served us breakfast of Atoll (hot rice drink) and bread everyone gathered together to express their thanks. Though I couldn’t understand most of it, as it was in Mam, it was clear how thankful the women were for our support.
Some of the young benificiaries of the project
Some fellow muni employees and I
Live marimba!
The water tanks
The women expressing their thanks (the center two are the leaders of the group)
Doña Juana preparing to carry her water tank home! Amazing!
The community is made up of roughly 300 people and is 3 hours away from the municipal offices where I work. The women’s group of the community is particularly well organized and have formally evaluated their needs; they simply needed the assistance of our office in advocating for those needs. Each of the 32 women in the group received a water collecting system that will provide running water in their homes (the community previously had no running water or electricity- a project that will take a lot more time to complete). This effectively will service the whole town with water.
When we arrived in Nueva Esperanza the whole community awaited us with live marimba music, food, and decorations. After they served us breakfast of Atoll (hot rice drink) and bread everyone gathered together to express their thanks. Though I couldn’t understand most of it, as it was in Mam, it was clear how thankful the women were for our support.
Some of the young benificiaries of the project
Some fellow muni employees and I
Live marimba!
The water tanks
The women expressing their thanks (the center two are the leaders of the group)
Doña Juana preparing to carry her water tank home! Amazing!Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Cooking Class in Mapá
As I mentioned in an earlier blog, one of the recent joys of my Peace Corps experience has been the cooking classes I have been helping to give in coordination with a local institution. The two communities that we are working in, Mapá and Mapá Centro, are located a good distance from the town center so getting there requires both a 4 wheel drive pickup ride and then an hour on foot over several hills and a dry river bed.
The goal of the project is to get the women cooking more nutritiously and with the diverse ingredients that can be found locally. Last week we made beef stew and the women brought all of the necessary vegetables from their gardens or purchased them from their neighbors. The meat was bought in the Sunday market in my town and came from a local farmer as well. The results were delicious (who knew that a stick of cinnamon in stew could taste so good!?) and my time with the women was delightful.
The view from Doña Vicentas house
Cutting veggies
The goal of the project is to get the women cooking more nutritiously and with the diverse ingredients that can be found locally. Last week we made beef stew and the women brought all of the necessary vegetables from their gardens or purchased them from their neighbors. The meat was bought in the Sunday market in my town and came from a local farmer as well. The results were delicious (who knew that a stick of cinnamon in stew could taste so good!?) and my time with the women was delightful.
The view from Doña Vicentas house
Cutting veggies 
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Swine Flu and Inequality
There are now several confirmed cases of Swine Flu in Guatemala, setting into action Peace Corps´ emergency action plan for illness and epidemics. I received a text message from our security officer yesterday reading the following, “ALERT. Confirmed case in Guate City. Avoid all unnecessary travel 2 Guate. Begin stockpiling supplies.”
I’ll be honest, it made me laugh. Stockpiling supplies? Really? It all seems a little ridiculous considering that the common flu kills more people per month than swine flu has killed in the month since it was discovered. Guatemalans are freaking out about the whole thing though, which got me thinking a about the inequity of access to medicine and medical treatment in general. Peace Corps issues each of its volunteers a medical kit complete with a dosage of Tamiflu (the medicine that people in the US are paying over $100 for) so even if I somehow did contract Swine Flu, I could start my dosage and have plenty of time to get to a hospital for treatment. In short, I really don’t have anything to worry about. However, my Guatemalan neighbors have a lot to worry about. If Swine Flu were to become epidemic in Guatemala it could be incredibly dangerous because of several factors. First, most Guatemalans live many hours´ walk from the nearest health center who could diagnose an illness as Swine flu. Second, many of these health centers are understaffed and under-trained so the probability of them correctly diagnosing such a new disease is low. Third, even if Swine flu was diagnosed correctly and in a timely manner, there is no stockpile of Tamiflu in Guatemala to administer, and even if there was, it would be far too expensive for most Guatemalans to ever fathom being able to afford.
I read a book a few years ago by Paul Farmer (Harvard professor and Medical Doctor who is famous for his radical approach to healthcare for the poor in Haiti and other countries) called Pathologies of Power that talked a lot about the inequality in the realm of healthcare. It’s no coincidence that grave diseases like AIDS and curable infirmities like Diarrhea kill far more people in the Global South (the part of the world with more abject poverty; the term that most development professionals prefer over “third world” or “developing world”) than the North, and therefore no coincidence that people in the Global South are more fearful of things like Swine Flu. I can’t say that I have the answer for re-tipping the scales. I don’t even know what to say to my neighbors when they’re fearful of Swine flu because I think it is probably a legitimate fear. But, I digress… I meant this to be a simple update on Swine Flu in Guatemala since I’ve been getting a lot of emails and calls making sure I’m okay. I’m fine, but I hope that my thoughts have also got you thinking about inequalities that might be present in your context and how you might work to right them.
I’ll be honest, it made me laugh. Stockpiling supplies? Really? It all seems a little ridiculous considering that the common flu kills more people per month than swine flu has killed in the month since it was discovered. Guatemalans are freaking out about the whole thing though, which got me thinking a about the inequity of access to medicine and medical treatment in general. Peace Corps issues each of its volunteers a medical kit complete with a dosage of Tamiflu (the medicine that people in the US are paying over $100 for) so even if I somehow did contract Swine Flu, I could start my dosage and have plenty of time to get to a hospital for treatment. In short, I really don’t have anything to worry about. However, my Guatemalan neighbors have a lot to worry about. If Swine Flu were to become epidemic in Guatemala it could be incredibly dangerous because of several factors. First, most Guatemalans live many hours´ walk from the nearest health center who could diagnose an illness as Swine flu. Second, many of these health centers are understaffed and under-trained so the probability of them correctly diagnosing such a new disease is low. Third, even if Swine flu was diagnosed correctly and in a timely manner, there is no stockpile of Tamiflu in Guatemala to administer, and even if there was, it would be far too expensive for most Guatemalans to ever fathom being able to afford.
I read a book a few years ago by Paul Farmer (Harvard professor and Medical Doctor who is famous for his radical approach to healthcare for the poor in Haiti and other countries) called Pathologies of Power that talked a lot about the inequality in the realm of healthcare. It’s no coincidence that grave diseases like AIDS and curable infirmities like Diarrhea kill far more people in the Global South (the part of the world with more abject poverty; the term that most development professionals prefer over “third world” or “developing world”) than the North, and therefore no coincidence that people in the Global South are more fearful of things like Swine Flu. I can’t say that I have the answer for re-tipping the scales. I don’t even know what to say to my neighbors when they’re fearful of Swine flu because I think it is probably a legitimate fear. But, I digress… I meant this to be a simple update on Swine Flu in Guatemala since I’ve been getting a lot of emails and calls making sure I’m okay. I’m fine, but I hope that my thoughts have also got you thinking about inequalities that might be present in your context and how you might work to right them.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Spit on a Stranger
I`ve been working with a local organization for the last few weeks to give cooking classes in a couple of the communities that I live near. We are very lucky here to have access to a plethora of fresh fruits and veggies, yet most of the meals that women cook here are made up of corn, beans, eggs, tomatoes, and salt- not very diverse or nutritious. Part of this can be blamed on poverty or lack of resources, but really, it seems to have a lot more to do with habit: women cook what their mothers taught them to cook and unless the pattern changes, this is what their daughters will also cook. So, these cooking classes serve two purposes, 1) teaching the women how to make healthy, good tasting food from what they have locally, and 2) giving the women a place to socialize and have some fun. These classes really are the highlight of my week. I get to practice speaking Mam, learn how to cook new things, and hang out with some seriously cool ladies.
On Tuesday of this week we had a cooking class in a little village in the mountains that surround my town. About 30 women came, their many children in tow. Doña Cristina is one of my favorites in the group- she`s young, chatty, and loves to help me learn new phrases in her language. She wanted to participate in the preparation of the meal yesterday so I offered to play with her 5 month old baby while she peeled and cut veggies. We got on swimmingly, baby and I, which is a shock since most kids take one look at me and run in the other direction (parents love to say "better behave or the white girl will take you away with her" when kids are naughty).
As the cooking class was finishing, Doña Cristina grabbed me, mumbled something to me and pulled me over to the pila (outdoor sink). She then handed me a small bucket of water and instructed me to take a sip and then spit it on her baby. In my head I`m thinking "is that water really green or is it the bucket? did this water come from the river where I just saw a dog peeing? DID SHE REALLY JUST INSTRUCT ME TO SPIT ON HER BABY!?" And yet, I found myself lifting the likely giardia infested water to my lips and spitting it all over the baby, as instructed. Doña Cristina, delighted, hugged me and then went back to the meeting to recieve her portion of the meal, leaving me bewildered and wondering if rinsing my mouth out would keep me from getting giardia...
On Tuesday of this week we had a cooking class in a little village in the mountains that surround my town. About 30 women came, their many children in tow. Doña Cristina is one of my favorites in the group- she`s young, chatty, and loves to help me learn new phrases in her language. She wanted to participate in the preparation of the meal yesterday so I offered to play with her 5 month old baby while she peeled and cut veggies. We got on swimmingly, baby and I, which is a shock since most kids take one look at me and run in the other direction (parents love to say "better behave or the white girl will take you away with her" when kids are naughty).
As the cooking class was finishing, Doña Cristina grabbed me, mumbled something to me and pulled me over to the pila (outdoor sink). She then handed me a small bucket of water and instructed me to take a sip and then spit it on her baby. In my head I`m thinking "is that water really green or is it the bucket? did this water come from the river where I just saw a dog peeing? DID SHE REALLY JUST INSTRUCT ME TO SPIT ON HER BABY!?" And yet, I found myself lifting the likely giardia infested water to my lips and spitting it all over the baby, as instructed. Doña Cristina, delighted, hugged me and then went back to the meeting to recieve her portion of the meal, leaving me bewildered and wondering if rinsing my mouth out would keep me from getting giardia...
Here she is with her older brother
Post Script: I later learned that if a respected person spits water or spices on you it is considered a blessing and helps to ward off the evil eye. Guess I`ll take that as a compliment.
Post Script: I later learned that if a respected person spits water or spices on you it is considered a blessing and helps to ward off the evil eye. Guess I`ll take that as a compliment.
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