We Went Shopping!

The money is in, the holes are dug and the community of Tuisquimak is chomping at the bit to get their latrines built and ready for use. Purchasing materials is trickier than it sounds though, especially in Guatemala where any variable invariably makes for an adventure.

Our adventure started at 7am when I met the president and treasurer and 9 men from the community in front of the municipal building to go to the city to buy supplies. We bussed into the city and found our first hardware store closed (all materials must be purchased at pre-determined supply stores that are proven to be the least expensive by way of price listing which we did a month earlier). When it opened, the corrugated tin that we were purchasing from them wasn't cut to size so we spent our first 2 hours cutting them with scissors. We then moved onto our next hardware store only to find that almost none of the supplies that they promised us were always in their storeroom were available. However, a few frantic phone calls to my Peace Corps boss and my friend, Jaime the Architect, fixed the issue- we changed the design of the latrines and bought different supplies that were available (new skill to put on my resume: Adaptability)!

Next we arrived at my neighbor's house. He's our cement man and has been working 'round the clock for the last 2 weeks to pour and mold 41 latrine seats and 41 latrine floors. He finished the night before and all 82 pieces were waiting for us. Those things are HEAVY. The poor guys that came from Tuisquimak to help were dripping sweat in the 85 degree heat, but still smiling and joking, excited to get their latrines.

Finally (and I'll admit, I was stressed at this point...we were 5 hours behind schedule and my brain was seriously overworked) we were on our way up the dirt mountain road to Tuisquimak. We moved along at a snail's pace, being careful on the washed-out areas so as not to break the cement floors. As we crested the mountain and arrived in the outskirts of Tuisquimak the truck driver began to blow the air horn, signaling to the community members to gather. By the time we arrived at the school there was quite a crowd- I'm pretty sure literally the whole turned out to see the stuff arriving. Grandmas, mamas with babies strapped to their backs, old men puffing on cigarettes, little kids in galoshes..everyone came to see the action.

It was an incredible feeling to hear the womens' names called one by one and see the family members who will be the beneficiaries of the project come to collect the pieces. Rural Guatemalans have seen a lot of disappointment in their lifetimes, many have experienced the civil war and nearly all have been unable to attend secondary school because of lack of resources. I don't think they believed that this project was actually going to happen until they saw the truck pulling up. The next few weeks will hold a lot of busyness as we begin the process of building these babies. Keep checking back for updates!


Loading the 300 pieces of corrugated tin that will make up the walls of the latrines (first we had to cut them all to size!)


Doña Honoria (treasurer) and Doña Micaela (president) of the women's group from Tuisquimak. The trip to pick up the supplies was a fun field-trip for us and also a great opportunity for them to learn how to manage the group's new checking account.


These are the cement form toilet seats. They're actually pretty comfy, albeit a bit cold. They also weigh about 60 pounds.


Carrying their supplies to her house. Seriously, these women ROCK!


We're pretty excited about these guys

The Latrines are Coming Along...

Thanks a bunch to Jaime and Emily for coming to help us with the construction trainings! Things are shaping up quite nicely...


Laying down the cement floor


Don't want a crooked outhouse!


Doña Honoria checking out the progress of her latrine


Doña Pascuala made us some yummy chamborote beans and tortillas for lunch


Doña Pascuala's son, Miguel, inside their brand-new latrine!

Project Citizen

One of the main goals of my Peace Corps project is getting community members to participate more in community development by giving them the knowledge and tools to vote and participate in local development committees (that all towns have by law and because that's the way the collectivist culture here works).

I have been working with my high school students the last couple of months on something called "Proyecto Ciudadano" or "Project Citizen." In the series of trainings I've given them we've talked about what it means to be a good citizen, how to vote and what documents you need, how to choose candidates and how to be involved in the development process as young people. As a culmination to these talks I divided the students into small groups based on what villages they come from. I then had them sit down with poster-paper and brainstorm all of the issues that they see in their communities. They come up with things like deforestation, water contamination, spousal abuse, bad roads and insufficient classroom space. I then left them with the task of making presentations on their proposed solution for the problem they identified as the most pressing.

The following week when I returned I was impressed to find them practiced, organized and ready to present. Though they were incredibly shy and soft-spoken they had great ideas and I was impressed by all the hard work they had put into their presentations. Two weeks later I returned with the mayor's right hand man, the women's office coordinator, the forestry office coordinator and several local community leaders to act as a panel of judges for the presentations. The students again knocked the ball outta the park and impressed all those who came to evaluate them. I'm so proud. These kids are amazing.


One of the kids presenting



A group talking about environmental contamination



A skit about littering that had the kids in stitches



The judges calculating their winner



The winners!

Elkin's 2nd and a Fiesta of Our Own

Birthdays are BIG in Guatemala, so when my friend Katie's host family invited me to their son's second birthday party, I knew I was in for a good time (and a lot of tamales). Katie lives on my way home from the capitol and as I had errands the day before, a visit was feasible. A few other friends also made the trip to partake in the festivities.

The party preparations started early, we were up until nearly midnight the night before preparing almost 200 tamales for the feast. The next morning we were beckoned early to finish preparations, down a breakfast tamale, and herd the kids in to wait for the clown. No Guatemalan birthday party is complete without a giant paper animal to whack to death with a wooden stick, and this party was no exception- we had two piñatas and mayhem ensued after the candy began to fall. The morning ended with cake and birthday blessings for little Elkin.

The party continued throughout the day with a lunch, birthday church service and more tamales, but as friend's of Katie's we were excused to rest and hang out in her house. The four of us ended the day with a celebration of our own- Gringa style- kabobs, wine and some much needed catching up.

The birthday boy got a overwhelmed with all the activity

Stashing the spoils of the piñata



Fernando wasn't so sure about the clown

Books!

This update on the library project has been a long time coming. Due to the imminence of the rainy season, the Tuisquimak latrine project has take precedence in my calendar and blog-posting, but I assure you, it's still plugging along. Last month I finished the kids corner, complete with a red picket fence and matching red bookshelf. The mural is painted and the books are waiting to arrive and be devoured by eager kiddos. I've been mulling over several ideas for the management of the kids library, as I don't want the books to be brought home and never returned, and have finally figured out how I'm going to do it. But more on that all later...soon we'll be flinging the doors of the kids library open and I'll post pictures and updates on that final step.

For the moment, however, I'd like to write about an amazing donation we received last week from a Guatemala-based NGO called ChildAid. They coordinate with educational publishing houses to receive large donations of books that they then distribute to Guatemalan libraries at a very low cost. I got in touch with them about a month ago and last Thursday, after an overnight road trip with my town's mayor and librarian, we were invited into the storehouse and our trunk was filled with hundreds of beautiful, new books- math books, kids books, atlases, posters with poetry, natural history books. It was quite a sight.

How to Make a Tire Garden

One of the projects that many Peace Corps volunteers undertake is food security. Most of the communities in which we live are agricultural, but the food grown and eaten is often lacking in diversity. Here in the Western Highlands of Guatemala, we have a range of soils and temperatures making it an ideal place to grow a plethora of interesting foods, from tropical fruit to cold-weather veggies like brussel sprouts and spinach.

The sustainable agriculture sector of Peace Corps teaches local farmers to use organic fertilizers and to spice up their planting and eating habits with a variety of foods. One of the coolest things that they do is planting small raised gardens in abandoned tires. Though I’m not an agriculture volunteer, I’ve had some fun of my own growing food I can’t find in the market. I enjoyed it so much, in fact, I want to pass along the how-to. Maybe you have an itch to get your hands in some dirt and a few old tires in need of new life. If so, here’s how…

Step 1: Select a Tire
You are looking for a tire that is really worn out; the softer the better. Tires have wire inside them to help them keep their shape- you want to make sure this wire isn’t sticking out too much or you could end up running to get yourself a tetanus shot. When you kick the tire firmly with your foot, you want it to collapse a little.


Step 2: Cut the Tire
Lay your tire on its side and using a sharp knife cut the rim off, leaving two small handles on opposing sides. Cut loops in the handles so you can use them to lift up the tire later.


Step 3: FLIP!
This is the most physical (and fun) part of the process. Use your knees, feet, shoulders, butt, whatever necessary to flip the sucker inside-out. This creates more area for planting. Usually a good way to start the flip is to place the tire on its side and cave in one side using your foot- then shove your knee in the top and move around the edge of the tire, flipping it inside out with your hands. Have fun!

Step 4: Pause for photos



Step 5: Make a Bottom
Get a bunch of strong sticks and create a nest of sorts over the hole in the bottom of the tire. Then put porous fabric covering the sticks. This prevents your dirt from falling through the hole but allows excess water to escape.


Step 6: Fill it With Dirt
The best dirt is a combination of compost and plain old dirt. It should be moist but not wet and clump together when you squeeze it in your hand. Fill your tires most of the way with your soil mix.


Step 7: Plant
Because the tires have limited depth, some things grow better than others. Leafy greens, radishes, herbs, cucumbers, tomatoes and other above-ground small vegetables grow best. Make sure you pay attention to the depth and spacing suggested on your seed packet.

Step 8: Water
Keep your plants moist and watch out for weeds. If you find that animals are munching on your plants you can make a stick fence around the inside perimeter of the tire to keep them out.

Step 9: Harvest and Eat!