A post from the States

Well, I’ve been home almost a week now, so I suppose I can’t justify waiting much longer to get this blog entry up!

First, the business:

SCHOLARSHIPS FOR CHILDREN TO ATTEND MIDDLE SCHOOL
- Home visits with photos completed in Portillon and El Horno. All information sent to Barbara Gawinski and the First Unitarian Scholarship Committee.

CURRICULUM MODULES FOR LOCAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
- No new updates.

PIPED WATER DISTRIBUTION PROGRAM IN PORTILLON
- Materials list sent to Marvin. Still awaiting delivery of these parts, but the Portillon men are ready to go as soon as parts arrive.

PIPED WATER DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM IN LA CALERA
- Look! People were immensely proud to show me their water!

VIP LATRINE PROJECT
- Lists of people from each community who lack and/or want a new latrine were gathered at the community meeting on 8.21.08. Four families from each community, each without a latrine currently, were randomly chosen out of a hat. These 24 (total=6x4) families will each dig the pit and collect the local materials in the coming month. Workshops, donated material distribution and construction will begin after the October community meeting.

IMPROVED COOKSTOVE (FOGON) PROJECT

-All the interested families (ranging 4-8 per community) were instructed to gather the local materials and build the mesa in the coming month. Workshops, donated material distribution and construction will begin after the October community meeting.

ESTABLISHING A CATARACT SURGERY CENTER IN SANTA LUCIA
- Updates on contacts and location details sent to Deepak Sobti.

POTTERS FOR PEACE FILTER PROJECT IN SAN JOSE
- Currently grinding away trying to get RSRB approval. The project should begin when I return in October.

Second, “da blog.”

Well, I would be lying if I told you there wasn’t a good deal of “culture shock” going on as I sit in the student union at the University of Buffalo typing this entry (I’m here for the day to support Kirsten as she begins Social Work grad school!). I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: America is WEIRD!

What do I mean by “weird?” I guess what I really mean is surreal. Excluding the wealthiest 1/6 of humanity, the “normalcy” of life here is really a dream. Many more people, like billions more people, live like I do in Honduras than like I do in the United States. When you think on the global scale (which I hope we all try to do), my living conditions in Honduras are normal, not my living conditions in the States.

I won’t wax on too much more about our need to reinterpret our reality as “surreality,” but let me just give an example of what I see when I’m back: When I walked into my apartment, a modestly-sized, sparsely furnished, circa 1950’s white box, I felt as though I was in a palace. Everything was so perfect. The quality of the construction, the photos behind clean glass on the walls, the shiny floors, the road bikes leaning casually, the plants, the bright electric lights, the windows that close tightly and have screens, the temperature, the quiet… Everything. My “modest” American home would be the nicest building in my “state” in Honduras, hands down. That is weird. I’ve spent healthy chunks of time in really impoverished places before, but this is the first time it has ever emotionally struck me just how ridiculous our “normal” is.

I know, I know, I promised I wouldn’t drone on and make this too “bloggy,” so, moving on…. Honduras!

The last two weeks here were a whirlwind of activity, disappointment and excitement. I was cruising along, finding some free time to study Spanish and visit more schoolchildren at their houses, when I received a rather weighty email from Brianna, the Peace Corps Volunteer who was effectively my “site mate.” Brianna had left about a week earlier for her first return to the States in a year, but the email didn’t bring the cheery report of warm showers and friends that I would have expected.

Instead, the email reported that there had been a miscommunication between Brianna and the Peace Corps about her date of departure. To make a long story short, she left two days earlier than she was supposed to, the Peace Corps found out, and they decided that was grounds for termination of her service. Brianna had been forced to resign and she wasn’t going to come back. Period. Never mind the unfinished programs she had started, the unfinished mentorships she had formed, the un-emptied house she had left behind, and the suddenly-solo Mateo in San Jose. Suddenly, with one slip-up, it was over. Without a doubt, it was an overly strict and short-sighted decision by the Peace Corps. I will immensely miss my site-mate, as will everyone in and around San Jose with whom she had formed really wonderful relationships.

So, already bummed about the loss of Brianna, I was now presented with a lot of sudden changes in planning. Most notably, we had scheduled another community meeting for the last Saturday of the month, which she was going to run. With Brianna gone, the only option was for yours-truly to host the meeting before he departed. So off I went to rally the troops and prepare for a second community meeting.

Here the story takes much of the form of the last community meeting… I walked for several days to spread the word, scrambled to get guidance from the powers-that-be in Rochester about where we wanted to go next with the projects, and then woke up early on the morning of the meeting with much nervous energy pouring through my body…

This time the meeting was supposed to start at 8am, and by 8:15am there were 3 people there. “Phewf,” I thought, “leading this meeting alone, in Spanish, won’t be so bad with just a few people” … Then about 60-65 other people showed up! Yeehhhaaawwww! I had a huge and eager crowd on my hands!

With just me at the helm, this time with no language crutch to lean on, we plunged into the meeting. And it worked!

As requested, leaders from each community had brought lists of people from their community that lack latrines and/or improved cookstoves. Using these, we set out to decide who would be the next to receive latrines and improved cook-stoves. As we were only able to fund 4 more latrines in each community (a total of 24), and since favoritism is so rampant (ie, the “rich” families often get the projects first, even though they need them less), I busted out my sombrero, put in the names of all the needy families, had an oblivious little girl draw names, and decided with an old-fashioned name-out-of-the-hat technique. Recipient families were thereby decided upon with great fairness (and much fascination at the process!), instructions were given about what work needed to be done by each family before I returned in October, and plans were made about where to go from here. It took 2.5 hours, but it went well!

The latrine and cookstove projects are set to take off again in October!

Ok, I feel as though I’ve probably already exceeded your attention span, so let me end with nothing more than a word of advice to all gringos heading to Central America: Isabel is a man’s name. That means you shouldn’t ask 100 people along the path if they know the “woman named Isabel” from their community. Even though you may not realize it, the laughs won’t be about your accent. Trust me!

Give me a jingle stateside if you’re yearning for more tales (585-698-6077),

Love to all,

Mateo

This was the view from my latrine the night before I left. Literally. I am lucky I have a latrine. I am also lucky this is out the front door of my latrine!

HOME!

Home again, home again, jiggidy jig!

As of yesterday, I'm back home for the first of my three returns to the USofA. It is WEIRD here!

I promise a more sufficient update later, but in the meantime, enjoy these pictures... most of them have been up here for a week or so (thanks, Kirsten!), but there are a few new photos and captions stuck in there too, so take another look... enjoy!

Here I am shamelessly taking self-timed photos of myself posting an announcement for the community meeting. This one is being posted on a "pulperia" (convenience store) in Guanacaste.

The meeting announcement. If you speak Spanish really well, please don't read it too closely, as you'll probably tear apart my grammar!

Coming back from Sunday market, looking very Honduran in my Sunday best, with my "matate" full of fruits and veggies.

Next, here are a few photos that happened when my neigbors, Wilson and Leonal,
discovered my camera and then proceeded to take, well, about 50 photos....I'm pouring water on his head. Wilson never knew what was coming....

Leonel, the photographer, figuring out that he can take photos of himself. What a face!

Setting up a shot with two of the student "guides" that helped me find
the houses in Potreros when I was taking photos for the scholarships.

The shot, which they loved.

This is one of the families I visited while taking pictures for the scholarships. They were striking both for their degree of poverty and their incredible kindness. The wall-less structure they are standing in front of is the house in which all six of them live. You are seeing the whole thing. That's it. For the photo, they all took a few minutes to put on their "nice clothes," wash off the soot from their arms and faces, and wet their hair; all this while I sat on their only chair, a plastic lawn chair that was sewn together along the seet and lacking a leg. I promised to bring them a copy of the photo when I return. It is for people like this that I am here.

Here I am walking back from the house in the prior picture. I hope this helps to show the grade of the land here in San Jose!

Surprise!

More soon.... Mateo

Hello again,

As and FYI: You need to CLICK ON “READ ARCHIVES” in the right hand column of this webpage to view the entirety of this post and the last entries. I couldn´t figure this out without the help of my ladyfriend, so I thought I´d share the wisdom….

First, business:

SCHOLARSHIPS FOR CHILDREN TO ATTEND MIDDLE SCHOOL
-All schools, teachers and students have been notified about the availability of 2 scholarships per school for this school year. Selection criteria and timelines where emphasized. Home visits with photos have been done for Potreros and Guanacaste. Visits to El Horno are scheduled. All information sent was to Barbara Gawinski and the First Unitarian Scholarship Committee.

CURRICULUM MODULES FOR LOCAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
- Information on current status of the modules and future directions for the project has been gathered and sent to Barbara Gawinski.

PIPED WATER DISTRIBUTION PROGRAM IN PORTILLON
- The tank is done! Now we wait for two months for the concrete to “cure.”
- Currently we are organizing and gathering final materials to lay the pipes from the source to the tank.

PIPED WATER DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM IN LA CALERA
- Completely done! I saw, with my very eyes, water flowing out of the spigots from multiple houses. Everyone was ecstatic to turn on their spigot and show me the water. Great work and many thanks to all who made this possible. The people of La Calera are extraordinarily grateful.

VIP LATRINE AND IMPROVED COOKSTOVE (FOGON) PROJECTS
- At a very successful and well-attended community meeting, I stressed the necessity of the community members to organize among themselves and form work groups before the projects can continue. To facilitate this, a volunteer from each community is compiling a list of the people in their community who lack a latrine or fogon and who want a latrine or fogon. Lists will be delivered to me on 8-15-08. From there, we can assess current need and decide how best to progress.

FLUORIDE PROJECT
- Elia (the Community Health Worker that staffs the clinic) is been given full charge of this program.

ESTABLISHING A CATARACT SURGERY CENTER IN SANTA LUCIA
- Currently at the proposed site. Information on resources sent to Deepak Sobti.

POTTERS FOR PEACE FILTER PROJECT IN SAN JOSE
-Discussed my research proposal with representatives from Portillon and La Calera. All expressed interest and will get back to me about the ability of community members to pay the proposed cost of the filters.

Second, the good stuff:

Two more weeks have cruised by, and so much has changed, in so many ways…

First, I just shaved my head. Or more accurately, a woman in Santa Lucia just shaved my head. She assumed my Spanish was just really bad and so she was quite resistant to go so short on a gringo, but eventually we got down to a nice #1 and #2 clipper-length buzz. It is quite becoming, but I will hold you in suspense for a photo. Insert evil laugh here.

Another big change is that my Spanish is making a strong surge. It’s still light-years from perfect, and many miles from great, but it’s getting there. This has made it possible to get out there a bit more, meet my neighbors, and get things going…

..which brings me to my first tale. So, last Saturday, two representative from our partner NGO, Hombro a Hombro, where supposed to come out to San Jose for a community meeting. The goal was to let the community know where we are now with the projects and to hear from them what their priorities are. At the prior meeting, there were 7 people there. It wasn’t enough to get anything done, and everyone was frustrated that so few people from the community was participating. SO, I took it upon myself to see if I could do something about this fall in involvement…

I spent three days spreading the word. I tromped around the trails, posted signs wherever there was a spot a few people would pass, visited each school and gave the kids a notice to take home to their parents, and just stopped at any house along the way where there were people outside, chatted it up, and told them about the meeting.

Well, the meeting was supposed to start at 10:00am. Hondurans, like most of Latin America, are chronically late (the 8:00 meeting the week before started around 10:30!). So, my two little piglet friends just about started to fly when, at 8:30am, people started showing up at my porch for the meeting. People were early! It was a good sign.

Now, as you may have noticed before, I wrote that the NGO representatives where “supposed to” come. Well, of course, after all the advertising, they called on Thursday night and said they couldn’t make it. Suddenly, it was just Brianna and I running the show. Needless to say, I was extremely nervous that my Spanish would crumble like the Berlin wall or go totally crazy like that suspension bridge that wiggled to death in the 1950’s. I’m pleased to report that it didn’t.

In all, about 45 people (over the age of 13, with plenty more under), representing six out of the seven communities, came to the meeting. Brianna and I gave a comprehensive overview of the status of each current project, fielded questions, and facilitated a few key organizational steps that will help everything more forward. If half of the things we planned actually happen, it was a huge success. And, selfishly, I have to say that I smiled mighty wide when several people went on and on about how happy they were that they found out about the meeting this time, from the posters and announcements at school!

This week, I’ve been climbing to each community all over again to visit the house of each sixth grader and take a picture of them at home (it’s the first part of the scholarship application to attend high school). So, you might be saying, a whole week to visit about 20 houses? I would say the same thing, but consider this: In Potreros, it took me 4.5 hours to visit five houses! Yeah, I’m going to me a hiking machine by the time I return.

Lastly, I should add that as far as the living situation goes, I’m adjusting quite nicely to the physical place. The challenge now is that living in the community building in a small town is kind of like living on main street without blinds, or like living in an aquarium. Now that kids and people are getting to know me, and since my neighbors are the school and the road everyone passes by, there is a fairly constant stream of people stopping by… or in the case of the children, hovering around. You would be amazed how fascinating the kids find it to watch a gringo eat dinner. I should patent myself and sell the rights to Disney, because I could be the next Hannah Montana of Latin America!

Ok, those are more of less the highlights. Sorry about the lack of pictures, but I'm not allowed to upload them from this satellite connection. Bummer. I'll see if I can add them later in the week... As for the next full post, it will probably be from the States when I return for my first stint in the US in 2 short weeks! Crazy.

Exited to see many of you soon and thinking of all of you very much,

With a salute from my bald head,

mateo