June 26, 2011

(be prepared, it’s a long one)

The fact that I am even writing this blog right now is a miracle. Our power has been on and off for the last few days. This afternoon it came back on after being off for a day, and the few hours it was on yesterday morning was followed by another day without power. Having electricity is an interesting thing, because you miss it for things that you wouldn’t normally expect, but at the same time you realize how many of your day to day activities do NOT require power. For instance, my veggies are destroyed from the power outtages, and my milk is also a bit smelly now ( but I’m not ready to toss it out just yet). I have an electric stove so I have to borrow my landlord’s gas stove. BUT I don’t buy meat, and cheese here lasts forever. I go to meetings, plan activities, etc just fine without power. But then you realize you need to get in touch with that random guy from a small community (that DOES have phone service! Yippee) and wait…his phone is dead. I would love to heat water to take a warm shower during this chilly spell of weather but I can’t. At night I have to go to bed a bit earlier but candlelight allows me to finish any urgent matters. I feel bad for my sitemate Zach—he bought a day of internet usage with my modem and the power went out shortly after, so he lost the money he’d spent. When the power came back on, he tried again, buying another day of internet usage, and once again, a couple hours later, the power was out. The internet is not directly connected to the modem, but if your computer isn’t completely charged, or doesn’t have a great battery, you’re basically out of luck. So yeah, electricity is an interesting commodity. It definitely makes technology-based societies function better, but my community in Honduras still works a lot via personal invitations, stopping by someone’s house, sending messages or items on buses or horseback, etc. (Regardless, fingers crossed that the power stays on!)

I have been to Tegucigalpa twice in the last couple weeks. The first week of June we had our Close of Service (COS) Conference in a nice town outside of Teguc. All of the volunteers (30 are left out of the original 50) I trained with were present to discuss logistical issues of finishing our service, and also reflect on our two years of service. It was strange to see people I really hadn’t thought much about in the last two years, and to grasp that it was the last time we’d all be together. For the most part, the information was helpful and it was enjoyable to be with everyone. I decided that my COS date would be September 2, which means I’ll need to be in Teguc the week before to do medical and administrative checkout. After finishing the conference, I went for a day to Cantaranas, where I had training, and stayed with my host family for a night. It was really nice to see them, although it was SUPER hot and the power went out so I was just soaking in my own sweat. I think the trainee that stayed with them after me must have been very health conscious, because we used to eat lots of fried foods and no veggies, but this visit we had wheat bread, fruit, nothing fried. I was impressed. My host mom has also started running in the morning with some of her friends. That is UNHEARD of in Honduras. I am so proud of them. The kids were also really healthy looking. Its amazing to see an eleven year old boy that looks like he is eleven. So many of the children in Camasca are malnourished and an eleven year old here looks like a five year old.

A week or so later I returned to Teguc for an all-day Volunteer Advisory Council meeting. Normally our meetings have been for a couple hours, once every four months. But since we have a new country director, she thought that our meetings should be longer to allow for more thorough discussions. We met from 10am until 4pm! The next day was the National Presentation and Workshop of the Yo Merezco (“I Deserve”) Program. The leaders of many big NGOs and government agencies were invited to hear about the project and hopefully support it. The event took place in a fancy hotel in Teguc, and included a lunch and “merienda” (necessary snack around 10am), and we also had a volunteer playing the violin accompanied by a pianist. Fancy stuff. You faithful readers will remember that this is a Peace Corps-initiated health program for young girls to encourage abstinence, and I worked with a group of high school students to execute the program in 5 schools. WELL the director of the health program in Peace Corps wanted me to explain the work I had done, and also I brought Minsis with me. She is a friend that just graduated from high school who is headed to the USA in a couple months . She is a recipient of a USAid scholarship–she did all the work, I just provided the paperwork! She came along and everyone was so impressed by her ability to express herself and command an audience. We presented one of the activities from the manual, and everyone really enjoyed it. The activity is of a story of a young couple whose future changes when the girl becomes pregnant, and it follows their financial expenses as they do not “family plan” and their family grows. It is a really good, clear example of how teenage couples are often not ready for the responsibilities of children. Minsis and I were part of a panel of volunteers and Hondurans that shared our experiences “in the field” and the participants asked us questions afterwards. I believe that most people were really supportive of the program. I’d like to see more organizations take on the project, because I feel it is a real necessity and I’ve had a lot of success with it in Camasca.

Other news—just preparing things for the stoves project. I visited San Ignacio yesterday to remind them that we WERE in fact still doing the project. If people don’t see your face in their community for a while, they start to wonder if the project is going to happen. We were supposed to make a contract with a woman to make our clay pots we need for the stoves, but it’s been raining non-stop so she didn’t come to the market today. I don’t blame her, these roads are horrible in the rain and can be muddy and dangerous. Oh, and I think you have to cross a small river to get from her community of San Lucas to Camasca. She has no cell phone, and lives an hour away (walking because no cars ever pass, just horses), but not to worry, we found her son who said he would get her the message. Oh, but wait, my carpenter friend later encountered the son quite “tomado” (drunk), which meant he’d likely forget to pass along the message, so we had to then try to call her neighbor who sometimes has phone service. Sometimes things here are a bit complicated  Anyways, hopefully we will meet with her tomorrow to discuss the details. We need 100 pots, and supposedly she can only make 25/week, so we need her to start making them…yesterday. Also will need to discuss how to get them to San Ignacio. We plan to pay a bit more to have them brought to the community once finished. How so? On horseback, of course.

Also, ENRIQUE IGLESIAS is coming to Teguc on July 9. I am doing my best to be there. I am still bummed that the Aventura concert was cancelled last year. My money is tight but I’d sacrifice a few beans to see Enrique live.