Turn Around

February 15th.

"Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go"

So on the 12th I wrote an entry about how my day went. Today my entry is going to be more or less the opposite. Since Saturday I have done some thinking. I realized that no matter where they put me I will accept the challenge. Every site is going to be rough…it just takes time to get used to. The people who live there handle it just fine…and I will too… it will just take time (perhaps a lot of time) to get used to it. I didn’t come here to be comfortable and this is after all what I signed up for. If the community has requested a volunteer, then it is because they feel they will benefit, and I will be will accept the challenge.
Today I started my day with the minister of health here in my community of Canas (sugar cane in English). We discussed what his job is, his daily duties, and the health issues facing Salvadorians. We then went house to house to talk with residents about different issues. Our primary concerns were infant health and stagnant water in the water reserves.
I wasn’t aware of this, but until just a few years ago the infant mortality rate in El Salvador was just above 60%. Yes 60%! Meaning more than half the babies that were born here died. Today, with help from USAID (United States Agency for International Development), the Peace Corps, and other NGO’s; that number has dropped to about 20 percent. This is still way too high. When we visited homes, the majority of the infants had never seen a doctor and most had no vaccinations. The minister of health explained the importance of breast feeding, especially during the first 2 months, and the mothers just looked on in awe. They knew nothing about taking care of a baby. Keep in mind that we are also having these info sessions in filthy shanty homes made of sheet metal, tree logs, and dirt. Add in the wild, dirty and sometimes rabid dogs that are casually strolling in and out of the house. I could go into so much more detail, but it would take pages. Overall, it was amazing and mindboggling that these mothers had no knowledge of how to take care of an infant. I, a 23 year-old male, had more of an understanding.
After spending a few hours visiting homes I had my Spanish class until 5. At 5 o’ clock, myself and the other volunteers who are training with me organized a meeting for the local youth at the health center. (Which is about the size of 2 backyard storage sheds.) I live in a community of 372 people. The goal of the meeting was to help them form a group that would initiate some sort of change in their community now and after we leave. About 15 or 20 people showed up, ranging in ages from 15 to 25. We came up with 5 ideas of how they could make their community better and cleaner if they donated just a little bit of their time each month. Next week we will have another meeting and decide which project we are going to do over the next 5 weeks while we are training here. And then we hope they will continue to meet once a month for other projects after we depart for our permanent sites. Like I said before one of the goals of the Peace Corps is to help foster sustainable change, so that when we leave a community they continue the work we helped start for them.