Saturday, April 17, 2010
Just a story.
Today I had an awesome experience. It was something that you would never think would be cool, but it was. A family in my community has a son and daughter in the United States. They both went there illegally 9 years ago, and since they are illegal they cannot come back to visit. Well today I brought my laptop over to their mud hut and 11 people in their family and I climbed up to the top of a mountain in my village so we could get satellite signal for internet and we skyped the son and daughter in the United States. For us Americans, that may not be so crazy, but for these people… who have never been to the capital and have only left their village a handful of times, this was huge. It was the first time seeing a computer for some of them… For the first time in 9 years they were actually seeing their kids, brother and sister and they did not have to worry about how much it cost. They huddled around the screen in this barren field while chickens, roosters and cows looked on and talked, shared laughs and even shed a few tears. This went on for 4 hours. I guess William Shatner was right… the internet can’t hide anymore.
Village life.
4/17/10
The ice cream truck is passing right now for the third time, which means I have now been in my site for three weeks. It seems like an eternity, but my new life is starting to take shape. Right now the kids are begging my host dad for some change so they can buy a scoop of ice cream, but he already gave them money today for watermelon. Maybe next week… The truck comes every Friday. The last couple of weeks have had their ups and downs, but things are becoming more normal. The only thing that really bothers me right now are the kids in my house. They follow me everywhere. They eat my food. They go into my room and use EVERYTHING, including my facewash, que tips , bug spray, and anything else you could think of. Normally that would not bother me, but considering that those types of things are hard to come by in the middle of nowhere in El Salvador… it bothers me. Or the fact that ANYTIME I am on my computer they have to pull up a chair and watch me the entire time. I’m sure you get the point… It’s annoying. But I will only be in this house for what I hope is just a couple of more weeks.
Earlier this week I started my community census, which consists of visiting every house in my village and introducing myself and asking them a bunch of questions about their lives and their families. At first I was nervous, but right now I have 50 houses down and 50 more to go and I am pretty comfortable with it. I try to spend no more that 20 minutes per house. Some of the questions are: How many people live here? What do you do with your trash? Do you know anything about HIV/AIDS? Do you brush your teeth? Have you had a mammogram in the last year? Do you discuss family planning with your husband? And then I kind of snoop around the house and check out the sink areas and see if there is soap around and how much mosquito larva is their water supply. Yesterday I went to a house that was completely constructed of mud, it had 2 rooms and there were 14 people living there. Of the 50 houses I visited they were the happiest and most friendly family of all… I think I would probably lose my mind if I were in that situation. The one question that I did not ask them, that I really was curious about was… how do you make 12 children when you all share two bedrooms?!? What a mystery. After I am done with my census I have to compile the results and then present them to my entire community in a general assembly meeting on May 11th. It is there where I will formally set an agenda with my community and discuss potential projects. I already know one of the projects will be about latrine construction. So many families in my village do not have latrine or toilet and forced to go wherever they can in their backyards.
The average salary in my village is 6.00 per day or 36.00 per week and they work harder than anyone I know. But about 90 percent of the families receive money from family members in the states. Most of the time it is about 100 dollars per month or at least that is what they tell me.
So here I am 3 weeks in… 101 weeks left. But who’s counting.
The ice cream truck is passing right now for the third time, which means I have now been in my site for three weeks. It seems like an eternity, but my new life is starting to take shape. Right now the kids are begging my host dad for some change so they can buy a scoop of ice cream, but he already gave them money today for watermelon. Maybe next week… The truck comes every Friday. The last couple of weeks have had their ups and downs, but things are becoming more normal. The only thing that really bothers me right now are the kids in my house. They follow me everywhere. They eat my food. They go into my room and use EVERYTHING, including my facewash, que tips , bug spray, and anything else you could think of. Normally that would not bother me, but considering that those types of things are hard to come by in the middle of nowhere in El Salvador… it bothers me. Or the fact that ANYTIME I am on my computer they have to pull up a chair and watch me the entire time. I’m sure you get the point… It’s annoying. But I will only be in this house for what I hope is just a couple of more weeks.
Earlier this week I started my community census, which consists of visiting every house in my village and introducing myself and asking them a bunch of questions about their lives and their families. At first I was nervous, but right now I have 50 houses down and 50 more to go and I am pretty comfortable with it. I try to spend no more that 20 minutes per house. Some of the questions are: How many people live here? What do you do with your trash? Do you know anything about HIV/AIDS? Do you brush your teeth? Have you had a mammogram in the last year? Do you discuss family planning with your husband? And then I kind of snoop around the house and check out the sink areas and see if there is soap around and how much mosquito larva is their water supply. Yesterday I went to a house that was completely constructed of mud, it had 2 rooms and there were 14 people living there. Of the 50 houses I visited they were the happiest and most friendly family of all… I think I would probably lose my mind if I were in that situation. The one question that I did not ask them, that I really was curious about was… how do you make 12 children when you all share two bedrooms?!? What a mystery. After I am done with my census I have to compile the results and then present them to my entire community in a general assembly meeting on May 11th. It is there where I will formally set an agenda with my community and discuss potential projects. I already know one of the projects will be about latrine construction. So many families in my village do not have latrine or toilet and forced to go wherever they can in their backyards.
The average salary in my village is 6.00 per day or 36.00 per week and they work harder than anyone I know. But about 90 percent of the families receive money from family members in the states. Most of the time it is about 100 dollars per month or at least that is what they tell me.
So here I am 3 weeks in… 101 weeks left. But who’s counting.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
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