6.11.10

Morals and Drunken Races>>TSC


Last week nine amazing friends, new and old, went on a trip of a lifetime. Why a lifetime? Because I’ll never do it again…but it was worth it cien por ciento (100%).

We headed to Todos Santos Cuchumatan (TSC) to see, celebrate, and experience their famous November 1st horse races. We tried to make plans before going, transportation and lodging, because we knew it could be rough and expensive doing it as we went. But as we all know plans often don’t ever work out here…so, how do I put it? The plans fell through at the very last of minutes and we fell into winging-it once again. What happened doesn’t need to be expressed in any detail other than to say…

Forgiveness isn’t a natural instinct.

At least it isn’t for me.

The unraveling of events that led us (for a brief moment) with nowhere to stay made me question (and I’m still pondering) many things: people, intentions, institutions, fear, belief, diversity, quality, reactions…

Basically, when we have the opportunity to be open and hospitable, to learn and share with others….don’t screw it up if you happen to be a person and/or an organization who celebrates diversity.

Although I’m still stunned by the unmentioned event, our group of ten did not let it deter us from having a wonderful adventure in TSC amid the celebrations of death and life.

TSC is a small but famous village located in the western highlands of Guatemala and is known for little but its November 1st celebration. The story goes that back during colonization the Spanish didn’t allow the indigenous peoples to ride horses. One day (or night) someone in TSC got really drunk, hoped on a horse and showed those Spaniards that they too could ride horses. The modern day version of this is celebrated on November 1st, All Saints Day. A part of a road in town in blocked off and drunken men ride their horsed back and forth all-day-long----

It isn’t really a race because there are no winners. Anyone can participate (as did three of our ten). Spectators are basically waiting for someone to fall off or for a funny scream from a rider. If someone does happen to fall off, get trampled on and then die it’s considered a sign for a good harvest the next year.

If you can’t already tell, for me there was much more to this weekend than the drunken horse “race.” There was even more to it than seeing a new part of Guatemala (because TSC is VERY much like Nebaj). For me it was a weekend of making incredible new friends, having great conversations, playing games, and creating memories. Our group was diverse, four Guatemalans, an Australian, an Englishman, and four North Americans.

For me, it was wonderful to experience TSC though their eyes. Sometimes you need a new perspective ---a positive one--- to reawaken all that you loved about Latin America to start with. Sometimes you need to stop judging and start appreciating. Sometimes you need to relax, laugh, and let go.

A few people I shared this with:
Check out Connor’s site about TSC---he even made a video!
Designer, Ana Karen’s site
Personal blogs of Juan Pablo, Chris, and Karen

18.10.10

SO many changes

Once again, crazy is the only way to describe my life over the past two weeks but it’s the good----no even GREAT---type of crazy, don’t worry!

I’ll try to put this in some sort of order but here we go: what APS and I have been working on….

Due to my persistant recommendations, we’re most likely getting two Healthy Schools Peace Corps Volunteers to Nebaj in March 2012!

The 30 Healthy School/Rotary Club project is coming together poco a poco…

I have been linking together several major organizations (not sure if I should name names?) to work together on school sanitation projects all over the country!

I quickly organized an event in Nebaj’s plaza for Global Handwashing Day on Oct. 15th! Although I was unable to attend and participate it was a HUGE success combining three other organizations around Nebaj and the local public who happened to be passing through the park. What happened? We took flyers and soap to the plaza where people washed their hands in the fountain! Check out the photos!

I was reminded by my wonderful friend Joan that Oct 15th was also Blog Action Day. Blog Action Day picks one topic and elaborates on it. This year’s theme was WATER! Joan shared this link with me, check it out!  Now I’m trying to play catch-up and do my own Blog Action…

I’m going to work on a radio initiative with Cultural Survival to get messages out about hygiene and water issues. The messages will be in Ixil (the language spoken in Nebaj) and possibly other indigenous languages! It’s a great and simple tool to communicate with the local population as in many parts of Guatemala and the WORLD it is the only source of information rural communities have. Celebrate radios!

Another exciting update is that Jodi and Tristian Moss’ hard work back in April as PhotoPhilanthropists has come to fruition on the Peer Water Exchange website! Check it out and especially the links to the stories on the left side! We are excited to host another PhotoPhilanthropist in November!

My personal update would be that I’ve been busy, doing site visits, giving health lessons at schools, saying goodbye to good friends, welcoming new friends, and really getting comfortable in my new home. Siobhan has been a tremendous help to this process too as she surprised me with a completely made over living room when I came home after a weekend in Antigua. She even made an excel sheet with all 620 books and plans to classify them! Also, I bought Scott’s bed after he left and now I’m sleeping like a rock instead of sleeping on a rock…

Thanks for being involved!

2.10.10

Giant buckets, bike races, dancing trees, and landslides

September was full of settling and shaking things up a bit. I came back to Nebaj for a few weeks to ground myself after a busy August. I started working more intently on Healthy Schools in Nebaj and was surprised and happy to see that some of the parents began sending their kids to school with toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, towel, etc. So now when I visit the schools I can incorporate these materials into the lessons!

September 15th is Guatemalan Independence Day and I spent the day with friends in Nebaj watching the parade, eating good food, watching football, etc. The two most interesting parts of the parade were people dressed up as trees with signs saying “Don’t cut down trees” and Guatemalans dressed up as gringos with huge plastic, caricature-like masks.

At some point that week Scott made a Guatemalan bucket-list of things he needs to go in Guate before flying out mid-October. Xocomil was on that list and with Jenny’s help we were able to make that happen the weekend after Independence Day. Jenny lives here in Nebaj and has a car so she drove a bunch of us to Xela and then to Xocomil the next day for a great day of fun in the sun at Guatemala’s best (only?) water park! It was very high-class and we were spoiling ourselves but it was great fun.

 I then traveled back to Antigua where I spent a few days with friends, new and old. At dinner one night I met a freelance journalist, Connor, who came to Guate to learn Spanish and happened upon an interesting event in Panajachel: the 18th annual Cycle Messenger World Championships. Kinda random, but even more random that this was the first year it wasn’t held in Japan or the US. You can read about it and be entertained by other articles here: http://connorboals.com/

Then on a Tuesday night Scott and I traveled to Guate City and crossed another item of his bucket-list: TGI Fridays. We ran up the bill, enjoyed some Negros Modelos, and learned that you should call at least a half-hour early for a taxi when in make-believe suburban America. We managed to only arrive 10 minutes late to the airport where we met Siobhan! She’s the new volunteer for Agua para la Salud and my new house mate.
Siobhan, Scott, FABIOLA!!, and I traveled back to Nebaj on a Thursday morning. I say Fabiola with excitement because she was able to find some time to come visit me in between her intense last few months of university. We had some great plans for that weekend but unfortunately it has started to rain relentlessly in Nebaj. We spent a lot of time indoors, playing games, cooking, and eating. Sunday the clouds parted and we hiked to the mirador to get a nice view of Nebaj just before Faby left on her long bus ride back to the city…which was not complete without a little boy throwing up on his chickens (of course!).

Since then I have been busy in meetings and orienting Siobhan to Nebaj life. We are trying to get a Peace Corps Healthy School volunteer here in March. The support from the needed authorities has been wonderful and I have high hopes for our hard work.

Unfortunately the rain has not stopped, at ALL. There was a Peace Corps lake reunion planned for the first weekend of Oct that we were unable to attend because of road conditions---especially the landslides. We tried leaving for a Saturday day-trip to Huehue instead and we literally couldn’t get out of Nebaj because of a huge landslide just outside of town---on the only road leading out! I’m hoping the worse of the rains will be over come November but this rainy season has been fierce and unyielding.

28.9.10

Nica Report

Here is the report I wrote summarizing my experience with Agua para la Vida in Rio Blanco, Nicaragua. The original has photos but as I've posted Jon's link (below) you can read this and then view the photos. Enjoy!

As a Program Coordinator for Agua para la Salud in Nebaj, Guatemala I had the rare opportunity to visit Agua para la Vida in Nicaragua. APLV has completed over 50 water and sanitation projects all over Nicaragua with offices located in Managua and Rio Blanco. The purpose of my visit was to learn not only about their past and present projects but to familiarize myself with the extensive organizational network that APLV has constructed to address all aspects and issues of their projects.

During my five day stay in Rio Blanco I had the opportunity to visit three nearby project sites with various specialists from Agua para la Vida, local members of water committees, and a volunteer photographer from PhotoPhilanthropy, Jon Polka. Commonalities between the sites were easy to diagnose as all villages had few economic resources and were extremely rural and disperse which lead to the great need of a reliable and nearby water resource and sanitation facilities.

Day One: Tri-Community Water System

The first site we visited was located two hours from Rio Blanco and is a current project site serving the three communities of Quirragua, El Carmen, and San Isidro (111 families in total). Upon arriving, we hopped on horses waiting for us at the entrance of San Isidro. The horses were necessary for two reasons: the rainy season in Nicaragua creates deep pockets of mud difficult to pass through on foot and the three communities are located several kilometres away from each other with no road access.
This large project began when the community of El Carmen began to look for a water resource in order to provide water for their community. The spring they located was eight kilometres away in the village of Quirragua. It was decided during the initiation of the project to include the village of San Isidro as well to the conduction lines since it is located between El Carmen and Quirragua.

First, we visited the school of San Isidro and met with the local water committee or CAPS (Comité de Agua Potable y Saneamiento or Committee of Potable Water and Health). From their introduction and brief words shared it was clear that APLV has not only formed excellent relations with the community but APVL has also created tight work strategies within the communities. Each CAPS committee not only has a President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer but there are also individuals with the titles of Health Promoter, Environmental Promoter, and a Maintenance Representative. Each of these posts works alongside their APLV counterpart throughout the implementation of the project. The APVL counterpart gives several educational workshops members of CAPS and the community in order to assure the communities knowledge of the project, system maintenance, healthy habits, and environmental care.
After lunch we saddled up to visit the spring site located in Quirragua. CAPS and other community members joined us on our trek to the site and once we arrived it was quite the communal celebration of drinking water from the spring. Overall it was an excellent day spent seeing and learning how the communities and APLV work together.

Day Two: APLV Office in Rio Blanco

The next day I spent some time in the Rio Blanco office where I visited with Esteban Cantillano who is responsible for the monitoring of finished projects, potable water, and overall health of the communities. In other words, Esteban is the maintenance monitor for all of the projects APLV has done and will do in the future. In order to manage his time he dutifully trains CAPS and the community during the realization of the project. Due to content, his trainings are often long and intense yet he tries to make them as fun and interactive as possible. He also believes in teamwork and hones in on this skill development throughout his community trainings. His job can be looked at as the sustainability element of the organization because he does not want a small issue to get in the way of the community having access to water in the future.

Unfortunately Esteban´s job does have major hurdles to overcome. First, he was eager to remind me that his job does not begin at the end of the project. Instead, he feels as though he must keep a close watch on every step of the project to prevent future complications and issues. Furthermore, his job is made even more complicated when members of CAPS change and he has to re-train members. Unlike the other sections of APLV who have multiple employees, Esteban is overseeing every project maintenance issue himself. Additionally, Esteban must travel by public transportation to visit the sites which cuts into his time with each community. Each of these issues boil down to a common concern when it comes to maintenance and sustainability in any NGO: funding.

Escuela Technica de Agua Portable

Next, I visited ETAP- Escuela Technica de Agua Portable or Technical School for Potable Water. The story goes the APLV´s co-founder, Gilles Corcos, began this in-residence technical training course in 1996 after meeting a younger and eager-to-learn Esteban Cantillano. In return Esteban became one of six students to first graduate from ETAP. Currently, the school is comprised of eight recently graduated

Day Three: River Captation Site

On Wednesday we went back into the field to visit an extraordinary open river captation site located in the village of Enea. Like the majority of the villages APLV works with, Enea is a very disperse community but with a very unique situation. For twenty years families in Enea searched for a way to provide water to their homes. Prior to the water system, Enea residents were fetching water from the river between 2 and 4 in the morning because that is when they thought the water was most clean. Since the river was the main water source for the community, many engineering groups did technical analysis on the river and said a captation site could not be done. Enea kept searching. Finally, one day a pastor mentioned an organization he had heard of in Rio Blanco who worked in water projects. Representatives from Enea travelled to Rio Blanco and finally encountered APLV. After a diagnostic study and help in design from Gilles Corcos the community was told APLV could support the construction of their water system. After eight months of hard labour and sometimes working 24 hours a day in shifts, the 102 families of Enea now have water in their homes.

In my experience I found the residents of Enea to be very proud of the hard work they have put forth to complete their water system and further develop their community. Moreover, they are extremely grateful to APLV not only for their technical support and help funding the project but for the trainings they executed. One of the health promoters in Enea openly shared that because of the trainings the residents of Enea now understand that water fetched directly from the river at any hour is contaminated.
Day Four: Health Education Workshop

On Thursday we paid our final field visit to the community of Carrizal of forty-three families where Health and Hygiene Promoter, Lilian Obando, was giving an educational workshop to the women beneficiaries of Carrizal on the use and management of water. With every project APLV executes a health promoter from APLV gives four health trainings to CAPS members and four to the beneficiaries. Although all members of the community are important to involve, Lilian enjoys having a few trainings for only the women in the community since they are the ones whose lives are directly affected by water. When we arrived at the school at 1pm there was a group of eager women awaiting us. The hour long workshop seemed to be a dynamic and fun experience for all involved. The training included songs, skits, poems, games, teamwork, and lots of participation, smiles and laughter. It was very clear that Lilian´s means of educating communities is fluid from her almost fifteen years working as Health and Hygiene Promoter of APLV.
Additional workshops and responsibilities of Lilian includes but is not limited to teaching beneficiaries how to construct their own latrine, working with local schools, health posts, and the Ministry of Education to provide health classes in schools, home visits to understand economic and social conditions of each family and sometimes helping them locate other local resources such as women´s shelters or homes for the handicapped. The job of the Health and Hygiene Promoter, like all the promoters at APLV, is essential to the holistic approach engrained into the organization.

Before the workshop commenced we joined Lilian to visit a few families who were in the process of installing their water meters. Water meters are an extremely important and useful tool APLV has been using the keep track of water used and therefore how much each family needs to pay. These monthly fees are then deposited into a bank account controlled by CAPS and used when repairs are needed to be made.
Conclusions

In conclusion, my experience with APLV and their welcoming staff was overwhelmingly positive. As noted in this report, APLV has an extensive network within their organization that seems to be functioning with few troubles. Unfortunately my short visit cannot capture this picture entirely. I was unable to personally meet and/or speak in-depth with the Reforestation Manager, Social Promoters, Accountant, National Coordinator, Technical Staff, Masons, and Board of Directors whose jobs are also essential to the success of APLV and the communities in which they work.
A comparison between Agua para la Salud and Agua para la Vida is possible but not without limitations. The main difference between APS and APLV is the size of the organizations. APLV has over double the staff of APS and therefore is able to hone in on certain topics more than APS. However, the main purpose, goals, and methodology of APS and APLV are strikingly similar: to organize and work with local, rural populations in order to provide reliable water sources and sanitation facilities to communities and schools while also educating the beneficiaries on environmental and health impacts as well as maintenance concerns.

Agua para la Vida's website is: http://www.aplv.org/

1.9.10

Nicaraguaaaaa

So I'm back in Nebaj, Guatemala after my crazy month of travels. While in Nica I visited Agua para la Vida's project and office as well as helped out a photographer (Jon) who came to take some great shots of what APLV is doing. Here is Jon's flicker site: enjoy!

flickr.com/photos/jonpolka

24.8.10

Ignorance is Bliss…and Poop

I have wanted to write this blog post for a while.


A few weeks ago went home to attend Ali Moyer Flores’ wedding. After the wedding my college roommates and I went to the beach. Becky and I carpooled together and at one very posh rest stop (Wawa’s is a step up from Los Encuentros) we stepped into the ladies room . We entered a scene you often find in the bathroom. You have one or more persons waiting to use the services and a door to one stall wide open ready to use. You give the person already waiting a “are you waiting to use the bathroom/why aren’t you using that stall?” look and she verbally responds “oh you don’t wanna go in there!” You wait until a “clean” stall is available and do your business without giving the clogged/unclean toilet another thought. Well I gave it another thought as I waited for my seemingly motion-censored toilet to flush itself. Then I noted a button on the side of the toilet. I pushed it and the toilet flushed. MAGIC …not really

So, what did I do? I went and “magically” fixed the toilet we were all avoiding. All its contents successfully went down that magic pipe that no one thinks about and we once again had all three stalls working.

This same exact situation happened to me just a few days ago in the Nicaraguan airport. I knew exactly what was happening and flushed that shit straight down, literally.

So, when I was in that Wawa’s bathroom with Becky and I sent the floaters into the bowels of the earth I was strongly reminded of my job in Guatemala. Agua para la Salud is focusing on building hand washing stations and bathrooms at schools. We often debate on the best type of toilets to install: traditional porcelain toilets or latrines. Everyone wants flush toilets but no one maintains them. Simply put, latrines are straightforward, fool-proof but the porcelain gods on the other hand break, clog, or waste water from constantly running water (but they’re pretty, generally don’t smell, and are “development”). The truth about flush toilet issues is that they are actually relatively easy to fix and maintain---almost as easy as pushing that button in the Wawa’s bathroom.

What’s my point? The biggest issue we face in Agua para la Salud and the biggest issue any organization faces is maintenance, also known as sustainability. Another issue we have faced as an organization is relaying the importance and urgency of maintenance to donors and other supporters of our projects. In reality constructing the bathroom or any infrastructure is the easiest part of the process. Maintaining the system (through education) to work for years and decades to come is the battle that lasts forever.

I am currently in Rio Blanco, Nicaragua visiting Agua para la Vida, an organization who does similar work to us but also has different management techniques. They have a maintenance manager who oversees all projects once they are complete. In addition to this they have an education manager who gives several workshops to the community before, during and after the construction period of the project. These two elements ensure that the community can oversee and maintain their project for generations to come.

23.7.10

Travel and Love

Well it´s about time for an update. I wanted to do one before it was over a month since my last one.
These guys played music at a school bathroom inauguration. Check out that hand carved violin!

Mom left teary eyed on July 3rd. I know she had a nice vacation and didn’t want it to end so that was nice. I watched Argentina lose horribly after her departure…which was when I cried.

The next day a great group of friends and I headed to Guate City for a Cultura Profetica concert. Cultura Profetica is a famous Puerto Rican reggae band. Like most things in Latin America this event was pretty poorly organized. Well let´s just say it´s probably the worst organized event I´ve been to in Latin America. Long story short is that we waited for them to arrive at the venue for over 6 hours…I think…I don’t actually want to remember how long we waited. By the time they got one we were all a little tired. But they are still a great band and I would see them again in a heartbeat!
Dani, Rose, me, Faby, and Claudia (couch surfing friend)
I picked up a great family at the airport and then brought them to Nebaj for a dedication to a school they helped build from their Rotary Club in Washington state. I had a really nice time with them as their one son was a Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay in the 90s and had lots of great stories.

Then my French friend, Coralie, came to NEBAJ! Besides my mom she was my first visitor which made me super happy. We hiked to a well known cheese farm one afternoon and then she made a splendid crepe dinner for me and some friends.

I have finally made some great friends in Nebaj. There are a few Peace Corps volunteers here and Scott and John and I have really hit it off. They come over practically every other day to make dinner with me---super fun and leaves little time to get lonely.

Work is really picking up. I´m helping give some talks about water projects to Peace Corps volunteers at their meetings and doing lots of other projects at the same time. It´s all rather complicated but let me just tell you how great it makes me feel to be chipping away and little by little getting some good stuff done!

The biggest news is that Lynn has offered me an all paid for trip to Nicaragua the 3rd week of August. I get to go look what water projects they are doing in Nicaragua and share with them what we are doing here. Plus I get to see some family and friends in Nica, which I´m super excited about!

Before all of that though…I´m headed home for the first week of August for Ali´s wedding and a beach trip with the college roommates!! Super excited as well about that.

Life is pretty swell and I swear I can still find time for visitors!

1.7.10

Busy Bee

Hello again to all! Since I last wrote, I’ve barely had a moment to breath. I’m really starting to live in Guatemala. I have my home and friends here now and it feels really really great.

I last wrote in May and now it’s July…where to begin!?

Well I went home for a week where I said goodbye to Dottie and celebrated my birthday with some close friends and family. It was a hectic week but a great refresher and I brought back enough trail mix for a few months at least.

When I got back to Guate I spent a few days readjusting and realizing that this is now the place I call home. I went to Nebaj a few days later where I spent a rather lonely week working. I say lonely only because this is when hurricane Agatha hit, the volcano erupted, and a huge sink hole was created in the middle of the city. What fun! However, I was safe in the highlands of Nebaj but didn’t leave the house for days because of the rains.

After a week in Nebaj I traveled back to Antigua where I met my roommate from college, Julie, at the airport! I was about an hour late arriving and ran the last bit in the pouring down rain. It was quite a scene…I showed Julie around Antigua and we met up with some of my friends. Then we went to Lake Atitlan for both of our first times (!!). It was a little rainy and cold---not the best first lake experience but what I love about Julie is her laid-backness. So we had a good time just being together, watching movies, buying acorns, and going to bed early.

Then Julie and I traveled to Momostenango for a week and helped build a hand washing station in a school a Peace Corps volunteer and friend. Once again, I had an amazing time with Julie in Momos. She fit right in and loved helping out. She also made some cute little dolls from construction scraps when there was a lull in work. I can’t nor do I have time to try to explain how grateful I was to have Julie’s presence for two weeks. Time flew and work got done!

Next, my mom and my aunt Betsey arrived. Their time with Julie overlapped about 5 days. We stayed around Antigua for most of this time and went to the lake for two days as well. I also got many of my friends together in Antigua to have a dinner party at Danielle and Erick’s home. The rain held off and the food (and wine) was delicious!

I said a teary goodbye to Julie (well not really, but my heart was and still is sad that she’s not here) and begged her to consider moving here…she heard a lot of this all week long from a variety of sources. I spent another day with mom and Betsey doing last minute errands before Betsey flew off the next day. Mom and I stayed in Antigua for the weekend and watch a lot of the Mundial (World Cup). Argentina’s doing greatttt and I’m excited (and a bit nervous) for their game against Germany on Saturday morning! (update, the pulpo is all knowing and Spain won...)

Then mom and I headed on the dreaded 5 hour chicken bus ride to Nebaj. I caught back up with Lynn and turned in some of the things I’ve been working on. It has been nice to have someone in Nebaj to run errands with and cook meals with, I will be sad when she leaves in two days.

The months of July and August are getting more and more packed with fun things for me to do. We have two groups coming in July and I fly home in August for Ali Moyer’s wedding and a beach trip with my roommates from Gettysburg. When I get back in August there is another group of engineers coming to build a water system and I will be trying to keep track of things in Nebaj as Lynn will be gone for the entire month of August.

Whew! Hopefully I can write more cute antidotes in the coming weeks of my time here in Guate…but for now all I can do is give you this summary of why I really enjoy life here—so come visit!

14.5.10

As the Seasons Change…

I´ll admit, it´s been a while. So much has happened for the better and the worse. Let´s see…in April I took a half day off to be a ¨tourist for a day¨ with my friend Fabiola. We ate yummie veggie food and traditional Guatemalan sweets then went to Las Capuchinas, the ruin of an old 18th century convent. Then we went to the paca which is behind the market and filled with great second hand clothing from the states (lots from Target with the tags still on!). To end our crazy long day we did some relaxing (not really) yoga. Then, I went to my first Guatemalan wedding! Sisi from the office tied the knot and invited me to share this lovely experience with her family and friends. It was a great night with lots of fun and dancing! I also had my first visitors Kristin and Stephanie who graduated Gettysburg a year before me. They were planning a long weekend vacation to Guate and decided to get my advice on it since I´ve traveled so much. Then they realized I´m living here! It was perfect and I finally got to be a tour guide in Antigua, go dancing, and just have some fun.
Then the last two weeks of April I went to Nebaj, Quiche to help Agua para la Salud and learn how to build a hand washing station that we will be constructing in a school in Momostenango in which a friend and Peace Corps Volunteer volunteers. Once again, I had a great time with Lynn and the Engineers without Borders group that came and supported the projects. I also had a nice time in Nebaj. It´s a small town but a bit bigger than Momos and it´s generally not a tourist location except for those who really want to get off the beaten path and do some highland hiking. There was also a great restaurant we ate at every night that makes their own soy milk, soy ice cream, tofu, flour tortillas, etc. Yummmm and much better than eggs, beans, and tortillas. There was also two photo journalist with us for the week taking pictures of the project. Here are some of the photos shot. Check them out they are AMAZING! http://www.flickr.com/photos/tristanmoss/sets/72157623886072560/?page=2

For some bigger news and to make a long story short I have decided to refocus my time here and work for Lynn. It was not an easy decision but one that CasaSito supports and understands. One of my main projects with Lynn is helping a group of Peace Corps Volunteers apply for grants to obtain hand washing stations at their respective schools. More of my job description is to be worked out when I get back from the States.
What´s that?! Yes, I´m coming home this Sunday, May 16th. Visitors welcome! Unfortunately, it´s not a happy reason for my surprise visit as Dottie has gotten very ill and my family and I think it´s best for me to see her now when she´s still more or less coherent. It will be a sad and hard visit I´m sure. My computer has also broken and need some TLC from the states so I´m hoping for it to be a very productive visit.
Enjoy some pictures from the last month!
J


Five flush bathrooms and a hand washing station going up in a village outside of Nebaj.
Sisi´s wedding! Danielle, me, and Amanda!

Kristin and me at Santo Domingo---Antigua´s 5 star hotel located in beautiful ruins.

Faby and me at Las Capuchinas.

4.4.10

Semana Santa in Antigua

After I got back from Momos and had a good 24 hours of rest to get all sickness out of my system, it was time to celebrate Semana Santa! Semana Santa translates to Holy Week and in my opionion it’s one of the biggest pre-Easter celebrations in Latin America. I remember learning about Semana Santa in my high school Spanish classes and I was excited to be a part of it albeit nothing’s as cool as it seemed in high school. Mainly Guatemala is known for their carpets. Anyone can make a carpet out of any material for the processions. The carpets or alfolmbras are traditionally made out of colorful sawdust but you can use anything: flowers, food, etc. I had the honor and luck to help make TWO alfolmbras with the family I’m living with. Like most things in life, once you do it you have more appreciation for it. So alfolmbra making was a similar experience. Our alfolmbras were simple and nice yet time consuming and a bit challenging to make. After you make the alfolmbra you basically wait for the procession to come and destroy it. During this process I got to hang out and meet the extended family of the family I live with. It has been an interesting and at time lazy week and I’m excited to get back to my normal work routine but I’m happy I can say I have finally experienced Semana Santa in Guate!





Another Tank!

Hello all! About a week ago I went back up north to Momostenango with Greg and some volunteers to build the third rain water catchment tank of the year. This time we decided to try an above ground, can-shaped tank. We ran into some problems like volunteer-shortage, over working, working on a really tall tank, illness, etc. but all around it was a very successful process. Since it was the first of its kind, we know the process can only get easier. In addition the scaffolding was nuts and I swear I can put "stunt double" on my CV now! Here are some pictures!




22.3.10

Water Water Everywhere!

First-

Happy World Water Day!

Of course I forgot about this until my dear friend Nancy in Argentina reminded me gently on facebook---thanks Nancy!

Well this is what my life has been and will continue to be about for the next 10 months: water.

I spent the last two weeks in the Los Encuentros area of Guatemala with another water organization helping build a 10,000 liter ferrocement storage tank as well as distribute water to 55 families in a sector of the aldea El Adelanto. In order to do this we were capturing water from a spring on the side of a mountain and then digging trenches and laying pipe for 16,000 feet over very rough terrain. However, I spent most of my time working on the water tank at the spring. I went along to learn how to make an above ground “can-shaped” tank and left with a dozen or more new friends. We are planning to leave tomorrow for Momos to build a smaller 4,000ish liter above ground tank. We are thinking it may be easier and less expensive and therefore we can forget the egg-shaped tank and concentrate on the above ground one.

The best part about the two weeks working in El Adelanto was the people. Not only did I work with some talented Guatemalan masons but I also got to hang out with some awesome people from Wisconsin. The group of nine “sconnies” came from several parts of Wisconsin and the majority of them work in different water sectors such as water utility plants and most of them were engineers. They are all part of a social water club that has been coming to Guatemala for the last three years to do various water projects. Need less to say, we fell in love with each other. I especially fell in love with their sense of humor, love for water, and love of helping others. The only way I can describe them is as super balanced, down-to-earth people who really do care. Despite hearing how they were inspired by me, I felt the opposite. I found daily inspiration from them and truly thrived intellectually from them.

I think I’m going to let the pictures tell the rest of the story.














28.2.10

Two Tanks and a Learning Curve

I have officially completed the first two tanks of 2010! These two tanks were my “training” tanks and Greg came along to show me the ropes. For the first tank, (funded by everyone’s generous contributions at home!) we hired a highly qualified and experienced mason, Nicolas, to help out and give us lots of good tips. The first tank we made with a group of volunteers and friends from CasaSito. The dynamics were good and I think we all had a fun and stimulating experience. On the first tank we changed up the design a bit and made a dome top made completely out of rebar. It was intense and pushed our work back half a day---but well worth it! It’s a beautiful, strong, and sturdy dome that we are all very proud of---though we aren’t sure we’ll be making any more of them because of time and costs. The family was also very appreciative of our time and efforts as well as put in quite a bit of work themselves! Check out the pictures!







The second tank was made and funded by the first volunteer tour group of El Camino VolunTours. I had the pleasure to get to know two single moms from Canada who were escaping the chaos of the Olympics and cold Canadian winter. These ladies were extremely hard workers who had some great ideas about the construction of the tank that we will use on future tanks as well. For this tank we did the old design which included making the dome out of a huge sawdust filled bag. In one month we will have to come back and take all that sawdust out! We are still trying to figure out new designs that will be economical, time-efficient, and sturdy. All suggestions welcome! Check out these pictures from tank two!







I was invited by another group who makes water tanks to come help out and learn a thing or two about above ground tanks. I’ll be helping out with that the week of March 8th. Then we have selected our next in-ground tank recipients in Chocantariy. I will be going back to Momos around March 18th to do the third tank of 2010! We are also trying to implement a system where one family member has to help out with another tank before receiving one for themselves---similar to Habitat for Humanity. Hopefully we can get something running, though this is more difficult than it sounds.

Thank you all for your abundant support and if anyone has suggestions on how to make a dome, feel free to share!

J

9.2.10

'cause there's a million ways to go...

Where do I begin? With the weekend of course!

Friday we had a lovely presentation and dinner at a donor’s home to report what happened in 2009 and a vision for 2010. Their home was lovely as was the presentation, meal, and company. It was nice to meet other supporters of CasaSito along with the board members. It was also nice to curl up on their big comfy couches at the end of the night, sip wine and laugh. (For those of you who know PGL meetings; this had a very similar feel.)

Saturday I met up with Giovanni in the park. I met Giovanni when I was apartment searching. I decided not to live with him and his roommates mainly for distance reasons. Giovanni is learning English so he inquired if I would be interested exchanging conversation to improve my Spanish and his English. I jumped on board. Saturday we sipped drinks from Café Condesa and talked for two hours. He’s an artist who recently painted a huge mural at his old elementary school with a friend. They even wrote an article about it in a local magazine, which he showed me. We planned to meet again Monday.

That evening I volunteered at a Venetian Ball fund-raiser. It was held in the ruins of an old monastery. It was completely lit by candle light and the dirt paths were covered in pine needles and rose petals. It was all open air and one of the most GEORGIOUS events I have ever been a part of. There was an orchestra and for painters painting in the main grassy field. The paintings were auctioned off at the end of the night. Everyone who attended wore lavish costumes (even wigs and hoop skirts!) and masks. We left tired but quite impressed by the beauty of the evening.

Sunday I woke up from a text message of a girl I met last weekend. Her name is Diana and she’s a missionary here. She invited me to lunch and since host families don’t cook on Sundays I quickly took her up on the offer. We ate at Mono Loco, a popular sports bar here. I had a burrito with sweet potatoes in it. It was delicious. The conversation, however, was just as great and I really feel like I have made yet another great friend! We went back to her beautiful home and went swimming in the community’s pool. It was nice to swim laps again and it reminded me of swimming with Shea in college. Then to offset our workout we made brownies and cookies to take to a Super Bowl party. A group of missionaries at her church were celebrating the Super Bowl together. About 40 of us crowded together to support our respective teams and eat and eat and eat. Oh my goodness it was so delicious it gave me a stomach ache! There were wings, veggie chili, Asian coleslaw, mac&cheese, buckeyes, guacamole, pineapple, sooo much delicious food. I asked where the Saints and Colts are from and some one (I’m pretty sure a Guatemalan) told me the Saints were from New Jersey (New Jersey, New Orleans…whatever?). Anyways, I think if I would have known I would have really gotten into the game. Oh well it was a good game and met lots of neat people- including another woman named Jackie Sue and born in May….

When I got home after the Bowl I was exhausted but Stijn, the guy who also lives here, wanted to go salsa dancing so I gave in. When we got there I realized this was no place for me to dance, just watch. It was very impressive and I wanted to try but when I did I realized I was way too tired to get into it. Very sad

Monday I was given the day off because we volunteered Saturday night. I rested for a majority of it then went to the library to get a tour from a guy I met at the Super Bowl party who works there and get my library card! Then Giovanni and I met and had a really great Spanish/English exchange.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, I’m going to a sculpture exhibit and then to a free movie at the library with Fabiola a wonderful fun girl from Guatemala who is doing her college internship in graphic design with CasaSito. I’m excited to get to know her better and watch a free Argentine love film---since it’s the month of love here!

Then Thursday I pack up and say goodbye to Antigua for a few weeks. I’m headed north to the land of Momos two help coordinate the construction of the first two water tanks of 2010! I’m excited to get my hands dirty and (hopefully) find my inner engineer? We’ll see!

Later, I’ll hopefully post pictures from friends of the Venetian Ball!

6.2.10

never felt better





I've officially been living in Guatemala for over a week! It's been one of the most exciting and "right" experiences of my life. The minute I stepped off the plane I felt at home---the colors, tastes, sounds, etc. I can't begin to describe how well put together CasaSito (the ngo I'm working for) is. It's a family and I instantly felt like one of them. Greg has been slowly showing me the ropes of the water project and we have our first group coming Feb. 16th! Since we have the volunteers and means to do so, we are going to install two tanks back to back! Which means I'll be in Momos for two straight weeks working and learning. I'm very excited!!!

On the shuttle bus coming into Antigua I met Dave who works for Delta and traveled down here for a long weekend to visit some friends of his who work with a direct trade coffee project. We exchanged emails and he was kind enough to let me tag along and meet some of the people he knows who live here. Made lots of great contacts that way as well as got to hike Volcan Picaya---one of the only volcanoes in the world where you can see lava flowing at the top. It was a much harder hike than we all anticipated but somehow we made it despite the 80+ mph winds! Unfortunately, when we reached the top there was no lava in sight. Dave is determined to come back and see lava. I have a feeling I wont leave this country without climbing it again as well.

Here are some photos of the hike (of course I didnt charge my camera so this is all I could get) and one of the room I'm currently inhabiting. I'll be moving at the end of this month to my own mini-apartment/room.

21.1.10

Off Again!---Guatemala!

Hello Family and Friends!

Thanks for logging back on to read about my new experiences and adventures. On Jan. 28th I'm flying to Guatemala to start a new job!If everything goes well, I should be in Guatemala for at least a year. I'll be the new Water Team Coordinator for CasaSito's rain water cathcment tank project in villages around Momostenango. I'm really excited about getting to know another Central American country, especially one with such strong indigenous roots. Although I have few expectations, I feel as though the country is going to be a mixture of Bolivia and Nicaragua---which are two of my favorite Latin American countries!

Thanks again for all the support and encouragement over the last few weeks as I fund raised and got ready to leave. It has been a tremendous encouragement to me as I continue this journey...

Jackie