Brilla como el sol

2007-08-17T12:41:00.000-05:00

It's official! I am now a Peace Corps Volunteer!

Site Assignment!

2007-08-07T18:46:00.000-05:00

A LOT has happened since my last blog entry. First of all, the big news is that we got our site assignments, so now I know where I will be living for the next two years: Juan León Mallorquín, a small city in eastern Paraguay, about 45 minutes from Ciudad del Este and the Brazilian border. AND, I just got back from spending five days there, getting a feel for the place and making contact with people with whom I will hopefully be working. My main counterpart is in the municipality itself--she is the Secretaria de la Mujer and CODENI, or Secretary of Women's, Children's and Adolescents' Affairs, so we'll be working a lot with those groups in the community and trying to get the municipality interested in addressing their needs and concerns. I'll also be continuing a public library project and doing HIV/AIDS education in conjunction with my nearest volunteer neighbor, who is about 15 Km away. And this is just to begin!

We have a week and a half of training left, and become official volunteers on August 17th--very exciting! Until then, it's back to class and spending quality time with my fellow trainees and my host family, while contemplating the beginnings of my new life in Mallorquín.

LFP

2007-07-29T17:20:00.000-05:00

The Peace Corps, like any big organization, but especially because it is part of the US government, is full of abreviations and acronyms. If I'm to have any idea of what my superiors are talking about for the next two years, or even what role those people play in my life, I need to learn them. LFP is one such abreviation, and it stands for Long Field Practice, which is what my fellow trainees and I spent a week doing in the middle of July (I know, I'm a bit behind with my postings). Anyway, I, along with three others, went to Piribebuy, a small city about two hours from our training community. There is currently a Municipal Services Development Volunteer there who planned out a great week of activities for us, including several "charlas" or talks that we gave with different groups of Paraguayans.

Transparency Day

2007-07-14T14:12:00.001-05:00

Today is Transparency Day in the municipalities all over Paraguay--well in the municiaplities run by the Liberal Party, at least, because the Liberal Party signed an agreement with AlterVida (a prominent Paraguayan NGO) and USAID to have Transparency Day, and the municipalities run by the Colorado Party didn't. My Muni training group was invited by a current volunteer in Nueva Italia to attend her municipality's Transparency Day events, which basically consisted of what is called in Spanish an open "rendición de cuentas." The municipal functionaries go through last year's costs and revenues step by step and the entire community is invited. Before I go into more detail about this though, here is a note on Paraguayan political parties:

There are two main political parties in Paraguay, like in the United States, and there are several smaller, less powerful ones as well. The two which constantly fight for power are the Colorados and the Liberals. The Colorados wear red and the Liberals wear blue, but their differences basically stop there, except for the fact that the Colorados have been in power for nearly seventy years, and was also the party of long-time dictator Alfredo Stroessner. During his time in power, he tied all privileges to political party affiliation, so if you weren't a member of the Colorado Party you were basically nothing in Paraguay except a suspect. Like every other dictatorship in South America in the 1960s-1980s, Stroessner's was characterized by political violence, including torture, and extremely centralized political power. Now that Paraguay is a democratic nation and people actually have the opportunity to participate in their government, things like Transparency Day are VERY important. But, I'm getting slightly off track--Colorados and Liberals basically don't have any notable ideological differences and people belong to one party or the other based on historical family preference. There is already a lot of excitement and chatter about the 2008 elections here because the Liberals have banned together with the smaller parties in support of the controversial Lugo who will mostly likely run for president against the Colorado candidate. I will continue to discuss these issues here since as a Peace Corps Volunteer I must remain neutral at work and in my conversations. Therefore, this blog will become a good outlet for political musings!

Now, back to Transparency Day. So, it's still pretty chilly here, although the sun did come out a little bit today, but not enough to convince a lot of people to show up, therefore the turnout in Nueva Italia wasn't stellar, but it was enough to raise some interesting questions to the mayor and his staff. They started out with a PowerPoint presentation on last year's spending and on the projected budget for next year. Basically the municipalities don't receive enough money from property tax revenues (the main municipal tax) to do anything but pay the staff salaries because people don't pay their taxes. So, the munis rely mostly on the money they receive from the federal government, in the form of royalties, which the federal government receives from Itaipú Dam revenues. It's a bit complex, but basically Paraguay and Brasil signed an agreement whereas Brasil buys hydroelectric power from Paraguay, provided by Itaipú Dam energy. This extra revenue is doled out to the municipalities in percentages, depending on population size. Originally, royalty money could only be used to fund construction projects because advancement in Paraguay, as in many developing countries, is measured more by things that can physically be seen, as opposed to number of mouths fed or children educated. Recently this has changed with a new law that states that royalty money can be used on basically any municipal project, but that will only begin to apply to the coming fiscal year. The mayor of this town where we were today literally said that it would be better to spend money on building a new municipality as opposed to doing an after school snack program because in 30 years people would still walk by the muni and know that he had built it but nobody would remember that he had given a child milk. Of course, I nearly fell out of my seat when he said that, but it is the political reality here and it's good to know what you're up against. Two years of Peace Corps service may seem like a long time, but in the big picture of development and transition to democracy and changing attitudes in Paraguay and everywhere else the Peace Corps is, it's a drop in the ocean. Frustrating? Yes. Challenging? Yes. Worth every struggle, every worry, every failure, and every small success? Absolutely.

So, where was I? Oh yes, the PowerPoint presentation. That went pretty well, although it was longer than it was supposed to be, which left less time for questions, and it was basically just the current administration bragging about all the great things it did last year. But, when question time came, people actually spoke up (in Spanish and Guaraní--must dedicate an entire blog entry to musings on Guaraní, but that will have to wait for another day). Here are some things that they asked: Why did you spend tons of money to construct an entirely new health clinic instead of investing in the one we already have? (Answer: The Colorados run the old one and we couldn't get along, so we built one to be run by the Liberals.) Will there be money budgeted for the schools in the coming year? (Answer: We don't have any extra money and we can only use the royalties to build things and it doesn't make sense to build a new school if we can't staff it afterwards.) That answer was of course not true any more because of the new law and we're all hoping that the functionary who answered just forgot and was not outright lying. What will the muni do about the lack of public buses through Nueva Italia and to the outlying regions? (Answer: We will talk to the transportation company and figure something out.) As you can tell, the answers were not what an American would consider adequate, but we have to remember that it is a HUGE deal for the municipality to have these transparency activities at all and also a HUGE deal for people to come and actually question the government. Citizen political participation of this sort has only been an option since 1992, after all, and little by little Paraguayans will get the idea and will demand more and more from their elected officials and hopefully the elected officials will also be more and more willing to comply. Based on experiences in my own country I struggle to believe this, but I have to force myself to remain hopeful--for Paraguay and for the USA.

I can see my breath...

2007-06-29T18:20:00.000-05:00

... because it's COLD here! REALLY COLD, especially for someone who doesn't like the cold and especially when there is neither insulation nor indoor heating! So, I'm sitting in the cyber cafe nearly shivering, and very, very anxious to crawl into my sleeping bag! But, this has been an extremely busy week, so thought that before zipping myself into the warm wonder that is my sleeping bag I should write a quick update.

Let's begin with Saturday, June 23. We generally only have class in the morning on Saturdays, but because of a scheduling mix-up, we ended up with a full day--language in the morning and a lecture on Paraguayan history in the afternoon. The other half of our training group came over from Las Piedras for the afternoon and it was so great to see everyone because we don't get to spend that much time with them these days. However, we are all heading to Asuncion tomorrow afternoon to spend the night as well as Sunday, so we'll get some quality G24 training class time in.

OK--Sunday, June 24, Andrew (a fellow trainee, but not a Municipal Services Development Volunteer like me--he'll work in Rural Economic Development) and I began to prepare for our facilitation of our group's review of training so far, to take place Wednesday morning. We had planned on brainstorming and working all day, but after our full day of class on Saturday, we decided that we deserved a break and so headed to the Paraguayan riviera--interesting idea seeing as how Paraguay is a landlocked country AND it's winter. But, there is a huge lake about an hour away from where we live, Lago Ypacaraí, which is unfortunately contaminated, but there is a little beach. So, we hung out there and had a wonderful day and dedicated Tuesday evening to the preparations for our facilitation, complete with participatory activities and visual aids.

Monday was normal, but Tuesday our whole training group gathered in Las Piedras to cook soy products with the families there. It was pretty fun, although cooking here is an experience unto itself. But we started with the soy and blanched it, ground it up, flavored it a little, and then made all kinds of stuff out of it, like using it to stuff empanadas (little pockets of dough usually filled with ground beef, green onions, and hard boiled eggs and then deep-fried) and juice out of the soy milk and fresh fruits. It was a good time despite the cold, damp weather, and we learned all about the protein equivalents that soy can offer, replacing red meat, eggs, or whatever in the Paraguayan diet. This is quite important because many Paraguayans suffer bad health because of the heavy tradition of red meat and mandioca consumption, but also soy is A LOT cheaper than any of the things that it can replace.

Wednesday morning Andrew and I got everyone together to talk about what we have enjoyed and not liked so much about training and then presented the group consensus to the training staff. We were in class, shivering for the rest of the day, until going to the big supermarket in San Lorenzo so that I could buy ingredients to bake a birthday cake for my host mom. Her birthday is tomorrow, but since we're leaving for Asuncion right after class, I won't be around to celebrate with the family and so wanted to do something special for her ahead of time--i.e. last night with Rachel, Shawn, Gina, Josh and Andrea. Again, cooking/baking here is a whole new ballgame and the cake came out less than attractive, but it tasted good and we had hot cocoa as well and I think that everyone had a good time. Also learned how to sing "Happy Birthday" in Guaraní! It's the same tune as in English (and Spanish for that matter!)

Aipota revy'a
Aipota revy'a
Co ndeár'a guahere
Aipota revy'a

Whew, so we almost arrive to Friday, but also want to mention that we had our first oral exam in Guaraní on Thursday which was quite nerveracking. But didn't have so much time to dwell on it because I was already at the Municipality at 7:00 this morning with Rachel and Shawn, waiting to meet with the Secretary General who had offered to take us with him out to one of the more rural health posts that is serviced with vaccinations and check-ups every two weeks to a month. So we drove out with coolers full of vaccinations in tow and were greeted by a line of mostly women and children already waiting for the medical staff. They were offering pap tests as well and I actually ended up helping with the consultations and the tests--filling out some paperwork and filing the test specimens. The clinic consists of a gynecological exam room, a dental exam room, and a general exam/birthing room, as well as a social pharmacy where all of the medicines are sold at cost and vitamins are free. It was an intense and eye-opening experience.

We also stopped by the public school across the street from my house to follow up with the director about giving some presentations in the coming weeks, and to invite some kids to come to tomorrow morning's session, which I will be helping to lead, along with Chris Spahr and another current volunteer. And finally, this evening, a bunch of us went to the local parish school for their San Juan celebration--the kids present traditional dance and they have typical Paraguayan food as well as some games.

And now, I must sign off because I can't take the cold any more and am going to climb right into my sleeping bag and read myself to sleep. Goodnight to all of you who are reading this in the WARM United States!!!!!!!! (Honestly though, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else but here...)

A Day in the Life...

2007-06-20T17:58:00.000-05:00

... of a Peace Corps Trainee

I thought I would try to describe a normal day in my life as a Peace Corps Trainee. Generally I get up between 6:30 and 6:45--yeah, that's right, I've been forced into becoming a morning person. I shower, get dressed, make my bed (including tucking up my mosquito net, which I use according to Peace Corps' doctors' orders, even though it's winter here so there aren't that many mosquitos) and gather my things for class. I usually have breakfast with Dona Lucy and Don Mariano, my host parents, and sometimes Ale, my host nephew, and we watch the morning news programs. The news here is even more explicit than in the US, which is disconcerting. Also, they show the front page of each of the major newspapers and their headlines--a good idea considering the low literacy rate--I don't know where that 90-whatever-% statistic came from--it's more like 50%.

Anyway, breakfast consists of toast with butter or jam, or sometimes dulce de leche, and coffee with milk. I use the term "coffee" loosely because they use freeze dried Nescafe but sometimes we trainees have breakfast all together at school and then we have real coffee. The milk, on the other hand, is as real as it gets--straight from the cow--every couple of days a boy brings a 1 1/2 liter plastic coke bottle filled with still-warm fresh milk. Meanwhile, my host parents generally drink mate, a type of strong herbal tea.

When we have classes in our training sites (J. Augusto Saldivar for me) they begin at 7:45 and go until about 11:45. That's four hours nearly straight through of Guarani. Am actually able to ask and answer simple questions by now, but it's a very difficult language--will comment more in depth on Guarani in another entry.

We break for slightly more than an hour for lunch, which is the big meal of the day here so everyone goes home to eat with their host families. Will also dedicate another entry to food. But, for now, I'll contine with... it's back to class at 1:00 pm for technical training, where we learn about different aspects of the municipalities in Paraguay, as well as projects that current volunteers are working on. For example, last week two current volunteers came to talk to us about their experiences working with Catastro, a system used to map out communities for tax purposes. Different tax rates apply for different things in terms of each property, like if the house sits on paved, cobblestoned, or dirt road. At the end of June I'll be helping Chris Spahr give a talk about working with youth groups because each of us trainees has to help give one of these talks/workshops.

After school, around 5:15, it's snack time. Generally, Rachel (from Minnesota), Adam (from California), Shawn (from Chicago) and I hang out for a while at someone's house and eat crackers and drink freshly squeezed grapefruit juice--yum! Then, I hang out with my family and in bed by 10:00 pm at the latest after looking over homework stuff. REALLY long days, but I enjoy our classes and the work that we're doing, as well as the down time with my fellow trainees and my host family.

So that's basically my life right now, although some days we have varied activities either at the big training center in Guarambare or elsewhere.

Long Island, Paraguay

2007-06-19T17:58:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone! Welcome to the second entry of my blog! I've just arrived back in J. Augusto Saldivar from several days of travelling to visit a current volunteer in his site. I went to Isla Pucu, which is about 3 hours by bus from where I live right now, and translates to "long island," "Isla" being "island" in Spanish, and "Pucu" being "long" in Guarani.

Arrived there Saturday afternoon and spent a quiet afternoon with Brad, the volunteer there, going around town and meeting some of his neighbors. I stayed with another family there--so kind and welcoming--I hope that I'll have the chance to visit them again at some point. Sunday we celebrated Father's Day with a traditional "asado," or bar-b-que, and then went to a soccer game, which turned out to be quite exciting. That night we went in a big group to a Sortija, which is a community party in the Paraguayan countryside with live music and food--a little like a county fair, except on a much smaller scale. The men show up with their horses and the people dance the night away. It was a lot of fun--had the chance to ride around on a neighbor's horse as well, and the band dedicated a song in Jopara (mix of Spanish and Guarani) to the "rubia"--the blonde girl. Hmmmm... no one should be surprised to learn that I stick out quite a bit here in Paraguay.

Yesterday we went to visit the Municipalidad (town hall) to learn about Brad's work in the community and got to chat with the mayor for a while. Afterwards, we ate chipa, a traditional corn and mandioca flour bread with cheese, at a famous spot in the area. And finally, in the evening, I attended a meeting of the neighborhood commission that Brad is working with to set up a library in Isla Pucu. They are very motivated and excited about having a library, especially for the kids.

Overall, it was great to see a glimpse of the life of a "real" volunteer and also travel through another part of Paraguay. Everyone is so open and generous and always ready with a smile. I hope that I will be able to continue to develop good relationships with the people I work and live with here--so far I feel so lucky to be surrounded by such kindness--it has definitely made the transition to life in Paraguay easier, as well as lessening the pangs of homesickness... which is not to say that I don't miss all of you who are reading this terribly!!!!!

Welcome to Paraguay and Peace Corps Pre-Service Training!

2007-06-05T17:03:00.000-05:00

Hello from Paraguay!!! Well, here I am in J. A. Saldivar, which is the community where the Municipal Services Development volunteers live during training. It is lovely and my host family is really wonderful as well. We have training in our communities in language and the technical aspects of our future jobs almost every day, but sometimes we also go to Guarambare which is about 15 minutes away by bus. The larger training center is there and so we join up with the other half of our group--those who work in Rural Economic Development.

Things are going really well so far. Everyone is really nice and enthusiastic and although a lot of information is being fed to us, it's all really interesting and I'm still really excited about this whole thing.

Was hoping to write a longer entry, but have to make sure I'm home in time for dinner and then early bed since we have to meet for class at 7:30 am!!!! It will take me a little while to get used to this blogging thing, but bear with me and I promise to write more interesting reflections on my time here in Paraguay--not even having been here a week means that I'm still processing A LOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!