Greetings Earthlings! The time has come for another update. I've been living in my new site for about a month now, and the hospital has been keeping me very busy with lots of work, and I'm L-O-V-I-N-G it! Here are some of the projects I'm currently working on:
1) Educational Charlas in the hospital. I have been giving charlas several times a week in the waiting room of the hospital. Ruben is my community contact for these charlas. He is in charge of the education department at the hospital. Wednesdays we always do something related to sexual health. So far I've talked about several of the STI's as well as family planning and birth control methods. Fridays we always talk about something diabetes related. Diabetes (type 2) is a HUGE problem here which breaks my heart because it can be so easily avoided and/or managed through a better diet and more exercise, but it is VERY hard to get these people to stray from their beloved traditional (yet extremely unhealthy) foods. I have done a couple of general nutrition charlas which they don't really listen to. They have heard it so many times before that it just kind of goes in one ear and out the other. From now on I'm going to try presenting the information in ways that they haven't heard before and try to gather small tips to incorporate healthy habits...so if any of you have any suggestions, I will gladly listen! I did a very successful exercise charla a few weeks ago. I talked about the benefits of exercise and then I demonstrated about 20 exercises that are easy to do at home. They seemed to really enjoy that one; they are always told that they need to exercise, but it is not an exercise culture here so many of them don't really know what to do, or how to start. And starting next week we're also going to start giving charlas on Tuesdays. This Tuesday I'm supposed to prepare something about Parasites. I love doing the Charlas with Ruben. He always does a nice introduction and then he lets me go and give my charla. If I'm not making much sense (which probably happens more than I'd care to admit) he jumps in and clarifies for the audience, and then he always wraps things up really nicely at the end.
2) Composting Latrine Project. I'm working with a woman named Julia who works at the hospital but is the regional representative for SENASA (the water company of PY) on a composting latrine project in two nearby neighborhoods. **Quick side note about Julia. I love her. Every time I go to the hospital, aka every day, we always start out the morning with a mate session and talk for at least an hour. She's one of those people who just loves to talk so I just let her go and I learn so much from her. She always talks slowly and clearly and has all the patience in the world so it is very easy to understand her, and if I don't she has no problem explaining things to me. ** Anyway so we're working on this composting latrine project. There are a couple of nearby neighborhoods that have really high water levels and thus cannot dig septic tanks for their bathrooms. I visited the neighborhoods and they are very poor, probably the poorest I have seen in Paraguay so far, and they are literally a 10 minute walk from my front door in the city. It's crazy. Anyway, most of the homes do not have bathrooms at all, and if they do they can only dig for 1m or less and they have to move their "bathrooms" every couple of months. So Julia has been working with these neighborhoods for some time now. The commission is formed and the pedidos are written. The pedidos are written for 106 families. Julia and I have been going around the neighborhoods finding the families the most in need, and we have been going to different institutions to present the pedidos to ask for funding. So far we have presented to one NGO here in the city, the Municipality, and the Health Commission of the hospital. There are a few more institutions on our list that we will be visiting and asking for support. So far we have not received any funding, but the places that we have presented are very interested in the project. So what is a composting latrine you might ask? Well, it is a latrine-so an outside bathroom-that is built up from the ground instead of ground level with the "septic tank" below the ground. Since it is built up there are a few stairs out front that take you up to the toilet. The part above ground is divided into two sections. Once one section is filled up with waste it is closed off and let sit to compost while you use and fill up the other section. There is a separate hole/section for pee in the toilet because pee is too acidic to be mixed in with the compost. After the other side is filled up, the first side is taken out and can be used as compost for a garden. So if this project is successful, 106 families will have their very own composting latrines that, if taken care of properly, will last for their whole lives. And even better? The Mennonites that live close by are going to be buying the compost from the families with composting latrines to use on their farms. So this community and these families will be literally getting paid to Poop! I think that's so cool.
3) HIV/AIDS Work: I'm working with the regional HIV/AIDS nurse/representative giving HIV/AIDS and STI presentations at the local nursing colleges. We did our first presentation last week and it went really well! I started out with an ice breaker called Pass the Mandioca. There are two teams and each team has a mandioca. They have to put it between their legs and pass it to the next person without using their hands. Whichever team gets it to the last person the quickest without dropping the mandioca or using their hands wins. It's a really funny race to watch and its really fun to participate in as well. Then we brought everyone back in and did our presentation. At the end we brought two students up front-a girl and a guy-and I talked them through the steps of how to properly use a condom and then they both demonstrated on the mandioca. Then I did a quick activity about condom myths. Some of the myths are things like condoms have pores in them which small molecules such as the HIV infection can pass through. So I filled up a condom with water to show that although condoms may have tiny pores in them, nothing passes through and they do indeed protect against STIs. Then there is a myth that they are small. So I disproved that one by fitting the giant mandioca inside one. So the last myth is the one that guys like to use the most, that you can't feel the pleasure through a condom. So I brought a male student up to the front and blind folded him then put a condom on his fingers and told him to tell me when he could feel things. He felt it when I touched his fingers with mine and then when I licked his fingers they all went CRAZY, but he could feel it! We are supposed to do the same presentation with another group of nursing students this coming week!
I've received a Grant from the United States government to do a workshop training with youth about HIV/AIDS as well. I'm working with a nearby volunteer to start planning and organizing the workshop. We're planning on doing it in September so more news to come about that as we get the ball rolling! We're supposed to meet with the mayor this coming week to ask for a little more funding in order to cover all of the expenses.
Those are the major projects I've been working on. I also spoken on the radio the morning of Environment Day. That was nerve-racking. It was really embarrassing when I had no idea what the DJ asked me and I just responded with QUE??? into the radio. I'm working with another community contact helping her with her Mother's Club. We're still figuring out details and trying to make it work, but I have high hopes if we can get everything figured out!
Politics
Just a quick note on whats going in the political world of Paraguay. The President was impeached Thursday, and the Vice President took over as President to serve out the remaining year. Some of the surrounding countries are not currently recognizing the new government and they are calling it a coup de etat (or however you spell that) because everything happened so quickly. But, everything is very calm in country and Peace Corps staff is monitoring everything very closely...keeping an eye out for us. We really have a fantastic Peace Corps Paraguay staff so don't worry, I'm in good hands!
And, my department, Misiones, finally has a new governor! A few months ago our governor was impeached. While they were performing the audit there was an intervening governor. Then there was another governor from the opposing party of the original governor after the audit was finished while they were voting for a replacement governor. And, last weekend, they voted and elected a new governor who will take office starting in July. Whew.
Social Life
My work life has picked up significantly and so has my social life. I feel go go go all week and then I get to the weekend and I still feel go go go! But it's great. The first weekend I was here I had some friends over and we bought a rotisserie chicken and some wine and birinight (a ridiculously cheap and delicious smirnoff ice knockoff) and broke in my new house! Then the following day we went out to the campo to watch the Rally race through the rural communities. It was AWESOME! The following weekend I went with my friend Luis and some of his friends to the local nightclub. I love going out with Luis because Paraguay is such a relationship centered country that everyone automatically thinks he's my boyfriend which keeps me from being bombarded by men who want a piece of the blonde chick. But, he's really just my best friend so if I do see someone I'm interested in he'll help me out! However, the weekend at the disco I got really stomach sick and I was ready to go home at 3am, right when a well off dentist (and apparently genuinely good guy according to Luis) came up to talk/dance with me. Luis is still giving me a hard time about leaving early. Apparently they danced until 7am the next morning. Oooof. Then, the following weekend I went to one of my counterpart's daughter's quincenera. It was absolutely beautiful and a lot of fun! I was dancing like a pro (insert here a photo/video of "what I think I looked like" compared to "what I really looked like" haha). I don't know what got into me that night, but I was literally being thrown and spun around all over the place and I was totally keeping up. It was so much fun. Then this weekend was full of San Juan parties. I'm not really sure what is celebrated for the San Juan parties, but they are CRAZY but in a good way. I went with Lyn and Luis last night to a party in a neighborhood close by. There were all kinds of typical Paraguayan foods...kabure, mbeju (my favorite), batiburrillo (the insides), asaditos etc etc. Then there is always a tall greased pole with prizes at the top. Men always try to climb it to get to the prizes and its really entertaining to watch. Someone finally got it after attempting for at least an hour (who knows how long before I got there). The ended up making a human totem pole to reach the prizes at the top! And then during all of this there are flying flaming balls being kicked around everywhere. And there is a "bull"...it's really just a person under a burlap sack with two wooden horns that they set on fire and start chasing people through the crowd. It's really kind of crazy and Lyn and I were just trying to stay hidden because you know the Nortes would be a target! And then there is a stuffed dummy hanging from a tree that they set on fire at some point. This years dummy was named Lugo (the President's name who just got impeached). And there is also a time where people walk on hot coals. We left before they set the dummy on fire and before the fire walking, but San Juan is always an entertaining time if nothing else!
Next weekend, depending on the state of the political crisis and whether or not we are allowed to travel to the capital, there is a 4th of July celebration at the United States embassy. I'm planning on going, and I'm really excited about it. I hear they have a great selection of desserts.
Random side-note
The owner of my house might be the cutest lady ever. She lives next door, but she's been gone almost the whole time I've been here because she goes to stay with her daughter and her grandson for large chunks of time. But she came back this weekend and she just melts my heart. I wish she was here more often because I can see us being best friends. I play my music pretty much all the time. Since the houses are so close together and there is no insulation you can usually hear my music better outside my house. Today it was playing and I asked her if my music was bothering her. Her response? "No, not at all, I really like it!" She's so awesome.
All in all, things are going great down here. Work is keeping me busy, and my friends are keeping me busy on the weekends. I'm SO happy now, and I am LOVING life!
I miss and love you all! I hope all is well in the states. Send me updates!
