Querida familia y amigos,
I hope that the beginning of the school year finds you all well. As always, I love to hear how you are all doing and the exciting (and everyday) things that you are up to. If you get a chance please do drop me a few lines to let me know how you are.
It’s been several months so I figured it was time for an “Hola desde El Salvador” update. (Is that a groan I hear? Hee hee. Just keep in mind – you don’t have to read it all).
-- Water Project:
Everything is really preliminary, but things are looking much more hopeful than the last time I wrote. We have definitely had out share of disappointments, but I think things are coming together. It’s kind of a long story …
The Well:
In late April, I learned of the NGO Living Water – El Salvador from a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer, and solicited a site visit from them in order to investigate the feasibility of drilling a well in El Amatón. Two engineers came to visit our community on May 23 and selected a site where they believed they could drill a well based on previous studies showing a strong vein of water at a depth of 38 m. Through a generous donation from my home church, contributions from family of community members living in the United States and Canada, and contributions from each family in El Amatón, we managed to pull together the $4,000 needed to drill a well. Our mistake was foregoing formal hydro-geological studies due to their high cost (about $2,000). We encountered many small veins of water, beginning at 39 m and appearing frequently after about 60 m, but none sufficient to supply the water needs of the 120 families of the caserío. We had hoped to drill until 90 m, but at 81 m, material caved in and the drill became stuck. Santos, the drilling technician, could not lift it up with the machine. Grim-faced and clearly worried about losing $30,000 worth of drilling equipment, Santos and his helpers began trying fervently to extract the drill. After two excruciating hours, the drill finally became unstuck, and they began to extract the tubes. Drilling could not continue – they simply could not risk losing the equipment that allows Living Water to help over 40 communities in El Salvador each year.
I will confess that I wept – for the community’s crushed hopes for a better life and for their fruitless sacrifice in work and scarce financial resources, for the disappointment of the Living Water employees who genuinely seek to serve the communities in which they drill, and for the sacrifice made by the people from my church. Santos later told me: “I was watching you as I drilled, with every tube I lowered, and I thought, ‘Poor Megan!’ I saw the intent expression in your eyes, as if you were imagining a river of water spring up and trying with all your might to just will it to happen.” He had read me like a book.
Right now our well is 78 m deep and has 15 meters of water. Santos has informed us that Living Water – El Salvador will receive, within the next couple of months, the donation of a more powerful drill. This machine has the capacity to drill up to 200 m deep and is also a different type of drill that makes walls of mud as it drills, thus preventing collapses of the sort we experienced. When we were forced to stop drilling, the earth samples we were bringing up included sand and gravel – according to Santos, a sign that we were entering an abundant aquifer. He has recommended that we widen the borehole and deepen the well, using this new machine, to a depth of 120 m. If the material continues to be gravel, he said, the well should have sufficient water at a depth of 120 m.
He hasn’t given us a price quote yet since he needs to test out the drill and see how much gasoline it uses, but this is an expensive proposition – a low quote from a well drilling company ran at $12,000 for 120 m of perforation. Now, we went ahead with drilling the first well without formal studies for lack of economic resources, worrying that with the high cost of conducting the study we would not have been able to raise enough funds to actually drill the well once the study was completed. It was one thing to go ahead with drilling the well without formal studies when these studies would have cost half as much as the well, but now that we are looking at possibly needing to raise $12,000 or so, we (and most likely, potential donors) would like to have more security of encountering a sufficient water source. So right now we are working to try and solicit funds for a proper hydro-geological study of the caserío. This would include an inventory of wells (subterranean water sources) and a determination of the hydrologic characteristics of aquifers. The engineers would also calculate hydrologic balance based on hydrologic resource availability and demand of the community. We would then have an estimate of the flow of a perforated well, a preliminary design, and technical indications for a well.
Engineers Without Borders:
With my lack of technical knowledge in water systems, I was pretty overwhelmed at the prospect of guiding the community in the design, funding, construction, and maintenance of a water system once the project with the Mayor fell through. So I was very, very thankful when I was advised in May that the Rowan University chapter of Engineers Without Borders had adopted our project. For the past week, we had the privilege of hosting their team of 2 professors and 5 students on an assessment trip to the village, and I will say that their presence has given renewed energy and hope to all of us. Dr. Wyrick, Dr. Gephardt, Dustin, Jared, David, Carolyn, and Mary are a very special group of people, not only for their technical skills (for which we are very grateful), but even more so for their big hearts – their willingness to use their knowledge to help the most needy, and their sincere desire to create friendships with the community. During their visit, they had three main activities: land surveying, water quality testing, and house visits / socioeconomic surveys.
The land surveying team – Dr. Wyrick, Dustin, Jared, and David -- went at their task with admirable dedication, beginning at 5:30 a.m. with the first light and working until darkness fell at 7 p.m. in order to survey the village in as much detail as possible in a short amount of time. Their goal was to create a digital, topographical map of the roads, houses, school, and proposed water storage tank site, showing distances and elevations. This will serve in the design of the water distribution system. The three students on the surveying team were great with letting the kids tag along and showing them how the equipment worked, even letting them help (although the kids’ biggest contribution may have been not holding the surveying rod, but scaring away chuchos bravos – mean dogs!). They also managed to teach the kids a little English. In imitation of Jared, who would advise his fellow surveyors when they could move on after he entered each point into the computer, Elias kept calling out “Good! Good! Good!”
Dr. Wyrick, Dr. Gephardt, Carolyn, and Mary, and I took one morning and traveled to three community water sources in order to take samples and perform bacteriological and physical-chemical analysis. Although we obviously could not yet get a water sample from the well that will eventually supply the caserío (since we haven’t found or drilled it yet), the engineers wanted to get an idea of what contaminants might be present in the watershed in order to determine what kind of filtration or purification system might be needed. We’ll obviously need to do something. Right now the Petri dishes in which we have been growing the bacteria -- filtered from samples of the river where the women wash clothes and the natural well where people walk in the dry season to obtain drinking water -- are covered in blue and red colonies of bacteria. I think that the blue ones fecal coliform bacteria, which can make people very sick, to put it lightly.
-- School Classrooms and Library:
Okay, I lied. The school inauguration is going to need more than two sentences. At long last, we inaugurated the two new classrooms, which will allow kids to finish their primary education in El Amatón, and the new library of ecologically themed books on July 21. I must say that despite the delays in finishing the school, I was very proud of the Community Association for Education (ACE) and all the work they have put into this project. It was their vision to expand the school and offer more grade levels that gave birth to the project, and their dedication that led to its realization. I know that there were days when don Alex didn’t return home until 10 p.m. waiting for a load of bricks or other supplies, or don Salomón willingly dropped his own work in the fields to go and purchase cement when the masons ran out, so work could go on. Purchase and transport of materials, coordination of parent workers, supervision of construction, detailed record-keeping of expenses using the ledger I taught them – it all happened nearly without me (except for the week that I dedicated completely to helping as unskilled labor with the volunteers from my church and the parents from the community). And I suppose that’s the way it should be. If a community is motivated enough to take on such responsibility and get the job done without my constant poking and prodding, it means that the project is really important to them. It fulfills a felt need – the need to give the children the educational opportunities that their parents never had.
The inauguration was a joyful celebration, with speeches by me, the Community Association for Education (ACE) President, the school director, a parent, and a student, as well as two environmentally themed song-and-dance numbers by the little kids and a ceremonial ribbon cutting (I almost cried when they invited me to cut the ribbon). Peace Corps volunteer friends and staff from the office were there to share the day with me. AND, to my very happy surprise, after the refreshments, most people actually heeded my pleas to deposit the plastic bags containing their “fresco” drink in the INORGANIC TRASH barrels and the napkins from their sandwiches in the ORGANIC TRASH barrels. All in all, a blessedly happy event.
I hope that the beginning of the school year finds you all well. As always, I love to hear how you are all doing and the exciting (and everyday) things that you are up to. If you get a chance please do drop me a few lines to let me know how you are.
It’s been several months so I figured it was time for an “Hola desde El Salvador” update. (Is that a groan I hear? Hee hee. Just keep in mind – you don’t have to read it all).
-- Water Project:
Everything is really preliminary, but things are looking much more hopeful than the last time I wrote. We have definitely had out share of disappointments, but I think things are coming together. It’s kind of a long story …
The Well:
In late April, I learned of the NGO Living Water – El Salvador from a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer, and solicited a site visit from them in order to investigate the feasibility of drilling a well in El Amatón. Two engineers came to visit our community on May 23 and selected a site where they believed they could drill a well based on previous studies showing a strong vein of water at a depth of 38 m. Through a generous donation from my home church, contributions from family of community members living in the United States and Canada, and contributions from each family in El Amatón, we managed to pull together the $4,000 needed to drill a well. Our mistake was foregoing formal hydro-geological studies due to their high cost (about $2,000). We encountered many small veins of water, beginning at 39 m and appearing frequently after about 60 m, but none sufficient to supply the water needs of the 120 families of the caserío. We had hoped to drill until 90 m, but at 81 m, material caved in and the drill became stuck. Santos, the drilling technician, could not lift it up with the machine. Grim-faced and clearly worried about losing $30,000 worth of drilling equipment, Santos and his helpers began trying fervently to extract the drill. After two excruciating hours, the drill finally became unstuck, and they began to extract the tubes. Drilling could not continue – they simply could not risk losing the equipment that allows Living Water to help over 40 communities in El Salvador each year.
I will confess that I wept – for the community’s crushed hopes for a better life and for their fruitless sacrifice in work and scarce financial resources, for the disappointment of the Living Water employees who genuinely seek to serve the communities in which they drill, and for the sacrifice made by the people from my church. Santos later told me: “I was watching you as I drilled, with every tube I lowered, and I thought, ‘Poor Megan!’ I saw the intent expression in your eyes, as if you were imagining a river of water spring up and trying with all your might to just will it to happen.” He had read me like a book.
Right now our well is 78 m deep and has 15 meters of water. Santos has informed us that Living Water – El Salvador will receive, within the next couple of months, the donation of a more powerful drill. This machine has the capacity to drill up to 200 m deep and is also a different type of drill that makes walls of mud as it drills, thus preventing collapses of the sort we experienced. When we were forced to stop drilling, the earth samples we were bringing up included sand and gravel – according to Santos, a sign that we were entering an abundant aquifer. He has recommended that we widen the borehole and deepen the well, using this new machine, to a depth of 120 m. If the material continues to be gravel, he said, the well should have sufficient water at a depth of 120 m.
He hasn’t given us a price quote yet since he needs to test out the drill and see how much gasoline it uses, but this is an expensive proposition – a low quote from a well drilling company ran at $12,000 for 120 m of perforation. Now, we went ahead with drilling the first well without formal studies for lack of economic resources, worrying that with the high cost of conducting the study we would not have been able to raise enough funds to actually drill the well once the study was completed. It was one thing to go ahead with drilling the well without formal studies when these studies would have cost half as much as the well, but now that we are looking at possibly needing to raise $12,000 or so, we (and most likely, potential donors) would like to have more security of encountering a sufficient water source. So right now we are working to try and solicit funds for a proper hydro-geological study of the caserío. This would include an inventory of wells (subterranean water sources) and a determination of the hydrologic characteristics of aquifers. The engineers would also calculate hydrologic balance based on hydrologic resource availability and demand of the community. We would then have an estimate of the flow of a perforated well, a preliminary design, and technical indications for a well.
Engineers Without Borders:
With my lack of technical knowledge in water systems, I was pretty overwhelmed at the prospect of guiding the community in the design, funding, construction, and maintenance of a water system once the project with the Mayor fell through. So I was very, very thankful when I was advised in May that the Rowan University chapter of Engineers Without Borders had adopted our project. For the past week, we had the privilege of hosting their team of 2 professors and 5 students on an assessment trip to the village, and I will say that their presence has given renewed energy and hope to all of us. Dr. Wyrick, Dr. Gephardt, Dustin, Jared, David, Carolyn, and Mary are a very special group of people, not only for their technical skills (for which we are very grateful), but even more so for their big hearts – their willingness to use their knowledge to help the most needy, and their sincere desire to create friendships with the community. During their visit, they had three main activities: land surveying, water quality testing, and house visits / socioeconomic surveys.
The land surveying team – Dr. Wyrick, Dustin, Jared, and David -- went at their task with admirable dedication, beginning at 5:30 a.m. with the first light and working until darkness fell at 7 p.m. in order to survey the village in as much detail as possible in a short amount of time. Their goal was to create a digital, topographical map of the roads, houses, school, and proposed water storage tank site, showing distances and elevations. This will serve in the design of the water distribution system. The three students on the surveying team were great with letting the kids tag along and showing them how the equipment worked, even letting them help (although the kids’ biggest contribution may have been not holding the surveying rod, but scaring away chuchos bravos – mean dogs!). They also managed to teach the kids a little English. In imitation of Jared, who would advise his fellow surveyors when they could move on after he entered each point into the computer, Elias kept calling out “Good! Good! Good!”
Dr. Wyrick, Dr. Gephardt, Carolyn, and Mary, and I took one morning and traveled to three community water sources in order to take samples and perform bacteriological and physical-chemical analysis. Although we obviously could not yet get a water sample from the well that will eventually supply the caserío (since we haven’t found or drilled it yet), the engineers wanted to get an idea of what contaminants might be present in the watershed in order to determine what kind of filtration or purification system might be needed. We’ll obviously need to do something. Right now the Petri dishes in which we have been growing the bacteria -- filtered from samples of the river where the women wash clothes and the natural well where people walk in the dry season to obtain drinking water -- are covered in blue and red colonies of bacteria. I think that the blue ones fecal coliform bacteria, which can make people very sick, to put it lightly.Dr. Gephardt, Carolyn, and Mary, and I formed a team to carry out household surveys during the rest of the week. Dr. Gephardt and I both spoke Spanish so we served as translators, while Carolyn and Mary were the scribes. Women from the community volunteered to guide the teams around. The interviews inquired about the number of people in each home, amount of water needed for various activities (drinking, cooking and washing dishes, animals, bathing, and washing clothes), location of current water sources, incidence of water-borne illnesses and parasitic infections, time spent waiting for and hauling water each day, willingness to work on a water project, predicted water use if an abundant source was placed close their homes, peak water use hours, and ability to pay a monthly quota for water system maintenance. Their approach -- listening to the community and taking into account their needs and their perspectives on the water project – was so refreshing after the Mayor’s attempt to design a water project without ever consulting with the community. It meant a lot to people that they made the effort to visit each and every household, listen to their struggles to obtain sufficient water, and ask about their needs in anticipation of designing the water project.
The information obtained regarding the current water situation -- injuries incurred while hauling water up a steep bluff from the springs where we travel for drinking water, incidence of water-borne diseases, average time spent carrying water – will be extremely helpful in funding proposals in order to illustrate the seriousness of the struggle community members go through for sufficient water. It was also interesting to get the community’s perspective on the expected benefits of a potable water project. The ones most often named include: washing clothes in the home instead of traveling 2 hours to a contaminated river, establishing normal sleep patterns (i.e., not rising before 3 a.m. or staying up until midnight to wait one’s turn at the chorro), planting and watering vegetables to improve nutrition, and allowing children – who help with the task of hauling water – to devote more time to their studies.
The responses on quantities of water needed and predicted peak use hours will help them estimate the peak water demand and choose the pump and storage tank size accordingly, and responses as to a feasible monthly quota will also affect the design. The engineers are most likely looking at some source of renewable energy for the pump, perhaps a combination of solar and wind power. It makes economic sense for a poor community, since the operation cost is almost nothing, and as an environmentalist convinced of the need to develop renewable energy sources that do not contribute to global climate change, I am very excited about the idea! Although we are not sure yet what form the project will take, I am confident that thanks to EWB’s efforts, their designs will truly reflect the needs of the community, and the project will be sustainable – that is, the community will be able to maintain the water system.
In addition to their work related to the water project, the EWB team brought much fellowship and friendship to the community. Dr. Gephardt, with her fluent Spanish, did a wonderful job expressing the group’s thankfulness for the hospitality received and humble desire to truly listen to and serve the community. Yet all of them, in their own ways, also communicated their good will to the people of El Amatón: involving kids in surveying, playing ball with the kids, showing affection to kids who needed it, making a genuine attempt to learn and use a bit of Spanish to thank the women who cooked for them, and simply being open and friendly to all they met.
Of course, the community also did their part by showing hospitality and generosity to our guests. In fact, for me, the best thing about EWB’s visit (and hosting any visitor) was being able to share the joys of my experience in El Amatón. I feel so blessed to be living in such a wonderful community, and it is always fun for me to share this community with other people. When the women who cooked for the engineers showered them with all of the attention given to an honored guest, or I translated the words of gratefulness and thanks spoken by the women we interviewed, or I saw people running out of their houses to give the surveying team anonas (a fruit) to the point that they could hardly haul their bulging backpack, or we all gathered to make and eat pupusas, a sense of happiness and pride at belonging to such a community would well up in me. This is the kind of generosity that I have been blessed to experience for the entire time I have been living here – the generosity of a thankful people who genuinely want to share with others their abundant resources of hospitality and whatever material resources they may have, however poor they may be. This has been a great blessing to me, and I feel privileged to have been able to share that experience with them (You are all welcome to come visit me too! Just let me know when and I’ll even come to the airport to meet you! Of course, you will be required to make and eat pupusas.).
Now we are just keeping in contact with EWB as they elaborate different designs for a water project (with their corresponding implementation and maintenance costs) so that the community can choose what they would prefer. They have said that they plan to design projects ranging from water in each home to a more simple design involving several public faucets, which would be located at strategic points throughout the community and therefore much closer to people’s homes than the current chorro (in addition to possessing the considerable advantage of actually having water in them!). They also mentioned renovating a public wash station where women can go to do their laundry.
So all in all, the past week with the Engineers Without Borders team has been one of the best experiences of my time in Peace Corps (up there with the week spent helping construct the school with the brave team from my church!) I really admire their technical expertise that will, primero a Dios, make immeasurable improvements in the quality of people’s lives, and I admire their openness and friendliness that allowed them to connect with the community. Although as I said, everything is preliminary, their visit has given me renewed energy and hope that one day, the most basic human need, water, will be fulfilled for the people of El Amatón.
-- Reforestation and Soil Conservation:
So you thought I was done talking about the water project! But no! As an Agroforestry Volunteer, I’ve been thinking a lot about the importance of good watershed management as we contemplate a water project. We have a big problem with deforestation on the slopes of the Cerro Chingo, the main watershed for the community. Every year, mischievious, unemployed youth from outside the community burn high up on the cerro in the dry season, stripping it of vegetation. Without tree roots to promote water infiltration, heavy rains simply run off, carrying soil and rocks with it. There’s actually been two landslides this rainy season already, one of which was extremely threatening to the caserío until we managed, with the help of the Governor of Santa Ana, to convince the Ministry of Public Works to come and carry out mitigation works. I’ve talked to the Directivas about the problem, and they agreed that in order to sustain any well perforated in the community, we need to reforest the burned areas high on the cerro in order to promote water infiltration that will recharge the aquifer, and prevent landslides. The NGO Trees, Water, People has pledged to donate trees and technical support. Their forestry technician, Kevin, has already come out and hiked 2 ½ hours up the cerro to estimate the area surrounding the landslide origins that must be forested. It’s not going to be easy – he estimates that we will want to plant 7,000 – 8,000 trees at the beginning of the next rainy season, and excavate soil conservation and water infiltration ditches on the contour, called acequias. In addition to help from Trees, Water, People, we’re also counting on the Governor to help place forest guards there to prevent future forest fires.
The information obtained regarding the current water situation -- injuries incurred while hauling water up a steep bluff from the springs where we travel for drinking water, incidence of water-borne diseases, average time spent carrying water – will be extremely helpful in funding proposals in order to illustrate the seriousness of the struggle community members go through for sufficient water. It was also interesting to get the community’s perspective on the expected benefits of a potable water project. The ones most often named include: washing clothes in the home instead of traveling 2 hours to a contaminated river, establishing normal sleep patterns (i.e., not rising before 3 a.m. or staying up until midnight to wait one’s turn at the chorro), planting and watering vegetables to improve nutrition, and allowing children – who help with the task of hauling water – to devote more time to their studies.
The responses on quantities of water needed and predicted peak use hours will help them estimate the peak water demand and choose the pump and storage tank size accordingly, and responses as to a feasible monthly quota will also affect the design. The engineers are most likely looking at some source of renewable energy for the pump, perhaps a combination of solar and wind power. It makes economic sense for a poor community, since the operation cost is almost nothing, and as an environmentalist convinced of the need to develop renewable energy sources that do not contribute to global climate change, I am very excited about the idea! Although we are not sure yet what form the project will take, I am confident that thanks to EWB’s efforts, their designs will truly reflect the needs of the community, and the project will be sustainable – that is, the community will be able to maintain the water system.
In addition to their work related to the water project, the EWB team brought much fellowship and friendship to the community. Dr. Gephardt, with her fluent Spanish, did a wonderful job expressing the group’s thankfulness for the hospitality received and humble desire to truly listen to and serve the community. Yet all of them, in their own ways, also communicated their good will to the people of El Amatón: involving kids in surveying, playing ball with the kids, showing affection to kids who needed it, making a genuine attempt to learn and use a bit of Spanish to thank the women who cooked for them, and simply being open and friendly to all they met.
Of course, the community also did their part by showing hospitality and generosity to our guests. In fact, for me, the best thing about EWB’s visit (and hosting any visitor) was being able to share the joys of my experience in El Amatón. I feel so blessed to be living in such a wonderful community, and it is always fun for me to share this community with other people. When the women who cooked for the engineers showered them with all of the attention given to an honored guest, or I translated the words of gratefulness and thanks spoken by the women we interviewed, or I saw people running out of their houses to give the surveying team anonas (a fruit) to the point that they could hardly haul their bulging backpack, or we all gathered to make and eat pupusas, a sense of happiness and pride at belonging to such a community would well up in me. This is the kind of generosity that I have been blessed to experience for the entire time I have been living here – the generosity of a thankful people who genuinely want to share with others their abundant resources of hospitality and whatever material resources they may have, however poor they may be. This has been a great blessing to me, and I feel privileged to have been able to share that experience with them (You are all welcome to come visit me too! Just let me know when and I’ll even come to the airport to meet you! Of course, you will be required to make and eat pupusas.).
Now we are just keeping in contact with EWB as they elaborate different designs for a water project (with their corresponding implementation and maintenance costs) so that the community can choose what they would prefer. They have said that they plan to design projects ranging from water in each home to a more simple design involving several public faucets, which would be located at strategic points throughout the community and therefore much closer to people’s homes than the current chorro (in addition to possessing the considerable advantage of actually having water in them!). They also mentioned renovating a public wash station where women can go to do their laundry.
So all in all, the past week with the Engineers Without Borders team has been one of the best experiences of my time in Peace Corps (up there with the week spent helping construct the school with the brave team from my church!) I really admire their technical expertise that will, primero a Dios, make immeasurable improvements in the quality of people’s lives, and I admire their openness and friendliness that allowed them to connect with the community. Although as I said, everything is preliminary, their visit has given me renewed energy and hope that one day, the most basic human need, water, will be fulfilled for the people of El Amatón.
-- Reforestation and Soil Conservation:
So you thought I was done talking about the water project! But no! As an Agroforestry Volunteer, I’ve been thinking a lot about the importance of good watershed management as we contemplate a water project. We have a big problem with deforestation on the slopes of the Cerro Chingo, the main watershed for the community. Every year, mischievious, unemployed youth from outside the community burn high up on the cerro in the dry season, stripping it of vegetation. Without tree roots to promote water infiltration, heavy rains simply run off, carrying soil and rocks with it. There’s actually been two landslides this rainy season already, one of which was extremely threatening to the caserío until we managed, with the help of the Governor of Santa Ana, to convince the Ministry of Public Works to come and carry out mitigation works. I’ve talked to the Directivas about the problem, and they agreed that in order to sustain any well perforated in the community, we need to reforest the burned areas high on the cerro in order to promote water infiltration that will recharge the aquifer, and prevent landslides. The NGO Trees, Water, People has pledged to donate trees and technical support. Their forestry technician, Kevin, has already come out and hiked 2 ½ hours up the cerro to estimate the area surrounding the landslide origins that must be forested. It’s not going to be easy – he estimates that we will want to plant 7,000 – 8,000 trees at the beginning of the next rainy season, and excavate soil conservation and water infiltration ditches on the contour, called acequias. In addition to help from Trees, Water, People, we’re also counting on the Governor to help place forest guards there to prevent future forest fires.
Sand and rocks washed down the mountain by the landslide
So by this point you are probably all thinking, “Is she loca? She’ll never be able to finish all that before she comes home in December!” It is true that I will finish my two-year commitment to Peace Corps in December. It is also true that there is no way that the water project or the reforestation project will be anywhere near completed. (It’s really a shame that we wasted over a year and half working on the water project with the Mayor that fell through for political reasons and poor technical design.) When I first came to El Salvador, two years seemed like such a long time. But now I see that when it comes to community development – to making substantial changes in the quality of people’s lives and (perhaps even more difficult) changes in deeply entrenched ways of seeing the community and the world – two years is almost no time at all. My boss had warned me that as the first Volunteer in my site, there was no possible way I could address all the needs of the community in two years. But I had hoped to leave the community if not with a water project, then with definite project technical plans, permissions, and funding to hand to the next volunteer to oversee construction. I would also like to see the community through what is arguably the most important element of a water project – reforestation of the watershed. I’m anxious to come home, be with family, and start graduate school. But the people here in El Amatón have become my family as well over the last almost-two-years, and I want to walk with them a little further down the long, hard road to bringing water to the community. When I leave, I want to know that the people I have come to love will no longer struggle to meet this most basic of all human needs. With my community, I am applying to Peace Corps to stay a third year. I just can’t bear to leave my community now that everything – maybe – seems to be coming together. I just hope and pray that the extension will be granted. Keep your fingers crossed for me!
-- Everything Else:
Okay, so I took up most of my blabbing space with the water project, so I’ll have to limit myself to one or two sentences on everything else. We’re harvesting radishes and peppers from the semi-hydroponic home gardens and tomatoes are coming along. The improved breeds of chickens are growing and should start to lay eggs within 2 months (I am the proud owner of 4 very beautiful brown-and-white chickens!). We faced many enemies to our school tree nursery – first dogs who overturned the bags, then cows who bent their long necks right over the fence we put up to nibble on the trees, then zompopos (huge monster leaf cutter ants) but we still managed to produce about 130 trees. We used the trees to reforest three community water sources (the springs and natural wells people hike to when there is no water in the chorro) with the kids in the school and the Agriculture and Water Committees (yay! playing in the dirt!). The Health Committee is receiving a series of trainings in first aid at the clinic in El Coco. The ninth graders in the Life Planning Education class are learning to overcome gender stereotypes, set goals, make good decisions, think seriously about what it means to be a responsible parent and at what stage in their lives they will be ready to be parents, protect their health, and seek employment (well, maybe that’s a bit ambitious, but I am trying).
Semi-Hydroponic Home Vegetable Gardens: Tita with a flat of radishes (left); tomato and pepper plants in my garden (right)
Ester with one of her family's chickens (left); Carmen and Magali carrying trees from the nursery to the community water sources, where we planted them (right)
-- School Classrooms and Library:
Okay, I lied. The school inauguration is going to need more than two sentences. At long last, we inaugurated the two new classrooms, which will allow kids to finish their primary education in El Amatón, and the new library of ecologically themed books on July 21. I must say that despite the delays in finishing the school, I was very proud of the Community Association for Education (ACE) and all the work they have put into this project. It was their vision to expand the school and offer more grade levels that gave birth to the project, and their dedication that led to its realization. I know that there were days when don Alex didn’t return home until 10 p.m. waiting for a load of bricks or other supplies, or don Salomón willingly dropped his own work in the fields to go and purchase cement when the masons ran out, so work could go on. Purchase and transport of materials, coordination of parent workers, supervision of construction, detailed record-keeping of expenses using the ledger I taught them – it all happened nearly without me (except for the week that I dedicated completely to helping as unskilled labor with the volunteers from my church and the parents from the community). And I suppose that’s the way it should be. If a community is motivated enough to take on such responsibility and get the job done without my constant poking and prodding, it means that the project is really important to them. It fulfills a felt need – the need to give the children the educational opportunities that their parents never had.
The inauguration was a joyful celebration, with speeches by me, the Community Association for Education (ACE) President, the school director, a parent, and a student, as well as two environmentally themed song-and-dance numbers by the little kids and a ceremonial ribbon cutting (I almost cried when they invited me to cut the ribbon). Peace Corps volunteer friends and staff from the office were there to share the day with me. AND, to my very happy surprise, after the refreshments, most people actually heeded my pleas to deposit the plastic bags containing their “fresco” drink in the INORGANIC TRASH barrels and the napkins from their sandwiches in the ORGANIC TRASH barrels. All in all, a blessedly happy event.
The new library and two classrooms, decorated for the celebration (left); kids perform a dance to celebrate the opening of the Ecological Library (right)
Well, I hope I have not bored you all with this very long email. Congratulations to those who have reached the bottom, and do let me know how you are doing. I really enjoy hearing from you all, even it is just a few sentences.
Con amor desde El Salvador (With love from El Salvador),
Megan
Con amor desde El Salvador (With love from El Salvador),
Megan
