tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70466591675005954322024-03-05T02:31:39.108-08:00Megan's Adventures in El Salvador!Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10405542360305212147noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046659167500595432.post-31561127277968951482008-04-17T16:16:00.000-07:002008-04-17T16:33:52.787-07:00Hola desde El Salvador #13 / Finishing upDear family and friends,<br /><br />I can hardly believe that this will be my last update to you from El Salvador … after three years and nine months in this country, I am so used to my life here that I find it difficult to imagine anything else. But although there is much work left to do in El Amatón, this will be left to the Rural Health and Sanitation Volunteer who will follow me, and most importantly, to the community itself. While I am sad at the prospect of leaving the community that has been my home for three and a half years, I am looking forward to taking the next steps in my life, and especially to reconnecting with all of YOU again!<br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><u><span style="font-size:130%;">Water System Infrastructure Project:<br /></span></u></strong><br />What a long and frustrating struggle this has been! As you all know, the Mayor & Co. completed construction on their water project last year, but the water remained off due to legal and technical problems (the Mayor does not have the land title, or permission, to the area where the well is drilled, and supposedly an incorrect pump was installed). As you also know, for the last year and a half I have been working with the community to solicit the necessary funds to install a solar-powered pumping system, in order to decrease electricity costs and make the project more sustainable. Since my last email in December, we actually managed to secure nearly $140,000.00 in funding for this project from some major donors -- the Spanish Association for International Cooperation, Rotary International, and the United Nations Development Program. This would have been enough for a 100% solar system – four pumping stations with solar panels at the well and three intermediate tanks, pumping water to the tank completely independently of the electrical grid. There would have even been money left over for watershed conservation efforts.<br /><br />About three weeks ago, everything seemed to be coming together for the project to go forward. Since neither the Mayor nor the community had permission to the well drilled by the Mayor, the community proposed to drill a new well in a closer location, where the hydro-geological studies we did in 2006 showed an aquifer. The idea was to connect the new well, with the solar pumping system, to the existing tubing and tank. A delegation of community leaders went (with the engineers helping to design the project and people from the donating institutions) to inquire about obtaining permission to connect the new well to the Mayor´s system of tubing and tank. To our surprise, the Mayor gave a verbal OK, with a promise to elaborate a written permission for the following week. We were so excited! It seemed that at last, after years of struggling, El Amatón was going to have a truly sustainable water project.<br /><br />It all started during the last week of March, when a commission named by the community went to the Mayor’s office, supposedly to pick up the Municipal Agreement that they had agreed to elaborate, ceding permission to use the existing tubing and tank with the new well. They came back empty-handed and discouraged: apparently, the Mayor had changed his mind because he feared that if a new well was drilled, his well (that is, the illegal, contaminated, and really far away well) would be left unused.<br /><br />We fought the good fight. We made calls to the engineers at the UCA, the folks at Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Foreign Relations who were managing the Spanish Cooperation funds, and the Rotarians from the Santa Ana Club to try to talk to the Mayor again, without encouraging results. Melvin and Aroldo, representing the ADESCO, accompanied me to the UCA to meet with the engineers and the folks from the Ministry of Environment to try to formulate a solution. Finally, we had to admit that the solar panel project could not be done. We had no security to the current well, so we could not put the panels there. We couldn't drill another well because we had no tubing to connect it to. And due to the high altitude change between the water source and the tank, the system would have been technically complicated (with four pumping stations) and expensive if parts needed to be replaced quickly due to vandalism or sabotage (a not unlikely possibility given the Mayor's aversion to projects other than the ones he can claim credit for). I hung my head as Melvin, Aroldo, Ing. Villalta from the UCA, Ing. Zambrana from the Ministry of Environment, and I stood at the base of the water storage tank and the reality sunk in that the truly sustainable water project I had fought for with everything I had for the past three years and five months would not become a reality, at least not in El Amatón.<br /><br />In the meeting with the community that followed, we explained the situation and discussed what would be the most appropriate use of the funds. Finally, the community decided to propose to the donors that part of the funds be transferred to a watershed conservation project, and the remainder (the majority, since watershed conservation is not a super-high budget activity) be distributed to other communities for solar-powered pumping systems where the people do not currently have access to potable water and solar pumping is a more feasible option.<br /><br />As I rode back to San Salvador with the engineers (I had an appointment the next day in San Vicente for my final language interview and was planning to go and visit Silvia and Niña Dora, my host family from training), I reflected on the decisions made. I think they were the right ones. I am sure there are hundreds of communities in El Salvador that still do not have potable water, and some that do not have electricity either, where solar energy really is the only option. I sincerely hope that we can give the gift of water to these communities.<br /><br />When we stopped at a gas station outside San Salvador, as Ing. Zambrana hopped out to fill up the tank, Ing. Villalta turned around and asked me, ''How do you feel? ''. I hardly knew how to respond – things had changed so fast I was still processing it all. The fate of three and a half years of my work had just been turned upside down. The day before the last meeting, I had been nearly hysterical with nervousness as I sat and talked with don Salomón and Aroldo about the few people in the community, the Mayor's puppets, who were actively working against the solar panel project. ''Why can't I just go home, tranquila, and not worry about this anymore?'' I sobbed. ''I've done everything I can to try to help you implement a good water project, I've put my heart and soul and all my resources into this fight. I've told myself I'm not going to worry about it, that's not going to do any good, and that now it is up to the community to unite if it wants this project. But then in two seconds I'm worried about it again.'' I sobbed as don Salomón tried to comfort me.<br /><br />''It's because you feel love for the community,'' he said gently. ''When you feel love, you can't help but worry.'' I collected myself a little.<br /><br />''I know, I know,'' I said. ''It's like it says in the Bible – we are all part of one body, and when one part of the body hurts, we all hurt. Honestly, in a few weeks I will be home in the U.S. and I will have all the clean water I want in my house. But there are so many good, good people here that don't deserve a bad water project. You deserve a well-thought out, sustainable project that will not tax your scarce resources so much. And it hurts me to know that you may not have it after so much effort.''<br /><br />That was when we still had hope that maybe, just maybe the Mayor would be willing to reconsider. But now, knowing that the project could definitely not proceed, I felt strangely calm. It was a huge disappointment, of course, both for me and for the community I (mostly) love. But it was almost as if now, recognizing that the negative legal and technical factors were just too great, the pressure was off. We were done with this fight and it could not be won. We had to make the best of it and look for the best way to invest the money promised and try to improve El Amatón's water project in other ways.<br /><br />And there are other ways to address the problems we hoped to address through a new, legalized, cleaner well and the solar panels. In addition to preparing the inquiries to the donors about transfer of the funds to other projects, I spent quite a bit of time preparing detailed recommendations for the community and for the next Volunteer regarding what they can do to make the water project more sustainable. They can continue working with the Institute for Human Rights at the UCA to legalize the well. The IDHUCA can also help them to legalize the Water Committee that the community named to administer the project, and draw up statutes (with community participation) defining project norms and rules. This will help ensure that administration is left in the hands of honest people selected by the community through democratic process. They can count on the help of UCA engineers to train the Committee in system maintenance and administration. And perhaps the next Volunteer can focus on income generation projects to help make payment of the service of water more feasible for the families.<br /><br />At first, I thought, ''What a shame. What a waste of a year and a half. The people of El Amatón are no better off than they were when we started designing the solar panel project. They are in exactly the same situation that they would have been in had I gone home at the end of my two years of service.'' But as I thought about it more, I found things to console me. For one thing, the Mayor has now turned on the water. Without the threat of another project being implemented, there is no doubt that the Mayor would have never turned on the water system before the 2009 elections. So people have gotten water a little bit sooner, although this is small consolation knowing the problems of the system.<br /><br />No, I would say that looking back on the last year, what I am really glad about, what I take most pride in, is the filters project. The water from the Mayor's project may be expensive and contaminated, but at least people now have in their hands the infrastructure, and most importantly the knowledge, to protect their health giving adequate treatment to the water. And I suppose I should not underestimate the importance of the capacity-building that has taken place in the past year with community organizations: the ADESCO, the Health Committee, and the Agriculture Committee (many of whose members will hopefully compose part of the new Water Committee to administer the project). They have learned many skills, such as designing, soliciting, and managing projects, which will hopefully help the community to overcome any problems it should encounter in the future.<br /><br />So my service is ending with a big disappointment in the area in which I have invested the most time and energy. But there have been other, modest successes:<br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><u><span style="font-size:130%;">Filters Project<br /></span></u></strong><br />Since my last email, the filters project has really come into its own. Numbers don´t tell everything, but sometimes I think I lose sight of the big picture when I am in the midst of delivering and installing the filters and training the families one by one. But as doing the monthly reports reports has helped me to see, we ARE having a substantial impact in the community: we´ve installed 73 filters installed, providing safe drinking water to 382 people. But numbers are just numbers. I think the smiling kids with glasses of clean water in the pictures say it best.<br /><br /><br /><div><div><div></div><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7B5fgVWb-sqgdvPqVxL2ALaWbof8mH5nVf3oY8ezraWwiAYO403Lp-Lq6uMP_YJD-deUCWKPUnt_ETpVVgTVYYi7Bh3uijboqmzmcNlyBRAAqUrkiqn8LGS4ERWECtKowhG5_7zSHJs4/s1600-h/Elias-w-filterS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5190358157473212402" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7B5fgVWb-sqgdvPqVxL2ALaWbof8mH5nVf3oY8ezraWwiAYO403Lp-Lq6uMP_YJD-deUCWKPUnt_ETpVVgTVYYi7Bh3uijboqmzmcNlyBRAAqUrkiqn8LGS4ERWECtKowhG5_7zSHJs4/s320/Elias-w-filterS.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyqpSHvlwrRf9LXZO6kmeo6RzxL0kUYmpJqHBzCGf-b0cXF6h4sPpwvK5kpZ2SAGVb7EDW8FWZcWPjxDZyXJqpGkv__f839n8ljvjboMOr2ZxEAa3T8TmfF3cIn8xIKZ7EymvAckw_TsA/s1600-h/Ester-and-EdithS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5190358282027264002" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyqpSHvlwrRf9LXZO6kmeo6RzxL0kUYmpJqHBzCGf-b0cXF6h4sPpwvK5kpZ2SAGVb7EDW8FWZcWPjxDZyXJqpGkv__f839n8ljvjboMOr2ZxEAa3T8TmfF3cIn8xIKZ7EymvAckw_TsA/s320/Ester-and-EdithS.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><div>Many people have commented that they already experience less stomachaches and their kids don’t get diarrhea as much, but it’s really too early to see the long-term health effects since many (most) people probably had parasites when we installed the filter. The Health Committee has plans to provide de-parasitizing medicines to the families using the filter in the near future – hopefully then, we will see a dramatic change in health.<br /><br />Much more than any number of filters installed, I´m most proud of the way the project has built the capacity of the Health Committee. They have learned so much and taken on so many new responsibilities: education of their fellow community members, monitoring, managing donations, preparing reports … all the skills they will need to keep carrying out projects to improve community health, little by little.<br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><u><span style="font-size:130%;">Agriculture Projects<br /></span></u></strong><br />Since it is dry season, we have been on ¨break¨ from most agriculture-related projects. But the women from the home gardens project have been making their compost piles and plan to plant again this year. Meanwhile, the Agriculture Committee is gearing up to execute a project of vegetable cultivation on a commercial scale, with technical support from the Ministry of Agriculture and the financial support of my ever-generous church family at Wildwood Presbyterian (you guys are the best!). In a cooperative effort, they will cultivate about a half-acre in different vegetables for both home consumption and sale in the market. This will hopefully help boost their families’ incomes, since vegetables are much more profitable than the basic grains (corn and beans) they now cultivate. If the project goes well, the Committee hopes to expand the project, perhaps by soliciting a grant for construction of a rainwater catchment tank and installation of a drip irrigation system, in order to allow them to cultivate vegetables year-round.<br /><br />One ag project that has been active in the dry season is the improved chicken raising project. During the rainy season, it´s not the greatest idea to be raising tiny chicks because they are so vulnerable to the wet and the cold. But the dry season is perfect time to incubate new chicks, and the women fired up the incubator again in January. Most people in the project (and many others) signed up for a slot to brings eggs to incubate and increase their flocks.<br /></div><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijis1M6nHQ6uFZde8ASx15l0hSrKPKLdBD5CNWZwJqbKlxq7Rm539kFUFp9rHNi__8WoolS0VxM_I3nP2IbZv4RYhap5IOjTWZ-AG0mWnOoBETTEdFivI8OTdBtMZDznauuDtISnWuPKs/s1600-h/Yolanda-w-incubatorS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5190358599854843922" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijis1M6nHQ6uFZde8ASx15l0hSrKPKLdBD5CNWZwJqbKlxq7Rm539kFUFp9rHNi__8WoolS0VxM_I3nP2IbZv4RYhap5IOjTWZ-AG0mWnOoBETTEdFivI8OTdBtMZDznauuDtISnWuPKs/s320/Yolanda-w-incubatorS.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLBPIX50jq8iKyfwTE0z2NxF4HRT6UcEqKIOQ6HAK0vppIeTZcsnZiiUrwjM4u8fxjkC6kNnRN9Symvu31J5pthrcrD8KebTVHOEDfH-hvY7zoS_xOt7XdqnVCckUlbui0uYdm6ZB19Ng/s1600-h/ChicksS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5190358668574320674" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLBPIX50jq8iKyfwTE0z2NxF4HRT6UcEqKIOQ6HAK0vppIeTZcsnZiiUrwjM4u8fxjkC6kNnRN9Symvu31J5pthrcrD8KebTVHOEDfH-hvY7zoS_xOt7XdqnVCckUlbui0uYdm6ZB19Ng/s320/ChicksS.jpg" border="0" /></a> </p><p align="center"><em><span style="font-size:85%;">Niña Yolanda pulls out the bottom tray of the incubator to show the chicks hatching</span></em></p><p align="left"> </p><p align="left"><br /><strong><u><span style="font-size:130%;">Library Project<br /></span></u></strong><br />After over a year of waiting, a library project from Rotary International that I had been working on with about 10 other Volunteers finally came to fruition in March. With much hassle and the payment of a couple bribes (I’m serious) we received two shipping containers of beautiful books to start or expand libraries in 11 rural schools, and I gave a training on library organization and reading promotion.<br /><br /></p><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj-7R-OP-tE_951E9p95YUVbvGKxAl4OtkqsHt6wOiuSZGeN6Qgc-NX3l_PMFT6aQ8Z1m1WZcTpo4o7WUGB5Ba75439HGgNvjrwdlS6GNmHDfi8e4XW8wd03YM990kIkPVQXjyTTUruJw/s1600-h/Book-sortingS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5190359360064055362" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj-7R-OP-tE_951E9p95YUVbvGKxAl4OtkqsHt6wOiuSZGeN6Qgc-NX3l_PMFT6aQ8Z1m1WZcTpo4o7WUGB5Ba75439HGgNvjrwdlS6GNmHDfi8e4XW8wd03YM990kIkPVQXjyTTUruJw/s320/Book-sortingS.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><p align="center"><em><span style="font-size:85%;">Fellow PCVs Barbara, Chip, and I with a Ministry of Education employee </span></em></p><p align="center"><em><span style="font-size:85%;">sorting the books to make sets for each school</span></em></p><p align="center"><em><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></em> </p><p align="center"><em><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></em> </p><p align="center"><em><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></em></p><p align="center"><em><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></em></p><p align="center"><em><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></em></p><p align="left"></p><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrTRIh6LXSjwCx6bVnLNVmTs0Egteidlw_2eTbT51YSPZFRb8688T9Tee5gIM9NecYWUSMJdN6Os6Skz95kioUKpvY5q98un2xphfPns__DbKxVRZBAGb_vtN37jtzB2WT-4pb4wEAqAc/s1600-h/Kids-w-booksS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5190359428783532114" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrTRIh6LXSjwCx6bVnLNVmTs0Egteidlw_2eTbT51YSPZFRb8688T9Tee5gIM9NecYWUSMJdN6Os6Skz95kioUKpvY5q98un2xphfPns__DbKxVRZBAGb_vtN37jtzB2WT-4pb4wEAqAc/s320/Kids-w-booksS.jpg" border="0" /></a> </p><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>Kids from El Amatón with new books (they looked a lot happier before I pulled the camera out)</em></span></div><div align="center"><em><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></em> </div><div align="center"><em><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></em> </div><div align="center"><em><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></em> </div><div align="center"><em><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></em> </div><div align="center"><em><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></em> </div><div align="center"><em><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></em></div><div align="center"><em><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></em></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"><em></em></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"><em></em></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"><em><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghpfjGCHi4di21kTZ_HzGjv15gYQVB4ZE5WBeDbZh2RUo7JPZRXpLeK0k0zPiViD9uSA-IQmqz82lHrGpUFwsag9rJrmt7AkTEihBnC_69UD5TuUjcWi-9_B7tg66eKjI-q0ReSFIgTMI/s1600-h/BooksS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5190359493208041570" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghpfjGCHi4di21kTZ_HzGjv15gYQVB4ZE5WBeDbZh2RUo7JPZRXpLeK0k0zPiViD9uSA-IQmqz82lHrGpUFwsag9rJrmt7AkTEihBnC_69UD5TuUjcWi-9_B7tg66eKjI-q0ReSFIgTMI/s320/BooksS.jpg" border="0" /></a></em></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"><em></em></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>A sampling of the books by Latin American authors</em></span></div><div align="center"><em><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></em></div><div align="center"></div><div><strong><u><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></u></strong></div><div><strong><u><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></u></strong></div><div><strong><u><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></u></strong> </div><div><strong><u><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></u></strong> </div><div><strong><u><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></u></strong> </div><div><strong><u><span style="font-size:130%;">Closing thoughts</span></u></strong><br /><br />When I first joined Peace Corps and arrived in El Amatón, I imagined that I would leave everything perfect in the community: a sustainable water system, the entire area forested, all the lands with soil and water conservation practices and diversified agriculture, everyone participating in keeping a clean, healthy community, no trash in sight. I've found that community development is a much messier process than I ever imagined, and the biggest obstacle is not getting funds. It's motivating everyone to work together for the true good of the community. So there is a lot of work left to do. I am leaving the next Volunteer, and most importantly the community, a lot of challenges still to be overcome.<br /><br />So I didn't save the world. Not even close. I didn't even dramatically change the lives of the people of one community. But I have learned a few things along the way that should serve me well as I work with communities in the future. Community members have obtained skills and knowledge that will serve them well in their efforts toward sustainable development. I have made some wonderful, wonderful friends. And even if their lives are not dramatically different, I hope that the lives of the people of El Amatón are a little bit better because I have been there. And I guess that for now, that will have to do.<br /><br /></div><div><br /><strong><u><span style="font-size:130%;">What’s next?<br /></span></u></strong><br />Tommorrow I head to Guatemala and southern Mexico for two and a half weeks, then I’ll be back in Wisconsin and Illinois for about a month and a half. I’d love to see as many of you as possible before I head east to Cornell. There, I’ll work as a lab and field assistant in some organic agriculture studies from mid-June until August, when I start classes in my grad program.<br /><br /><br />Con amor desde El Salvador one more time,<br /><br /><br />Megan </div></div></div>Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10405542360305212147noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046659167500595432.post-91751835415594704872007-12-11T10:54:00.000-08:002007-12-13T15:21:00.227-08:00Hola desde El Salvador #12 / Filters are here!Dear family and friends,<br /><br />I hope that this email finds you all enjoying the holiday season and looking forward to time with dear family and friends. I am a little sad that I will not be able to make it home for Christmas this year to see my U.S. family and friends, but I am thankful that I will be with my Salvadoran family – all of the wonderful people of El Amatón that have supported and upheld me during these last three years. My time here is growing short (I return to the U.S. in April) and I want to spend as much time with my adopted community as possible. Of course, the invitation is still open to anyone who would like to come and visit during my final months!<br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><u>Bio-Sand Filters Project<br /></u></strong><br />I write with good news -- the bio-sand filters are finally here! In October I trained the Health Committee, and together we held community meetings on basic hygiene and sanitation and filter use and maintenance. The filters were delivered from the Pure Water project in Honduras near the end of November, and I am currently in the process of installing as many as possible with the Health Committee. We are hopeful that these filters will nearly eliminate gastrointestinal diseases caused by bacteria and parasites. THANK YOU to all who helped make this a reality!<br /><br /><br />HYGIENE EDUCATION PHOTOS:<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_WyxYtdvYmGtkP-MAtquFoi08qZ9SrC1q0KcXfqjI0B-qvwglVQzoWSbx8T3e9k3bL7rwkUQPTxxSGa5Bnm0IZEdmfsLNBl1ETiuEhxYMtoXGpHODgFXAPLMKM2nFLUJTppNbsX4kVJQ/s1600-h/1-+Carlos-Good-Hygiene.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5142791888664487202" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_WyxYtdvYmGtkP-MAtquFoi08qZ9SrC1q0KcXfqjI0B-qvwglVQzoWSbx8T3e9k3bL7rwkUQPTxxSGa5Bnm0IZEdmfsLNBl1ETiuEhxYMtoXGpHODgFXAPLMKM2nFLUJTppNbsX4kVJQ/s320/1-+Carlos-Good-Hygiene.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><p align="center"><em>Carlos identifies good hygiene practices in the Health Committee training </em></p><p align="center"><em></em></p><p align="center"><em></em></p><p align="center"><em></em></p><p align="center"><em></em></p><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqCd4_dFzZ-zK6tRe8FHLAJHLaZZIflE4GaYUc5RoQZs3KAwa9rIdYsohEdv4KU9Y2N-CoVgMS9_vykYvyraMV40122AhKOCDoWmEYCr8JbDGw7h7LA4QqbgMwuEgugHHrAFciq8JCfkc/s1600-h/2-+Marlene-Filter-Maintenance-Charla.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5142791892959454514" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqCd4_dFzZ-zK6tRe8FHLAJHLaZZIflE4GaYUc5RoQZs3KAwa9rIdYsohEdv4KU9Y2N-CoVgMS9_vykYvyraMV40122AhKOCDoWmEYCr8JbDGw7h7LA4QqbgMwuEgugHHrAFciq8JCfkc/s320/2-+Marlene-Filter-Maintenance-Charla.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><em></em><em>Marlene explains filter maintenance in the all-community training on filter use</em><br /></p><br /><br /><br />FILTER DELIVERY PHOTOS:<br /><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWkI7Q1uako26-dKn18-R7p2gJBc_tg85oVkT5qbhQQ5gy3OSyvjr5JfrFs2dP5AH-_qu3vg8NFXAYTOmcyB645iwS2lfx69CzE1xk-OOEeaqI6GsiWFFRISkal4JLFeEyQceJwEeZnG0/s1600-h/3-+Filter.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5142791897254421826" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWkI7Q1uako26-dKn18-R7p2gJBc_tg85oVkT5qbhQQ5gy3OSyvjr5JfrFs2dP5AH-_qu3vg8NFXAYTOmcyB645iwS2lfx69CzE1xk-OOEeaqI6GsiWFFRISkal4JLFeEyQceJwEeZnG0/s320/3-+Filter.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><p align="center"><em>Photo of the filter with logos of donors and technical support organization: </em><em>Wildwood Presbyterian Church (left side), Holden Village (above front), </em><em>the B</em><em>urnt Hills Rotary Club (center front), Pure Water for the World (bottom front). </em><em>The Peace Corps logo is on the right side of the filter because we also received a </em><em>donation </em><em>from the Peace Corps Partnership Water and Sanitation Fund.<br /></em></p><br /><br /><br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzIrGLjFGatjDfYLJIIuUzA46Pp3dtTAnOzaXWkfSTrBPYMARYh_wjwb5w554Z6b2zIXvXQBMokymROYO5oeENvMEcEtgBTZg-71A4unMq7ceeAJNfBeGC6HZabO5imfLJZ-ArRMy3JvE/s1600-h/4-+Filter-Delivery-Handcart.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5142791897254421842" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzIrGLjFGatjDfYLJIIuUzA46Pp3dtTAnOzaXWkfSTrBPYMARYh_wjwb5w554Z6b2zIXvXQBMokymROYO5oeENvMEcEtgBTZg-71A4unMq7ceeAJNfBeGC6HZabO5imfLJZ-ArRMy3JvE/s320/4-+Filter-Delivery-Handcart.jpg" border="0" /></a> </p><p align="center"><em>Delivering filters by hand-cart to the homes</em></p><p align="center"><em></em></p><p align="center"><em></em></p><p align="center"><em></em></p><p></p><p></p><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR1q5eM-EmCklF5L1GfXdY_lKQXlHvz0RrNTdkSJ1CmnhKgV-w-5gkG3ne7pQqsc7OngzVsapgzYeu1tCgWWaRJB9FQ2KgV8l7g9CpSWsRJ57_aGTpfna04CngyiDwE896F4t02_JtWEQ/s1600-h/5-+Filter-Delivery-Oxcart.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5142791901549389154" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR1q5eM-EmCklF5L1GfXdY_lKQXlHvz0RrNTdkSJ1CmnhKgV-w-5gkG3ne7pQqsc7OngzVsapgzYeu1tCgWWaRJB9FQ2KgV8l7g9CpSWsRJ57_aGTpfna04CngyiDwE896F4t02_JtWEQ/s320/5-+Filter-Delivery-Oxcart.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><div align="center"><em>Loading filters on don Santiago’s ox-cart for delivery<br /></em><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><div align="left">FILTER INSTALLATION: </div><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj60WFDJp0wTkD_60LhdJpe-JI6FKZU5JjnZ-sZgVM6U5ZJE5XnUwpqlOQy4qVKjRiafOHBur5fflkDIFicIrI1Bla86RDnP0uvLLEi90X-aFN98eYdNlC1AfhSGQMdyDfQNJPqBMxcVPY/s1600-h/6-+Filter-Installation-1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5143078466062345586" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj60WFDJp0wTkD_60LhdJpe-JI6FKZU5JjnZ-sZgVM6U5ZJE5XnUwpqlOQy4qVKjRiafOHBur5fflkDIFicIrI1Bla86RDnP0uvLLEi90X-aFN98eYdNlC1AfhSGQMdyDfQNJPqBMxcVPY/s320/6-+Filter-Installation-1.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><div align="center"><em>Alexander adding the sand to a filter while kids watch</em></div><div align="center"><em></em></div><div align="center"><em></em></div><div align="center"><em></em></div><div align="center"><em></em></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"></div><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1XAVxwDTNLDUdMCGU_4Q-w0krTra9r749bsyS0RA43DdXXfihWxNwPr52eBN9OAdFp7AB34tlwoGqMyi8Czk3nXn_d5Vv6mXwHoQcp8F4AdLmQnmSgrhC_xI4hWTq8qDagiWLn-JXQ94/s1600-h/7-+Filter-Installation-2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5143078470357312898" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1XAVxwDTNLDUdMCGU_4Q-w0krTra9r749bsyS0RA43DdXXfihWxNwPr52eBN9OAdFp7AB34tlwoGqMyi8Czk3nXn_d5Vv6mXwHoQcp8F4AdLmQnmSgrhC_xI4hWTq8qDagiWLn-JXQ94/s320/7-+Filter-Installation-2.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><div align="center"><em>Girls with their family’s newly installed filter, </em><em>as they begin 5 days of pouring water through to clean the filter<br /></div></em><br /><br /><br />We are still battling the Ministry of Health bureaucracy to get them to express support for the biosand filters project before the municipal authorities. (We have had some problems because the Ministry usually only supports chlorination systems. However, since we suspect that the water has organic material, chlorination without pretreatment is not recommended.) My patience is wearing a bit thin, but I have to think that the months of phone calls and presentations and meetings will convince them in the end.<br /><br />If you are interested in more information and pictures of the progress of the bio-sand filters project, click here: <a href="http://www.box.net/shared/hpymnbd974">Project Report – El Amaton Biosand Filters – Dec 2007</a>.<br /><br /><p align="left"></p><strong><u></u></strong><br /><strong><u>Water System Infrastructure Project<br /></u></strong><br />We´re also still plugging away at the legal issues with the help of the Institute for Human Rights at the Universidad Centroamericana (UCA). Right now the Mayor has agreed to sign a shared administration contract (which would give the community control over all decisions regarding the project) and our main challenge is trying to obtain legal permission to the well.<br /><br />Fundraising for the solar panels project (to decrease the energy costs of pumping water from the well to the community and make the project more sustainable) is going slowly and I am getting discouraged. We have the support of three Rotary Clubs and four Districts, but we are still far from our Rotary goal. We also have a proposal in with the Ministry of Foreign Relations to see if we can obtain support from international donors, but with such a small community I am afraid we will not be competitive. If you are interested in helping (and especially if you have Rotary contacts), please visit <a href="http://www.waterforelsalvador.blogspot.com/">http://www.waterforelsalvador.blogspot.com/</a>.<br /><br />For now, the water from the project is not falling regularly, and even when it did fall a few times people were so worried about how much it will cost that they were hesitant to use it. Since dry season is setting in, water is getting scarce and has stopped completely in the public tap several times. We were without any water two weeks ago, so it was down the bluff to haul water (one hour per trip). Now that the creek has dried up, we can only obtain drinking and cooking water from the natural wells. For washing clothes, we are making the trek to the river contaminated with human sewage...something that will continue unless we can get this solar panel project off the ground to pump water from the well to the community sustainably. It´s frustrating to have been here three years and not yet see a change in supply of this most basic need, despite my best efforts. Sigamos en la lucha…We continue in the struggle.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><u>Soil Conservation</u></strong><br /><br />On a brighter note, the soil conservation project has had great results! We did some monitoring visits to the fields where we dug the acequias (water infiltration ditches) in April. Farmers have already seen improvements in their crops and in water infiltration. One farmer reported that the cornfield in the lower part of his field was always buried with eroded soil before the construction of the acequias. This year, however, he has not observed soil erosion and the corn in the lower portion of the field has been very productive. Another farmer told us how in years past, strong currents of water passed and swept away the bean plants, but this year no strong currents have passed and the beans have produced very well. I wasn’t expecting to see such immediate results (just one growing season), so this was a nice surprise!<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijD69pd_-QiDF08k2SXS_DCmR4it8fuuJPtF0GPMK67o24Sni8APVz5L7P7zt7b9UvXTSICPqMgZOmWxzQ34JRpO5gSuGVMsXw0kglCzF1CzcjXXuEdt-d7P1cdE0elwYouxxHd4e7aVc/s1600-h/8-+Samuel-M-w-Acequia.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5143089581437707826" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijD69pd_-QiDF08k2SXS_DCmR4it8fuuJPtF0GPMK67o24Sni8APVz5L7P7zt7b9UvXTSICPqMgZOmWxzQ34JRpO5gSuGVMsXw0kglCzF1CzcjXXuEdt-d7P1cdE0elwYouxxHd4e7aVc/s200/8-+Samuel-M-w-Acequia.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxNp7exPkkj339TizCghuN4J4VqiNt2tUJLqUJ0DyNcVGqUj7iXC29v8JLLeAhTk6B-0zJffgKJ4biRyhZQnsY209-LnYhsa2y5qWGoEq2nL3ZR51TcKGjAo8SumABFmuH1AjYeWaAljs/s1600-h/9-+Acequia.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5143089585732675138" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxNp7exPkkj339TizCghuN4J4VqiNt2tUJLqUJ0DyNcVGqUj7iXC29v8JLLeAhTk6B-0zJffgKJ4biRyhZQnsY209-LnYhsa2y5qWGoEq2nL3ZR51TcKGjAo8SumABFmuH1AjYeWaAljs/s200/9-+Acequia.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVG_g9QxQdggwjIqI2I8TY0E2Gu_gM6Es0HlGcZZTy6iWzmVYSsfwj0QHaeYYpgh3-Q5BojqtrAB6a-MA9_Ky-RUgldTBh52AFaAtPNzNUeQYYRNusIRojLEwv2GCkXyztIp3zSxWxzQY/s1600-h/10-+Samuel-C-w-Acequia.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5143089590027642450" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVG_g9QxQdggwjIqI2I8TY0E2Gu_gM6Es0HlGcZZTy6iWzmVYSsfwj0QHaeYYpgh3-Q5BojqtrAB6a-MA9_Ky-RUgldTBh52AFaAtPNzNUeQYYRNusIRojLEwv2GCkXyztIp3zSxWxzQY/s200/10-+Samuel-C-w-Acequia.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><em>Farmers with their water infiltration ditches among corn and bean crops, Sept. 2007.</em><br /></p><br /><br /><strong><u>Home Gardens</u></strong><br /><br />We reaped the majority of our harvest of semi-hydroponic tomatoes, sweet peppers, radishes, and broccoli in September and October. Fresh tomatoes and sweet peppers are soooo good … tomatoes roasted, peeled, and mashed up with mint in a yummy sauce called chismol and peppers roasted on the plancha.<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioBboJQz_2JERm-Hx7gdnoPQAH8E1zSVLhQ9LEk3A-XvgDtignbfhLwGqfU5VHsARZXjGWBbrlfMxV3kw1eRoQfX3U9NOok616r8ih-P3CwYxaCBv153HD7B8xkOSynGwotCZCzeu-daU/s1600-h/11-+Radish-Harvest.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5143090238567704162" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioBboJQz_2JERm-Hx7gdnoPQAH8E1zSVLhQ9LEk3A-XvgDtignbfhLwGqfU5VHsARZXjGWBbrlfMxV3kw1eRoQfX3U9NOok616r8ih-P3CwYxaCBv153HD7B8xkOSynGwotCZCzeu-daU/s320/11-+Radish-Harvest.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><div align="center"><em>Me with harvest of radishes from my flat </em></div><div align="center"><em></em></div><div align="center"><em></em></div><div align="center"><em></em></div><div align="center"><em></em></div><div align="center"><em></em></div><p align="center"><em><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlupAMrwb-RDjFJULYxV5el2gdgRXn37GFgeyacM27OvnzwdJ4QhgV0w6I8b8jwHo-ryOMGN7isG46cgwHdDPn7Lw6B1IifSZAMyeMV1crV5tB1Ohdkcxo5kiYCw5qAdnQ5YvToIBHkXY/s1600-h/12-+Linda-Tomato-Harvest.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5143090242862671474" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlupAMrwb-RDjFJULYxV5el2gdgRXn37GFgeyacM27OvnzwdJ4QhgV0w6I8b8jwHo-ryOMGN7isG46cgwHdDPn7Lw6B1IifSZAMyeMV1crV5tB1Ohdkcxo5kiYCw5qAdnQ5YvToIBHkXY/s320/12-+Linda-Tomato-Harvest.jpg" border="0" /></a></p></em><em><div align="center">Linda harvesting tomatoes in her aunt, Tita’s, garden</em></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><u>Youth Environmental Group<br /></u></strong><br />The Youth Ecological Club finished up a really active year with an Earth Celebration Day of environmental dramas and a hike to the cloud forest of the volcano (inactive, we hope) that towers over the village. It is a beautiful, if demanding, hike. The path begins winding through coffee farms and rocky fields of corn and beans, then shifts to tropical dry forest, and at the highest elevations, moist cloud forest. Upon reaching the summit, we hiked down to the bottom of the crater, where the kids had a great time playing soccer and swinging on vines! A fun end to a year of hard work on their part.<br /><div align="center"><br /><em><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDd_elgMlSaB1WsWKXkiqhDeH1QWrowxRnWeUy5DEhbSfo4q65rLv2uaJ76TSl-miEPhLK8OYkpNTT3boV39_F6tYKsEu3_N4XwB495DbAlM7R66siNLXSJJGfK_2XLITD8kBjbFtBcbA/s1600-h/13-+Magali-Trees.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5143091187755476610" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDd_elgMlSaB1WsWKXkiqhDeH1QWrowxRnWeUy5DEhbSfo4q65rLv2uaJ76TSl-miEPhLK8OYkpNTT3boV39_F6tYKsEu3_N4XwB495DbAlM7R66siNLXSJJGfK_2XLITD8kBjbFtBcbA/s320/13-+Magali-Trees.jpg" border="0" /></a> </em></div><div align="center"><em>Left: Magali weeding around one of the trees we planted in the community water sources </em></div><div align="center"><em></em></div><div align="center"><em></em></div><p><em></em></p><em><p></p><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLhq0rvXCsSsHcpAMKlpaSeB-mfRIjdY6D1mmTr1j-JJWGDMdQ12-zyPc0cLGNc5uV-7jtzbZSL1Jqu8RgnQciXairnaT1Rgt7HMjj_-xbZuDTSUogEFyK2G22_drIY2htHP69ELzSjBE/s1600-h/14-+Megan-Cristina-Cerro-Hike.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5143086617910273522" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLhq0rvXCsSsHcpAMKlpaSeB-mfRIjdY6D1mmTr1j-JJWGDMdQ12-zyPc0cLGNc5uV-7jtzbZSL1Jqu8RgnQciXairnaT1Rgt7HMjj_-xbZuDTSUogEFyK2G22_drIY2htHP69ELzSjBE/s320/14-+Megan-Cristina-Cerro-Hike.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><p align="center">Right: Cristina and I about half way up the Cerro (she’s already a little tired!)</em></p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><u>Harvest Time<br /></u></strong><br />Harvest time is now in full swing here in El Amatón, a bit late due to the delayed onset of the rainy season. There has been a whirl of agricultural activity as people pull up and thresh beans and mound up and de-grain dried ears of corn in their fields – and then, without hardly taking a deep breath, plunge into the coffee-picking frenzy that will last until early February. After all the paperwork and bureaucracy and politics of the water projects, it has been great for me to engage in real, physical work of the various harvests. I’ve gone to pick coffee with Lidia on her father’s farm, a basket strapped around my waist to catch the red-purple beans as I run my hands down the branches. Then it was off to the frijolar to pull up and thresh beans with don Aroldo and his sons. And last weekend I went with Melvin and his family to tapizcar corn, or break off the dried ears of corn from the stalk (still in their husks) and toss them into piles, to be mounded up into a single pile at the end of the day for de-graining. Since each pile we made drew from a pretty large area, my third-base to first-base throw from my softball days (wayyyyyyy back when) came in pretty handy! There is nothing like working in the fields in the fresh air to leave behind all the frustrating bureaucracy that accompanies community development projects – and to really feel like a part of the family and community.<br /><br />COFFEE HARVEST:<br /><br /><br /><p align="center"><em><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZqxjtPdUxBWiOoUnmBvDIB_HAKoiIvJR3QCUe4U1r1oMErfSkDao2c7pduXk4owpupAQB8L_jiNs3ZT9TYYedKE3MvJNG5keOW4lQxuuUOtmSFALwCY4LNr0VvZw3xxTNVy06T6FDtJI/s1600-h/15-+Megan-Elias-Picking-Coffee.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5143085484038907282" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZqxjtPdUxBWiOoUnmBvDIB_HAKoiIvJR3QCUe4U1r1oMErfSkDao2c7pduXk4owpupAQB8L_jiNs3ZT9TYYedKE3MvJNG5keOW4lQxuuUOtmSFALwCY4LNr0VvZw3xxTNVy06T6FDtJI/s320/15-+Megan-Elias-Picking-Coffee.jpg" border="0" /></a></em><em></em></p><p align="center"><em>Left: Elias and me picking coffee </em></p><p align="center"><em></em></p><p align="center"><em></em></p><p><em></em></p><em><p></p><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-LS9mD9EutMfEWhfSbMP7YdAezsNWvGe7U0JDdPBxBwywtmPkfNsPLip1cs9npbfYPYKDMAB1PvGz4vu_-UPsFGis8VvDConQcbrolcxChutouhEpCnxZDLaTYn4hnR4YWB-9cIEi45E/s1600-h/16-+Lorena-Picking-Coffee.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5143085501218776482" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-LS9mD9EutMfEWhfSbMP7YdAezsNWvGe7U0JDdPBxBwywtmPkfNsPLip1cs9npbfYPYKDMAB1PvGz4vu_-UPsFGis8VvDConQcbrolcxChutouhEpCnxZDLaTYn4hnR4YWB-9cIEi45E/s320/16-+Lorena-Picking-Coffee.jpg" border="0" /></a></p></em><div align="center"><em>Right: Lorena (Lidia’s niece) picking coffee </em></div><em></em><br /><br /><br /><br />BEAN HARVEST:<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUr4XY3M_MizHfqgWNUKM8zZ9Qajx-tAjRKtSn0SPTwVxIe3SMJmVMDJZeoD48ZN5pvzZjBG6EfA-NexWZVMl86yuUcuP78oSQaX-Id3N4_WVUGBWXAhOF1PEOER7zykcA8KAdKQW6aVk/s1600-h/17-+Threshing-Beans-1.jpg"><em><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5143085539873482162" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUr4XY3M_MizHfqgWNUKM8zZ9Qajx-tAjRKtSn0SPTwVxIe3SMJmVMDJZeoD48ZN5pvzZjBG6EfA-NexWZVMl86yuUcuP78oSQaX-Id3N4_WVUGBWXAhOF1PEOER7zykcA8KAdKQW6aVk/s320/17-+Threshing-Beans-1.jpg" border="0" /></em></a></p><p align="center"><em></em><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJSUzzyRrsK5BIuLYo88RzLBZIl33AOygDHOka8z37ygBC41sDaljYDhD1YU7782bn-9Iz7NAf2iuoF_3Xz4ZdiG4PUP2BORu_4Px6NfdIzo6jUes_EAHBEnZf1X5uRYkwbV4aySHyW_w/s1600-h/18-+Threshing-Beans-2.jpg"><em><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5143085544168449474" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJSUzzyRrsK5BIuLYo88RzLBZIl33AOygDHOka8z37ygBC41sDaljYDhD1YU7782bn-9Iz7NAf2iuoF_3Xz4ZdiG4PUP2BORu_4Px6NfdIzo6jUes_EAHBEnZf1X5uRYkwbV4aySHyW_w/s320/18-+Threshing-Beans-2.jpg" border="0" /></em></a></p><div align="center"><em>Aroldo and son Marcos threshing the first bean crop in August </em></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="left">CORN HARVEST:</div><br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUkMljX_vScn34dgs1x9KduXfi-cyvTB36WItfUABdFXFEqHB9TCiKOuM81n7U50GWqi2Eul6DgVRIP6cJjWRONbpzmHUoGQ7zg76NCx7KFdk7vrHckjlEvPBJjYlXAG2-WxZGo1-_MOk/s1600-h/19-Mamerto-Rudy-Tapizcar-Maiz.jpg"><em><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5143085557053351378" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUkMljX_vScn34dgs1x9KduXfi-cyvTB36WItfUABdFXFEqHB9TCiKOuM81n7U50GWqi2Eul6DgVRIP6cJjWRONbpzmHUoGQ7zg76NCx7KFdk7vrHckjlEvPBJjYlXAG2-WxZGo1-_MOk/s320/19-Mamerto-Rudy-Tapizcar-Maiz.jpg" border="0" /></em></a></p><div align="center"><em></em><em>don Mamerto and Rudy tossing dried ears of corn into a pile</em></div><div align="center"><em></em></div><div align="center"></div><p><em></em></p><em><p></p><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH-XtKEuK2NMZXwuJ-11AnfTNzi4NGdUlxXgd6ZWy_nppVGQ2PN6e_BBnIhAzWTl0gyE46IzjHom20KQuGIdZ4MAga4uI551mRTVct7zmS-8s4m7ItMYrgyvzBwtN9K-WcbP81SXUlubo/s1600-h/20-Aroldo-Melvin-Tapizcar-Maiz.jpg"><em><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5143092240022464162" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH-XtKEuK2NMZXwuJ-11AnfTNzi4NGdUlxXgd6ZWy_nppVGQ2PN6e_BBnIhAzWTl0gyE46IzjHom20KQuGIdZ4MAga4uI551mRTVct7zmS-8s4m7ItMYrgyvzBwtN9K-WcbP81SXUlubo/s320/20-Aroldo-Melvin-Tapizcar-Maiz.jpg" border="0" /></em></a></p></em><div align="center"><em>Aroldo and Melvin pick ears of corn below their pile<br /></em><br /></div><br /><div align="left"><br />Congrats to those who have made it to the bottom of the latest issue of “Hola desde El Salvador.” I wish you all a very merry Christmas and look forward to hearing from you.<br /><br />Con amor desde El Salvador,<br /><br />Megan </div>Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10405542360305212147noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046659167500595432.post-46527467132644316032007-09-02T15:17:00.000-07:002007-09-03T16:38:23.739-07:00Hola desde El Salvador #11<div align="left">Dear family and friends,<br /><br />I hope that the beginning of the school year finds you all well back in the U.S. (or wherever else you may be!) Things are moving along here in El Salvador, although (as usual) much more slowly than I would like. I guess that after all this time I am still an impatient American!<br /><br /><br /><strong><u>Bio-Sand Filters Project<br /></u></strong><br />The good news is that – thanks to many of YOU -- it looks like we will be beginning the bio-sand filters project very soon! (In case you forgot or are new to my email list – these are cement filters filled with sand and gravel to be installed in each house. The filtration process removes 97% of bacteria and 100% of parasites and worms.) Gastro-intestinal illness (caused by bacteria and parasites found in contaminated water) is the most common health problem in the community and also the biggest killer of kids under 5. The Health Committee and I are hoping that this project will nearly eliminate this problem, improving child survival, school attendance of kids, and productivity of adults. The project has already been approved by the Peace Corps Partnership program and is posted on their Web site for potential donors to make contributions (read the project summary at: <a href="https://www.peacecorps.gov/resources/donors/contribute/projdetail.cfm?projdesc=519-091®ion=latinamerica">https://www.peacecorps.gov/resources/donors/contribute/projdetail.cfm?projdesc=519-091&region=latinamerica</a>). I want to thank all of you who have already donated through my church … they will soon be sending the money to Peace Corps Partnership, which, along with promised contributions from Holden Village (an ecumenical retreat center in WA state) and Pure Water for the World, should put us very near our goal! Please know what a difference your generosity – whether with financial support or well-wishes – will make in the lives of the people of El Amatón.<br /><br />In mid-September I’m planning to visit another Peace Corps Volunteer who is paired with Pure Water for the World in Choluteca, Honduras to observe the different stages of the project. Then, I’ll return to El Amatón to train the Health Committee to carry out the filter installation and monitoring and hygiene education.<br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><u>Water System Infrastructure Project<br /></u></strong><br />This is going much, much slower thanks to political issues. Most of the infrastructure of the Mayor’s project is already built – that is, the tubing and tank. And as you may recall, I have been working with engineers from the Universidad Centroamericana (UCA) in San Salvador and leaders in the local Association for Community Development (ADESCO) to design a solar panels project and raise the funds to implement it. This would help decrease the energy costs of pumping water from the well drilled by the Mayor to the community and make the project more sustainable.<br /><br />Unfortunately, we are having some problems with land title issues. Upon beginning the project, the Mayor has claimed that the municipality had a 50-year permission from the landowner for the use of the well. That turned out to be a lie – there is no permission, no title, no nothing. And instead of trying to obtain the title to the well in the name of the ADESCO, the Mayor is trying to obtain it in his own name. He’s also pressuring the community to transfer the title of the land where the water storage tank is built to the Mayor as well, saying that the project will be stopped if they don’t.<br /><br />For now, the community has narrowly voted against ceding the title to the water storage tank – but there remains the problem of the title to the well. I really, really don’t like the idea of the title being in the hands of anyone but the ADESCO. Especially with the trend towards privatization of water here in El Salvador, if the land titles are not in the community’s name the project could be sold off to a private company, with a high possibility that the quality of service would decrease and the price increase beyond the ability of the families to pay (if interested, read this article from World Press about <a href="http://www.worldpress.org/Americas/2873.cfm">"Privatizing Water and the Criminalization of Protest"</a>). Certainly, without security to the well and project administration firmly under the community’s control, we can’t be accepting donations for solar panels to pump water from the well to the community.<br /><br />We have sought legal counsel from the Institute for Human Rights at the UCA (IDHUCA for its initials in Spanish) and they have promised to help us investigate the situation and protect the water project from being (further) exploited for political or financial ends. Hopefully we will be able to resolve the land title issues in favor of the community, in which case the fundraising for the solar panels can continue. We already have the support of two Rotary Clubs in the U.S. But this could be a long, long process.<br /><br />I’m just glad that the bio-sand filters project is decentralized and therefore not tainted by such nasty politics. If we can get the bio-sand filters installed and people start filtering their drinking and cooking water, that will make a big difference in the community’s health, even if they still spend nearly their whole lives finding water.<br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><u>Agriculture Projects: soil conservation, trees, veggies, and chickens</u></strong><br /><br />-- Soil Conservation: In view of the water project, the Agriculture Committee has worked hard to promote projects that will contribute to conservation of the watershed and increase water infiltration. Before the planting season we carried out a soil and water conservation project consisting of water infiltration ditches called acequias. These structures are dug on level curves across sloping farm fields and help to detain both water running over the fields and eroded soil particles. For each meter of acequia, the agronomist Manuel informed us, 2 barrels of water are stored in the underlying aquifer in each heavy rainfall. So the 2,500 meters we dug will be helping to store 5,000 barrels of water with each rainy-season storm for use in the dry season, as well as helping prevent erosion and preserve humidity in the soil. Not bad! </div><div align="center"><br /><br /></div><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheEb1TPeL1Our6rvCG0qNIDDjJ1sqpbvFNkwGz01IxcsguO9xu8qUR30eVv7Yq9PCn8AEwMjN4ICOoAX00Osj7XMs3c-9c9j4Hq6k64_J59d7QvBNqllTbf0x-vkSW52ux85heldM_Nyk/s1600-h/Samuel_digging_acequia_S.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105735130177491842" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheEb1TPeL1Our6rvCG0qNIDDjJ1sqpbvFNkwGz01IxcsguO9xu8qUR30eVv7Yq9PCn8AEwMjN4ICOoAX00Osj7XMs3c-9c9j4Hq6k64_J59d7QvBNqllTbf0x-vkSW52ux85heldM_Nyk/s200/Samuel_digging_acequia_S.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsdZ5njsoS1pB-G8bg2hsV6Tf4NseQcrjI9URiqfmoRYxkTZI9ofRtAOqtCm5hKtZBjPyunb6rihO8rPpYmlm7-OeGwZ62ULJXh69OSGyaa3pCceXCrQFAfDbSA-cRnspwqWUvhN3H14c/s1600-h/Me_digging_acequia_S.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105735838847095698" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsdZ5njsoS1pB-G8bg2hsV6Tf4NseQcrjI9URiqfmoRYxkTZI9ofRtAOqtCm5hKtZBjPyunb6rihO8rPpYmlm7-OeGwZ62ULJXh69OSGyaa3pCceXCrQFAfDbSA-cRnspwqWUvhN3H14c/s200/Me_digging_acequia_S.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE5voV9C64iPNoRR3JAQiJ1BHV5mLF44eDIYsJBLtEQXj3MQ_bqWfect-YkwvEtmEChS4ZB8BOpYz0KLuH92JLoQPxH4ZZL0snfn6KG2Z88By5tk9qNffQ5Uux3Fcc2qWgQrJC8t7Mn6c/s1600-h/Acequia_S.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105735903271605154" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE5voV9C64iPNoRR3JAQiJ1BHV5mLF44eDIYsJBLtEQXj3MQ_bqWfect-YkwvEtmEChS4ZB8BOpYz0KLuH92JLoQPxH4ZZL0snfn6KG2Z88By5tk9qNffQ5Uux3Fcc2qWgQrJC8t7Mn6c/s200/Acequia_S.jpg" border="0" /></a> <em><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></em></p><p align="center"><em><span style="font-size:85%;">Above Left: Samuel digging an acequia. </span></em></p><p align="center"><em><span style="font-size:85%;">Above Right: I try my hand at digging acequias. </span></em></p><p align="center"><em><span style="font-size:85%;">Below: A finished acequia.</span></em></p><p align="left"></p><div align="left"></div><div align="left"><br />-- Agroforestry: More recently, about 30 farmers participated in an Agroforestry project, planting 3,000 multiple-use trees on their lands. Kevin, the agronomist from the NGO that donated the tree seedlings (Trees, Water, People) and I made the first round of visits to the farmers who had planted the trees last week. It was especially fun to visit don Leopoldo’s parcel – not only did we get to see the little seedlings planted just this year, but also the trees we planted over 2 years ago during my first year in El Amatón. Some of the cedro trees are over 1 ½ times my height already. </div><div align="center"><br /></div><div align="center"></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105737578308850610" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgmnHSQXnw_9xGcmGTgGiNXQuvnP6D3-n_w_1bVCzIdxkue_G7J4A9gbx1-5bXS4m7IAqUlTbxixO6xvs-tLtkjCJVVHloNgEg1EByGfEylovbTEgWz8GBXdTZXrMSxgb9g3WUk5dOdyg/s200/Leopoldo_and_me_with_cedro_S.jpg" border="0" /> <p align="center"><em><span style="font-size:85%;">Leopoldo and I with a cedro tree planted 2 years ago, during my first year in El Amaton</span></em><br /></p><p align="center"><br />-- Home Vegetable Gardens: This year I continued the semi-hydroponic home vegetable gardens with a group of about 7 women. After making compost, preparing liquid bio-fertilizer, starting the seeds, mixing the substrate (compost, coffee husk, and sifted white pumice rock), transplanting into the containers, and caring for plants, we are finally harvesting tomatoes, sweet peppers, radishes, and … broccoli! Broccoli was a new one for us this year – we weren’t sure if broccoli could be made to produce in this relatively hot climatic zone, but when I went to thresh beans lat week with don Aroldo, Niña Emelina brought us steamed vegetables – including broccoli -- with the lunch she carried out to the fields. ¿De su huerto? I inquired, indicating the broccoli. “From your garden?” On my last round of visiting the gardens the huge plant had just a tiny sprig of broccoli nestled beneath giant leaves. “Sí,” she nodded shyly. It was delicious. </p><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9Y545tvWql87KIm_NElKgsgi47pPC8loIOG1Q3jWd8e0M0_Gl0erpL0n24WhJudaXmUaT1SwSPaG7v46Kgr4OR0C27F0v7DoDd0SoJgVh15Lq13RTlG1JktoqxUprY2kOPIFnC3oye4c/s1600-h/Cutting_leaves_for_biofertilizer_S.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105740674980271042" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9Y545tvWql87KIm_NElKgsgi47pPC8loIOG1Q3jWd8e0M0_Gl0erpL0n24WhJudaXmUaT1SwSPaG7v46Kgr4OR0C27F0v7DoDd0SoJgVh15Lq13RTlG1JktoqxUprY2kOPIFnC3oye4c/s200/Cutting_leaves_for_biofertilizer_S.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWRPkLb3KDopZ8y0O0U5CDDnncoawVKSfxdo_Sm_tPuQlJ2LjPm7A5Oxcv8Xp77EpFjkjTgoAK1gcWQJ3vO3R0O6M2u_3pjPaP5OAiBl6JWe0Yv9m-4vVNKu0v5BhpITk-0k4Xo8p4O1Q/s1600-h/Moises_w_Radishes_S.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105740790944388050" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWRPkLb3KDopZ8y0O0U5CDDnncoawVKSfxdo_Sm_tPuQlJ2LjPm7A5Oxcv8Xp77EpFjkjTgoAK1gcWQJ3vO3R0O6M2u_3pjPaP5OAiBl6JWe0Yv9m-4vVNKu0v5BhpITk-0k4Xo8p4O1Q/s200/Moises_w_Radishes_S.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgndI7O5ke16WNIhlg1HIbN396nV9DUt1MJiub1QdaafnPM_ll5Wq2jWh8Yslg7G5u42nwqUBSRJESWzzjM_Xauh7aMUXJnwIa9sUvuWTjLWGPVPnp2n4sM4ubitcYoSVzW9xFFj1jk6jE/s1600-h/Pepper_plant_S.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105740902613537762" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgndI7O5ke16WNIhlg1HIbN396nV9DUt1MJiub1QdaafnPM_ll5Wq2jWh8Yslg7G5u42nwqUBSRJESWzzjM_Xauh7aMUXJnwIa9sUvuWTjLWGPVPnp2n4sM4ubitcYoSVzW9xFFj1jk6jE/s200/Pepper_plant_S.jpg" border="0" /></a> </p><p align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>Above Left: Cutting up leaves to be used in a liquid</em></span><em><span style="font-size:85%;"> biofertilizer for the vegetable crops.</span></em></p><p align="center"><em><span style="font-size:85%;">Above Right: Moises with crop of radish plants.</span></em></p><p align="center"><em><span style="font-size:85%;">Below: One of my pepper plants.</span></em><br /></p><p align="center"></p><p align="left"></p><p align="left">-- Chicken Project: Through the generosity of my home church, Wildwood Presbyterian, 17 more families have also joined the chicken project and have begun to raise improved breeds of chickens in enclosures. Last year’s beneficiaries shared their knowledge of proper facilities, animal nutrition, vaccination, and record keeping with the new participants. Meanwhile, last year’s beneficiaries have continued to add to their flocks, hatching more chicks from the communal incubator. We (my Ministry of Agriculture counterpart, Manuel, and I) are now teaching the women to vaccinate their chickens so that they can organize community vaccination campaigns at the beginning and end of each rainy season. </p><p align="center"><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXGGNTXluvp65sVOGaGyW1QKVt_IEQiIY0ByGNBweJm2aZ3dy8EJY3hNr5gIOst3dN1yF1ELBQmzJfvG8Jmj83rreskfFy_wOIEe8OjPZRDC0B25pdcL9dYUvOaPP8aWHvo2yuxxlVZ1c/s1600-h/Emelina_teaching_vaccination_S.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105743247665681410" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXGGNTXluvp65sVOGaGyW1QKVt_IEQiIY0ByGNBweJm2aZ3dy8EJY3hNr5gIOst3dN1yF1ELBQmzJfvG8Jmj83rreskfFy_wOIEe8OjPZRDC0B25pdcL9dYUvOaPP8aWHvo2yuxxlVZ1c/s200/Emelina_teaching_vaccination_S.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4qDmlK-9tjtOJSLof3NBDl7WXN9039PHezrlKGsObSbm641cpYDaLLYbXy6FQAe_BXzokcdzMWxe00NF2ApC97XUVYZl4PboN_wU8ULa6E-Yj0GXYnQshK7GtWdlHn9oOw44mafotWyU/s1600-h/Kids_w_chickens_S.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105743299205288978" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4qDmlK-9tjtOJSLof3NBDl7WXN9039PHezrlKGsObSbm641cpYDaLLYbXy6FQAe_BXzokcdzMWxe00NF2ApC97XUVYZl4PboN_wU8ULa6E-Yj0GXYnQshK7GtWdlHn9oOw44mafotWyU/s200/Kids_w_chickens_S.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglJeRIfitOwEbvNhsnCrxSsBg864WDwhgQR2cH9TaJJ0P8QtzqeWVQpUaVMSImsU8u7EjWbcmxC0i1bI_DcdZkzxv8KIkQvSCrJCTkb48X3MlvReMsNrldn_hu9FNLs6rmZ1Xb8npT7Gw/s1600-h/Yolanda_vaccinating_chicken_S.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105743350744896546" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglJeRIfitOwEbvNhsnCrxSsBg864WDwhgQR2cH9TaJJ0P8QtzqeWVQpUaVMSImsU8u7EjWbcmxC0i1bI_DcdZkzxv8KIkQvSCrJCTkb48X3MlvReMsNrldn_hu9FNLs6rmZ1Xb8npT7Gw/s200/Yolanda_vaccinating_chicken_S.jpg" border="0" /></a> </p><p align="center"><em><span style="font-size:85%;">Above Left: Emelina teaches new participants about the vaccinations their chickens must receive.</span></em></p><p align="center"><em><span style="font-size:85%;">Above Right: Alejandro and Yulissa hold their family's young chickens</span></em></p><p align="center"><em><span style="font-size:85%;">Below: Yolanda vaccinates a chicken against viruela.</span></em></p><p align="center"></p><p align="left"><br /><br /><strong><u>Youth in Action for the Environment!<br /></u></strong><br />One area where I feel like things are really coming together is in my work with the youth. In April I worked with 5 other Volunteers to organize an Environmental Leadership Camp. Each Volunteer brought 5 student leaders to El Amatón, where they spent three days in talks and activities on natural resources and their protection and leadership skills for motivating their peers to get involved in environmental activities. I have been totally impressed with the youth from my community and the way they have involved their fellow students and followed up the camp with concrete actions: forming a Clean-Up Committee to manage trash in the school, organizing a River Clean-Up, planting trees in community water sources, promoting a recycling campaign, and even writing and performing environmental dramas and songs (at one point before the big show they were coming over to my house every single day after school to rehearse, making a big happy environmental racket!). It’s been a pleasure to work with these kids – their enthusiasm is contagious, and with all of the time we have spent together, I feel like we’ve become more than just teacher-and-students. We’ve become friends. (In fact, they have informed me in no uncertain terms that they are NOT going to allow me to leave!) </p><p align="center"><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzqzCKgIB6ZmbzrhcL4_n6BrR7etCnelMRRg0-0JSg7fFz5s7bGIeiZfy5iKeXl9V6mqzn-kFqwA3aiVleOA45e2JkJ1CF_1Z4cHcMj7Dba7yr2GRAb2FaCDxWVdVwHjXPPb5j2OtE7xQ/s1600-h/Reforestation_Group_S.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105745747336647730" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzqzCKgIB6ZmbzrhcL4_n6BrR7etCnelMRRg0-0JSg7fFz5s7bGIeiZfy5iKeXl9V6mqzn-kFqwA3aiVleOA45e2JkJ1CF_1Z4cHcMj7Dba7yr2GRAb2FaCDxWVdVwHjXPPb5j2OtE7xQ/s200/Reforestation_Group_S.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuFKxj-YIycW7Je_Kc5SFZ9vkVg_mefzYB22ZIajXIXT_drrrk9cHFG_xaT8SnGp-y0mrcS9HK_ec10ii4tGr6eHCV9yMgtgaNHKuhajmLbOmsAKb5isDKUKICG24xXYDZWrI5-R1orSE/s1600-h/Reforestation_Ovidio_S.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105745824646059074" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuFKxj-YIycW7Je_Kc5SFZ9vkVg_mefzYB22ZIajXIXT_drrrk9cHFG_xaT8SnGp-y0mrcS9HK_ec10ii4tGr6eHCV9yMgtgaNHKuhajmLbOmsAKb5isDKUKICG24xXYDZWrI5-R1orSE/s200/Reforestation_Ovidio_S.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBjrt1YdRjyoLltNFJHjpmNo0dCve4IOgYIbgxAg8KKUR_9-3mGCl5kRQDAC14do2kzwwwa8vlG4lB9xH7__-fAANYoScyqizXPGl8C7_QJNmWzvcWGraPbU8TfZTkIU-ulBChIHwywPA/s1600-h/Reforestation_Erica_Magali_Carmen_S.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105745897660503122" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBjrt1YdRjyoLltNFJHjpmNo0dCve4IOgYIbgxAg8KKUR_9-3mGCl5kRQDAC14do2kzwwwa8vlG4lB9xH7__-fAANYoScyqizXPGl8C7_QJNmWzvcWGraPbU8TfZTkIU-ulBChIHwywPA/s200/Reforestation_Erica_Magali_Carmen_S.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><p align="center"><em><span style="font-size:85%;">Reforesting community water sources with the youth.</span></em></p><em><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></em><p align="left"><br /><br /><strong><u>Book Recommendation: Mountains Beyond Mountains</u></strong><br /><br />So in the past couple of weeks it has been raining almost nonstop which has put a damper on a lot of planned “outdoor” activities like supervisory visits to the sites where trees have been planted … and so, miracle of miracles, I’ve actually gotten to spend a few afternoons in my hammock reading. By far the best and most inspiring book I’ve read, which I am now recommending to everyone, is called Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man who would Cure the World, by Tracy Kidder. It is about a doctor who began working in rural Haiti in the 1980’s and since then has dedicated his life, and the organization he co-founded, Partners in Health (www.pig.org), to providing a “preferential option for the poor” in health care – from Peru to Africa. It’s an amazing tale of what a difference a “small group of dedicated people” can make. I found the PIH philosophy especially refreshing … their firm conviction that each human life is beyond value, disdain for standards of “cost-effectiveness,” and commitment to improving the lives of the poor, whatever it takes. I could sympathize with Dr. Farmer’s frustration with standards applied in the international health community which deem $5,000 / year to treat a multi-drug resistant tuberculosis patient in Peru “a poor use of resources” -- while $68,000 / year is spent per TB patient in New York. I get mad, too, when people tell me that $100,000 is too much money to bring water, sustainably, to 500 people in El Salvador – while the average home for a four-person family in the U.S. costs more than that. Give this book a read … and let it move you to action, in whatever way you feel called. </p><p align="left"><a href="http://www.pih.org/inforesources/books/mbm.html">Read more about Mountains Beyond Mountains at PIH's website.<br /></a><br /><br /><br />So it is looking like I will be here in El Salvador until April of next year, in order to see through the monitoring of the bio-sand filters project. I am considering a visit home between now and then, most likely at Christmastime, but we’ll have to see how things go. At any rate, I’d love to hear from all of you!<br /><br /><br />Con amor desde El Salvador,<br /><br />Megan</p>Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10405542360305212147noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046659167500595432.post-11357142234504847922007-05-03T16:19:00.000-07:002007-05-03T16:39:24.466-07:00Hola desde El Salvador #10 / Request for assistance with Water Filters Project please!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_L2jYgekAkxV-n2NwiNwzMJ0UygiHkuDOZ8boBxs50swhxhcqLApx95y-BsRSO55aMwHtuHRVGV3Q5OU9nhOL819XKgnWRg8KzeSwz8Ekz8zJSQl6_KyhJrST5Y8C7XZXbQk3-qnCPiE/s1600-h/BioSand+Filter+Diagram.jpg"></a>Dear family and friends,<br /><br />How time flies! It has been 6 months since I last wrote and my third year in the Peace Corps is nearly half way over. I can hardly believe it.<br /><br />I hope that spring is finally arriving back in the U.S. and that you are all enjoying the warmer weather and the greening of the landscape. Here it is still dry season but we have had several showers that signal the impending beginning of the rainy season. Soon I’ll be able to sleep past 1 a.m. and not have to worry about if I will be able to obtain a few jugs of water from the public faucet or the small natural wells below the community. Hooray! (Although I will have to contend with the mud!)<br /><br />As always, I continue to struggle alongside community members to satisfy the most basic of all human needs – clean, sufficient water. This has been a long road, with many twists and turns and dead-ends. But now, working with the Association for Community Development and its Committees (Water, Health, and Agriculture and Environment), we finally have a vision for how this might come to pass.<br /><br />I write to you today to let you know how things are going, but also to humbly ask those of you who are willing and able for your support of this endeavor. Whether you can offer your time and energy in fundraising efforts or prayer and moral support (or both!) I would be very grateful. Please read on to learn more about the current status of the water project, our vision, and how you can be a part of it.<br /><br />As some of you may recall from my last email, we had carried out a hydro-geological study of the area and we knew the location of the nearest viable aquifer (about 1 km away from the community) where a well could be drilled. An outstanding team from the Engineers Without Borders chapter of Rowan University had conducted an assessment trip to El Amatón and was hard at work designing the water system infrastructure (pump, energy source, tubing, water storage tank, etc.). Then our Mayor came to the community announcing a project about which I had deep reservations, a project based on a well drilled for political reasons. The well has abundant water, but it believed to be contaminated by nearby latrines and it is located 3 km away and 200 m below the community. Several experts in water systems with which I have consulted have warned that the great distance and rise from the well to the storage tank means that the energy cost of pumping the water will be more than a community of such scarce resources can sustain, if only electrical energy is used. Unfortunately, the Mayor proved closed to our efforts to drill a slightly closer, cleaner well, and work is currently in progress on this project.<br /><br />~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>Bio-Sand Filter Project<br /></strong></span><br />While people in the community are encouraged by the prospect of having sufficient water after so many years of scarcity, the majority share these concerns of water contamination and the expense of pumping the water, and are supportive of efforts to better the project. The Health Committee and I have investigated different options for purifying the water, and the community has nearly unanimously voted to pursue a project of installing 120 bio-sand filters, one in each home of the community.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7e-ApYCXNuAjlRsbzeFgP-sDeGMfHNXDnV9HrxkawJRVaTeXpBN87ZSCYK-mBIK9LksLJKhWJelwXxZlxL6l6NcWwe8Hj1ZaSu0x_LCK4w1sbvFVrwEB4eSnwQOx9Yh8DkWJQv_vWbkw/s1600-h/BioSand+Filter+Diagram.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5060481342970345682" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" height="246" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7e-ApYCXNuAjlRsbzeFgP-sDeGMfHNXDnV9HrxkawJRVaTeXpBN87ZSCYK-mBIK9LksLJKhWJelwXxZlxL6l6NcWwe8Hj1ZaSu0x_LCK4w1sbvFVrwEB4eSnwQOx9Yh8DkWJQv_vWbkw/s200/BioSand+Filter+Diagram.jpg" width="156" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><em></em><br /><em></em><br /><em></em><br /><em>(At left) Diagram of the bio-sand filter. Removal of most harmful contaminants and pathogens takes place on the top surface of the sand 2 in. below the water surface, where a natural biomass layer of microorganisms degrades organic material and removes bacteria and parasites.<br /><br /></em><em></em><br /><br /><br /><br />The filters, promoted by an organization called Pure Water for the World (www.purewaterfortheworld.org), are capable of removing 97% of all fecal coliform bacteria, 100% of parasites and worms, 100% of Giardia cysts, 99.98% of Cryptosporidium oocysts, and 50-99% of organic and inorganic toxicants from contaminated water. Together with the hygiene and sanitation education that the Health Committee plans to do, the filters should solve the problem of contamination of the well and make a big difference in the health of the community. There are many mothers that have lost one or more children under 5 to diarrheas, and I don’t think there is a mother in El Amatón who has not at some point feared for the life of a child dehydrated by diarrhea. Now, putting in a new water system, it would be a terrible mistake not to make sure that an appropriate purification system is also installed. (And although I was never in the acute danger a young child with parasites faces, I can say that I have never felt so miserable as when I have had amebas, Giardia, and bacterial infections – and I had access to good medical care and medications to eliminate the infections. I can’t imagine how these people manage to work or study at all with chronic parasitism!)<br /><br />I’ve already seen lots of support from the community for this project – in the last community meeting, community members agreed to pay a collaboration of $10 per family towards the cost of the filters, help with transport and installation, attend all the trainings and hygiene and education sessions, and put into practice personal hygiene and environmental sanitation recommendations in their homes. Eight more people also joined the four existing members of the Health Committee, specifically to help with hygiene and sanitation education, training on proper use and maintenance of the filters, and follow-up visits to make sure the filters are working properly!<br /><br />We are still waiting on price quotes for the filters from a project being carried out by a Rotary Club in another part of El Salvador, but we think that the cost of buying and transporting the filter, supplying parasite treatments, and hygiene and sanitation education will come to about $100.00 per family, or about $12,000.00 total.<br /><br />~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>Solar Panel Project<br /></strong></span><br />Making sure that the water gets to the community at an affordable price is going to be a bit more of a challenge. I’ve continued to work with the Engineers Without Borders as well as some great professors from the Universidad Centroamericana (UCA) in San Salvador to design a project of solar panels to supply at least a portion of the energy for the pump. What they have come up with is a hybrid solar – electrical energy system to operate the pump. In this system, solar panels installed near the pump would produce energy, which will be injected into the electrical grid. Any energy generated by the solar panels will be used to power the pump without increasing the electricity bill. Energy needs beyond what the solar system can generate will be provided by the grid.<br /><br />The only catch is the initial investment: about $100,000.00 for a 20-kW system supplying nearly 100% of the energy for the pump; about $80,000.00 to supply 75% of the energy, and about $60,000.00 to supply 50-60% of the energy. I know it sounds like a lot, but I’ve run the numbers and the investment is a good one, both economically and ecologically. One engineer calculated that without the solar panels, the community will probably be paying around $15,000.00 per year in electricity bills – so in a little over 7 years, a 100% solar system would save the community its cost in electricity bills, and the system is guaranteed for 25 years. And to be honest, I think that this is the only way to guarantee the sustainability of the water project and the health benefits that sufficient water for good hygiene and sanitation would bring. Without the solar panels, the monthly quota per-family will be over $10 just to cover the electricity bills, and the ADESCO will need to charge more for the salary of someone to operate the controls of the pump and to build up a maintenance fund. In the socio-economic study that I carried out with Engineers Without Borders, the most people said they could pay per month for water was $4.00 (too bad the Mayor never asked them that. Grrrrrr.) The solar panels would also provide a great opportunity for environmental education about the connection between renewable energy and environmental protection. That’s still a very new concept here in El Salvador (an almost nonexistent one in the rural areas), and having a concrete example functioning in the community would help bring it to life for both kids and adults.<br /><br />~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>How Can You Help?</strong></span><br /><br />OK, here comes the part I don’t like. But I love El Amatón, so I have to do it.<br /><br />We have knocked on door after door after door of government aid agencies, businesses, and NGOs in search of the necessary resources to realize this vision of clean, affordable water. However, with the exception of Rotary and Pure Water, which are standing by ready to help, the institutions have largely been unresponsive. We will persist in following these channels, but I have grown weary of bureaucracy in the face of such great human need. I am tired of responses like “USAID is no longer funding any water system infrastructure projects in Central America. We’re focusing on roads and bridges” (when what people in the rural areas need is water) and “I’m sorry, we like our projects have at least 1,000 beneficiaries” (when my community has less than 500) and “Is it even worth it to put in a decent water system to serve only 500 people?” (when I know almost all of these people by name and understand their need and love them as family). These responses contrast so sharply with the overwhelming generosity that I experienced working with family, friends, and my church on the classrooms project, and with my church on numerous projects thereafter. You all, all who donated to these projects, didn’t see numbers. You saw people -- children of God, if you will -- with needs, and you responded. And I thank you for all that you have given, not only financial resources, but also gifts of time, energy, prayer, and well wishes.<br /><br />So while we will persist with our proposals to institutions, I have decided to return to the grass-roots – to appeal directly to people of faith and conscience in the confidence that the Spirit of compassion moving in and through each of you can accomplish marvelous things.<br /><br />I want to begin with the filters project, for two reasons. One, it is a more modest, reachable goal. And more importantly, it addresses the most basic need of health and child survival. What I need from those of you who are willing and able is this:<br /><br />-- First, if you are religious, please pray for my community. This request may seem silly to some of you, and that’s OK. But I realize that everyone wants to help, but not everyone is in a position to do fundraising. This is a way that everyone can be involved if they wish. It really does strengthen me to know that there are people praying for me and for my community, for guidance and for persistence in seeking God’s will of justice and peace “on earth as it is in heaven” for this particular community. Don’t for one moment think that the contribution of prayer is any less significant that other forms of assistance. It means a lot to me!<br /><br />-- Second, if you would like, please talk to your faith communities, classes, and civic groups to promote giving to the water filters project. We accomplished a lot through my family, friends, and especially my church on the classrooms project, so just imagine what could happen if this effect was multiplied – if each of you was able to mobilize your faith community or civic group. Again, I understand that not everyone feels comfortable doing this, and that many faith communities already have causes that they are dedicated to and may not be able to take on another. That’s OK. Please don’t feel that you have to do this. I feel bad just asking. But I know there may be some people who would like to help in this regard and I would be very grateful for anything you can do!<br /><br />I have assembled several documents to help you promote the water filters project. They are as follows. If you would like me to send them to you for promotion purposes, please email me.<br /><br />-- El Amaton Bio-Sand Filters Project – Brochure: a trifold brochure summarizing the need and the project, encouraging people to “adopt a family” or “adopt a child.” It is two pages and should be printed out on a single sheet, front to back, and folded brochure style. This can be distributed to interested groups.<br /><br /><br />-- Bio-Sand Filters Solicitud – El Amatón, El Salvador: The full Project proposal with background information about the community, the water contamination problem, technical information about the filter and studies of its effectiveness, and the proposed project (objectives, activities, expected results, tentative budget).<br /><br /><br />-- El Amaton Bio-Sand Filters Fundraising Talk: A suggested “script” for a presentation on the bio-sand filters project to an interested group. This will need to be adapted to your group – in particular, you will have to establish the method for collecting donations. I’ve also put together a Power Point presentation that is the companion to this script. It has lots of pictures which are always good for making people feel connected to the cause.<br /><br />Here’s how the funding is going to work: There are two tax-deductible organizations holding donations for the El Amatón Bio-Sand filters project. One is my home church, Wildwood Presbyterian Church. The other is Pure Water for the World. If you are interested in contributing, please contact me and I can provide the addresses. All checks MUST be marked “El Amatón Filters Project.” People should be aware that 100% of any donation they make will go towards the El Amatón filter project; none will be directed to administrative costs. The Financial Secretary at Wildwood Presbyterian has managed all donations for El Amatón for the classroom project and other projects on a volunteer basis and (bless his heart!) will continue to do so. In a similar way, the Executive Director of Pure Water for the World will receive donations for El Amatón from people who prefer to donate through this organization.<br /><br />In order to make things easier on these two very generous people, I am asking that any organization (church, temple, civic group) collect donations and then make out a single check to Wildwood Presbyterian or Pure Water for the World, instead of having individual members send checks. Please designate a responsible contact person from each organization. We will then send reports to this person, who will in turn share them with individual donors from his or her group.<br /><br />The Director of Pure Water for the World will be helping us channel donations through Rotary Clubs, because Clubs receive matches from their respective Districts and Rotary International. This way, your donation will go further.<br /><br />In the optimistic scenario that the donations received exceed the amount needed for the filters, we would dedicate the funds towards the Solar Panel project in order to make the pumping of water from the well to the community economically and environmentally sustainable. We are also planning on submitting a Rotary Matching Grant for this project, but since the project budget exceeds the maximum we can solicit from Rotary International, in this case your donations would be kept separate in order to complement funding from Rotary Clubs. I’ve attached the project proposal for this effort as well.<br /><br />~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br /><br />I have been amazed and humbled by the support that all of you, family and friends back home, have shown throughout my time in El Salvador. I was hesitant to ask for fundraising support after the classrooms project, but I know of no other source so responsive, so giving, so compassionate. You all come from a diversity of backgrounds – you attend Presbyterian, Lutheran, Catholic, Methodist, and Evangelical churches, Jewish synagogues, Hindu and Buddhist temples, and some of you do not feel a connection to any particular organized religious tradition but have your own sense of ethics and spirituality. But what each of these traditions shares – what we all share -- is the conviction that each and every person is of infinite value, that we are all brothers and sisters, and as such we must care for each other and for the Earth that has been entrusted to us. This is not something that one person can do alone. It is something that must be done in community. So once again, with a bit of sheepishness but even more love for my adopted Salvadoran village, I appeal to you all, my community of family and friends.<br /><br />So, while the institutions shuffle papers, let’s help get these people some clean water!<br /><br />With gratitude and hope,<br /><br />MeganMeganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10405542360305212147noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046659167500595432.post-28196736278154781282006-11-28T07:00:00.000-08:002007-01-01T13:25:07.957-08:00Hola desde WISCONSIN, #9Quierida familia y amigos,<br /><br />I hope that you all had a blessed Thanksgiving and are looking forward to the coming Advent / holiday season. I know I certainly am!<br /><br />You probably noticed the change in the subject line, from “Hola desde El Salvador” to “Hola desde Wisconsin.” That’s because my application for a third year was approved, and I am now on the month-long home leave that Peace Corps grants extending Volunteers. If you’re around … please do let me know; I’d love to get together and catch up.<br /><br />* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *<br /><br />-- Water Project: Since my last “Hola desde El Salvador, lots of people have been working hard on investigating options for the water project … hydrologists and geo-physicists doing studies to inventory subterranean water sources, the Engineers Without Borders team from Rowan University working on plans for the pump and water system infrastructure, and the Water Committee and I coordinating all these efforts. Unfortunately, political maneuvering has raised its ugly head again, frustrating many of our efforts to design a truly sustainable water project. <div></div><br /><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZrHPtOXfE7yQo5WoGcSxZ0TU2AEgkdJLtkbzGyxG2AORDsdhLA2cFssgpUBsOv3gvOIrrAYajwXclsPV76guzEznn_gWLd3xUme3CUqyKGLE8GUsFXxC4bjzhb3zUfIuUC2cZPf3HOYU/s1600-h/46+-+Getting+water+from+springS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015175134424898770" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZrHPtOXfE7yQo5WoGcSxZ0TU2AEgkdJLtkbzGyxG2AORDsdhLA2cFssgpUBsOv3gvOIrrAYajwXclsPV76guzEznn_gWLd3xUme3CUqyKGLE8GUsFXxC4bjzhb3zUfIuUC2cZPf3HOYU/s200/46+-+Getting+water+from+springS.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihVdh9_BZQU3IPTeSpZo5Jv4oCne843Y-p7jsmatjN72EPFwz3ar01evf3P4oqKd3wlOc1w-cg26YAxbmAbaUaXYiMVQMn-nD871PBJXNZvQF_4590k-2eEJ_3cTzinVy4MJnITH-3YHE/s1600-h/47+-+Me+hiking+back+from+springsS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015169847320157250" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihVdh9_BZQU3IPTeSpZo5Jv4oCne843Y-p7jsmatjN72EPFwz3ar01evf3P4oqKd3wlOc1w-cg26YAxbmAbaUaXYiMVQMn-nD871PBJXNZvQF_4590k-2eEJ_3cTzinVy4MJnITH-3YHE/s200/47+-+Me+hiking+back+from+springsS.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioKywB0nZLCaV7AdQ8nXAl7orizo2zzrwNZnkvhh5ZJBxAx0MC8rZ3EXa6DCI2F_WGhCeKcBs_L9wR-sj5x9WHU0NHpn8X1ZyLQ0wzSEeXhZMm1SLhtLHvMUHk0lmG7Um0UZKlyMMxzD8/s1600-h/48+-+Lidia+carrying+water+from+springsS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015170156557802578" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioKywB0nZLCaV7AdQ8nXAl7orizo2zzrwNZnkvhh5ZJBxAx0MC8rZ3EXa6DCI2F_WGhCeKcBs_L9wR-sj5x9WHU0NHpn8X1ZyLQ0wzSEeXhZMm1SLhtLHvMUHk0lmG7Um0UZKlyMMxzD8/s200/48+-+Lidia+carrying+water+from+springsS.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVcN4Rx_VD_lKzxK7va2Y7clUBksbCRkJeH5mK4m78zExMEwLVNTzbgsj_4vfwyP6L8PAYJ7C3S5lRPjfYy0Ix3-HTcLxr6C9PyL8RGo9n0dGHXHAUd8iyWC3MuT2g6jbE5xJ7mWUxyFk/s1600-h/49+-+Carmen+and+Jaquelyn+carrying+water+from+springsS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015170418550807650" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVcN4Rx_VD_lKzxK7va2Y7clUBksbCRkJeH5mK4m78zExMEwLVNTzbgsj_4vfwyP6L8PAYJ7C3S5lRPjfYy0Ix3-HTcLxr6C9PyL8RGo9n0dGHXHAUd8iyWC3MuT2g6jbE5xJ7mWUxyFk/s200/49+-+Carmen+and+Jaquelyn+carrying+water+from+springsS.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><div align="center"><em>Above: Pictures of getting water and carrying it back from the natural wells where we must hike when there is no water (or insufficient water) in the public faucet. One round trip takes about an hour.<br /></em><br /><br /></div><br /><div>After our first attempt at well drilling in the community with Living Water did not yield the amount of water we were hoping for, we faced the prospect of bringing a much larger machine to deepen the existing well or drill a new one. Since this would be much more costly than the first drilling attempt, we decided that is was necessary to invest in hydro-geological studies of the village to determine the best location for a well, and ensure that we did not mis-invest any more funds in the future. We got two types of studies: a hydro-geological study and a geo-physical study. The two engineers presented their findings in early November, recommending that we drill a well 80 m deep in a location approximately 1 km from the community. We had hoped to be able to drill a well within the community in order to reduce the energy cost of pumping water from the well to the proposed storage tank site above all the homes of the village, but at least this well would have been much closer than the well drilled by the Mayor in 2004, 3 km away. We began to investigate different well-drilling companies for price quotes.<br /><br />The Engineers Without Borders team from Rowan University was also working very hard over the last few months. They had sent me a digital map of the community, produced from their surveys, and the community chose several plots of land in strategic locations for public taps. The engineers had hoped to return in January to add the proposed well location to their surveying data, and present us their final designs so the community could choose one.<br /><br />THEN the Mayor’s people came back to bother us again.<br /><br />You may or may not remember that we began our efforts to obtain potable water working with the Mayor to design a project based on a well that he had drilled in 2004, 3 km from the community. The well was clearly politically motivated (drilled 3 days before the presidential elections), and the community was never consulted regarding possible well locations. But although the well was far from the community, it had abundant water, so we decided to try to take advantage of it. In the process of soliciting funding for implementation of the project, the Water Committee and I became aware of severe legal, technical, and economic problems with the project: namely, that we could not get land title to the well, and the distance and elevation change from the well to the proposed storage tank site were so large that the community would not have been able to afford the monthly quota required to cover the energy cost of operating the pump. In fact, an engineer from the Canadian Fund for Local Initiatives who visited the community to assess the project for funding in September of 2005 suggested drilling a well closer to the community. He asserted that the initial expense of drilling another well would be justified by the long-term cost savings in the energy needed to pump the water, which would make the project more feasible for the community. However, the Mayor proved very inflexible when presented with these problems, and refused to consider other options. The Association for Community Development (ADESCO) and the Water Committee made the decision that the Mayor’s water project was not a viable, sustainable option for bringing water to the community, and submitted a letter renouncing the project to the Mayor in the summer of 2006. We then began to pursue other options, on our own, and until now were progressing slowly but surely.<br /><br />Apparently, after the energizing visit of Engineers Without Borders in late August, word reached the Mayor that we were designing another water project for El Amatón. Two weeks ago, representatives from the Mayor’s office showed up at my door. We have good news,” Israel, the FMLN-fanatic who does PR for the Mayor announced, flashing his triumphant, insincere, ear-to-ear smile that has always turned my stomach. “The project is all approved by FISDL [Social Investment Fund for Local Development, a government fund available to Mayors]. It’s being contracted out to a company today. We’re going to start on the 16th of next month. And the unskilled labor -- the community won’t have to do it for free. We are going to contract people from the community and pay them. But, it won’t be the rural three dollars a day wage. We’re going to pay them city wages,” he proclaimed triumphantly, flashing another one of his sickening smiles.”<br /><br />I felt like crying. For the past year, I had been walking side by side with the community to design a water project that was truly sustainable, one that did not use an inordinate amount of energy and one that the community members could afford to operate and maintain. And we were making progress. We knew the location of the closest aquifer where a well could be drilled. The project had been adopted by an outstanding team of Engineers Without Borders, from Rowan University. They came in late August to conduct a land survey of the community in order to be able to design a distribution system, and to perform water quality tests to know the type of filtration that would be needed. And most importantly, they took the time to visit each and every house, talking to people about the water project, what they were hoping for, how much water they needed each day for various uses, and how much they could pay per month to operate and maintain the system. Since then, they had been working on designs for the pump, supply tubing, tank, and distribution system, and researching options for powering the pump, including a solar system. They had planned to return in January to present their final designs to the community so they could choose one. This water system was being designed with community participation, to satisfy the people’s felt needs while remaining economically feasible.<br /><br />And then came the Mayor to push a project that was not sustainable, a project that had been designed without consulting the community, simply because the Mayor couldn’t stand for anyone else to get credit for bringing water to El Amatón. Before, when the Mayor was pushing this project, the community made the decision not to work if there was no title to the well (taking a suggestion from the representative from the Canadian Fund for Local Initiatives). Unskilled labor is almost always the community contribution in any project. It makes them invested in the project, because they have had to sacrifice something to make it a reality. This promise to pay community members was all a ploy to trick people in the community to working on a project that wasn’t for the benefit of the community, simply because it was the project that the Mayor designed.<br /><br />The ADESCO president and I tried to talk to the Mayor’s representatives. We raised our concerns about land title to the well (there still is none) and the economic feasibility of pumping water so far. They brushed us off, asserting that land title wasn’t necessary and that if people couldn’t pay to maintain the water system, that the Mayor would cover it. Now I’ve only been here two years, and even I know that is a complete lie. It’s not a wise idea for the community to rely on the Mayor to keep their water system operating. Don Salomón and I begged the Mayor’s people to listen to us, to hear about the work we had done and the project the community wanted to execute, and then support us in our efforts when we had all the designs in. They were completely closed to considering any other project. “We already have everything, it’s all approved, we have the money, we’re even going to pay people to do the work. The community needs water. Everyone will benefit. Why ask any more questions?” They said they’d send invitations for an all-community meeting to present the project, and left.<br /><br />When they had left, don Salomón began to shake his head. “Estamos mal, mal, mal, mal mal,” he muttered ander his breath. “This is bad, bad, bad, bad bad.” We commiserated about the Mayor’s ploy to foil our grassroots efforts in favor of something he can claim total credit for, even though it’s not the most sustainable option. Finally we got down to business. We made plans for an emergency community meeting, BEFORE the meeting with the Mayor’s people, to make them aware of the sustainability concerns with the project they would present. The community made a list of recommendations to present to the Mayor: first, that the Mayor support the drilling of an 80-m deep well only 1 km from the community instead of fixing the well 3 km away; second, that the community have title to the water source for the project; and third, that the community choose a design from those being elaborated by Engineers Without Borders. I spent the next few days running around with don Salomón, trying to catch community leaders in between their hectic tasks of threshing beans and harvesting corn, to gain assurance of their support of standing firm for the community’s best interests.<br /><br />Unfortunately, everything went just as I’d feared. The Mayor’s representatives came and got people all excited with the promise of full funding and paying members of the community to carry out the unskilled labor. They gave as few specifics as possible and did not encourage any questions. When don Salomón timidly offered concerns about the energy cost of pumping water such a great distance and elevation change, and about land title, Engineer López brushed them off with slippery, vague answers. He refused to give an estimate of how much families would need to pay per month to operate the water system, instead saying “that’s something you figure out afterwards, but don’t you worry. We know how much you can pay, and it won’t be too much” (despite the fact that they never spoke with anyone in the community about the water project). When don Salomón asked if they had land title, he said, “Look, everything is all worked out. FISDL is a very formal organization and they want everything all legal, and they wouldn’t have accepted the project if everything wasn’t worked out.” They probably have an acomodato, a temporary permission -- which, according to people in Peace Corps, is not very secure. They have cautioned me never, ever to undertake a water project if the community does not have land title. </div><br /><div><br />By the time poor don Salomón had raised these issues, people were getting restless. I’m not sure if this was done intentionally or not, but the Mayor had scheduled the meeting to fall just before dinner. I think what he wanted was a quick meeting to get everyone excited and get them to say yes, we want the project, with as few questions as possible. “Ya estuvo,” people were beginning to say. “It’s all done. Everything’s great. Let’s go.”<br />Don Salomón tried to calm the crowd down and began to offer the recommendations that the community had agreed to make. The Mayor’s representatives would have none of it. Engineer López stood up and moved to the center, pushing don Salomón out. “Look, everything is all in order. All we want to ask the community one question. Do you want the project, or not? Raise your hands, everyone who wants the project!” he cried.<br />What could we do? Almost everyone raised their hands. And who could blame them? The project was there, with full funding. Our project was still moving along slowly and we would still need to fundraise one the price quotes for the well and designs were in. My heart sank.<br /><br />I can understand why people in the community said yes, and I am glad that the community will have a water project (if this comes through … after all, the Mayor’s people came in September 2005 saying the same thing, that we were about to begin the project, but more than a year later we still have nothing). However, I am worried about the project’s sustainability, with the possibly high energy cost of running the pump, the risk of losing the well since the community does not have land title, and the fact that the designs were made with no community participation.<br /><br />So now I’m wondering why I am staying a third year now that they don’t much seem to need me for the water project (the main reason I proposed to stay). But there is still work to do to make this project more sustainable, and of course there is always the watershed management and reforestation that we are planning. After all, the site of our proposed reforestation project is the watershed for the Mayor’s well and any other well we would drill, the area of infiltration. Taking care of the watershed, planting trees and carrying out soil conservation, is still an important contribution I can make to satisfy El Amatón’s need for water on a long-term basis.<br /><br />I have written letters to both my community and to the Mayor, which voice my support of the water project and respect for the community’s decision, as well as offer my help in two areas in which I believe project sustainability can be improved, if the community desires: First, I offered to try to help raise funds to drill a well nearer to the community. The Mayor is clearly unwilling to take on the expense of drilling another well. However, if we are able to raise funds to drill a well closer to the community (ideally at the site 1 km from the community recommended by the studies) and there were sufficient water, I hold out hope that the Mayor would be willing to adapt the project to use this water source. I also presented the community with the idea of continuing to work with EWB on solar energy for the pump, which is not contemplated in the Mayor’s project. I was initially hopeful that since we didn’t have to fundraise for other parts of the water project (pump, tubing, tank, etc.) we would be able to raise enough funds for the solar panels. But the EWB team has told me that while they are willing to keep working with us on sizing the panels, they estimate the installation costs at $60,000! We’ll have to put our heads together to see if there is any way that we can scrape together that kind of money. (I’m looking into submitting an application to the United Nations Small Donations Program, but the average grant is only $20,000). If we can manage to add renewable energy to the project, it would be a great advantage for the people of the community because it would lower their energy costs. And of course, it has great environmental advantages of not burning fossil fuels, thus avoiding air pollution and contributions to global climate change. Now, I just have to keep in communication with the community and the Mayor to see if they are open to adaptation of the project so that it truly reflects the interests of the community.<br /><br /><br />* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *<br /><br />-- Home Vegetable Gardens Project: In addition to the slow progress on the water project, the last few months have seen the continuation and fruition of several other projects. We had much more success with the home vegetable gardens using the semi-hydroponic techniques, harvesting lots of tomatoes and peppers in September, October, and November. The women are excited to keep using this method of growing vegetables, and since cultivating in containers conserves water, we are going to try maintaining a few plants even in the dry season. We’ll begin making our compost piles and starting the seedlings in January, when I return and the coffee-picking season ends. </div><br /><div align="center"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV3URA2F_49-0r8XJVOavSHxEZ-TePxZRG4YNwSUJ233saLJPhivmpb0NpXllZ2AzTbEc-wtbIJygN1ZVJIg6C9t-_OroaD3fdL8frYhCI3_UB5aHxLUbvxQOolgeDUM1mR-ELRzViiJc/s1600-h/51+-+Tomatoes+in+my+gardenS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015170946831785074" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV3URA2F_49-0r8XJVOavSHxEZ-TePxZRG4YNwSUJ233saLJPhivmpb0NpXllZ2AzTbEc-wtbIJygN1ZVJIg6C9t-_OroaD3fdL8frYhCI3_UB5aHxLUbvxQOolgeDUM1mR-ELRzViiJc/s200/51+-+Tomatoes+in+my+gardenS.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRvVoA9aNvhCDphRzn8ShIJHfCy-8m_QXsUbeAMSRBcmQmA7U4HgiCMktQYsZbUzNUFFgjyJrsKJ-_Umvk4sXtg6PwQgn2HPb0_qJj1-NQQ5-AlYwgGih6rxrxFBmXe69HCNVotu_4pQ8/s1600-h/52+-+Me+harvesting+tomatoesS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015171419278187650" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRvVoA9aNvhCDphRzn8ShIJHfCy-8m_QXsUbeAMSRBcmQmA7U4HgiCMktQYsZbUzNUFFgjyJrsKJ-_Umvk4sXtg6PwQgn2HPb0_qJj1-NQQ5-AlYwgGih6rxrxFBmXe69HCNVotu_4pQ8/s200/52+-+Me+harvesting+tomatoesS.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><br /><div align="center"><em>Semi-Hydroponic Vegetable Gardens Project: Tomatoes in my garden (left); Me harvesting tomatoes (right)<br /></em><br /></div><br /><div align="center"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhiTs3QEC5VFaktz5LztiYFWO0TQFP7aOCM2A3SiHEctCxDkdCifxKIPA48oN7Hiwx6I4mTd2kZ6RehqbLAlIikOoZZ_YIqg-CTNtuzR30-gBX2ZWWaO1Ao49xV3x82jiajZ-e8lXm2Bc/s1600-h/50+-+Tita+harvesting+tomatoesS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015171801530277010" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhiTs3QEC5VFaktz5LztiYFWO0TQFP7aOCM2A3SiHEctCxDkdCifxKIPA48oN7Hiwx6I4mTd2kZ6RehqbLAlIikOoZZ_YIqg-CTNtuzR30-gBX2ZWWaO1Ao49xV3x82jiajZ-e8lXm2Bc/s200/50+-+Tita+harvesting+tomatoesS.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFdxiKjg0OWeFpCrjaLGuy0YpQQHrMSR_ZyA13H3cvJgYj5BYkKbi96vuSFStSU9UWlzL4WMLK8ElgZhM8ZnArhyphenhyphen1GztXVGJW6BispxrXjBPC4-VK_P7VtPCYSdATkJ2F-wOf1eX6XMmo/s1600-h/53+-+Marleni+harvesting+peppersS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015172132242758818" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFdxiKjg0OWeFpCrjaLGuy0YpQQHrMSR_ZyA13H3cvJgYj5BYkKbi96vuSFStSU9UWlzL4WMLK8ElgZhM8ZnArhyphenhyphen1GztXVGJW6BispxrXjBPC4-VK_P7VtPCYSdATkJ2F-wOf1eX6XMmo/s200/53+-+Marleni+harvesting+peppersS.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><div align="center"><em>Tita harvesting tomatoes (left); Marleni harvesting peppers (right)<br /></div></em><div align="left"></div><div align="left"><br />* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *<br /><br />-- Improved Chicken Raising Project: The chickens in the improved chicken raising project have finally begun to lay eggs. Participants are pleased with the improvement in chicken health and protection that they have observed since beginning to raise the chickens in enclosures: they no longer lose chickens to predators or eggs to dogs. However, the “improved” race we began raising at my Ministry of Agriculture counterpart’s suggestion requires a lot of concentrate in order to grow and produce well, which makes the profit margin for production of eggs very slim. One woman in the community has had success with a different breed of chicken, which, according to her, produces an egg daily with a diet of mainly corn (cheap and abundant within the community), plus green plants that it forages. Some of the women in the project plan to begin raising this breed, the Cavir, and we’ll probably provide Cavir chicks to the second group of project beneficiaries next year. </div><div align="left"></div><div></div><br /><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvDfVTR4TH3KsWWY0jzHlIiIqsL-r4L91irqiWnm0VVAxRumD5-2xAT4b5kVRai59jlmLLezXbI2PLi6SoNcZek4MkP4Io2SxwS4XflhJhy7B3chaH5KxdREt6YPzknyBRltfiBuGKXJc/s1600-h/54+-+Tita+and+family+with+chickensS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015172613279095986" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvDfVTR4TH3KsWWY0jzHlIiIqsL-r4L91irqiWnm0VVAxRumD5-2xAT4b5kVRai59jlmLLezXbI2PLi6SoNcZek4MkP4Io2SxwS4XflhJhy7B3chaH5KxdREt6YPzknyBRltfiBuGKXJc/s200/54+-+Tita+and+family+with+chickensS.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><div align="center"><em>Tita and her family with their chickens<br /></em></div><br /><div align="left"><br />* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *<br /><br />-- HIV/AIDS Awareness: So the home gardens project and the chicken project are at least somewhat within my assigned project sector of agriculture and forestry, but I think it’s a common experience of Peace Corps Volunteers to arrive in their communities and see that the needs don’t fall into any one project sector. All of us end up being jacks-of-all-trades, working in areas we never thought we’d work in when we first received our assignments. So it was that I ended up organizing an AIDS Awareness workshop for teachers, student leaders, Health Committee members, and religious leaders from El Amatón and two surrounding communities.<br />In such an isolated rural area, I never imagined that HIV and AIDS would be a threat, and I never pictured myself working in HIV/AIDS education. Then I found out that there have been deaths from AIDS in El Coco and El Tanque, the two villages nearest to El Amatón, and I realized that this was something we needed to educate community members about. AIDS is something that is simply not talked about, and as I began working with the youth I realized they had lots of questions that their parents would not -- or perhaps could not -- address. So I began making plans for a two-day workshop to educate educational, community, and religious leaders and empower them to bring the correct information to their peers.<br />We held the workshop in September, and I was very pleased with how it went. I began with basic information about the biology of the HIV virus and the illness it causes, then turned the workshop over to a professional health educator to present the epidemiological situation in El Salvador, modes of transmission, and prevention strategies. Then some Peace Corps friends and I presented a drama illustrating the discrimination faced by people living with HIV and AIDS, and used it as a starting point to discuss the need for empathy and support. Testimonies from two women living with HIV and AIDS only made this point more clear as they provided a human face to all the information the leaders had been learning. The second day was mainly spent in showing the leaders participatory educational activities they could use to teach about HIV/AIDS prevention, and making action plans to bring this information to their communities.</div><br /><div>I’m pleased to say that in El Amatón, the participants have already followed through: the youth gave a presentation to their peers in the school, and the Health Committee prepared a talk to give to the entire community. With each presentation, from the first nutrition session to the trash management presentation and now the HIV-AIDS prevention talk, I see the Health Committee taking more and more responsibility for preparing and giving the trainings -- which gives me hope that they will be able to continue educating the community about health issues even once I leave. And, ever the gender-equality crusader, I was especially proud to see Judy, a young woman my age who I asked to join the Committee at the beginning of this year, speaking confidently in front of the community. Since she joined the Committee, I’ve seen her self-confidence and sense of responsibility for the community blossom. I’ve also noticed a marked shift in her husband’s attitude toward women in leadership. Whereas before he had been opposed to her even attending meetings, he’s seen the benefits of her work on the Health Committee and has become very supportive of her efforts. These are intangible benefits of my work in community development, not something I can point to like a school building or a healthy tomato plant or a water system. However, I count Judy’s new-found confidence in herself and enthusiasm for promoting health, and Federico’s support of women in community leadership, as some of my contributions that brings me the most satisfaction and pride. </div><div> </div><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGEURvYzZF-oOihtTXekyo6K00JvIxGzNzI27DJyZd7LoAMnFJmV9qpmnWVKGXfmyuhy9vJJF2Djbt7P6fXpjwkfuYO82Azd9hH94h42v5tTW-Qnbf9B_V5sj8nUzcZU9fAn4EFgp7Gmo/s1600-h/55+-+Judy+giving+AIDS+Awareness+talkS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015172986941250754" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGEURvYzZF-oOihtTXekyo6K00JvIxGzNzI27DJyZd7LoAMnFJmV9qpmnWVKGXfmyuhy9vJJF2Djbt7P6fXpjwkfuYO82Azd9hH94h42v5tTW-Qnbf9B_V5sj8nUzcZU9fAn4EFgp7Gmo/s200/55+-+Judy+giving+AIDS+Awareness+talkS.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><p align="center"><em>Judy helping give the Health Committee's talk on AIDS prevention</em></p><br /><div>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *<br /><br />School Graduation: About two weeks ago we celebrated the graduation of the first ninth-grade class to complete their primary education in El Amatón -- made possible in large part by the two new classrooms that many of you helped support, some with your dollars and others with your thoughts and prayers. It was a historic day for El Amatón, so thank you all for making it possible! In my Life Planning Education class, I continually encouraged them to continue studying, and I think that most are planning to continue on to high school in El Coco. I’ve helped two of the brightest and most dedicated students apply for scholarships.<br /><br />* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *<br /><br />OK, I think that’s enough for now. Why do these letters always get so LONG? I’m sorry, I really am. I guess it’s just that I really am passionate about the work I am doing, and I rarely get the chance to talk to others about it. I hope I don’t bore you all!<br /><br />Anyway, I really would love to see as many of you as possible while I am home in the US, and if that’s not possible, hear from you to catch up. I wish you all a blessed and peaceful holiday season, filled with the fellowship of family and friends.<br /><br />Con amor desde Wisconsin (With love from Wisconsin),<br /><br />Megan</div>Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10405542360305212147noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046659167500595432.post-89506328486033167532006-09-05T10:00:00.000-07:002007-01-01T12:58:08.689-08:00Hola desde El Salvador #8<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiejvb8KJWe1obvs5jhZ4yR9PD0CCZ3Mcr1m4jTH91a8-jwOCYSKxTJf_jhDD46uy_YyVLxzT3q6Jj0DluR0Aj_XFZDUQt9Z4qnpM13N9O6yk_ejyZCSUPApXJ_JVN3LvQATfJEhk6RoPI/s1600-h/33+-+EWB+-+Dustin+and+EliasS.jpg"></a><br /><br /><div>Querida familia y amigos,<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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).<br /><br /><br />-- Water Project:<br />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 …<br /><br />The Well:<br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><br />Engineers Without Borders:<br />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.<br /><div><div><div><div></div><div><br /><div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMMdAm14b8m77ojNbVVl8ogkxmDKobrHmhoEWrJOzkXXAZy-P36ZEiQJI-KopshPj7BRX92l5DF9nxke3DXxOwxg_e6p9hM0idNSpkY_OX7n6uj4eROzUHwOR8vj0YVBRLbjRB6_n_yd0/s1600-h/33+-+EWB+-+Dustin+and+EliasS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015168034843958322" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMMdAm14b8m77ojNbVVl8ogkxmDKobrHmhoEWrJOzkXXAZy-P36ZEiQJI-KopshPj7BRX92l5DF9nxke3DXxOwxg_e6p9hM0idNSpkY_OX7n6uj4eROzUHwOR8vj0YVBRLbjRB6_n_yd0/s200/33+-+EWB+-+Dustin+and+EliasS.jpg" border="0" /></a>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!”<br /></div><br /><br /><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkRvyxrK3B6cWs6BRNSPw0B1hqzb320i0jS-Nj3Ti3-BXX8lS7NzRz1ElIO9AiqcuxUKFJ_bdXAjTk7NAjIt3dazxAKlNsNzICjhQAAKCWCWgTONj-aibWWwogUpzxxYck54V-OxZisbo/s1600-h/32+-+EWB+-+Carolyn+and+Dr.+GephardtS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015159470679169938" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkRvyxrK3B6cWs6BRNSPw0B1hqzb320i0jS-Nj3Ti3-BXX8lS7NzRz1ElIO9AiqcuxUKFJ_bdXAjTk7NAjIt3dazxAKlNsNzICjhQAAKCWCWgTONj-aibWWwogUpzxxYck54V-OxZisbo/s200/32+-+EWB+-+Carolyn+and+Dr.+GephardtS.jpg" border="0" /></a>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.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.).<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><br /><br />-- Reforestation and Soil Conservation:<br />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. </div><br /><div></div><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUeSc-c2IxhZFm3BM0bJscdJnASyEUCQTChTf6OcCr8zpJIFnVypoK-ZV-FtXGoYJVJ6k6szrz5WLWboJ7Ebr_qyc7_iE-UbT8UE8vsskiyQP_InAbQUH3jMVFD0jT5XxPaGmmIRi2d_I/s1600-h/34+-LandslideS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015161150011382706" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUeSc-c2IxhZFm3BM0bJscdJnASyEUCQTChTf6OcCr8zpJIFnVypoK-ZV-FtXGoYJVJ6k6szrz5WLWboJ7Ebr_qyc7_iE-UbT8UE8vsskiyQP_InAbQUH3jMVFD0jT5XxPaGmmIRi2d_I/s200/34+-LandslideS.jpg" border="0" /></a><em></em></p><p align="center"><em>Sand and rocks washed down the mountain by the landslide<br /></em></p><p align="left"><br />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!<br /><br /><br /><br />-- Everything Else:<br />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).<br /></p><br /><p align="center"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsPgVG5g2PuAsXzuSIZ4bORtqibJnTFnrNmUyFjmdsNSg54siWLHM9pGRYensmHn_HervYYQfr4o_cgFrdBQeD3o0vNFKiBHzP4VdBkou7CD7nJHpUTcun7sW7CYzJfltZ3SyDxv_Szds/s1600-h/36+-+Tita+with+radishesS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015161566623210434" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsPgVG5g2PuAsXzuSIZ4bORtqibJnTFnrNmUyFjmdsNSg54siWLHM9pGRYensmHn_HervYYQfr4o_cgFrdBQeD3o0vNFKiBHzP4VdBkou7CD7nJHpUTcun7sW7CYzJfltZ3SyDxv_Szds/s200/36+-+Tita+with+radishesS.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid6ZnNs7nnrWXsseXAkrgqgbjfF3m7OVnL4qJPqmsKaQoi3b3B4b1wVj6U7UDAfCcAIVLzZPGt_opi-vYRv8qlbUoMFacqnJbAifdPNZfrNsrtarNMG24fMI1jefAzaMFssCIc-TkDgVI/s1600-h/35+-+Tomato+and+pepper+plantsS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015165938899917842" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid6ZnNs7nnrWXsseXAkrgqgbjfF3m7OVnL4qJPqmsKaQoi3b3B4b1wVj6U7UDAfCcAIVLzZPGt_opi-vYRv8qlbUoMFacqnJbAifdPNZfrNsrtarNMG24fMI1jefAzaMFssCIc-TkDgVI/s200/35+-+Tomato+and+pepper+plantsS.jpg" border="0" /></a><em></em></p><p align="center"><em>Semi-Hydroponic Home Vegetable Gardens: Tita with a flat of radishes (left); tomato and pepper plants in my garden (right)</em></p><br /><br /><p align="center"><em></em></p><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWESkB-L8lrvBxPeTMJLIZC1rDZtcGFGnohSfupZfWNKZjeqwCF-wKrVcezTn9vSqYtWbclCWx-bcOVnt0CjpqKuqjkeBFS8v6pzboqFYVWthMuBm1pmsd9ZTw9ZF1mPwFkfxwO35YPlo/s1600-h/38+-+Ester+with+chickenS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015162395551898578" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWESkB-L8lrvBxPeTMJLIZC1rDZtcGFGnohSfupZfWNKZjeqwCF-wKrVcezTn9vSqYtWbclCWx-bcOVnt0CjpqKuqjkeBFS8v6pzboqFYVWthMuBm1pmsd9ZTw9ZF1mPwFkfxwO35YPlo/s200/38+-+Ester+with+chickenS.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc052oCVGJX8t1f7GCdX4VQKWRVLUvENQDRE9fDKzkF2OuIvgl0BL_On46Wa-bdE5Q90uAvnwT5IAoYgpZ2WXr5ebjgfc7bz-M9108VLeeJgumI0fLUmxCrhhxs_I2wM-KunK3EauaRjA/s1600-h/39+-+Carmen+and+Magali+with+treesS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015162790688889826" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc052oCVGJX8t1f7GCdX4VQKWRVLUvENQDRE9fDKzkF2OuIvgl0BL_On46Wa-bdE5Q90uAvnwT5IAoYgpZ2WXr5ebjgfc7bz-M9108VLeeJgumI0fLUmxCrhhxs_I2wM-KunK3EauaRjA/s200/39+-+Carmen+and+Magali+with+treesS.jpg" border="0" /></a> </div><div align="center"><em>Ester with one of her family's chickens (left); Carmen and Magali carrying trees </em><em>from the nursery to the community water sources, where we planted them (right)</em><br /></div><div></div><br /><div><br />-- School Classrooms and Library:<br />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.<br /><br />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. </div><div><br /></div><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg10r-VpbyN4lFbmTQY43XDUoY9OIAsUi_vUWfIoH1h6X4EOGM0jerOVp-7PpMQjeOBKYnetvHksn9QasryIGkjNZ3PHmBa1MljwiQgELgdNMtet34HAD7r7AKsqQ9DznyPJdTLvvpwHNc/s1600-h/41+-+Finished+library+and+classroomsS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015163387689343986" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg10r-VpbyN4lFbmTQY43XDUoY9OIAsUi_vUWfIoH1h6X4EOGM0jerOVp-7PpMQjeOBKYnetvHksn9QasryIGkjNZ3PHmBa1MljwiQgELgdNMtet34HAD7r7AKsqQ9DznyPJdTLvvpwHNc/s200/41+-+Finished+library+and+classroomsS.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiqI6kzTnr1dFv6yTPkRufLZMbeR6pRWcipWIstYKu8bNAqCnI_PvYr4FaWrrsruwG41HqPRDLGkLBdVhEowiLUHCiOKfamcKijNkoV9ADTV_W82U1T1nOl0PxU2PmRVW96JxaVTjv5YI/s1600-h/43+-+Kids+dance+to+celebrateS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015164259567705090" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiqI6kzTnr1dFv6yTPkRufLZMbeR6pRWcipWIstYKu8bNAqCnI_PvYr4FaWrrsruwG41HqPRDLGkLBdVhEowiLUHCiOKfamcKijNkoV9ADTV_W82U1T1nOl0PxU2PmRVW96JxaVTjv5YI/s200/43+-+Kids+dance+to+celebrateS.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><div align="center"><em>The new library and two classrooms, decorated for the celebration (left); </em><em>kids perform a dance to celebrate the opening of the Ecological Library (right)<br /></em></div><br /><br /><div>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.<br /><br />Con amor desde El Salvador (With love from El Salvador),<br /><br />Megan</div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10405542360305212147noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046659167500595432.post-25547752514921639872006-04-12T13:00:00.000-07:002007-01-01T12:14:14.935-08:00Hola desde El Salvador #7Querida familia y amigos,<br /><br />Greetings once again from El Salvador! I hope that all of you are enjoying the beginning of spring back in the States. We are still awaiting the rains here …<br /><br />I’ve been keeping busier than ever, so here’s an update on what I’ve been doing:<br /><br />-- Water Project:<br />To be completely honest, I am very, very discouraged on this front. After more than 6 months of requests for donation of the well, incessant phone calls, and personal visits to the appropriate government ministries in San Salvador, we have realized that they are not going to donate the well to the community. Without the security of title to the well, work on the project absolutely cannot proceed. This means that the community and I are back to square zero, completely on our own with project design and, even worse, on our own with project funding. We must locate a new source of water (preferably within the community), perforate a new well (which will likely be extremely expensive because the subterreanean water in the community is very deep … that’s why people don’t have hand dug wells), and redesign the entire technical folder. Then we must seek funding for the ENTIRE project, since the Mayor has flatly stated that there is no money for the perforation of another well and is not disposed to support a new project different from the one he designed – especially now that municipal elections are over and he is entrenched once again, safe in his office for the next three years, at least. In fact, he says that the community should have already begun work on the project, even though we do not have title to the well.<br /><br />This means that we will have to seek much more funds than originally thought – an estimated $135,000 for the perforation of a deep well and water system infrastructure. Given that we haven’t even been able to secure the $20,000 for the water storage tank and distribution tubing in the first project, I’m really worried about how we’re going to do that. Even the Rotary representative from the North Sacramento club that we have been in contact with has not been encouraging, pointing out that the project is a very high cost for such a small number of beneficiaries. Because of the unfavorable “cost-benefit” analysis, she has not had any luck in garnering support from other Rotary Clubs. I understand that clubs want to help the most people possible with their donations – but I also understand that the needs of people in small communities are just as real as the needs of people in larger communities, where the per capita costs of installing a water system are less.<br /><br />On the technical front, we have solicited the help of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) – USA for the location of a water source and perforation of a well within the community, studies of well capacity and water quality, and elaboration of technical plans for the water system infrastructure. Our application has been approved by the national organization and is now posted on the EWB website awaiting adoption by a chapter. Until we have these engineering studies, we really can’t move forward with formal funding proposals. I’m also planning to contact several Salvadoran universities to see if engineering students can work on the technical folder for our project as part of their social hours (other Volunteers have worked with University students in this manner).<br /><br />But to tell you the truth there have been several times when I have been nearly in tears as everything I have fought so hard for and come to depend on -- the already-perforated well, the technical folder, hopes of funding from various NGOs and government aid agencies, hopes of support from the Mayor, and now even hopes of funding from Rotary -- has suddenly crumbled to pieces. After nearly a year and a half of efforts -- incessant phone calls to engineers and government ministries; long bus trips to Chalchuapa, Santa Ana, San Salvador; hours of waiting to meet with the Mayor, the engineers, government ministries with jurisdiction over the well; entire nights spent in the Peace Corps office assembling all our documentation and writing funding proposals (that's right, there have been nights when I have not even gone to the hostel in San Salvador to sleep but have stayed at the Peace Corps office all night trying to pull everything together) -- we are at square zero, with nothing, furthur back then when I came to El Salvador. No well, no technical plans, no budget, and really no realistic hopes of funding. In the end, no one has been encouraging about the prospects for funding a project even if we could get it designed. At the end of my own resources, I often try to turn myself to God for wisdom and strength and guidance -- only to find that I do not even have the energy to pray. Rising at 2:30 a.m. every single day to get my water takes its toll. I do it voluntarily, but the people of El Amaton have no choice.<br /><br />I’m at the end of my own resources here. So I feel bad about using my email list this way, but I’m asking for all of your help – your contacts, your ideas, your inspirations – in three ways:<br /><br />1) If anyone knows anyone in engineering at any university with an Engineers Without Borders chapter, I would really appreciate any contact information. This could increase the chances of the project being adopted and the studies carried out.<br /><br />2) As far as funding goes, I have a feeling that the only hope we have is pulling together the money from numerous sources. We are planning to seek smaller contributions from as many organizations as possible -- churches, Rotary, Kiwanis, and I will also be making some inquiries to companies here in El Salvador. As such, if any of you belong to any organization – a church, civic group, professional group, community service group – that may be interested in helping to fundraise this project, please let me know. I have attached a "generic" cover letter presenting the project, which can be adapted to any organization or company you can think of that might be interested in supporting the project, and a detailed project proposal describing the community’s great need for water and the project we propose to carry out. (All technical and budget information is still preliminary… which is why I would like to move along the Engineers Without Borders application as quickly as possible).<br /><br />3) If you are religious … please pray for my community, that their most basic human need might one day be met. I know in my heart that it is not God’s will that God’s children suffer such deprivation. Rather, it is God’s will that all people have the means to live healthy, satisfying lives – that all have their basic needs met so that they may fulfill their full potential as members of their families and communities. “For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit on your seed, and my blessing on your offspring” (Isaiah 44:3). Así sea. May it be so, for El Amatón. I do not know how God plans to work here in El Salvador, who God will use to pour water on those who are thirsty, but I have to believe that somehow a way can be found. I need your help to find that way.<br /><br /><br />Right now it’s hard to think about anything but the water project, but of course there are other needs in the community too.<br /><br />--Home Gardens Project:<br />I’m working with a small group on the cultivation of organic, semi-hydroponic home vegetable gardens in the hope that this will reduce the incidence of fungi and diseases in the crops that we faced last year and economize the use of water. I’m a little nervous about all the somewhat complicated inputs, such as the nutrient solutions we must mix, but we’ll have to give it a try, keep good records, and see if it is feasible.<br /><br /><br />--Chicken Raising Project:<br />The chicken raising project is moving along well, with incredible enthusiasm from the 13 participating families (and many more have approached me saying that if there is a second stage of the project, they want in!). So far, my Ministry of Agriculture counterpart and I have held four trainings for participants to prepare them to receive their chickens. The first training was on Facilities – construction of chicken coops, nests, enclosures, feeders, and waterers. Next, we had a training on Animal Nutrition, including information on the elaboration of home concentrate recipes, planting of pasture, and cultivation of worms in worm composting bins (worms are an excellent source of protein for chickens). In the Management training, we reviewed the recommended program of vaccination and deparasitization before giving the participants the materials to build enclosures, chicken coops, and nests. Finally, we had a training on record-keeping of costs and production. With good care, in 5-6 months the chickens should be producing protein-rich eggs to contribute to the nutrition of the family, and possibly to sell in the community to generate income for medical care and school costs – and to incubate in order to produce chicks to pass on to more families! I myself plan to try my hand at raising at least two or three chickens (yes, I am a vegetarian – but at least here, where I know that the chickens are being raised in a healthy environment and not pumped full of antibiotics, I would eat an occasional hard-boiled egg.)<br /><div align="center"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgid-yL_Q3k_vw6p2_cYoA5pWTJPv6WC-84fzg-qdppadMCmo4HfPpCt8315yItRA3BJabr1XjPY0PPxpXFIyKFU0cCtfH6bYh2y5Au1d5D2pdRAnPTZ9GczBRzfckKSPs4YCryKhrgvck/s1600-h/23+-+Building+a+chicken+coopS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015153294516198146" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgid-yL_Q3k_vw6p2_cYoA5pWTJPv6WC-84fzg-qdppadMCmo4HfPpCt8315yItRA3BJabr1XjPY0PPxpXFIyKFU0cCtfH6bYh2y5Au1d5D2pdRAnPTZ9GczBRzfckKSPs4YCryKhrgvck/s200/23+-+Building+a+chicken+coopS.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLyBarPfU_Tfl1KPb6MAi8TWx3UABfk98FUvEc46xO8eVTUgEFB30FuMf81kEcl5Ed0Oyh7B1Q4qWONPoOnMMkilFLH6Cn9ivR5yLsXwEPZiWfXXXQWI4rzJfJ2r7uCJoI0IgsYfT-iBQ/s1600-h/24+-+Building+nestsS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015153809912273682" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLyBarPfU_Tfl1KPb6MAi8TWx3UABfk98FUvEc46xO8eVTUgEFB30FuMf81kEcl5Ed0Oyh7B1Q4qWONPoOnMMkilFLH6Cn9ivR5yLsXwEPZiWfXXXQWI4rzJfJ2r7uCJoI0IgsYfT-iBQ/s200/24+-+Building+nestsS.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><div><div><div align="center"><em>Chicken Raising Project: Constructing chicken coops (left) and nests (right)<br /></em><br /></div><div><br />-- Stoves Project:<br />Almost all the fuelwood-efficient stoves have now been built, and most people are really happy. Lidia and I make tortillas on her new stove using just a splinter of firewood, and Nina María beamed as she told me, “I cooked corn, and beans, and made tortillas, all on the stove … and now there’s no smoke in the kitchen!” The big challenge now will be to do lots of follow-up visits to make sure that people are using the stoves properly and giving them correct maintenance. </div><div><br /> </div><div></div><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGMbsjI76WGbMOLf_2tlrBsDbwHJkjPdZ2By4U5A7IZy8uTbLGHKTFHwMmnTDZY5XiN4S06FZDUotsmtd3vSdy2XGlbmqJxrYSIvCFjAM4NzeJfiC9ss9mJSo5hHQQA4hOawVHWgzv5jI/s1600-h/25+-+Geovanni+building+a+stoveS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015154084790180642" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGMbsjI76WGbMOLf_2tlrBsDbwHJkjPdZ2By4U5A7IZy8uTbLGHKTFHwMmnTDZY5XiN4S06FZDUotsmtd3vSdy2XGlbmqJxrYSIvCFjAM4NzeJfiC9ss9mJSo5hHQQA4hOawVHWgzv5jI/s200/25+-+Geovanni+building+a+stoveS.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYnmDYGBS7T2vGDnxPIBWG9c9uXEe4J66guZ2l2onATaI68TOoE7dBOXgS4O9ycSCoB11ZkmQxH_y_Hv4DBYN6raKY9EddRar7sp1LgTDCZrA1CKjEvZqK6sg_QJd1J2QUPb5YhwzvssU/s1600-h/26+-+Amelia+with+stoveS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015154329603316530" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYnmDYGBS7T2vGDnxPIBWG9c9uXEe4J66guZ2l2onATaI68TOoE7dBOXgS4O9ycSCoB11ZkmQxH_y_Hv4DBYN6raKY9EddRar7sp1LgTDCZrA1CKjEvZqK6sg_QJd1J2QUPb5YhwzvssU/s200/26+-+Amelia+with+stoveS.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /></div><div align="center"><em>Improved Stoves Project: Geovanni constructing a stove (left); </em></div><div align="center"><em>Amelia using a finished stove to make tortillas (right)<br /></em></div><div align="center"><em></div></em><div> </div><div><br />-- School Tree Nursery and Reforestation:<br />The school tree nursery to reforest community water sources is now established, and there’s been a lot of frustrations. The teachers simply haven’t been very dedicated to ensuring that the students faithfully water the trees, and now two times dogs have rooted around the nursery and overturned a lot of bags with the tree seedlings (the second time was after the teachers had promised that they were going to fence the nursery so no more dogs would get in). But we do have some arbolitos (tree seedlings) to plant in community water sources and on farmer’s lands, and I’ve worked with the students and beneficiaries of the stove project to fill more bags with dirt and replant the bags that we lost. It’s kind of late in the season to be planting trees from seed if we want them to be ready to transplant right at the beginning of rainy season, but even if the transplant is a little later, with conscientious maintenance coordinated by the Water and Agriculture committees, the trees should still be able to thrive. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this time the teachers and students take care of the nursery a little more seriously, and I’ve enlisted the help of Water and Agricutlure Committee members to oversee the nursery’s maintenance. Although the nursery is just getting its start, last Saturday the Water and Agriculture Committees, some youngsters, and I began reforestation efforts by planting shoots of trees that reproduce vegetatively in community water sources.<br /></div><div align="center"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwXfT8xvsy98gnlp0lB44qRybjRrZEXNyElvs3MPFqSbf30ngO0xngFHC98FTMRDCIByYmdi0G1UYb-cCWSxt9qhGfrswFUHY2poWYSNxTk7bDjPuJEl8UJRUKtM3VqYC5AypN5Lrk0ko/s1600-h/28+-+Aroldo+and+Alexander+in+tree+nurseryS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015155746942524242" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwXfT8xvsy98gnlp0lB44qRybjRrZEXNyElvs3MPFqSbf30ngO0xngFHC98FTMRDCIByYmdi0G1UYb-cCWSxt9qhGfrswFUHY2poWYSNxTk7bDjPuJEl8UJRUKtM3VqYC5AypN5Lrk0ko/s200/28+-+Aroldo+and+Alexander+in+tree+nurseryS.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI6lUTMIXhJt8Dfvcl4kwbF5GijtPRRrU7ouASH3_LxS52sF4kWY-l5DAUYiN9FMfM0ACjVjb-2cGQOEE834jOZOLUKJPT-Mrv1tyGJZlRgKgumhrf-r9kZlSicHVRoDOJkzoI-A7koBo/s1600-h/27+-+Me+in+tree+nurseryS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015156399777553250" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI6lUTMIXhJt8Dfvcl4kwbF5GijtPRRrU7ouASH3_LxS52sF4kWY-l5DAUYiN9FMfM0ACjVjb-2cGQOEE834jOZOLUKJPT-Mrv1tyGJZlRgKgumhrf-r9kZlSicHVRoDOJkzoI-A7koBo/s200/27+-+Me+in+tree+nurseryS.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><em>The School Tree Nursery: Aroldo and Alexander planting</em> madre cacoa </div><div align="center"><em>seedlings into bags (left); Me working in the tree nursery (right)<br /></em></div><div><br /><br />--School Classrooms and Library:<br />The school and library are almost done – all that is left to do is construct a “corredor” (an extension of the roof around the classrooms and library to provide shade and prevent rain from entering) and paint. Instead of the plain white-above-and-blue-below color scheme of the typical Ministry of Education school building, at least for the Ecological Library we’re planning to paint it with colorful murals of plants, animals, landscapes, and other nature themes. The books are already classified, equipped with spine labels and check-out cards, and ready to be placed on the shelves – and better yet, taken off the shelves and read! Once the library is established and things calm down a little bit with the projects I have going, I’m hoping to start a “Book-Buddies” type reading promotion program. After all, books don’t do any good just sitting on the shelves!<br /><br /><br />-- Life Planning Education:<br />I’m also teaching a Life Planning Education course called Como Planear Mi Vida (How to Plan my Life) to the 9th graders in the school. Basically, CPMV is a program to help youth define their life goals and learn to make responsible decisions regarding their family, community, and professional lives. It’s definitely needed – in this fatalistic culture combined with a marginal existence, just struggling to make ends meet and fulfill the most pressing basic needs, youth aren’t encouraged to think about their future or consider how the decisions they make today will affect their lives tomorrow. They’ve also never really had the chance to dream of what they could be – they aren’t even aware of the opportunities that exist or conscious that their life could be any different from what it is. In the U.S., kids are asked from the time they are three what they are going to be when they grow up. Here, all I get when I ask kids that question is confused looks. Without aspirations, youth have little incentive to take their studies seriously or postpone immediate pleasure to protect their health and achieve something greater. CPMV is designed to help the kids define and achieve their aspirations. But even with my conviction of the importance of CPMV, the classes have been difficult and somewhat awkward. Students aren’t used to participatory or discussion-based education and are very hesitant to share. We’ll have to see how things go as the class progresses. Hopefully, we’ll develop more trust and confidence as a group.<br /><br /><br />Whew. With all my work-related responsibilities, I haven’t really had enough time to just share with people – not to talk about any project or hand out any invitation or check on any compost pile or trash management effort … but there have been those special moments in the midst of the craziness, those few kind words or realizations about how much I’m learning about life here. I just wanted to share one of those moments with all of you:<br /><br /><br />A couple of weeks ago after dinner (I now cook and eat with Lidia, Melvin, and the boys), Melvin stood up, stretched, and said “Pues, ya comimos, gracias a Dios y a las mujeres que echaron las tortillas.” “Well, once again we’ve eaten, thanks be to God and to the women who made the tortillas.” He smiled at Lidia and me.<br /><br />“And thanks to Melvin, who went to prepare the land and plant the seed and harvest the ears so we could have the corn to make the tortillas,” Lidia chimed in. Melvin laughed, his eyes twinkling.<br />“We all had our part, didn’t we? God took care of the most, and we each did our little part to eat this meal. It’s nice that way,” he said contentedly.<br /><br />I sat in the golden light of evening, and thought, it is nice that way. How many people in the United States can thank the farmer who grew the wheat for their bread? Here, I share the fruit of the land with those who cultivate it – and sometimes I go along to help. There’s something satisfying about making tortillas from corn I helped plant or eating beans that I helped thresh or enjoying juicy tomatoes from a plant I raised from seed. And it’s not only the closer relationship between people and the source of their sustenance that I cherish here, but also the communal nature of agricultural work that creates a closer relationship between the people that share around the table as well.<br /><br /><br />Well, I think that’s all for now. As always, I love to hear news from home, what is happening in all of your lives. Thank you in advance for your thoughts and prayers on the water project.<br /><br />Con amor desde El Salvador (With love from El Salvador),<br /><br />Megan</div></div></div>Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10405542360305212147noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046659167500595432.post-81245445011993250382006-01-14T15:00:00.001-08:002007-01-01T11:53:35.539-08:00Hola desde El Salvador #6Querida familia y amigos,<br /><br />Shame on me! How did the last 6 months get away from me without writing to you all? I guess to answer that one, I’ll just quote Calvin and Hobbes – “The days are just packed!”<br /><br />At any rate, I wanted to wish you all a belated Happy New Year and give you an update on what I’ve been doing in the last half year for anyone who’s interested.<br /><br />Anyway, this could get kind of long, so feel free to scan and read sections of interest. Here goes…<br /><br /><br /><br />I) Planting and Harvesting<br /><br />I continue to learn the traditional Salvadoran agricultural cycle, which has finally come full circle. In my last email back in July we’d planted corn and beans on the rocky land with a chuso in May and fertilized them in June and July. In late August the corn finished maturing and we folded down the stalks to allow the corn to dry, then planted a second crop of beans in between the rows of corn. The fun part came with the threshing in November. Once the bean plants have dried out, we went to the fields and pulled them up, then piled the crisp plants with their full pods on a big tarp. Then we hit the piles (taller than me!) with big sticks, which causes the pods to burst open and the beans to fall to the tarp below. When the threshing is over, you can sweep the chaff off the top and pour the heavier beans into sacs to carry home. <div align="center"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdeDe3WShrFj46Zf8t-uZr66u40UxWtzWPfg9YHqEMCGq4zZgbdQcZ9V1dutybRmWKJcojyBh2_6C0xK5Q7Ty-tDQFeDhaDwvW1_tyre3Jf0nzi9rt4c49copqWAZr6yQTKGfX6lHKuMU/s1600-h/7a+-+Me+threshing+beansS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015146718921267858" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdeDe3WShrFj46Zf8t-uZr66u40UxWtzWPfg9YHqEMCGq4zZgbdQcZ9V1dutybRmWKJcojyBh2_6C0xK5Q7Ty-tDQFeDhaDwvW1_tyre3Jf0nzi9rt4c49copqWAZr6yQTKGfX6lHKuMU/s200/7a+-+Me+threshing+beansS.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmNXdpow-hsJy640m4ZlMCXf9ME9iJE0W9Sm5PEhS-N2iTHkIdMBw4FzrL3LSaiQrOhdtBCZv7MgE7XPDZ18BsNVLlWGoYJ_66eRGUlY38M2SQwICrnKC2AdNQkyTZCQZ0zFWNOrw5qNA/s1600-h/7b+-+Melvin+Fernando+and+Moises+threshing+beansS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015147023863945890" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmNXdpow-hsJy640m4ZlMCXf9ME9iJE0W9Sm5PEhS-N2iTHkIdMBw4FzrL3LSaiQrOhdtBCZv7MgE7XPDZ18BsNVLlWGoYJ_66eRGUlY38M2SQwICrnKC2AdNQkyTZCQZ0zFWNOrw5qNA/s200/7b+-+Melvin+Fernando+and+Moises+threshing+beansS.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><div align="center"><em>Threshing beans</em><br /></div><div><br /></div><div align="left">I certainly enjoyed learning the agricultural tasks, for the farmers, this was a difficult year. Invierno (winter, or the rainy season) blew in with cold, heavy rains associated with Hurricane Adrian in May, ruining any beans that were already planted. Then, 8 days of nonstop, torrential rains from Hurricane Stan in early October soaked the bean fields and made perfect conditions for fungi to destroy the crop. Most probably harvested just enough beans to store and eat for the year, but many farmers lost over half of their crop – which is just devastating. A family’s stock of beans is its buffer against insecurity. Thanks to the inflow of subsidized corn from the United States and Europe, farmers can’t even recoup their investment selling their corn, but there’s at least some hope of turning a profit with beans. When a need arises or someone falls ill, families will sell an arroba (25 lbs.) of beans in the pueblo in order to pay for it, and farmers also depend on the sale of surplus beans to purchase seeds and fertilizer for the following crop. This year, my neighbors Lidia and Melvin confided, there will be no extra beans to sell, no source of income. But the sacs I helped them gather will probably be enough for us to eat for the year, and for that, we are grateful.<br /><br /><br /><br />II) A quick update on last year’s projects and ongoing projects:<br /><br /><br />-- Home Vegetable Gardens, Fruit Trees, and Forest Trees (oh my!)<br />The home vegetable gardens had modest success, mostly by the women who were most faithful in attending the trainings and as such took the best care of their gardens. Lidia and I harvested tomatoes and carrots; Tita harvested very tasty, tender sweet peppers; and Bitia improved her daughter’s nutrition with Vitamin A-rich carrots and even generated a little income selling her surplus tomatoes to neighbors. Although we had problems with pests and with the seeds simply not adapting well to the climate, I think that the women learned important skills, such as composting and garden planning, that will be important as we continue to learn how to grow vegetables in El Amatón. Next year, we plan to continue our efforts working with organic home vegetable gardens. We plan to seek out a local seed source, even if we can’t find open-pollinated seeds, to ensure that the seeds will be of varieties appropriate for the local climate. I’ve also contacted an organization that specializes in organic vegetables, and they have agreed to help provide additional training in natural pest control to help prevent some of the losses we faced this year. The fruit trees planted around people’s homes and the multiple-use trees planted on farmer’s lands as living fences, barriers against soil erosion, and mini-forests for soil conservation and firewood are all looking good. I’m confident that I’ll have a good excuse to visit El Amatón in about three years -- to eat the oranges from the trees we planted!<br /></div><div align="center"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBsqAOhDMeKnhBUCB4O9xJ2o1ts3UDEoXoY3hmYfJrEpaXFvtR1548RshrgLDpJMg9NUStOUjmzs0mHg1XoylP6dlapKJYvpu739KVdvzS8OrVZPL1csJ_dYKTISjAN78JypFgNNzGQ4A/s1600-h/17+-+Me+harvesting+tomates+2005S.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015147603684530866" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBsqAOhDMeKnhBUCB4O9xJ2o1ts3UDEoXoY3hmYfJrEpaXFvtR1548RshrgLDpJMg9NUStOUjmzs0mHg1XoylP6dlapKJYvpu739KVdvzS8OrVZPL1csJ_dYKTISjAN78JypFgNNzGQ4A/s200/17+-+Me+harvesting+tomates+2005S.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFxlLzFOOI4s6jCs9sCOwLlppIXnmoit7HborbSafucZoSC9wDnMfBQIbeFXIw-9_ck6nc5baRiMDmMkASlXHYeM0C9Fr_jdtYbNsQhU0wzvyl1kPJX9CpG43PBfqCNVCpvOx_itjQhXw/s1600-h/18+-+Rosa+with+maquilishuat+treeS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015148574347139778" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFxlLzFOOI4s6jCs9sCOwLlppIXnmoit7HborbSafucZoSC9wDnMfBQIbeFXIw-9_ck6nc5baRiMDmMkASlXHYeM0C9Fr_jdtYbNsQhU0wzvyl1kPJX9CpG43PBfqCNVCpvOx_itjQhXw/s200/18+-+Rosa+with+maquilishuat+treeS.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><div align="center"><em>Me harvesting tomatoes in my garden (left);</em></div><div align="center"><em>Rosa standing by a maquilishuat tree she planted </em></div><div align="center"><em>as part of a living fence (right)</em></div><div></div><div> </div><div><br /> </div><div></div><div align="left">-- Water Project:<br />The water project is, well, languishing, along with the community as dry season sets in once more. The engineers FINALLY turned in the technical folder in August (after promising it would be done March 1). The Water Committee and I busied ourselves, first going through a lot of trouble to get title to the land where the water storage tank will be built. Once we had that, we began preparing funding proposals for our portion of the project: the water storage tank, chlorination system, and distribution tubing, about $20,000 (the Mayor promised to fund the pump, electricity, and supply tubing). Unfortunately, almost all of our proposals have been turned down. The North Sacramento Rotary Club actually came to visit the community, but they only have about $1000 in their account for international projects and haven’t been able to garner support from other clubs. The non-government organizations we contacted (CARE, Project Concern International, and Catholic Relief Services) couldn’t help us, because USAID stopped funding all water system infrastructure projects in Central America, and these NGOs got most of their funds from USAID. The Salvadoran Red Cross was looking hopeful, but recently informed me that they are overwhelmed with reconstruction from Hurricane Stan and won’t be able to help us economically (I did beg some technical assistance out of them). We also got turned down by the Canadian Fund for Local Initiatives and the Swiss Organization for Cooperation and Development. So as far as the funding goes, we are back to square one.<br /><br />And that’s the least of our worries. There’s a lot of loose ends that the Mayor didn’t concern himself with tying up when he drilled the well, supposedly with the intention of eventually providing water to El Amatón (although I don’t think this project would be in motion if we hadn’t gone and solicited the technical folder). We have gone through a lot of trouble trying to get the well donated to the community (can you believe the Mayor paid something like $10,000 to drill a well and he didn’t even know who owned the land?) but there is a lot of politics that is making me doubt that we will able to get title. In short, it’s under the jurisdiction of one of the ministries of the central government, which is dominated by the right wing ARENA party, and they are not about to facilitate a project that will make our mayor – of the left wing FMLN party – look good, especially right before municipal elections in March. And this really scares me, because if we can’t get the well, that basically means we would have to start all over: find a new water source, scrap the current technical folder and all the funding proposals we’ve done, and somewhere find the funds to drill ANOTHER well (this time on land owned by the community) and solicit ANOTHER technical folder (which could take approximately forever), etc., etc. The Mayor also never bothered to test the water in the well to make sure that it wasn’t contaminated, which he should have done when it was drilled. Now it’s going to be a lot harder (and really expensive) to get an uncontaminated sample and test it, and he is not disposed to help us at all. I get the feeling that the Mayor really wants this project to happen, but not for the good of the community. He just wants to do something really visible and put his name on a big sign, and doesn’t really care if there is invisible contamination in the streams of water flowing from the faucets.<br /><br />The bottom line: I’d really appreciate your prayers on the water project. People in the community are losing hope that their most basic need – sufficient and clean water -- will ever be satisfied, and I’m at a loss to know what to do. The Mayor and his cadre of engineers clearly are not taking responsibility to ensure that the project is done well, I’m certainly no technical expert in water and sanitation systems, the government ministries we’re dealing with are so impenetrable, and I don’t see any hope of funding at this point even if we could get the donation of the well. But we’ll keep fighting.<br /><br /><br /><br />-- School Construction:<br />A happier story! Thanks to the donations of my family, friends, and especially members of my church, we received enough funds to construct the two new classrooms that the school needs to expand its offerings through 9th grade. Construction began in late October, with parent volunteers happily providing all the unskilled labor.<br /><br />A big highlight of the classroom construction was in mid-November, when 5 members of my church plus my Dad came to work alongside community members to build the classrooms. Our main task was moving 4,000 bricks from the site where they had been unloaded from the truck up to the construction site, 3 bricks at a time (at first we got the idea of using a wheelbarrow, but then that was appropriated for moving sand to mix the cement for the foundation and securing the bricks). We were there when Armando, the mason, laid the first brick. Thinking of the learning that would take place inside those walls, it was an emotional moment. Throughout the whole week, Greg, Phil, Nancy, Sharon, Laura, and of course my Dad Fred were awesome, working alongside the parents to mixing concrete, pour the foundation, and pass bricks to the masons when they began to construct the walls. I am almost positive that my Dad and Phil also garnered the distinction of being the first males EVER to wash clothes in our river (although they are cheaters – they didn’t turn the shirts inside out to wash the inside too!). </div><div><br /></div><div align="left"></div><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheiqhWQomAF_-W_mvNi_2XfpKKCW4IX1DWjtzz8ZYmr26t-EbCdI2S0R7wx1LwsApS-4bjEkXH-6B_Whj7J86C14OMSQVZwe90NdoCAq2zRcgwi2D4f1DJ6Cz0R_YldAdNQMFXOboJBYQ/s1600-h/19+-+Dad+and+Sharon+carrying+bricksS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015149446225500882" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheiqhWQomAF_-W_mvNi_2XfpKKCW4IX1DWjtzz8ZYmr26t-EbCdI2S0R7wx1LwsApS-4bjEkXH-6B_Whj7J86C14OMSQVZwe90NdoCAq2zRcgwi2D4f1DJ6Cz0R_YldAdNQMFXOboJBYQ/s200/19+-+Dad+and+Sharon+carrying+bricksS.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioq3ddm9YquPwwUyr1OPxsiKqQwheB0BNBckesN-yqT634DqHW1g0x2j9x9uSG9rDcCR9cLOoo3AAGJAQWbR9mT7Gvae1BuqAaV335EproAwqYNenK4EPo0sO0lDgmMZiuqM4QioNXCTg/s1600-h/21+-+Mission+trip+groupS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015150498492488434" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioq3ddm9YquPwwUyr1OPxsiKqQwheB0BNBckesN-yqT634DqHW1g0x2j9x9uSG9rDcCR9cLOoo3AAGJAQWbR9mT7Gvae1BuqAaV335EproAwqYNenK4EPo0sO0lDgmMZiuqM4QioNXCTg/s200/21+-+Mission+trip+groupS.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><div align="center"><em>WPC Mission Trip: Dad and Sharon carry bricks (left); </em></div><div align="center"><em>the whole group in front of the growing walls (right)</em></div><div align="center"> </div><div><em></em></div><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEwFtMnNSWKVUEsKIM_FgdjRX63kzwec80EbKe3kYLpHfhOIFMdQXsF0IYvrbIYP9ea8nTWMXgGsZn3OJueV6hdFyfU9bk89bST0KR1VlQeg8lSqgfH2wp9kGwDjWqPOPgWf6pKcibwx8/s1600-h/20+-+Dad+and+Phil+washing+clothesS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015149905787001570" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEwFtMnNSWKVUEsKIM_FgdjRX63kzwec80EbKe3kYLpHfhOIFMdQXsF0IYvrbIYP9ea8nTWMXgGsZn3OJueV6hdFyfU9bk89bST0KR1VlQeg8lSqgfH2wp9kGwDjWqPOPgWf6pKcibwx8/s200/20+-+Dad+and+Phil+washing+clothesS.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><p align="center"><em>Dad and Phil washing their clothes in the river</em></p><div align="left"><br />At this point, the brick walls of the school are finished and the lamina roof is secured. The work still left to be done includes placement of doors and mesh windows, laying floor tiles, siding the walls with cement, and painting the walls. The classrooms should be finished several weeks after school opens for the children to use!<br /><br />Okay, so that wasn’t so quick. Sorry …<br /><br /><br /><br />III) What’s next:<br /><br />-- Chickens!<br />In addition to planning an improved organic home vegetable gardens project, the Agriculture Committee’s latest adventure is a project to raise improved breeds of chickens for egg production. Most women in the community already raise some chickens, but right now the chickens run around wild, eat whatever weeds they can find (or people’s gardens, if they are not fenced), and make their nests in random places that are often discovered by hungry dogs. As such, egg production is low to begin with and a lot is lost to egg predation.<br /><br />We began working to improve chicken health and production with vaccination campaigns (I can vaccinate chickens against viruela! And Manuel promised to teach me to give the triple vaccine against avian cholera in the next campaign!). Out of that grew the idea of a more comprehensive program to improve the raising of chickens using “agroecological” (environmentally friendly) techniques. I’ve already gone with the members of my Vaccination Committee to visit an existing project in another community to get ideas for our project, and they are really excited. Basically, what we want to do is bring improved races of chickens which lay many more eggs than the inbred strains currently in the community, and build enclosures and chicken coops to facilitate better care of the chickens and prevent loss of eggs to mischevious dogs. We also want to plant a special soil-enriching pasture and teach people about vermicomposting (raising worms for the chickens to eat on fruit and vegetable scraps – with the added benefit that the worms produce a really rich fertilizer). Ultimately, the project should improve children’s nutrition by providing eggs and provide a source of income for participating families when they sell surplus eggs in the community. I also like this project because it provides the women (the ones who traditionally raise chickens) with an opportunity to develop leadership skills and contribute to their family’s sustenance.<br /><br /><br />-- Health Committee:<br />We’ve been working with the organization Trees, Water, People (Árboles y Agua para el Pueblo) to solicit a donation of materials for an improved stoves project. Cooking on open fires uses a lot of firewood and produces a lot of respiratory health problems because of the smoke. But the Aprovecho Research Center (an appropriate-technology organization) in Oregon developed an improved stove that includes an iron plancha atop an enclosed flame. There’s room for just a little firewood, and the rest of the stove is filled with cascajo, a material that retains and distributes the heat. If they are maintained properly, the stoves save up to 75% of the firewood that one would use cooking with an open fire. It also produces less smoke and has a chimney to funnel it out of the kitchen so that the women can breathe a little easier. AND they are super fun to build (we did one in training) – at one point, you have to make a mud mixture held together with this thick molasses stuff, and it’s mixed by taking off your shoes and “dancing” in the glop!<br /><br />We’re also trying to scale up a Trash Management project that we started in the school to the entire community … separating organic from inorganic trash, composting the organic, recycling the cans and plastic bottles (I got the bus driver to say he’ll take them to Chalchuapa to sell if we collect them in the school), and burying the rest of the inorganic trash in a semi-sanitary home-made landfill, with clay at the bottom to prevent contamination of sub-terranean water. I think this one’s gonna be tough … there has never been a trash collection, so people are pretty used to just throwing their trash wherever …<br /><br /><br />-- School Tree Nursery and Ecological Library:<br />We were able to solicit the funds for an Environmental Education project that includes a school tree nursery and Ecological Library. I’ve done a lot of planning in the last couple months with Manuel (the agronomist), the teachers, and the Water and Agriculture committees to plan a tree nursery, where we’ll produce trees to reforest community water sources. We’ll start the trees in February, transplant them into bags in March, and then out in the field in June, when the rains come to help them get established. The Ecological Library is being constructed along with the school classrooms, and some of the older students from the Literary-Ecological Club have already helped begin classifying the new books. The teachers and I selected a combination of fiction books with nature themes (to read with the kids in the Saturday club) and non-fiction books on plants, animals, ecology, etc. (to be used in school projects). We’ve spent a couple Saturdays classifying the books, placing spine labels and pockets with check-out cards, and making a card catalog. I’m hoping that the library will get kids excited about both reading and the environment and provide inspiration for more activities of the Literary-Ecological Club … at the very least, it will give my now-tattered copy of El Lorax a rest! (If you’ll remember from my last email, that was one of the few kid’s books in Spanish that I have and was getting pretty worn out from repeated readings. The kids just LOVE books!)<br /><br /><br /><br />Okay, I think this has gone on long enough! I’m going to despedirse (say good-bye). Please, if you get a chance, do drop a note to let me know what you have been up to.<br /><br />¡Próspero Año Nuevo a todos! (Happy New Year to all!)<br /><br />Megan</div>Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10405542360305212147noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046659167500595432.post-20992181283857240612005-07-24T15:00:00.000-07:002007-01-01T09:41:31.242-08:00Hola desde El Salvador #5Hola once again to mi familia y mis amigos,<br /><br />Greetings to everyone back home (and abroad!). I hope that this summer finds your gardens growing well, and that you’ve all been able to take a little time for relaxation and reconnection with family and friends during this break from the craziness of the school year (that is, the US school year – the Salvadoran school year is January – November, so we’re still in full swing).<br /><br />First of all, I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to all of those who have supported the classroom construction project, whether with well wishes or financial support. We are still a ways away from full funding for the classrooms, but getting closer with each passing week! Please know that your donations really will make a difference in the lives of the young people of El Amatón, and thus in the community’s future. At present, sufficient classroom space is the only area in which the school’s proposal to the Ministry of Education to extend its offerings to 9th grade is lacking. As such, construction of these two rooms will allow students who would not otherwise be able to continue their studies to complete the cycle of basic education in El Amatón. Thank you for your generosity!<br /><br />I suppose the biggest news here in El Amatón is that it is raining. After the annual 8+ months of drought, “la bendición” (the blessing, as they call the rains) have finally arrived. They began in mid-May, just barely enough to soften the land for the planting of corn and beans – the community’s sustenance for the coming year, if the farmers are lucky. I have thoroughly confused (and amused) the community by accompanying the farmers in their labors of clearing weeds by machete, planting the seed with a chuso (pointed stick), and walking along the rows tossing fertilizer at the base of each corn plant. As a Volunteer hoping to help the community move towards a more sustainable agriculture, this has been an important experience in understanding current agricultural methods and how they might be improved. However, an unintended consequence of my “playing in the dirt” has been a challenge to traditional ideas about male and female activities. In my community even mores so than most places in El Salvador, gender roles are very strictly defined, and women generally do not participate in agriculture (or community leadership / public life, for that matter). It’s not just any guy who will take me planting corn – indeed, when I asked people if I could go to the milpas with them, I got a lot of confused looks and “Ummm … we’ll let you know”s, which in this culture of subtle, indirect communication, is approximately equivalent to “When hell freezes over!” Blanca Lydia explained to me that her father-in-law had given me such a vague reply because he was embarrassed at what other people would say about his taking a women to work in the fields. Happily, there are plenty of people who were happy to teach me to plant corn, like don Antonio. As we finished a row on the hill he cultivates behind his home, he gave a mischievous shout to the neighbor girl as she washed clothes, “C’mon, Leia, help us plant corn!” “But I’ve never planted corn before!” she replied, aghast. “Well, neither had Megan before last week,” he called back, “and just look at her now! She’s barbara for planting corn!” (meaning, she’s really good at it!). Little by little, perhaps my presence will change some minds about what women are capable of doing … and at the very least people find my activities quite hilarious!<br /><br /><div><div></div><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdfYz8uUXF-GiA3jTbEoXLTWqfbWlogN4tUK_A-z6RThzYiShnyWdLhxEvHT4h8NUid8MGM1jq4mtux0Drd8I3_2EOxCf35ptpDCFoq3C9UeTk0x7WcsQucr-1dC9KRWXecRHCu962cn8/s1600-h/7+-+Me+planting+cornS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015111976930810402" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdfYz8uUXF-GiA3jTbEoXLTWqfbWlogN4tUK_A-z6RThzYiShnyWdLhxEvHT4h8NUid8MGM1jq4mtux0Drd8I3_2EOxCf35ptpDCFoq3C9UeTk0x7WcsQucr-1dC9KRWXecRHCu962cn8/s200/7+-+Me+planting+cornS.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTGnsBhJObuvvndo-_V5WsD2FBxsQPDPDCgvQ6LT8AjVU2uA39eFS_tMKDJeftLbounvWbISU4LQYw5eD-xVAoNwpbmOLM4Ety91fQl22UQE3FdeEKlc59AoaimyWxJqL4YhpdffCuw4w/s1600-h/8+-+Mainor+planting+cornS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015112384952703538" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTGnsBhJObuvvndo-_V5WsD2FBxsQPDPDCgvQ6LT8AjVU2uA39eFS_tMKDJeftLbounvWbISU4LQYw5eD-xVAoNwpbmOLM4Ety91fQl22UQE3FdeEKlc59AoaimyWxJqL4YhpdffCuw4w/s200/8+-+Mainor+planting+cornS.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><div align="center"><em>Planting corn</em></div><div><br /><br /></div><div>In mid-June the rainy season entered in full force, making possible the planting of vegetables and trees, which require more water. And we have been planting! Planting home and school vegetable gardens, planting fruit trees, and planting forest and multiple-use trees in agroforestry systems on farmer’s lands. (Multiple-use trees are species such as madre cacoa and leucaena that function in reforestation and soil conservation as well as the production of useful products, such as firewood and pods for livestock feed. Many of these species re-grow quickly after a pruning, and as such they provide a sustainable source of firewood.) We were able to obtain trees from a nearby nursery maintained by the organization Trees, Water, People (Árboles y Agua para el Pueblo, in Spanish) for farmers to plant as living fences or live barriers against soil erosion in their milpas, or in mini-forests to contribute to reforestation of the watershed while providing firewood. As you can imagine, I’ve been very happy playing the dirt with families as they plant their vegetables and trees. I’ve decided that one of my favorite sights in the world is that of a newly planted tree seedling, standing straight and tall with its tiny leaves reaching toward the sun and its roots firmly anchored in the earth. Each one seems to enclose a hope for a more sustainable future for the community. </div><div><br /></div><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIXHQlArSWU8Ytxpq3UzQ0fcLIEz9kfYpnADfKCYS-jW1nGLLztB1_RaInMFR7Q6KyfuXugXUF5WF562YqhFh3qJzZUfBguYfp5mytPgsMl6bkviiTSDf1cPZFLJw51vy91a5OKjZaDEg/s1600-h/9+-+Me+planting+a+treeS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015113115097143874" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIXHQlArSWU8Ytxpq3UzQ0fcLIEz9kfYpnADfKCYS-jW1nGLLztB1_RaInMFR7Q6KyfuXugXUF5WF562YqhFh3qJzZUfBguYfp5mytPgsMl6bkviiTSDf1cPZFLJw51vy91a5OKjZaDEg/s200/9+-+Me+planting+a+treeS.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEp8HmzwSNTSu4b0s2nI1oNPh9cnqsKT3M_nPFYIuqR-kKKvL76d6fGGV21W8qasMkOLQtTk4F18KsDo7s41_wxVxcceZo_0AEaMtoTT806KPCd8Q8Lnbxlf3bM2ij66_hSySoEiVv1yU/s1600-h/10+-+Alex+planting+a+treeS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015114150184262226" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEp8HmzwSNTSu4b0s2nI1oNPh9cnqsKT3M_nPFYIuqR-kKKvL76d6fGGV21W8qasMkOLQtTk4F18KsDo7s41_wxVxcceZo_0AEaMtoTT806KPCd8Q8Lnbxlf3bM2ij66_hSySoEiVv1yU/s200/10+-+Alex+planting+a+treeS.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><em>Planting trees: M</em><em>e planting trees as a living barrier against erosion </em></div><div align="center"><em>in a cornfield; </em><em>don Alex planting a tree for shade in his coffee fields<br /></em><br /></div><div align="left"></div><div><br /></div><div></div><div>The vegetable gardens have been a mixture of success and frustration, as I learn along with the people of El Amatón what works and what doesn’t. I’m very proud of my little garden, with its tomato, sweet pepper, green bean, pipián (a smaller relative of the squash plant), and carrot plants. So far the plants look fairly healthy – my organic compost is giving fuerza to the developing plants; I seem to have avoided fungal diseases in tomatoes and pepper by covering the soil with a layer of dry straw mulch (prevents soil-borne diseases from accessing the truck and leaves via raindrops that rebound with soil particles on them); and the botanical extract of the seeds of the Nim tree that I’ve sprayed seems to be keeping away the gusano perfador de fruta (worm that perforates the fruit) of pipián. The big disappointment has been the radishes – despite the earth Blanca Lydia and I mounded up around the plant truck to stimulate root development, the radishes had absolutely beautiful leaves but no sign of a radish head! I actually wasn’t too sad, since the leaves are delicious cooked in soup and actually contain more vitamins and minerals than the head. But Lydia was bummed, because she really likes fresh, crunchy radish heads. Perhaps the soil was too fertile for radishes … </div><div><br /></div><div></div><div></div><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6yeTBNGNZG0OaxNxgtyrmV1JSN9C-ld_CvUFyVim-PHpyfK2Jguj4FhzbHG_Q5TmIzrKfs2LxshCqkl4qgz72R0yIrYMD4P5dj5M_cVMhHw6P6tFQ-GmlD2RTIgBOHT_1D2ZuHvOXRss/s1600-h/11+-+Lidia+preparing+compostS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015115266875759202" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6yeTBNGNZG0OaxNxgtyrmV1JSN9C-ld_CvUFyVim-PHpyfK2Jguj4FhzbHG_Q5TmIzrKfs2LxshCqkl4qgz72R0yIrYMD4P5dj5M_cVMhHw6P6tFQ-GmlD2RTIgBOHT_1D2ZuHvOXRss/s200/11+-+Lidia+preparing+compostS.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguQg6OhehezctqEwrx5ULV0lBBwRMVmNEsAXA_WmY3aidb036rpaA5HsNplInA-9I5zfyE8zzLxWm746SnyWsdMAzJ9Ghn-sstLVTAJsoCpFwZCo3j3KQQiTTnPqiOeKvitm9CFbXXo7U/s1600-h/12+-+Elias+in+the+wheelbarrowS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015115777976867442" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguQg6OhehezctqEwrx5ULV0lBBwRMVmNEsAXA_WmY3aidb036rpaA5HsNplInA-9I5zfyE8zzLxWm746SnyWsdMAzJ9Ghn-sstLVTAJsoCpFwZCo3j3KQQiTTnPqiOeKvitm9CFbXXo7U/s200/12+-+Elias+in+the+wheelbarrowS.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ69_fFPvqITAZl5KquiiOIRv1Fn08o1GUQUSYbnywR6b_jB0Ei-hI3UsF0wCdeeBxQo1Q5nAiSdc4HSFOkUjg3qmr-LzqDFmdD0lJUWm4ZLjJCeY5eLy3CDgsnnfnzYI7d0bn3ZxA5BM/s1600-h/13+-+Bitia+and+Bessie+with+gardenS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015116203178629762" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ69_fFPvqITAZl5KquiiOIRv1Fn08o1GUQUSYbnywR6b_jB0Ei-hI3UsF0wCdeeBxQo1Q5nAiSdc4HSFOkUjg3qmr-LzqDFmdD0lJUWm4ZLjJCeY5eLy3CDgsnnfnzYI7d0bn3ZxA5BM/s200/13+-+Bitia+and+Bessie+with+gardenS.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><em>Home Gardens: Lydia moving finished compost from the </em><em>pile </em><em>to </em><em>the garden; </em></div><div align="center"><em>Lydia's son Elias in the wheelbarrow; </em></div><div align="center"><em>Bitia </em><em>and her </em><em>daughter </em><em>Bessie with their garden of tomatoes and carrots</em><br /><br /></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div>In addition to working with the Community Association for Education (ACE) to locate funds for the classrooms, I’ve also been working with the school and the youth in environmental education quite a bit over the last few months. Of course, there is the school garden, and I’ve also worked with a group of 7th and 8th graders to start a “Literary-Ecological Club” for the young’uns. After seeing how much the kids LOVED reading the children’s books my mom sent me for Christmas, I got the idea that we could nurture their love for reading and their love for the Earth by reading books with environmental / ecological themes. The older kids liked the idea, and so for the past few months we’ve chosen a Saturday morning each month to read a story with the kids and then do an activity to better the environment in the community. For example, one Saturday we read El Lorax, which emphasizes the importance of planting trees, and then collected seeds of forest trees for use in a school tree nursery next year. The trees will then be used to reforest community water sources, in cooperation with the Water and Agriculture Committees. So far, we’ve had to repeat El Lorax since it’s the only book we have (thank you Mom!) but I’m working with the teachers to solicit funding for a small library. This would provide a sustainable source of books for use in the Literary-Ecological Club, the classroom, and to promote reading for the pure joy of it among the students. (By the way, if you’ve never read Dr. Suess’ classic The Lorax, you definitely should. And if you know Spanish, the Spanish translation El Lorax is fantastic – somehow, the translator has perfectly preserved the story’s message while making everything rhyme, with the same whimsical feel of authentic Dr. Suess. In addition to reading this book with the Literary-Ecological Club, I have read it with some kids at least 10 or 15 times!)<br /><br />The adult literacy classes are small – smaller than when we began – but I think that the faithful few who have continued to attend are happy with the progress they are making. I can understand why many ended up dropping out. After getting up at 3 a.m. to carry water, then working all day in the fields or performing endless, tiring household chores, it’s difficult to maintain the motivation to study from 6:30-8:30, or sometimes 9:00, at night. Sometimes even I just want to go to bed. But when I see María Emelina reading aloud what to her was an indecipherable jumble of letters at the beginning, or hear don Antonio exclaim, “Look how much my handwriting has improved from the first class until now!”, I know that my efforts, and those of the members from the community who give the classes, are worth it. I’ve noticed that not being able to read and write seems to be associated with a sense of powerlessness and inability to serve the community. As such, I hope that the literacy program will help people feel confidence in their abilities to be leaders in the community and affect positive change.<br /><br />Well, I think that’s the major news from El Amatón. As always, I love to hear from you all about how things are going in your lives.<br /><br />Sincerely,<br />Megan</div></div>Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10405542360305212147noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046659167500595432.post-15753274834818469682005-04-02T13:00:00.000-08:002007-01-01T09:10:35.516-08:00Hola desde El Salvador #4<div><div><div align="left">Hola a mi familia y mis amigos,<br /><br />I hope this letter finds you in good spirits with the arrival of spring back home. I’m sorry that it has been so long since the last “Hola desde El Salvador,” but I’ve been pretty busy in my site! In addition, I only get to email about once a month, when I come to San Salvador for the meetings of a committee that gives scholarships to girls to continue their education, as well as meetings with various Peace Corps staff members and NGOs supporting my work. My trips into San Salvador are always busy times with lots of work to do and unfortunately I don’t always get the opportunity to write emails. Plus, I always like to get back to El Amatón as quickly as possible, since I really miss the people, the spirit of community, and the land when I’m in the big, impersonal city.<br /><br /><br />Living for four months among the incredibly generous and welcoming people of El Amatón has already made me feel like a part of the community. In particular, the family next door (consisting of Blanca Lidia, her husband Melvin, and their three sons Fernanado, Moises, and Elias) has nearly adopted me, and I give thanks to God each day for the care and companionship they offer me. I often accompany Blanca Lidia bring lunch to Melvin in the fields, and then stay on and work with him to learn how to prune coffee bushes or clear a field of weeds in order to plant milpa (corn and beans). He’s even started to teach me a bit of guitar. I haven’t had a lot of time to receive guitar lessons, but so far I can play Re Mayor (D Major). Fernando and Moises are always coming over to play, and Elias has definitely lost his initial shyness and has turned into a veritable chatterbox with me! When I’m in the back of my little yard turning my compost pile, he always begs his mom to pass him over the fence so he can sit and talk, talk, talk as I work, occasionally helping me sprinkle a bit of water to keep the compost humid.<br /><br /><br />I’ve also been blessed by the friendship of many other families in El Amatón. Although my busy work schedule has made it increasingly difficult to take time just to “chotear” (“hang out”) with people, I try to take every opportunity to listen to their stories and participate in their daily lives. When I’m at someone’s house helping them make up a garden plan, or when I’m informing the facilitators of the literacy project of the date and time when the promoters from the Ministry of Education will come to give the training, or while the bread made by the women’s group is cooking in the oven, I try to take the time to linger and savor the conversation. After all, this process of getting to know people is ultimately indispensible for my work here, as it helps me to understand people’s lives and the needs of the community.<br /><br /><br />Like all of you gardeners in the U.S., we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the winter rains and beginning of the planting season here in El Amatón. (In El Salvador, there are only two seasons, dry and rainy. The dry season, which they call verano, or summer, lasts from October through May. The wet season, which they call invierno, or winter, lasts from May through September and is really the only time when it is feasible to cultivate crops without irrigation.) Right now we are nearing the end of the driest part of the dry season, and the scarcity of water is even more serious than I originally realized. Coming from the shores of the Great Lakes (20% of the fresh water in the world!) I know that I never appreciated what so many people in this world go through to obtain water each day. With the beginning of the new year El Amaton had another lottery to reassign numbers for the order of filling canteros at the one public chorro (faucet) serving more than 100 homes. Although I probably could have played the gringa card and kept the original arrangement of being allowed to fill my cánteros whenever I showed up at the chorro, I felt that it was important for me to share in the lives of the people as completely as possible, to not only see but experience and empathize with their needs, in order to more passionately work with the community to fulfill them. So this time, I insisted on being treated as any other member of the community and receiving a number that dictates when it is my turn to fill my cánteros. The chorro is turned on each day at 3 a.m. and since my number is a low number it comes up quickly. This means that I’m up each day at 3 a.m., bringing my cánteros to the chorro to fill them up and carry them back to my house. And I’m lucky – when the chorro is first turned on, there is actually water falling from the chorro. My cánteros fill quickly and I don’t have to worry about water for the rest of the day. By about 5 a.m., the stream is already decreasing to a trickle, and after about 6 a.m. it’s not uncommon for the water to simply stop for awhile while the women wait and wait for it to return. In the last few months, there have been times when the Water Committee has been forced to reduce the quota of cánteros to three cánteros per household every two days. This comes out to about 7-8 gallons per day, for drinking, cooking, and basic hygiene including hand washing, bathing, and washing dishes for everyone ion the house. Washing clothes is out of the question – for that, people must travel to the river, which is highly contaminated by bacteria and parasites contained in the feces of livestock that are taken there to drink. As a one-person household, I don’t suffer when the quota is reduced, but for all but the smallest of households this amount of water is insufficient to supply basic hydration and sanitation needs. (Below are some pictures of community members -- including myself! -- carrying water and washing clothes in the river.)</div><div align="center"><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Riu1wmsZIsqvgmn_0EkSJAKkkTLjofuR7rY5R2lbpDO2JMrGjvwbPBHya9N_z2dFaxdbuqn1UwZzIIv6hjYy30xmMqAk9lf5IO0tvri8sOzyzpE7TRJIVs4fF0JB62TNTF8NihOF6L8/s1600-h/3+-+Magali+and+Dalila+carrying+waterS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015109241036642786" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Riu1wmsZIsqvgmn_0EkSJAKkkTLjofuR7rY5R2lbpDO2JMrGjvwbPBHya9N_z2dFaxdbuqn1UwZzIIv6hjYy30xmMqAk9lf5IO0tvri8sOzyzpE7TRJIVs4fF0JB62TNTF8NihOF6L8/s200/3+-+Magali+and+Dalila+carrying+waterS.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1-B6mACTdNznwcdfAs1DxRCrBXN5EgLnSvA9bi1NgI2mFxGIZsDO_mA-Eas4f7Unz6WOG-EuDHL4HMa9cm0m2sGLGjcPGiga-Vi6_3nOXjSK5IV7zVXerGbOYJyvMMQXjV6qyVQ_cxvQ/s1600-h/4+-+Me+carrying+waterS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015109494439713266" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1-B6mACTdNznwcdfAs1DxRCrBXN5EgLnSvA9bi1NgI2mFxGIZsDO_mA-Eas4f7Unz6WOG-EuDHL4HMa9cm0m2sGLGjcPGiga-Vi6_3nOXjSK5IV7zVXerGbOYJyvMMQXjV6qyVQ_cxvQ/s200/4+-+Me+carrying+waterS.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5oaOTUA_mElFnWxdbCVrw5FgzHi9KmAxdhY1plbckzDfdatA2qQznFMm98i3k5pgJazprWgY5PSlTpddJQ7op1JwKOs8y8ECqwinck214jw-_25UjzR-bCHI3V1dAzYrL0Ufd8V2t6ak/s1600-h/6+-+Me+washing+clothes+in+the+riverS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015109812267293186" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5oaOTUA_mElFnWxdbCVrw5FgzHi9KmAxdhY1plbckzDfdatA2qQznFMm98i3k5pgJazprWgY5PSlTpddJQ7op1JwKOs8y8ECqwinck214jw-_25UjzR-bCHI3V1dAzYrL0Ufd8V2t6ak/s200/6+-+Me+washing+clothes+in+the+riverS.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /></div><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkpIWDSTAgrAU-wZZ4H5CYN30Nkpbci4wCKlfZ2rgNWy3yqd4Z-1b5hkG1ExXtnP4qdAv8edDAvqgi9tyKOH8aU62v-Esly0Xhxf2jCx5p3gXP-CmdpDVor7HY8tDXIJc9lMFHCnyvQHM/s1600-h/5+-+Dora+washing+clothes+in+the+riverS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015110142979774994" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkpIWDSTAgrAU-wZZ4H5CYN30Nkpbci4wCKlfZ2rgNWy3yqd4Z-1b5hkG1ExXtnP4qdAv8edDAvqgi9tyKOH8aU62v-Esly0Xhxf2jCx5p3gXP-CmdpDVor7HY8tDXIJc9lMFHCnyvQHM/s320/5+-+Dora+washing+clothes+in+the+riverS.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><div>And for that reason, I’ve continued working with the Water Committee to solicit a potable water project. The Potable Water Project we are proposing would pump water from the well near the frontier with Guatamala to a water storage tank in El Amatón. From the storage tank, water would arrive in each home by gravity flow through distribution tubing. The Mayor’s Office of Chalchuapa has agreed to fund the pump, electricity, and tubing to bring water from a well near the frontier with Guatamala to the community, if we can obtain funding for the water storage tank and distribution tubing. I’ve already worked with the Water Committee to write the basic elements of funding proposals – basic information about the community, description of the community needs that the proposed project would fulfill, overview of the proposed project, and elaboration of the community’s contribution to the project (unpaid labor, land for construction of the tank, etc.). Now we are waiting on the engineers to finish up the technical folder so that we can provide an exact budget. We’re also working with the engineers to develop a plan for the cleaning, maintenance, and repair of the water system, as well as with the organization Trees, Water, People to reforest the watershed. These actions will ensure that the project will be sustainable, and in particular that the well will have sufficient water recharge due to infiltration of rainwater facilitated by increased vegetative cover on the land.<br /><br />Once we have all the information together, we can start actually soliciting NGOs such as CARE and Project Concern International, the Embassies of developed countries in El Salvador, and Rotary Clubs. Already we’ve met with the Rotary Club of Santa Ana, and they have promised to help us by contacting some of their sister clubs in the United States to see if they might be able to provide funding. Since USAID (the United States Agency for International Development) is no longer funding water projects in El Salvador, I’m hoping that the generosity of NGOs and Rotary Clubs will be able to fill that void not only in my community, but in all the dry and forgotten communities of this tiny country.<br /><br />I’m trying not to get my hopes or the community’s hopes up too high, but I already feel that I don’t want to leave El Amatón until I see water flowing in each household. This project would literally change lives. It would improve health by bringing enough water to the community to fulfill hydration and sanitation needs, and also by eliminating el desvelo – the need to rise before the sun or stay up long after the last rays have disappeared behind the horizon to fill cánteros. People would finally be able to sleep securely, without the fear that their number will pass, thus increasing resistance to disease. And water in the house – that would change all aspects of life! By liberating people from the time-consuming tasks of waiting for one’s turn at the chorro, filling cánteros, and carrying them to the house, a water project would give people more time to spend with their families and participate in community activities. I’d really appreciate your prayers that this most basic human need might arrive in my community in this corner of El Salvador.<br /><br /><br /><br />In addition to my work with water systems (which I know NOTHING about but am learning as we go!) I am doing some work in the areas that Peace Corps spent two and a half months training me to work in – sustainable agriculture. In that department, I’m working with a vegetable cultivation project for the farmers and home vegetable gardens for the women, and soon we will begin a fruit tree project as well. All of these projects are designed to aid the community in crop diversification, organic cultivation practices, reforestation, and nutrition.<br /><br /><br />Unfortunately, my counterpart in CENTA (the agricultural extension agency) has been super busy and hasn’t had much time to help me, so I’ve pretty much on my own planned and given the first three trainings for the vegetable cultivation and home gardens projects. So far, we’ve covered composting, Lombricultura (worm composting), and garden planning using principles of crop rotation and polyculture. (Polyculture simply means interplanting a variety of crops in a single plot to take advantage of complementary requirements for space and nutrients, and to prevent the pest problems that come with large monocultures, or single-crop systems.) Given all the hard work that I put into researching these topics and preparing posters, picture-rich handouts, and demonstrations, I’ve been a little frustrated by the low attendance at trainings. I’ve ended up going house to house to those who signed up for the projects but did not attend the trainings to individually give them the information, which takes a lot of time and energy and means I can do less with other projects. When people have so much to do today – haul water, make tortillas, go to the river to wash clothes, travel a long distance to work in the fields, bring the cows back from their pastures – and the rainy season doesn’t start until May, it’s hard to convince people that they need to be thinking about vegetable gardens now if they want their compost to be ready and the seeds they’ve asked for to arrive in time. Yet little by little, person by person, I feel that I am reaching those who really want to participate. There are a faithful few whom I’ve helped to build compost piles and sat down with to place the vegetable crops in a sustainable garden plan – borders of nitrogen-fixing peas around beds of nitrogen-demanding tomatoes and peppers, rows of fast-growing radishes in between rows of slow-maturing carrots or onions, and pest-repelling radishes planted around infestation-prone pipián (a sort of small squash … yum!). And they have returned the favor, teaching me about the allegedly excellent fertilizer produced by ants in the zompoperos (humungous ant hills) and the trick of placing branches cut from spiny trees around the hills where squash and pipián are planted to keep the chickens from eating the seed. Though perhaps it will be a small number of people who fully participate in these projects, I’m hoping that they will be able to pass on their new knowledge and skills to others who see their success and are interested in learning how they can cultivate vegetables that nourish themselves as well as the land.<br /><br /><br />On the horizon are trainings in soil preparation, identification of pests, and elaboration of botanical extracts to control pests. Right now we are waiting for the seeds to arrive so that we can sow the tomatoes, peppers, onions, and lettuce (all the transplants) in mid-April to be ready to transplant in May. I’m especially excited that after searching high and low, I was able to find a source of open-pollinated seeds for the home vegetable garden project. These are obtained from heirloom, or traditional, varieties of vegetables that have been allowed to reproduce naturally as opposed to being generated by hybridization. (Hybrids generally have superior production to open-pollinated seeds in the first generation, but due to genetic problems with reproduction, crops grown by saving seeds produced by hybrid plants generally worsen with each successive generation. As such, it is necessary to buy new seeds every year from an agroservicio.) Obtaining open-pollinated seeds will allow us to save seeds from the harvest to plant the following year, thus ensuring the project’s sustainability. Each participant has already signed an agreement to donate some seeds of the open-pollinated vegetables she grows to a communal seed bank after the harvest to share with those who would like to begin a garden the following year, Heifer-project style!<br /><br /><br />I’m also working with the school on a school garden project, and have gotten quite a bit of support and enthusiasm from the kids as well as the teachers. The older kids hauled sacks of dry and green leaves and manure to school to build the compost pile, while the younger kids brought in fruit and vegetable scraps to feed to the worms I donated from my worm composting bin to start a bin in the school (the worms reproduce quickly, so there is still a mess of them in my bin eating all my fruit and vegetable waste and producing fertilizer for my own garden!). We’ve also planned the garden and built a stone barrier against erosion below the site of where we will plant the garden, which was a great opportunity to teach the students about the importance of soil conservation. Seeing as how the adults have kept me so busy thus far, I’m hoping that my involvement with the school garden project will be a good starting point for getting to know and working with the kids. After all, they are the future of this community and this country!<br /><br /><br />These vegetable and fruit tree cultivation projects coincide nicely with the Health Committee’s preventative health care program, showing the interconnectedness of agriculture, environment, and health. We are working with the health promoter, Eunice, to complement the Agriculture projects with trainings in nutrition. In particular, we are hoping to teach about the vitamin and mineral content of the various vegetables and fruits, since this is what is most lacking in the typical diet of the community.<br /><br /><br />Well, there’s more to tell – working to start an adult literacy program, teaching English classes on Saturdays, baking bread with the women’s group – but this is getting long so I think I’ll save the details until the next “Hola desde El Salvador.” Congratulations if you have reached the bottom of this email, and best wishes in your daily work and play.<br /><br />Sincerely,<br />Megan</div></div></div>Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10405542360305212147noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046659167500595432.post-27398130763909752592005-01-09T09:00:00.000-08:002006-12-02T17:41:12.415-08:00Hola desde El Salvador #3Hola a mi familia and mis amigos,<br /><br />I hope that you all enjoyed a blessed holiday season with your families and that your New Year has begun full of promise. As for me, I am really settling into my community here in El Salvador and beginning my work alongside the Association for Community Development (ADESCO), so I am excited about what 2005 will bring.<br /><br />Back in El Amatón, I've been very busy between trying to visit all the homes (87 down, about 20 to go) and meet with the committees that we've formed, not to mention simply maintain my life! I'm slowly getting to know that day-to-day routines of people in the campo, and it's enough to make anyone exhausted. Waiting for and carrying water from the chorro, putting tortillas and beans on the table, and washing clothes takes a lot of effort and almost as many waking hours as there are in a day. Yet my neighbors are eager to teach me how to get along here in El Salvador, and participating in daily life for just a month has already taught me many important lessons.<br /><br />Perhaps one of the first things I've realized since arriving here is the preciousness of water. Waiting at the chorro at 4 a.m. for the thin stream of water to fill my cántero and hauling every drop of water I want to use really makes me appreciate this fundamental resource that I depend on for drinking, bathing, and basic sanitation. I spend, at the very least, an hour waiting for and carrying water every day, and most women in the community probably spend 3-4 hours. Not only do they have to carry water for the entire family while I only carry enough for one person (minus the cánteros they insist on bringing to my house), they also wait much longer, since the community insists that whenever I come to the chorro, I should fill my cántero without waiting in line. With the dry season (September - April) really setting in and the thin stream of water decreasing to a trickle, water dominates people's thoughts, daily routines, and indeed their very lives. Each home has a number, assigned by lottery, which dictates the order in which families can fill their quota of cánteros at the chorro. Now that water is scarce, the community is filling cánteros strictly by number, which means that you have to be at the chorro when the number before you finishes filling if you want to get water, whether that's at 3 a.m. or 11 p.m. All day, women are forced to interrupt their daily work to run to the chorro and find out what number is filling, or they send their kids to relay back the message back home. Since it has been taking about 3 days to get through all 108 numbers, families are forced to stretch what should be a minimum daily allotment of water to last longer. Potable water is definitely the most serious need in the community and as such will be a priority for my work here. But for me, who had always enjoyed an apparent abundance of water, the experience of carrying and conserving water is a good wake-up call as to the actual scarcity of water and the necessity of using it well. I only hope that when I return home I remain conscious of and thankful for how precious water really is.<br /><br />I'm also beginning to appreciate a way of life that emphasizes the value of community, helping, and sharing. Every task, from cutting sorghum or coffee, to washing clothes, offers an opportunity for collaboration and socializing. In the United States, we'd probably consider the Salvadoran way of doing things "Inefficient" -- and granted, it definitely takes a lot more time to harvest crops and wash clothes by hand than it does with a machine. But it also takes a lot less of our rapidly decreasing supply of fossil fuel, the burning of which threatens the (in geological perspective) mild climate we have come to depend on. Such manual, communal labor also builds relationships between people in a way that operating a machine alone cannot.<br /><br />These relationships lend themselves to a culture of generosity and sharing that continues to amaze me daily. Perhaps the best example of this is my evolving friendship with my neighbor, Blanca Lidia and her family, whom I've come to know quite well. (Her three sons, Fernando, Moises, and Elias are always playing at my house -- I even asked their father Melvin to open a little door in the fence between our houses to let them pass without going all the way around on the path that loops around from the entrance to their house to the entrance to mine!). As I realized that it would be impossible for me to attend all my meetings, prepare my classes and demonstrations, and do all the cooking I had been attempting to do, I was looking for a way to lighten the load a little. Blanca Lidia had constantly reminded me to let her know if there was any way she could help, so I finally broke down and asked if she would be willing to bring enough masa and cooked beans in the morning to last the day if I brought her the dry corn and beans and paid her a little for her work. She seemed genuinely happy to be able to help and explained that she had actually been thinking of proposing such an arrangement, seeing as every day she cooks the corn and goes to the molino for masa (dough for tortillas) and cooks a big pot of beans for her family anyway. Of course, she flatly refused to let me pay her money, but I've been discovering other, more culturally acceptable ways to return her generosity, such as a few bananas, plátanos, or oranges in a dish I'm returning. One day, her sons were over, watching in awe as I cooked broccoli, when they explained that they had never eaten it (even though a truck comes every Saturday selling all sorts of fruits and vegetables, most people don't eat much besides tortillas and beans, plus whatever fruit is abundant in the community). So now every so often I'll bring over a dish of some vegetable I've cooked for her family to share. I'm learning that here, payment in money for services rendered is a foreign concept. Instead, their economy is one of reciprocal sharing between fellow members of a community, each giving freely of what he or she has a graciously accepting the gifts of others.<br /><br />Although I spent most of my first month "hanging out" and "getting to know people" (and that process will continue for the next two years, I imagine) I have recently begun my work with the Association for Community Development (ADESCO) to address the needs of the community. I've done several community diagnostic activities with people, and we decided to form committees for Water, Agriculture, Health, Education, and a Women's Group. <br /><br />Not surprisingly, water is the first priority of most people. The mayor's office has perforated a well 3 km from the community, and it supposedly contains enough water to put, at least, more public chorros (closer to people's homes) and possibly supply water to each house. We know that a project would require electricity to pump the water, a pump, 3 km of tubing, a storage tank, and distribution tubing. The mayor's office has told us that if the community can find the funds to build the storage tank, there is a possibility that the municipality can provide the funds to bring the water from the well to the storage tank, but people in the community tell me that there's a lot of politics that make that promise very uncertain. I'm currently working with the Water Committee to develop a more detailed proposal for a water project and seeking funding to carry it out -- no easy task, since EVERY community in El Salvador is looking to fund a water project and USAID is fresh out of money for water projects. I have a couple of NGO contacts (CARE, Project Concern International, etc.) and I'm also planning to contact the Embassies of other developed nations to see if they provide economic assistance. Also, if anyone has any contact with your local Rotary Club and think that they might be interested in raising funds for a World Community Service project in partnership with a Rotary Club here in El Salvador, there is a Matching Grant program through The Rotary Foundation and I could contact the Rotary Club in Santa Ana to see if they would be willing to oversee the project. (Yes, this is a shameless plug and I'm really sorry ... but I see the need in my community and I know it's really, really hard to obtain enough money for a water project).<br /><br />Thinking in the long term, the Water Committee has also expressed interest in reforesting the two watersheds where they currently obtain their water (were we to obtain a water project to bring water from the well perforated by the Alcaldía, the project would add the water from the well to the water the community already receives from these two sources). Reforestation would increase the amount of water that the land absorbs and retains (and ultimately supplies to El Amatón), since the vegetative cover prevents excessive run-off. It would also improve water quality due to the action of tree roots in filtering water. Although the benefits of reforestation may not be apparent for many years, it will create a more hopeful future for the children of El Amaton. And in contrast to the potable water project, I feel that reforestation is entirely feasible, with the help of CENTA (the agriculture and forestry agency that is my counterpart) and the local branch of the NGO Trees, Water, People (Arboles y Agua para el Pueblo).<br /><br />In the Agriculture committee, people expressed interest in diversifying their production by planting small pieces of their land in organic vegetables, at least for home consumption, and by planting fruit trees. The lack of water for irrigation may make vegetable production for market impossible, but at least in the winter there is sufficient water to produce a wide variety of vegetables, which would contribute to crop diversification as well as improve nutrition in the community. Fruit trees would also bring environmental as well as nutritional benefits to the community, as they could be planted as live barriers in fields of corn and beans to prevent erosion, and they can also serve to reforest watersheds. I'm hoping to involve adults as well as kids in these two endeavors (organic vegetables and fruit trees), seeing as the teachers at the school expressed interest in having me work with a school garden, school nursery, and reforestation of some pieces of land near the school.<br /><br />Although some of the needs that the community identified in the diagnostic activities were agriculturally and environmentally related (such as reforestation and crop diversification), there were also many needs expressed that fall outside Agroforestry and Environmental Education activities, people have expressed interest in a clinic, English classes, an adult literacy program, and even sewing classes to learn how to make their own clothes. I'm a little scared about working in areas in which I have no training, but I have to remember that it's the needs expressed by the community, in combination with the knowledge and gifts that I bring, which must guide my work. I guess I'll be doing a lot of learning along with the people of El Amatón!<br /><br />Well, I better leave the Peace Corps office now if I want to get back to Chalchuapa in time to catch the ONLY bus that goes to my site each day! Best wishes to you all for a Prospero Año Nuevo.<br /><br />Sincerely,<br />MeganMeganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10405542360305212147noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046659167500595432.post-60539238102688256892004-12-10T09:00:00.000-08:002006-12-31T16:44:42.821-08:00Hola desde El Salvador #2<div>Queridos familiares y amigos,<br /><br />Hello from San Salvador! I hope that this letter finds you all a lot better than I was about 48 hours ago. I just got out of the hospital this morning after spending a couple days there with the triple-whammy of amebas, Giardia, and a bacterial infection (as they say here in El Salvador ... Puchica!). NOT exactly where I wanted to be just 5 days after arriving in my community after the swearing-in ceremony. But, as long as I'm stuck here in San Salvador until tommorrow morning (the doctor wanted me to stay in the city overnight 'just in case'), I figured I would make the best of my access to the computers in the Peace Corps office to write you all.<br /><br />I wanted to start by saying THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to everyone who has written me, either by snail mail or email ... I promise you I am working on writing more personal responses than these mass emails, but the end of training was super busy. I'm hoping to get out some real letters in the next month once I get settled in my site.<br /><br />The second half of training really flew by for me. My series of classes on organic huertos caseros (home vegetable gardens) for the women of San Felipe was a really great experience, for me and I think for them as well. I ended up planning and teaching classes on Composting, Polyculture (i.e., planting different crops in a single plot to preserve soil fertility and prevent pest problems), Building and Planting a Vegetable Garden, Natural Pest Control, and Nutrition. Each session started out with a presentation / disucussion, followed by a demonstration at my host family's house. Afterwards, I visited each woman's home to help her build a compost pile and plant her garden. By the time I said good-bye to my training community, tomatoes, peppers, squash, radishes, and cucumbers were all poking their first leaves above the soil -- but what was really special for me was seeing the smiles on the women's faces and the sense of accomplishment they radiated as they stood proudly by their new gardens.<br /><br />The huertos caseros project also taught me some really valuable lessons. One of the biggest challenges I faced was designing materials that were accessible to people without much formal education. When I passed by the house of each woman with a schedule of the classes and a list of the materials they would need to gather to build the compost pile, one of them hung her head and told me quietly, "I can't read. Maybe I can't participate." I felt absolutely terrible for having put her in the uncomfortable position of telling me that she couldn't read, but luckily I was able to convince her that she could still participate and that she had a lot to offer to the group. I ended up revising all the posters and handouts to include lots of pictures, which stretched my artistic ability to the limit but hopefully made her feel less intimidated and more included. In my site, I'll definitely be more conscious of how to facilitate the participation of all who want to participate.<br /><br />I also learned the value of blending the somewhat theoretical knowledge that I bring as a Volunteer with the practical, local knowledge of the people. All of the "classes" were really more discussions, with a mutual sharing of information that I found to be very exciting. For example, in the handout on polyculture, I had put the example of planting fast-maturing greens such as lettuce and spinach with slow-maturing peppers and tomatoes. However, given the hot climate around San Vicente, I advised the women against planting lettuce and spinach, which prefer a cooler climate. Not to be discouraged, they were full of ideas to plant chipilin and mora, two local greens that are adapted to the local climate, and are (I later found out) very rich in iron. We were even able to get some chipilin seeds and find some wild mora to transplant into the gardens to put their good ideas into practice. This kind of exchange, it seems to me, is what Peace Corps is all about: working together, the women and I were able to come up with a solution better than any of us could have dreamed up alone.<br /><br />The garbage collection project, unfortunately, did not go so well. A lot of people said they thought it was a good idea when Vicki and I walked around talking to people about the environmental and health benefits of trash collection and recycling, but when it came time to say they would pay the $1.05 per month, no one was willing. I realize that in comparison to most people in the United States, the people of my host community were realatively poor, but most of them have a TV and buy Coca-Colas and chips for their kids from the local tiendas (little stores run out of people's houses). I can only hope that a bit more patience and education on similar projects will prove effective in my new home, where I'll have two years instead of just two months to work with the people.<br /><br />Despite the frustration with the garbage project, most of my experiences in my training community were wonderful (that is, minus getting bit by an unvaccinated dog. Thank goodness I had the series of 3 preventative vaccines against rabies so I only had to get 2 boosters, instead of the 21 you have to get after a bite if you have no preventative vaccines!). Anyway, saying good-bye to my host family and community was really hard. I guess I never realized how much they had given me -- and how much I was going to miss their companionship -- until it was almost time to leave. I also hadn't realized how much our presence as Peace Corps Volunteers meant to them. As excited as I was about how well the huertos caseros classes had turned out, I found myself doubting if such small projects could really change people's lives. Yet talking with the people I had grown close to in San Felipe, I began to realize that just being here in El Salvador, sharing in the lives of the people, makes a difference in ways I may never know. Warm affection and appreciation shone in the eyes of my Tia (Aunt) Hilda and next-door neighbor Melida as they clasped my hands and thanked me, not only for teaching them how to build vegetable gardens, but also for forming friendships with them. And I nearly cried when Melida's husband, don Simon, expressed his gratitude in his calm, genuine manner,m thanking me for being an example of service and concern for others to his son Ramon and grandsons Jaime and Ricardo. After all that they had shared with me, I was glad that I was able to give back, even if just a little.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-cDClN_Zsx1_axw9T17Nu2Wb5x-4ogRkjNejJbK_xkcCiy3KRpOxh6YdPkVMelI58uUoz1e2WnUYzOfqgARvDhV3NXgL2B8ABmHLJ4pKFVXK-zaAhDCxrdASFjcYoitsyUVIDln1V1ZI/s1600-h/1+-+Volcano+ChingoS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5014853630352988162" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-cDClN_Zsx1_axw9T17Nu2Wb5x-4ogRkjNejJbK_xkcCiy3KRpOxh6YdPkVMelI58uUoz1e2WnUYzOfqgARvDhV3NXgL2B8ABmHLJ4pKFVXK-zaAhDCxrdASFjcYoitsyUVIDln1V1ZI/s320/1+-+Volcano+ChingoS.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />So here I am, and officially sworn-in Peace Corps Volunteer, no longer a Trainee. Although I may be stuck in San Salvador right now, my new home is in the caserio (rural village) of El Amaton, located on the westernmost fringe of the department of Santa Ana just two kilometers from the border with Guatemala and at the base of the Volcano Chingo (see picture at right -- a bunch of people in my community have already offered to take me on a hike up to the top. I can't wait!). My counterpart agency there is CENTA (Centro Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria y Forestal, or National Center for Agricultural and Forestry Technology), which is the government extension agency that works in agricultural improvement.<br /></div><div></div><br /><div><br />People in the community cultivate mainly corn and beans, but some also cultivate a small parcel in shade coffee (coffee bushes intermixed with fruit trees), just for their own consumption. Although I shouldn't even be thinking about projects before I really get to know the community, I'm excited about the potential for promoting crop diversification to include fruits and vegetables, soil conservation, and home gardens. No matter what, I'm sure I'll be working with potable water -- I could see this was a priority after about an hour in the community. Right now there is one public chorro (faucet) for the entire community, and in the dry season (November - May), it doesn't fall (in El Salvador, they don't say the water runs -- they say the water falls!). In my community, people strap two canteros (big water jugs) onto horses and ride down to the river to bring water back to their homes during the dry season. </div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0p306NrIY5S0RotIMHLusScZlPFSds2kJAlIeUu7_WKLTA9XV6dOUVouCMvqXscL25vf_4OKVcxD8bzx9VWXGpL6H9cBkkEAN28voWECleEeoQavxQ20F23YFi6AkTJ-pTleWBKb5RqI/s1600-h/2+-+Coffee+picking+w+Obdulio+and+JonathonS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5014855004742522898" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0p306NrIY5S0RotIMHLusScZlPFSds2kJAlIeUu7_WKLTA9XV6dOUVouCMvqXscL25vf_4OKVcxD8bzx9VWXGpL6H9cBkkEAN28voWECleEeoQavxQ20F23YFi6AkTJ-pTleWBKb5RqI/s320/2+-+Coffee+picking+w+Obdulio+and+JonathonS.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Specific projects aside, I think some of the biggest general challenges I'm going to face will involve gender issues. For one thing, I'm a woman hoping to work in agriculture in a country where gender roles are very strictly defined and women's generally do not work in the fields. During my site visit, I encountered a bit of incredulity when I asked some of the farmers if I could come and work in the fields with them (one suggested that I could help his wife bring lunch, which was a valuable experience as well but also frustrating in that he obviously didn't think I was capable of agricultural work). I'm already seeing some positive changes in attitudes, however. During my visit, I was able to convince one farmer, don Obdulio, to let me help harvest his beans and corn, and ever since then the chambre (gossip) has been getting around that the gringa can arrancar frijoles and tapizcar maiz (that is, pull out the beans plants to let them dry before threshing and harvest the ear of corn from the plant). When I arrived in the community to stay, he even invited me to come pick coffee with him and his family! (Above and at right is a picture of don Obdulio and his son Jonaton picking coffee.)</div><div><br /><br />Another gender-related challenge I'll face will be encouraging the participation of women in community decision-making. Rosario, the assistant to the Peace Corps Agroforestry program director, told me that when she made an initial visit to the community about the possibility of them receiving a Peace Corps volunteer, the meeting was 43 men plus her. Given all the time-consuming responsibilies that women in the campo have -- cooking and grinding corn for tortillas, preparing meals, bringing lunch to the men, carrying water and firewood, going to the river to wash clothes -- I hope that I can convince them that their unique perspective on community resources and needs is important enough to merit their participation in community development activities.<br /><br />My most important activity right now, however, is getting to know the people of my community, and so far everyone has been wonderful in helping me get settled. Since I still don't have a functional stove, I'm eating with don Abel's family, which has actually been a good opportunity to get to know them. I'm learning all about how to cook here from don Abel's daughter Iliana, who is about the same age as me. Iliana's 5-year old daughter Alison has also enthusiastically accompanied me all around the community, introducing me to her neighbors (as well as climbing every tree in sight -- I think she's half monkey!). My other neighbors have also been wonderful, helping me clean up my house and hang my mosquito bed net, giving me every fruit from oranges to banans to guavas as I walk around visiting with them, and even leaving canteros of water outside my house during the night. The latter in particular is no small gift, given the shortage of water that is beginning to set in with the beginning of the dry season. With only a thin stream or a trickle of water falling from the one public chorro, people stay up nearly the whole night waiting to fill a cantero and carry it the long distance back to their families. The generosity of these people with the most precious resource has amazed and humbled me.<br /><br />People have also bent over backwards to include me in all their activities. All aspects of life here have a special communal, or familial, dimension (since everyone is related, I guess the communal and the familial are really one and the same!). Going to cut coffee with don Obdulio was like a big party, with the whole family and his neighbors trooping up the volcano to the finca, then laughing, talking, and singing as we filled our canastas with ripe coffee beans. Even laundry is a communal outing -- I left early in the morning with Iliana, her two sisters, and their kids for a trip to the river, where the four of us lined up by the big, flat rocks to scrub our clothes while the kids played in the water.<br /><br />So, minus the amebas-Giardia-bacterial infection, I'm really excited about beginning my work as a Peace Corps Volunteer, sharing the lives of the people of El Amaton and helping them create a sustainable, hopeful future. My thoughts and prayers are with you all.<br /><br />Sincerely,<br />Megan</div>Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10405542360305212147noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046659167500595432.post-35457244118595488482004-10-23T13:00:00.000-07:002006-12-02T17:26:44.171-08:00Hola desde El Salvador #1Hola a mi familia y mis amigos,<br /><br />I hope that this letter finds you all well. Welcome to the first installment of my updates from El Salvador, which I will try to send out every so often. <br /><br />Things are going well here in El Salvador, although I do find myself missing my home, family, and friends. My group of 14 Agroforestry / Environmental Education Volunteers arrived in El Salvador a month ago to begin 2 ½ months of training for Peace Corps service. The training center is located in the pueblo (town) of San Vicente, about 1 ½ hours away from the capital, San Salvador. We are all living with host families in the cantones (rural villages) surrounding San Vicente. I live in a small community called San Felipe, where the majority of the population works in agriculture (corn, beans, and sorghum are the principle crops). Most of the Volunteers are living in big families, but I have kind of a different situation in that my family consists of a senora (who actually just left to visit her sons in the U.S. for two months) and her 29-year old daughter Silvia, who works for a judge in San Vicente. The senora’s other 7 children are all grown and living elsewhere, so my house is very tranquilo with just Silvia and me. However, I’ve really enjoyed getting to know Silvia. She’s really a very unique woman in that she is quite educated and is a leader in her community as the organizer of her church youth groups. In a country where machismo is very apparent and there is considerable inequalities between men and women in education, employment, and influence in family and community decision-making, it’s inspiring to see a woman who is so confident in her own ability to have a positive impact in her community.<br /><br />My group is receiving community-based training, which means that we come to San Vicente only 2-3 times per week for classes in Spanish, technical material (sustainable agriculture and participatory education), development approaches, and culture. The rest of the time is spent in our communities, where we have Spanish class in small groups as well as Community Contact assignments.<br /><br />So far I’ve really enjoyed training, especially the technical classes. All of the sessions are very hands-on, with lots of playing in the dirt! We’ve built compost piles, planted organic vegetable gardens, treated tree seedlings for optimum germination, planted a small tree nursery, made worm compost bins, planted ‘green manures’ (nitrogen-fixing crops that are planted between rows of corn to enrich and protect the soil), and planted ‘live barriers’ of grasses and nitrogen-fixing trees on the contour of hillside farms to prevent soil erosion. <br /><br />For Community Contact, we’ve spoken with farmers to investigate basic crops, worked with a local farmer (a week later I was still sore), visited the Alcaldia (mayor) to find out what role municipal government plays in the development of rural areas, and visited the local primary school. This week was a big week for us, because we had to prepare and give charlas (presentations) in Spanish on an environmental topic at the local school. I taught the 6th- grade class about composting, and its relationship to reducing the waste stream and maintaining soil fertility. Both of these concerns are pretty important in an area with no trash pick up and fairly poor quality soils. I think that the lesson went pretty well – I arranged to have all the materials at the school so we could actually build a compost pile, and the teacher seems enthusiastic about keeping it going. I also made up a sheet of instructions for the kids to take home so that they can start compost piles at home. The main challenge I encountered was engaging the students in the classroom part of the lesson, before we went outside to build the compost pile. Traditional Salvadoran teaching methods are not terribly participatory, so the students were very hesitant to answer questions or offer their ideas. This made things a little awkward, since I am used to teaching methods where class participation is an integral part of a students’ learning. However, I talked to some of the staff at the training center, and they were able to give me some good ideas on ways to encourage student participation.<br /><br />The other big excitement for the week happened on Wednesday morning, when a rat fell in our pila (a pila is a big concrete tank outside the house that people fill with water for bathing and washing dishes and clothes. Our families around San Vicente are lucky enough to have water that usually runs every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, but in other parts of the country people fill them up by drawing water from wells). Anyway, like I said, a rat fell in our pila and then a cat jumped in a killed it so it was a big mess. Since Silvia had to go to work, I got the lovely job of draining all the water out of the pila and scrubbing it down with bleach (it’s a good thing I had a Community Contact day so someone could take care of it!). I was so disgusted by the thought of a (probably disease-carrying) rat swimming around in my bathing water that I was literally sloshing everything in sight with bleach. It was definitely an experience!<br /><br />Beginning next week, we will be having a lot of “Self-Directed” Community Contact time, in which we carry out small independent projects in our host communities. There are two main things that I’m working on. First, I’m working on a trash collection project with my Spanish teacher, Vicki, who lives in San Felipe. Since they currently have no trash pick-up, people either throw their trash on the ground (believe me, it’s everywhere) or burn it, which can cause severe respiratory problems, particularly when they burn plastics. We’ve spoken to the Alcalde, and he said that trash collection in San Felipe would be possible if the majority of the community was willing to pay $1.05 per month. Beginning in January, the municipality will also be participating in a region-wide recycling program, so San Felipe would become part of that if they agree to receive the trash collection service. I’ve been working to talk to people in the community about the dangers of throwing trash out in the open or burning trash, and the benefits of a trash collection program. Vicki and I have set up a meeting for this weekend to talk about the issue. If enough people are interested and San Felipe does receive trash collection, I’ll probably be working with the Alcaldia and Vicki to give some presentations on the separation of trash into organics for composting, recyclables, and nonrecyclables.<br /><br />The other project that I’m working on is a series of workshops on organic vegetable gardening for the women of the community. Right now very few people cultivate vegetables, and in the years when the harvest of corn and beans is poor, most farmers don’t make enough money from their extra corn and beans to buy lots of other foods for their families. As a result, many children lack the vitamins and minerals provided by fruits and vegetables. I’m hoping that home vegetable gardens could be an inexpensive way for families to care for the land while improving their nutrition.<br /><br />Well, that’s what we’ve been up to in training thus far. Although I’m really enjoying training, it has been difficult to see the poverty, lack of opportunities, and environmental degradation that exist here in El Salvador. Already, I’ve met too many bright, motivated kids who will never get to go to high school because their families are too poor to send them. I’ve talked with too many families that are broken apart because the sons are forced to seek work abroad (One-third of the Salvadoran population – 2 million people – lives in the United States because unemployment is so severe. My host mother has three sons living in the U.S. Salvadoran families are incredible close, so it’s terribly hard for them to live so far apart). I’ve seen too many hillsides that can no longer support vegetation because all the rich topsoil has eroded away, and too many rivers that run opaque brown with eroded soil particles and agrochemicals. Sometimes the problems seem so overwhelming, and I find myself wondering if I can truly make a difference. But then I remember that I’m not the only one working to improve people’s lives and the land that they depend on in this little country. Between the Agroforestry / Environmental Ed, Rural Health and Sanitation, and Municipal Development programs, Peace Corps is 120 Volunteers strong, and there are countless NGOs working toward the same goals – not to mention the hard-working Salvadoran people. It’s not going to be easy, but I have hope that I can make a difference, at least to the people of one community.<br /><br />We’ve been very busy, but I promise to do my best to write you back! I look forward to hearing about all the excited things that you are all up to.<br /><br />Sincerely,<br />MeganMeganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10405542360305212147noreply@blogger.com0