2012

Hi everyone,

I wanted to give you an update on what I have been doing lately. Since my last blog my youth group and I have been working on various projects. In addition to teaching them English and business classes we made shampoo and sold it through the community. This was a small project that helped the youth group learn simple finance and budget concepts. We also did an awareness campaign with a focus on gender equality. I used activities that I learned during training which were fun and informative. We did three presentations and many community members who participated in it seemed to enjoy. We hope in the coming months to do a similar awareness campaign focusing on HIV/AIDS awareness. During training we received resources and hands on training on how to teach HIV/AIDS to Salvadorans. I hope to teach my youth group these activities and have them teach other community members. There is also a local El Salvador governmental organization working in my community and they gave my youth group seeds. We have begun planting a small garden.

In addition to the work with my youth group, I have been working with the local community leaders. We hope to have a drinkable water system in the community with the help of the Salvadoran government. It is a long process, but we hope it is a success, because drinking water is a necessity and a priority to the people in my community. We also formed an eco-friendly stove committee to help lead a project with a group of engineers from Michigan. These are the same engineers who helped build a bridge in my community. They hope to come in May to provide technical assistance to build eco-friendly stoves for community members.

I plan to continue working at the school this next year while teaching English. I plan on helping the teachers learn how to teach English so it is more sustainable the following year when I am done with my service. Thanks for reading.

“The contents of this Web site are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.”

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. I have been very busy lately. I have continued teaching busienss classes to a youth group on Saturdays. They are a great group. This weekend we are going to start making shampoo for a small project within the community. Hopefully it turns out well. This same group and I are also planning to make a gender awareness activity for the people in the community. I recently had a training session and we were given ideas on how to present the issue in a creative way. I then taught the students in the youth group and they want to participate and do them with community members. We still need a lot of practice, but hopefully it is successful when it happens in the coming months. I have also been working a lot in a smaller neighborhood of the community. They seem to lack a lot of basic resources such as electricity and sanitary restrooms. I have been doing an assesment with my counterpart and working with the local mayor´s office to try and find organizations that might help their needs. It is a lot of work, but hopefully something will come of it. I am still continuing to teach English at the local school. I hope to work more in the school in the future and start working with the local cooperative to help them get legalized. I am still working with the community and trying to help them make an emergency action plan. It is a lot of work, but the local government group is continuing to do training. We hope to have a simulation in the future. I am also going to help the local community group create a bridge committee to help do regular check ups on the newly constructed bridge. I hope all is well back home. Thanks for reading.

The contents of this Web site are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

Working

Since my last post, I have begun teaching business classes to a group of eleven students. I have only had one class so far, but I think it went pretty well. I am teaching off of a curriculum given to me during training. There is also a non-governmental organization currently teaching sewing classes to a group of about 25 in the community. Their classes end in mid september and after that my counterparts and I are working on organizing somekind of business plan with the group. It is a while away, but I think it has the potential to be a big project. There is also a governmental organization that is trying to organize an emergency action plan in the community I am working in. It is a big project and they are trying to make sure everyone is involved including local police, medical facilities and local schools and government. This is also another long process, but an important one. Other than that I am still teaching English classes at the local school.

 

I have also been doing a lot of work for the Gender and Development Committee here in El Salvador. One of the other volunteers on the committee wrote a musical on the subject of gender equality. The show is being performed by University students from El Salvador. It is being shown around the country and we are inviting volunteers to bring students from their local communities. The first show was performed yesterday in the national theater and it was a huge success. There were over 100 people and the actors did a great job. It was a great thing to be a part of. There are a few more shows these next couple months and I am sure it will continue to be a success.

 

The contents of this Web site are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

More Training

Since my last blog update, the engineers successfully completed the construction of the bridge. It will be a huge help to everyone in my community with the upcoming rainy season. They were here a total of just over two weeks. They lead the project and various members of the community helped with the labor. It was a very successful community effort. I did what I could to help translate for the engineers who could not speak Spanish and did a little bit of the construction work.

These last two weeks have been spent back in training. It is nice seeing others from my training class again and catching up with the different adventures we have going on in different parts of the country. This training session is more techincal. We have learned things about our specific programs that we are working under.

Next week I will have three days of Spanish language training and then be back in my site where I hope to begin some projects.

The contents of this Web site are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

Last Few Weeks

I have been living in my site for a few weeks now. I am enjoying it. I have met a ton of people. Right now I am teaching English at my local school twice a week. I am also teaching to a community group on Saturdays. I am still trying to ease into the community before I start any big projects. I have a general assembly meeting with my whole community on Tuesday. I will be presenting myself to the community and talk about my program. My boss will be coming to observe and see how I am doing in my community. There is also a group of Americans finishing a bridge project in my community. The volunteer who lived here before me started it and it should be finished in a couple of weeks. Right now I am translating for them and helping with some labor as well.

The contents of this Web site are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

My New Site

My new site is very nice. It is in the mountains so it can get really hot, really early. So far I have been working with the community group and attending their meetings. I have also been going around talking with different organizations, the school, NGOs, the mayor´s office etc. And I have also been going and talking to different houses in the community. I do about 5 a day and am delighted to slowly work my way into knowing the community and introducting myself. My  first two months are all about getting to know the community. I will be able to start projects as soon as I have the community´s trust and know exactly what potential projects could be.

My new host family is great. My host Dad works with the community group and my host mom owns a shop and runs it out of her house. I have a host brother and sister who are around my age. It is nice hanging out with them when I am at home. All of my host family is very kind and welcoming.

"The contents on this website are my opinion and not the views of the United States Peace Corps."

My Host Family During Training

This was my host family during training. They taught me so much in the 8 weeks I lived with them about El Salvadoran culture and the Spanish language. I will miss them a lot when I am off at my new site.

The contents of this Web site are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.