So , it’s been awhile… a long while, since I last shared what has been going on in the campo of Colimes. Looking back on this experience I am definitely going to wish I had documented more of it, but I honestly can say that most of my days are the same, a charla here, an English class there, or sometimes nothing at all. But fortunately in the past six months I have been much busier than in my first six months or even my first year. So, to start off with a little recap….
This past summer I traveled home for the 4th of July and did a small southern tour of the Gulf Coast visiting friends and family. It was a ton of fun and a nice break, even though it was hotter at home than in Ecuador, but at least there was air conditioning. In July, my best friend from home traveled back to Ecuador with me. We traveled to the Galapagos and other sites within the mainland. Needless to say, the Galapagos were amazing. We saw all there was to see, beautiful landscapes, exotic and one of a kind animals and sea life, and ate really yummy food. We traveled to Isabella for one night and spent the rest of our time in Santa Cruz. We were fortunate to stay in the Red Mangrove hotels, which were amazing and everything was so beautiful (Thanks Dr. & Mrs. Proffitt!). We only wished we had been there for more days, although I am pretty sure we saw everything there was to see in four nights and five days, especially since the Galapagos is not for those who are looking for a relaxing vacation, on the Islands everything is go, go, go…
After Rachael’s visit it was back to normal life ☹, which was a bit difficult to adjust to, but it was time to get back to work. My first big project, and well the only project that I have worked on pretty much solo, began in September. The name of the program is Cuanto Sabes de VIH/SIDA? And is a program for youth focused on HIV/AIDS education. This program is really unique because it trains youth to become health promoters themselves, since program developers and researchers have found that peer-education is much more effective than boring ole me standing up in front of a classroom teaching kids about HIV/AIDS. So, I started out with 24 kids and finished with around 15 that were really, really committed. Almost all of the 24 kids made it up until the 1st of December, which of course is World Aids Day, on which we held a march and an open house in which all of the schools and high schools participated in addition to local authorities and other institutions like INFA and the Minisetrio de Salud Publica (Ministry of Public Health), and it ended up being a great success. The kids met with me once a week from the end of September until the beginning of January, which is when we began our replications. The kids made the commitment to visit all of the middle schools and high schools and repeat the charla for the students. In total we visited four middle schools and four high schools teaching hundreds of children and youth about HIV/AIDS prevention. This past Friday, the participants received their certificates and we had a little fiesta to congratulate them on all their hard work. Also, several of my youth helped me organize an event with the Municipio (Mayor’s Office) for Dia de la Mujer Colimena, in which we celebrated Women’s Day (a little late, but still counts) with presentations from the kids that participated in the local summer camp in music, theater, dance, and art. We were fortunate to have roses and stickers donated, which we handed out to the women of Colimes. There were also presentations on the importance of the workingwoman and women of the campo as well aa a brief history of International Women’s Day.
While I was working with my youth group, I continued teaching English in the two schools were I have been helping out since I arrived, Hermana Bertha and Marrietta Escobar. There I am in the classroom 2-3 times a week teaching Basic English. I also participated in a medical brigade with the subcentro (the local clinic) during Global Hand Washing Day in October, in which we visited schools in the more rural areas. While the doctors gave vaccines, I gave a charla about the importance of handwashing and how to correctly wash your hands. The kids were all really receptive and eager to participate. I often find that sometimes it is more rewarding to go out into the campo and work with the children and families who do not receiving as much attention.
Before I knew it, it was Christmas and soon it was the end of the school year. I spent half of Christmas with my host family here in Colimes and the other half of Christmas with my boyfriend’s family in Guayaquil. For New Years, I went to Santa Elena, which is about four hours away from Colimes, with my boyfriend’s family since they had recently had a death in their family and everyone was in town for the funeral. It was pretty interesting to be at my first event with all of my boyfriend’s extended family especially since it was also a funeral, but regardless it was a fiesta. Of course we could not dance, which is tradition here when someone passes away, that the close family members do not dance for weeks and some not even for years, but there was definitely still beer and liquor…
At the end of the school year there were many graduations, which I also learned served champagne and liquor, even sometimes to the kids, which I was completely thrown back by, but I appeared to be the only one that found this to be strange. After the weeks of graduations and fiestas it was finally invierno, which winter here means summer for kids on the Coast because this is when they have their break from classes. Winter here also means beach time, because it is when it is the hottest at the beach and also when it is not raining at the beach, and its too hot to stay inland, so everyone heads to the beach. Yet, this year has been a year of no rain, but plenty of heat and sun. Just this week it has begun to rain again, but unfortunately it is too late for most of the crops, mainly rice and corn, which means the price of rice and corn and many other crops will be rising this year, probably causing an economic crisis of some sort here in Ecuador.
But here in Ecuador, no one is going to let a little drought get in the way of a good time, and so everyone still heads out to the beach or to visit family for Carnaval. So, for all my fellow Mobilians and New Orleanians, You know that Carnaval is like Mardi Gras… except for it’s not… Not sure how I missed out on all the craziness of Carnaval last year, but this year I spent Carnaval in Santa Elena and we visited two of the more popular destinations, Salinas and La Libertad. Here, instead of getting showered with beads, you get showered with this knock off silly string/foam, buckets of freezing cold water, and sometimes even paint or dye! If I had been crazy enough to spend this holiday in my site, I would’ve been showered with mud, paint, flour, and sometimes-even urine… let’s just say the campo likes to play dirty. But all in all it was in good fun, but I personally prefer Mardi Gras!
As far as the technical side of Peace Corps, we had or Mid-Service conference at the end of September. There we were given the opportunity to share our past projects and get help from each other and staff on how to make the rest of our last year a success. It was definitely great to see all of my fellow volunteers and have a chance to let out some steam. I didn’t believe the staff when they said that this last year would fly, but they were right, here we are on the brink of COS, which is our Close of Service Conference, which is sort of like the first of all our despedidas, getting us prepared to leave our sites. In a little more than a month decisions will have to be made and those of us who are considering staying will have an answer on whether we will be given that opportunity. I am currently preparing my letter of interest to apply for PCVL in Guayaquil, which is a Peace Corps Volunteer Leader. This would mean that I would move to Guayaquil and extend my service for one more year and I would have the opportunity to do volunteer support and volunteer with another organization. I think it would be an excellent opportunity because at times I feel like I have so much more left in me to help in Ecuador and I also am not completely prepared for my return to the States, seeing as I still have not applied to any grad schools (Sorry Mom). So, only time will tell if I will be given this opportunity. So cross your fingers, the competition is serious!
In these past months, I also had the opportunity to go home for a visit for my birthday in February. It was definitely more relaxing than my first trip home and I was able to really spend some time with my family and enjoy some cold weather and some hot showers.
As of now, I am preparing for classes to begin again next week, and of course without any materials… apparently we are supposed to just “hang out” with the students until the books come, so that will be interesting. I am also waiting on materials to being a program called Corazon Feliz, or Happy Heart, with a group of women in one of the recientos. I will continue working the youth group who are currently planning a convention on the topic of the Constitution and the Codigo de la Ninez y Adolecencia, which is the Code of children’s rights. They are super pillas and I know it will be a great success. We are also in the works of doing a project for Global Youth Services Day in April. Finally, I am also working with an English class with a group of women and I hopefully we will be able to start a community bank. I am trying to stay as busy as possible and trying to get as much work done as possible. I’ve learned that often the days are slow, but the months are flying by.
Hasta Luego!
