The Fund-raising has Started!

So I've finally gotten my act together and I have set up a website for all of my fund-raising efforts. it is: http://southofthemexicanborder.webs.com/ please check it out, and if you are able, please donate!

This website talks about the projects I hope to do, the details of my site and work and how you can help by donating money. I would really appreciate any donations (of course) but also if you could please forward this link on anyway you can (post it in your facebook status, twitter it, email it to your family and friends) I would really appreciate it.

This week I've been head down and working in site, finishing up paper work for my promoters, getting my "promoter wall" in the Centro de Salud finished and working on the schedule for FBT. I think I have everything almost under control, so nothing will jump up on me while I am unprepared, but you never know.

I had a meeting with some people from the Area de Salud in Totonicapan who were SESAN representatives (Sistema Nacional de Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutricional, they work with woman and families in Momostenango to help improve the malnutrition rate here in our department) to see how they can work with my promoter groups. It was quite successful, but as they're government workers, they have their own agenda and so I think we're going to be treading carefully.

As a shout out, (as I forgot to put it in my last post) I had a GREAT birthday party in Santa Maria Chiquimula two weekends ago, it was great fun so thanks to all who participated! I can't believe I was 22 when I got here, I am now 24 and I won't leave here until I am 25! There goes my early twenties, you're welcome Guatemala.

Mother's Day Hot Mess

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

Mother's Day in Guatemala is a HUGE ordeal. Right now, I am sitting in a cafe, and outside there is a Marimba band playing for mother's day. People go out for lunch (similar to the US) make food, cards and gifts for their moms and generally spend the whole day celebrating (one Guatemalan tradition is to go to Pollo Campero for dinner or have it delivered - this way mom doesn't have to cook - Pollo Campero is like the Guatemalan McDonalds- dream big).

However, ONE day is not enough to celebrate the wonderful-ness of our mothers. Therefore in Guatemala Sunday is spent in a family celebration, and Monday is spent celebrating in schools. Therefore the schools all put on skits, performances, events etc. this week for mother's day. Even the Centro de Salud wants to have a mother's day event. - I'm not sure what, as I was super vague about my participation as I have TONS of paper work/ schedules to figure out and don't really want to spend my time at an event where I get gross food, and kids sing at me for hours and hours and hours (did it last year, I can put a big check next to THAT cultural experience).

Honestly though, I will be lucky to get one or one and a half good work days out of this week, I may have to hide in my house and not come out for anything but charlas. - Even then, I may be seen and dragged to some sort of mother's day event. This week is going to be interesting.

Time goes by

After a great weekend at San Marcos la Laguna with the rest of my training group to celebrate one year in country, I am starting to freak out at how little time I have left here (only 15 months!) and how much I have to do. (See photos below)





I've recently been elected to the Peace Corps Gender and Development (GAD) Committee, as our project representative. I am therefore the 'go to' person for all the healthy homes volunteers (we now have about 30 trainees in our program!) for questions on gender/development either personal or regarding work. For this, I will have to try to attend GAD meetings (as many as I can make) and do presentations for all volunteer conferences as well as to the trainees at the Peace Corps office in Antigua.

This week my friend Anna and I will be heading to Flores Costa Cuca to visit Katy and Joe again. This time we will be building cement floors, so hopefully more photos will follow. In addition, this Saturday is my Birthday party, being hosted by the wonderful Andrea and organized by my friend Adrian. I can't believe that I arrived in Guatemala when I was 22, and now I am turning 24! How time flies!

One Year in Guatemala

So our one year in Guatemala anniversary is coming up next week. I can't believe I've been here for almost a year! I feel like there's still so much I have to accomplish before I leave and there just isn't any time.

After In Service Training this past week, I've sort of been on recharge, trying to get all of my ideas going with real energy behind them. There always seems to be something in the way however!

I've been asked to host FBT or Field Based Training for the incoming trainees (they are in our project, just one year later) who will be arriving at the end of April. This means that 7 or 8 trainees will be coming to San Vicente in June, ready to practice their charlas and learn ... from me! (oh no! Who's idea was this?).

Anyway, I've been trying to focus on some good activities for them to do, and setting up a tentative schedule on top of my normal charlas and groups.

On top of that I'm pretty sure my kitten (who I'm 70% sure is a female) is pregnant. She's so young (and now a statistic)! But she's getting really fat, eating A LOT, being strangely friendly and has started to get morning sickness. And I looked it up, yes cats get morning sickness.

What am I going to do with kittens? I hope they don't get eaten by the scary dog next door, or the pig that wonders our yard! There are no doors in the house! (read: panic).

In the face of all of these challenges there was only one thing I could do today, (after my afternoon charla of course)... turn up the music on my computer and clean my house. I swept, mopped, dusted, scrubbed, washed, hung up, burned (trash) and of course bleached everything in site. I'm feeling better, but my hands are feeling a bit worse for wear.

I'll keep you posted about the events for the trainees I'm planning and the kitten "situation"!

In Service Training Photos

Here are some photos of us working on estufas mejoradas, cement floors and water tanks!

This is where the family was cooking...
The stove was made earlier by Favi, we completed this AMAZING cement floor.. (I kid).
Favi our mentor helping us out....
My BFF looking HAWT.....with her hoe.
Katie scraping cement onto the stove.

This was our training so we will all be able to build in our own sites, you know what this means: get your purse straps ready to donate to my great cause! (Thanks mom).

For more photos, click here!

In Service Training

What a long day! From 8am - 6pm we had a meeting in a hotel conference room in Xela with our counterparts. All of the Healthy Homes (our new project name) volunteers from my training groups and their respective counterparts came to Xela (anywhere from 15 min trip to about 24 hrs.) to participate. Oh yea, it was in Spanish.

We have another half day of meetings/conference with the counterparts tomorrow (although we are staying in a lush hotel with, wait for it... running water, cable and delish food!) then we (just the volunteers without our counterparts) are off to learn how to build stoves and latrines 'in the field'. (I'm spending the week at my friend Katie's site, in San Cristobal, Totonicipan, which is only about 30 min from Xela, an easy commute).

I'm looking forward to this week, hopefully I'll learn a lot, and I hope to post some pictures of us "getting our hands dirty" in the field as the week goes by!

Happy Easter!

Semana Santa, or Holy Week, the week before Easter, is kind of a huge deal here. There are huge parades in all towns with different themes. However, La Antigua is super famous for these processions, each Sunday in Lent, one of the local parishes sponsor a Procession through the streets of Antigua. Elaborate and beautiful artistic carpets predominantly made of dyed sawdust, flowers and even fruits and vegetables adorn the processions' path. ( I stole that from Wikipedia). However, I did not go into La Antigua as a. I was just there b. I couldn't afford it as the hotels up the price that week c. I was tired from spanish week still d. the tourists would drive me nuts.

That week the city is literally storming with tourists flocking to see the processions.

Instead I chilled in site, and had some friends over to hike up to some waterfalls on the other side of Tena (big mountain in San Vicente) and have a bbq afterward.

We got a ride to the waterfalls from Ferney's Landlord Cerjio, and chilled out there for a while, scaring the locals with our panty and bra "swimming attire" and generally splashing around. We then redressed, and hiked up the other side of Tena, and back down to our site. There was a dodgy moment when Ferney, our rough and tough Bear Grills wannabe guide - was convinced we were hiking up the wrong mountain. - Luckily we convinced him we weren't and continued up to the top of Tena in time to reach San Vicente before dark. It's hard though, as there aren't really "paths" or anything, so it's a lot of bush wacking and looking at the sun. But we made it one piece and had a great cookout afterward with beef, chicken, corn on the cob and mashed potatoes. YUM! We were really hungry.

Anyway, back to work today, up in the primary school in Chipuerta talking about basic hygiene and explaining how bacteria and (oh no I forget the English word!) - parasitos(?) get from the ground/your hands/ the latrine etc into your body, their effects and reactions (aka diarrhea) and how to prevent this from happening. (Oh I remember now! Parasites!)... Anyway that was great, and I'm off the the Alcalde to book a room for tomorrow for a charla I have in the PM with one of my woman's groups!

Happy Easter! (Especially to my family who must be having a great time in Morocco! I'm not envious at all!). xo