For those asking, I´ve finally put some thought into it and know what I would like should anyone feel like sending me a care package!
1) Magazines - Cosmo, People, Newsweek, ESPN, Rolling Stone, Women´s Fitness, or other ones along those same lines.
2) Food bars - as in ODWALLLA; CLIFF; AND OTHER BRANDS THAT I can´t think of right now.
3) Cinnamon gum - my fave brand is Dyntene Fire, but any would do!
4) Burned CDs and DVDs - I love music and the selection here is lacking, burn me CDs of what´s currently on the radio of any genre or even classic stuff. And DVDs, well they may be illegal, but I´m already sick of the horrible dubbed movies in Spanish. It´s like they purposely pick the people with the most annoying voices ever.
5) Easy microwavalbe food - instant oatmeal, cream of wheat, easy mac, whatever you just need to add water to, I´m ready to cook and eat it!
That´s all I can think of for now. Thanks guys!
Friday, May 28, 2010
Another Hit
Perhaps the drug reference isn’t the best comparison for my Peace Corps service, but I’m on such a high I don’t know how else to describe it! Before coming down, I only looked forward to volunteering every afternoon. It was what gave purpose to my life pre-PC. Now, I’m living that high on a daily basis, 24/7.
Picture this if you will: Yours truly in front of a class of 27 students giving a presentation on marketing, SWOT analysis and market research in Spanish. Yep, today was my first real act as a PC volunteer. Up until now, I’ve been getting acquainted with my new town and building relationships with my counterparts (which has been ridiculously easy, because they’re all amazing people). Now, it wasn’t exactly as PC as you would expect. I made a Power Point presentation and made handouts for the kids and everything. This isn’t JFK’s Peace Corps anymore! Admittedly, I had an assistant who is a compañera from the alcaldía. Doris is just two classes away from finishing her Bachelor’s in Business as well and she wanted to help me (I think mainly to get out of her normal work…). I somewhat reluctantly agreed because I wanted to do it on my own and really make my mark, but at the same time I wanted to collaborate with a Honduran and see how they work. It was a learning experience for sure. I would say she spoke more during the presentation than me. Maybe it’s my nature or the American culture, but Hondurans like to talk a lot and give a TON of examples. I felt bad for the poor kids at times. Although, maybe I bore them with my bad Spanish, few examples and mainly reading the slides (which I know is a horrible way to present, but I’m making do in my second language). Anyway, this isn’t just a onetime thing. Over the next few months I will be giving a series of charlas to the kids about other business basics and eventually they will break into small groups and create their own small businesses. After teaching them I will be able to act as a business advisor and help them (hopefully) sustain their business. Oh, and I forgot to mention that my local high school does not have traditional hours. Most Honduran schools have two sessions, morning or afternoon and kids go to one of the other. Well, as my luck goes, the high school where I’m working has no morning classes. Instead the classes are afternoon and evening. This means that today I gave one charla in the afternoon, had a few hours to kill, then went back and gave the same charla to the evening class kids. Therefore, I imparted knowledge on to 52 Honduran youth today. It is such an amazing feeling to stand there and have the kids repeat the information that you taught them. I sincerely hope they are all successful in this small assignment but can later turn it into something positive for the good of their country.
Besides that, I feel things are going really well and the people I’m working with are glad I’m here. The teacher from the high school and my compañera were really boosting my ego the whole ride home (it’s a five minute drive…ha). There was another PC volunteer here about a year ago for medical reasons, this wasn’t actually her site, and apparently her Spanish wasn’t the best, she was pretty shy and not very social. According to my two Honduran counterparts I’m about the complete opposite of her and they predict our next two years will be good. Believe me, it’s a HUGE encouragement to hear these things.
Well, better wrap this up. I just KNOW I will be super busy next week. I’ve told everyone that I will start helping them with their projects in June and I’m sure come Tuesday, June 1 my phone will be blowing up like crazy. Time to work with the women’s groups and the caja rural (micro credit union), along with planning my next charla for the kids. Oh, which reminds me! They invited me to go on a field trip with the kids to the North coast at the beginning of July to do some sort of business study on the port up there. I’m stoked! Anywho, you know the drill…thanks for reading and…
Hasta la proxima vez…
Picture this if you will: Yours truly in front of a class of 27 students giving a presentation on marketing, SWOT analysis and market research in Spanish. Yep, today was my first real act as a PC volunteer. Up until now, I’ve been getting acquainted with my new town and building relationships with my counterparts (which has been ridiculously easy, because they’re all amazing people). Now, it wasn’t exactly as PC as you would expect. I made a Power Point presentation and made handouts for the kids and everything. This isn’t JFK’s Peace Corps anymore! Admittedly, I had an assistant who is a compañera from the alcaldía. Doris is just two classes away from finishing her Bachelor’s in Business as well and she wanted to help me (I think mainly to get out of her normal work…). I somewhat reluctantly agreed because I wanted to do it on my own and really make my mark, but at the same time I wanted to collaborate with a Honduran and see how they work. It was a learning experience for sure. I would say she spoke more during the presentation than me. Maybe it’s my nature or the American culture, but Hondurans like to talk a lot and give a TON of examples. I felt bad for the poor kids at times. Although, maybe I bore them with my bad Spanish, few examples and mainly reading the slides (which I know is a horrible way to present, but I’m making do in my second language). Anyway, this isn’t just a onetime thing. Over the next few months I will be giving a series of charlas to the kids about other business basics and eventually they will break into small groups and create their own small businesses. After teaching them I will be able to act as a business advisor and help them (hopefully) sustain their business. Oh, and I forgot to mention that my local high school does not have traditional hours. Most Honduran schools have two sessions, morning or afternoon and kids go to one of the other. Well, as my luck goes, the high school where I’m working has no morning classes. Instead the classes are afternoon and evening. This means that today I gave one charla in the afternoon, had a few hours to kill, then went back and gave the same charla to the evening class kids. Therefore, I imparted knowledge on to 52 Honduran youth today. It is such an amazing feeling to stand there and have the kids repeat the information that you taught them. I sincerely hope they are all successful in this small assignment but can later turn it into something positive for the good of their country.
Besides that, I feel things are going really well and the people I’m working with are glad I’m here. The teacher from the high school and my compañera were really boosting my ego the whole ride home (it’s a five minute drive…ha). There was another PC volunteer here about a year ago for medical reasons, this wasn’t actually her site, and apparently her Spanish wasn’t the best, she was pretty shy and not very social. According to my two Honduran counterparts I’m about the complete opposite of her and they predict our next two years will be good. Believe me, it’s a HUGE encouragement to hear these things.
Well, better wrap this up. I just KNOW I will be super busy next week. I’ve told everyone that I will start helping them with their projects in June and I’m sure come Tuesday, June 1 my phone will be blowing up like crazy. Time to work with the women’s groups and the caja rural (micro credit union), along with planning my next charla for the kids. Oh, which reminds me! They invited me to go on a field trip with the kids to the North coast at the beginning of July to do some sort of business study on the port up there. I’m stoked! Anywho, you know the drill…thanks for reading and…
Hasta la proxima vez…
Thursday, May 20, 2010
First days in site
Here I sit swatting and flicking who knows what kind of bugs as they insist on trying to join me in my bed. My can of OFF! lays cast aside as I wave the white flag in defeat. (Where are the geckos that normally hang out in my room when I need them?!) At this point it’s better to save it for my sacred skin then keep sweeping the room with it. It is a precious commodity after all. Eventually, I will run out of everything I have come to site with and have to buy my own, unless I can get the PCMOs to hook it up. Seeing as how I’m so close to Teguz, it certainly seems possible. I can live with that.
It’s only Wednesday of my first week in site and I feel so blessed. My work situation could hardly be better. My primary counterpart, vice-mayor Victor, is completely helpful, polite, respectful and goes out of his way to make my life easier. He has done great work to introduce me to everyone in the office, who are all amazing as well. It’s obvious all the people love their city and want to do their best to see it succeed. This actually makes my job easier. Lack of support is one of the biggest challenges PCVs face. I don’t get a creepy, chauvinistic vibe from any of the men in the office, which is also amazing. This little Honduran town (city really with a population near 20,000) is very progressive for a third world country, moreover Honduras. It almost seems unfair that this is considered PC service thinking about what some other volunteers have to deal with.
Monday I decided to not take the Cuerpo de Paseo route and show up to the office at 8AM. First day, gotta make a good impression. In typical Honduran style, I beat everyone there except one of the house keeping employees. Within the first few hours of the day I had been interviewed three times by local radio and TV stations (twice on camera, once on tape recorder). Referring again to how progressive this city is, Monday was the town hall meeting to review what the city had down in the first trimester of the year (lots of corruption here in Honduras, so this town has a civilian run transparency committee). I was invited and introduced to the community members who had opted to come. This first day I was presented with the idea of helping form a Farmer’s Market, helping people add value to their products to better market them and assist women’s micro businesses with the basics (accounting, marketing, production). The afternoon I got to see even more beautiful country side as I went out to an aldea to meet a PAM (Protected Areas Management) volunteer. She was very excited I’m living in her vicinity and it will be awesome to hang out and work together in the future. (This is the girl with whom I can develop eco-tourism in the local reserve.)
While Tuesday was a mere 24 hours ago, I can absolutely not recall the majority of the day. Victor took me to a school in the community where they have a lunch program for ultra low income kids (I use ‘ultra’ because most are generally low income). In the same compound is the city library and a mini escuela taller (a trade school). People at both the library and trade school feel I could help them with certain projects. I spent the afternoon reviewing the city’s strategic development plan which is over 100 pages long. Seriously, progressive.
Today, I was at the office all day. For the first hour and a half I just sat around in the waiting room with the Mayor’s secretary and chatted with her and people waiting to see the Mayor. It’s a great way to get to know people. After getting bored I headed to the “post office” next door, which is a small room of maybe 5 ft x 5 ft. Patty is the only one who works there and it’s a pretty common hang out spot. I got my daily dose of chisme (gossip) from Patty and another woman before heading to yet another community meeting. This time around the meeting consisted of a couple hundred people from all the surrounding aldeas (small outlying communities that the Mayor also presides over, there are 50). They were the chosen leaders from their communities and were being sworn in. Again, I was introduced in front of all these people. I’m getting amazing exposure in this town! Funny, I’m coming here as a business volunteer, but I’m working so much with the municipality and political leaders that I may see my future take a different path. Anywho, post meeting I met with a women’s group who came from 45 minutes away to meet with me, no one else, me. (It’s insane thinking I’m in such a position of high esteem considering my past work experiences.) They make these super cool baskets, burn guards (to place under hot dishes) and other things out of pine needles. These things are very well made, smell amazing (hello, pine needles!) and actually look cool. Now, I know snobby people, like my beloved sister (love you! :]) would not like these things, but there is certainly a market for them. That’s part of what they need help with. They need helping finding where to sell their product, getting their materials (besides the pine needles) and setting up basic accounting books. I couldn’t be more excited to start working with them, but I requested that they give me a little more time to settle in, adjust and make a game plan to tackle what they want. Today, I was also approached by a local teacher who wants to work with young girls in the aldeas to educate them more on reproductive health and sex ed. Unfortunately, she said there is quite a high rate of the young girls getting pregnant and then, they don’t have proper pre-natal care. I told her all PC has taught me is a simple HIV/AIDS charla. I did tell her that I have friends in the health project who are better prepared for this and in July when we’re free to mobilize we could bring some of them here to work on this and learn from them. It’s a double win for us PCVs because we get to see each other and hang out, while it doesn’t take vacation time because it’s for legit purposes! While Victor left me his office and computer again this afternoon to do research on basic accounting (I seriously gotta brush up, if I’m gonna teach these women!) another gentleman from the community stopped in to speak with me. Yes, he too had come just to find me in the city offices. (Weird, I’m telling you!) He spoke very fast, very passionately and very intently. I didn’t get all of what he was saying, but he was able to convey to me how much he loves this town, how much he wants to see it succeed and how dedicated he is to that purpose and also helping youth to reach those goals. He said he had seen/heard me in one of my aforementioned interviews and liked what I had to say. (I’m guessing the one where I said something along the lines of this is my home now and I want to do all I can to improve the quality of life here.)
I’ve got more to say. I had a great experience on Sunday evening and have some updates about my new host family. Those will have to wait I guess. This is almost spilling over onto the third page of my Word document after all! Thanks, again, for reading. :)
Hasta la proxima vez…
It’s only Wednesday of my first week in site and I feel so blessed. My work situation could hardly be better. My primary counterpart, vice-mayor Victor, is completely helpful, polite, respectful and goes out of his way to make my life easier. He has done great work to introduce me to everyone in the office, who are all amazing as well. It’s obvious all the people love their city and want to do their best to see it succeed. This actually makes my job easier. Lack of support is one of the biggest challenges PCVs face. I don’t get a creepy, chauvinistic vibe from any of the men in the office, which is also amazing. This little Honduran town (city really with a population near 20,000) is very progressive for a third world country, moreover Honduras. It almost seems unfair that this is considered PC service thinking about what some other volunteers have to deal with.
Monday I decided to not take the Cuerpo de Paseo route and show up to the office at 8AM. First day, gotta make a good impression. In typical Honduran style, I beat everyone there except one of the house keeping employees. Within the first few hours of the day I had been interviewed three times by local radio and TV stations (twice on camera, once on tape recorder). Referring again to how progressive this city is, Monday was the town hall meeting to review what the city had down in the first trimester of the year (lots of corruption here in Honduras, so this town has a civilian run transparency committee). I was invited and introduced to the community members who had opted to come. This first day I was presented with the idea of helping form a Farmer’s Market, helping people add value to their products to better market them and assist women’s micro businesses with the basics (accounting, marketing, production). The afternoon I got to see even more beautiful country side as I went out to an aldea to meet a PAM (Protected Areas Management) volunteer. She was very excited I’m living in her vicinity and it will be awesome to hang out and work together in the future. (This is the girl with whom I can develop eco-tourism in the local reserve.)
While Tuesday was a mere 24 hours ago, I can absolutely not recall the majority of the day. Victor took me to a school in the community where they have a lunch program for ultra low income kids (I use ‘ultra’ because most are generally low income). In the same compound is the city library and a mini escuela taller (a trade school). People at both the library and trade school feel I could help them with certain projects. I spent the afternoon reviewing the city’s strategic development plan which is over 100 pages long. Seriously, progressive.
Today, I was at the office all day. For the first hour and a half I just sat around in the waiting room with the Mayor’s secretary and chatted with her and people waiting to see the Mayor. It’s a great way to get to know people. After getting bored I headed to the “post office” next door, which is a small room of maybe 5 ft x 5 ft. Patty is the only one who works there and it’s a pretty common hang out spot. I got my daily dose of chisme (gossip) from Patty and another woman before heading to yet another community meeting. This time around the meeting consisted of a couple hundred people from all the surrounding aldeas (small outlying communities that the Mayor also presides over, there are 50). They were the chosen leaders from their communities and were being sworn in. Again, I was introduced in front of all these people. I’m getting amazing exposure in this town! Funny, I’m coming here as a business volunteer, but I’m working so much with the municipality and political leaders that I may see my future take a different path. Anywho, post meeting I met with a women’s group who came from 45 minutes away to meet with me, no one else, me. (It’s insane thinking I’m in such a position of high esteem considering my past work experiences.) They make these super cool baskets, burn guards (to place under hot dishes) and other things out of pine needles. These things are very well made, smell amazing (hello, pine needles!) and actually look cool. Now, I know snobby people, like my beloved sister (love you! :]) would not like these things, but there is certainly a market for them. That’s part of what they need help with. They need helping finding where to sell their product, getting their materials (besides the pine needles) and setting up basic accounting books. I couldn’t be more excited to start working with them, but I requested that they give me a little more time to settle in, adjust and make a game plan to tackle what they want. Today, I was also approached by a local teacher who wants to work with young girls in the aldeas to educate them more on reproductive health and sex ed. Unfortunately, she said there is quite a high rate of the young girls getting pregnant and then, they don’t have proper pre-natal care. I told her all PC has taught me is a simple HIV/AIDS charla. I did tell her that I have friends in the health project who are better prepared for this and in July when we’re free to mobilize we could bring some of them here to work on this and learn from them. It’s a double win for us PCVs because we get to see each other and hang out, while it doesn’t take vacation time because it’s for legit purposes! While Victor left me his office and computer again this afternoon to do research on basic accounting (I seriously gotta brush up, if I’m gonna teach these women!) another gentleman from the community stopped in to speak with me. Yes, he too had come just to find me in the city offices. (Weird, I’m telling you!) He spoke very fast, very passionately and very intently. I didn’t get all of what he was saying, but he was able to convey to me how much he loves this town, how much he wants to see it succeed and how dedicated he is to that purpose and also helping youth to reach those goals. He said he had seen/heard me in one of my aforementioned interviews and liked what I had to say. (I’m guessing the one where I said something along the lines of this is my home now and I want to do all I can to improve the quality of life here.)
I’ve got more to say. I had a great experience on Sunday evening and have some updates about my new host family. Those will have to wait I guess. This is almost spilling over onto the third page of my Word document after all! Thanks, again, for reading. :)
Hasta la proxima vez…
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
NEW PERMANENT ADDRESS
Hey friends and family at home!
I just wanted to tell you guys I updated my address, which is now my permanent address. It´s over on the right side of the page under the JFK qoute and some other stuff. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE take the time to write me a short note, post card, long letter or even put together a care package. I will love you forever! :)
More posts coming soon about my first few days here in my new home, Guaimaca...stay tuned!!!
Hasta la proxima vez...
I just wanted to tell you guys I updated my address, which is now my permanent address. It´s over on the right side of the page under the JFK qoute and some other stuff. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE take the time to write me a short note, post card, long letter or even put together a care package. I will love you forever! :)
More posts coming soon about my first few days here in my new home, Guaimaca...stay tuned!!!
Hasta la proxima vez...
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Swearing and Moving In
The last two days have been very long and extremely tiring. If I don’t wake up sick tomorrow it will be a huge victory for my immune system (added to the fact that I brushed my teeth with ::GASP:: tap water!).
Friday was the culmination of nearly three months of training. Starting at 7:30 we met our counterparts (the people we will mostly work with for the next two years) and were in meetings with them all morning. After lunch we loaded up some buses and headed to the US Embassy in Tegucigalpa. The day before we had been told to bring nothing that day except our cameras. Now, to me nothing means nothing. However, it should have meant “Yes you dumb gringo, you do need your residency card to gain access to the US embassy even though I’m telling you not to bring anything.” Well, luckily I wasn’t the only dumb gringo who didn’t get the memo. There were six of us without our residency cards who weren’t originally admitted. Luckily the PC office is close to the part of town where all the embassies are and someone from the office was able to bring copies of our passports. Luckily for the six of us they graciously accepted the copy of our passports as sufficient ID and we were permitted to enter after all the anxious waiting.
The ceremony was pretty short and sweet. We heard two gringos speak some pretty bad Spanish and heard a pretty good speech in Spanish from a colleague of mine who started off at a novice level of Spanish. We raised our right hands, swore to defend the Constitution, do some other good stuff and so help me God was at the end.
Riding back on the bus was bittersweet. We were returning as Peace Corps Volunteers, but with numbered hours. Along the way people got off at their respective stops and each time was a long line of hugs and good-byes, as we probably won’t see each other again until August. Each time the bus pulled away from a stop there was a good number of us hanging out of the windows waving and yelling last minute love and will miss yous. Now, I know what it feels like to go to summer camp for three months instead of a mere week.
I had been very preoccupied worrying about the having to catch the bus at 4:20AM Saturday morning. The mayor from my new town who had been sent to pick me up (and is not my actual counterpart) was under the impression that we had to catch the bus that early, even though where we live is about an hour away and he had his own car. Now, my Spanish is pretty good at this point (I’m officially an Advanced Low – two levels from bilingual on the Peace Corps scale) and I had tried to explain to him, this ridiculously early bus is only for people who are going far away and DON’T have their own cars here. The bus didn’t get back into my community until nearly 6PM and I did not want to have to pack and go straight to bed. Turns out, yours truly lucked out and Sr. Mayor came to his senses and realized we could leave later and called to tell me as much. That made my day, let me tell you! I happily ate dinner, had a photo shoot with my host family (whom I LOVE to death), left my packing for the morning and headed over to my amiga Lauren’s house (my host cousin, through our host moms being sisters) and hung out with her as she packed. Let’s just say she is a better packer than I. Either that or the Health volunteers don’t get as many hand outs as us Business volunteers. I came with a large rolling duffle, a backpacker’s pack and a large tote carry on. I’ve now arrived to site with the three aforementioned items, a normal size backpack, a messenger bag, a Peace Corps issued medical kit, and another bag full of books. Don’t even ask how I’ve acquired so much stuff in the past 11 weeks.
Due to my previously mentioned luck, I set my alarm for 6:30AM (two hours after the bus was supposed to leave, so that was a sweet victory) and proceeded to wake up at 5:15AM because that’s what time I’d gotten up every other day that week. I’m amazed at how fast my body adapts. I packed and waited for the mayor to call me when we said he would, and after a morning of calling back and forth and saying, “Oh, I’ll be a little later,” I finally left my town around 11. I had a tearful goodbye with my host mom and little sisters. I couldn’t tell you exactly what it is about them, but after living with them for a little over a month, they mean so much to me. More than my host family with which I lived for seven weeks. I think it’s mostly that the girls are 11 and 17 versus 3 and 8, which makes those relationships a lot more meaningful. Anyway, with promises of calling, visiting and attending graduation in December I went on my way.
The drive to my new home was through some of the most beautiful countryside I’ve ever seen: mountains, pines, blue skies and huge fluffy clouds. It was on this drive that I finally felt that this experience is real. For the first time I was on my own in Honduras. No more fellow gringo or Peace Corps staff safety net. I’ve had some challenging experiences the last few weeks and it just made it all so much sweeter to be in the moment and let it sink in. This is real and I’m really doing it!
After getting into my new town, we went to the city offices, where my counterparts both work and met the vice-mayor. He and the mayor treated me to lunch at the restaurant right near our office. It was a little awkward at times. Having to remember your best manners while lunching with the mayor and vice mayor with whom you’re going to work with for two years, trying to make small talk in your second language and being a women in a chauvinistic society puts a little pressure on a girl. It turned out cheque though.
After lunch I came to yet my third host family. Turns out, my host mom was in the middle of her b-day party, so I got to join in on the festivities as soon as I unloaded my mountain of luggage. One of my host mom’s friends works at the local high school and is also involved in an absurd amount of volunteer work involving people with disabilities, both mental and physical. She mentioned an income generation project for one group and it sounds amazing and told her I would love to help and support in any way I can. I’ll definitely be seeing more of her in the future.
I spent the evening at my host mom’s ice cream shop, where I need to stay away from because I could get free ice cream daily if I wanted! While there a “friend” of my host mom’s stopped by. I’m not sure of my host mom’s age, but this girl was only 22. Her and I chatted a bit and she seems really cool. Probably someone I’ll get to know better over the next two years.
And now, I’m here in bed writing this as a Word document, because yet again the Internet sucks. My little studio isn’t quite what I expected. The toilet leaks, my room is the storage room for doors and windows that will be installed in the new home my host mom is having built and there is a lack of dresser/closet. But, look at what I’m complaining about…I have an indoor toilet that flushes and my own studio, so I’ll get used to it.
Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers. These first few weeks/months in site are the hardest for us as new volunteers dealing with a whole slew of new experiences and stresses. I have a great support system from the friends I made during training, but it’s still not the same as before when we were all together. I know it will all turn out ok in the end; anything worthwhile is not without a challenge.
Thanks again for reading!
Hasta la proxima vez…
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Hogar Dulce Hogar
Finally, after months of waiting and wondering what I would be doing and where, I finally have an answer, more importantly for myself, but also important to all you back home! :)
My new home for the next two years will be Guiamaca, Francisco Morazán. F.M. is the department (or state). I'm just going to excerpt the rest from the information booklet that they gave me.
"Guaimaca is a large town within a big municipality in the department of F.M. with a total municipal population of approximately 20,800 people, with an estimated 12,400 living in the (main city) and the rest of the population in the outlying (communities). Since this community is located on the border between F.M. and Olancho, there are some communities in Olancho that are closer than Tegucigalpa. Tegucigalpa is approximately an hour and a half bus ride, Campamento is a 20 minute bus ride away and Juticalpa is about an hour away.
Guaimaca is located in the easternmost part of F.M. The main highway from Tegucigalpa that goes into Olancho passes right through the town. There is a Mennonite community living within the limits of the (main city), they have a restaurant and small grocery shop. There is also a Baptist church and hospital in Guaimaca; so you have a sense that despite being a medium sized town, they're used to having Americans living amongst them and to religious diversity.
The (main city) area is rather flat and hillier as you go into the (surrounding communities). There are two natural reserves within the municipality; Misoco in the North and El Chile in the southern part of the municipality. The average temperature in Guaimaca is rather warm, 85-100 degrees F. During the rainy season, it rains with frequency, cooling the temperature a little.
The population in the (surrounding communities) works in agriculture, mostly corm, beans and coffee. To a less degree, cattle farming is also part of the local economy. The (city) of Guaimaca has timber as another source of income; there's a major lumberyard that operates in town and that generates many jobs for locals. Inside the city there are many private businesses such as clothing stores, grocers, Internet cafes, etc; public services such as lawyers, dentists, private clinics, pharmacies, and of course there are many carpenters."
The following is more about my work description.
"Your primary community partners are the (local women's office), which operates within the authority of the (other city offices).
This office is currently collaborating with (larger national women's initiatives) to support several groups of women who operate and own micro businesses. They will look to you for support there groups by training them in business related topics, such as marketing, basic accounting, packaging and commercialization. There are several (small micro credit unions) currently operating in Guaimaca, they will look for you to support them by helping them in being able to identify and generate income generation projects in their respective communities. This office also works with people in the (surrounding communities) in assisting them to develop their ecotourism potential and artisan groups.
The (local city government) has developed and is in the process of implementing their (city wide economical development plan). Their (plan) is the result of the analysis that the (city government) and other community stakeholders make of community's political, cultural, industrial, socioeconomic, demographic, geographical and environmental resources. Their (plan) has been recognized on a national and a regional lever as being very strong; in fact other municipal governments have visited Guaimaca to familiarize themselves with the document and the process that led to its creation.
Your other main community partner will be the (local high school). This high school offers several different options to obtain a high school diploma. The (school's) leadership, both the director and the sub director , share a vision in which they want to promote entrepreneurism among their students, to do this they want to develop and incorporate into their curricula methodologies and tools to train the students on business plan creation and other important managerial/business topics like marketing, accounting and commercialization.
You'll find that the (high school) will also call upon you to strengthen the IT curricula that their students receive in their computer classes. Some important topics that they want to cover are web research and how to use simple applications to improve the way that a small business is ran."
So there you have it!! You all know about as much as I do about my future home and work. This Friday we head into the capital to be sworn in at the US Embassy as official volunteers. We take off early Saturday mornings to our new sites and jump in.
For now, I'm just enjoying time with the friends from the other two projects of Water/Sanitation and Health who I missed the past seven weeks. This week is already flying by and it's hard to stay focused...believe me! I will post again soon with info about my new site and host family. Thanks for reading!
Hasta la proxima vez...
My new home for the next two years will be Guiamaca, Francisco Morazán. F.M. is the department (or state). I'm just going to excerpt the rest from the information booklet that they gave me.
"Guaimaca is a large town within a big municipality in the department of F.M. with a total municipal population of approximately 20,800 people, with an estimated 12,400 living in the (main city) and the rest of the population in the outlying (communities). Since this community is located on the border between F.M. and Olancho, there are some communities in Olancho that are closer than Tegucigalpa. Tegucigalpa is approximately an hour and a half bus ride, Campamento is a 20 minute bus ride away and Juticalpa is about an hour away.
Guaimaca is located in the easternmost part of F.M. The main highway from Tegucigalpa that goes into Olancho passes right through the town. There is a Mennonite community living within the limits of the (main city), they have a restaurant and small grocery shop. There is also a Baptist church and hospital in Guaimaca; so you have a sense that despite being a medium sized town, they're used to having Americans living amongst them and to religious diversity.
The (main city) area is rather flat and hillier as you go into the (surrounding communities). There are two natural reserves within the municipality; Misoco in the North and El Chile in the southern part of the municipality. The average temperature in Guaimaca is rather warm, 85-100 degrees F. During the rainy season, it rains with frequency, cooling the temperature a little.
The population in the (surrounding communities) works in agriculture, mostly corm, beans and coffee. To a less degree, cattle farming is also part of the local economy. The (city) of Guaimaca has timber as another source of income; there's a major lumberyard that operates in town and that generates many jobs for locals. Inside the city there are many private businesses such as clothing stores, grocers, Internet cafes, etc; public services such as lawyers, dentists, private clinics, pharmacies, and of course there are many carpenters."
The following is more about my work description.
"Your primary community partners are the (local women's office), which operates within the authority of the (other city offices).
This office is currently collaborating with (larger national women's initiatives) to support several groups of women who operate and own micro businesses. They will look to you for support there groups by training them in business related topics, such as marketing, basic accounting, packaging and commercialization. There are several (small micro credit unions) currently operating in Guaimaca, they will look for you to support them by helping them in being able to identify and generate income generation projects in their respective communities. This office also works with people in the (surrounding communities) in assisting them to develop their ecotourism potential and artisan groups.
The (local city government) has developed and is in the process of implementing their (city wide economical development plan). Their (plan) is the result of the analysis that the (city government) and other community stakeholders make of community's political, cultural, industrial, socioeconomic, demographic, geographical and environmental resources. Their (plan) has been recognized on a national and a regional lever as being very strong; in fact other municipal governments have visited Guaimaca to familiarize themselves with the document and the process that led to its creation.
Your other main community partner will be the (local high school). This high school offers several different options to obtain a high school diploma. The (school's) leadership, both the director and the sub director , share a vision in which they want to promote entrepreneurism among their students, to do this they want to develop and incorporate into their curricula methodologies and tools to train the students on business plan creation and other important managerial/business topics like marketing, accounting and commercialization.
You'll find that the (high school) will also call upon you to strengthen the IT curricula that their students receive in their computer classes. Some important topics that they want to cover are web research and how to use simple applications to improve the way that a small business is ran."
So there you have it!! You all know about as much as I do about my future home and work. This Friday we head into the capital to be sworn in at the US Embassy as official volunteers. We take off early Saturday mornings to our new sites and jump in.
For now, I'm just enjoying time with the friends from the other two projects of Water/Sanitation and Health who I missed the past seven weeks. This week is already flying by and it's hard to stay focused...believe me! I will post again soon with info about my new site and host family. Thanks for reading!
Hasta la proxima vez...
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