Proyectos!

I think it is past time I gave you all an update on all projects I am working on right now. It is funny how, during training, all of the volunteers we spoke to said that the first year of your service is a lot of down time. You don't have a lot of projects going on, and it is hard to see how you will ever accomplish anything. But during your second year, things pick up...very quickly. I did not really believe them. I got to site thinking I would immediately start projects and that they would all be a success right away. Well needless to say I was no exception to the warnings of previous volunteers. The first year had a couple of unsuccessful attempts at projects and a lot of hammock time.  Here we are, right now, at the front end of my second year and I feel swamped with projects. All of a sudden I am busy and it is actually a nice change of pace. So here we go, this is what I have going now and what I wish to accomplish before I close my service next March.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, my community has terrible water conditions. The town council in the community is working on finding funding for a permanent, clean water solution. Because I will probably not be getting a replacement, I have ruled out applying to Engineers Without Boarders. My community has decided to fundraise independently to fund the project. A water project is a big endeavor and usually takes several years to complete. From buying a plot of land with a water source, to piping it down to the community and then getting it to everyone's houses a water project is tough. I am taking on a smaller project to help people out while the larger project gets underway, water filters. I have a filter and have not gotten sick because of the water. So I will be applying for a grant to help subsidize buying filters for those who need them the most.

A slightly larger project that I am excited about is going to be a nutrition based chicken project. I am going to set up a series of classes that people will have to attend in order to learn about egg laying chickens. Many families in my community are very poor. The most they can afford to eat is beans and tortillas. I am hopeful that this project will allow some families to supplement their diet with some protein. Now most of the people in my community have chickens, so at a minimum they already know the basics about chicken raising. But I am hoping these chickens will be treated better than the campo chickens that are running around the streets, eating whatever they please. These chickens will be required to live in a chicken coop, be vaccinated and will hopefully have a better chance of surviving than some random chicken in the street. I am also applying for a grant to help fund this project.

This is my host families kitchen.
They have two of the smaller fuel efficient stoves,
and yet you can see how black their walls are from smoke.
Just think of how much of that they breathed in...

Another project I am very excited about is a fuel efficient stove project. The volunteer I replaced did a stove project, but the stoves are small and you can only cook one food at a time. The stoves I am looking into are larger and have several places to cook. So you could be making tortillas, cooking beans  and making rice all at the same time. These stoves also have a chimney to pipe out the smoke. They do produce less smoke than a normal, wood burning, stove, but no smoke is better than a little. Also I really like these stoves as they are very sustainable. In order to have this kind of project I will need to find a couple of guys in the community that are willing to get trained in how to make them. They will then go house to house to construct each stove, will be paid for each stove they make.

I have also mentioned that I am a part of a Peace Corps committee called Gender and Development, or GAD. We have decided to hold a kids camp in September. The camp will be designed to educate kids on all of the possibilities they have. We will try to get rid of some strong gender stereotypes, like men have to work in the fields and women must stay home to take care of the kids and house. For example we want to have a panel of professional Salvadorians come and speak. Women who have college degrees, people who own businesses and policemen are some examples or people we might have sit on the panel. We will be adding in some HIV/AIDS education as well. The camp will be geared towards kids in high school, ones who are starting to make their life decisions and figure out what they want and what they can get out of life down here.

I have nine and a half months left, lets see what I can do with it!