Mangos and cocos and rain

I thought when I started up my blog again that I would at least be able to keep it going for the short time I'm here, but it has been harder than I thought.  I was posting on weekends but since I moved houses I no longer have internet at home, and I don't usually have much time at the office.

I decided to move out of my host family's house when my coworker told me that the entire top floor of her house was empty because her family had decided to move to the bottom floor.  I thought it would be nice to have some more space, be able to cook for myself, etc., and it was.  However, only a couple days after I moved in there was a big storm and my coworker's house flooded.  I had gone downstairs to see if the family had any extra buckets I could put under a couple of leaks in the upstairs roof and found them trying to sweep and mop out their flooded house.  Needless to say, it was quite a bit worse than the couple of drips I had.  There was like 2 or 3 inches throughout the whole house and the more we swept the more water accumulated.  Somehow it filtered through the floor/wall from water that had pooled outside.  Flooding is a problem in Puerto when it rains, and there are several neighborhoods that flood with several feet of water because they are low-lying and there is nowhere for the water to go.  Most of the houses here are built on stilts for that reason.  After a few hours of sweeping they gave up and decided to move back upstairs, and they moved everything...the couches, fridge, stove, beds.  So now the house is definitely "cozy."  It is nice to have some company though.  They have two daughters, 3 and 7, who are pretty fun.  The house is also home to a lot of pigeons and rats... The noises they make inside the walls are kind of creepy so I am glad to have people around at night.

The longer I am here in Puerto the more I like it.  I've decided it is a really interesting place, and I wish I had some more time to get out and explore the region.  The other day I met a gringo who is apparently the only licensed tour guide in the region and he was telling me about all the places I need to go.  The fact that I work 6 days a week makes traveling hard, and things are really spread out over here.  He said if I hadn't been out to the rural communities on the rivers, which is the "heart" of the Miskitu culture, that I hadn't seen anything.  I would like to go, but I feel like not speaking Miskitu would kind of take away from the experience.  He also seems to have some different ideas about tourism and what tourists want to see, like for example he told me the night before he had taken a group of American students to slaughter pigs.  They do it in the middle of the night because there are less flies.  As we were talking a giant truck showed up full of pigs, and he was like, "you gotta see this!"  So I stayed for a few minutes to see them unload the pigs in the middle of the street in the market, and it was disturbing to say the least.  I think I'll pass on that kind of tourism.  I also don't like chicharron, which I guess is an integral part of the tour.  The gringo also introduced me to a couple old-timer expats who were gathered around, I guess they stick together because I had never seen them before.  There names were John Wayne and Old Bob or something like that, they seem like characters for sure.

Let's see...in other news, I started going to the gym with a coworker and another coworker's sister.  I had tried an aerobics class a while back but was kind of disappointed by it.  The gym is nothing amazing--I knew more or less what to expect because I had gone to the gym in El Salvador.  However, it has been fun to go, and... they have a fridge full of coconuts inside the gym!!!!  How amazing is that???  Pretty much the best thing ever.  Do some cardio, go drink a fresh, cold coconut at the front desk, then go lift some weights...  And they cost 7 cordobas, which is like 25 cents.  I LOVE this gym.

I have some new photos but haven't uploaded them, but here are some very old ones from mother's day, which was the end of May, when I spent the day with the girls at the shelter.  We made dulce de mango and painted nails.  Mango season seems to go on forever here, and it is awesome--no worms in any of them!!

I haven't written much about the shelter, and I don't spend a lot of time there.  I try to at least stop by to say hi to the girls every day though.  It would be really hard to be there all the time as it is emotionally draining.  I don't know how the women who work there do it.  And if things weren't already hard enough, there is now a girl who got grisi siknis, which is an illness that only affects Miskitu adolescent girls.  It is what is considered a "culture-bound syndrome."  I had stumbled upon an article about it before I came.  Apparently the girl has had a couple of attacks, only at night, but is now more stable.  Wikipedia has some interesting info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grisi_siknis

Today I spent the morning with the rest of the organization staff cleaning the shelter top to bottom, it was pretty dirty.  This afternoon I am taking some of the girls to an art class at the museum, so I have to run, but I will post some more pictures soon!

Palo de Mayo

The past two weekends here in Puerto I have gone to the Palo de Mayo or "May pole" celebrations, which are particular to the Creole population and take place all throughout the month of May.  Both events were very similar, consisting of a tree branch decorated with streamers and fruit, a choreographed dance performed by young girls, and then an all-out neighborhood dance party.  They were held in two different barrios, but the same group of young people dominated the dancing at both.  The palo de mayo is supposedly Afro-Caribbean and has something to do with fertility.  The celebrations are family-friendly and meant to "rescatar" Creole traditions, although the women at work tell me that they are nothing like they used to be.  The song in the video is apparently THE palo de mayo song, as it plays on repeat at each event and has been on the radio a lot since I got here.  I don't know what it says or even what language it is in.

The palo de mayo before the dancing started

The dance party!  People here are good dancers.

Last Sunday I also went to a nearby river at a place called Tuapi with Karen and some of her friends.  It was a pretty nice place, with tables and benches for cooking and hanging out.  The weird thing was that the water in the river was probably about 90 degrees--not quite hot tub temperature but close!  And since it was a hot day, it was not very refreshing.  I had never seen anything like it.  I went to a river in Costa Rica that was hot but it was shallow, and this river was really deep.  The bottom was hot to step on so there is definitely something geothermal going on.  I didn't get pictures of it, but I did take some pictures on the way there.  I was really surprised by the vegetation right outside of Puerto; it looks dry and almost desert-like whereas Puerto seems so tropical.  I am not sure if it is naturally that way or due to deforestation. 

Learning Miskitu

I haven't actually learned a lot of Miskitu, but I have been picking up a few words here and there.  Many of the girls in the shelter speak only Miskitu and not Spanish, so they have taught me a few things.  I have learned some greetings--for example, "how are you" is "nakisma" to which you respond "pain," which is pronounced like "fine" but with a "p" because there is no "f" in the Miskitu language.  I was finally able to upload the video (above) of the same community charla I posted pictures of before, which shows how people mix languages (in this case Miskitu and Spanish).  I still find it mind-boggling that they are able to keep the languages straight yet use them simultaneously.

Movimiento de Mujeres video about violence and customary law

This video, produced by UNICEF, features the organization I am working for and my coworkers, and provides a background on the problem of sexual and gender based violence in the RAAN.  It also shows the shelter for victims that is located behind the main office building where I work.

First days in Puerto

On Saturday, I wet back to the airport in Managua and boarded a plane for Puerto Cabezas, which is where I'll be living/working for the next 2.5 months.  It is located in the Northern Autonomous Region on the Caribbean side, called the RAAN, and is the capital and principal urban area of the region.  The only way to really get there is to fly.  There are buses from Managua, but they take about 24 hours, if you are lucky, and there aren't many places to stop on the way since the interior RAAN is pretty uninhabited.  The plane was the smallest I have ever been on--only 10 seats, and until we got up to cruising altitude it was pretty bumpy.  The guy I sat next to had never been on a plane, which is probably not surprising.

The one with the door open was the plane I took.

The RAAN from the air, getting close to Puerto.

Puerto from the air, and that is the ocean on the horizon.

The view from my room at the house of the family I'll be staying with.  Those are sheep.

I will be working with the organization Health Poverty Action and their partner organization Movimiento de Mujeres Nidia White, supporting their joint sexual and gender based violence (SGBV) education and prevention projects.  The Movimiento provides "integrated" services to survivors of violence including legal, psychological, and medical services and they run the only shelter in the entire RAAN region that is available for survivors who are in immediate danger or who have no where else to go.  They also provide education and awareness-building services in the form of trainings to community health promoters, traditional leaders, and directly to community members.  I spent my first few days at work touring the facilities, talking with each staff member, planning with the Health Poverty Action coordinator, and observing trainings in the communities.  Yesterday we had a meeting with the entire team and with two outside consultants who were hired by the project to discuss the baseline study on knowledge, attitudes and practices related to violence that they hope to carry out in the next couple of weeks.  I think it was definitely the first time I had ever discussed indicators, variables, methods, etc., in Spanish!  It was interesting and productive, but unfortunately we didn't make it very far through reviewing the survey that the consultants had designed.  I found out that the statistical program they use here is SPSS, which is the only one I happen to know.

Outside of the Movimiento de Mujeres building.

Inside of the building.

My first impression of Puerto is that it is a pretty interesting place because of how culturally and ethnically diverse it is.  People here speak three main languages: Miskito, Spanish, and Creole English, and some people speak all three.  It was explained to me that although almost everyone is at least somewhat inter-mixed ethnically (between Miskito, Mestizo (Hispanic), Afro-descendent, and various other indigenous groups such as Mayagna), everyone has a single ethnic identity that they most identify with based on how they were raised and the primary language they speak at home.  All of the staff and most adults in Puerto can speak Spanish because that is what is taught in school.  However, when speaking with each other they move seamlessly between all three languages, and everyone seems to follow the conversation.  Needless to say, it makes me wish I spoke more that just Spanish.  Here is Puerto, the majority speak Miskito at home, including the family I am living with.  I have decided that I wouldn't necessarily have to be able to speak it because I could always respond in Spanish, but it would be helpful to be able to understand it.  So far it has been fascinating to just listen to Miskito because of the way it incorporates a lot of Spanish words, but also English words (e.g. family, "siknis").  

One of the Movimiento's educators facilitating a community workshop on types of violence and the new law against gender based violence in a barrio of Puerto.

The community members who came.

I tried to upload a video of the workshop so that you can all hear what Miskito sounds like, and Spanish speakers can hear how Spanish words and even entire sentences in Spanish are used in conversation...but it keeps telling me there is an error.  I will try again later.  

So far, I have been mostly eating with the family and the food has been pretty good.  There are not many fruits or vegetables though since most things have to be flown in from Managua.  They eat a lot of turtle here.  The other day I had it twice: once at lunch and then again at dinner mixed into spaghetti. It was different that any other meat I've ever tried, though not bad.  I am pretty sure sea turtles are endangered but people eat them anyways, as it is a traditional food here.  

!Nicaragua! Llegué.

I got to Managua last Friday.  The administradora from the Health Poverty Action office in Managua picked me up in the airport and took me to buy a phone and to the super, and then to the hotel.  My first day was thus eerily like my first day in San Salvador.  I of course went to Metrocentro to do my errands, just like I did in San Sal, the only difference being that I got a Claro phone instead of Tigo.  The hotel even reminded me of Sisimiles.  Managua, like San Salvador, is a sprawly city of malls.  The next morning before my flight to Puerto, one of the hotel staff took me on a tour of Managua's main attractions.  There aren't many.  Everything historic is located around the Plaza de la Revolución, which looks like it is in a constant state of construction. It is also right on the lake and nearby they have recently built a family-friendly park along the water with fancy landscaping, playgrounds, and kiosk-type restaurants that is called the Puerto Salvador Allende.  Sort of looks like an American amusement park.

This is now the main museum in Managua and no longer the national palace.

This is the old cathedral that was destroyed in the 1972 earthquake, along with the rest of the city.  Neither it, nor the city really, has since been rebuilt.  The columns are wrapped with Christmas lights so apparently it looks pretty cool at night.

International Women's Day: A time to recognize the things women both do and don't do

Celebrations of International Women's Day usually center around recognizing things women do and have done, but what about all of the things that women do not do and have never done?  It could be that those things are just as important.

Last night I watched the video that has gone viral about Joseph Kony, and the list of the International Court's most wanted people got me to thinking.  None of the people on that list are women.  I started wondering if there had ever even been a female dictator, mass murderer, drug lord, ethnic cleanser, warlord, tyrant, or any of the other worst things that people could be.  I definitely couldn't think of any off the top of my head.  When I googled "female dictator" the closest I got was Indira Gandhi, who suspended democracy for 2 years during her rule as president.  And a news article that came up named a Mexican woman as the supposed first-ever female drug lord, but this was in 2011--fairly recent, so still a novelty.  Generally, women have not been directly responsible for wars, the drug trade, Central American gangs, the suppression of democracy, African warlords, nuclear weapons, genocides, killings of civilians, violations of human rights, school shootings, torture, inequality, and I would even say things like underdevelopment and the financial crisis.  Maybe even climate change.  There are a lot of possible reasons for this, most obviously women's historical exclusion from power and lots of other realms of life.  People might say that given the same opportunity, women would act similarly to men, but the women who have assumed roles of power mostly haven't shown signs of this.  Additionally, people might say that it has to do with women being the gentler sex or whatnot, which I don't believe...  I can't attempt to explain this phenomenon, but since it is International Women's Day I think it is very worth noting!

Also, I thought I would share  a very clever and entertaining article I read today.  I wasn't familiar with all of the references to recent U.S. news but it was still interesting:

 Subject for Debate: Are Women People? | TIME Ideas | TIME.com

CENTRAL AMERICA IS NO SOMALIA, BUT CLOSE

CENTRAL AMERICA IS NO SOMALIA, BUT CLOSE - Andres Oppenheimer - MiamiHerald.com

“Central America is a compound of geological fault lines, drug trafficking routes, hurricane paths, historical grievances, insensitive oligarchies that resist paying taxes, irrational political polarization, states without natural resources, extreme poverty, high corruption rates, savage gangs, mighty drug kingpins, and a political class that is incapable of maintaining social cohesion,” Villalobos wrote.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/29/2667997/central-america-is-no-somalia.html#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy

Thoughts on El Mozote

I have been putting off writing this entry in hopes that with more time my thoughts would just express themselves easily and that I would be able to draw some insightful or even inspiring conclusions on the topic. But now I have decided that I don't have to write about it perfectly or comprehensively, that what is most important is that there be people writing about it. Because even after 30 years no one seems to have really made sense of it nor been able to rectify it, and that is what is most unsettling. It is still very confusing, messy, and politically loaded. I am referring to the El Mozote Massacre that took place here in a small town of the department of Morazán, El Salvador, in December, 1981, during the civil war. The details tend to vary depending on the source of information, and have changed over the years following different investigations and reports. It has been established though, that during the 10th-13th of December, 1981, special Salvadoran military forces trained by the School of the Americas in the United States, and financed by the U.S. government, killed 937 inhabitants of El Mozote and surrounding communities. In El Mozote, according to personal testimony, men, women, and children were separated and systematically executed, often after first being raped or tortured. Houses and buildings were sacked and the bodies were set on fire. The soldiers then moved on to the more rural surrounding communities to do the same. Around 500, or about half, of the victims were children. According to the sole survivor of the town of El Mozote, Rufina Amaya, the villagers had been warned to evacuate and seek shelter in the bigger towns, such as Gotera, because of military attacks on rural areas, which were then the stronghold of guerrilla forces. The community did not evacuate because they felt safe: they were not strongly aligned with guerillas, and had friendly relations with the military.
 
The bodies were left unburied as guerilla forces encouraged news media and human rights groups to visit and report on the events. The reports of a possible massacre were denied by the military as well as by president Reagan. It wasn't until 1992 that forensic archaeologists visited and finally "confirmed" that a massacre had taken place. Another investigation in 2003 found new evidence and established a more accurate count of the death toll.
 
I recently attended the 20th Anniversary of the Peace Accords event in El Mozote, hosted by the president of El Salvador, the first lady, cabinet members, and survivors of the massacre. The purpose of the event, titled "El Mozote Nunca Mas" (El Mozote never again) was to formally acknowledge that indeed a massacre had taken place, and to establish as truths some of the facts and figures. President Funes spoke to the crowd of thousands gathered in the plaza of El Mozote, giving a summary of events and apologizing on behalf of the government for the atrocity. Funes went on to say that those responsible, mentioning specifically Colonel Domingo Monterrosa, could no longer be considered war heroes (there are landmarks in San Salvador that bear their names). He continued with a series of promises to the inhabitants of the present-day El Mozote, to provide them with the attention, justice, and reparations they deserve. Among the promises were the installation of medical personnel in El Mozote to provide more regular physical and mental health care, the donation of twenty computers to the school, the paving of the road leading to El Mozote (currently only accessed by a dirt road) and the road all the way to the town of Joateca, and an economic stimulus program to boost agricultural production and small businesses. He also mentioned reparations to victims and families, although in what form these would be was unclear. He had mentioned in previous occasions that the perpetrators of the massacre can not be covered under the amnesty law which prevents trying crimes committed during the civil war because the law does not apply to egregious human rights abuses, and also, because the state should not be allowed to pardon itself. Attempts were made in the early 2000s to reopen the case in the Inter-American Court, but all failed because of the amnesty law.
 
These new developments and proposals are all well and good, but what is so upsetting is that in 30 years these things haven't already been done. El Mozote is still a poor, rural, community, and probably the only help it has received is in the form of increased tourism to the massacre sight, evidenced by a couple of pupuserias and an artisan store that have popped up in the center of town. They still don't have doctors, computers, or a paved road. There is a monument with the names of victims, as well as a reflection garden at the sight of the old church, planted over the exact place where 140 children were found dead and later buried. Being there in the garden, and hearing a personal testimony from a survivor, I was overwhelmed by the injustice of it all, and I am not even a victim nor have I been personally affected. Vindication is better late than never, but the delay has been tragic. For example, Rufina Amaya, the sole survivor from the town of El Mozote who dedicated her life to espousing the truth, has since died of natural causes.


For more information:


Mark Danner's article in The New Yorker

20th anniversary of the peace accords in El Salvador

Funes ordena al ejército no llamar héroes a violadores de derechos humanos - ElFaro.net

Yes, this article is in Spanish.  Here is the Associated Press article from yesterday, in English, although it is less comprehensive:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/world/americas/el-salvador-president-apologizes-for-1981-massacre.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=El%20Salvador%20president%20apologizes&st=cse

The Peace Corps kids are all right

The Peace Corps kids are all right

A commentary written by a current Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala.

Felices Fiestas!

Clarification: Peace Corps Honduras has not shut down like the New York Times article made it sound.  They are going to send all volunteers home in January on administrative leave while they figure out what to do next.  Still nothing decided about El Salvador and Guatemala.

The beach today was great and we had perfect weather.  Not that it is ever not perfect weather at the beaches here.  The cookie party last night at my house was also a huge success!  I will add that I made all the cookies in a toaster oven, 4 at a time, because my real oven doesn't work.  Here is a sampling from our sugar feast:

Here we have oreo rice kispie treats (made with oreos instead of rice krispies--no bake!) and peanut butter Hershey kiss cookies.

From left to right: melted snowmen sugar cookies, peanut butter and jelly cookies, more kisses, some sugar cookie candy canes, and peanut butter pretzel reindeer.

The cookie decorating station.

And...here is a snippet of the beach trip with my coworkers.  I think they might have had more fun on the bus ride there than at the beach!!!  Also interesting to note that Salvadorans have many great qualities and talents but clapping in unison is NOT one of them.  Enjoy and happy holidays!

Continuing security concerns

Yesterday Peace Corps Honduras pulled out of the country and sent all of its volunteers home.  The situation in El Salvador is very similar to Honduras and the three Northern Triangle countries (Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras) are sort of a packaged deal in the world of Peace Corps, so we are waiting to see what they will decide to do here.  The uncertainty is very nerve-wracking, to say the least.  All we know for now is that Peace Corps El Salvador will not be receiving any new volunteers (trainees).  Here are some articles that addressed these new developments:

Peace Corps To Scale Back In Central America
Thursday, December 22, 2011
New York Times
By Randal C. Archibold

MEXICO CITY - The increasing drug and organized-crime violence in Central America has led the Peace Corps to pull out of Honduras and stop sending new volunteers to Guatemala and El Salvador, the organization announced Wednesday.

Peace Corps officials said they had taken stock of the worsening conditions and decided to withdraw their 158 volunteers from Honduras in January and scuttle plans to send 29 recruits to complete their training.

"We are going to conduct a full review of the program," Aaron S. Williams, the director of the Peace Corps, said in a statement.

In Guatemala and El Salvador, officials decided to keep the 335 volunteers already in those countries but not to send the 76 recruits who were to begin training there next month. The trainees will be sent to other countries, the corps said.

Kristina Edmunson, a Peace Corps spokeswoman in Washington, said the moves stemmed from "comprehensive safety and security concerns" rather than any specific threat or incident. However, Peace Corps Journals, an online portal for blogs by Peace Corps volunteers, has an entry referring to a volunteer's being shot in an armed robbery.

There was no immediate reaction from the governments.

All three countries have endured a rash of violence primarily related to drug traffickers using Central America as a staging point to ship cocaine to the United States from South America.

A wave of violence has struck particularly hard in Honduras, whose institutions are still recovering from a coup in 2009.

It has one of the highest per capita murder rates in the world - the highest by some measures - and this month, Alfredo Landaverde, the country's former antidrug and security adviser who often denounced corruption, was shot to death.

Ms. Edmunson said that from time to time, the corps withdraws or restricts work in the 75 countries in which it has volunteers.

US suspends new Peace Corps recruit training for Guatemala, El Salvador on security concerns

By Associated Press, Published: December 21

GUATEMALA CITY — The U.S. government is suspending training for new Peace Corps volunteers in the Central American nations of Guatemala and El Salvador while it assesses security concerns.

A Peace Corps statement says a training course for volunteers scheduled for January will not take place, but those already serving in the two countries are “safe and accounted for.”

The corps said Wednesday that “due to ongoing security concerns, the agency is enhancing operational support to currently serving volunteers.”

Corps spokeswoman Kristina Edmunson says the corps will try to place volunteers who planned to serve in Guatemala or El Salvador in other countries.

Both countries have suffered waves of violent crime and drug-related violence.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 I will post some links to articles when I have more time and my internet isn't being so slow.  I've got to go, I need to get up early for my annual office trip to the beach!!!  Yes, we are trying to carry on as normal here...

Women Ascendent

This is an interesting article about where in the world women are making the greatest strides.  The map of women's share of tertiary school enrollment lists the DR as second in the world, which, based on my observations of the country does not surprise me at all!

http://www.forbes.com/sites/joelkotkin/2011/11/08/women-ascendent-where-females-are-rising-the-fastest

Damage in Jutiapa, Cabañas, a PCV site

Storm facts sent from Peace Corps and how to donate

International donations can be made through :

·          

Bank of America – San Francisco - SWIFT:BOFAUS6S - ABA: 121000358

FACT SHEET ON RAINS IN EL SALVADOR

DUE TO TROPICAL DEPRESSION 12E

Since the entrance of Tropical Depression 12E, which occurred on October 10^th of this year to date, the country has registered a historical maximum amount of rainfall of 1,500 mm in some areas.  This amount of rain almost doubled the amount of rainfall reported during hurricane Mitch (1998).
·         Average precipitation in El Salvador is approximately 1.800 mm per year. So far, in ten days some areas of the nation have registered more than 80% of the amount of rain that falls in one whole year.

·         Hurricane Mitch, in 1998, caused 861 mm of rain, meanwhile Tropical Storm Stan in 2005 produced 766 mm of rain.
·         So far, the death toll due to the tropical depression 12E has reached 34.
·         Preventive evacuations maintained low the death toll in comparison with other natural disasters. Hurricane Mitch caused 240 human loses, Ida left 198 dead, and Stan registered 69 casualties.
·         To date,  a million people have been directly affected by the rain.
·         There are 55,976 evacuees (15,195 families) and there are 683 shelters and refuges.
·         In comparison, during Mitch the country had 10,000 affected and during Ida (2009) the amount reached 7,428 in 75 shelters.
·         10% of the national territory is flooded. The rainfall has affected directly 181 municipalities, which represent 70% of the total of municipalities nationwide.
·         Authorities have distributed more than 470 metric tons of food to the victims.
·         There are 18,445 flooded homes, 2,222 affected wells and 879 landslides on highways have been accounted for. There are more than 2,000 houses at high risk of flooding or to be affected by landslides.
·         On October 17 the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador declared state of public calamity and disaster throughout the country for the next 60 days, as a result of the situation of vulnerability.

·         There are 2,935 manzanas of damaged crops (around 5,000 acres).
·         The heavy rains have caused the mudslides and flooding, swollen rivers, destroyed 4 bridges and damaged 14 other in the main routes.
·         The Government of El Salvador made an international call for aid on Sunday October 16^th to face the national emergency.
·         The Ministry of Foreign Affairs through its Embassies and Consulates has initiated efforts to support the management of international cooperation
·         Salvadorans living in the United States and Canada may contact 1-888-30-111-30 or visit the web site: www.rree.gob.sv/emergencia for more information on how to contribute.
·         Donations can be made to an account set up the Government of El Salvador at BANCO AGRICOLA # 0590-057574-5, called “SETEFE-EMERGENCIA EL SALVADOR”. From abroad, international transfers can be made through :
·         Bank of America – San Francisco - SWIFT:BOFAUS6S - ABA: 121000358

Storm of the century

As many of you have probably seen in the news, El Salvador recently experienced a really bad rain storm.  It was not a hurricane nor even a tropical storm, it was what they call a tropical depression.  Here they are calling it "the storm with no name" because it just had a number, 12-E.  However, despite it not meeting the qualifications for receiving a name, it wreaked a lot of havoc.  In fact, 12-E has done more damage than any hurricane here in El Salvador and is said to have been the worst storm the country has ever experienced.  The reason for the extent of damage was the sheer quantity of rain that fell between October 10th and 19th, and the fact that it lasted so long.  Because it is the rainy season the ground was already saturated, which set the stage for numerous landslides, mudslides, and floods.  Bridges washed out and roads crumbled.  At one point there were over 100,000 people evacuated and in shelters across the country, and an estimated 20,000 houses have been destroyed.  At last count there were 38 storm-related deaths, although this is likely to increase as there were also a lot of people unaccounted for.  The most affected areas are the coastal  and western regions as well as parts of San Salvador and the central zone.  One of the most hard-hit areas, the Bajo Lempa, received help for the first time only yesterday, as it had been unreachable for 9 days.

As far as I know none of the volunteers have been affected, although some of them live in communities that were evacuated.  Morazán was one of the least affected departments but we still experienced over a week of unceasing rain.  There were a few shelters set up here but mostly people were evacuated as a preventative measure and they have since returned to their communities.  However, in other parts of the country there are still around 50,000 people in shelters and the rebuilding is estimated to take months.  The most affected people were those who lived in vulnerable areas--at the edges of rivers, at the bases of mountains, or in other places where people with money would never build a house.  These people now have nothing but they also never really had anything.  Thus, the reconstruction not only will have to address the storm damages but also the poverty and lack of infrastructure that made these people so vulnerable to weather in the first place.  If there is a silver lining to what happened here these last two weeks it would be that it increased public awareness of the living conditions of  much of this country.  Hopefully, because of this, more will be done to address extreme poverty and decrease peoples' vulnerability in the future.

I ended up spending three days in the capital this week when I went in for a doctor appointment and then couldn't leave due to the storm.  We were on standfast, meaning that we couldn't travel from wherever we were, for a total of 9 days.  Next week several of my coworkers are going to the Bajo Lempa to assist with disaster relief.  Unfortunately, I can't go as it interferes with the volunteerism symposium we have been planning for months, but, hopefully, I will be able to help in the coming weeks.  Also, to all of you RPCVs out there, I just got word that El Salvador will be soliciting Response volunteers to work in disaster relief, probably starting around January.  Keep your eyes peeled for updates on the Peace Corps website!

UN study: Homicides soar in Central America

Mexico receives the majority of the press, but rates are higher per capita in Honduras and El Salvador.

Associated Press article

Missing

I am definitely overdue for a blog post as it is now October!  I am also motivated by an urge to connect to the outside world, i.e. friends and family back home, although I'm pretty sure no one but my mom reads this blog!  I guess this feeling was probably brought on by missing out on a lot lately, by which I mean goings on at home and missing certain people.  I missed a family reunion last weekend in honor of my uncle's 70th birthday, and this weekend, coincidentally, I am missing my 5th college reunion.  5 years isn't exactly a big-deal reunion, but it does remind me that it has been exactly that long since I've seen most of those people...whoa.  And that I will miss out on seeing the dear friends I know will be there.  It has also been a month full of despedidas of several of the volunteers here in Morazán, specifically the ones who had most welcomed me as I was an oddball newcomer who didn't have a training group cohort. A shout out to all of the people I alluded to in this paragraph if you happen to read this: "I love you and miss you!!!  We will be together again someday!!!"

I think this "missing" is being compounded right now by being sick.  I have a cold and just this morning lost hearing in my left ear (hopefully related to the cold).  It is odd to have gripe when it is sunny and 90 degrees outside, although at night it has been raining more and last night I was even almost chilly before I went to bed.  Hmm, it just occurred to me that maybe I should leave my sick-cave and let the sun "bake" the sickness out.  Does that work?

I was intending to use this down-time to really make good progress on my grad school research, instead I have been dawdling on Pinterest and yesterday discovered fashion blogs.  Like I had no idea that there were people who took pictures of themselves wearing different outfits from their closets from different angles on a daily basis, and then wrote about them.  Even some people I know have these blogs, and people actually follow them.  Speaking of missing, it just goes to show that there is a lot of strange phenomenon that I miss out on living abroad.  And that although sometimes I feel bored, there are people who are more bored.  I do, however, like some of the DIY sewing portions, because actually making and designing your clothes, not just wearing them, requires some real skill and creativity.  I recently used for the first time the treadle sewing machine I have in my room that belongs to the owner of my house.  It actually works great and was easy to get the hang of, I think the machines I used in the DR were maybe especially hard to use due to rust, dust, and the prevalence of improvised replacement parts (treadle belts made of IV tubes come to mind as one example).  So... I haven't done it yet, but I plan to make something!  I found a pattern online for a very simple skirt that is basically two squares and elastic, so I will probably start there. 

I also recently went to a seamstress for the first time, inspired by by co-volunteer's ravings about his amazing tailored clothes every time we have meetings in the capital.  He is right that getting something exactly made to fit is extremely cheap in this country and is an excellent option, especially for people who don't often fit into normal sizes.  I personally was more motivated by the fact that I don't really like most of the clothes here, laundry is a pain, and I need nice clothes for work.  So I drew a design for a work-type blouse, got some fabric, and went to the seamstress.  If it turns out, I think it will be a breakthrough: designing your own clothes and then getting someone else to make them affordably is like the best of both worlds.

Don't worry, I have also been doing work these days, even during my sickness.  Our project is coming along.  This week we had an epic two-day meeting in the capital and managed to get a lot done.  Among the recent progress has been the selection of the schools that are going to participate in the pilot program next year, the finalization of the content and agenda for the symposium we are hosting at the end of October for the leaders of the pilot schools, and a final work plan for the rest of the year that we will present to our new boss of bosses at the ministry who just took over from our old boss who got moved around to somewhere else within the top-dog hierarchy.  I am looking forward to moving out of the planning stage and actually interacting with the people who will "make" this program next year.  I think it is all about to get more fun.

I think I will go now since I have been writing for a while, and have probably sufficiently updated everyone on recent happenings.  Since I am still relatively new to this blog thing, I sometimes wonder, should blog entries have plots?  Should they tell a story?  Should they have a moral or profound point?  If yes, I think I have failed, at least in this most recent entry.  I also wonder, who am I writing for?  Since I don't really have a following, I guess the answer is me.  Just as well, that will keep my writing authentic, but maybe incomprehensible to the rest of the world...  Well, that's it for now.  Stay tuned for more!

Mom and Han visit!

My sister and mom came to hang out with me in El Salvador!

It was all in all a good time, and it was fun to show them around and open their eyes to some of the marvels as well as idiosyncrasies of this place.  While they didn't see a lot of the country because of how long everything takes to get to as well as our shared fear of buses, I think they did get close up and personalized view life here, which made for a pretty unique experience.   I don't have a lot of Salvadoran friends here, but the ones I do have were extremely welcoming and accomodating towards my visitors.  My coworkers threw them a combined "bienvenida/birthday party/despedida" (because it happened to be the day before they left), complete with an ice cream cake.  I was sure to point out that they didn't get me an ice cream cake on my birthday. 

Another experience that was surely a highlight for them was getting to attend a Salvadoran baby shower held at my office...complete with games involving fake babies.  Here is a photo of the director of the ministry explaining to the mother-to-be how labor works.  Not explaining....rather, demonstrating.  She got really scared looking.  It was one of the most ridiculously funny things I've seen.

Hmm, I think I have another photo where she does actually look terrified but I can't find it.

 

 Let's see...what else?  We went to Perquin and to the guerrilla camp part of the museum that I hadn't been to before.  It was pretty cool. 

Here's Han climbing down into the guerrilla tunnel.

And here's me.  I look braver.

 

Here's me putting calamine lotion on all of Han's mosquito bites, just like I did when we were little and she had chicken pox.  Awww...

Another memorable event was that my mom and I both got briefly, though violently, ill during the trip.  Since we both got better I figured it was nothing, however, my roommate just found out he has (and has had for a while) salmonella.  I may go in for a check-up just to make sure.

My sister and I discovered that we are really good at doing karaoke duets, in Spanish...ha.  Who would have thought that my pueblo where everything closes at 4pm would have a karaoke place, and right by my house??  We made sure to take advantage of it and went twice.  The second time was their last night in Gotera, and also the last night for the Spanish kids who have been here for the past 2 months. Here's a photo tribute to them: 

Me, Hannah, Albert, Gemma and Irene.