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.

Llegó el agua!

 

Leidy, Nené and Ruth with her "flo." Ruth said, "Ay no, Eva! We'll look like campesinas!"

Accused ex-soldiers turn themselves in

Nine former Salvadoran soldiers have turned themselves in to face charges that they shot dead six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter during El Salvador's civil war.

Back to Guineo Land

I know I am long overdue for a blog update--I think my hiatus was a combination of being busy and also maybe having less new things to write about. In any case, I hope to write more often or at least share things that might be of interest to people back home about life in El Salvador. I actually just got back here from a visit to the DR, a sort of whirlwind trip that was both very intense and very relaxed at the same time. I was so busy with work beforehand that I didn't make many (or any) plans for my time there, the only thing I really had worked out when I got there was how I was getting from the airport to my community. I got to my adopted family's house after dark to find that they were all there, along with some neighbors and the librarians, and they had been waiting for hours. They had made my favorite food, guandules con coco, and Nicole had composed a song whose words included "bienvenida Eva Mee-yer." It was nice. Everyone had to go home pretty much right after though since it was nighttime.

The rest of the time was sort of a blur, in a mostly good way. After about 2 days I felt like I was back in the swing of things, and although I never lived at that house, I had spent so much time there before that it felt like home. Three of the sisters live at the house, and on Friday the fourth one arrived from the capital with her new baby. I spent most of my time there with them talking, eating a lot of food, going to the river, and playing with babies. It was strange to realize that the only things that noticeably change there are the babies, as well as the number of babies, because otherwise everything is exactly the same. My visit did happen to coincide though with the arrival of water for the first time via 10 miles of PCV pipes, which was pretty momentous considering they have been working on it on and off for like 10 years. There are still some problems that need troubleshooting it seems though since it only worked for one day. I also found that three of the groups I started, Escojo, the Mariposas, and the librarians are still at least partially functional. The youth from Escojo threw me an inpromptu bienvenida and there were about 30 of them there, some of them the church kids who never participated before. Concerning the library, I had heard varying accounts of its success, and it was clear that some of the volunteer librarians stopped participating as soon as I left. There was also an issue with the funds being "borrowed" and with lending the key out to random people, which I had to diplomatically arbitrate without calling anyone out. For a moment I had a panicky feeling that my project and specifically the money I had left had only succeeded in creating problems and making people hate each other, but then I reasoned that if it weren't for the library they would have just found another reason to fight. I think we got it worked out though, or at least for the time being.

There were some other things that didn't go quite as planned, namely trying to be friends with certain someone who pulled a stunt that made me feel as if I were living my own telenovela for a few days until I finally realized what was going on. The good thing that came out of that mess is that I sought support from close friends in my community and feel even closer to them now. I even had some friends confide in me in ways I don't think they had before. A bad thing turned into a warm glowey, lovey feeling in the end.

Some other highlights included almost unceasing rain... making preparations for the supposed arrival of hurricane Emily at 3:00pm one day who then never showed up... receiving my first remesa ever via Western Union when my mom wired me money after I lost my debit card...a trip to the vet because Paloma was losing the hair on his neck...some stomach problems that seem to have been successfully cured with squash seed and oregano tea...a beautiful, pristine, mountain river with 4 discotecas and un monton of people...falling in love with a curious, happy and thoughtful 1-year old whose parents don't hit him or yell at him...being surrounded at all hours by 4 sisters in a teeny house and having long and lively debates about whether or not men are necessary evils.

Although as I said almost everything was the same in the community 9 months later, there were some new constructions including the new high school which is perched on the edge of the often-flooded river that you cross to get to my community. Another notable exception is my friend Belkis, who is apparently very smart with money because she saved the $5 per week I used to pay her to wash my clothes, bought pigs to raise, sold the pigs, and with her profits paid half of the cost of an inversor (so that her house always has electricity). She also bought a radio, and still has pigs. To go from light once in a while to always having it is a huge improvement in quality of life. I am impressed.

Now I am back to the "real world"--I guess meaning work since El Salvador is surreal in its own way. I hope that I will be able to appreciate more the unique things this country has to offer, having been recently refreshed as to the things I like and don't like about the DR. One dislike that became crystal clear for me last week was the Dominican tendency to value saving face (as in not making yourself or someone else look bad) over honesty. I guess I understand it, but I don't agree with it. Sometimes it almost seems that although the DR doesn't really have a lot of social violence or cold-blooded killers like El Salvador, almost everyone is just a teeny bit of a crook. This crookiness manifests itself in cobradors trying to charge whatever they feel like, people throwing poop into their neighbor's yards (yes this happened while I was there), blatant and sin verguenza lying, and the colmado owner who overcharges his own neighbors and gives bad change. But who knows, I suppose every place has their share of crooks, probably ES as well, but I would venture to say that the level of social acceptability of this sort of behavior may vary.

I have a million likes of the DR as well though, and wish I had had a couple more leisurely months to spend there.

I'd better despedirme...7 am will be here soon...