Happy 4th of July! Well yesterday. I hope all of you had delicious plans to stuff your faces with hot dogs and burgers and 7 layer dips and maybe a marg or two. I was in the capital this past weekend for a couple of meetings and some 4th of July celebrations. I even got to see some fireworks! Yay America in El Salvador!
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| My village is beautiful :) |
I am a part of an organization called Gender and Development or GAD. We work with the social construction of gender and assignment of specific rights, roles responsibilities and expectations to women and men. Many Peace Corps countries have GAD programs that seek to ensure that both men and women participate and benefit equally from development. Right now one of the things we are working on is a musical someone in the group created called "A Mi Manera" or "My Way". It basically deals with machismo in the campo. The main character is about to graduate college, she has a bright future, but she is feeling the social pressures to stay in her town and lead the life of a typical campo woman. To marry, have lots of babies and take care of the home. Anyways, there is a group of about 8 college kids from San Salvador who will be performing this musical all over the country. There will be 7 shows, and the first one is next week! So this weekend was full of dress rehearsals and finishing painting backdrops and last minute prop purchases. I just came into this group, so I am currently playing a little bit of catch up on everything, but it seems like a good group of people and some exciting events that will be going on!
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| She looks so cute and innocent dosen't she? |
Chucha loca. (Or crazy dog.) This is what I call Hoja more often than calling her Hoja. She is just so full of energy, really nothing I can do will exhaust her. Yesterday she bit several huge holes in my hammock. :( She loves to tear holes in my clothes. I am researching training methods. I know she is still just a puppy, but I hope she grows out of this soon.
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| Looks can be deceiving. |
I am going to do a cleaning campaign with the school in my community next week. Since there is a severe lack of trash management in this country, as a result most towns are covered in a layer (or two) of trash. This is a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes and dengue. So a lot of volunteers work with the kids in the school to do a trash clean up. Also I am hoping to get a trash truck to come by my town once a week. We need an organization system first, but hopefully this will lead to less people burning trash.
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| Day 3 of trying to get my clothes dry.... |
Another project I am thinking about is a water filter project. My community does not have potable water. So they drink the river water, but it is horribly contaminated and no one should drink it straight. Filters are about 30 bucks a pop, pretty expensive. And unfortunately many people (arguably the people who need it the most) cannot afford it. Also there are no grants that will cover paying for this. So I am at a little bit of a loss.
It is still raining. Everyday. I love the rain, I just do not love it when it makes everything smell terribly. But it does make everything green, and that is great!
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| Standing inside my town looking at the main entrance. |
Next week starts my town's Fiesta Patronales. Basically every village, town and city in El Salvador has a Saint that is "theirs". And for a week to two weeks every year this saint is celebrated. My town's starts next Friday and lasts 9 days. 9 days filled with pupusas and dances, ferris wheels and contests. Pictures to come.
Spanish word of the day- Chuco = Sucio = Dirty
Chuco is the El Salvadorian slang word for dirty. Which is what the river here is.
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| El Rio |
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