Dios
It has been a long time - we apologize but life has been very busy.
We have moved into Punta Gorda (PG) into a cute little bungalow but in a much busier/noisier area than we had anticipated. If one was to visit you would say "What are you talking about"?? but after living in the bush for 7 months the transition is going to take adjustment.
Two weeks after moving in our family came down. Seven in total and took over the Coral House Inn. Will send photos to all when we get a chance. It felt like time and space didn't exist while having someone from home to touch and talk to. Tarzan and Jane in the form of our parents along with trekkers Frank, Claire, Stephanie, David and Charlie did some awesome kayaking, trip to the cayes, hike to the waterfalls for some cliff jumping and sightseeing at ruinas. They got to experience some great bird sightings along with iguanas along the river banks. Dad experienced in his words "a two beer moment" when one of the approximately 3 foot beasts jumped in the water right next to his kayak. The scenery was beautiful.... The trekkers did a day trip to Blue Creek River Cave which included cave swimming and spelunking.
Stephanie contributed to the Mayan economy by buying close to a dozen baskets from several of the local Mayan women.
Unfortunately, Michael suffered a nasty flu before and during the family visit. He was able to come about in time for trip to Snake Cayes....called that because it is a boa constrictor habitat. A small island where we were the only inhabitants for the day. We did some snorkeling and had great BBQ provided by our boat captain and tour guide. Saw one boa resting up in a coconut tree. Walked the whole island in search of more but they were hiding.
So far, we have seen a black tailed snake - about 5 feet long, good for killing the tommy gofff - one of the most deadly snakes here. We had one living under our thatch near the village. Karey saw a tiger rat snake -about 5 feet long, good for catching rats - they live in the rafters of the thatch and you leave them there for that purpose. One of Karey's trips to the villages - driving home in the dark the driver spotted a tommy goff on the road. We stopped, backed up to the spot and the car died - no lights, no battery, no nothing...didn't see the snake, the driver tentatively stepped onto the running board afraid to step down. He finally decided to step down to check under the hood. He made it to the front of the car - just released the latch (didn't lift the hood) and the car lit up again. OBEAH! A word used for superstition or spooky happenings. Driver safely back in the car we moved on.
The place we are renting is really quite cute. We have painted a greater part of the inside from bright lime green and bright blue in one room to little subtler colors for quieting the mind. We have a great friend here who gave us all her left over paint - otherwise it would have been a bit spendy for a PC budget. Wish the family could have seen cleaned up. We have had a terrible ant problem and the painting seems to have alleviated the situation A LOT! YEAH!.
Michael has pounded together a couch/daybed of sorts for the "great room". We also had some Guatemalan fabric donated to us so, we bought a piece of foam, covered it and we have soemthing of our own to sit on. It's our first - we are so happy. We have a little veranda that a hammock is set up on - but we are a bit hammocked out after the past 7 months. Still it is nice to rock in occassionally.
Belize may have animal laws, litter laws, residentail codes??, and noise laws but nothing is followed thru on. We clean our front yard weekly from trash blown in - we have a "moat" in front of our yard and it collects trash. We are not willing to step into it to clean it. When it rains hard it raises quite significantly and flows. The water will then clear up and we can see fish. Once even had a small heron in it. Hoping the people will seeset an example by cleaning up - our friend says now the folks just know where to throw out the trash!
There are many many stray animals as few Belizeans consider spay & neuter. At night there must be no less than 50 barking dogs "harmonizing" with the high decibel levels of the competing bars in the neighborhood. We are learning to sleep under any conditions. Good news - we don't have to have a mosquito net in town and we have a REAL bed. We just found out the Public Health Inspector do periodic poisoning of the stray aniamls. They put out poisoned food in the evenings and after that we are not sure..........???
We continue to work hard on the WASH (Water Sanitation & Hygiene) project. It is a UNICEF funded project. Karey travels and travels and travels to the villages and Michael keeps things moving forward from town. It is very hard to meet schedules and agendas here. So, our American "get it done" style is atrophying. Probably not such a bad thing. "Right Now" in Belizean means anything from 1 hour to maybe...it is our favorite joke.
We are attempting by request to start an adult computer class we hope with the help of the local Ministry of Education. Karey has been asked to help with the local girls gymnasatic/tumbling team one of the other PC Volunteers started. The girls bailed once before - they have come back but they need a female present. Also, have been requested to teach a Yoga class. Have to see what I can fit in.
Well that's all the new for now!!! Will try to get here more often. Will attempt to get some pictures out soon. Okay sooner than soon - promise.
much love to all
trust this finds you all well and happy
us
Monday, December 24, 2007
Felize Navidad!!
Happy holidays to all. We hear our hometown is having a white Christmas...we are having sunny weather, quiet days and no rain.
Belize goes on holiday for about three weeks during this time. There are a few ambitious cabaneros out there on this eve for the last minute shoppers. But we are not missing the insanity of the 'Malls'. The project we are working on is a bit behind and some people will be working later this week but no one works the 25th or 26th. We will be spending 2 quiet days lounging at the thatch. We know we will be missing the green and the quiet of the bush.
We are coming closer to having permanent living quarters. At first it seemed like it wouldn't happen - now we have three choices. The one we like the best is centrally located in the town - a little busier area but a cute Caribbean green bungalow, with a FLUSHER! It's not on the water but close enough to take the bikes down each morning to swim in the sea.
Our best present was talking by phone with our children yesterday, Uriah had to conference from Bend due to being snowbound. Karey got a present. A rare siting of a jaguar on her way to a distant village. Even the Belizians she was with were amazed and other locals are jealous.
That's all for now folks.
Much Merriness, Happiness and Love,
Us
Happy holidays to all. We hear our hometown is having a white Christmas...we are having sunny weather, quiet days and no rain.
Belize goes on holiday for about three weeks during this time. There are a few ambitious cabaneros out there on this eve for the last minute shoppers. But we are not missing the insanity of the 'Malls'. The project we are working on is a bit behind and some people will be working later this week but no one works the 25th or 26th. We will be spending 2 quiet days lounging at the thatch. We know we will be missing the green and the quiet of the bush.
We are coming closer to having permanent living quarters. At first it seemed like it wouldn't happen - now we have three choices. The one we like the best is centrally located in the town - a little busier area but a cute Caribbean green bungalow, with a FLUSHER! It's not on the water but close enough to take the bikes down each morning to swim in the sea.
Our best present was talking by phone with our children yesterday, Uriah had to conference from Bend due to being snowbound. Karey got a present. A rare siting of a jaguar on her way to a distant village. Even the Belizians she was with were amazed and other locals are jealous.
That's all for now folks.
Much Merriness, Happiness and Love,
Us
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Dios
Hoping this blog will make some sense as we try to catch up our happenings over the past couple of months.
Back in early November, Karey went to Hopkins - a small Garifuna village on the ocean to help with some medical assessments at a primary school in Georgetown Village about 20 miles from Hopkins. Working with Nurse Judy - a Belizean, then Californian now Belizean again we set out to get a medical baseline for all the primary students over a weeks time. This included height, weight, toothbrushes w/dental hygien lesson, deworming and an eye exam. Busy time and always when a village finds out there is medical personnel on site many show up to get medical help. We set appointments at the end of each day to take care of all.
One day during lunch a man quietly comes over and passes along the message that there is a lady across the street giving birth. We rush over to this little shack where a very pregnant woman sits quietly on a hammock in labor with pains about a minute apart. She looked like she was just enjoying the day on her hammock. Nurse Judy takes her inside and does an exam and is able to feel the wee one's head. She decides that this woman should be rushed to the next village where they have a midwife. One of our party rushes her there only to find no one is available in the village to help. She then rushes her about another 15 minutes away to a little bigger town to a private clinic. All the while, this quiet Belizean woman never expresses her delivery except with quiet silence. Apparently, she was barely able to get out of the car and that is all we know as she had to just be left there.
Our permanent living conditions are to be changed. We have moved to the outskirts of our village to a healthier living situation. We house sat for a lovely British couple, Jonathan and Lola. We cared for their 2 rotweiller 5 month old pups. They have a lovely thatch in the middle of the bush they are renting while they build their permanent retirement home deeper in the bush on the Moho River. That was around the middle of October thru the end of the month. They have been kind enough to let us stay on the property in a smaller thatch they use for their storage shed. Their is a thatch attachment that has a pipe for washing and a bucket shower with of all things a FLUSH toilet. We are ever grateful. Don't know if we mentioned this in our last blog but can't get enough flushin'.
We have continued to work with the village. We helped them put together a proposal to upgrade the school in the village. We had weekly meetings with the village leaders - got them to elect a new PTA ( the last one fizzled apart) and came up with the needs for their school. It was submitted last week to SIF (Social Investment Fund) a local agency that seeks out funding either locally or internationally to help Belize. Most schools here are Catholic but the church doesn't have enough funds to help upkeep the schools. A lot of the proposals get rejected but heard yesterday that ours was on the SIF list. Hope that is true - it would be a great boost to the village.
We waited for the Peace Corps to decide what is the best situation given the temperment of a small faction of the villagers. They have finally decided to have a move to Punta Gorda. We are at this point still continuing to look for a place to rent. We will miss the bush. It really is quite lovely, quiet and obviously very very green. It can be so still and so wild. The leaves on the various trees are so large that when the wind blows and they begin their dance together it sounds like the rain is coming....AND when it does come it come with a vengance. The birds are migrating and we have had up to 10 species fly through in a day. Parrots, various Flycatchers and others. As flowers are always blooming we are treated to music of many hummingbirds...who at times fly into our house seeking out our cut flowers in our plastic bottle vase. At nite the critters are buzzin' to their own tunes almost to a fever pitch. Our bird call alarm never fails to get us up on time.
Our assignments in PG will be - Karey working at the hospital with Miss Cherry Mae the local health coordinator. Michael will be working with TOLCA (Toledo Children and Adolescents). These two jobs will bring us together working in many villages on a UNICEF project called W.A.S.H. - Water, Sanitation and Hygiene education. It is a 24 village project - upgrading the school toilet facilities to either flush toilets - if they have a water system or VIP (Ventilated Improved Pit Latrines). From this project they will springboard the education into micro behavioral changes to hopefully get families to improve their hygiene for both adults and children. At least to eliminate the worm infestation, tooth decay and overall health.
Our Thanksgiving will be one to remember. About 15 PCV's got together and created a very special day. It began with several of us gringos fetching the "live" turkey and then "preparing" it for stuffin' and cookin'. Altogether about a 4 hour process. One of the hardest parts was trying to start a fire to singe off the last of the pin feathers. Nothing burns here in this climate and finding even dry paper for fire starter is a challenge. Everything here is DAMP/WET. All in all - we ended up with the full works...we all gave our own personal thanks and had a great meal including some local host families and our Ke'eckchi teacher Bartolo.
We had a special adventure with Jonathan and Lola. They took us down the Moho river on their boat to their property in the DEEP bush. It was a beautiful day and there many large Iguanas out sunning themselves on the palms. We even got a picture of a couple of them fighting on the banks of the river. Photos not available yet. We took a hike around their 40 acres. We were covered head to toe with hats, long sleeved shirts and long pants. Sprayed ourselves with repellent and went off. (thanks to all of you for your donation of Cutter's Advanced - it works). An amazing journey - just like the movies - hacking away at the local floral and fauna with a machete to get through.
If anyone has heard of Andy Palacio - we had lunch with him in Barranco. He was chosen as the UNESCO Artist for Peace. Have pics...more later.
We are going to attempt to attach a lot of photos to this blog. One can always click on "Photos" at the top of the web page to see all photos. If the descriptions aren't next to them - holding the cursor on the pic should give a description of the photo.
Hopefully sooner than later we will be keeping you posted
much love
us
Hoping this blog will make some sense as we try to catch up our happenings over the past couple of months.
Back in early November, Karey went to Hopkins - a small Garifuna village on the ocean to help with some medical assessments at a primary school in Georgetown Village about 20 miles from Hopkins. Working with Nurse Judy - a Belizean, then Californian now Belizean again we set out to get a medical baseline for all the primary students over a weeks time. This included height, weight, toothbrushes w/dental hygien lesson, deworming and an eye exam. Busy time and always when a village finds out there is medical personnel on site many show up to get medical help. We set appointments at the end of each day to take care of all.
One day during lunch a man quietly comes over and passes along the message that there is a lady across the street giving birth. We rush over to this little shack where a very pregnant woman sits quietly on a hammock in labor with pains about a minute apart. She looked like she was just enjoying the day on her hammock. Nurse Judy takes her inside and does an exam and is able to feel the wee one's head. She decides that this woman should be rushed to the next village where they have a midwife. One of our party rushes her there only to find no one is available in the village to help. She then rushes her about another 15 minutes away to a little bigger town to a private clinic. All the while, this quiet Belizean woman never expresses her delivery except with quiet silence. Apparently, she was barely able to get out of the car and that is all we know as she had to just be left there.
Our permanent living conditions are to be changed. We have moved to the outskirts of our village to a healthier living situation. We house sat for a lovely British couple, Jonathan and Lola. We cared for their 2 rotweiller 5 month old pups. They have a lovely thatch in the middle of the bush they are renting while they build their permanent retirement home deeper in the bush on the Moho River. That was around the middle of October thru the end of the month. They have been kind enough to let us stay on the property in a smaller thatch they use for their storage shed. Their is a thatch attachment that has a pipe for washing and a bucket shower with of all things a FLUSH toilet. We are ever grateful. Don't know if we mentioned this in our last blog but can't get enough flushin'.
We have continued to work with the village. We helped them put together a proposal to upgrade the school in the village. We had weekly meetings with the village leaders - got them to elect a new PTA ( the last one fizzled apart) and came up with the needs for their school. It was submitted last week to SIF (Social Investment Fund) a local agency that seeks out funding either locally or internationally to help Belize. Most schools here are Catholic but the church doesn't have enough funds to help upkeep the schools. A lot of the proposals get rejected but heard yesterday that ours was on the SIF list. Hope that is true - it would be a great boost to the village.
We waited for the Peace Corps to decide what is the best situation given the temperment of a small faction of the villagers. They have finally decided to have a move to Punta Gorda. We are at this point still continuing to look for a place to rent. We will miss the bush. It really is quite lovely, quiet and obviously very very green. It can be so still and so wild. The leaves on the various trees are so large that when the wind blows and they begin their dance together it sounds like the rain is coming....AND when it does come it come with a vengance. The birds are migrating and we have had up to 10 species fly through in a day. Parrots, various Flycatchers and others. As flowers are always blooming we are treated to music of many hummingbirds...who at times fly into our house seeking out our cut flowers in our plastic bottle vase. At nite the critters are buzzin' to their own tunes almost to a fever pitch. Our bird call alarm never fails to get us up on time.
Our assignments in PG will be - Karey working at the hospital with Miss Cherry Mae the local health coordinator. Michael will be working with TOLCA (Toledo Children and Adolescents). These two jobs will bring us together working in many villages on a UNICEF project called W.A.S.H. - Water, Sanitation and Hygiene education. It is a 24 village project - upgrading the school toilet facilities to either flush toilets - if they have a water system or VIP (Ventilated Improved Pit Latrines). From this project they will springboard the education into micro behavioral changes to hopefully get families to improve their hygiene for both adults and children. At least to eliminate the worm infestation, tooth decay and overall health.
Our Thanksgiving will be one to remember. About 15 PCV's got together and created a very special day. It began with several of us gringos fetching the "live" turkey and then "preparing" it for stuffin' and cookin'. Altogether about a 4 hour process. One of the hardest parts was trying to start a fire to singe off the last of the pin feathers. Nothing burns here in this climate and finding even dry paper for fire starter is a challenge. Everything here is DAMP/WET. All in all - we ended up with the full works...we all gave our own personal thanks and had a great meal including some local host families and our Ke'eckchi teacher Bartolo.
We had a special adventure with Jonathan and Lola. They took us down the Moho river on their boat to their property in the DEEP bush. It was a beautiful day and there many large Iguanas out sunning themselves on the palms. We even got a picture of a couple of them fighting on the banks of the river. Photos not available yet. We took a hike around their 40 acres. We were covered head to toe with hats, long sleeved shirts and long pants. Sprayed ourselves with repellent and went off. (thanks to all of you for your donation of Cutter's Advanced - it works). An amazing journey - just like the movies - hacking away at the local floral and fauna with a machete to get through.
If anyone has heard of Andy Palacio - we had lunch with him in Barranco. He was chosen as the UNESCO Artist for Peace. Have pics...more later.
We are going to attempt to attach a lot of photos to this blog. One can always click on "Photos" at the top of the web page to see all photos. If the descriptions aren't next to them - holding the cursor on the pic should give a description of the photo.
Hopefully sooner than later we will be keeping you posted
much love
us
Monday, October 29, 2007
Address
Our address has changed again...
Michael and Karey Manley
Peace Corps
San Marcos
Toledo District
Belize
Central America
Mostly needed - Emergen-C and M&M's :-) ....it's that simple!
Also, if you have it in your holiday spirit to send an inexpensive chess set to us it would be greatly appreciated. There is an initiative to start chess clubs in the village schools to provide activity, focus and challenging strategizing for the Toledo youth. This project in the north of Belize has had great success.
The resources for the Toledo youth have been very scant compared to the north of Belize. TOLCA (Toledo Children and Adolescents) is a consortium to get equal benefits for the children in the south. With the changing of modern times - the Toledo youth need to learn focus and direction. Without a long explanation of the life of youth down here....chess has proved a great learning and strategy tool for youth here.
OK...you've heard enough blah blah blogging from us the past couple of days.
Happy Halloween (they do celebrate it here)
luff
us
Michael and Karey Manley
Peace Corps
San Marcos
Toledo District
Belize
Central America
Mostly needed - Emergen-C and M&M's :-) ....it's that simple!
Also, if you have it in your holiday spirit to send an inexpensive chess set to us it would be greatly appreciated. There is an initiative to start chess clubs in the village schools to provide activity, focus and challenging strategizing for the Toledo youth. This project in the north of Belize has had great success.
The resources for the Toledo youth have been very scant compared to the north of Belize. TOLCA (Toledo Children and Adolescents) is a consortium to get equal benefits for the children in the south. With the changing of modern times - the Toledo youth need to learn focus and direction. Without a long explanation of the life of youth down here....chess has proved a great learning and strategy tool for youth here.
OK...you've heard enough blah blah blogging from us the past couple of days.
Happy Halloween (they do celebrate it here)
luff
us
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Dios
We know it has been a long time since we blah blah blogged! How to explain all that is happening is somewhat cumbersome by a virtual medium.
We moved to our village after all hurricane evacuations at the beginnng of September. After two weeks there, as we think we mentioned the living conditions were quite sub-standard. We house sat for a almost a month near an eco-tourist lodge. The house was owned by the parents of the owner of the lodge. Follow that?? The father (from Germany) passed away in February and around here places can't remain empty for too long or the bush and critters take over.
During our first village council meeting back in September the village said they would help build us a place on village community property but they weren't sure where that would be just yet. The identified a sight in the village but the PC didn't approve it as it was not near other people, too wide open, not safe, no drainage...etc.etc. With our Associate PC Director (APCD) we negotiated to build the house on our host family's property. Everything in a village has to be approved by the village leaders. This was approved by the two main leaders, the village chairmand and the 1st Alcalde and we moved forward building the thatch. The deal was we would basically pay rent up front to build the house and there would be no subsequent payments after the house was built. The PC would then use it after our stay of two years for the following four years. Our Healthy Community project is a six year project.
So, construction began...we got the cement floor poured (most houses have packed mud floors) and the main posts constructed, also cement. By this time other villagers who weren't in on the decision were heating up. As the last of the cement was being poured the village 2nd Alcalde said the villagers were "vexed" about the location of the PC volunteer home and a town meeting was called for the next day at 6:00pm. We were hearing all kinds of stories...we would be chased out of town...PC had raised monies for the village and were using it to build a house instead of using the money to better the village....who knows
Now, how do we explain all we have learned and been told about village politics and the village mindset???? From the beginning we have been "educated" about following procedure in the village. Also, not everyone participates or doesn't care about what's going on until they may see someone's life being bettered more than theirs. We have been "educated" that many petty jealousies exist in villages...people don't always work together...there is no volunteerism...any requests for assistance must be paid requests. We have also been "educated" on the fact the NGO's come in and contribute to some betterment to a community i.e. building latrines, fixing up schools etc. After that they leave - if any part of the project falls apart that is the way it remains and the villagers expect someone to come and "fixit". Their is no sustainability. Our village, we are learning has a reputation that fits all these categories. There is always so much more to explain but that will have to do.
So, we halt the building process two Sundays ago and Oct 15th at 6:00pm at the local basketball court in the dark, we attend a wild village meeting. Most of it was in K'ekchi but it wasn't hard to understand the body language and the shouting. We had already decided to just remain balanced and let what happens happen. There were wonderful people there who interpreted for us. We found out that it was only a small faction of people who were "vexed"...but that is the same as having a "bad apple" in the bunch. After all was said and done (including them wanting to cancel the PC contract) there were actually more good apples than bad and some came up to us and were grateful we were there in their village.
There was another meeting scheduled with our APCD for the following Thursday. We actually were uplifted after the first meeting even though it was intense. We have begun working on projects for the village and admist the chaos we found like minded souls. We called our APCD and he thought he could handle the situation and all would be well. We were again positive it would. Thursday nite however, did not go so well. We still got together with some of the positive folk and scheduled another meeting regarding upgrading the school for the following Sunday. Only the "nay-sayers" attended the Thursday nite meeting. After all that being said our living situation is still in flux. Our APCD isn't sure this village can get it together. He is very concerned because the some of the main village leaders do not get along or like eachother. Again, our village's reputation holds. The PC is in a decision making mode right now and we are in limbo. We remain positive!!! except we are tired of moving...one of the options is to move us to another village. In this modern world of computers e-mail etc. and beaurocracies needing to be contacted, most of our work takes us into PG to make connections with the powers that be. Therefore, it takes us out of the village and the some people don't understand the process and don't want to. They only see things one way. So, that is another issue. Other villagers have tried to communicate these issues but jealousy blinds.
Again, we move forward with the Sunday nite meeting. Not great attendance but most of the people who care about the village and most of the main leaders showed up. The housing issue was not brought up, only the school upgrade issue and the projects we have been working on. Today we have a scheduled meeting with all the village leaders. The village council, the Alacaldes, the PTA and the Water Board. This is a first in a long time. We will only be dealing with the project issues and we are very excited that maybe out of chaos comes good. While waiting for the bus yesterday, a friend from the village, Domingo says he realizes that if a community does not unite there will never be positive development for the villagers. A wise young man....probably early 20's, married and three children.
We are currently house sitting next door to where we were before. There is a lovely retired British couple that needed their two 5 month old rotweiller pups cared for while they returned to England to get some affairs taken care of. There are two thatches on the property - one is their storage shed but it is a nice one room thatch with screened window all around. There is even a flush toilet outside in another thatch covered room. Showers are still cold...and we sleep in hammocks again. Not the best on these bones but soon we hope our lives will settle soon and we will get a bed.
Believe it or not...it is cooling off down here. We look like weebles when we go to bed wearing many layers of clothes to stay warm. We just look at eachother and laugh. We have an addition to our family. A 7 week old kitten named Pema. She is so cute she looks like a toy. We are raising her to be an efficient critter getter. She is feisty and fun. Pets around here are rarely cared for. It is the saddest thing. There is no consciousness of spaying and neutering...there is no consideration of feeding household animals...they are all stunted, emaciated and sometimes hairless. Everyone has 2 - 4 dogs and cats...as well as any number of fowl and pigs...who are cared for the same way. The chickens have no meat on them...they are almost featherless. Just now there are movements to change this situation but it will be a long time coming.
We will keep you posted. We are excited about our projects with the village...let's hope they will be too. We currently work in the school library three days a week and read with the children. It did have a computer with Encarta (very dated) but it has since broken down. Michael has been trying to fix it, hoping it is just a switch issue but we are not sure. We are helping the village put together a proposal to add four classrooms...one will be a computer lab. If that comes together we will be searching for computers and hope to get them internet. The school population has grown from 186 last year to 231 this year. The need for good education is high. As with most places the hope lies within the youth. They are starving for information. We are also working with an ex PC volunteer that has a foundation that builds latrines in villages around the world. We are hoping to get on that list as our village has 89 households..only 20 - 25 with latrines. We are also working on trying to get health education off the ground. There is much to do! We just don't know where we will be doing it!!!
Send good thoughts
hugs to all
We know it has been a long time since we blah blah blogged! How to explain all that is happening is somewhat cumbersome by a virtual medium.
We moved to our village after all hurricane evacuations at the beginnng of September. After two weeks there, as we think we mentioned the living conditions were quite sub-standard. We house sat for a almost a month near an eco-tourist lodge. The house was owned by the parents of the owner of the lodge. Follow that?? The father (from Germany) passed away in February and around here places can't remain empty for too long or the bush and critters take over.
During our first village council meeting back in September the village said they would help build us a place on village community property but they weren't sure where that would be just yet. The identified a sight in the village but the PC didn't approve it as it was not near other people, too wide open, not safe, no drainage...etc.etc. With our Associate PC Director (APCD) we negotiated to build the house on our host family's property. Everything in a village has to be approved by the village leaders. This was approved by the two main leaders, the village chairmand and the 1st Alcalde and we moved forward building the thatch. The deal was we would basically pay rent up front to build the house and there would be no subsequent payments after the house was built. The PC would then use it after our stay of two years for the following four years. Our Healthy Community project is a six year project.
So, construction began...we got the cement floor poured (most houses have packed mud floors) and the main posts constructed, also cement. By this time other villagers who weren't in on the decision were heating up. As the last of the cement was being poured the village 2nd Alcalde said the villagers were "vexed" about the location of the PC volunteer home and a town meeting was called for the next day at 6:00pm. We were hearing all kinds of stories...we would be chased out of town...PC had raised monies for the village and were using it to build a house instead of using the money to better the village....who knows
Now, how do we explain all we have learned and been told about village politics and the village mindset???? From the beginning we have been "educated" about following procedure in the village. Also, not everyone participates or doesn't care about what's going on until they may see someone's life being bettered more than theirs. We have been "educated" that many petty jealousies exist in villages...people don't always work together...there is no volunteerism...any requests for assistance must be paid requests. We have also been "educated" on the fact the NGO's come in and contribute to some betterment to a community i.e. building latrines, fixing up schools etc. After that they leave - if any part of the project falls apart that is the way it remains and the villagers expect someone to come and "fixit". Their is no sustainability. Our village, we are learning has a reputation that fits all these categories. There is always so much more to explain but that will have to do.
So, we halt the building process two Sundays ago and Oct 15th at 6:00pm at the local basketball court in the dark, we attend a wild village meeting. Most of it was in K'ekchi but it wasn't hard to understand the body language and the shouting. We had already decided to just remain balanced and let what happens happen. There were wonderful people there who interpreted for us. We found out that it was only a small faction of people who were "vexed"...but that is the same as having a "bad apple" in the bunch. After all was said and done (including them wanting to cancel the PC contract) there were actually more good apples than bad and some came up to us and were grateful we were there in their village.
There was another meeting scheduled with our APCD for the following Thursday. We actually were uplifted after the first meeting even though it was intense. We have begun working on projects for the village and admist the chaos we found like minded souls. We called our APCD and he thought he could handle the situation and all would be well. We were again positive it would. Thursday nite however, did not go so well. We still got together with some of the positive folk and scheduled another meeting regarding upgrading the school for the following Sunday. Only the "nay-sayers" attended the Thursday nite meeting. After all that being said our living situation is still in flux. Our APCD isn't sure this village can get it together. He is very concerned because the some of the main village leaders do not get along or like eachother. Again, our village's reputation holds. The PC is in a decision making mode right now and we are in limbo. We remain positive!!! except we are tired of moving...one of the options is to move us to another village. In this modern world of computers e-mail etc. and beaurocracies needing to be contacted, most of our work takes us into PG to make connections with the powers that be. Therefore, it takes us out of the village and the some people don't understand the process and don't want to. They only see things one way. So, that is another issue. Other villagers have tried to communicate these issues but jealousy blinds.
Again, we move forward with the Sunday nite meeting. Not great attendance but most of the people who care about the village and most of the main leaders showed up. The housing issue was not brought up, only the school upgrade issue and the projects we have been working on. Today we have a scheduled meeting with all the village leaders. The village council, the Alacaldes, the PTA and the Water Board. This is a first in a long time. We will only be dealing with the project issues and we are very excited that maybe out of chaos comes good. While waiting for the bus yesterday, a friend from the village, Domingo says he realizes that if a community does not unite there will never be positive development for the villagers. A wise young man....probably early 20's, married and three children.
We are currently house sitting next door to where we were before. There is a lovely retired British couple that needed their two 5 month old rotweiller pups cared for while they returned to England to get some affairs taken care of. There are two thatches on the property - one is their storage shed but it is a nice one room thatch with screened window all around. There is even a flush toilet outside in another thatch covered room. Showers are still cold...and we sleep in hammocks again. Not the best on these bones but soon we hope our lives will settle soon and we will get a bed.
Believe it or not...it is cooling off down here. We look like weebles when we go to bed wearing many layers of clothes to stay warm. We just look at eachother and laugh. We have an addition to our family. A 7 week old kitten named Pema. She is so cute she looks like a toy. We are raising her to be an efficient critter getter. She is feisty and fun. Pets around here are rarely cared for. It is the saddest thing. There is no consciousness of spaying and neutering...there is no consideration of feeding household animals...they are all stunted, emaciated and sometimes hairless. Everyone has 2 - 4 dogs and cats...as well as any number of fowl and pigs...who are cared for the same way. The chickens have no meat on them...they are almost featherless. Just now there are movements to change this situation but it will be a long time coming.
We will keep you posted. We are excited about our projects with the village...let's hope they will be too. We currently work in the school library three days a week and read with the children. It did have a computer with Encarta (very dated) but it has since broken down. Michael has been trying to fix it, hoping it is just a switch issue but we are not sure. We are helping the village put together a proposal to add four classrooms...one will be a computer lab. If that comes together we will be searching for computers and hope to get them internet. The school population has grown from 186 last year to 231 this year. The need for good education is high. As with most places the hope lies within the youth. They are starving for information. We are also working with an ex PC volunteer that has a foundation that builds latrines in villages around the world. We are hoping to get on that list as our village has 89 households..only 20 - 25 with latrines. We are also working on trying to get health education off the ground. There is much to do! We just don't know where we will be doing it!!!
Send good thoughts
hugs to all
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