SO, I don't know what has happened to blogger, but its not letting me move pictures anymore, so until I figure out why, we'll have to deal with pictures all at once at the end of the post.
April 25, 2009
So Holy Week and Easter Week are over and things are starting to get back to normal. The twins turned two, so there was a little bit of festivity there. They are starting to sprout up and are trying to talk a lot. Check out a few pics.
These past few weeks the wood saving stove project has started to pick up steam. We started with the community furthest out, and knocked it out by turning over to all the families the materials. I brought Francisco along to help the crew of the trash truck and me to deliver the stuff. It was a lot of work, and a long bumpy ride, but with much success. The technician is coming this week to start building out there.
A few days ago, we knocked out two other communities, La Carbonera and San Juan Nahuistepeque, we are just waiting on the iron griddle like parts to get done at the NGO. I feel like that is going to be the holdup for this project. But that is the biggest problem, and at the same time best lesson for a Peace Corps Volunteer….we bring nothing to the table as far as resources go, so we have to organize really well, and keep on people, or things never get done. I’ve found that things get done better by just making friends with everyone, rather than relying on the fact that we are “Cuerpo de Paz” (Peace Corps), haha.
Oh man, normally, I omit all the things that go wrong in the projects, but I couldn’t help but laugh at the latest clownage. I borrowed a metal barrel from someone to bring molasses for the stoves, and didn’t know that the bottom wasn’t welded well to the top part. Well, that led to about 30 galones ($20) of molasses leaking out on the way back from the Sugar Factory. It was ALL over the Mayor’s Office’s truck and the front of the Mayors Office and everything. And there wasn’t any water to wash the stuff with. It was a terrible evening, haha. Now that I think about it, I think City Hall might be a better translation for Alcaldia….anyways, fun stuff.
In other news, one of the students of the rural school of San Juan Nahuistepeque in our municipality won second place in the country in a drawing contest put on by the Embassy and Peace Corps. So the country director and my boss and other people came to do a little ceremony in Celebration of Earth Day.
We also put on a big deal HIV/AIDS event here in La Comunidad in the Casa Comunal. I tried to stay more in the background and let the Health Committee and Isabel the community health promoter do the majority, and it actually turned out pretty well. We invited the head of the Infectology(?) dept. in the major hospital in the capital to do a talk on the history and current indices in the country, the parish priest to talk about prevention from a religious perspective, the head of Rural Health and Sanitation in Peace Corps to talk about its Biology, I put together a social drama with a youth group, and at the end CARITAS brought in a Testimony. I’d say we had close to 100 people there. Although at least half was a captive audience because we had a sign up sheet that we turned into the schools that had given permission for their students to attend.
Oh yeah, thanks to a donation from a group in Utah, we’ve been able to supply a school with a floor and electricity for what will now be its Computer Classroom. Through the same group we’ve also been able to supply the medical clinic and another school with their first computers. There is a third laptop, but I am looking for a hard drive to fix it with.
Finally, here in my home Canton, we have finished our internal study and pricings, land permissions, etc, to starting fix the potable water system. We will now start soliciting embassies, NGOs, and anything else that moves, hahaha.
Good times.
As much as I wanted to quote some of G.K. and his interesting take on tradition and democracy, I’m satisfied with this quote.
“Therefore the modern man in revolt has become practically useless for all purposes of revolt. By rebelling against everything he has lost his right to rebel against anything.”
G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, p. 47
The guys joking after seeing my leg.
my leg.
The escaped crab that showed up in my refri.
What I saw when I opened up my fridge.
Our Testimony at the AIDS deal.
The kids watching our drama by the youth group.
Our play, supposedly a scene from a local bus.
The mayor giving a few words.
(left ot right) Dr. Cedillos from Hospital Rosales, Mrs. Mari from CARITAS El Salvador, Mauricio Juarez President of ADESCO, Prof. Guillermo Garcia Mayor of San Pedro, Isabel Urias Health Promoter, Father Tino Parish Priest
Padre Tino doing what he does.
An activity led by Isabel.
The only pic that came out with me in it. In this activity we put on a song and had a bunch of kids mix what looked like cups of water. At the end we had a surprise AIDS test in each cup and in the cups that had vinegar, and not water, showed up tainted. Only the kids that we had told beforehand not to mix no matter what came out without AIDS. Fun stuff.
Dr. Cedillos giving his datum.
Bri, one of the Peace Corps bosses, doing the biology of HIV/AIDS.
our chain gang of unloading materials in the community furthest away
Some of the things we left.
A pic with the hermita within reach.
I was the one always covered in molasses.
Molasses
Pour it all in. On this trip I brought along Francisco to help and take some pics.
This was one of the fruit baskets made by the school that won the art deal.
Our country director giving the gift and some words of encouragement.
My boss giving a few words.
The truck that brought tubes for the stoves and bricks for the computer room at the school.
The kids at the ceremony.
The table of honor. Wahoo. 
The scene for Earth Day beforehand.
The twins next door trying to blow out their candles. 
Yummy.
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