PC: Pre-Service Training Week Seven (part 1)

Sunday was a day primarily dedicated to sleep. I was trying to get over being sick, and it's unfortunately not working. I emerged from my room only to work on our presentation for class for a few hours. Also, Roberto is changing everything up in the pupuseria, and it's going to look awesome. Every day when I come home more of the mural is done, and another sign is in the works. Other than that, I finished Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. It is a hilarious book about the end of the world, an unlikely friendship between an angel and a demon, and the antichrist growing up in an idyllic English town.

Monday we met the acting Director of Peace Corps, and she’s awesome. Her name is Carrie Hessler-Radelet and she and all the other bigwigs are here in El Salvador for the Inter-America Pacific regional conference. She toured some of the current volunteer sites, then came to visit us in training. She is the kind of person who makes everyone feel comfortable and effortlessly holds the attention of the room. She was a great sport and participated in our training session on teamwork, and I was in a group with her reading our scenario and presenting a skit. She made a good ADESCO president and convincingly quit her job and stormed off. 

All of our visitors (Carrie and her entourage) gave great feedback and comments during the session, then sat us down to talk about changes in Peace Corps Washington. They asked for our own experience with the application process and listened and took notes, which was awesome because it finally felt like someone was listening and actually cared about making the process better. The entire application is getting re-vamped and now applicants will be able to choose what programs they want to participate in and where, instead of having to be open to going anywhere in the world. The application will be streamlined and shortened, and response time will be faster. There will be one point of contact (thank goodness) and the medical portion will be first since about 30% of applicants (I think) have to go through more extensive medical testing before being cleared to serve. It all sounds good to me, though I actually like that it's a nine-month process and that you're supposed to be willing to go anywhere because that's partly what I think Peace Corps is about. Carrie's reasoning is that if you go where you want, you will be more dedicated to your project.  

We asked about the security situation because the director of security was there with Carrie too. Currently we are not allowed into San Salvador or Guatemala or Honduras. Given that Honduras has the highest murder rate in the world, I'm not in any hurry to change that travel arrangement, but I would like to visit Guatemala. They have a similar situation to us, which is that interdepartmental travel is not allowed except by private Peace Corps shuttle and the capital is completely off-limits. The problem is that they (and we) don't have the capacity to shuttle PCVs from other countries, nor do they want to be responsible for PCVs who don't know the country rules and dangers. That rule, and the no public transportation rule came about because three El Salvador PCVs were held up at gunpoint in Guatemala a year or so ago. Security issues have dropped by 90% here since the new rules were put in place, so something must be going right.

Carrie told us some great stories from her time in Peace Corps in Samoa. I'm pretty sure she tells the same two stories - one about her host mom getting pregnant with her ninth child and breaking down in despair which led to her interest and later career change into public health, and the other about meeting the President of Guinea who attributed his success to an agroforestry PCV in his village - at every public event, but it was still powerful. I'm pretty sure everyone got a photo with her except me, because for some reason I was spacing out and didn't ask for one. I now thoroughly regret that oversight. She complimented our staff, commenting that we probably see them and get more support from them than in any other Peace Corps country. 

Our staff is awesome and I couldn't be happier with them, which actually transitions well into Tuesday and our final Project Manager (PM) interviews before our site placement next week. Clelia is our PM, and she had given us a written interview to fill out during Field-Based Training to get an idea of our thoughts after seeing two communities. After seeing her highlights on my responses, it was a terrible idea to ask me questions about what I want in my site. Basically I want a garden and a puppy and reliable transportation to a bigger town and other than that I should be good. I think Clelia wants to give me a challenge, and that's fine by me. My idea of Peace Corps is to go where I'm most needed and I trust Clelia's judgment completely, so where she says I can do well, I trust that I will.  

The afternoon was taken up with yet another meeting with the women's artisan group, this time to give a talk on leadership. We did some pretty hilarious activities to work on communication, like having one person tell the other how to draw a picture with her eyes closed or arranging themselves silently by birthday month. It was actually really interesting to see the failure of the birthday activity because everyone looked to the president of the group for guidance, but she provided none. They never did manage to arrange themselves by month because they couldn't communicate their ideas and the one woman who was working to get everyone in order kept getting held up by the one who didn't quite understand the activity (she wanted year, month and day) and wouldn't follow directions. It did a fantastic job revealing the group dynamics and natural leadership potential of many of the group. We identified many characteristics of a good leader and talked about the importance of leadership within the group (not that they shouldn't all be leaders, but that a guide with the good of the group in mind will steer it better than a million ideas all competing for attention) and of developing habits of leadership in daily life. It felt like a successful meeting and everyone left in good spirits.

I'm getting better at this whole idea of taking charge and being a leader. I usually feel extremely under-qualified to be in charge of basically anything, but working with this women's group and presenting for Spanish and COED and just talking to community members is making it all much less nerve-wracking. I am finding my strengths and coming into my own, and it's really cool to be able to plan a talk and see it carried out successfully with lots of energy and see people processing what we say and taking it to heart. I know it gets old and feels repetitive for most of our training group talking about most of common sense themes about how to act and how to lead as a COED PCV, and I sometimes add my voice to the choir, but I know that I'm more comfortable in my skin now than I was when I started. I know that now I can plan and lead a dynamic meeting, which will be much of my life as a PCV, which is something I had zero experience in before Pre-Service Training (PST). I like having guidelines and formats, even if it's just to try them out and change them completely to fit the situation. It makes me feel in control and freer to experiment, knowing what has proven to be effective in the past.

Wednesday it rained all day. We started with a bit of class about subjunctive, then joined another Spanish group in a visit to the unidad de proyección social (family and social services) to learn about comunidades rurales solidarias and comunidades urbanos solidarios, projects implemented by the previous government and carried on by the current government that identify poor rural and urban communities and give residents a sum of money to help them make it through the month. The programs originally were only for mothers with at least two children, and in some municipalities if the kids are malnourished or don't attend school after the mother gets the money, she loses the right to the aid because it is specifically to help her children. That doesn't always happen, and the program is expanding to all adults and elders in poor communities without having to prove that the family needs aid, so aid is being used for things like buying minutes and unnecessary things rather than on the kids. There's another program, la unidad de la semilla mejorada, that gives out seeds and helps farmers plant their crops. I don't know how that one is working, but it seems like a good idea from the outside. 

In Nuevo Cuscatlán, because it hasn't been identified as a poor community, they can't receive government aid. The mayor instead has started a program for senior citizens, giving them a packet of food every month. As long as the person fits the age bracket and brings an ID, he or she can receive the food packet. There are also 35 people who are "special cases," meaning that they don't fit the age bracket but have proven that they need aid so they can also receive the food packets as well. The program existed before, but only 92 senior citizens were given any help at all. Now, 589 seniors and special cases receive a food packet each month. It has been working well here, and has been a huge help. Another point for Nayib (the current mayor). 

We went straight from the unidad de proyección social to the unidad de salud (health clinic) to talk to the director. They provide free healthcare to anyone who walks through the doors, and work on lots of programs to educate the public on dengue, women's health, vaccinations against rabies, and safe sex. We asked a million questions about how the organization works and the services it provides and who comes and what illnesses are the most common and how they coordinate with other groups to put on activities. They also work together with the municipal clinic for vaccination campaigns and transportation because the clinic has ambulances, while the unidad de salud does not. It was one of our final "community contacts" here in Nuevo Cuscatlán, which would be a relief, except that we have to repeat all of these contacts all over again when we get to our sites. Yay training. 

I ate a quick lunch of spaghetti and veggies and beets, then played Farkel and Phase 10 with Josiel with the itty bitty puppy in my lap. I can't wait to get my puppy. When the rest of the group arrived, we straggled over to the school to schedule the English class we have to give to little kids. I don't know when we are supposed to have time for that, but it's one of the requirements for swearing in, so we are making time where none exists.

Since it was still raining, we decided to stop by Carolina's house for some coffee (she has an espresso machine) and a good long chat. I talked to her about my potential site placement and got some homework done asking her about what weddings look like in El Salvador. They are basically like weddings in the US, as far as I can tell. We also talked about Nayib and all the dirt that political parties are starting to throw now that the presidential elections are in sight. There's talk that if the FMLN candidate is pulling the party down, another candidate may take his place with Nayib as his VP. It's all chambre (gossip), but it's fun to speculate about the possibilities for our mayor.

It has been a really long day, and it showed when we met up to plan our HIV/AIDS activity. We all got assigned an activity so that we can practice before bringing the activity to our communities. We just so happened to get the condom activities and we barely held it together as we planned step-by-step our presentation and activities "to get people comfortable using a condom in a non-threatening environment" that we will present on Thursday.

We called it quits and headed back to Carolina's for internet and another group meeting. I finished my group project on Sunday, so I tagged along just to be out of the house so I could concentrate on writing. I semi-watched the end of Gladiator and the beginning of Toy Story 3 while writing and working on homework in equal measure. Mario exploded the remote, but somehow managed to piece it all together as good as new, which of course distracted all of us for a good twenty minutes. It has yet to stop raining, so here I am in my room reading a new book by Barry Lyga when I get bored writing essay responses to the "readiness to serve" assessment. I finally am caught up again on homework and not feeling incredibly crappy. Here's to small things.