Diaz Chavez

What a month it has been!!!! I am doing a topographical study for a sewer system for one of the colonias here in Yoro. Basic sanitary issues....it is unbelievable that people live literally where sewage collects and contribute to the problem as well. Many people here if they even have a latrine have at least dug a hole for a septic well....This is not the case in part of this colonia. Some of the people have their disposal tube from their toliet draining directly into the crick at the bottom of their property. This past week I have been literally walking through shit.

It is so frustrating because many of these people live in extreme poverty but continue to endager their health by living along this creek. The is a super high risk of getting malaria and dengue in this area and this colonia has 75% of dengue cases in all of Yoro. It is evident where the problem is but a lack of money, a lack of interest and a lack of wanting to work to change the situation also influence the situation to stay the same. There are people that will refuse to connect to the sewer system because they'll have to pay 12 lempias ($0.72) a month. Yes there are families that can't connect due to poverty but the saddest part is these are the people who live in dirtiness and contiue to live in conditons worse than animals even though people work to educate them that they have to clean their house everyday.

So I at the point where I need to take the measurements for the oxidation ponds but the municipality of course takes it time in colaborating with me. The land also doesn't help out that much either. I live at the bottom of a mountain with 2 rivers and several creeks that don't help out my situation. Keep me in your prayers as I decide what I need to do and that I can work educating yoroenos about living santarily. Besos

Machismo

This update is long over due. I sure many of you think that I have fallen of the planet but that just isn’t true. Life here in Honduras is not the fast paced rush here rush there get this done while doing something else. This is even more so true in Yoro. As an American somedays this frustrates me but other days I absolutely love it. I lived the last 5 years running around trying to accomplish the most that I could when in reality I maybe should have taken the time to relax and enjoy life a little bit more. So, what have I been up to is the question?

This last weekend I had my first first-hand experience with machismo here in Honduras. SANNA, a government water organization united with USAID, invited me and my counterpart COMASY to a 2 day taller or workshop on sustainable water boards and projects. 5 Honduran women from the water board associations attended the taller; in total, there were 8 of us. The woman attending spoke very little. This is normally not their role to speak and inform a group about what has happened or are facing in their own communities.

When I first arrived the tecnicos from SANAA began joking around because one of them thought I was hot. At first I just let it go but they began to get carried away. On the second day each association of water boards gave a report to the group about their experiences success and failures. None of the other Peace Corps volunteer had gone up with their associated group so when it was my group’s turn I just stayed where I was until my counterpart asked me to join them. I did willingly, but one of the tecnicos as a joke mentioned that I should come up front so that Franco, the tecnico who that I was hot, could look at me. At that moment I had had enough and during the next break, I informed them that what he had said was very rude and a lack of respect for women. He asked why and I explained that I wasn’t laughing and didn’t find their joke very funny. It may have different but this man is married and told his compañeros that he was going to conquest me. (Sorry it doesn’t translate well but those are his words).

After I basically scolded them the joking stop, but the machismo continued. A leader of a dynamica asked for 3 men. Two came up front and he then asked for one more person so I offered to go up front. The leader then said that he needed a man for the dynamica because it was a dynamica of force. The engineer from SANAA said that I could participate and I did. The three of us were tied inside of one rope and formed a triangle. I was named the cemetery and the other two were the community and a chlorination bank. The object was for each of us to pull to show the force of each place. Well you will be happy to know that I did pull both of the men proving that women too are just as strong.

Having proved that women too are strong, I felt that I shouldn’t have had to prove that as a woman I have strength. Being here yes I have seen machismo but never experienced it first hand. Claro que si men and women have different roles but it is the attitude that only women cook, wash and clean that bothers me. Women can do what men do and men can do what women do….work is work. Women here are beginning to have a voice. It is a slow process but I pray that equality will be achieved. I will continue to be a role model for women involving them in subtle ways such as asking for their opinions during a meeting or talking about my work. Little by little we can change our world.

Campaña de Limpieza

Hello all, I can´t believe 3 months have already passed here in Yoro. I am still getting to know people and making friends. At times the language barrier can be difficult. I speak Spanish well although it is difficult for some Hondurans to understand me. I think part of it is that they are suprised that I speak Spanish well and weren´t really paying attention in the first place or they just are unwilling to try and understand especially the elderly. I haven´t traveled much of Honduras yet because I wanted to make a good integration into my community. People here recognize me and treat me very well.

As for work, it has been slow however I am finally working with the city council member that is involed in the envirionment. I am very happy to be working with her. She is a frank and outspoken person which is quite difficult to find in Latin culture. She has presented a 4 year plan with the municipality and I plan on working with her and her ideas since that is really what I want ot focus on.

This past month we worked with the Minestry of Health and their promoters to plan a city wide clean up. Of course the first time is always full of faults but according to the promoters this year was much better than last year. We coordinated with the students at the high school to help us go to all the homes in every barrio and put abate ( an insecticde that kills mosquitos) in their pilas. Mosquitos here carry dengue and malaria so it is very important that every pèrson takes responsibility for the standing water they have around their homes. Garbage is a huge problem here. People throw garabage wherever a part of this is that there is a lack of garbage cans through out the city. The city has tried to but garbage cans through out the city but people abuse them and rob them. In public garbage cans people dispose of their dead chickens or dogs instead of burying them. The attitude of many people is that someone else will take care of it. My counterpart and I talked to many of the businesses on the main street and many of them respond with a positve answer that they would but a garbage can in front of their business to help eliminate the garbage in the streets. This is a huge project and a long term goal for the city because people don´t change overnight.

I will be working with the students at the high school who will in return teach thier classmates what to do with garbage. A large part of the campaign is motivating people to change and become aware of the fact that garbage and poor sanitary habits keep people cause sickness throughout the city. I have been on the radio and television promoting good habits and have had many direct questions but they have all gone well. I am happy to be working but it is frustrating with cultural differences and the lack of enthusiaism people have to make a difference in thier city. I hope to continue working with my counterpart but due to politics I am not sure how much longer she will be at the municipality. I think that even if she is not at the muncipality I will continue to woirk with her in other projects. We hope to continue this campaign every 3 months. I hope that before I leave I see a cleaner city and more environmental consciensous community.

Emotions

So it´s been quite some time since I´ve written so I apoligize. I am very happy here in Yoro at the moment. These past 2 weeks have been wuite up and down. I got sick for the first with parasites and threw for 5 days in a row.....Talk about fun. I then found out about my dad while I was dealing with lack of support from the municipality. These past 2 months I have been getting to know Yoro but have not done much no thanks to my counterpart that is barely at the municipality. I have resolved the issue by attending the city council meeting and asking for a change with whom I work with. I now work with the council memebers working with the environment and health. We are beginging a project to clean up the city of Yoro and asking local business to donate trash cans since the municipality of Yoro is quite lacking of funds. Today is also 1 month since Samuel and I started dating. We are taking things slow and getting to know one another. We have similar interests and who knows where God will take us. I hope all is well wherever you are. Peace

Deforestation

Deforestation! This one act causes so much destruction here in Honduras. Trees take moisture from the clouds allowing a region to stay cooler than it would without trees. Without trees the mountainside is susceptible to erosion, which will more than likely cause landslides during the rainy season, destroying more of Honduras’ environment. Questions you may have are “Who’s to blame?” “Why does this continue if Hondurans know this?” “What is being done?” These are questions that I will attempt to answer.
The fault, I believe, does not lie with any one person or company. Hondurans use llena (firewood) to heat their stoves. Many campesinos have no other source of fuel or money to purchase other fuels if they were available therefore they look to the forest and nature to provide llena. If it were only local Honduran campesinos cutting down trees in their own aldeas, deforestation would not be such an issue. Logging companies throughout Honduras build dirt roads into the forest of one mountain cut down trees and move on. So you may ask “Why are there some trees left?” Honduras has begun using forestry engineers to mark good seedling trees that will help to reforest the mountain after logging but…….as we know corruption flows through many areas in our world and trees that would have made great seedlings are cut and smaller trees are left in their place.
Throughout Honduras, reforestation projects have begun by the government, local and international NGOs, and some logging companies. Reforesting natural and artificially take years to complete. Natural reforestation occurs by natural course of trees losing their seeds creating new trees. Artificial reforestation occurs when trees are planted and grown in a greenhouse and then transplanted into the forest a year later. Down sides to artificial reforestation are many man hours are involved in care and maintenance of the trees for 3 years, many trees are lost through the process from seed to transplant to maturity, and the seeds selected may not always grow in the area if they are foreign to the region.
So why is this such an issue for me? Well, as a wat san volunteer, trees protect watersheds and water sources. Many communities have little access to water and part of my job is to help these communities find water sources and create water systems if possible. Trees are vital to the health of a water source; they bring rain and moisture to a watershed, which helps keep the spring alive. I hope to get involved with reforestation projects here in the department of Yoro. It is still too early to tell how much motivation exists for such a project I am praying that there is.

Yoro, Yoro

So I have finally arrived at my site after 3 months of training. I am glad to be here even though the outskirts of the department of Yoro have drug trafficing. I am no where near this area...thank God. I hope all of you are safe wherever you are US, Africa, Europe, etc. I thank you all for sending me emails. I hope to soon put up some pictures. Yoro isn´t a pretty tropical place. There is an immense amount of deforestation, which results in hotter weather. It is hot but not unbearably hot as in other locations, for example Choluteca in the south where mountains are completely barren.
The Honduran governement attempts to protect the forest but pine is worth a lot of money here. Lumber companies fight over land rights, politicians and local police have their say, corruption is evident and it continues due to everyone fearing the reprecussions whatever they might be. I will have plenty of work to do with my counterpart, the Municipality of Yoro and COMASY, a wat san organization involving SANAA, the Ministry of Health, local Juntas de agua (Waterboards), World Vision and the Municipality. The only problem I face is the fact that I am prohibitted from using a motorcycle as transportation. This is a problem since the muni has no funds for another vehicle and gas, not oil is purchased from the US. Motos are much more economical for the Honduran people. The rule is under review by PC Washington, but who knows what will happen. I am sure that I will find a way to get to these communities and help them with thier water situations, but I know that I must be patient. I will soon write more. I went to Cacau, an aldea 2.5 hours away and had a really great time. I will be posting pictures with this entry so stay tuned..... Love you all and thanks again for the correspondence.

Leaving…..Sta Cruz

So I soon leave Santa Cruz. I leave on Wednesday April 5 to Siguatapeque. I find out where my site will be on Tuesday April 4. I am so anxious to know!! On Wednesday, I will meet my counterpart. He/she will be the person I work with for the next 2 years. I will either work with an NGO or municipal government, somewhat like a county government. I will then spend the weekend in my site and begin to make friendships and working relationships with people in the community. I then return to Santa Lucia for 2 weeks. I will spend Semana Santa with my host family there. I am excited to see how they celebrate here.
I am ready to leave Santa Cruz and start working at my site. I know that it will come soon enough. I am just tired of packing. This is the 3rd time I will have packed all my things and I will have to do it once more as I take things to my site. I pray all is well with everyone and I ask those who are the praying type to pray for wisdom for our wat san project director so that he places everyone where they need to be. Love and God’s Peace,

Technical Training and Adventurous Trips

Okay, so I know that I have not made any entries lately to my blog...well my excuse is that I am swamped with training. Here is how my day follows...I first get up around 6:15 to take a cold bucket bath that shivers me awake and jump starts my day. I then eat breakfast, coffee, fried eggs, refried beans, and fried tortillas with melted quesillo inside or a sandwich of some sort or fried tortilla crisps...notice a trend. I then have Spanish class from 7:30a –- 11:30a at the night high school Popol-Vuh. I walk home for lunch and normally eat refried beans or rice, fried eggs or chicken, fried tortillas with quesillo or a sandwich and a soda or juice to drink. I then either walk to the central park, which is a block away to travel to a near aldea for technical training. On the weekends, we normally have a field base excursion to attend.
In technical training, we have learned about watersheds and the importance of teaching the campesinos about protecting it, so that they and their children will have water in the future. We have taught families how to care for their garbage and have constructed latrines, pilas (concrete water tanks), and fogones mejorados. Fogones mejorados are adobe or cement block stoves that use less wood. There is a base constructed from adobe blocks called la mesa. On top of the mesa is the firebox. In the firebox along the elongated sides, we put two ceramic tejas, these are the typical clay tiles you see on the roofs of homes here. Behind the tejas, we put ashes; the ashes are used to help transfer the heat along the plancha, it is similar to a grill but it is solid steel so the campesinos can make tortillas. By putting ashes behind the tejas, the campesinos are able to use less wood, because the plancha heats better and there is not as much space in the firebox. We work to implement theses fogones so that less wood is used and thus saving more of the watershed. We have also given charlas, educational speeches, about the importance of charging for water service, garbage management, leadership, and other topics.
Training has been awesome except for the clumsy mishaps that I have had. I have been to the hospital in Siguatepeque twice and the dentist in Teguz (short for Tegucigalpa) once. My first visit to the hospital was because I had a fever the night before from bronchitis that I had as well being dehydrated and taking in too much sun. I spent the night and it was incredibly boring. I had one English channel to watch the WB, which played the same shows over all day. In the evening, I was able to find movies in English to watch, but when you are sick, all ya want are comforts of home and nurse that understand you. Anyways, the second visit to the hospital was because we went to Los Pinos, a national reserve, and I went swimming in the waterfall. Of course being me, I slipped on a rock and hit my head, which gave me quite the welt. When I came back to Santa Cruz de Yojoa, we went to see the doctora at the clinic, but they could not get a hold of her. So, I went home with ice on my bump, and my host mom had me put honey on it because she said ice is like electricity for your head. Believe it or not, the bump completely went away and no bruise formed. Everyone at class the next day was amazed as well as I. So the next time, you get a bump on your head, put honey on bandage cloth. Put it over the bump, and be amazed. Anyway, the PCMO (Peace Corps Medical Officer) said that since I still had a headache and pain in my shoulder the following day that I needed to go the hospital and make sure I didn’t have a fracture. The PCMO’s are quite overprotective but they have to be. I am lucky though and haven’t gotten amoebas like pretty much everyone else. Life is great here and I am glad to be completing my service here. I miss you all. Please write and email…………letters are even better because you’ll get one back.

FBT - Santa Cruz de Yojoa

I have now moved to Santa Cruz de Yojoa which is near Lake Yojoa in Honduras. I have been here since Sunday. Sta Cruz is larger and more active than Sta Lucia. I am excited that we are finally entering our hands ono techincal training. Today we are going to La Quesera to look take the flow of a fuente that they want to use as a water source. Water here is scarce, more so in the South. The south is very dry from Decemeber to May and due to the fact that most of South has been deforested, watersheds have become non-existent. Many people that live in the campo have little education about why it is important to protect their water source. Many communties think that if they have a water system they will have water whenever they want. Many of the fuentes here are polluted or have insucifient flow.

I have learned so much in the past month about Honduran water supply and politics. There 3 types of land here. Forrestal land (aboue 1800 m) which no one but the national government owns (but of course there are some exceptions here with some logging companies that supposedly had had land titles in these areas before the change in the government law. Domino municipal which means the municipal government owns the land, and the people can rent the use of the land but are unable to own it. Domino pleno is land that the municipal governments own in the beginning and people are able to rent the land as they are purchasing it. This is important because any water source is owned by the public. So even if a water source is on domino pleno the public owns 250 meters of land around the water source and 150 meters of land from each side of the shore of a stream or river....as you can imagine this does not happen. The problem communities run into is that a water source lies on someone´s land and the owner doesn´t want to give up the use of his water source and thus causes problems for the communtiy.

Life in Santa Lucia

Hey everyone! I have arrived safe and sound in Honduras. The line I chose for entering into the country was the slowest moving line but that’s how customs work. I haven’t seen much of Honduras due to the fact that I have a rigorous training schedule. I wake up at 6 am to shower and eat breakfast. I then have a twenty-minute mountainous walk to the training center. Language classes begin at 7:30 am and go until 11:30am with 3 breaks. One of my Honduran cousins brings my lunch in a Tupperware container to the training center. I then have classes from 12:30 to 4:30 pm. These classes are either training or CORE classes. I don’t much enjoy CORE classes but they will become fewer and fewer as the weeks begin to pass.

My family here is great! My mother Luz Maria takes care of the house and on the weekends, she works at a store on the main street that sells fresh bread and sweets. My father Jorge is a taxi driver in Tegucigalpa. My sister Heidi works a bank in Tegucigalpa, Jenny goes to university and Katy goes to high school. They have had a 2-month Christmas/winter vacation. I often go to the soccer field and play soccer with my cousins or play ultimate frisbee with other aspirantes. I am surprised at how many people are some what nervous about being here and giving up two years of their life for Honduras. I am glad to be here and I can’t wait to begin working with my Honduran counterpart.

As of right now Santa Lucia has a very slow internet café and I am not always able to access my hotmail. So if you want feel free to leave comments here on my website. I love and miss all of you.

Flight Reservation

So today I made my flight reservation for January 29th. I fly to Arlington, VA at 10:15am, and I will arrive at 3:45pm. I am excited because I will be able to see some of Washington DC since my orientation doesn't start until 1:30pm on January 30th. I can't wait to embark on this journey. Leaving the states is bittersweet for me. I am sad to be leaving my family and friends, but I am so thrilled to be making a new home in Honduras with new friends and life experiences. I am super sad to leave Kumon and the kids, with whom I work. I can't believe that a year has passed since I graduated MSU Mankato. I ask you all to keep me in your prayers and to write me letters and emails. Thank you all for your support and love as I jump forward and make new friends abroad.

More information

As you know I am headed to Honduras, I thrilled beyond words. I have had numerous tasks to complete and I will soon be recieving my staging packet. Staging is pre-orientation before I leave for Honduras. I will recieve any needed inocculations as well as my plane tickets to Honduras. 1 out of 10 do not make it through training so keep me in your prayers that what God has me planned will be available for me and I will be able to pass my training exit exam. I will be in the capital of Honduras for 11 weeks and will have daily access to email. After April 2006 I am unsure of how often I will be able to access my email/internet; it depends on where I am placed in the country of Honduras.

I finally know!

I finally know!!! I am so happy! I can't believe that I am leaving in two months. I have been assigned to Honduras. My assignment is water sanitation and education extentionist. I will assist the rural water system project already beginning in Honduras.

My Motivation

So here I am, awaiting my official invitation from the Peace Corps to work with a community located somewhere in Latin America. I feel that this is most agonizing because I don't know which country I will serve nor the exact date I am leaving. I know God is using this period of anticipation to teach me to have more patience and to trust Him. Since many of you may question what motivates me to join the Peace Corps, I thought I would publish the essays I wrote as part of my application to help you see why I want to serve our world.

My motivation:

My life changed significantly while visiting Guatemala. A group of twelve women from Minnesota State University, Mankato St. Thomas Newman Center decided that we wanted to do a mission trip outside of the United States for our spring break. We gathered donations of clothing to take for the San Lucas Toliman Mission as well as worked many hours of fundraising, so that we would be able to donate one week to educate ourselves on the effects poverty has on a nation by seeing it first hand and learning about the forces that cause it.
Upon our return to the United States, I began to see what I thought was important in new lights. I realized that material things are just that and belongings are not necessary to live a meaningful life. Seeing the joy and love in the hearts of the Mayan people enhanced my desire to learn a second language namely Spanish and do the best I could to become bilingual. I realized how important it is to be able to communicate and how culture plays a large role in communication and understanding one another. Although these people live in an impoverished community, they were learning how to provide for themselves by growing their own food on land the mission had obtained. By learning their way of life, their culture and accepting them as who they are, we assisted them with developing projects at the mission, so that the Mayan culture stayed alive.
I have had the advantage to see other cultures, experience them in their native regions and at my university. I am motivated to learn the uniqueness of our world cultures. I want to work to make the opportunities that have been made available to me, available to all throughout our global community. Living in Ecuador for three months was enough to see how poverty and lack of education hinders the growth of opportunities to enhance communities. After having spoken with many who have worked with those living in poverty, I have realized giving money directly to the impoverished doesn't’t solve the problem of poverty; education must follow with what to do and how to use the given money.
After these experiences and the experience of returning home, I am more than ever motivated to educate all with whom I come in contact about life abroad as well as how rich we really are here in the United States. The opportunities that I have been given motivate me to find ways to make educational opportunities available to everyone that desires to learn. I desire to be a part of the Peace Corps because I am motivated to be the change that I want to see in this world.

How I adapted Culturally:

I feel quite blessed to have the opportunities to attend university, provide for myself, make my own decisions and see some of our amazingly interesting world. I have traveled abroad to Rome, Italy and Toronto, Canada for World Youth Days in August of 2000 and July of 2002 as well as San Lucas Toliman, Guatemala in March of 2002 and Cuenca, Ecuador from August through November 2003. My travels abroad have been without my parents or financial support from them. I worked and fundraised to achieve my dreams of seeing Rome and living abroad. My most significant experience has been studying abroad in Cuenca for three months.
The weeks following my mission trip to Guatemala enlivened my mind to think about the possibilities of life fighting poverty, but maintaining the culture. I realized to begin the battle I would need to learn the language. I decided to learn Spanish, to travel by myself to another country, and learn the language through immersion. I choose to utilize the MSU Mankato Study Abroad Program, 12 weeks at a language school in Cuenca, Ecuador.
My first week was quite an adventure. On my walk home from the first day of school, I took the wrong street. I had no map and was unsure of the street name I needed. After an hour of walking and asking people where the avenue Francisco Estrella was located , a postal deliveryman assisted me home. At that time I spoke a survival amount of Spanish. I realized although I was in a foreign country, I would still be able to get where I needed; even if Iwasn'tn’t able to speak the language, I was still able to communicate what I needed.
Due to catcalls and forward advances from men, I learned quickly that I had to adapt to the Latin culture. I learned to be confident in myself and to give no attention to anyone who felt it was necessary to whistle and make inappropriate comments. I also made sure to have someone with me before I would converse with a new person I met in the city. I began making friends from all over the world, Ecuador, Russia, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, New Zealand, and the States. I enjoyed learning to dance, communicating in a different language and seeing how the Incan community lived.
My greatest insight was my visit with the child I sponsor. I received a warm welcoming into their home. I spent the entire morning playing, coloring reading and drawing with Erica. Their home was a one-room shack with a bed. I saw that it was all that they needed to be happy because they had one another. I began to understand even more, why God is calling me to educate others about our world community. As I realized how much this family loved me because I gave their daughter the opportunity to go to school, I realized that I could live anywhere as long as I loved the community around me.