Since school vacation, I’ve managed to keep fairly busy with a number of unsustainable projects. Sustainability is a rather fickle thing. Generally speaking, projects are successful not when a big NGO pours money into a community, but when the community itself comes together and acquires the know-how to make its own progress forward. For this reason, Peace Corps encourages us to work side by side with community partners so that they might continue our projects once service ends. Community partners can be anyone enthusiastic, with an interest or passion for improving their community. They are typically persons already involved in the community. Ideally, we are not to go solo on projects and should think of ourselves more as a support or technical resource for our partners….easier said than done…
In La Grama there is no major NGO presence, leaving very few options for community partners. As a youth development volunteer, my principle partners work in the schools and health post. Collaboration has not proven easy. The health post staff is made up of a doctor, nurse, obstetric nurse and 2 techs. They serve the entire district, meaning that they rarely have time for extra projects. What’s more, they are unreliable. The health post is rarely opened at the hour it is supposed to be and I have found the staff on numerous occasions in the nurse’s office drinking soda and gossiping while patients wait patiently in the lobby to be attended to. When Kitty, my boss, came to visit my site in February, I organized a meeting with the doctor, nurse, and obstetric nurse—confirmed it 3 times—and in the moment of the meeting itself, Kitty and I encountered them strolling down the street in the opposite direction of the posta where the meeting was to be held. Then they had the nerve to say to my boss that they won’t be able to work with me unless I can provide soda for each one of the meetings we have and on occasion snacks…otherwise nobody will show up. HA!
Working with school faculty has not proven to be more promising. In the high school, half the faculty is contracted, meaning they too will be gone in a year and unable to continue my work. The other half, well don’t get me started on the other half. One of my favorites is notorious for sleeping through his first few classes then showing up hung over and sending his students out to buy water for him. The director is another peach. He supposedly held a meeting with the rest of the faculty last year advising them that I am here to spy on La Grama for the US government. Only recently have things improved with him (though I still hold a bit of a grudge) and I have been permitted to work there. In the primary school things are a bit better but not by much. The focus of my work is supposed to be on adolescents, but given the tense relations I have with the director of the high school, I have to work where work is available. When the primary school director approached me back in March to give computer and English classes to grades 1-6, I was excited at the prospect of taking on a regular schedule of work (though admittedly not thrilled about teaching English). I agreed on the condition the that the teachers teach alongside of me in the computer classes—if they didn’t know anything about computers they could help me control the class and learn along with the students so that next year they’d be able to take over the class. Sustainable, right? Fat chance. Things have definitely NOT gone according to plan, and guess how many teachers help me out instead of slinking out the door the moment I arrive..? I’m ashamed to answer that.
So what am I doing with my time? What does it feel like to be a Peace Corps volunteer? Hard to say because each and every day is so unique. One day I return home from my classes strayed out, frustrated, wondering why I bother. Then, that same afternoon, I’ll encounter my students in the street and they will greet me with a proud grin on their face and a bit of the English I’ve taught them, “good afternoon, teacher.” Or, I’ll go to the Internet and find someone practicing their typing skills instead of playing violent games on the web. Then there’s that group of shy girls in the high school who I encouraged to participate in a skit for the mother’s day celebration that came out of their shells for a moment to act ridiculous in front of a large group of people. Baby steps I suppose. So maybe computer classes won’t continue when I’m gone, and the self-esteem and leadership workshops will be few and far between, but I have to believe my time here is valuable. Maybe, just maybe, after spending 2 years here in this beautiful paradise, I will have gotten through to a few kids. Maybe the times we spent together will have meant something to them and they will look back on those moments fondly. Perhaps my 2 years of service to La Grama will give its people a more favorable impression of the United States. At a time when my country has fallen out of the good graces of so many in the international community, it can’t hurt to win a few more over to our side. If by chance another volunteer replaces me when I leave, I don’t want the director of the high school to believe he/she is a spy, but rather a bighearted American here to offer what modest knowledge he/she has to offer. That would make my time here (work wise) definitely worthwhile.
In La Grama there is no major NGO presence, leaving very few options for community partners. As a youth development volunteer, my principle partners work in the schools and health post. Collaboration has not proven easy. The health post staff is made up of a doctor, nurse, obstetric nurse and 2 techs. They serve the entire district, meaning that they rarely have time for extra projects. What’s more, they are unreliable. The health post is rarely opened at the hour it is supposed to be and I have found the staff on numerous occasions in the nurse’s office drinking soda and gossiping while patients wait patiently in the lobby to be attended to. When Kitty, my boss, came to visit my site in February, I organized a meeting with the doctor, nurse, and obstetric nurse—confirmed it 3 times—and in the moment of the meeting itself, Kitty and I encountered them strolling down the street in the opposite direction of the posta where the meeting was to be held. Then they had the nerve to say to my boss that they won’t be able to work with me unless I can provide soda for each one of the meetings we have and on occasion snacks…otherwise nobody will show up. HA!
Working with school faculty has not proven to be more promising. In the high school, half the faculty is contracted, meaning they too will be gone in a year and unable to continue my work. The other half, well don’t get me started on the other half. One of my favorites is notorious for sleeping through his first few classes then showing up hung over and sending his students out to buy water for him. The director is another peach. He supposedly held a meeting with the rest of the faculty last year advising them that I am here to spy on La Grama for the US government. Only recently have things improved with him (though I still hold a bit of a grudge) and I have been permitted to work there. In the primary school things are a bit better but not by much. The focus of my work is supposed to be on adolescents, but given the tense relations I have with the director of the high school, I have to work where work is available. When the primary school director approached me back in March to give computer and English classes to grades 1-6, I was excited at the prospect of taking on a regular schedule of work (though admittedly not thrilled about teaching English). I agreed on the condition the that the teachers teach alongside of me in the computer classes—if they didn’t know anything about computers they could help me control the class and learn along with the students so that next year they’d be able to take over the class. Sustainable, right? Fat chance. Things have definitely NOT gone according to plan, and guess how many teachers help me out instead of slinking out the door the moment I arrive..? I’m ashamed to answer that.
So what am I doing with my time? What does it feel like to be a Peace Corps volunteer? Hard to say because each and every day is so unique. One day I return home from my classes strayed out, frustrated, wondering why I bother. Then, that same afternoon, I’ll encounter my students in the street and they will greet me with a proud grin on their face and a bit of the English I’ve taught them, “good afternoon, teacher.” Or, I’ll go to the Internet and find someone practicing their typing skills instead of playing violent games on the web. Then there’s that group of shy girls in the high school who I encouraged to participate in a skit for the mother’s day celebration that came out of their shells for a moment to act ridiculous in front of a large group of people. Baby steps I suppose. So maybe computer classes won’t continue when I’m gone, and the self-esteem and leadership workshops will be few and far between, but I have to believe my time here is valuable. Maybe, just maybe, after spending 2 years here in this beautiful paradise, I will have gotten through to a few kids. Maybe the times we spent together will have meant something to them and they will look back on those moments fondly. Perhaps my 2 years of service to La Grama will give its people a more favorable impression of the United States. At a time when my country has fallen out of the good graces of so many in the international community, it can’t hurt to win a few more over to our side. If by chance another volunteer replaces me when I leave, I don’t want the director of the high school to believe he/she is a spy, but rather a bighearted American here to offer what modest knowledge he/she has to offer. That would make my time here (work wise) definitely worthwhile.
Collecting rocks by the river to make pachamanca. My hostmom and I.
