March 24th-April 4th, 2007: PTFS Post Traumatic Family Syndrome

It is always a bit of an adjustment to get back into the groove of the Peace Corps life after a visit from el Norte and the vacation that accompanies it. Things here also kind of calmed down which amplified the effects. But it is hopefully merely the big deep breath before the storm. With his week being Semana Santa (holy week) things began to wind down last week as people approached the biggest vacation of the year. (more families gather for this week then even Christmas) I briefly took up the gravel and judged an "environmental" art contest. The US embassy was collecting entries from different schools around the country to submit to an international competition sponsored by the state department. It wasn't easy to pick out the winners in each age category and the obvious effort put out by so many of the students was quite heart warming.

The plunge?

Normally I don't like to talk much about what is coming up since I never have any idea whether anything is going to actually happen until it already has but in this case I'll make an exception. First the school: We are supposed to be starting a compost pile the week after easter and my counterpart is working on getting a vegetable garden going as well with which a lot of my help is sure to be needed. Additionally the walls of the computer lab are at last going up!! Although obviously nothing is being done this week, the work will be done this month and then I will have to live up to all these promises I have been making about how worthwhile it is and all the classes I will teach. The San Pedro wide recycling campaign is set to finish up on April 23rd (right after Earth Day) and once Easter is over I will be getting on everyone to make a surge for the last two weeks of it. Finally we had an ADESCO meeting on Sunday just chock-full of planned activities. We are going to be re-painting the medical clinic and re-roofing the community house with materials donated from the Alcaldia (only abt 6 months after we asked for it!). We are holding a a carrera de cinta to raise money (where the guys on horseback try to stab a little stick through rings hanging across the road) on April 29th. We are nearing the final stages of getting identification cards out to all the members of the association. We are hoping to organize with the help of my counterpart agency the purchase of fertilizer wholesale for the farmers of LC to save them all money. Also right before the family came we began working a proposal to improve the main natural spring in the community. Many families depend on it who are not connected to the piped water system and everyone needs it when the pipes fail. Currently it is in poor repair, the water bubbling out of the mud and running exposed and dirty to a tank that is fill with rotting leaves and fruit. More on this later but for now the Alcalde came out and one of his people is working on a detailed project plan that we can use for the grant application (supposed to be done next week). For now we are going to seek formal permission of the owners to be able to work on their land. And what about those stoves you ask? Listen close...

Cocinas Mejoradas

On Friday morning I was in SS early to meet with an experienced stove constructor to bring him to LC. Don Mauricio had agreed to absorb most of the costs and risks to build the model stove at his house. (the ADESCO did up subsidizing a good chunk of the costs which will hopefully come way down by the time the project really gets going) The day before we had hiked down to the river and hauled up pumice stones on our backs to fill in around the combustion bed. Work started at around 11am and continued with a brief break for lunch until 6pm. The whole design is somewhat complicated and requires some rather precise work. Many people complain that stoves don't end up really saving them much firewood. The design promoted by the NGO Trees for the Future, reduces firewood use by 50-70% but it must all be constructed carefully according to plan. One of the directiva guys was their apprenticing but he may still need to go and practice more before he can strike out on his own here. The stove has not yet been inaugurated as we must wait for a week but it certainly looks good! I am meeting with the local head of the NGO on Monday after easter and then we set April 22nd as the date to meet with people in LC who want to participate and explain the project, its costs and its benefits (which means we have to get all that figured out by then!).