Pretty in Pink and Gorgeous in Guatemala!: What am I really doing?

I remember being so excited once I received my nomination, especially once I found out what I would be doing … and I’m happy to say the description I received was not far off!

So I was recently asked about my day to day activities, which inspired this post…

Well my life is a lot busier than I had anticipated. If you remember my schedule while working at CDC, I would wake up at 4 in the morning to be out the door by 5:20 so that I could catch my vanpool for work. I’d be at work (mostly sitting at a computer all day or in meetings) until about 3:30pm and then off to either the gym or to hang out with friends… I was also doing a lot of traveling shortly before I left. Thus, by the time I got to Guatemala, my body was physically exhausted! But my mind was rejuvenated… for the possibilities that were ahead of me.

I am happy to say that all though I have not slowed down one bit, I am still very excited and rejuvenated in my spirit. It’s funny because once we made it through training, I promised my fellow volunteers that I would be the one relaxing for months at a time… well let’s just say I STILL have not taken a break! Lol

I spend most of my time in my Puesto (health center) interacting with the nurses or planning charlas (health talks I give to the community). I’m usually at my Puesto by 8:30. If I have a charla scheduled for that morning, I am usually out the door at 9 for a ride to my community or I leave at 8 if I have to walk. I also have monthly meetings or trainings with my Health Promoters as well as the Comadronas (women that deliver babies) two weeks apart from each other. So I try to spend a week prepping for those meetings. On days that I don’t have charlas or meetings in the morning I just work in the Puesto. I usually always have a 2 hour lunch break, except for the days that I have women’s group meetings in my community. I have to walk to those so I’ll eat lunch at 1:30 and be out the door at 2 so I can make it to the community by 3. That’s my schedule for about half the month. The other half of the month entails me hanging out at the Puesto in the morning and taking the afternoon to relax or spend time with the host-fam. We usually get a lot of visitors to our house or we are always going somewhere and they always invite me! And as my motto is to say Yes 10x the amount of times that I say No… I’m always with them! That is basically how I spend my time, giving charlas in the communities or in the schools, planning charlas, in meetings, or spending time with the host fam! I have been super busy…busier than I had hoped I’d hoped I would be… But it’s all good.

Lucky for me, my 2012 is planned to be even busier!

On top of my charlas and the monthly meeting with my Health Promoters and Comadronas, I have added monthly meetings for Youth Promoters. I’m starting a new program where I will be training youth promoters to work in the schools. There are 18 schools in my town and I cannot be in all of them giving health talks. Thus, I met with the director of my school district and we came up with a 10 month training program. I will meet with 40 students (a team of 5 students from all 8 communities) and teach them a health topic and how to deliver it to their peers. They will then spend the next few weeks giving charlas in their schools. Should be exciting!
My women’s group meetings will continue, but instead of only going to 2 communities, I will be working with all 8. I think I would prefer to just work in the 2 I’ve been working in, but it’s hard to say no…especially when you are trying to build a partnership. We shall see how things pan out. We may plan to work in all 8 but who knows what will happen. I know I will definitely be working in the 2 we are currently working in…so that’s awesome. In these meetings I have talked about Nutrition for the family, Domestic Violence, and Family Planning. The topics I plan to talk about next year ranges from Healthy Hygiene, Respiratory Infections, to HIV/Aids.
I will also be working with the Teachers of all the schools. I will have 2 meetings on the same topic (50 teachers in both meetings) every 2 months. The director was so excited about what I was doing with the students that he wanted me to also work with the teachers. But every 2 months is not too hard to manage! It should be really exciting. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.

- Also, I will be working with the Women’s office of my town to not only work with women’s groups but to also start youth groups in every community. This is really exciting because the youth here have no opportunities for things to do outside of school. The young girls go home and take care of their siblings and help with house hold chores and the young men help their dad’s work or hang out with their friends. I’m looking forward to meeting with them and giving them other options than what they have been doing. I hope to inspire their thoughts about their future…hopefully reduce some teen pregnancy along the way!

All that I have mentioned has a lot to do with my program, but more indirectly than directly. My program is called Healthy Homes and my priorities are to work in the communities to educate families about their habits, hopefully encouraging healthier habits and improve the way they are currently living. Working with women’s groups definitely is part of this but it doesn’t get to the heart of it. Thus, I’m planning to start a project, titled Hogares Saludables de Rio Blanco, or White River Healthy Homes. In this program we will invite all of the needy families from the 2 communities with most need to participate. I plan to work with my Health Promoters to give bi-weekly charlas to the community members in the program. I have to plan it out but I’m thinking we will work with them for 5-6 months to improve their habits. This will include them coming to the meetings as well as us doing house visits. Once we have talked them to death, and hopefully they have begun to change their habits … I will start my PROJECTS!!!! This means I will work with the community to get funding to give each member of the program an improved stove, a cement floor, or a latrine. This shall be the grand finale of my program and my service. I plan to start projects at the beginning of 2013. So that should be exciting! Hopefully everything goes as planned… we shall see!

Well I think this is enough for now... I hope I’ve given you a great snapshot of my work life here in the Peace Corps. It’s definitely as exciting as I thought it would be… but definitely more tiring than I thought it would be. I always heard stories of Peace Corps Volunteers relaxing, reading 50 books in their service and finding themselves along the way. Well for me, my 2^nd week in site, I was giving reproductive health charlas in the schools. The only unfortunate part of me being so busy is that I haven’t spent as much time on my Spanish as I would like. However, that is definitely one of my plans for the following year. My goal is to be Fluent, and I will be!!! If everything goes as planned… Pray for my endurance, strength and courage to stay focused and see the change my community needs!

Thanks for reading and enjoy some pictures of some of the things I’ve listed above…