So here it goes, life has changed quite a bit for me since June. I am still living with the host family in the original house here in town; however my new house should be opening up soon. It is the same house that the volunteer before me lived in. The family that is living there now should be leaving this month or next and I can move right in.
Many of you know I have a puppy! He is an American Staffordshire terrier/pit bull mix but his paperwork will not reflect this for reasons in the states. His name is Pinolero, which is a nickname given to Nicaraguans. I wanted a name in Spanish and something that had significance to him and being here not something random so that is what I settled on. He was born one of eight puppies and is now the only one alive, which breaks my heart. Most of the people did not vaccinate them. Pinolero has had all his vaccines, vitamins, anti-parasites, rabies vaccine, the whole nine. He is currently living with the family that gifted him to me because he can’t live with me in my house here. So needless to say I am really excited to get my own place to have him with me. So If you want to send a care package my way, please don’t forget about pinolero! He loves snacks just like his lovely owner J
Work has still been very slow here in my town! Since June I started giving charlas to the elementary and high school kids on hygiene, self-esteem and respect. It proved to be a bit difficult to get to all the classes because there were many days where they did not have school or there were celebrations. I also tried to go to every class instead of working more with one specific grade etc. The kids just left school this past week for their summer break (It is summer here in Nicaragua not winter) and they will go back in February. I think for next year I will try to work in one class at a time and give a series of charlas consisting of self-esteem, respect, communication, making life decisions, sexuality, sex and gender, puberty, teen pregnancy, contraceptives and birth control, HIV/AIDS and STD’s. I am excited to work more in one class at a time to get to know the kids more and actually be able to complete a charla series.
I still have not been able to form my youth group yet, I was told it was going to be difficult because the kids were involved in political activities for a while. (Elections were November 6th). Since elections have passed, I am going to try to start my youth group now. The kids told me January will be good since people are on vacations right now for Christmas etc.
I am still working in the communities every month with MINSA, the ministry of health. I am working in the health posts giving charlas on whatever topic is of importance that month. Sometimes it is dengue (when it was raining all the time = more mosquitos), sometimes it is pap smears if they are trying to get more women to come do an exam etc. I enjoy going to the communities because I don’t get to see these people often and they don’t have access to this information all the time. I am currently doing a survey, which is part of my job in Peace Corps, on domestic violence. My survey isn’t really asking personal questions, I am giving scenarios and seeing if the women think it is a form of violence or not. I haven’t made any conclusions thus far as to knowledge and age or education etc. however it is sad to hear some responses to the questions. I have had women tell me that it is not violence if your husband or boyfriend touches you or violates you without your permission. It’s hard to keep an expressionless face when women (many of them near my age) say this. Nevertheless the work is interesting to me at the moment.
December and January are the slowest months because of the holidays and the kids aren’t in school so I will not be working a whole lot. I am hoping things will pick up for me just a little bit after January.
Other that than I have had some great activities that I worked on with an NGO that works in our department of Rio San Juan. We have shown videos and had activities, raffles and charlas on topics ranging from puberty to HIV/AIDS and violence. They are great to work with and plan to work with them more in the future. I also organized an event on Dec. 1st for world AIDS day. We did a march through town with banners talking about violence against women and signs on trucks about HIV/AIDS and condoms. After the march we came back to the center of town and I gave a Charla on HIV/AIDS (what it is, how it affects your body, transmission and protection) and I even gave a condom demonstration. I was a little nervous being my first time talking with a microphone in front of 200+ people but it went well. After the charla they had a soccer tournament with a group of boys.
I also organized a billiards tournament in my town to give a charla to the men (who are rarely in activities or in the health centers) about HIV/AIDS. Unfortunately the event did not go as planned. Because of the rain and some failure on the planning aspect of things, the guys did not want to pay to play in a tournament. So instead my friend Robyn (who lives in the next municipality over) and I gave the charla to the guys without them playing. Don’t think they were thrilled that we interrupted their time playing and drinking to talk for 20 minutes but we basically told them to suck it up and listen and we would leave. They really enjoyed the condom demonstration because it’s not every day you see not only a girl but a “gringa” talking about condoms and showing them how to use it. I even asked for a volunteer and put the condom over his arm to show them that they will fit and will not break. Even though the tournament didn’t work out the charla went really well.
Well I think that just about catches you up to speed (more or less) on my work since June, obviously there were many more charlas and smaller activities in between but those are some good examples. I will try to keep you more up to date on things as we go!
Tell people about travel and how you get around from place to place...like getting your mail or to the city...
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