My Extended Paragayan VacationOct 4, 2008
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| Well, hello there everyone. I must apologize up front for not keeping better in touch since I got back. I realize I have not written for a while, sorry. I had just settled back in to my life and was working on several projects and a few things happened, some good some not so. One is that my Grandpa Jerry fell last month and broke his hip, twice, and has been in and out of the hospital and various care centers. It is often times hard to communicate from here and I feel very far away during times like these. It has been hard on my family and myself and had me more than slightly preoccupied. On the up side, however there are a few very fun things going on here in Paraguay to keep my mind focused on other things for the most part. I think most of you know, but I have been very active in the GAD (Gender and Development) Committee here in PC Paraguay, this year I ran for and was elected to be the secretary. I take minutes at the meetings, am in charge of the email account, the blog and am pretty much the right had for the President, a fellow PCV, Lara. My other Neighbor Marin was elected Treasurer, which makes it easy to communicate. This new responsibility has been fun; I get to be more involved in the projects the committee is working on and help make sure the logistics all work out. It has also taken up a bit more time especially while I am in the office, there are always extra stuff needing to get done. I really like enjoy being a part of this organization. The issues surrounding gender are things I face every day in more ways than one, and my involvement in the GAD committee allows me to spend time focusing especially this aspect of Peace Corps and Paraguay and our projects are fun and do great things. We have an annual youth leadership camp, which I have also taken on the task of heading up. I took two of my youth from my site last year and it was a great experience and hope that the camp we are currently planning for the end of January 2009 will be equally as impactful for the participants. It has not just taken up a bit of my time; I am constantly working on camp. We are currently preparing the small PC grant that helps fund small projects, and getting the budget together. We will be inviting15 Volunteers to bring 2-3 youth each bringing the total to 40 youth! It is an amazing group of people working on the camp this time around, most are newer volunteers and have great energy and enthusiasm. I will keep you updated on all this as we get closer to camp. I have started to learn a form of Paraguayan needle point, called Ao´poe! One of my nearest neighbor PCVs, Betsy, and I have formed a group of women to learn this traditional craft. The great part about promoting this project is that there are NO downsides for the women. As a group we are fundraising to cover our basic costs, it is not especially difficult to learn so they can become proficient quickly. We are promoting a traditional craft, not something foreign, so they actually know more about it than we do and we are learning a lot from them and we don´t have any guilt about making them dependent on resources they may or may not have access to Ao´poe is uniquely Paraguayan, there are many groups within Paraguay trying to find more people to learn and promote traditional crafts to maintain the knowledge and we are now trying to get financial aid from one of these groups! We have had a few workshops and now the women can do most of the work from home, so they don´t have to battle their husband to leave the house or try to get someone to watch their kids while they work, they can do it little by little when they have free time. I am really happy with the project and getting the hang of it myself. I will be working on it slowly but surely! Lastly I took an extended Paraguayan Vacation these last few weeks. My nearest neighbor Samantha had an emergency and I was with her in Asuncion for almost a week, as she tried to deal with everything. I was back home for a few hours and of to Betsy´s for Ao´poe class for a few day then back to Asuncion for my monthly GAD meetings and some other things. I ended up going to visit my host family back where I trained in Guarambare, since it had been forever since I had been to see them, then on to a friend’s site in the southern part of Paraguay. Because I live north, I never get a chance to visit the southern areas. She has been bugging me for a long time to come down and it just never worked until now. If you all remember the third weekend or so of training, I went to visit a volunteer for the weekend. It is a traditional part of training, and this year I had two visitors on the same trek. Well, the friend I visited followed up in that site, meaning she replaced the gal I visited that weekend, so I got to go back and visit. We had a fun few days and I reconnected with a few people I had met the first time I was there almost two years ago now! We also got to visit the University town of Paraguay, Villa Rica. I have been wanting to go for a long while and had my chance, so we went for the morning to hang out on our way on to the big finale… The grand tour ended in a town called Caazapa, also in the south. Two of the volunteers I trained with, both also rural health volunteers, got married last weekend in the brides site. It was a very cute, typically Peace Corps wedding, in all three languages, using recycled materials and very fun. After the wedding I made my way back home to Santani, stayed the night with the married couple who live there now and Monday morning did my grocery shopping and finally made it home. My camera battery charger was stolen on my way back from the states and therefore don´t have pics to share but it was really nice to travel around and equally nice to finally be home. I hope this catches you up on my comings and goings. I know it is short compared to time of silence, but my computer DVD drive broke and so I am without my computer once again, so I have to write fast at the cyber café! I hope you are all well, I miss you all and miss hearing from you, communication is two ways you know! Peace and Love, Gar/Gabi |
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