4 Abril 2011

At 4:30 this morning I was growling as I rolled out of bed for my 5 o’clock meeting with the mayor and council members. They meet at sunup because by about 8-10am they need to be in the fields. After a cup of Stumptown coffee and a splash of fresh melted icecap water on my face I was good to go. I was surprised at how professional and formal they were so early in the morning. Extremely gracious, extremely attentive they listened to my half-hour community diagnostic presentation. Madrigaleñans never cease to amaze me. This “administration” is new. It is not the administration that invited me to live and work in Madrigal so there was potential for things to go very badly. But, it didn’t at all. The opposite, in fact. The presentation consisted of 6 short parts: Who is Peace Corps Who am I What have I have been doing (surveys, mini projects, etc) What I found out about Madrigal What projects I would like to develop with the citizens. How the Municipality can contribute. The main contribution I requested from them was a space for me to use to teach the VALE program and for the youth to convert into a library over time. They were eager to offer me a large lovely space in the municipality. It has natural lighting and a tile floor (yay!). I had originally wanted this space to be in the school, but there was resounding agreement among the parent surveys that the public library should be in the municipality so they could use it too and so it was more centrally located for their children to come in the evenings. It is FANTASTIC news that the municipality is on board. They promised to install a door that locks within a week! I also requested that they fund buying paint supplies for painting a world map mural in the primary school with the secondary school students. The council was split on that one. Some said that because they are a new administration they are low on funds right now. The other half wanted me to write up a smaller budget, which I said was possible. So, if we can’t get the funding from the municipality perhaps I might be contacting you folks to see if you are interested in funding a VERY inexpensive project that is extremely important for the youth here and get your name painted on a wall in Peru. Why is painting a world map so important? Why do I focus 3 entire months on world arts projects with the students in the VALE program? They never study the world. Anything they learn about the world outside of Peru is strictly word-of-mouth. The governmental publicly administered text books leave the world out almost completely. The students only have knowledge on the history of Peru, and a little bit about South America, very little to nothing on anywhere else. In my surveys, when I asked them to draw a map of the world, most drew Peru. Some drew a rough South America. Few drew other continents. When I was in Ancash doing AIDS awareness workshops I passed some time playing with kids at their school. The volunteer at their site had done a world map project, and when I asked the kids where Russia was on the map, none knew. China? The United States? The continent of Africa? A couple knew US, one little girl knew were Africa was. This isn’t abnormal here. It is to be expected. I want to change that in Madrigal. The VALE program not only has them painting the map to familiarize, but it is linked with activities to view the culture of some representative countries. Wow, sorry about that ramble. Can you tell I am passionate about my work? Here is the updated VALE outline that went out in all my grant applications: Each small roman numeral represents a week. Outline of Volar A Las Estrellas (VALE): I. Exploration of the World a. Community Leadership Project: Paint World Map i. Who are we?-what is VALE and what are our names ii. What planet are we on?- our planet, gravity, and weather iii. What happened on this planet?- a short history of the world iv. What is Russia? v. What is Japan? vi. What is India? vii. What is Egypt? viii.What is Ghana? ix. What do they eat?- preparing World foods x. What can I do with trash?- recycling activities II. Exploration of the Community a. Community Leadership Project: better community library i. Do I like to read? –sparking interest in reading books for fun ii. How can I find what I need on a computer?- getting to know Windows computer programs iii. How do I find out? –learning how to research answers to questions iv. What is a democracy?- learning what democracy means v. What is a good leader?- learning how to lead vi. How do I organize?-Learning how to put and keep things in their place vii. How do I work in a group?- Practicing working together viii.How do I manage a business?- learning about supply and demand and how to keep record books ix. What is the role of a woman/man? Discrimination exploration x. What is domestic violence? How to recognize abuse and what can be done about it xi. What is alcoholism? What alcohol does to the body III. Exploration of the Self a. Community Leadership Project: building a community newspaper as well as personal diaries b. Salud i. How do I feed my body? Nutrition ii. How do I keep my body healthy? Hygiene and sanitation in the house iii. How does my body work? A look at organ systems and healthy body excrements iv. What is safe sex? Sexually transmitted diseases and family planning* v. Why is my body changing? An explanation of puberty* c. The individual and their personalities i. How can I collect my thoughts?- work with the diaries ii. How do I think up something new? Sparking creativity and art iii. What is my favorite? Being an individual iv. How can I be a great leader? Practice leading v. How do I feel about me? Self-esteem *Only for the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades of the Secondary school. I don’t think the Municipality members really understood the importance of all the topics in the program, but they were all about it when I sad, “Lots of volunteers find funding to build beautiful libraries that sit empty. We don’t want that in Madrigal. If the youth develop the library themselves they will want to protect it. And, if they accustom themselves to coming there nightly to do homework and activities (instead of my house) the potential for the library to be active is huge. We hope that this program VALE will secure that.” To be totally honest, I did feel a little bit assertive in the meeting. I have been extremely tool-like to the citizens of Madrigal until recently; Asking them what they want, being the bounce back for them to brainstorm on how to get it done, then the human resource to help get it done. This municipality is stepping in a little late in that process. I don’t have so many questions anymore, potential solutions have been developed, and I want the mayor and council members to be onboard. The assertiveness could be a good thing considering I was one of two women in a room full of men. But, I am also HYPER-sensitive to conceitedness. I put a huge effort forward to not appear narcissistic in this work because I see such a HUGE majority of other volunteers and NGO workers acting that way. Like they are offering a service to the people here as if they aren’t receiving anything in return from them. I probably fall on the other end of the spectrum sometimes and even appear weak because I really don’t want to intimidate any locals. I am a politician in a sense and always trying to make Peace Corps and Americans look gracious and good so people work with me and ultimately they receive more. I reflect on the meeting hoping that I didn’t step on any toes with my confidence and everybody just wants to dance with me! Tomorrow is the first teacher workshop that is linked to the VALE program. The teachers requested that I show them a way to motivate students and keep them focused. So, I am teaching them a program developed by Levin and Feinberg for KIPP used in Houston and NY and other inner-city Charter schools. I also decided that I wanted to throw in a very basic brain development lecture. The main teaching method in these schools is wrote. Just read and copy. It is known that this form of memorization never enters long-term-memory, it just hangs out in short-term for a bit then dissolves. So the teachers are going to get a quick (very, very skim the surface) chat on teaching for semantic learning. Aka, play. So, the rest of my day will be focused on finishing writing the talk and making poster boards to present with. Wish me luck!