It has been a busy few months and I haven´t gotten a chance to blog. I recently wrote an update to friends and family that I am pasting here to catch you up on life in Paraguay!
Dear Family and Friends,
Another 3 months of this adventure in Paraguay have passed, which means it is time to write you another update. I am at the point where instead of being able to rattle off the top of my head how long I have been here I have to count on my fingers the months since I swore in or since arrived in Paraguay: 9.5 months in Paraguay and 7 months as a volunteer. While I can’t believe how fast my service seems to be flying by, everyday has a sense of lagging to it as I wake up each morning and decide how to spend those 24 hours. I think that is one of the challenges, or joys, of a Peace Corps volunteer. It is almost necessary to be intentional about everything that you do in a day, otherwise it may go to a waste, but then there are others days when things seem to happen so naturally. I feel as if these last three months have been a huge transitioning point in my integration into my community and this life feels more natural to me.
At the beginning of April my house still wasn’t finished and I was still living in a room next to teenage boys, which was a huge challenge, to say the least. I visited a fellow volunteer for a couple of days and helped her make a world map at her school. This is a fun Peace Corps project to do with schools to help them learn geography and it turns out looking beautiful. I then got encouraged to start working in my school. I helped with the planning and planting of the school garden by giving informational talks about nutritional gardening. The fruits of our work are paying off and in a couple of weeks I hope to return to give talks about nutrition. I also celebrated Tree Day on June 19th by planting saplings in May with the 7th graders, who took care of the trees, and I went weekly and did activities with them to raise awareness about reforestation. On the actual day they presented a small skit and tree proverbs, and planted their little trees around the school. Working at the school has its joys and challenges. The kids are often the joys, and learning how to manage the cultural differences between myself and the teachers are the challenges.
Holy Week was in April, which is a long vacation and family time for Paraguayans. As Holy Week (Semana Santa) approached, I spent a lot of time helping the women make Almidón. Holy Week arrived with lots of different cultural traditions. The week is spent with family, who come from all parts of Paraguay to return to visit their parents Wednesday is spent making Chipa, which will be eaten from after lunch on Thursday until Saturday afternoon. The other exciting thing about Holy Week was that I finally moved into my house, which I think has been a transitioning point in my relationships with my community. I have felt relationships become more natural and my place in my community is more of a member than an outsider.
I would characterize this May as a month of parties. If there wasn’t one party, we were preparing for another. One of the big parties of the year in my community is the Mother’s day party. The community puts on a show of traditional dances, poems and songs to mothers, modern dances, and skits. I joined in on the festivities by learning typical Paraguayan “DanzaParaguaya,”which I danced during the party and it was enjoyed by everybody. That same weekend was the bicentennial celebration to celebrate Paraguay’s 200 years of independence from the Spanish. The following weekend there was an ordination of a priest who is from my community, so the women all got together to make traditional breads and I joined in by attending the festivities. There have been six men from my community that have become priests! Also in May I gave my first “Charla” or informational talk to the women’s committee about making homemade chicken feed. While it was a fairly successful informational talk, I think that many of the agricultural goals that Peace Corps is trying to accomplish are better done by showing rather than telling. I recently submitted a grant to a local NGO on behalf of the women’s committee asking for the funds to build chicken coops and to raise layer and meat chickens. The grant includes a project of planting and then making homemade chicken feed, which I think will be a more effective strategy. Hopefully we receive the funds for this project so that we can move forward!
In June I hardly felt like I was in my community, but it was a very exciting and fulfilling month nonetheless. Why, you might ask? Volunteers are granted 2 vacation days for every month of service. We are also allowed to have visitors come to our communities. My parents decided to come for a visit, which included a week-long vacation in Argentina, a week in my community, and another few days in Asunción. Argentina was a breath of fresh air for me. Buenos Aires is a very modern city and it was fun to walk around and take in the fun architecture. Some fun things we saw and did were going to Eva Peron’s museum and seeing where she was buried, going to the Plaza de Mayo, where she gave some famous speeches and where there is a weekly demonstration by the “Mothers of the disappeared.” We also went to a tango show! We got outside of Buenos Aires on our way back to Paraguay and visited Jesuit Ruins and the famous Iguazu Falls. I returned back to my community with my parents and we had a good week helping me continuing to get settled in my house, cooking together, visiting different community members, and celebrating my birthday with a big community celebration where I surprised my parents with more “DanzaParaguaya.” We spent the last 3 days in Asunción relaxing and seeing what there is to see. I had a great three weeks with my parents and learned more about the region and community I am serving in in the process. I also felt very blessed as I listened to my community members relate to my parents how much they love me and that they are looking out for me. Being able to see the development from where I was six months ago until now is a testimony to the time that I have put into these relationships as well as the God’s work in my life and in this community.
The week after my parents returned to the states there was an in-service training with a contact from my community at an Agriculture High School that is practicing sustainable agriculture. My contact, Antonia really enjoyed it and is excited to try some of the things we learned about here in the community. I am excited as well. We recently plantedLupino, a green manure, in herMandioca field and she just put a mulch layer on her garden!
Every day is a new adventure here in Paraguay as I learn new things about the culture around me. I will often ask Estela, my host mom here, or another friend why something is the way it is and then afterwards I will say, “ahoraentiendomás” or, “now I understand more.” I think this occurs at least once daily. I will continue to learn over this next year and a half and try to communicate as best I can with you about this country and culture so that you also can “entendermás.” So what’s coming up? If the women’s committee receives the grant money my life will become a lot more busy building chicken coops, planting crops, teaching the women how to care for chickens, and working on reforestation projects. From August 25th until September 12th I will be in the United States celebrating the marriage of my good friend, mourning the loss of a dear uncle, celebrating the upcoming birth of a nephew, and visiting friends and family! Thank you for your thoughts, supports, and prayers. You are in mine as well. I enjoy keeping in touch!
Blessings,
Madeleine
Making Chipa with Estela and her mother
