About Me

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Here I am in Peace Corps Guatemala... I would like to share my experiences with those back home and elsewhere with this online journal. Please post comments and question if you have any. Any mail can be sent to: Grace Hansen PCV Cuerpo de Paz Apartado Postal 33 Chimaltenango, Chimaltenango, 4001 Guatemala, Centro América Or I can be reached by telephone: 011.502.5384.4287 or skype: grace.anna ¡Besos!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

... Career Day Countdown

Today I experienced another miscommunication and yet this time I find it very difficult to bring any sort of humor to the situation...

As I have written, I am planning a Career Day and now we are only 2 days away from the big event. I am frantically trying to keep calm and manage the last few items before Saturday. I am meeting with my students for the very last time before C-day to give them last minute updates and see if they have any questions or concerns.

Well today I went to one of my schools and was confronted by a most unpleasant situation.
From the beginning I had asked that all students make an effort to find "professional" clothing (Slacks or skirt, and a button-up shirt). I told them these clothes could be purchased at the second hand store, or borrowed from a friend or relative, and I even went as far as to purchase some clothes and lend them out to the kids. Up to this point all the kids have been fine if not excited about the clothes they would be wearing for Career Day.
I had asked that the kids bring in their clothes this week so that we can make sure everything fits okay before the actual day.
When I arrived at this one school this morning, I came lugging a big bag of clothes to lend out if needed. I walked into the Tercero classroom, and the teacher followed me in and curtly said, "These students will not be attending Career Day because they don't have permission from their parents."
This seemed pretty shocking to me since we have been planning this event for the past 2 months and this is the first I was hearing that the students could not attend. I addressed the class and said, "When did you guys tell your parents about this event? I have been coming here every week for 2 months planning this with all of you..."
I had a feeling there was more to the story... Then finally the teacher told me it was because the kids had nothing to wear.
"You cannot ask these kids to go out and buy brand new suits to come to your Career Day." she scolded.
Clearly there had been a misunderstanding.
"I never asked them to buy brand new clothes. I told them they could borrow them or whatever was needed" I said calmly. "Look, I even brought clothes of my own for them to use" I said as I hoisted up the bag.
"The kids are not comfortable in those kinds of clothes," she said. "And you should not ask them to wear something they are not comfortable in."
Again, this was the first I was hearing about these clothing issues and I was a little peeved to be hearing about just 3 days before Career Day.
"Look, the professional clothes were only a suggestion. I would really like these kids to attend and it doesn't matter what they wear." I contended.
"Well we'll see... I just don't like that you are trying to tell them that they have to wear something they are not comfortable wearing," she admonished again.
"They can wear whatever they like," I said.
The teacher then had a semi-private conversation with the students and I was left trying to sort out my confusion. I figured it must have been about suggesting the girls wear non-traditional clothes. Sometimes the girls wear the Mayan corte and guipil but sometimes they wear jeans and t-shirt. Upon my first suggestion of wearing professional clothes, there seemed to be no qualms so what was this all about?
Finally the teacher said, "Okay, they will come but the girls will wear corte and the boys will wear their street clothes (jeans and t-shirt)."
I agreed but still felt very confused. I understand about one wanting to maintain their cultural identity and therefore the corte and guipil are perfectly acceptable. But this teacher was also advocating that the boys should be allowed to wear their street clothes... It could be about money, but this is the only school out of four that seems to have a problem. Also, 99% of these folks go to church every weekend and wear their Sunday best which is pretty much exactly the get-up I was suggesting for Career Day. On top of that, I was even offering to lend the clothes out...
After the strange episode I made a point to go up to both of the teachers and apologize. I told them that I was never demanding the kids wear these clothes and that if they had a problem they could have told me at any time.
At that moment, one of the teachers launched into a long lecture about how Guatemala has many cultures and each person has a right to express themselves as they wish. He told me that there are also laws protecting the rights of indigenous people to wear their traditional attire.
It seemed like nothing I said was getting through to them. To them, I had blatantly disrespected the kids' culture by denying them the right to wear their traditional clothes.
I tried to defend myself by saying that I had a great deal of respect for the culture but again my rebuttal seemed to fall on dead ears.

-Just as a side note, jeans and t-shirt are no more Mayan then a McDonalds hamburger so I still cannot see how the teachers justified their advocacy in that department...

I left the school feeling pretty dejected. The student agreed to come but somehow I am left with the feeling that they will not. I also feel like I have lost a great deal of respect in that school and maybe even the community. Whether just a miscommunication or not, the last thing I ever want to be is culturally insensitive. I never want to make people feel like they need to change in order for me to help them... Somehow, without knowledge or intention, I conveyed that message and I imagine it will take a lot of work to reverse it.

I guess I have learned a valuable lesson through all this which will definitely help me in the next 2 years. I must always be careful about what I say and do here. I must be very conscious of what I ask of people and their feelings and beliefs. I guess it was a good thing for me to learn, I only regret having lost face in the process...

On a more positive note: Career Day is in only 2 days and (most) everything is falling into place. We have nearly 20 professionals who have confirmed and the kids seem very excited. I will share the stories of the day and some photos as soon as I can...

Friday, October 1, 2010

Perhaps Mother Nature has PMS?

It is the rainy season here in Guatemala from about May-November and so a bit of rain was to be expected. It was not however, expected to rain quite so much. Mother nature seems to be getting a little whacky and I feel like telling her to take some Midol, eat some chocolate, and just calm down!
We started the season off with Tropical Storm Agatha which left everything pretty much inundated with water. After that, we had a number of sporadic rain storms that have left homes and villages flooded.
Once I arrived here at my site there had been quite a few of these heavy rains. They usually last a day or two and being that we are on a mountain, the waters just flows down like a river. During one of these rain storms we heard the neighbor across the way crying and yelling. Yolanda and Rodolfo went over to see what was going on and they found the woman's house was full of mud. The back wall of her home, which was pegged up against a hill had simply gave way and in came the mud and rocks from the mountain. The woman was devastated and cried as she surveyed the few of her belongings buried in mud.

Here are some photos of the nieghbors house... it should be noted that hers was probably not as well constructed nor sturdy as our house.

After this rain storm, Yolanda noticed water entering into the kitchen in our house through the wall. (Our house is 3 rooms in a row, mine in the middle, with the kitchen on one side and the family's bedroom on the other). The house is situated much like the one across the road, with one side of the house pegged against the hill. As the rainy season persisted, the water continued to seep in through the back wall of the kitchen. One evening as I was crawling into bed I noticed that all my pillows were wet. I looked at the wall to see that water had been seeping in there too and because my bed had been pushed up against it, the pillows had absorbed the water. I moved my bed away from the wall and called up Peace Corps. While it wasn't a lot of water, I still felt nervous because of the woman's home across the way. A few days later my boss came out to survey the house and said it was safe and sound and there was nothing to worry about. A few weeks passed and I soon forgot about the issue and moved my bed back to it's place against the wall.

Then.
Just last night...

I was just about to settle onto my bed to watch a movie. It was a chilly and rainy night and it seemed like curling up to watch a movie was just the thing to do. Just then I looked up and noticed wet spots on the walls. The water was collecting on the wall like beads of sweat and then dripping to the floor. I called Yolanda and Rodolfo's attention to it and they said it was nothing to worry about and suggested I just pull the bed away from the wall so it doesn't get wet.
I believed them.
They had told me, "It's not serious. Nothing serious will happen, if God doesn't want it to."
But what if God does want it to? Or what if it's not entirely in God's hands?

Anyway, I took their word for it and settled down onto my bed to watch the movie. It was really nice listening to the rain from beneath a warm blanket. I distinctly remember the lovely aroma of the fresh rain, -it smelled damp and earthy. After a few minutes I decided to grab a little snack. I clicked pause, swung my legs over the side of the bed and fumbled for my sandals. My feet hit the floor with a splash. and I thought, a splash? how strange...
I quickly realized that my entire room was flooded. About 2 inches of water was sprawling out from the wall and reaching almost to the door on the opposite side. The damp and earthy smell indeed turned out to the be the rain but in fact it was much closer than I had thought. The lake on the floor was spreading and had already soaked a few items that were in its path. I called to Yolanda and Rodolfo and the came to help me move my things outside. I guess there must have been some distress in my voice because the little 6-year-old Miriam kept saying, "Graciela, don't be so afraid, don't let it scare you it's just water!"

I told her of course I wasn't afraid... It was just a little surprising how quickly the water was coming in. We moved my bed out of the room and the wall where the water was leaking in looked like those peaceful Japanese fountains that people put in their homes. The water poured steadily and silently down the wall like a slick pain of glass. Lower on the wall there was water pouring out, not quite so gracefully. It was flowing through none other than and electrical socket...
Unlike peanut butter and jelly, water and electricity don't go well together and I began to feel nervous about the spreading puddle on the floor. We quickly moved everything off the floor and got most of my belongings out of the room. We moved my bed into the family's room where I would pass the night sleeping with Yolanda, Rodolfo, their six year-old daughter and their 5 month-old baby. It was a cozy arrangement to say the least and the little girl has been sick with fever and a bad cough for the past few days and spent half of the night suppressing coughing fits.
I was very grateful for their help and offering me to sleep in their room. When I awoke this morning the sky was still gray but at least the rain had stopped. Yolanda and Rodolfo had swept most of the water out of my room and it appeared to have stopped flowing in through the wall. It's still quite damp but I have to say that the floor has never been cleaner! It practically shines! So I think I will start moving back in here little by little and hope that the rain stops for good.
The wall, where all the water seems to be seeping in..

I spoke to Peace Corps and they are adamant about me looking for another house... This is bad news because I am very happy living with this family and I know they would be very sad to see me leave. I agree that it would be better to live somewhere a little dryer and with less risk of natural disaster but I know it will be difficult for my family to understand that I am moving out of necessity and that it has nothing to do with them...
Anyway, we shall see how it all turns out.