Field-Based Training

view from the road

This week we traveled as a group to a small town just outside Xela called, Salcajá. There we stayed in a hotel, met many other volunteers, visited sites and schools, and gave a few charlas (lessons). It was a very busy week but a lot of fun and great practice for all of us. It gave us all a taste of the type of work we will be doing in the next 2 years.

We expected the trip to Salcajá to take upwards of 5 hours because of the destruction caused by the storm... At many points throughout the trip we saw the remnants of mudslides and often one side of the highway would be closed. The clean up is slow going here, there are few road signs to inform drivers of hazardous conditions or changing traffic patterns. At one point I noticed that the other side of the highway seemed to be impassible and I asked, "where do they detour those cars to?" at that very moment, we saw a line of cars coming straight for us on our side of the highway and we had to quickly hug the right shoulder so as to avoid a collision. This happened many times, and our driver was very quick to adapt to these unpredictable conditions. It was a very exciting ride, and even with all the obstacles, we made it to our destination in about 4 hours.


Arriving at Hotel Salcajá, we were greeted but a friendly family as we entered a dimly lit, labyrinth of a home. Our hotel room had absolutely no natural light, and there was mold growing on the walls... I will not use this page to complain about our accommodations because really it was a great week, and we did have fun in our hotel (even if it did feel like the set of a horror film).


On Monday we traveled to Cantel where 2 youth development volunteers are currently serving. We went to one school to give a charla to the kids on decision making and it went very well. This was our very first charla ever, and it was led by the Parramos training group. Parramos has a lower level of Spanish but they did wonderfully in their presentation. The kids received them well, and we all had a great day of lessons, games, and basketball.

Getting to know you game in Cantel.


Our FBT Group with 2 current Volunteers in Cantel.

Tuesday was a big day for my group (the San Bartolomé group). We traveled to San Pedro where a volunteer is just about to finish her service and we had to give a Teacher Training Workshop. This was the first charla our group was leading and I think we were all a bit nervous. Our Spanish is pretty strong, but speaking in front of a bunch of teachers was daunting nonetheless. Our topics for the 2 and a 1/2 our workshop were, the seven learning styles, cycle of experiential learning, and formal and non-formal education. We created the workshop to demonstrate experiential learning and had the audience participate as much as possible. It was very successful but we had misjudged how long each activity would take and had to cut some things out at the end... One particularly time-consuming activity required the teachers to break up into groups and discuss a topic and then elect one leader from the group to get up and share their ideas with the audience. We quickly realized that this was a bad idea... Each person that got up to speak into the microphone started off by saying, "First of all let me say good afternoon to each and everyone of you. Thanks for being here. Thanks for letting me speak. This workshop is a great things for everyone here..." And then they would go into a 10 minute explanation of what they're group had talked about when it really could have been summed up in about 60 seconds. After about the second person, one of our technical trainers who is herself Guatemalan, came over and said to us, "You should never give a Guatemalan a microphone." We laughed... but it was true. At that point it was too late, and an exercise that should have taken and total of 10 minutes, actually took about 45.

Other than the slight mismanagement of time, the workshop went very well. The teachers seemed very receptive to our ideas and grateful for us being there.

On Wednesday we went to visit another volunteer who is just about to finish her service. She has spent her two years working in schools, created a reading club for her students, and also a boys soccer team. Both of these projects have been tremendously successful for her. We spent the morning playing dodge ball with her soccer team and then a bit of soccer as well. In the afternoon, some of the kids from her reading club gave a us a presentation on the book, The Alchemist, which they had just finished reading. She had a PowerPoint presentation with photos of her soccer team practicing and she explained how she had taught all the boys to cook and bake as well. This is a big deal here in Guatemala. These boys looked up to this female volunteer as a role model and a coach and she had them wearing aprons and baking cookies which goes against all gender stereotypes, and they loved it! One downfall to all this, is that now this volunteer must leave and one of us will be replacing her. None of us play soccer much less have ever coached it before and therefore her team may not be able to continue once she leaves. She said she had tried all year to find someone in town to take over the team but no one wants to take the time. This is one of the most difficult aspects of what we are doing here... sustainability.

Thursday turned out to be a defining moment for me in my Peace Corps training. We went to visit a volunteer living just outside of Totonicapan where we would be giving a Parent's Workshop. We met the volunteer and parked the PC van on the side of road and were told that to get to this school, we would have to walk. "Walk" is an understatement. This was nothing less than a hike. I wish I could paint the romanticism of this 15 minute climb up to the school. Rain was falling lightly as we ascended further into a misty forest. Thunder echoed off the rolling hills in the distance and we panted and scrambled our way over the mossy rocks. The beauty was so like the hikes I have done in the Adirondacks, and I had to keep reminding myself that this was the route to a school.

When we reached the top, the volunteer showed us her latest project which was a latrine constructed of bottles. These bottle projects are growing in popularity here. Communities collect used plastic bottles and inorganic trash and use this to fill the walls of whatever they wish to construct. Volunteers have constructed latrines, classrooms, walls, etc. It is a great way to clean up a community, cheap to construct, and much safer in the event of an earthquake (which happens frequently here). The kids and parents were very proud of their bottle project, had taken great initiative to make it a reality.

This community sat up on a mountain, and the only way to get there was to hike or take a long road which could only be passed with a 4-wheel- drive vehicle. The school was small but very lively. We set up the material for the Parent's Workshop in one of the classrooms and waited for the parents to arrive. We had a fabulous turn out of about 15 parents (mostly women). They were all indigenous and dressed in traditional Mayan clothes, some with a baby slung on their back. We all sat in a circle and talked about the importance of a strong family and how to strengthen the family. All of the parents shared so much with us and participated whole-heartedly in our activities. I was very moved to hear them describing their aspirations for their children and how each of them valued education. I thought about how difficult it must have been to build this school way up on top of this mountain and that the community must have really wanted it and worked hard to construct it. Likewise, these parents were working hard and committed to providing opportunities to their children. Even though they had very little to give, they saw education as a key component to success.


Friday we all went to a different school and split off into groups of two to give a charla on HIV/AIDS. The kids were fantastic, and while we were a bit uneasy about talking about such a taboo subject in another language, the 2-hour charla went off without a hitch. Peace Corps provides us with a very organized and well-planned guide for giving HIV/AIDS charlas, complete with visual aids, activities, and statistics. The kids were very receptive and they seemed to really listen to what we had to say. We of course had to be very clear with them that while our charla did talk about the use of condoms, that we were NOT encouraging them to have sex. We also talked to them about Machismo which is something that is so prevalent here in Guatemala but no one seems to know what it is. The kids seemed to really get it, and it was clear that a lot of what we were telling them was new information. When we finished the charla and were packing up our things, a bunch of the kids came up to us to hug us and thank us for coming.




Saturday we checked out of our hotel and headed for Nahuala in Sololá to visit a volunteer who works at a radio station there. We were given the opportunity to record a Public Service announcement having to do with youth. Our group decided to talk about youth leading our world with the phrase, "Los jovenes ¡Si pueden!" Or basically like Obama's "Yes we can" but for youth. It was a great morning followed by a delicious lunch which we ate in the glow of a big screen TV broadcasting the US- England world cup match. I'm sure you all saw that it was a tied game and the one US goal was more of a fluke, but it was exciting none the less.

San Bartolomé group with our Tech trainer, Carlos.

Now I sit back in my room in San Bartolomé listening to the rain once again... Today is Sunday and therefore "a day of rest," as Big Grace used to say. I think I will really take that to heart and spend the day writing, maybe do some yoga, take a walk in the rain... A day of reflection, and collecting myself before a new and busy week begins.

What an exciting weekend! Between erupting volcanoes and tropical depressions, life is never dull here in Guatemala. I am grateful that everyone here is safe and well and I hope we can offer assistance to those who were not so lucky...
To make the weekend even more interesting I had my first medical "emergency" I guess you could say. It didn't seem like much of an emergency as much as an annoyance... About a week ago I began noticing a small itchy rash developing on my face. It didn't seem like much and it wasn't unbearable or spreading so I didn't pay much attention to it. I did go and see the Peace Corps nurse just to ask her what she thought and she said it was probably just from the sun... I didn't think that was why, thought it was nothing serious so I just sort of ignored it. BAD IDEA...

Throughout the week it didn't bother me much but over the weekend I noticed it spread to the skin around my right eye and it was becoming increasingly more itchy. Also the itchy rash had spread to my belly. I called the nurse and told her what was going on and she said it was probably an allergic reaction and suggested I take 25mg of Benedryl every 6 hours. So I went to bed Sunday night doped up on Benedryl but found it very hard to sleep because my face and stomach were so itchy. I woke up the next morning barely able to open my eyes and I thought.. "Uh oh."Mugshot.
I'm sure this photo will haunt me for life... But isn't it fascinting?!
(I can only laugh whenever I see this... I really look like the guy from Goonies, Sloth?) HA

My face was almost unrecognizable! My eyes and top lip were super swollen and itched with a fiery intensity that I had not experienced since having poison ivy last summer. I immediately called the nurse who seemed very concerned that perhaps the next step in this allergic reaction would be for my throat to close up so she advised that I go to the local health center and get an antihistamine injection right away. I was not thrilled about this as I do not love getting injections but by now, I have grown pretty accustomed to it.
We arrived at the health center and there was a clinic going on that day so we waited about and hour and half and I felt like I was being tortured. I was lathering on the Cortisone cream but nothing seemed to help...
Finally the nurse was able to see me and everyone began speculating on what could have possibly caused the reaction before finally deciding that a Cortisone injection was the best idea. Rosa motioned for me to undo my pants so the nurse could administer the shot and I said, "Sorry? Do what? Shot's go in your arm..."
She said, "No, this one goes here (pointing to her butt cheek)."
I said, "Thank you, but no way. I'll have it in my arm instead."
"It will be much more painful in your arm," insisted Rosa.
Then I saw the nurse emerge from behind a curtain holding possibly the largest hypodermic needle I had ever seen and without delay I exposed my cheek and lay face down on the table... It wasn't so bad I suppose, although there seemed to be quite an audience watching the American with the deformed face getting stuck in the bum. At that point though, I just wanted anything that would extinguish the fire on my skin.
While the injection didn't start working right away, the nurse also gave me some other medicine to bring down the swelling and calm the chaos going on inside my body.
Finally, today I can say that I am feeling much better and my face is looking more or less back to normal. I still have no idea what could have caused the reaction, and while everyone here seems to have their own theory, one of the most popular is that it was caused by this meat I tried that is made from unidentifiable pork products. I guess it is not unusual for people to have this sort of reaction to this particular meat, and while this may or may not have been the trigger, I now have a good excuse to avoid eating pig products.

Anyway, moral of the story is... if your body begins doing strange things, it is probably best not to wait and see what happens. Also, getting a shot in the butt isn't all that bad...Much better! (except for a few hive-like spots)
Thanks to these magical Guatemalan potions.