My favorite things in Guatemala so far (as in I hope the list grows over the next two years):
-Fresh tomatoes-they always have that summertime taste of fresh picked tomatoes
-Fresh, sweet pineapple-always so expensive in the states and never quite that sweet
-Hospitality of Guatemalans-I have been offered so many food items and beverages by those that have a lot less than I do. They are also great about opening up their houses to foreigners
-The amazing scenery- God's hand was definitely in it all, it's breath-taking
-Pop or soda is called agua (spanish for water)-makes me feel like what I am drinking isn't that bad for me
-the colorful traditional dress of the Guatemalan women (pictures to come)
I have posted more pictures and you can find them here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2414575&id=22423429&l=c9baad8481
Friday, July 30, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
What exactly am I doing here?
Greetings fellow readers!
Working on my second week at site. It continues to be a challenge to find work to fill up my days but it has picked up a little. I guess now would be as good of a time as any to give a better description of what exactly I am doing here in Guatemala. First of all, I am working in a program that is called Healthy Homes. The goal of my program as well as that of the Peace Corps is to create sustainable development or another term they like to use is "capacity building", helping people help themselves specifically in the area of health. I work out of a health center in my community and have been given the title Technician in Preventative Health (it has a better ring when you say it in Spanish). Right now I am working at integrating myself into my community to gain the confidence of those that I will be working with and to be know as something more than 'that gringa that lives in our community." The first year of our service is focused on health education with a focus on the prevention of illnesses that are common to the people of Guatemala (diarrhea, pneumonia, and acute respiratory infections). I will be working within four communities that my health center covers and within each community I will form groups of interested individuals that I will give charlas (or educational talks) to these groups about various topics in the realm of health, focusing on topics that they have interest in. I will also work with groups that already exist in the community like woman's groups, midwives (they are a common occurrence here as part of Mayan medicine), health promoters, and men's groups as part of the municipality. My goal with each one of these groups in sticking with the goal of sustainable development is to create health promoters or individuals that can work within their communities giving the same kindof talks that I will be giving so that when I complete my two years of service the education will still be able to be carried on. I will also be working with individuals from the health center in order to train them in more effective ways of working in the communities.
At this point in time, I am just trying to get my face out there so I am accompanying people from my health center as they go out into the communities to do work (like vaccinate and weight children or go to schools to give out the H1N1 vaccination). I am working with a health technician at my health center and plan various activities with his assistance like meeting community members, speaking with community leaders about what I am here to do, meeting the police, firefighters and military presence that are within my community (having the authorities know me is an important thing, considering the civil unrest that was present in Guatemala's history, I don't want them to think I am here to cause any trouble), and organizing groups to work with within the communities.
I hope this give you a better idea of what I am doing and if you have any questions feel free to post a comment or e-mail me at krdemull@gmail.com.
Working on my second week at site. It continues to be a challenge to find work to fill up my days but it has picked up a little. I guess now would be as good of a time as any to give a better description of what exactly I am doing here in Guatemala. First of all, I am working in a program that is called Healthy Homes. The goal of my program as well as that of the Peace Corps is to create sustainable development or another term they like to use is "capacity building", helping people help themselves specifically in the area of health. I work out of a health center in my community and have been given the title Technician in Preventative Health (it has a better ring when you say it in Spanish). Right now I am working at integrating myself into my community to gain the confidence of those that I will be working with and to be know as something more than 'that gringa that lives in our community." The first year of our service is focused on health education with a focus on the prevention of illnesses that are common to the people of Guatemala (diarrhea, pneumonia, and acute respiratory infections). I will be working within four communities that my health center covers and within each community I will form groups of interested individuals that I will give charlas (or educational talks) to these groups about various topics in the realm of health, focusing on topics that they have interest in. I will also work with groups that already exist in the community like woman's groups, midwives (they are a common occurrence here as part of Mayan medicine), health promoters, and men's groups as part of the municipality. My goal with each one of these groups in sticking with the goal of sustainable development is to create health promoters or individuals that can work within their communities giving the same kindof talks that I will be giving so that when I complete my two years of service the education will still be able to be carried on. I will also be working with individuals from the health center in order to train them in more effective ways of working in the communities.
At this point in time, I am just trying to get my face out there so I am accompanying people from my health center as they go out into the communities to do work (like vaccinate and weight children or go to schools to give out the H1N1 vaccination). I am working with a health technician at my health center and plan various activities with his assistance like meeting community members, speaking with community leaders about what I am here to do, meeting the police, firefighters and military presence that are within my community (having the authorities know me is an important thing, considering the civil unrest that was present in Guatemala's history, I don't want them to think I am here to cause any trouble), and organizing groups to work with within the communities.
I hope this give you a better idea of what I am doing and if you have any questions feel free to post a comment or e-mail me at krdemull@gmail.com.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Ask the Lord to give you Mountians
Hello fellow readers,
I thought I would blow your mind and give yet another update for this week....whoa! I know
Anyways I just finished a book that I started on the flight down here (about dang time I guess). It's called "The Me I Want to be" by John Ortberg. It is a great book and I highly recommend it. In the last chapter it talks about how challenges are a necessary part of life and an opportunity for growth. The author speaks of Caleb and the other scouts that were sent out to check out the Promise Land in the time of Moses to see if it was worth it or not to go there. All but two of the twelve scouts thought it was too much of a risk to go but Caleb and Joshua trusted the Lord and though it wouldn't be easy thought that taking on the Promise Land was worth it. They were willing to accept the challenge knowing that it would all work out in the end because, this is what God had in store for them. Taking up a challenge is a gift from God because it is an opportunity to grow and become closer to the person He created you to be, therefore we should be asking for God to give us these mountains in order that we may prosper and grow. Here is a quote that was mentioned near the end of the book that I really liked:
"When heaven is about to confer a great responsibility on any man, it will exercise his mind with suffering...place obstacles in the path of his deeds, so as to stimulate his mind, harden his nature, and improve wherever he is competent." -Meng Tzu (a Chinese sage from 3rd Century BC)
I am trying to keep this all in mind as I work on making the transition of being here. I am not going to lie and pretend to be strong because I am not. This has been and continues to be the most challenging thing I have ever done in my life. There are many days that I wake up and just wish that I could have everything back the way it was before I left and that I could be back home with my friends and family enjoying the Michigan summer at the lake, but this is not how it is supposed to be for me. I have been called to a challenge and so shall I accept it. Every time that I have a moment when I wish that I could just throw all this out the window and head back to the states, I will try my best to remember that this is my mountain, this is my challenge and this is a necessary time for me to grow and learn more about the me I am supposed to be,the me God created me to be.
I thought I would blow your mind and give yet another update for this week....whoa! I know
Anyways I just finished a book that I started on the flight down here (about dang time I guess). It's called "The Me I Want to be" by John Ortberg. It is a great book and I highly recommend it. In the last chapter it talks about how challenges are a necessary part of life and an opportunity for growth. The author speaks of Caleb and the other scouts that were sent out to check out the Promise Land in the time of Moses to see if it was worth it or not to go there. All but two of the twelve scouts thought it was too much of a risk to go but Caleb and Joshua trusted the Lord and though it wouldn't be easy thought that taking on the Promise Land was worth it. They were willing to accept the challenge knowing that it would all work out in the end because, this is what God had in store for them. Taking up a challenge is a gift from God because it is an opportunity to grow and become closer to the person He created you to be, therefore we should be asking for God to give us these mountains in order that we may prosper and grow. Here is a quote that was mentioned near the end of the book that I really liked:
"When heaven is about to confer a great responsibility on any man, it will exercise his mind with suffering...place obstacles in the path of his deeds, so as to stimulate his mind, harden his nature, and improve wherever he is competent." -Meng Tzu (a Chinese sage from 3rd Century BC)
I am trying to keep this all in mind as I work on making the transition of being here. I am not going to lie and pretend to be strong because I am not. This has been and continues to be the most challenging thing I have ever done in my life. There are many days that I wake up and just wish that I could have everything back the way it was before I left and that I could be back home with my friends and family enjoying the Michigan summer at the lake, but this is not how it is supposed to be for me. I have been called to a challenge and so shall I accept it. Every time that I have a moment when I wish that I could just throw all this out the window and head back to the states, I will try my best to remember that this is my mountain, this is my challenge and this is a necessary time for me to grow and learn more about the me I am supposed to be,the me God created me to be.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
It's a slow go
Here I am again,
It's another day at the Health Post and things continue to be a slow go. I feel like there is something I could be doing to better fill my time and be more productive but it seems to be a challenge as I don't really know the communities well yet or what the exact role is of many of the people that work here in the health post. Things seemed to run at a slower pace anyways here and I have been told that the first three months as a volunteer are going to be a slow start, so I guess I have from now until mid October to get used to the pace and figure things out. I mean it took me about that long to feel like I was fitting in in my training community and then I have to leave to move out to my site.So I am figuring out how to post pictures on my blog or rather I have a good enough internet connection to do it along with the patience. I have posted some pictures of my room where I will be living probably for the next two years. I really like the set up and the family is really nice and hospitable.
This was my first major purchase, a bed,which I am extremely thankful to have as before I was sleeping on the floor with my sleeping mat and sleeping bag.
This is one of the doors to my room that goes out to a balcony in front.
This is the view from my balcony, zoomed in a little to cut out the highway that is between my and this amazing few, a sunset.
This is the same door that is featured in the photo above, only with my pile of stuff on my table.
I still need to get more furniture and things for my room. It doesn't feel like home quite yet but I hope it will sometime soon.
Here are a few pictures from our swear in which took place on Friday July 15th.
A shot with the US ambassador and my training group (we all lived in the same town for training with different families)
This is my program director, a great man to say the least, he definitely has his heart in what he is doing.
Hope you enjoyed the pictures and hopefully I will be posting more soon :)
Kelsey
It's another day at the Health Post and things continue to be a slow go. I feel like there is something I could be doing to better fill my time and be more productive but it seems to be a challenge as I don't really know the communities well yet or what the exact role is of many of the people that work here in the health post. Things seemed to run at a slower pace anyways here and I have been told that the first three months as a volunteer are going to be a slow start, so I guess I have from now until mid October to get used to the pace and figure things out. I mean it took me about that long to feel like I was fitting in in my training community and then I have to leave to move out to my site.So I am figuring out how to post pictures on my blog or rather I have a good enough internet connection to do it along with the patience. I have posted some pictures of my room where I will be living probably for the next two years. I really like the set up and the family is really nice and hospitable.
This was my first major purchase, a bed,which I am extremely thankful to have as before I was sleeping on the floor with my sleeping mat and sleeping bag.
This is one of the doors to my room that goes out to a balcony in front.
This is the view from my balcony, zoomed in a little to cut out the highway that is between my and this amazing few, a sunset.
This is the same door that is featured in the photo above, only with my pile of stuff on my table.
I still need to get more furniture and things for my room. It doesn't feel like home quite yet but I hope it will sometime soon.
Here are a few pictures from our swear in which took place on Friday July 15th.
A shot with the US ambassador and my training group (we all lived in the same town for training with different families)
This is my program director, a great man to say the least, he definitely has his heart in what he is doing.
Hope you enjoyed the pictures and hopefully I will be posting more soon :)
Kelsey
Monday, July 19, 2010
Volunteer work
Greetings from an official Peace Corps Volunteer,
After three months it has finally happened. Training was rough and had a lot of restrictions and I am glad to be out of that routine. I feel so free now and I would like to think I am ready for it.
I started working at my health center today, still getting to know communities and community leaders. Today I accompanied some health center staff out to a community to weight and vaccinated children, just trying to get my face out there and get the people used to seeing a gringa (that's what white people are referred to here). I noticed a lot of need for education in the communities where we were weighing children. It's almost a consistent finding that children start to fall on the growth chart after they are 6 months old, when they are no longer strictly breast fed. This is a great opportunity for me to educated and empower the people to be able to live healthier lives.
I have to admit that I have felt overwhelmed a fair number of times since really taking on my site. Development work is a slow process but the end results are worth their weight in gold. I am just a grain of sand in all the things that Peace Corps has done and for me to become that contribution of a grain of sand it will take me two years of working with community members and empowering them. I think I have my work cut out for me!
The first three months at site promise to bring their difficulties. There is so much that I have to go through to adapt to my community which also includes getting a basic understanding of the mayan language that is spoken here. It looks to be like a good challenge but helpful nonetheless in helping me integrate into my community. I will also have to get to know the community, it's people, resources, common health issues and much more information. I imagine that to be a significant challenge in itself. And of course in all of this I will still be working on perfecting my Spanish.
This experience promises to be one of significant growth. In many ways I will be challenged and in many ways I already have been. I only hope that I can reach my full potential here and not settle for less than my best.
I have an internet connection at my site but it is less than reliable and I am working on getting a better connection. When that comes, I hope to be more consistent in my updates and in putting up pictures.
Until next time,
Kelsey
After three months it has finally happened. Training was rough and had a lot of restrictions and I am glad to be out of that routine. I feel so free now and I would like to think I am ready for it.
I started working at my health center today, still getting to know communities and community leaders. Today I accompanied some health center staff out to a community to weight and vaccinated children, just trying to get my face out there and get the people used to seeing a gringa (that's what white people are referred to here). I noticed a lot of need for education in the communities where we were weighing children. It's almost a consistent finding that children start to fall on the growth chart after they are 6 months old, when they are no longer strictly breast fed. This is a great opportunity for me to educated and empower the people to be able to live healthier lives.
I have to admit that I have felt overwhelmed a fair number of times since really taking on my site. Development work is a slow process but the end results are worth their weight in gold. I am just a grain of sand in all the things that Peace Corps has done and for me to become that contribution of a grain of sand it will take me two years of working with community members and empowering them. I think I have my work cut out for me!
The first three months at site promise to bring their difficulties. There is so much that I have to go through to adapt to my community which also includes getting a basic understanding of the mayan language that is spoken here. It looks to be like a good challenge but helpful nonetheless in helping me integrate into my community. I will also have to get to know the community, it's people, resources, common health issues and much more information. I imagine that to be a significant challenge in itself. And of course in all of this I will still be working on perfecting my Spanish.
This experience promises to be one of significant growth. In many ways I will be challenged and in many ways I already have been. I only hope that I can reach my full potential here and not settle for less than my best.
I have an internet connection at my site but it is less than reliable and I am working on getting a better connection. When that comes, I hope to be more consistent in my updates and in putting up pictures.
Until next time,
Kelsey
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