So yeah, checking on my last blog update and seeing that I was at the end of August, I decided that I better make time to update my blog for you readers that have been patiently waiting for me to get my act together and update. I think I have some form of seniorits as I am on the downhill slop of my time of service.
A few months ago we training with Peace Corps staff on the planning and execution of projects and with this all of my focus went to thinking about my projects. I started visiting homes last month, checking in on the needs of the women that have participated with me. I made it a requirement that in order to be considered for a project, they had to attend the majority of my meetings, meaning no more than 4 absences. My reasoning for this, is that I am looking for beneficiaries that I know are dedicated to improving the health of their families and their community and I feel that their attendance and participation is the best way I have to gauge this. I have one last group of home visits to complete this week and then I will be done with the first round. I hope to return to their houses at least one more time before making the final decision, to build relationships and make sure their are dedicated to the process and understand it well
.After the first set of home visits are complete, I will be starting on giving infomational charlas about the process of them getting projects and what their participation needs to look like. These will be mandatory for all those that will receive projects and those that miss 1 or more will no longer be on the list to receive projects. I am looking at about 50 projects but these numbers may come down if women decide not to show up.
Once I complete the informational charlas and determine more accurately the number of beneficiaries, I will work on competing my grant application to receive money that comes from USAID SPA (Small Project Assistance) fund. In order to make the process more sustainable, the community has to contribute at least 30% of the total cost. This is a requirement of the SPA grant and with out the contribution of 30% from the community, I cannot receive the grant for the rest of the cost.
So for now, this is what my job is looking like. I am getting away from the bimonthly charlas, but I hope to get back to some form of health promoter training to better prepare the women I have been working with before I head out of here. I have also been invited to start another women's group in a different community. I was contacted by a family member of a women that has participated in one of my groups and asked if I could start working with a new group of women. I gladly accepted this invitation. I was excited to have them initiate the group. I plan on keeping this group pretty low key, not going for any training but just showing up monthly and giving charlas on preventative health topics. I will also be working with my sitemate Marlaine and tag teaming this group. We had our first meeting at the end of October and will be doing it again at the end of this month. The women seem pretty interested, so I am pretty excited to get going with them.
In other news, I helped out translating with a group of dentists that came down to do a dental mission near my site. It was a two day event and pretty low key and fun. It's always nice to have community with people from the States, sometimes I miss being surrounded by people from the same culture as me. I got hooked up with this through one of the ladies that attends the missionary church I have been attending. They were looking for translators and I was free so it worked out well.
So I guess that's all I've got for now. Here are some prayer request:
-A note of praise that my sitemate Marlaine and I have been growing in our friendship and we are able to work quite well together.
-For a friend, that God would open his heart and that he could experience God's love and salvation.
-For wisdom and patience as I carry out the process of projects.
-Another note of praise, that the recent presidential elections went over with minimal back lashing and prayers for the governemental future of Guatemala, that it may move in a positive direction.
Thanks for reading :)
