Winter Break Activities

I think I mis titled my last post.  I thought I was cold then, but it is very apparent now I didn't know what lay ahead.  This morning I woke up to frost.  That's right FROST!   

The average daytime temperature has been about 45 degrees Fahrenheit for the past week.  I know you are all probably thinking Tirtza, you are from north Idaho, it gets much colder there.  The difference here is they don't have heat in their houses so there's no break form the cold.  Fortunately the sun has come back out so that helps take the edge off.  I recently went to a 15th birthday party and needless to say it as a very cold event, but we still had a good time.

The quinceiera, Mirian (my neighbor) and me.

Mima(my neighbor) and ma at the 15th birthday party.

Mirian and me also at the party.

This week the kids were supposed to go back to school after winter break, but because it is so cold they extended break for another week.  My host mom, who is a teacher, was telling me that most years they extend the break.  I'm not sure why they don't just start the break a week later.  By the time the kids go back to they will have been out of school for a month because the week before winter break there was a national teacher strike.  Some of the schools still had class, for example one of the elementary schools in my town because they were preparing for the San Juan Festival.  Every school had their own festival, but I only went to one.  Basically it seemed like a good excuse to play with fire.  There are people dressed in rags and masks called Kamba.  Throughout the evening they lit large bunches of grass on fire and chased each other around, then they brought out a bull replica with flaming horns and took turns chasing each other.  Then they played a soccer game with flaming balls.  The one game that didn't involve fire was claiming a greased pole to get a bag of money.  After a few failed attempts the Kamba pulled to pole over and got the money.  To finish off the night they lit a fire-cracker filled scar-a-crow on fire.

The fallowing day, after the festival, I headed off the Asunción for more meetings.  One was a planning meeting for the Paraguay Verde camp and the other was the NVAC(National Volunteer Advocacy Counsel) meeting.  I am now my area's representative which means I get my way payed to go to the meetings in Asuncion and then I am in charge of organizing and running a meeting in my area to inform the volunteers of what is going on nationally in Peace Corps Paraguay.  I am also the emergency contact person so if there is an emergency I am in charge of contacting all the volunteers in my area and reporting back to the main Peace Corps office.

After returning from Asuncion I had a day to do the final preparations for my recycled art day camp.  I wasn't sure how many kids to expect because the week in was going to go to the elementary school to invite the kids was the week of the strike so I only went to one school.  The first day there were about 18 kids which was a nice number.  I'm sure they all went home and told their friends because for the next three days there were 30 kids.  My friend Brook helped out one day and another volunteer, Jordan, helped out for two days.  I'm not sure what I would have done on my own with 30 kids between the ages of 4 and 14.  The recycled art projects we did were bracelets made from plastic bags, home made paper using old news paper, flower vases from 2 liter soda bottles and CDs and flowers from toilet paper tubes.  We also did some coloring and relay races with eggs and balloons. And of course snack. I went all out and made banana bread one day and carrot cake another.  One afternoon after we finished the first day of camp in my town Brook and I went to her community and I helped her with her day camp.  We talked about snakes in Paraguay.

Kids coloring at camp.

Me helping the kids rip up newspaper to make recycled paper.

Making paper.

Egg relay races.

Girls with their recycled art projects.

During the second week of winter break, which wasn't feeling very wintery, Brook invited me to go camping with her and her neighbors.  We hiked the tallest mountain in Paraguay.  It is called Tres Kandu and towers at 842 meters.  We took a 25 minute bus ride to the neighboring town of Garay and walked about 3 kilometers to the base and the entrance to the Yvytyrusu reserve  There was a little visitors center with and a simple map, rules and bathrooms.  To the top, where we camped, was only about 5 kilometers, but the second half of the trail went basically straight up the mountain.  On the way back down there were multiple places where I went down backwards it was so steep.  There used to be a military station at the top so there is an old house up there.  There is a well and a hand crank pump, but unfortunately it doesn't work any more.  There is a creek that is only a 10 minute walk from the top so we didn't have to carry a lot of water.  We had one tent, which was a large one man tent.  The three boys, Brook's neighbors, slept in the tent and Brook and I slept under the stars.  My legs were soar for a few days afterward and I had some pretty nasty blisters, but it was a nice get away.  

Heading to the base of Tres Kandu.

Entrance to the reserve.

Some of the less steep trail.

Highest point in Paraguay, which oddly enough the end of the trail.

View from the top.

The group.

The house at the top.

Having some dinner of ham and cheese on rolls and enjoying warm drinks.

Che Ro'y

  "Che ro'y" means I am cold in Guaraní.  We have officially entered into winter and it shows.  In the past two weeks we have had about an hour of partial sun.  The cold and rain isn't fun, but even worse is all the mud.  All of my pants are super muddy but if I wash them they will never dry.  My fridge can only handle one shirt or pair of pants at a time and even there they take at least two days to dry completely, or as dry as the will ever be in a humid country.  Everything always feels just slightly damp here, even when it isn't rainy for weeks on end.  

Speaking of the climate, I recently attended a three day workshop, put on by Peace Corps Paraguay, about climate change.  It was held at a place called CAFASA, which is also where we spent our first night in Paragauay when we arrived back in September.  The workshop was combined with our Project Design and Management workshop.  Each volunteer brought a contact from their community.  We discussed climate change in general and specifically in Paraguay.  Deforestation is the biggest factor contributing to climate change in this country.  We talked about alternative energy, such as methane and solar.  We also planted a few trees.  For the design and management part of the workshop I worked with my contact on developing a plan for a project we could implement in Gral. Morinigo.  We planned a project to install garbage cans along the streets.  I don't know if we will actually do this particular project but at least it got us thinking about possible projects and how to go about designing them.

CAFASA

Our volunteer coordinator talking about the solar cooker.

A model of a biodigester which is used to collect methane gas to cook with.

Raquel and me with a baby tree.

Raquel and me hard at work on our project plan.

Our work complete!

The group who attended the workshop.

In the one school we finally started construction on our garbage can.  The class is really small, there are only 7 students, so it is nice to work with them.  We have built two levels so far.  It is turning out to be a lot smaller than I had imagined, but it will at least be an example for when we make more.

The 8th grade class working on the garbage can.

In the other school we continued work on the home made insecticides.  The "paraiso" leaves have to soak in water for a few days.  In our case it turned out to be a week.  One of the down sides of the home made insecticide is when it is ready it smells really bad.  In order to use it we have to strain out the big leaves. The kids were reluctant to even get close to it let alone hold the bag we were using as a make shift strainer.  With a little bit of encouragement and help from me we finally got all the insecticide strained and put into bottles to use.

A few brave students straining the insecticide.

Bottling the insecticide.

I finally made it to a neighboring town of Villarica.  I have herd that it is a nice place, and finally my contact offered to show me around.  She studies at one of the universities there. We spent the afternoon strolling around and checking out the sites. There is a nice park with a pond and a few capybaras.  

Capybaras!

This week I had my first official meeting with my bosses to talk about how things are going in my community.  We have to fill out an official form reporting what we are doing, how many people are involved and which Peace Corps objectives we are achieving through our projects.  This information is sent to the Peace Corps office in Washington D.C.  Sometimes when I have to quantify the work I'm doing it feels like I haven't done a lot.  But after talking to my bosses they assured me that the projects I am doing are great and that bigger projects will come later in my service.  The fist six month are really about forming relationships and building trust within the community.  It was very encouraging to hear that from them.

Eco Bricks and Garbage Cans

Life still goes on in the little town of Gral. Morinigo. I have started working with the other elementary school in my town. We are in the middle of two projects. One is making Eco bricks, which are 2 liter soda bottles full of trash until they are hard. These bottles can be used like normal bricks for construction. We are going to be starting small and making a bench. The other project is making garbage cans using smaller soda bottles. To give the students a little incentive, I offered a Paraguayan national team soccer ball to the grade who collected the most bottles and made the most Eco bricks. The 8th grade class won. I am hoping to start construction of the garbage cans soon. The benches are a little more complicated because we will need cement. Hopefully we can get that soon as well.

In the other school the vegetables we planted are finally sprouting, some better than others. Shortly after we planted we had a big rain storm and I think some of the plants may have gotten washed out. Now that the vegetables are growing, there are many insects that want to enjoy the fruits of our labor. The past couple of days I have been at the school making home made insecticides. Other activities I have done in the garden haven't gone so well. I have been getting frustrated working in this school, but fortunately the insecticide activity went really well. The process of making the insecticide consisted of smashing the leaves of a tree called "paraiso" and then letting the leaves soak for a few days. They kids really enjoyed smashing the leaves.

Students smashing the Paraiso leaves.

At the end of May I attended the Paraguay Verde camp. Unfortunately I wasn't able to bring any youth from my community because the didn't get their act together in time and the camp filled up, but I went anyway to experience the camp and have a better understanding when I become more involved in planning the next one. The camp was three days and was held in a Catholic retreat center in the city of Atyra. Atyra's claim to fame is that it is cleanest city in Paraguay. I don't know if it's true, but it is the cleanest city I have visited in Paraguay. There were about 110 participants, both volunteers and Paraguayan youth, from all over the country. There were different sessions about composting, worm bins, healthy eating, how to plan activities in their home communities and of course there was a bonfire and a talent show.  To end the camp we did a service project in a protected area in Atyra. Together we planted 100 native trees and made three benches using Eco bricks. 

Retreat center called Marianela

Tree planting

Eco brick bench construction

The nearly completed bench

Volunteers being volunteers

After the camp I visited my volunteer friend who lives near Atyra. She has a couple of worm bins so she gave me some worms to try again to start my own worm bin. The last ones I brought from Asunción escaped. It has been a couple weeks and there are still worms so it was a success. Now that I have a working worm bin I am hoping to start working with the women's group again to make more worm bins. Also, I have been going to their meetings so I'm hoping to get other projects started with them. They liked the idea of home made insecticides and making their own bread so we'll see. I just have be to be patient. If there is one thing I have learned while living in Paraguay is things just take longer here. My friend also gave me some seeds and I finally got around to making the seed bed and planting them. In training we learned a method called double digging which basically does what roto-tiller does, but using a shovel. I have a greater appreciation for roto-tillers now.  

Two volunteers who live near me are teaching a business class together in one of the colleges. One week the girl was out of town so helped teach it. I was a little intimidated to teach a college class, especially not having any kind of business background, but the material was pretty basic and there were only 15 students. The class was about 3 hours with a break in the middle. We had a pre-made PowerPoint so that made it easier. The class only lasts a couple months and the volunteer who is in charge of it is finishing her service in July so I probably won't have a chance to do it again.

We are getting into winter here. The temperature during the day has been around 70and it cools down quite a bit at night, probably around the mid 50s. Also, we have been having a lot more rain. It is nice for the gardens , but not so nice for trying to get things done in the community because it pretty much shuts down when it rains.  

My cat, Medi, is still doing well. Nobody spays or neuters their animals here and I really don't want kittens, as cute as they are. Another volunteer had her two female cats operated on and both times it went really bad so I decided to just give my cat a birth control shot which has to be done every 6 months. After two tries, and some blood loss on my part, I no longer have to worry about her having kittens.  

Medi being super spoiled and loving life.

The Paraguyan drier...hanging things behind the refrigerator.

Presidential Elections

The biggest event that happened here in Paraguay recently was the presidential election.  The also voted for senators and governors.  They have elections every 5 years and each president can only serve one term.  The elections were on March 21st and for the entire month before, and even more the two weeks before, all I herd about were the elections and all of the candidates' campaigns.  They all have the usual TV and radio commercials and signs around town, but something else they do here is drive around in cars with loud speakers and blast mostly songs about the candidates and the political party in general.  Here there are two major parties, the Liberales and the Colorados.  The Colorado candidate, Horacio Cartes, won but, he won't take office until the end of August.

The presidential election ballot

The day after the elections I left for Reconnect.  Through out the two year Peace Corps service there are various training sessions.  The first, and longest, is called Reconnect.  It is five days.  For these five days we were back in Guarambare, where we had our first two months of training, and we stayed with our host families.  It was really fun to be back with my first host family.  I hadn't seen them since I left in December.  They were all really excited to see me.  It was also nice to see everyone else in my training class.  Most of them I hadn't seen since December either.  When I left my host family they had around 45 pigs, about 25 of them we born a few days before I left. When I showed up I didn't see a single pig.  They sold all but a couple of them and bought a car.  Also while I was with my host family I visited my host sister's godmother and she taught me how to make Ñanduti, which is a traditional lace made here in Paraguay.  I think it is really pretty so I was excited to learn.  While they are making it they use fabric streched in a frame to make the stitches,  but when it is compleat they take it off the fabric; I'm not quite sure how because we didnt get that far.  They starch it so it keeps it's shape.  It took me about an hour to do what little I did on the small circle next to the larger design the women was working on.

My first host family, reunited once again.

Me with the women who taught me Ñanduti.

Me concentrating hard on my work.

During training we learned about grafting fruit trees, green manures and had a couple refresher classes in Guaraní.  We also all had the opportunity to share what we are doing in our communities and share what has worked and what we are struggling with.  It was nice to talk to other volunteers because even though we are in different places we struggle with the same things.  It is nice to get advice and hear what my fellow volunteers are doing.  Unfortunately while I was away someone broke into my house.  They were just looking for money because they didnt take anything else form my house.  Hopefully it won't happen again, but I am making a few improvements to my doors.  

Back in Gral. Morinigo I am still visiting people and drinking a lot of terere.  My book club is still going strong.  I consistently have between 20 and 25 kids so I have decided to split it into two groups. One for the older kids and one for younger kids.  We have also finally started actual work in the school garden.  It took a few tries, kids not bringing tools or it being Friday afternoon and teachers not wanting to work.  We built the seed beds which was a little hectic with 25 kids with shovels and hoes, but we got it done and they are surprisingly straight  look pretty good.  The following week we planted the vegetables.  A national news paper donated the seeds and also a few students brought onions from their houses' to plant.   It has been interesting working in a Paraguayan school.  Their methods of teaching are very different than I'm used to.  More often than not the teacher is more interested in wether their work looks good and if they have neat hand writing rather than if they are learning the material. 

3rd graders making their seed bed.

1st and 2nd graders making the seed beds.

3rd graders watering their freshly planted vegetables.

I now also have Internet at my house or anywhere else I decided to go.  I have a little wireless modem that uses the 3G network.  It seams weird that I have such great Internet reception in a place that just got running water about 10 years ago.  I will try to be more consistent with my blog posts.

A test of the mail service in my town has been done and it was successful.  If anyone would like to send me something here is the address:

Tirtza Dibble

Gral. H. Morinigo

Departmento de Caazapá

Paragauay

Teacher Tirtza

My newest project is a book club. I have had three meeting and each time it has become more popular. The first Saturday I had eight kids between the ages of 4 and 13, the next Saturday there were 9 and this past Saturday 18 kids came. We do activities like make puppets of the monsters from the book "Where the Wild Things Are" or make Curious George masks and then we read the book. Although the library isn't open on the weekends, the mayor gave me permission to use it and now I even have my own key. I am hoping that I can get some members of the youth group to help me because there will probably be some Saturdays when I won't be able to make it and also with 18 or more kids it would be nice to have some help. At first the parents, and some of the kids, thought I was going to grade their work. Now I think that they realize it is just for fun, but many of the kids at still call me "profesora".

Last week I taught my first classes in the school. The school is putting in a school garden and I said I would help with it. My first class was about the ecosystem of a garden. When I first talked to the school they said 4th, 5th and 6th graders would be the ones working the most with the garden. The three grades were small enough that we decided we could combine them. When I showed up last Wednesday things were a little different. In Paraguay the kids only go to school for half the day. Either in the morning from 7-11 or in the afternoon from 1-5 with a half hour break in the middle. There was some rearranging in the school and many of the kids who were in the afternoon changed to the morning so the classes were a lot bigger. I ended up doing the activity three times in the morning and twice in the afternoon. Also, they told me that 1st, 2nd and 3rd grader will be working in the garden too and the preschool and kindergarten kids will probably want to be involved as well. I don't want to spend all day every day in the school so I'm not sure how I will work things out. I'm wishing now that the teachers and other people involved with the school worked at the small school. On Thursday I taught my first recycled art class with my host mom's 9th grace class. The plan right now is to teach recycled art once a month. For my first class we made wallets out of milk cartons. All the school kids here get free milk and cookies everyday so there are a lot of one liter milk cartons.

Here in Paraguay pretty much everyone is Catholic so Holy Week is a national holiday. They only had classes Monday and Tuesday and any official offices closed on Wednesday as well. A big tradition for Holy Week is to make chipa. The closest thing to chipa I think is a large soft pretzel, but chipa is made from corn and cassava flour. The dough is dry and crumbly at first so you have to knead it a lot until it becomes soft and you are able to shape it. They spend Wednesday making tons of chipa and eat it for the next few days. I helped my neighbor make some. She had prepared 10kilos (22lbs) of dough. We literally made hundreds of chipa. They cook the chipa in a brick oven called a tatakua. They build a fire inside and when it gets hot they sweep out all the ashes and it stays hot enough to cook the chipa. Some people cook chipa on banana leaves which gives them a different flavor than if they are just cooked in a pan. Over the next few days everyone I visited gave me chipa. There was no way I could eat it all so I used it as a snack at my book club the Saturday of Holy Week. In stead of having Easter mass on Sunday morning they have it on Saturday night. They also have a service on Sunday morning, but my neighbor said it is mostly for people who didn't go to the service the night before.

I forgot to mention in my last post, but the same day I moved into my new house I also got a bike. It belonged to my host mom's father. It hadn't been used in a long time and she said if I wanted to fix it up I could use it for the next two years. The first question a few people asked me was weather or not it had breaks. I thought it was kind of a funny question until I started looking at many of the bikes around town and most of them don't have breaks. Fortunately my bike has breaks. Some of the stone roads are a little bumpy, but after a few times I have learned where the smooth parts of the roads are. I took it out for its first long trip a few weeks ago. I headed to Brook's house for her birthday. Brook is the volunteer who lives about 10 kilometer away. When I arrived they were just bringing home the pig she bought for the birthday BBQ which wouldn't be until the fallowing evening. I ate some of the freshest pork I have ever had. Within a few hours of slaughtering it we were eating a stew like meal made from the liver, the heart, and maybe the lungs. I didn't ask too many questions I just ate it.

I recently made a book shelf for my house. It is made from 100% recycled materials. I used wooden crates used to ship fruit and I made string out of plastic bags which I used to lash together to boxes.

Photos: 1) My first book club with Where the Wild Things Are puppets 2) Me reading Where the Wild Things Are 3) Me kneading chips dough 4) My neighbor and the 10 kilos of chipa dough 5) My neighbors putting the chipa in the tatakua 6) Chipa cooking on banana leaves 7) My bike 8) My shelf