Marzooo

Hello family and friends! You'll be happy to hear that the 24/7 season of fog is ending, which is a major blessing for me here in Tixan. Waking up to fog and not seeing the sun for many days (let alone the end of the street) is depressing. In Oregon, we get lots and lots of rain and darkness during these months, which is also difficult to deal with sometimes, but the fog is a different demon. I'm not saying its better or worse, but there is something inherently menacing about fog that is deeply creepy. It really feels like someone could always be watching or following you.

Things are busy busy busy around here! Officially, I've got about 5 months left of service so I'm trying to cram in as much stuff as possible here before the end. There is just so much work to be done that its hard to say no! Here's a quick run-down:

1. Elementary health classes! They're going really well. So far we've covered nutrition, handwashing, general hygiene, cold/flu prevention, diarrhea prevention, clean water, and we've done a little lesson in story writing with a health emphasis. Some of the lessons have been more successful than others, but overall, it's been good. Next up we'll be discussing the environment, trash, and recycling, and hopefully do some sort of Earth Day celebration (April 22). I also have plans to do an art or essay writing competition in May/June before the end of school. Let me know if you'd like to send/donate any materials for prizes!

2. High school sex ed classes! These are also going really well. I like hanging out with the little kids, but I also really appreciate the fact that I can have a real conversation with the 8th-10th graders. Next week we'll be getting into anatomy, menstruation, pregnancy, and do a condom demonstration. The rural doctor who works at the clinic in Tixan will be helping me with these classes, because I thought it'd be best to split up the boys and girls. Dr. Juan will take the boys and I'll teach the girls, which will be great since there are so few of them! Hopefully this will allow us to have a more honest and productive discussion.

3. Girls Club/Grupo de Jovencitas! I just formed a girl's club with the high schoolers a couple weeks ago. We're going to meet once a week during recess for 30-40 minutes, and do crafts and chat and hang out. At the first meeting, 14 girls showed up! I think that as we continue more girls will want to participate as well. I don't really want to turn people away, but we'll see what happens. Forming this group feels like kind of a last ditch effort to work with girls, and I'm really kicking myself for not doing this a year ago, but OH WELL. I'm trying to squeeze out something positive from every last moment here. My bright idea with the girls is to do some journaling activities. We'll see how things go, but I'd like to make journals with them, and then do a short writing activity every week or two. At the very least, they'll have their journals to take home with them and use. I've thought about making paper and doing a big project, but I think thats going to be too difficult if we're making 15-20. Anyway, if anyone has any ideas about journal/book making, send them my way! Something simple but attractive is obviously what we're going for.

4. Craft classes with the women of Chalaguan! Cecilia, the adult educator, and I have been trying to work with the women of Chalaguan to form a jewelry business, but after many months of discussion, its just not going to happen. The idea is just too big and the women are hesistant to commit. So in place of that, we're applying for a small grant through Peace Corps to get materials to do some craft classes, like knitting, sewing, jewelry making, bead making, etc. This way we can more ladies involved in the classes too, maybe some who are interested in learning a new skill, but who weren't interested in forming a business. Along the way, we can chat about small businesses or health or whatever topics come up during the classes and spread the knowledge in a more informal way. Hopefully it works out!

5. Nutrition/hygiene/cooking talks at the clinic! In these last few months, I'm trying to step up the number of short talks, or "charlas", that we do in the clinic and involve the community health workers to a greater extent. There is a big recent push to work on lowering malnutrition in our county, which is great, but no one is really coming up with new or creative ideas to solve this huge problem. I've really cut back on the individual nutrition counseling that I do, because it just doesn't seem that effective (and also because my "office" is now being used as storage). I think that its probably more effective to give lots of charlas on general nutrition to everyone thats waiting to be seen at the clinic, in an effort to raise the awareness and knowledge of the whole community. I want to make more educational materials to put up on the walls, and get everyone to talk about nutrition in the same way in order to give more coherent advice. This problem is waaaaaay bigger than me... but hopefully now that I have a better idea of how the system works and how people think, I can make a more focused effort to get the information out there and encourage behavior change. I also want to teach the health workers and my other co-workers how to make cookies and carrot cake and some other things, which they are all very excited about.

There are some other little things happening here and there, but those are the major projects going on in the last few months! My tentative plan is actually to end my PC service at the end of July and then travel/bum around for a month and get back to Portland at the beginning of September. People are getting married and I've got a life to re-start! I love Ecuador, and I've had a great time here (lots of ups and downs, but overall, very fulfilling)... but its just about time to head home. I miss you guys!

I spent this last week in the jungle around Tena and Misahualli, helping out with a health brigade organized by Timmy Global Health. It was the first time I'd ever participated in anything like that, and it was a great learning experience. More than anything, it gave me a lot to think about in terms of development work. A week-long health brigade is obviously vastly different from Peace Corps service, but each has its strengths and weaknesses. Most people are not able to commit to two years of service in a developing country (let alone a month), so they're forced to resort to a week. Is it possible to get to know another culture/country/people in a week? Absolutely not. But they do provide semi-regular health attention to remote communities that have a difficult time getting to see a doctor normally. I think that organizations that do brigades have great intentions, but I also think that they need to understand the Ecuadorian health system better and encourage Ecuadorians to utilize it as best they can... because primary care is free here! So is birth control! And care for kids under 5! And people with special needs! Ecuador has got some inspired programs runnning, and while they still lack efficiency and consistency, progress is being made. Ideally, NGOs should make an effort to recognize the progress that the host country is making and work with the system to help it run better, and just be around to fill in the gaps. Surely there are still gaps in the health system here, like there are anywhere, but my impression is that Ecuador is doing a good job helping more people get better care. Poco a poco.

Anyway, apart from all the theoretical discussions going on in my head, it was great to meet everyone involved in the brigade... and also get a little vacation from Tixan. It wasn't a true vacation, because I was working most of the time, but a change of scenery was good enough. Plus, I love the jungle! Its amazing. So many bugs, so many animals, so much beautiful, inspiring nature. It was humid and sweaty and I loved it. It was a much needed break from the fog and all of its cold creepiness.

Lastly, my sister is coming down to visit next month! She's getting back from Thailand and immediately flying to Ecuador to spend 10 days. It'll be a rushed trip, but I'm really looking forward to it. It'll be nice to see a familiar face and visit a few places I haven't been to yet and be a tourist.

Well I hope you're all doing well! Just in case you've forgotten, I enjoy getting updates from you all as well... don't be a stranger! Five months isn't forever, but its long enough to need some encouragement :)