Thoughts at Month 3

Cooking class in La Merced with Lucita (right)

It's half-way through November! How did that happen? Time is flying by, just like everyone said it would. Our Reconnect conference starts on Monday, which signals the end of our first three months at site. This conference felt so far away a few weeks ago, and now... it's here!

Also on Monday I'll turn 27 years old. I've been trying not to reflect on this fact too much because quite frankly it freaks me out. TWENTY-SEVEN. It's the magic age at which Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix met their demise. And more recently Amy Winehouse! One of the host brothers has a hat that says  "American Legend" on the front and then on the side lists the names of Kurt, Janis and Jimi. Once I explained what the names had in common, which essentially is a cautionary tale about the perils of fame and drugs. I also tried to throw in the mysterious detail of the white Bic lighter found in each of their pockets, but it's unclear if that actually translated or was just me babbling for a few minutes about conspiracy theories.

Anyway, 27. Old, right? Three years to 30. Which is the age at which you die. Just kidding. Theres really nothing to do about aging and the passage of time except accept it. So... ok I just did. Let's move on.

These first three months have been a roller coaster. So much has happened! From paralyzing fear to profound boredom, life here is not easy. You know, they told us that it wouldn't be easy (I believe the slogan goes "The hardest job you'll ever love.") but I could never have prepared for the depth and breadth of the difficulties. It's hard to describe the experience succinctly because life is hard in so many myriad ways, many of which I've never even considered before. Something as simple as peeing is often a much more complicated endeavor. At home, I share a bathroom with 5 people, 3 of them men, so when the bathroom is available, its usually disgusting. Additionally, more often then not there is no toilet paper, and occasionally theres no water. Admittedly, a lack of cleanliness, TP and running water doesn't affect my ability to use the toilet, but it does make the experience somewhat traumatic.

At work, (yes I'm still talking about peeing) theres some problem with the water and so you can only flush the toilets after filling up a bucket in the sink and dumping it into the tank. How many buckets are there? One. How many toilets are there? Three. How many sinks are big enough to put a huge bucket it? One. And that sink takes approximately 58 minutes to fill up the bucket because theres no water pressure. Ok, I'm lying, it's not 58 minutes, but its still a good 5-8 minutes. Which is a really long time if you're watching it fill up. Also, you better not have to go #2 because there is no toilet paper or bathroom garbage in which to dispose of that toilet paper. It's a wonder I haven't developed a UTI yet. *KNOCK ON WOOD*

Anyway, thats maybe gross to talk about, but peeing is on my mind a lot. Or at least, it used to be before I stopped drinking water. Seriously! Whats the point of drinking water if I just pee all the time? I'll have a swig once in a while if I'm parched, but its not worth the ordeal. Trust me. Guys have it a lot easier here because men literally just pee wherever whenever. It's disgusting and it makes me jealous.

In other ways, life has gotten much easier. My Spanish and confidence speaking Spanish has increased a lot, so I'm able to communicate more and with less distress. I can tell stories now! Simple stories, but still. They make sense. I'm getting to know my coworkers at the hospital and the clinic better, which makes navigating the workplace much, much easier. Few people are very friendly or outgoing, so getting to know people is more difficult than it should be. I think most people know who I am, but beyond the blue eyes and blonde hair, there are lots of misconceptions. I've had some good conversations recently which is exciting.

Work is also getting more interesting. The nutrition counseling I'm doing is getting easier and more productive. This week I talked to lots of pregnant moms and there were many nice conversations. Life in the campo is idyllic but incredibly hard and for most women, no one acknowledges the struggle to take care of the kids and the cows and the sheep and the cooking and the cleaning and the husband. I've started talking more about how difficult pregnancy is on the body and how eating well can really help out with the work, which seems to be logic they like and can follow. I'm also starting to recognize women and their kids who come every month for the "controls" so we're able to have more of an ongoing dialogue, which is good. A few moms have even mentioned what they're doing to eat better! It's really encouraging.

This week, I also found a really good apartment prospect. It's a little place in a sort of complex owned by some friends of the other volunteer at my site, Krista. It's a bit out of my budget, but my budget is pitiful and life here is pretty inexpensive, so I think it'll be ok. Fingers crossed it works out!

Well thats about it for now. What a rambling post, huh? My apologies. Thematic posts are overrated :)

Dreams Come True in Ecuador

Last week I had the honor of being "madrina" for the Hospital Civil Alausi's sports teams during a province-wide tournament of hospitals.

Team Madrina: Lucita, Me, Dra. Ximena, Kati, posing solemnly after my loss. Actually, just kidding... thats just how everyone here takes pictures.

What the heck is a madrina? Why am I wearing an incredibly tight dress and sash? I'm glad you asked.

Ecuador, like many other Latin American countries, loves to objectify women. LOVES. And what better way to objectify mujeres than seemingly random beauty contests? For every occasion there is a beauty contest. Each community has an annual contest corresponding with their particular founder's day, and those are like the most important contests, but they also have madrinas for less critical events like this province-wide, health institution sports tournament.

Madrina, which means "godmother" in Spanish, is a woman that gets chosen to represent the team/institution/community during the contest, which typically opens every multi-day event (and every event is multi-day). The process by which the hospital chose me as madrina is completely unclear to me; all I know is that one day I received an official written request (an "oficio") from the director of the hospital asking me to be madrina. After I asked many, many questions, I agreed to do it... because this is a once in a lifetime deal. I'm 26, soon to be 27! I'm probably at like my beauty peak! If other people think I can win a very low-stakes beauty contest against other provincial hospital employees, I obviously have to embrace this opportunity.

So I was a madrina. I got a sash. I wore a very tight, short, strapless dress for about an hour in a gym. I had to walk around the gym several times in heels and smile for countless pictures. I introduced myself into the microphone in front of 200-odd people. Then I had to stand with the 5 other madrinas, while a panel of judges sitting at a card table assessed our qualifications. What those qualifications are exactly is a mystery for the ages.

While they were judging, a woman asked each one of us our name and wrote it down. When she got to me I said, slowly, "Ch-l-o-e." The woman stared at me blankly. I repeated my name and then started to spell it. The woman began scribbling "S-A-L-Y." I looked at the paper and said, "No, no, it starts with C." She glanced up at me and said, "It doesn't matter" and then moved on to the next madrina. It was at that moment that I knew I wouldn't be chosen as Reina, or Queen, of the tournament.

Instead, two women from Riobamba were chosen as Reina and Runner Up or 2nd Best or Princesa or something. The 2nd Best teetered around the gym in her 3 inch heels and the Reina never smiled. Not once. After I lost, everyone on my team (well, all the women at least) said, "What the heck! OMG you are so much prettier than her!" Which I guess is what you say to someone who has just lost a beauty contest. It's the only consolation there is really.

Fortunately, my self-image was not shattered and a couple hours later, our basketball team went on to win 45 to 9. The next day I played soccer too! And I wasn't the worst on our team! If only the madrina contest included athletic ability in their evaluations, I'd surely have won.

Some Things Chloe is Doing (Sometimes Titles are Unnecessary)

Well hello there! I guess it's about time for another update from the field.

It's been an interesting month and a half so far. I feel like I'm starting to get things figured out, and the more I do, the more excited and overwhelmed I get. There are so many people to meet and things to do and problems to solve and a thousand potential projects that should have been started 5 years ago.

To start, work is good, or at least it's getting good. I've been giving lots of nutrition advice to moms and pregnant ladies at the health clinic in Tixan, which has been going pretty well since my Spanish is getting a lot better. My little spiel about malnutrition is pretty solid and I just tweak it depending on who I'm talking to and how the conversation is going. The clinic has been overwhelmed by patients the last few weeks because the fiscal year (or whatever) for one of the welfare-type programs in Ecuador ended in September, or rather, it was supposed to end in September. The way the program works is that parents with kids under 5 can get $35 a month for an entire year, but they have to document that they're keeping up with vaccines and checkups. Unfortunately, a lot of people haven't kept up with either of those things over the last 12 months and now they're scrambling to get an appointment and get their paperwork signed so they can get the money. The program extended it's fiscal year for an additional week in a lot of rural areas (including Tixan), and I wouldn't be surprised if a second extra week is added. Last Monday morning, there were probably close to 300 people trying to get an appointment at my little clinic! That is a lot.

When I got here, my counterpart told me that malnutrition was a big issue, but never having witnessed this kind of poverty before, it was pretty shocking just how big of an issue it is. I don't know statistics, but just based on the number of kids under 5 that I see every day who are very short and/or underweight (based on national growth charts), I can tell you that malnutrition is rampant. The type of malnutrition we're talking about is protein-calorie deficiency which basically means they don't get enough food overall, but particularly protein-rich foods.

I mentioned in my last post that during my interviews a high percentage of people reported eating meat two times a week or less, and thats pretty typical. Also, when they do eat meat, its not like every person in the family gets a boneless, skinless chicken breast. Most often it'll be a chicken neck or foot or other random animal part that has more fat, skin and gristle than meat (I know this from experience... I'm convinced all chicken breasts are sent to the United States). Lots of people (but not an overwhelming majority) have a milk cow so they have access to milk several times a week if not every day, but not everyone boils the milk and they often let it sit out for long periods of time because they don't have refrigerators. About a third of families own chickens, so they probably eat eggs several days a week, but those that don't have chickens at their disposal eat eggs a couple times a week. Most people eat vegetables almost every day and many have a family garden. Fruits (besides blackberries) don't grow here, so everyone has to buy them if they want them. The things that do grow here are grains and beans: barley, corn, quinoa, wheat, peas and quite a few other types of beans that I had never heard of before I got here.

So what do I say to the moms with malnourished kids? First, I explain what malnutrition is and why its bad, namely kids don't develop properly and they are sick more often. I once read that the brains of malnourished kids develop 30% less. I tell the moms that if they want to have strong, tall, smart kids, they have to feed them properly.

Second, we chat for a bit about how often they eat meat, eggs, milk products, whole grains and beans so I can get an idea of how to advise them. Then we talk about how they can add more of these things to their kids' diets. Sometimes this is the hardest part. People can't buy more meat. Sometimes they can buy an extra egg or two at 10 cents a pop, but most people are pretty strapped for cash and live way in the hell up in the mountains and only come down to the market once or twice a week. (And everything they buy they have to carry back up the mountainside, so it can't be an outrageous amount.) I usually encourage them to eat more "menestra", a traditional dish that basically consists of lentils or beans in sauce with rice. And quinoa, the miracle grain! And also milk and eggs if they can manage it. The important thing is that they demonstrate the intention to increase the protein in their kid's diet, and don't just nod and say "Si, doctorita" after everything I say.

Lastly, if I've still got their attention, I explain that there are actually 3 things that factor in to malnutrition and nutrition is just one. The other two are hygiene and water. Both are possible sources of parasites, amoebas and other bad things that want to live in the guts of children and make them very sick. We talk about the importance of handwashing and drinking boiled water, which are two things that don't seem to happen much. I had a few interview questions about handwashing and drinking water, but it seemed like those were more sensitive questions than the others and I'm not sure how honestly people answered.

Obviously, I'm not a professional dietician and I'm sure some people reading this are cringing. But to do this job, you don't have to be a professional. About half of the people I talk to say they weren't aware that their kids needed to eat things other than rice and coladas (drinks mixing water and various grains in flour form). The information just isn't well known. Plus, if you think about it, how many of these parents were malnourished children themselves? If thats the case, did they make it through school? Is there even a nutrition class in school if they happened to make it that far? Probably not. In the US, we're obsessed with talking about food and what the latest scientific studies say about it. People here talk about food as well (where in the world do people not talk about food?) but there is no science. There is only tradition and myth. And lots of poverty.

Anyway, there is obviously a lot of work to do. This is just the tip of the ice berg. The interviews illuminated a few other things in the realm of water safety and hygiene, but I'm not exactly sure how to tackle that just yet. Right now, I'd love to do some health classes at the local schools and work with the day care centers on hygiene as well. Get 'em while they're young! A new nutrition intern just started her six months working with me in the communities so we're in the process of making an action plan. She is super excited to go out and start mom's clubs, which sounds great to me.

We also have a radio show! It's sort of bizarre how easy it was to get on the radio and how little oversight there is. But it seems to be going alright. I'm pretty sure I'm terrible to listen to, but I'm hoping that the information is interesting enough that people can listen beyond my stumbling in Spanish. I stutter enough as it is without being broadcast to potentially thousands of people. We get 30 minutes Wednesday mornings from 7:30-8am and we are assisted by the lovely Esther, who translates the information into Kichwa. Its a pretty awesome gig!

Socially, I'm doing alright. I don't have any friends in town yet, besides the other volunteer that lives just up the road from me. I'm starting to think about looking for a place of my own because family living is just a bit too difficult for me. I like the family quite a bit and I'd be happy to hang out with them, but I want my own space, and specifically my own kitchen to eat things other than rice and fried meat. Did I mentioned my pants are on the verge of not fitting anymore? Yeah, I'm pretty sure thats rice weight. Sometimes they put lard in the rice. I wish I were kidding.

Oh, but you know, things are pretty good. I feel lucky to be where I am because it's gorgeous. The dramatic valley and mountain thing going on here is just unbelievable. Jugo de mora (blackberry juice) is delicious and yesterday I discovered that the bakery in town that I frequent for my whole wheat rolls also makes these popover things on Sunday afternoons that are filled with blackberry jam. YUM. People are pretty friendly, I just continue to be as awkward about small talk in Spanish as I am in English. I am really praying that I get better at it.

As always, I'd love to hear from you and I promise to send a personalized email response! Or if you feel so bold as to send me a letter or package by post, I will do my best to respond in the next few months. Hope all is well in the Great U. S. of A!

One Month at Site!

Hello friends! I've been at my site in Alausi for exactly one month today. Yay! In honor of this anniversary, this morning I baked a Carrot Cake to share with my family. They wanted to save it for dessert tonight, so I haven't tried it yet, but it smelled delish coming out of the oven.

Instead of boring you with my thoughts and feelings, I've prepared some facts and figures to capture my first 31 days of work and play in Alausi and Tixan. Enjoy!

Altitude of Alausi in meters: 2,347
Altitude of Alausi in feet: 7,700
Altitude of Tixan in meters: 2,940
Altitude of Tixan in feet: 9,645
Number of communities the clinic in Tixan serves: 44
Total population of the parroquia of Tixan: 10,619
Population of Tixan under 15: 6,695
Previous cost of 30 minute bus ride from Alausi to Tixan: 40 cents
Current cost of same bus ride after price hikes: 50 cents
Number of times bus guy has said "Texas?" after I said "Tixan" when asked where I'm going: 3
Cost of lunch in Tixan (soup, rice, meat, salad, juice): $1.50

Number of nutrition/hygiene surveys I've done at the clinic: 82
Number of women who have walked out of survey because they couldn't understand me: 1

Percent of interviewees who traveled one hour or more to clinic from home: 54
Percent of interviewees who walked to clinic: 41
Percent of interviewees who report eating meat 2 times a week or less: 81
Percent of interviewees who own a milk cow: 58
Percent of interviewees who own chickens: 30
Percent of interviewees who report always boiling drinking water for their kids: 35
Percent of interviewees who report always boiling drinking water for themselves: 30
Percent of interviewees who have a family vegetable garden: 53
Percent of interviewees who report eating vegetables every day: 50
Top three vegetables that interviewees report consuming frequently: Chard, carrot, cabbage
Percent of interviewees who report eating fruit every day: 15
Top three fruits that interviewees report consuming frequently: Apple, banana, orange/mandarin

Typical hours of running water at host house: 4:30 am to 9:00 pm
Number of pounds I've gained since I got to Ecuador: 13
Pairs of pants that will fit me if I gain any more weight: 0
Number of books I've read since June 1: 3
Number of pictures I've taken since June 1: 852

Alausi, Week Three

Hello from Alausi! This is where I live now.

ALAUSÍ

I've been here 3 weeks now. Here's a recap:

Day 1: Host mom tells me the family is moving September 1. Is that a problem? Uh, yeah.

Days 2-4: I spent these days getting to know the town, limping through some truly horrible Spanish, and wondering what I'm doing with my life. Also, I made Banana Bread.

And also wondering what the heck I´m eating. This is fruit?

Day 5: First day of work. Surprise! My counterpart got back a week early from vacation. We visited a couple rural clinics and I stood around awkwardly while my counterpart (a nutritionist) and the doctors discussed paperwork.

Day 6: Visited some more health clinics. This video shows a part of the road to a particularly remote clinic in Sevilla. Consider taking a Dramamine before watching this if you have a tendency to get car sick.

Day 7: First day at the clinic in Tixan. It was PACKED. One of the nurses introduced me to the entire waiting room (40ish people), I said a few stuttering sentences in Spanish, and started giving nutrition counseling. Later I went with the host family to pre-approve the new house. It has 5 bedrooms and a regular size kitchen!

Subcentro, aka clinic, in Tixán

Day 8: Hung out at the clinic in Tixan.

Day 9: Day tripped to Riobamba with a few of my fellow Omnibus 106ers. Ate a delicious cheeseburger. Later I screwed up 

the bus schedule and arrived 2 hours late to an extended family's baptism party. No one seemed concerned. I ate cuy at 11pm, danced with very old man around 12am, and drank watered down whiskey until 1:30am.

Day 10: Bought an oregano seedling for 25 cents... Let the herb garden begin! Made Oatmeal Cookies with 10 year old host nephew.

Day 11: Peace Corps came and approved new house. Yay, I have a place to live!

Day 12-15: Hung out at the clinic in Tixán, occasionally giving sensible nutrition advice, mostly reading health manuals, staring into space or Super Jewel Questing. Went with Vivi to day care center to set up possible cooking class with parents.

Kids under 5 in the Centro de Buen Vivir

Day 16: Are we ever going to move? Oh yes of course, why don't we start at 4pm Saturday afternoon? Also, Nick visited for dinner.

Day 17: More moving, mostly avoided by lunching with Meredith for many hours. (Don't judge; you would've done the same thing.)

Day 18: Met nutrition intern Viviana in Tixan and observed her giving informed counseling in intelligible Spanish. Took copious notes. Introduced myself to people at the PDA, or Plan del Desarollo del Área or Plan for Area Development. Talked about coordinating efforts to work in communities surrounding Tixán.

Vivi the nutrition intern gives a charla to the ladies in waiting.

Day 19: More observing in Tixán. Also started testing an abbreviated interview about nutrition and hygiene habits. Baked about 5 dozen Oatmeal Raisin Walnut Cookies (with Quinoa flour!).

Day 20: Handed out cookies to interview participants and their kids at the clinic in Tixan. Great reception! Note to self: No one will refuse to be interviewed in exchange for a cookie. 

Day 21: Tixán all day! Did lots more mini-interviews, which are are turning out to be extremely helpful. Ate an entire deep fried fish at lunch.

Alright, hope everyone is doing well! Send me an email or a letter or something. I would be delighted to hear from home!

Acting Intentionally

"Daily Reminder," a typographic woodburn plaque by Becky Murphy

On the eve of our Swearing In, I've got a lot on my mind. I don't feel thoughtful enough to elaborate much at the moment, because its the first free one I've had in 11 weeks! Almost. What I can say is that I'm not taking this experience lightly and I feel truly determined to make the most of my time here in Ecuador. We've discussed the Role of the Volunteer in Development ad naseum during training, but the truth is I'm just beginning to grasp the enormity of my job and the potential difficulties I'm going to face in the months ahead. And I really think it's going to be an awesome challenge.

I saw the piece above on Design is Mine (a delightful design blog by a fellow Portlander) and thought that it really captured the importance of acting intentionally, which is a crucial part of being a PCV. Why do we do what we do? What's the end game? We've talked a lot about sustainability in terms of project design and implementation and I think that asking "Will I be proud of this in a year?" could be a really useful question to analyze not only the validity of a project, but your personal motivations for doing it. I don't think that the answer always always need to be "yes"... but having some foresight, or at least attempting to have some, is important.

I swear in as a Peace Corps Volunteer Wednesday morning! I move to Alausi for reals on Thursday! Let the games being.

Also, my new address is:
Chloe Pete
Correo Central
Alausi-Chimborazo
ECUADOR

Send me a letter and I will send you a kiss! Plus, I just uploaded a bunch of pictures to my Flickr. Yes, everything is as beautiful as it looks.

Week 10

Hello! I really thought I'd be better at posting updates more consistently since I've got an embarrassing amount of blogging experience, but it turns out that I don't really like writing about daily events. Its boring. I prefer to write about Ideas and Things. Maybe one day I will do that.

So I've got just 6 days left of training! Its very weird to think that in 2 weeks I will be moved into my new host family's house in Alausi. For many weeks it has felt like training would never end. Ever. And yet here we are, in week 10, and the passage of time shocks me once again.

Anyway, last week was our second technical trip so I was in Ecuador's biggest city, Guayaquil, for a couple days with the health program. The trip from Quito is 10 hours by bus so Monday and Friday were traveling days and we only had 3 days to work. I gave a couple charlas (talks/presentations) on HIV/AIDS and STIs to teenagers in high school. One class had 45 kids. Ridiculous! The charlas didn't go all that bad, but there were plenty of awkward moments considering my Spanish is not totally capable of facilitating sex discussions just yet. Especially when you throw in the coastal accent, which is faster and less anunciated. I had little to no idea what the students were saying. The good thing about these experiences is that so many funny and weird things happen during the charlas that could never happen if we were more prepared. You just have to laugh when a fellow volunteer says "huevos" in reference to female eggs leaving the ovaries, when in fact that translates to "balls" in Spanish.

In other news, I have some intestinal problems again, which is always fun. I ate well in Guayaquil, lots of fish and shrimp, but I guess it was too much. Or maybe it was the fried fish I had for lunch on Friday at the bus stop in the middle of nowhere on the way home. Personally, I think it was the combination of many, many hours of traveling with little sleep and several stressful days of work. My host family sort of hates the coast (because they live in the Sierra and its like some kind of regional rule or something) so they think its the seafood and people that made me sick. Probably.

Well, I suppose thats all for now. I will try to get inspired to write more soon! Let me know if there's anything specific you'd like to know.