I´m sitting here waiting for some pictures to upload to the web and I realized, I haven´t written anything about what I am actually doing here so far.
One week we had field based training in which we stay with host families in a community that currently has a volunteer. Three other volunteers and I visited a site that is fairly close to where I am living right now. The first day we prepared and gave a charla on the benefits of composting to fourth grade class. Afterwards we attended the birthday party of one of the teachers and then presented an English class to a group of teens. The next day we made a compost pit with the same group of fourth graders, sat in on a charla on HIV and AIDS given to the seventh graders, and visited a farmer who is working with an organization called APPES. APPES is promoting the cultivation of a particular type of pinapple that is imported from Panama, among other things. This particular farmer has invested much of his money into sustainable farming techniques and in exchange for funding from APPES, trains other farmers and welcomes students for field trips and tours. The next day we were judges at the school´s Dia de Cultural, helped cook lunch for young mothers in the community with the promoter of health, and painted the school “Salvadorean Blue”. During the evening we went for a run up and down the coble roads. We started with just the five of us and by the end there were about 20 kids trailing behind us! The last day was spent giving an art class to the local children. Usually the volunteer gets 10 to 15 kids but because there were a bunch of gringas there, about 40 kids showed up. In addition to giving art and English classes on the weekends, presenting charlas at the school, running a youth group, and working with the promoters of health, this particular volunteer also obtained 12 computers for the school and will begin teaching computer classes next school year. We did alot in a very short period of time but that kind of gives you the idea of some of the projects I may be doing in the future.
As for what we do in training, so far the Agroforestry group has helped build two stoves out of bricks, sand, cement, ash, and molasses. We have dug “asequias” to slow the flow of water in a farmer´s mountainside fields and thus reduce the amount of errosion caused by water. We´ve planted Canavalia seeds which are good sources of nitrogen for the soil, and established live and dead barriers. We´ve dug compost pits, built worm boxes, grafted, pruned, and visited the Agricultural School to learn how to start apiculture, rabbit, and chicken projects. It´s been a wild ride and I´m learning so much! Thank you Cuerpo de Paz El Salvador!
