Random Stories

If there is one thing I have learned here in my time in the Peace Corps it’s that life will surprise you. These last few weeks can be best summed up as a string of random yet awesome surprises. I’ve kind of divided the happenings of the past several weeks into stories.

#1: Vilcabamba.

As I have mentioned, I am part of the Peace Corps working group Gender and Development (GAD). Normally we meet in Quito, but the PC LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer/questioning and the list goes on…) support group called SpeQtrum and GAD are thinking of collaborating on a few projects considering that gender and sexuality are so closely linked and often deal with the same issues. They were having their meeting in Vilcabamba so instead of going to Quito like always, we decided to piggy-back onto their meeting there. Vilcabamba is about 12 hours south of Alausi (practically Peru). Supposedly, people live to be like 120 years old there, though no one quite knows the reason. Because of this, a lot of gringos have moved there in search for the fountain of youth. It’s probably one of the most unique places I have ever been on earth. It’s an odd blend between Ecuadorian culture and new-age hippies. The town of Vilcabamba itself is gorgeous. It’s in a transition zone, so the weather is perfect and everything is very green. I think the meeting itself went very well and we’re going to work together to make an informative guide of PCVs about all things gender and sexuality related especially as they pertain to Ecuador. Also nearby is Podocarpus National Park. After our meeting, my friend and I decided to spend a day hiking through the park, which is supposedly famous for its cloud forests and views. However, since we are on the tail end of rainy season, it was really foggy and we couldn’t see any of the view. Oh well, better luck next time. Even though I wasn’t expecting to ever have to go to Vilcabamba (because it is SO far from everything), it was still a really great experience.

#2: El Altar

My friend Kellie and I are training to summit Cotopaxi in July (Ojala!). Next on our list of training climbs was El Altar. With another friend, Isa, we headed up the mountain. It was so muddy. In places the trail was exclusively knee-deep mud. The summit of El Altar is actually one of the most difficult climbs in Ecuador and impossible to do without gear and a guide. But you can climb up to the glacier at the top without gear. We spent the first day hiking to the refugio. We stayed in these adorable little cabins that had no electricity, but a gas stove, some water and a fireplace. That night we built a fire in the fire place (which, in case you were wondering, if you have no kindling and the logs are wet it takes 2 hours and 128 pages of your leisure-read book to start a good fire) and sat around warming our feet and drinking tea all night with a gorgeous view of the valley behind us. It was such a fantastic day. We had some bad luck with weather though, the day we climbed up was gorges and we could see the summit, but the day we actually wanted to go to the glacier and lake was awful. We hit the trail a 6:30am and it was freezing (literally) and foggy. About an hour into our hike, sleet/freezing rain/tiny daggers started to fall. But we were determined. We made it to the lake and could barely even see the glacier that fed it. Instead of climbing up to the glacier as we had planned, we decided to head back down considering the stormy weather. It would have been pointless to continue because all we would have seen was thick fog, which, honestly, I can see from my bedroom window on any given afternoon. So we headed down the mountain. Even with the bad weather though, it was still a fantastic hike. And once we weren’t so high in altitude, the view was incredible. The surprising thing was that we didn’t see a single soul until we were nearly down the mountain. For over a day it was just the three of us with the mountain. It was amazing to be so far removed from everything. We’ll definitely have to go back when there is better weather.

#3: My women’s groups

As I have mentioned, I’ve been working with several different community women’s groups in nutrition and family planning. The last time I was in the communities they all basically told me that they are sick of having taller, which I kind of don’t blame them for. I’m not the first person to give them talleres and they are always in the middle of the day on a work day so it’s really hard from the women to attend. We were planning to have family planning talleres with women and men but no men showed up—not because they didn’t want to but because they had to work. Which, again, is pretty much what I expected. Also, since my counterpart, Rosa, and pretty much all of World Vision is leaving in September from Alausi the budget for all of these projects will be going as well. So, this project is on hold for the time being.

However, I have been getting really close with the Vice President of COCACH (which I will explain a little later). COCACH will continue working in these communities when World Vision leaves in September (although without a budget I have no idea how). He is really interested in continuing this type of education even after World Vision leaves (especially family planning education). So perhaps something will develop from that…or perhaps not. I really don’t know.

#4: Youth Facilitators

I also have been working with my youth facilitators. Things have been going well and Monday we will be going to Cebadas where my friend Kellie works. Her kids came to Alausi a few months back for a taller with UNFPA so now we get the chance to go have taller with them. This project however, is funded by World Vision as well, so when World Vision leaves in September, so will the budget to work with the kids. But they are a good group and have started leading talleres on their own in the community without any help from World Vision so that’s good. I think this is definitely a success indicator, but I don’t really feel like I had anything to do with it. It was really mostly just World Vision’s influence (and budget more than anything) that made this project work. But I’m really glad the kids are continuing and really think it will make a difference in the communities.

#5: Teaching English

When I first got here, I was really against teaching English. First, that isn’t why I came here and second, I’m really not qualified to teach English and have no training in the subject. I basically just speak English—that’s the extent of my knowledge. I started teaching English in Huanca (the colegio I go to every Wednesday) just to get me in the door to do sex ed stuff. And now the kids don’t even want me to teach English, they only want sex ed. But a few weeks back, the VP of COCACH asked me if I could come to his house and give English classes to the neighborhood kids one night a week. I really wasn’t thrilled about it but I agreed, figuring that they would eventually lose interest. I’m so glad I said yes. About 8 kids between the ages of 11 and 16 come every Monday night. They are such a great group of kids and they are so excited to learn! Our classroom is now covered with index cards and pictures that the kids have drawn with simple stories and words in English. I still feel I’m really not qualified to be doing this and I basically just make lesson plans up as I go. But the kids seem to really like it and seem to be learning. Plus, how much can you really expect from FREE English classes. Also, after class I eat dinner with the family. They are such nice people that I just like spending time with them. Plus, I use this time as an opportunity to maybe develop some other projects with COCACH since the VP is right there.

#6: Colegio Nacional Alausi

My latest project is that I have started to work with one of the colegios here in Alausi. My host mom is the librarian there and the director got my contact information from her. One day I got a call saying they wanted me to do some sex ed talleres with a group of kids from the colegio. I accepted and we decided on a date the next week. I guess I should have asked a few more questions because I was expecting a group of between 20 and 30 kids. When I showed up, the director led me to the auditorium where the entire middle school and high school was sitting (200+ kids). I didn’t even have time to think before the director handed me the microphone and said “GO!” It’s a good thing I’m not afraid of public speaking because before I could even blink I was standing in front of 200 kids who looked like they were about to be bored out of their minds. I had to adapt my strategy on the fly—giving a taller to 200 people is way different than giving a taller to 20. But the first taller of a sex ed series is always pretty easy and not too intense. You come in to a group (in this case a HUGE group) of kids and start throwing out words like sex, penis and condoms and they tend to be a little terrified. I’ve been 3 times now. It’s really cool because in Alausi they have access to technology so I can show them all kinds of cool videos and do powerpoint presentations with them. Like the kids in the communities, they have SO many questions and no one to answer them. The most recent time I was there I started getting some really interesting questions like, “If my boyfriend refuses to use a condom does that mean he doesn’t love me?” and “What do I do if I get pregnant but don’t want to have the baby?” These are great questions, but also very serious questions that are difficult to answer in a huge group setting. But fortunately, I get along with the teachers at this school really well and the kids have told the teachers that they really like it when I come. A few kids have even come to my office to thank me for coming to teach them (which was really touching). I’d really like to continue working with these kids next year (since this school year ends ya mismo—they have the same schedule as the US) in smaller groups. I’m not sure quite how I would orchestrate that yet. I’d also really like to work separately with boys and girls. Just by reading their questions it’s very clear that these kids are having sex NOW and really need someone to talk to about it.

With both my community kids and the kids from Alausi, I’ve noticed that so many times the girls just don’t have the confidence to stand up for themselves. They end up in situations that they never wanted to be in (i.e. pregnant) just because culturally they should be doing what the guy wants. I’d really like to work with girls to teach them that their lives and dreams are worth standing up for. I’d also like to work with the guys to help them be able to respect their girlfriends a little more.

I hope all is well back home! Good luck on finals and congratulations to everyone who is graduating!