Zumbahape

For over a year now I have been trying to start an exercise group of some kind with the women in my community but never with any success. Paraguayans think that exercise is only for fat people and have a lot of shame doing it publicly because its not part of their culture like it is in the States. But somehow I got lucky and my two neighbors and two other members of their family and I have a zumba class going!! We do it Monday-Friday in the afternoon (okay let's be real, some days we skip) but it has been fairly consistent for almost a month now which is a huge success I never imagined! The attendance varies greatly and sometimes its just the kids that follow me around everywhere but for the most part I'm really excited about it and they love it too! Something new and different and they are excited about the potential weight loss (who isn't really?) and yay yay yay!

A quick funny story related to zumba is that we were doing it behind the health post because its the only really community space that is somewhat hidden so people can't watch us. But one afternoon one of the kids left the water spout open so water was draining out of it and we didn't notice so the entire community was without water access for the whole evening and next morning. Oops! Sorry community, my bad! And so we are now banned from doing it there and had to switch to a woman's house haha. Not my best moment....

Kids Day for the Win

Kids Day! It is something I always remember asking why America doesn't have it when I was younger. We have mothers day and fathers day and I was a selfish little brat who wanted her own day too. Well better late than never, Paraguay has kids day and youth day (two separate days) and people go all out! The school throws a festival filled with chocolate milk (the treat of choice for little paraguayans) and music and dancing and its always a ball.

But this year kids day, August 16^th, fell on a Sunday and for weeks I kept asking around what activities were planned in the community to celebrate kids day and nobody knew of anything. I was shocked and decided to take it upon myself to throw them a celebration in my yard. And it was a blast! Almost thirty kids came, some who I hadn't met yet, and we played games for days it seemed. Coloring, sack races, pin the tail on the elephant, tug of war, face painting, tails, wheelbarrow races, and more! The pictures explain it better than I can so here you go!

Props to all the teachers in the world

Condoms! Condoms! Condoms! For the love of god I hope they use them. In the beginning of August I started a sexual health class with 7^th, 8^th, and 9^th graders and it is definitely.....interesting. And exhausting. Yet rewarding. And fun. Yet makes me question how anyone can ever be a teacher. To all the teachers out there, props to you! Seriously. Between these weekly classes and my half hour weekly health sessions with preschool-3^rd graders I am so tired. It's so hard. Granted the hour long walk each way in the hot Paraguayan sun to the school is definitely a little more taxing than the average American teacher commute. And I am teaching in a 3^rd language I am far from fluent in (I still secretly say “really?? wow!!!” to most things the preschoolers tell me. And it usually works). But not only do you have to keep 30 kids alive and have them not bite each other and to clean up after themselves but you also have to teach them something! The amount of times we have sang songs about wearing shoes (to prevent parasites which most kids have), drawn pictures about wearing shoes, played games about wearing shoes, did skits about wearing shoes is too many to count. When just a few hours after class a kid shows up to my house barefoot part of me dies inside. And to finish a full day with these lunatics and then go home and grade their homework and plan for another full day. How the heck do you guys do it? I have never had more appreciation for a job, and I also am learning that teaching is definitely not for me.

But in the meantime, I am learning a lot about myself :-). I enjoy the hugs and excitement to see me of the little ones so very much and I can't help but smile every time this one kindergartener calls me “Profesora Sevo'i” which translates into Teacher Parasite. And she honestly thinks my name is parasite so thats awesome. It also does feel really good when you see a kid leave the bathroom and wash his hands with soap (the little things in life). And they make me feel like a popstar walking down the red dirt roads of my community yelling my name from all sides.

But, I am really really really enjoying the sexual health class. It is making me realize that abstinence only education is just about as dumb an idea as you can get. I think back to middle and high school and all I can remember is watching a movie about a uterus shaped like a pancake and not wanting to eat pancakes for 3 years. And everything after that is plain experimentation which is exactly what we don't want. Teenage pregnancy is a huge problem here in Paraguay and I honestly think me being a 25 year old, single, with no kids, and happy is the most successful project I will have here. Almost everyone I know has kids by age 20 because that is the culture, but we are little by little trying to change that.

I have had classes on everything from imagining our ideal boyfriends/girlfriends to talking about cultural myths about sex to thinking about the costs both in money and emotional of having a baby at a young age to just recently a condom demonstration where we talked about the myths associated with condom usage and then practiced putting them on bananas. And my favorite part was that the teacher thanked me for doing the activity because it is really hard for him to do it because the moms get mad and said he wanted to continue doing hands on activities with me! Which was awesome!!! Even one of the kids came up to me and said thanks for talking about it with them because all their parents are very closed and don't want to talk about sex but they have to learn from someone!

So all in all the school has been a wonderful experience and I am wrapping up in the next few weeks as the heat is already starting and summer break will arrive sooner than we can count. It has boosted my confidence and improved my relationships with the kids and adults with my community and I couldn't be more grateful for the experience. I mean, if I can spin a condom in the air while talking to kids about STDs in a third language then what can't I do???????

Winter Break Camp

Blog catch up time!!! It's been 4 months since I've last written, yikes! I've been meaning to write for a while but I've been busier than ever and just enjoying my Paraguayan life while I still can. I don't know where the last 4 months has gone! Everything also just seems so normal to me that I find it hard sometimes to think of things to write about. But I'm going to try to wrap up the last few months in a few different posts :-)

I got back from the most beautiful trip to the USA in the beginning of July only to jump right into winter break for the school. The winter this year was not bad at all, rarely dropping below 50 but 50 feels like death because there is absolutely no way to escape it and no insulation. Over the winter break I did a “Planet Earth” themed camp for the kids in my neighborhood because the majority have never been outside of a 20 mile radius of their home, and I'm not exagerrating. So in order to try and give them a glimpse of the world I did a jungle day, space day, and oceans day. We played games, drew pictures, watched videos, and all things fun! I had a blast and I'm pretty sure the kids did too!

Here are some pics of the kids at camp!

So many feelings

Nobody wants to feel embarrassed, me included.  But Peace Corps kind of makes you immune to embarrassment I think.  I have done my fair share of embarrassing things down here.  I've been caught running down my street in a thunder storm, seen walking in the community with both of my feet covered in cow dung, gotten out of the shower in my towel only to have my 12 year old boy student be sitting on my porch,  locked myself out of my house so that three men had to break down my door in the middle of the night, told a group of moms that i wanted to light their kids on fire so that they would read instead of inspire them to read, showed up to the wrong birthday party, and when señoras said we should pray because of the bad weather i asked them why?

But wait, theres more.  I once took mimosa into the city to get her shots and when i stepped off the bus my flipflop broke so i walked all throughout town barefoot with a crying cat in my arms.  I once did a zumba routine by myself to single ladies only to find out that a group of teenage boys had watched the whole thing. I once texted the principal of the school "are you still feeling ugly today" instead of are you still sick? I get asked about my weight, menstrual cycle, boyfriends and more in front of large mixed gender groups and I answer. I went to the school with my shirt on inside out.  And just yesterday i got caught talking to mimosa in my house alone.

The list goes on. So needless to say it takes a lot to embarrass me these days and so Im not embarrassed to say that the reason i havent written in forever is because i have been going through a rough patch.  I felt very disconnected from life back home.  I wasnt talking with people as much and I felt like I was constantly missing big life events.  Engagements,  graduations, weddings,  babies,  starting grad school, it seemed like everyone i knew was doing something new. 

But what really bothered me was how disconnected I felt here in Paraguay. I questioned all of my relationships,  I struggled getting projects off the ground,  people were gossiping about me, my landlord threatened to kick me out for more money,  my boss wanted to change my community,  nobody was motivated to work with me,  I questioned myself, my value to this community,  my work, my beliefs, my ability to persevere and whether here in Paraguay was where I should be right now.

I felt lonely and I spent day after day alone (thank goodness for mimosa) with no motivation to do anything.  I felt unappreciated and unwanted and did more self reflection than I ever thought possible.  And the rainy season didnt help with all the cold days indoors and the mold taking over everything.

And i kept thinking about how resilient and happy i usually am and how good i am about not letting things bother me.  And I didnt understand why this time was different.

Its hard trying so hard to stay connected to the states life and yet being fully immersed in a culture so different at the same time.  The pressures of the "save the world" expectations really get to you when you realize your biggest weekly success is getting 4 kids to come to reading club.

And it took days upon weeks upon months but I'm slowly but surely getting out of my funk.  A lot of building myself up time and time again. I found a school that does wanna work with me so every wednesday and friday I make the 90 minute walk each way on a muddy road to teach computers and health.  I was finally insistent enough that the repairman from the government came to look at the dentist chair in our health post (and it is in better shape than we thought) and the president of the commission is motivated to work again.  One of my english kids cried to me about his struggles at home with his alcoholic father which made my whole 9 months of english teaching worth it. Three girls come to my healthy cooking class which probably seems like nothing to you but i can reassure you that is a huge success. 

And so things are on the upswing. The Peace Corps slogan is "the hardest job you'll ever love" and I've never thought that more true than now.

I love Paraguay.  It has taught me so much, given me so much strength and resilience, and is my home. That being said,  I couldnt be more excited about my trip to the states in 10 days!!!! Cant wait to see you all! Miss you more than you know.  Lots of love!

Camp GLOW

It's been forever but thanks to all who supported me in coordinating Camp GLOW 2015!  We had the camp from February 9-12 and it was an unbelievable success!  Camp GLOW is a camp for young girls between the ages of 12-18 who want to be leaders in their communities.  It is a global Peace Corps initiative and is being run in many other peace corps countries as well.  The first lady even gave us a shout-out to all camp GLOW coordinators in the US governments new initiate, "Let Girls Learn", which you should all take a look at.  It uses the resources of Peace Corps volunteers worldwide to improve the education of young girls throughout the world who often do not continue their education. 

This is the 4th year we had the camp in Paraguay and I am thrilled about the outcome and already excited for next year.  I was really nervous about my two girls backing out because camps are not common here in Paraguay so first to get the parents permission and then get the girls comfortable and excited to leave their homes are huge challenges we face as volunteers.  But with much persuasion and obnoxious checking in to literally packing their suitcases myself, my girls went with  me.  And I am sooooooo happy they did! 

Their names are Mirna and Aida, Mirna has been a part of my English class since August and is just starting 10th grade, and Aida was my host sister my first 3 months in my community and is just starting 9th grade.  They are guapa as we like to say, or hard working, and I am excited to work with them on projects to empower other girls in our community.  They were both super nervous and Aida's mom and brother came with us to the camp because they were so nervous and Mirna cried the whole bus ride there.  But we made it!  And now they want to go back again next summer.

At the camp we had lessons on self-esteem, leadership, working in teams, internet safety, continuing education, sexual health, healthy relationships and more.  And of course there was the usual camp singing and dancing, swimming in the pool, team chants, competitions, art projects and overall fun and laughter!  I was so happy that all of our hard work planning paid off and that the girls benefited hugely from this experience.  It is a literal once in a lifetime chance for most of them and I am excited to bring more youth to camps in the future! 

Here are some pics from the camp!

Zumba

Fun and Games

Skits

Me and my girls at the last night dance party

With our painted self-esteem tree

Spare a rose

I have type 1 diabetes. It's part of who I am and has been for as long as I can remember. It comes with me everywhere, attached at the hip, or maybe at my lazy non-functional pancreas.  And I think about it a lot, there's never more than a few hours that pass by without me thinking,  what is my blood sugar? Am I high or low? Did I take insulin for what I ate? Did I count the carbs correctly?  Have I exercised? Am I planning to exercise? Did I remember to refill my pump?  Am I nervous or stressed? And the list goes on..... there is a lot of thinking that goes on with diabetes and although the finger pricks and shots are less than ideal, the constant emotional battle for me is harder. 

Diabetes is hard, it's complicated to explain but take my word for it. And when you live in a rural town in a third world country it doesn't make it much easier.  Just the other day I was so low that I was barely able to form complete sentences and sweating profusely while trying to convince a mother to let her daughter go with me to a camp. Needless to say the entire community thinks I was drunk and if you wanna try and explain low blood sugar symptoms to a person that's never heard of diabetes in a third language with a different cultural context you can be my guest. I choose to just let it pass with time.

But I have that choice.  I am able to serve as a peace corps volunteer living with this disease. With a ton of preparation,  stamina, support, and a little luck I can do anything I have my heart set on. And for that reason I am one of the lucky ones.

I have access to insulin when I need it and a fridge to keep it cool, I have supplies to check my blood sugar up to 10 times a day. I have the luck of having an insulin pump to make control easier. I have access to an endocrinologist, and the knowledge of how to keep myself safe and healthy.  And for that I am lucky. 

Many children don't have access to insulin in developing countries around the world.  Their life expectancy is less than a year from diagnosis.  Here in Paraguay, people have to travel up to 10 hours each way to the capital to have access to insulin and even then the majority of people cannot afford it.

This neat organization http://www.p4dc.com/spare-a-rose/ , is asking you to buy one less rose on valentines day and donate the saved money to give a child access to insulin for a month. A dozen roses would give a child a whole year of life. 

Unless people like you care a whole whole lot, nothing will ever change.  Let's help give kids all the opportunities and education to live the healthy life with diabetes that they deserve.

Flowers die, children shouldn't. 

Gracias!