Wastin’ Away Again
After 10 months, the time has finally arrived….I have my first visitor to Guatemala!! My friend Carly from North Carolina is coming to visit tomorrow and we will be traveling around for the next week, hanging out at the beach, soaking up the sun at the lake, visiting my site, and watching some Carolina basketball in my favorite town, Antigua. After she leaves, I then have a couple of days off for Easter, so I am heading up north to a Carribean town to enjoy the festivities and check out a little of the garifuna culture. Needless to say, this is a much needed break from Nahuala!
I will make sure and check back in after the first week of April and give you guys a full report…..
So who’s my next visitor after Carly?????
Have a Happy Easter, and GO HEELS!!!
Love,
Carin
Mi Trabajo
Needless to say (since I haven’t written in over a month), but I have been extremely busy the last couple of weeks. Sometimes I tend to take on too many things…even though I don’t have the capacity to actually do all of them. So, here is a snapshot of the different projects I am currently working on and what I do with myself all day…
As most of you know, my primary project is with a local radio station. I finished working on a proposal for a new radio transmitter, and I am in the process of soliciting organizations and companies here in Guatemala and around the world. I have also been working on a webpage for them, so that we can eventually put their broadcasts online. Other little tasks have been printing off business cards for each of the personnel, making correspondent ID tags for all our reporters, teaching the employees how to use email and internet, and assisting in the creation of this year’s marketing plan.
On a completely different note, I have also gotten myself into a reforestation project. Evidently, the radio owns about four football fields of land that is not being used. They came to me back in February wanting to know what we could do with it. So we took a daytrip to visit the land (because it’s about an hour and a half from the actual town) to see what would make sense. Now, I am not exactly an expert in agriculture, but seeing as the land is at the top of a mountain and it’s extremely cold and windy, I thought that a reforestation project would probably be the best bet. I am in the process of soliciting for seeds, and then we will have to start the hard work of leveling the land and getting it ready…
Another project that I am working on is with the Office of La Mujer (or Office for Women) that is located in the municipal building here in Nahuala. The mayor’s wife started this group in order to address women’s concerns in the community and give them their right to speak out. Unfortunately, though the office has been given an official title within the municipality, not much else has been done. They actually have a room located in the municipal building, but the mayor refused to give money for securing the basic necessities, such as desks, chairs, etc. So I am working with the president of the group right now in order to find funds to furnish the office, and then hopefully we will be able to open up the office to the women of the community.
So going from radio to reforestation to renovation, I’m now gonna move on to yet another completely random project that I am working on. As most of you know, I work with several women’s groups in the surrounding rural areas. One of the groups that I work with is all midwives. I think that I have mentioned this before, but the town that I live in has the most deaths from pregnancy compared to any other town in Guatemala. This is mainly because the closest medical care is about 2 hours away. So in this tiny village where I work, my women’s group decided to open up a medical center for women that go into labor. They received funds from a Dutch organization to furnish the center, but now they lack the necessary medical equipment. So, again, I am working with the president of the group, writing a proposal to acquire the equipment needed to open up the center. Ultimately, they would like to obtain an ultrasound machine…but I believe that this is way out of their economic range. I have been talking back and forth with an American doctor that lives near my town, just to learn about the equipment and supplies that are needed and the overall process. I am scheduled to go visit his clinic in the next couple of weeks to try and match our facilities. Let’s just say, I have learned more about childbirth than I ever cared to know!
Finally, and probably what I am most interested in, is my work with Grameen Bank of Bangladesh. Grameen set up its third Guatemalan office in Nahuala in the beginning of January. As soon as they arrived, I begin to bang on their doors to get micro-credit for my women’s groups. After reading “Banker to the Poor” by Muhammad Yunus (the guy that started Grameen), I was convinced this was the way to go. It’s a simple model, no collateral, and a historically low default rate. Bangladesh sent a man to Nahuala to head up the office, and I have made friends with him and his other employees. I have now started going out to the communities with them to explain the process and organize the groups of women. Each center must have around 20 to 25 women, and they must organize themselves into groups of 5. Each group must elect a president and secretary to oversee payments. They have to go through about five days of training, and then they are able to receive credit. The training consists of reiterating (over and over and over and over) how much interest they must pay each month, how much capital they must pay each month, and how much they have to put towards saving each month. Each woman must also share how they plan to use the money, what kind of venture they want to start or expand. The women are always very reluctant at first…they don’t trust us when we tell them we are going to lend them money (even for such a small amount). But, poco a poco, the women open up and are amazed at how easy it is. As for me, I love this kind of work…I go out to these rural communities on a motorcycle with a guy called Catarino each day, and I am basically there to build up their confidence and trust. The women are very very timid of men, so just my presence seems to alleviate their worries. Plus, if I speak just a couple of words in Kiche, the walls between us seem to crumble automatically…
During the past month, I have focused on two themes with my women’s groups: 1) self-esteem and 2) Learning how to SAVE $. The self-esteem charla (class) focused on getting the women to recognize things that they are good at, qualities or abilities that they possess, having a positive attitude, and building their confidence. The charla on learning how to save money was a bit more difficult. Most of these women have never saved a single penny in their lives…so the concept is very foreign. But this is mainly due to the fact that they just don’t have the ‘extra’ left over to save. I tried to focus on why people save, that they normally have a goal of buying something a little more expensive, and by putting a little bit away each month they can reach that goal. All of my groups have agreed to start saving 5 quetzals each month…which is less than a buck…but at least they seem to have adopted the idea and are willing to try it out. Just a little will go a long ways here….
I have also stayed pretty active with my weaving groups. We put together a catalog of their tejidos to show to potential vendors. I took pictures of all their final products with my digital camera, and then put together a Word Doc with details and specifications for each. Also, we are still selling to the same business in Guatemala City, and because they are very strict on quality (they export to Europe and Canada), we have had to focus more on how to measure with a measuring tape, what color combinations to use, and quality control. It’s a continuous struggle because these women aren’t use to weaving by patterns or guidelines. The stuff they make is absolutely beautiful though…pillow covers, table runners, placemats…things you would see in Pottery Barn. Unfortunately, I have to find a way to make this relationship between the women and this particular buyer sustainable. I have discovered that the women will not go into Guatemala City without me…they are scared to death. The last time we went, one of my women had her cell phone stolen on the bus. And we ran into some of their friends that shared a frightening story with us…evidently, the week before, a group of indigenous women had come into the city and were held up at gunpoint, stripping them of their clothes on the side of the street. You see, the indigenous dress can be sold for a lot of money because of the intricate weavings...so criminals tend to prey on them. Speaking of their traje….
I participated in an activity for International Day for Women in Guatemala City this past Thursday. And yes, not only was I the only white girl there, but I also dressed up from head to toe in the native Nahuala dress. A popular museum hosted the event and invited women from all over Guatemala. Every woman was dressed in their town’s local traje, so you could pick out exactly where people were from. At the end of the day, each respective town displayed their local dance (of which I also participated!!) It was an absolutely beautiful event!
So what else do I do in my leisure time you ask? Well, I committed to coaching a girls’ basketball team so that I could relive my childhood. The girls are in 5th grade and look up to me mostly because I am two feet taller than them. We have only had two practices, so I will keep you posted on whether we have a winning season…or not.
That’s all folks:) Next post, I will fill you in on some of the current events in Guatemala….it’s been an interesting month!
GO HEELS!!!
Carin
PS: I just got a package that my mom sent back at the end of October with food for my Thanksgiving meal! Guess it’s better late than never:)
“In many Third World countries, the overwhelming majority of people make a living through self-employment. Not knowing where to fit these individuals into their analytical framework, economists lump them in a catchall category called the “informal sector”. But the informal sector really represents the people’s own effort to create their own jobs. I prefer to call it the “people’s economy”. Any economist with a real understanding of society would have come forward to increase the efficiency of this people’s economy rather than undermine it. In the absence of economists’ support, organizations like Grameen must step into the breach.” ---Muhammad Yunus
