In baseball, there is a stretch of time called ¨the dog days¨of august, in which all the teams start going through the motions. They start their seasons in early april and finish them at the end of september, playing nearly every day for nearly six months. At the beginning of august is when teams have gone through a large portion of the schedule but can´t quite see the finish line. Usually they´re tired of playing and want the season to be over with.
That is kind of how I feel with my peace corps experience right now. I am going through the ¨dog days¨. For me, it is just all the little things that build up over time where at some point you feel that is the way it is and is always going to be. Just a note, I don´t want to sound too pessimistic here because I still feel like I have hope in my community and don´t get me wrong, I love my community and all the people that live here, especially my host family...BUT at some point all the ¨yeah, that sounds great, I would love to try that¨lines that are thrown my way and then nothing ever happens really starts to get on my nerves. It really makes you not want to trust anybody on their word. It is not like the people are malicious and want to lie to you, maybe they are just too nice to say no to the gringo and just plain forget (which I would put these odds at about even).
The one of the tens of thousands of things I have learned in San Lorenzo or my experience in general is that if I am the one that is initiating everything, then the odds of that project continuing to exist after I leave are slim to nil. I can´t tell you how many times I have had a conversation with a farmer about the benefits of having their own garden, implementing new crops or trying out organic methods, them agreeing with what I say and being genuinely interested and willing to try it out...then we set up a meeting on their property and they´re not there or too busy too show up. Now I realize that all of these farmers work all day in their fields and are extremely poor and don´t want to take any more chances to even further deplete their income. But if everyone you knew grew corn, planted and harvested at the same time and there was one guy who grew lettuce and cabbage in addition to their corn, wouldn´t you think that the guy who grew cabbage and lettuce would have an easier time finding a market for their product? Lets not get into the fact that growing corn on the same piece of land every year for the past 50 (or more) years severely depletes the nutrients of the soil and actually hinders the amount of corn you can grow and harvest every year. Lets just say say that a 24 year old gringo with a weird ass accent isn´t going to get through to a 75 year old farmer with a 4th grade education. But hey, it sounds good on sunday afternoon when he´s drunk off moonshine and you´re explaining the benefits of organic farming.
Well, enough of my smart-ass rant because I´m not trying to be cynical. I do have a lot of success stories and I really hope that my time in the community has not or will not be a total waste of time for all those involved. I am still excited and optimistic about the shredder project as we are going to make harinas (flours) from the wheat and corn seeds in addition to the fertilizers and animal feeds. The flours can be a value added product which can be sold to families in the community and potentially other markets around San Lorenzo. We hope to have a demonstration within the next couple of weeks and maybe a few people will get excited and want to continue along with the project.
I hope so...woof, woof.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Saturday, June 5, 2010
well it´s a start
So finally, FINALLY the shredder has made its way to its cozy home..San Lorenzo! After hearing from the people in Quito, who built the machine, 3 weeks ago that it was done and that they would figure out the shipping details...well that is one thing you don´t trust in this country. If you want something done, you really have to bug the hell out of people and make them feel that you are pestering them to really get anything done. I honestly could of let the people in Quito linger three or four more weeks but that would of been three or four more weeks of my community not starting this project. So finally, last wednesday, the people are arthur fried (the company in quit that built the shredder) sent the machin to Ambato, where I rented a truck and had it shipped to San Lorenzo.
Maria Elena (my counterpartand host mom), a few jovenes from the community, and I had out first test run with the shredder yesterday. It took a few minutes for the baby to warm up and start (at first I thought that it would never start...¨my god, 2000 bucks out of the window¨ was my first thought) but it did and we sampled some organic waste (small leaves, branches, plants and grass) and then worked in some corn stalks as well. The thing works great and the jovenes seemed to enjoy the machine as well, which is a good thing since we will try to start an ecological group using the young men in the community as a start. This machine was built to shredd corn stalks and grind them up, which is a great thing since we will try to sell an animal feed using the corn stalk as a base to the families who have animals (which is pretty much 99.9999999% of the community).
What we will try in the next coming weeks is to give demonstrations and talks to people in San Lorenzo and all smaller communities around San Lorenzo showing exactly what the shredder can do and how it can make organic fertilizer and animal feed. This will HOPEFULLY lead to more people giving organics a shot when people plant corn in september or october.
As with everything in this country...we´ll see how it goes...
Maria Elena (my counterpartand host mom), a few jovenes from the community, and I had out first test run with the shredder yesterday. It took a few minutes for the baby to warm up and start (at first I thought that it would never start...¨my god, 2000 bucks out of the window¨ was my first thought) but it did and we sampled some organic waste (small leaves, branches, plants and grass) and then worked in some corn stalks as well. The thing works great and the jovenes seemed to enjoy the machine as well, which is a good thing since we will try to start an ecological group using the young men in the community as a start. This machine was built to shredd corn stalks and grind them up, which is a great thing since we will try to sell an animal feed using the corn stalk as a base to the families who have animals (which is pretty much 99.9999999% of the community).
What we will try in the next coming weeks is to give demonstrations and talks to people in San Lorenzo and all smaller communities around San Lorenzo showing exactly what the shredder can do and how it can make organic fertilizer and animal feed. This will HOPEFULLY lead to more people giving organics a shot when people plant corn in september or october.
As with everything in this country...we´ll see how it goes...
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Over halfway there...
Like they always say, time sure does fly when you’re living in Ecuador while constantly humbling yourself with the language and playing with animal poop on a constant basis, or do they? Well anyways, on april 30 was the end of the first year at San Lorenzo (I wasn’t there for the big celebration…sure everyone there missed me a lot) and I can honestly say that, well I hope to get more stuff done in my second year than the first one. Most people say that the first year at your site in for integration and building the base for the projects that you and the community want to do and the second year is to implement them and hopefully make them sustainable. We’ll see about the sustainable part, especially when it comes to this shredder project. The good news is that the company in Quito that is building the shredder, Arthur Fried (they have a website is you are completely bored and want to look at farm equipment for awhile), has built the shredder and I have seen the finished project. Within the week, my community and I will have to find the transportation from Riobamba (where Arthur Fried will send the shredder) to San Lorenzo, where it will be its home to many incredible sustainable projects in the future…not sure if that will happen but it sounds really good.
On a personal note…I am dating a mona (female monkey, people call people from the coast monkeys…well people from the sierra do, lots of jokes that go back and forth from people from the coast and sierra) and I very happy. Her name is Marta and she is a cousin of my host sister, Mamuchi. She came to San Lorenzo for her vacation days from college for a few weeks and well…there you go. She lives in Guayaquil, so there is a distance but so far, so good. A mona and a gringo…only in peace corps I guess.
One down, one to go…
On a personal note…I am dating a mona (female monkey, people call people from the coast monkeys…well people from the sierra do, lots of jokes that go back and forth from people from the coast and sierra) and I very happy. Her name is Marta and she is a cousin of my host sister, Mamuchi. She came to San Lorenzo for her vacation days from college for a few weeks and well…there you go. She lives in Guayaquil, so there is a distance but so far, so good. A mona and a gringo…only in peace corps I guess.
One down, one to go…
Saturday, March 27, 2010
gracias!
well after 6 months of talk, planning, waiting, waiting, getting the approval from peace corps, waiting some more...the shredder project has finally been funded! i found out from peace corps that my project got fully funded on my birthday and i couldn´t ask for a better birthday present than that. Peace corps is going to send me a list of all the donors and how much they donated but for the people who donated...thank you sooooooooo much from the bottom of my heart, there are not words to describe my gratefulness to you all. I promise to get this project running and am determined to make it sustainable and will try to post pictures when i can.
More or less, the plan with the project is develop an ecological club using young men and woman (jovenes) in the community to help construct the compost beds and help with the collection of organic wastes from families one time a week. There is already a truck that comes every thursday to pick up the trash and recyclables (i can´t spell haha)...why not a truck that picks up the organic wastes too? Figure I am not asking too much here. We´ll see what happens but i am excited because this will be the first thing in the community that has my footprint on it. Gardens with families and school, workdays with the canal, giving talk about organic agriculture and teaching english are fine but i feel that none of these actually have a shelflife and can be sustainable...i am hoping this project can.
On another note, it was my birthday on the 12th and it was great to celebrate it with my host sister, who turned 21 on the same day. Actually there was another kid that turned 22 on the same day...amazing, i never knew somebody with the 12th as a birthday in the states and here i find two people in the same community of 300 people in ecuador...small world.
anyways...till next time (i am going to withhold a comment about obama and healthcare, don´t live in your country right now haha)
More or less, the plan with the project is develop an ecological club using young men and woman (jovenes) in the community to help construct the compost beds and help with the collection of organic wastes from families one time a week. There is already a truck that comes every thursday to pick up the trash and recyclables (i can´t spell haha)...why not a truck that picks up the organic wastes too? Figure I am not asking too much here. We´ll see what happens but i am excited because this will be the first thing in the community that has my footprint on it. Gardens with families and school, workdays with the canal, giving talk about organic agriculture and teaching english are fine but i feel that none of these actually have a shelflife and can be sustainable...i am hoping this project can.
On another note, it was my birthday on the 12th and it was great to celebrate it with my host sister, who turned 21 on the same day. Actually there was another kid that turned 22 on the same day...amazing, i never knew somebody with the 12th as a birthday in the states and here i find two people in the same community of 300 people in ecuador...small world.
anyways...till next time (i am going to withhold a comment about obama and healthcare, don´t live in your country right now haha)
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
The Aftermath
I guess every society on earth has a time of the year where they do nothing but drink, sing, eat, and sing some more for day and after day for a week (or until they just can't do it anymore and pass out in the middle of the street). For ecuadorians...it is definitely carnaval. Now, I'm not sure if my judgement is clouded because carnaval is craziest in the exact province in which I live, but all I can say is...wow. Starting from wednesday before valentines day, there was a guaranteed parade/dance/drinkfest every day/night in either San Lorenzo or Guaranda or some other city/village until the tuesday after valentines day. And let's just say I partaked in these festivities, not unwillingly because you know...it helps with the "integration process". Highlights from this weekend that was.
1. I was chosen to be a "caballero" (gentleman) for the San Lorenzo election of the queen of carnaval. The queen of carnaval is akin to a miss usa or a beauty pageant. It's a pretty big deal. The reason why I was chosen (not just because of my stunning good looks haha) was because each organization has to have a representative there and my counterpart's organization had one. It was kind of cool because I got to wear a suit and tie and i didn't think that i would need it after the swearing in ceremony. Suffice to say, our representative (kristina) came in 4th place. Not sure if it was because I did a bad job or if she was picked out 2 days before the election took place and was way in over her head, eh.
2. Any time that you can get an elvis pressly impersonation from a drunk ecuadorian who can't speak a word of english so ends up singing "jailhouse rock" but with more a yelling incoherent jumble of noise, well, you have to take that and I run with it. By the way, as far as ecuadorians are concerned, i know elvis pressly and michael jackson personally, especially michael jackson because i live in southern california.
3. Being sprayed with a shaving cream like substance, being dowsed with water, having flour thrown on you at any particular moment is actually a lot more fun than it sounds or reads. And if you don't like it, then you're not enjoying carnaval. Que bonito es carnaval!
4. My parents happend to visit me and San Lorenzo during the craziest two days of the year, and they were not immune to the carnaval treatment. They were here on monday when San Lorenzo does their true carnaval celebration with a parade in the morning and then a drunken dancefest from about 12pm to 8pm (or whenever the DJ stops and everyone is passed out drunk). And no, they weren't part of that dancefest, though that would of been some great photos for sure. It's always an interesting time when your parents give water and flour poured on them...and you're waiting for the outburst of anger...but then it doesn't happen. I warned them.
5. Que bonito es carnaval, this line is going to be stuck in his head for the rest of my life as i heard about 32897409374 renditions of the song over the past month. Que bonito es carnaval is the stock line, then for the next few stanzas, you can put in whatever frase you want to. Therefore, there can be as many ways to sing the song as you want, and I am pretty sure I heard every last one humanely possible.
I would say imagine a mardi gras or news years celebration and mutiply that over a week and now you get the generally idea of carnaval in Guaranda. Now that carnaval is over, I guess I have to go back to reality and work again.
(sigh.)
1. I was chosen to be a "caballero" (gentleman) for the San Lorenzo election of the queen of carnaval. The queen of carnaval is akin to a miss usa or a beauty pageant. It's a pretty big deal. The reason why I was chosen (not just because of my stunning good looks haha) was because each organization has to have a representative there and my counterpart's organization had one. It was kind of cool because I got to wear a suit and tie and i didn't think that i would need it after the swearing in ceremony. Suffice to say, our representative (kristina) came in 4th place. Not sure if it was because I did a bad job or if she was picked out 2 days before the election took place and was way in over her head, eh.
2. Any time that you can get an elvis pressly impersonation from a drunk ecuadorian who can't speak a word of english so ends up singing "jailhouse rock" but with more a yelling incoherent jumble of noise, well, you have to take that and I run with it. By the way, as far as ecuadorians are concerned, i know elvis pressly and michael jackson personally, especially michael jackson because i live in southern california.
3. Being sprayed with a shaving cream like substance, being dowsed with water, having flour thrown on you at any particular moment is actually a lot more fun than it sounds or reads. And if you don't like it, then you're not enjoying carnaval. Que bonito es carnaval!
4. My parents happend to visit me and San Lorenzo during the craziest two days of the year, and they were not immune to the carnaval treatment. They were here on monday when San Lorenzo does their true carnaval celebration with a parade in the morning and then a drunken dancefest from about 12pm to 8pm (or whenever the DJ stops and everyone is passed out drunk). And no, they weren't part of that dancefest, though that would of been some great photos for sure. It's always an interesting time when your parents give water and flour poured on them...and you're waiting for the outburst of anger...but then it doesn't happen. I warned them.
5. Que bonito es carnaval, this line is going to be stuck in his head for the rest of my life as i heard about 32897409374 renditions of the song over the past month. Que bonito es carnaval is the stock line, then for the next few stanzas, you can put in whatever frase you want to. Therefore, there can be as many ways to sing the song as you want, and I am pretty sure I heard every last one humanely possible.
I would say imagine a mardi gras or news years celebration and mutiply that over a week and now you get the generally idea of carnaval in Guaranda. Now that carnaval is over, I guess I have to go back to reality and work again.
(sigh.)
Saturday, February 6, 2010
please help!
hey everyone,
my project for the shredder has been approved by Peace Corps and you can now look for it on the peace corps website. how you might ask? easy!
1. either google peace corps partenerships or go to peacecorps.gov and look for partnerships.
2. click on ¨donate to volunteer projects¨
3. then go to ¨search by country of service¨ and pick ecuador (not saying you can´t pick another country because i´m sure all the lovely other PCVs out there would love your support too)
4. then click on community compost project or my name Raser,J and read about my project some more if you want.
5. help a brother out!
I know things are tough and not everyone has a lot of expendable income right now and there are defenitely more troubling things out in the world (Haiti) but if you know somebody, anybody, that would be interested in my project, guide them to the peace corps partnerships page on the peace corps website and search for my project.
Thanks!
my project for the shredder has been approved by Peace Corps and you can now look for it on the peace corps website. how you might ask? easy!
1. either google peace corps partenerships or go to peacecorps.gov and look for partnerships.
2. click on ¨donate to volunteer projects¨
3. then go to ¨search by country of service¨ and pick ecuador (not saying you can´t pick another country because i´m sure all the lovely other PCVs out there would love your support too)
4. then click on community compost project or my name Raser,J and read about my project some more if you want.
5. help a brother out!
I know things are tough and not everyone has a lot of expendable income right now and there are defenitely more troubling things out in the world (Haiti) but if you know somebody, anybody, that would be interested in my project, guide them to the peace corps partnerships page on the peace corps website and search for my project.
Thanks!
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
que bonito es carnaval
Here is the thing about where I live and I would say the province (though I would not want to make any rash generalizations), it's pretty tranquilo (calm), not a lot of weird or crazy stuff happens. I wouldn't say its boring, but when you think of the places you want to visit in Ecuador, Guaranda or any other spot in Bolivar would be on top of the list...unless we're talking about Carnaval. Carnaval is kind of a big deal around here, it is the biggest celebration in the province and especially in San Lorenzo. People talk about it all year, everyone's cousin, or uncle, or 2nd stepbrother venture in from around the country (and many times outside the country) to celebrate. Kids make water balloons, water guns, or use bucket of water to toss on family members, random people in the street, or of course...tall gringos. I'm not sure exactly why they toss water for carnaval and when i ask, i get the "oh, its carnaval." They also tell me that during carnaval people throw flour and cooking oil on you too. Keep in mind this is happening right after the new year, has been going on the entire month and will continue all of February I am sure. Carnaval has special songs, dances, and foods that are prepared for the week of February 12-18th. Oh yeah...I am sure there will be heavy drinking involved as well, it wouldn't be an ecuadorian celebration without a little parajo azul.
As far as my work goes (if you really want to call it that)...little by little. Everything moves about 10 times slower down here when trying to work with people, especially government organization. I do understand that a gringo's request for a random town of 300 people may not be the highest on anyone lists down here. Just learning to be more patient and go with the flow. I am waiting on the OK of the shredder project by Peace Corps Quito and once it is OK'd there and Peace Corps Washington, then the project can go on the peace corps website and hopefully the 10 people that read this can donate and tell their wonderful, caring, extremely good looking friends to donate as well! In the meantime, I am giving talks about organic fertilizer, school gardens, and when I can, help with the canal that we have here, but that thing is such a quagmire that I am not sure if it worth the time and effort.
Well, till next time...
As far as my work goes (if you really want to call it that)...little by little. Everything moves about 10 times slower down here when trying to work with people, especially government organization. I do understand that a gringo's request for a random town of 300 people may not be the highest on anyone lists down here. Just learning to be more patient and go with the flow. I am waiting on the OK of the shredder project by Peace Corps Quito and once it is OK'd there and Peace Corps Washington, then the project can go on the peace corps website and hopefully the 10 people that read this can donate and tell their wonderful, caring, extremely good looking friends to donate as well! In the meantime, I am giving talks about organic fertilizer, school gardens, and when I can, help with the canal that we have here, but that thing is such a quagmire that I am not sure if it worth the time and effort.
Well, till next time...
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