Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work I go…

In a summer theatre program in elementary school, I was a dwarf in a spin-off of Snow White, though that’s not what this blog post is about. During my four months here in Guatemala, I have yet to write a blog post about what I am actually doing here. Allow me to explain.

Upon deciding to move down to Guatemala, I spoke with community leaders about work with which SMT needed some help. It seemed that I would be working with various groups and members of the community on entrepreneurial initiatives, possibly focused on microfinance. In my first month here, I did indeed meet with several people involved with various projects:
-Emiliano – an engineer, the town’s first university graduate and former mayor of the community who is interested in starting a sustainable forestry business to maximize the resources of the area.
-Aurelio – a near-university grad working with a honey project in its second year of development whose members are interested in expanding the viability of their (delicious!) honey on the market.
-Marta – the 2009 director of the women’s committee, which has their own microlending program that they administer every year to women who want to earn extra money through small projects like a chicken farm or string for weaving.

After those initial conversations, which seemed to go very well, I heard little to nothing from those individuals, even after following up and leaving detailed project notes. Instead, I have been primarily planning and teaching the English classes with Edd. I really enjoy teaching but I have also felt frustrated about not going anywhere with these projects I that I thought would be working with. I sent my friend Katie a message explaining my frustration and here is an excerpt of what she sent back; it’s a concise statement about the complicated nature “helping”.

“On the one hand, you don't want to impose your own ideas of what the community needs, so you want to be responsive to what the community asks for. On the other hand, if the community doesn't ask you for anything, you're a bump on a log and feel useless. Then, there you are, feeling useless, and your own needs (to be useful, needed, relied on for something) have creeped back into the picture! Your scrupulous, conscientious efforts to be selfless are totally backfiring! This is a serious quandary. The ideal is to respond to the needs of the community. But there are two problems associated with that approach- (1) what if the community thinks it doesn't need you (or worse, what if they're right)? and (2) what if you can't provide what the community thinks it needs? Both of these possibilities can be scary. Very possibly risks worth taking, but scary.”

So, in the midst of my altruistic quest in moving to SMT, I have actually been confronted with far more challenges and perspectives than I anticipated. I expected scorpions, tarantulas, latrines and candles, but feeling sometimes like a waste of space, I did not. A Frederick Douglass quote I learned from some of the JA Fellows last year seems very appropriate now: “Without struggle, there is no progress.” In this time, I have done a great deal of personal reflection and growth about how I define myself as well as thinking a lot about culture and connection with others. While I have been working in the school and spending more time in the community in general, I have been able to develop relationships with different people. The ability to connect with people on a personal level has been really meaningful for me especially as I have not had defined projects in which to work. Now, in the last few months of my time here, new projects have come up and I am working in several areas that the community has requested. It seems that some of these opportunities became available because I have gotten to know people better and they can trust that I am here to help.

-As the community prepares to bring a high school into town in 2011, I have been working with the high school planning committee to disaggregate data about how to best construct the school and attract students.

-After speaking with the leaders of the elementary and middle schools here and in the neighboring community of Santa Maria Dolores, I suggested using Junior Achievement economics curriculum to work with the students. They were excited about this new resource and this week, we finally started the programs teaching The Basics of Business, Advantages of Staying in School and Personal Economics. The students have not had the opportunity to reflect much on their personal or professional goals prior to this, so they are really engaged in the curriculum.

-I am also working on a young women’s workshop series with a long time middle school teacher, Maurilia, to focus on self-esteem. Through my work in the classroom, I have been really impressed with how smart and proactive the young women are in making their grades but I have also noticed that there is a disconnect between their work on paper and their willingness to speak up in the classroom and define their future goals. Maurilia agrees that this is a challenge for many of the girls and after talking about it together, we decided that we would do something to provide girls with a safe and open space to build their self-esteem and broaden their horizons.

-Finally, I just reconnected with Marta and the women’s group and shared with them that I would like to support at least two more loans of 1,000 quetzales each ($125) for subsequent years. The women pay back a 10% at the end of every loan cycle, which is a year, and therefore the loan pool continues to grow.

I am grateful to all of the folks who have already donated to support the causes here. The funds that are raised will go towards the women’s loans, to purchase resources for the new girls program, and to provide scholarships to local students who are furthering their education beyond the middle school level. Overall, we have set a fundraising goal of $1,000 to provide these opportunities and resources to the villages. If you are interested in supporting these causes, the communities of Santa Maria Tzeja and Santa Maria Dolores will benefit from your generosity.

All in all, the experience is turning out to be different than I expected but much richer in terms of how I have personally developed and built relationships with people. I now realize that the connection with others is the foundation that I needed to find and complete meaningful work. Because of these relationships, I know that I will maintain a connection to these communities for years to come.

It´s a whole new game.

It is very well known by my friends and family that I am a competitive person-a very competitive person. However, curiously, I never really participated in organized sports in high school or college. I did play high school soccer my sophomore year in an attempt to meet people after my family moved to Ohio, and I joined the cross-country team my senior year of college to help balance out the calories I was consuming from Pabst Blue Ribbon. And though I ended up competing in nationals that year, it wasn´t anything that I ever took too seriously. So the sportsman status I´ve acquired since moving down here has come with both surprise and a little bit of shame.

I started off playing goalie in Santa Maria Tzejá in a sincere attempt to get to know other people my age in the community. There was a soccer tournament starting in the neighboring community, so I agreed to join the team and my humble soccer career began. What had started off as a hobby, something for me to pass the time and get to know people, soon ballooned beyond my expectations.

Similar to my running in college, I tended to take the individual competitions seriously but not so much the larger picture. So, when I was recently asked to join the regional team a huge compliment, I shyly turned it down. I was surprised to learn that the captain of the team who consistently beat us (mostly figuratively but at times literally - see picture)in the neighboring town announced publicly that they would be even better “If we had that expletive gringo for a goalie“. Likewise, I was surprised when the organizer for our community team announced that “During this tournament we may have to make some changes, and no one, except Eduardo, is guaranteed to make it.” Seeing how he had only seen me play for one game, I felt more amazed and embarrassed by the praise than pride.

During the soccer games, my naturally competitive edge is only peaked when players on the opposing team inform me that they will be scoring several goals on me before the end of the game (to date, none of those guys actually have, something my competitive nature is all too pleased to share). It´s peaked even further when most of the heckling on the field isn´t directly targeted at me but players from the other team harassing each other that they can´t score on the gringo goalie. The competitiveness goes into full fury when the fans on the opposing team throw rocks at me during the game and call out ”My name is! My name is!” over and over in English. Thankfully at the end, win or lose, I shake hands and shake it off. Out of sight out of mind.

I freely admit my intensity on the field can be little much but that my attitude on the basketball court is plain out of control. Audrey is taller then most Guatemalans at her 5´3”. At close to six feet, I am nearly a giant. An overhand chuck from the three point line is the preferred method for a shot. 20 minute games usually end 10-6 or less, not a scoring bonanza. I, on the other hand, can make a layup. There is no reason what-so-ever for me to feel the need to take this sport competitively. I clearly have the advantages when it comes to playing basketball and I would do more than well to enjoy the sunshine, the exercise and the team play. Sadly my career on the court can best be illustrated by the last tournament I participated in.

The other team quickly realized that they could swat my arms and neck to prevent me from making my shots. It worked frustratingly well. At half time I “calmly” asked the ref what was and what was not considered a foul. It turns out that a push to the back is the only thing that constitutes a foul in Guatemalan Basketball. Was my holding onto the hips of the player trying to make a breakaway when my competitive nature got the best of me? Or was it me pushing the ball down the hill after every time I made a basket so I had more time to get back on defense? Or was it me intentionally coming down hard on players after they took their shot that proved my over reaching desire to win? I´m sure all of these acts contributed greatly to the fact that my victory over the middle school team for a $12 prize (to be split 6 ways) has really stung me as quite shameful. Not even the 35-6 victory consoled me.

I´m a nice guy; I am genuinely a caring compassionate person, but for some reason, be it playing cribbage with Audrey, Wii bowling against my mother or a friendly community sporting event, my competitive nature takes over. Perhaps it was best that I haven´t taken a keen interest in competitive sports till later in life, when I´m more…mature.

Memo RE: internet access

Dear friends and family,

Now that we're in early September, I'm sure you're asking yourself, where has the Holla been in Guatemala? Let me assure you, it's been dying to get out but just hasn't been able to.

We haven't posted a blog in a while because here in the jungle of rural Guatemala, our internet and computer access hasn't been as easy as you'd expect. Last month, the computer was infected with the Trojan Horse virus and though I myself am a proud Troy Trojan, I have no affiliation with this *%!@?/! virus. We weren't able to use it for about three weeks and finally got it fixed by a computer guru who worked on it for two days, reformatting it and reinstalling all of our programs. How much did we pay for this computer work? 25 Quetzales or $3.25. We thought that was a pretty fair price.

But the computer drama doesn't end there. Around the same time that the computer was infected, a tiny piece broke off the computer where the battery connects in, leaving the battery a little loose. This has resulted in a short that forces the computer to shut off at random intervals. And also at about that same time, the computer stopped recognizing that it has a DVD drive so we're no longer able to watch all the romantic comedies I brought down (Edd's really disappointed about that last one).

Finally, the last two weeks in Tzeja and continuing still, there hasn´t been internet access and no one seems to know why. I suppose waiting for internet access is relative when people have been waiting years for electricity and running water to come to the village.

All of this is certainly has made us appreciate the ease of technology and access to information that we have available all the time in the US. It has also taught us great lessons in patience and in the ability to not get so caught up in what we thought we HAD to do.

We´ve felt pretty disconnected from the outside world for the last month or so. In light of all of this, we hope you´ll excuse the tardiness of this and our subsequent posts.

Sincerely,
Audrey and Edd