DESCRIPTION OF PROJECTS
Teaching English
I assist the school with teaching English once a week to tercer ciclo students. I teach two classes, one for 7th Graders (6 students) who are at the very beginning level and then I also teach a class for the 8th & 9th grade students (20 students), and this is much more difficult as they are at very different levels. In the coming year, I plan to offer an English class for the other youth and adults in the community who are interested and would like to divide the 8th and 9th grade classes by English level if possible within the school schedule.
Before my service is up I hope to develop or assemble a teacher’s manual and accompanying workbooks for the teachers at my school. Although you would think these items could be bought here, they can’t. These books would be expensive and the quality isn’t good, and also there is no school budget for this. Also, paper in general is used sparingly. The students have no textbooks of their own in general but also for English; they only copy down notes in their notebooks. If possible, and depending on my own teaching ability, I may potentially offer an English class for teachers of English or seek such training for them.
Saturdays with the Kids
This project is a carry-over of the previous two volunteers in my site, who had crafts and games for the kids each Saturday. I offer these activities each Saturday 2 PM to 4 PM. So far I’ve mostly had coloring activities for the kids and then let them play their own games or soccer, basketball, and I purchased a volleyball net and volleyball and have been teaching them how to play volleyball. Sometimes, also, depending on the weather and my own energy level, I show movies on my lap top.
I would like to do more craft activities with the kids but haven’t had many ideas and then materials can be expensive. Some challenges with the kids are that the concepts of sharing, inclusion, and taking turns really need reinforcement. However, the kids really enjoy the Saturday activities and I get asked almost every day of the week when the next “reunion” (meeting) is going to be, which they should know is on Saturdays. J
My future plans include holding the activities every other week in another site in the community as I’d like the reach out to that part of the community which I am also supposed to be serving, and then also to invite other volunteers to come and share their craft, sports, or other talents with the kids. Also, I’d really like to develop these activities more to include brief presentations on behavior, health, life-skills, and the environment—maybe developing a kids nature club; a youth entrepreneurial or other type of club, and a type of school for the parents (perhaps not every Saturday but invite them for special trainings like how to make shampoo or compost and perhaps with invited speakers). Thus, to make a fuller use of the Saturdays as a development project. –Maybe 9am Nature club; 10 to 12 either youth group or a special training offered to parents, and 2 to 4 games and crafts with the kids—not sure will have to see how this develops. Also, I’m interested in researching the Neighborhood Network Center program that HUD offers in the US (and some of the Caribbean islands -- The Dominican Republic) to see if we could establish something like that at our school for enrichment afterschool, and weekend activities; to help make this sustainable. When I worked as an AmeriCorps VISTA member several years ago, I observed the Sister Mary Lucy NNC in Denver, CO and thought this was a wonderful organization for the community; and would like to do something similar here if possible.
Women’s Exercise Group
The daughter of my host mom saw me exercising one day and asked me if I wanted to work out with her so I ended up leading a stretching and pilates class and then doing an aerobic video with her and the friends she brought with her. We did this for two weeks and the womens’ kids joined in too which was fun. However, I became really busy with my responsibilities with the ADESCO (community group) and couldn’t join in the classes regularly so the group began to workout at another member’s house. One of the women has lost ten pounds but the group isn’t meeting anymore. Sometime in the future I may pick this up again but once my schedule is more set and it would be nice if we had a good private but public place to work out (i.e. a casa communal).
Educational Excursions
One of my community counterparts, the school director, and I worked together on a grant application to the US nonprofit organization Kids-to-Kids for the kids and youth in our school to go on a series of educational excursions, and we were awarded the funds. J
The first excursion was for the youth of tercer ciclo (7th-9th grades) and other youth in the community and their parents if they wanted to accompany their sons and daughters to tour the two schools in the closest city near here which offer bachillerato (high school). Our community’s school is pre-K – 9. We toured the institute which offers bachillerato weekdays and then we also toured another school which offers bachillerato por distancia, only on Saturdays over a three year period. Also, we toured the casa de la cultura which has a library (one room of books) and offers cultural activities for students, and also the city’s church in which we were permitted to view the catacombs and climb the stairwell to view the bell tower and take in a panoramic view of the city.
Before going on the excursion I distributed a survey to the students of tercer ciclo to get an idea of their goals and dreams after they graduate from 9th grade, their expectations, anticipated challenges or obstacles, and whether they had their families support. It showed that all of the students are interested in going on to obtain their bachilleratos and many of them are also interested in either vocational training or continuing on to a university. However, challenges identified were lack of funds, transport, and competing family responsibilities. For the young men, they work in agriculture with their fathers and are only able to attend school in the afternoons which the current system of tercer ciclo in the community allows. School in El Salvador has two “turnos” in the morning pre-K-6th grade, and in the afternoon tercer ciclo 7th-9th grades. The young women also have family responsibilities the majority taking place in the mornings in food preparation with their mothers for the family and also in the care of younger siblings.
The youth seemed to really enjoy this excursion and I got a lot of positive feedback from them upon returning. However, the obstacles still remain and I am trying to work to assist with forming solutions for some of the obstacles identified—family responsibilities though is the hardest one. The five students who will be graduating this year from 9th grade (there are several graduating in the next year) I believe are interested in attending the “por distancia” school, which was very welcoming and seems to offer a free curriculum (text books provided by the government) for the students pursuing their high school education through distance-learning.
The second excursion was for the kids of parvularia, primero ciclo (1st -3rd grades), and Segundo ciclo (4th-6th grades) to go to San Salvador to visit the national zoo and children’s museum – Tin Marin. Initially, this was proposed to only include one parent for each child, but there was so much interest that we ended up with a second bus and this becoming a family event. The kids loved it. For many of them, this was the first time any of the kids had seen zoo animals such as lions, hippopotamuses, or crocodiles. The zoo had a beautiful pond with water lily flowers with an island for monkeys and a playground also for the kids to play on. The children’s museum was also a first for all the kids and their families. The kids really loved this. There were so many different exhibits: a butterfly garden, a gravity center, bubble center, a center to teach about dental health, a center to teach about disasters such as earthquakes, an airplane and airport check-in center, a train with video describing the different regions of El Salvador, and a grocery store in which the kids could shop in their little carts for a list of items and have another little kid help them check out. It was cute! The next couple of days I woke up to my neighbor host-family’s kids talking excitedly about Museo Tin Marin, which made me really happy because this excursion in particular was very difficult to arrange for all involved with coordinating it (the Directora, my counterpart and the project leader, and myself).
My counterpart, the project leader did a wonderful job, she took care of the logistics with the buses, arranged for the trucks to take the people to the buses, arranged for the partial donation of the second bus, and negotiated the prices down for the zoo (free) and the children’s museum (1.25 per student & family member). She also successfully solicited permission to tour the church’s catacombs and view the bell-tower, which was I think the highlight for everyone in the first excursion.
This excursion, however, was a learning process. We hadn’t anticipated that a bus wouldn’t come all the way to our community, and so we had to pay more for the buses to come to the nearest town on the highway near us, and then for the trucks to transport the people to the buses roundtrip. Consequently, we did go significantly over-budget on this excursion. Fortunately, the $1 collected per student and adult to go on the excursion, did allow us to meet our commitment to the grant (a matching contribution), to establish an Enrichment Fund for future excursions or other enrichment activities.
The proposed third excursion, for the students of tercer ciclo to visit universities in Santa Ana and visit the ruins of Tazumal, due to a lack of funds without further fundraising and the choice to leave the remaining funds in the Enrichment Fund, as well as the school year soon coming to an end due to the rainy season here, we won’t be taking. Perhaps we will take this excursion in the coming school year, although there is also interest in touring a national park to view the wildlife for environmental education. However, I have the contacts and so I hope this excursion will take place in the coming year somehow.
Overall, I think the excursions went really well. It was a lot of work, but I think that because this was the first time that such a big excursion was planned, the contacts established and knowledge gained will help in the future with the planning of any future excursions. And the kids and youth really enjoyed the excursions, and so that is what is most important.
Project Cue
These are projects which are either in the works, or I would like to pursue in the future
Community Center (casa communal, centro de usos multiples)
The previous volunteer worked with the ADESCO (the community development organization) to begin the process of having some abandoned land in the community donated by the alcaldia (the mayor’s office) for the purpose of the construction of a casa communal/centro de capacitacion—translated as small community center and vocational training center. Although we have the promise of such in writing from the alcaldia, we are still in the process of receiving the actual deed, so this puts soliciting NGOs for the actual construction on hold. The land, approximately 5032 square meters is located in a central area in the community which would be accessible to all.
This project was repeatedly identified in the census questionnaire by the members of the community as a desired project. The project seeks to resolve the problem of the lack of training and preparation for the job market, apart from agriculture and domestic work, of many of the youth in the community and the surrounding area; and also, the lack of a space for meetings, special events, and other community activities. Currently, the only options for space for community meetings etc is the church or the school, and both don’t really function well because of limitations in space, privacy, or because there are other activities going on at the same time and the space cannot be shared.
The hope for a casa comunal (community center, or center of multiple uses) is that it would serve as a place in the community where the people can see each other, participate in community activities, and can fit everyone for special events of the community. And also in case of an emergency, could serve as a shelter. Furthermore, a space which could accommodate vocational and other types of trainings for the youth and other members of the community.
Recently, we had a training in our community provided by FOMILENIO (Millennium Development Corporation) in baking (reposteleria--cakes and other desserts) which was offered to 25 women. The women have solicited for another training in how to bake breads (panaderia) and may be receiving a training from an NGO in small business management. This training was set up on the upper patio of the church, which functioned but at times due to rain or bees wasn’t an ideal space for the training. The people in our community also have an interest in other trainings provided by FOMILENIO such as construction, carpentry, auto mechanics, cosmetology, and jewelry making. Other trainings besides those offered by FOMILENIO that the community is interested in is literacy, computation, aerobics or other exercise classes for women or youth, how to care for the environment, how to manage small businesses, how to make products to sell such as shampoo, jelly, etc and professional trainings such as pertain to community development.
The visión for this center includes
- A grand room for special events
- Other smaller rooms for offering various meetings, trainings, and community activities
- A room that could have an air conditioner to house a computer center
- A playground for the kids with swings, slides, etc… a joint purpose basketball court/soccer field space/
- An environment that makes the people feel very welcome to play, talk, learn, exercise, and participate in community activities
- An industrial kitchen to help with special events and trainings and possibly with additional space for a small business of the community (i.e. a bakery)
- Bathrooms
- A small parking lot for cars (not too many people have cars here, but necessary for special events for trucks)
- A garden with plants, flowers, and trees
- A fountain for the kids to run through when it’s hot out (that uses water environmentally responsibly)
- A recycling center for the community
This is a compilation of the ideas community members shared with me during the census. Many other communities have a casa comunal and these essentially are buildings which anyone in the public can use for meetings etc; but the idea here is to have a community center.
Women’s Bakery Small Business/Cooperative
As I mentioned earlier, 25 women in the community participated in a FOMILENIO reposteleria training, which is in how to bake cakes and other desserts. The training lasted a month and was 8 to 5 each day which was a big commitment for the women to participate in as many of them are mothers, but they loved it and took such pride in the treats they made which fortunate for me, I was able to taste. J I couldn’t be more pleased with another business interest. The women solicited for a further training from FOMILENIO in panaderia (how to bake breads) and may soon have a training from an NGO on small business development.
I would like to support this effort of the women by writing a grant to help them obtain the equipment necessary to produce the cakes, breads, and other pastries. Stoves as we think of them in the United States are rarely used here, as people use gas instead of electricity or cook over an open fire as this is less expensive. It makes baking a much longer process. Space would remain an issue, which is why having a space located in a proposed casa comunal would work well. Also, I believe it would be better for them to keep their business here in the rural community rather than taking it to the nearest city, as there are a ton of other bakeries there, and I think there would be a ready market here for the products. A small group of the women have been making cakes and selling slices through two of the tiendas in the community (we only have three tiendas) and each dessert sells right away (and no I am not the only one buying ;)). My favorite cake that they make has bananas in it and caramel. I plan to hold a meeting to assess interest in working together as a group and then seek their help in listing equipment needed, getting quotes on prices, etc.
Movie Night(s)
This is something I would like to start coordinating with the CDE (like the PTA) of the school as a regular fundraiser. The school could certainly use the funds. The funds wouldn’t be raised through admission but with selling food items like popcorn, french fries (papas fritas), papusas, ice cream etc. I have done a little research into the Motion Picture Licensing Corporation’s Umbrella license, but not sure how this applies to El Salvador, and so need to do more research into this as I would like to go about this activity legally. Also, another problem is that almost all the movies sold here are pirated; so it might be difficult to find movies here in Spanish/English which could be shown. I feel, however, that this fundraising activity could help meet several community needs potentially for the school, ADESCO or church as the plan would be to share the equipment and I think that this would be empowering for the community to be able to regularly raise funds for their own community’s needs, and I feel that the funds raised would not be negligible, and it would a fun and educational activity.
Website for the ADESCO
I am researching how to develop a free website, and although the quality might not be ideal I think such a website could suit the needs of the ADESCO. Having an organization page on Facebook would also help the ADESCO to network with this community’s diaspora, relate community news, and inform on projects and community needs, which could help with fundraising and collaboration. For this purpose also, I would like to see that a handful of representatives of the ADESCO receive computer training, so they can successfully administer the site without me. I would also like to see the development of a community newsletter.
Although internet is new here to most in rural parts of El Salvador, youth who are acquainted with the internet here are obsessed with Facebook. Internet has a higher importance here as it helps them to stay in touch with friends and family “afuera” who are very much missed. So, I feel that this medium would be a great way to create a virtual community.
School Cyber
The previous volunteer arranged for the donation of 10 computers for the school and also for the roof of the room and electricity to be properly installed for the computers to function well, which was I’m sure a huge undertaking and a great accomplishment. This year, for a modest fee paid by each student’s families, the school obtained a computer teacher who comes and teaches the students (Segundo and Tercer Ciclos) and also a class for other youth in the community and adults every Thursday and Friday. I’ve observed some of the classes and the kids, youth, and adults love it and are learning a lot.
The lab, however, is not equipped with internet. Before my service ends, I hope that that is something I can help to solicit and also I am hoping the movie nights could help to pay the bills each month. The parents and teachers however have concerns about the internet for the kids and youth viewing; I know there are ways to put blocks on the computers to restrict access to certain pages so we will need to look into this.
I think having the lab also serve as a community cyber, when the students aren’t in classes, could be a successful microenterprise for the school as well as a service to the community. This is a rural community; the only way I can receive internet on my lap top is internet movil; internet fixed is not an option … so just getting internet in the school could be a big undertaking. Internet opens up a world of knowledge to students though, and with the lack of good libraries in the country (the school’s library consists of a bookshelf), this would be a wonderful learning tool.
Water
One third of the community has poor access to water in the community, especially during the dry season. A person manually turns on the water each morning, and for about an hour each day water runs to the pillas (water tanks each family has one for all their water needs). The water comes from a natural spring nearby and has been tested to be potable (I purchase my own don’t want to run the risk). It is not chlorinated or treated. The system of water has been like this for the past twenty years. Recently the water pump broke and so the water committee appealed to the alcaldia, and fortunately it has been replaced and some new pipes laid which also had broken. However, the community could still use a larger tank or a pozo industrial, and so I am researching different NGOs to relay this info onto the water committee. Also, I may work on soliciting a small grant for a water filtration system for the school as proposed by the water committee.
eWhile every family here engages in agriculture that of beans, corn, and maicillo (I think a type of corn, feed it to the chickens), and many also keep chickens for the eggs and meat, most families do their grocery shopping in the nearest city—and prices are high there—priced to a remesa economy, however remesas aren’t enough and the agriculture here is that of subsistence, they aren’t turning a profit or if so, negligible.
I feel it would be better if people were spending more of their money supporting their local economy-- each other-- by creating and selling many of those same products available in the city in a farmers’ market here in the community each Saturday, perhaps held outside the church until we have a casa comunal. Some families grow hortilizas (vegetables) and others have fruit trees, and working on assisting those engaged in dairy in receiving a dairy training so they can produce directly their own products to sell, not all families have eggs or beans so this could also be sold as well as pastries etc by those who want to sell their products. I would hope that this effort would help to encourage some crop diversification as well.
Environment --Recycling/Trash
The first peace corps volunteer developed a recycling program which has continued for four years, so very successful. However, originally the recycling was collected with the funds going to the school; now a recycling collector comes by and the kids or families sell their recyclables to the collector for a modest price, which is not organized or coordinated at this point. To further encourage recycling, however, I may seek to create a recycling center to be used as an alternative or in addition to individual sales, but the kids/families would continue to be able to receive the funds for each of their contributions; just would need to coordinate all of this through the collector.
Trash, however, is burned here, which is toxic to the environment and harmful to people’s health. This practice is widespread, however, in rural El Salvador because there isn’t regular trash pick-up for rural communities. For monthly trash pick-up, our ADESCO needs to solicit the alcaldia each month. It may be possible to arrange more frequent pick-ups but for a cost so somehow I would like to try to encourage this. Also, wish to invite an environmentally focused volunteer from a local NGO to come and speak on recycling as well as do a training on how to make compost.
I know there are other projects, but the above are the ones I am most focused on at present.
