City Girl (or at least not Outdoor Girl!)

I had a nerve-wracking, scary night last night. There were all of these flying, huge beetles or cockroaches that kept coming into my house from outside—looks like I’m going to have to fashion some screen or something, huh? (Where is MacGyver when you need him? Oh, I know, in San Cristobal !). Then, a bat flew into my house (I have high ceilings), and I freaked out for a bit. Well, the beetles stopped bothering me after I turned on the outside light, and turned off the inside light, and I have no idea where the bat went—he wasn’t here in the morning. I’ll be happy when the other Volunteer that I’ll be living with moves in this week—I’m such a baby! I mean, I live in a town, I have electricity, water, flush toilet… but the night can be scary, especially when there are all of these foreign creatures flying about!

On another note, for those of you who don’t know, I’ll be receiving my MPH from Tulane this month (finally!) I’m taking my final exam online on Thursday, and then I’m done! I feel like the project that I’ll be working on here in El Salvador really could benefit from a public health perspective. It’s exciting to finally be able to apply some of what I learned at Tulane to a real life project. As I said before, though, whether it is successful or not is a completely different story. Essentially, the project involves working with a local musician here to plan and implement 8 workshops with kids (songs, stories, theater, puppets) who are living in poverty and have been affected by one of the natural disasters. I’ve been out to 2 of the communities already, and the kids are so cute! We were giving out shoes in one community, and this little boy (I think he had Down’s syndrome) gave me a big kiss on the cheek when I gave him his shoes—I nearly cried! But, its not just about making me feel good…I learned that from Peace Corps the first time. The problems here are serious. The level of poverty and inequity is much different than Uzbekistan, and the risk of natural disasters is a constant threat to so many people. El Salvador is a country prone to earthquakes, flooding, and volcanic eruption—it amazes me how “vulnerable” the country is; yet people survive! It’s so hard to grasp this, because I want solutions, but I know that there is no easy or quick solution. My part, and even the role of REDES (the organization I’m working with), is so small in the larger scheme of things, but I’m happy to be part of such a community-focused organization.

So, I’ve spent much of my time this weekend planning, reading, and trying to come up with a concrete evaluation plan for this program so that we can learn something from what we are doing. I don’t know if I’m on the right track, but who does? Is there really a “right” way to do things anyway? It seems to me that coming from a deep, true love for people and tempering it with realism, openness, and willingness to explore the ethics behind something is at least a good starting point in order to “do the right thing”.