General Update

Four months and one day after my friend Perfecto drank the poison that would end his life, a new life, and a new Perfecto, was born. Perfecto Choc Jr. was born on September 2nd 2011, and seems to simultaneously remind us of what we have lost, as well as demonstrate the immortality of the process of life. Things have very much gotten back to normal since the traumatic events of May. Life just keeps going, there is nothing else to do. His brothers and I say how it feels like he is just out of the village working, and some part of us expects for a fleeting moment to see him step off the bus when it stops in front of our houses, but people have accepted it now. The turmoil of emotion seems to be over.
The summer was hot, but did not have nearly as many tropical storm, or hurricane threats as last year. When school is not in session I have the feeling of being at some amazing summer camp. I pass the days with my friends going into the bush to find something to eat for the day. Be it hunting, fishing, setting traps for ground-mole, gathering jippy-jappa, or chopping Cahune cabbage, there is something wonderful about being hungry, and setting out to the woods to find lunch. Lazily we go to the river to pass the heat of the day after the work is done. Jumping from the rope swing, that nearly broke my toe.
In August I took some vacation days and went to Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Honduras for two weeks with two other volunteers, and my friend from the States that meet us on the road. Despite the few long days on the bus we had a great time. We saw the ruins of Copan in Honduras just outside the beautiful mountain village we stayed for the night in. In Nicaragua we stayed a few days in Grenada. Between our great hostel and the atmosphere of its streets with its big colonial building and cathedrals it was a hard place to leave. The red and black Sandinista flag decorate nearly every telephone pole, even in this traditionally conservative city. Here we zip-lined in the jungle at the foot of the volcano that dominates the landscape, and on another night attended a festival under the full moon. From here we went to San Juan Del Sur, a touristy surf town in the south western part of the country. We learned to surf, and hung out on our tiny balcony overlooking the high cliffs of the bay.
On our way back we stayed longer in El Salvador than planned. Mallory made contact with a couple of girls that are from San Salvador, and went to her college in the States, Christina and Eva. They were beyond welcoming to us, and showed us around the local San Salvador. We went together to Christina's families lake house on volcanic creator lake outside the city. Even though our attempts to ski and wake board failed miserably, we still had fun cruising around the lake, and lounging in the nice house. From here we went to another surf town, El Tunco for one night and most of the next day. I surfed again, but here the waves were much more powerful, and the rip-tide stronger. We returned to San Salvador for our last night of fun, and our new friends took us to a strip of bars and restaurants built into recessed spaces on the outside of the mall. It was nice to finally journey out of Belize, and see Central America. Almost everything is different as soon as you cross the border. I guess it's true what they say, Belize is the Caribbean, and not Central America.
As good as it was to get away, it was just as good to come back home again. After more than a year of living here, I am amazed by how much like home it really does feel. The excitement of everything being new is long gone, but it is replaced by the comforting feeling of..well...being right where I want to be the world.
While I was on my travels, my good friend and neighbor Mathias was elected Village Chairmen, and he is anxious to implement some really great ideas in the village that we have been talking about for the last few months since the last chairmen gave up his position and left the village to work. We have already filed letters and forms formally requesting the trucks to come as promised to look for a water table large enough to support a water system. Among what I think is the best of his ideas is the village farm. People in the village are occasionally fined for this or that. For example if a man doesn't come to help chop the village in the community work day, or if someone is disorderly and starts a fight. People rarely pay these fines on the excuse that they do not have the money. The idea is to have these people work off their debts doing work on a farm that will go to benefit the whole village. If people chop a farm and plant corn or pumpkins, then the village can sell it to make a profit that will go to the village council. Between the people who can work to pay off their debts (which right now is about $1000 total), volunteer labor by village leaders, and even hired labor if needed, the village could make money that it could use to implement its own development projects instead of begging the government or NGOs to do for them. Obviously opinions very on this plan, but I really think it can work.
The new school year has started this week, and the new principal is now the upper division teacher that I worked with, and became close friends with last school year. He has asked me to help more this year with getting the Standard 6 kids ready for the PSE (Primary School Exam that determines eligibility for Secondary School) and Secondary School. So this year I am assisting with a special before-school class for all the students who will sit the exam this year to get them prepared. Also, the pen pal program that I did last year with Mrs. Yenna from Southwood Elementary was so popular with the students, that the Principal has asked me to have a once a week class in addition to the letter writing time to teach both him and the students more about how to use a computer.
The feeding program that was started last year with the assistance of Rotary Tennessee has been working on completing a building that will house the new kitchen and dinning area for the students. While it is a struggle now, we hope to continue to develop the garden so that we will have a constant flow of produce to use for the meals.
This same Rotary group is considering supporting the village with another project that the librarian and I have been working on for the past several months. The idea is to provide all the secondary school books that the students need at the library, which can be rented to the family on a one year basis for a fraction of what the purchase cost of the book would be. This way, families could afford to send more than just one or two (usually male) children to secondary school. By renting them by the year, the library would be able to reuse them year after year, to be used my many different children. The fee, which we are hoping to put into a high-yield savings account, would go towards buying new books when the older ones are replaced. The sponsor organization would partner with the library for five years, purchasing the books as needed. Then when the time comes for the library to go it on its own it will have a sufficient amount of books and money, to make the project sustainable. If ever the library does come up short, it can hold a fun raiser, which we have shown can raise anywhere from $400-$2,000.
This project idea came about from my first days in the village. We held a meeting with the Ministry of Rural Development, and using the tools learned in Peace Corps training we identified that higher secondary school attendance was the second most important thing to the village next only to a water system. From there the librarian and I did a survey of the families that had secondary school age children and asked what kept them from sending more children to school. The answer was always: high book cost. Then a few weeks later, the parent of a child that is in secondary school came and asked me if there wasn't some way we could get the books at the library. It was a great idea, and the librarian and I went to a Peace Corps ran workshop on project design and management to hammer out the details of how it could be done. It has been a slow process, but this project is from the village itself, and involves something that everyone will benefit from, so we are optimistic about its success. Our goal now it to have the first books in the library, ready to be rented, by May of next year. So that families know they do not need to go out and buy books over the summer.
So right now each week keeps slipping into the next one, and life is alright in this little village of ours. This year has gone by faster than any I remember in my life. The challenge is over, and now I must just come to terms with the fact that I must, one day, leave this place....at least for a while.