Last week we had Field Based Training. We stayed in hotels in Toto (about 3 hours from my house) for 5 days. While hard work, it was a much needed break from our everyday lives. We had some control over what we ate, where we went and we got to hang out after dark, something that never happens during training.
We did presentations (in Spanish) for students, teachers, and parents. My favorite by far was the HIV charla. My friend, Audra and I gave a two hour presentation on HIV to a group of 33 students. The kids were super involved and everyone participated which was awesome. 
Participation in the classroom is hit and miss. Sometimes you get a class that is really interested and other times getting students to get involved is impossible. Girls here are especially difficult when it comes to participation. Guatemala is a machismo culture, men are extremely empowered and women are expected to be fairly submissive. That being said, boys usually monopolize the classroom generally forcing girls to keep to themselves. Empowering girls is one of the major goals of youth development and as a confident woman I can’t wait to be a positive role model.One of the days during FBT we got a great opportunity to help with a bottle project. Bottle projects are a fairly new and very green way to do construction. It cuts down on the amount of concrete you need and uses quite a bit of garbage that would otherwise end up in the streets or the rivers. The volunteer who we helped was building latrines at a school in her site.
In the picture the latrine is almost finished being filled with garbage. Once that process is complete a mason will cover the outside in concrete and the school will have brand new bathrooms that they can be proud of.This last Saturday was the first time I felt like a legit Peace Corps volunteer. Tropical Storm Agatha rolled through Guatemala a few weeks ago and left quite a few towns in ruins. A PC Spanish teacher’s home and community was destroyed. All of the trainees traveled to his home to do some disaster relief. I wish I had pictures of the wreckage. It was like a massive mud river flowed through the entire town, leaving homes filled with 4-6 feet of mud. We dug out homes with the locals. We left muddy, exhausted, and with a sense of pride. We were only able to spend a day in the town. The locals have been working day and night since the storm and will continue to work until everyone can reclaim their homes. It is incredible how these communities can pull together in times of need. I am humbled by their ability to give so much when they have so little.
On a personal note, we recently talked about a big project that we are encouraged to carry out in our schools. The purpose of the project is to increase communication between grandparents, parents and children, which at the moment, is very limited. The discussion made me realize how very little I know about my grandparents. I wasn’t sure why there was a gap in knowledge there but I knew I wanted to bridge it. I emailed my grandparents and when I got in return was awesome. While we chose completely different lives we are more alike than I could have imagined. I'd like to end the post the same way my grandmother ended her email:
My only suggestion for your future is you have but one life so live it your way. Couldn’t have said it better g-ma, love you.
