THIS is what we do!

I really had no idea how much FUNDAMUI does for the communities they work with. I have been able to learn so much and do so much so far.
I can't believe I only have two weeks left in the field, each day goes by so fast!

So, FUNDAMUNI basically works in projects. First they see the unique necessities of each community and then they form campaigns to execute them. What I love about the projects is that they are done and organized locally. The main office of the organization is in the capital. Life in the capital is 100% different than life in these communities. Unless you are from these places you have no idea what the real problems are. FUNDAMUNI not only recognizes that, but also is doing something to solve this comprehension gap.

For their campaigns they hire a community representative to join the project. These representatives, run, organize, and report back to the office. In each 'departamento' or state of the country FUNAMUNI has an office. Right now FUNDAMUNI has been working most closely with children in Chalatenango. This is where I've been living Tuesday through Saturdays. The athletics, soccer, and dance teacher (me) live in San Salvador, we travel each week and live at the office, which is a big house with beds, etc. for us to live in.
The representatives of the communities are also teachers. Most of them only teach in their community, it is us who teach more specialized things that travel to all the communities. And we sure travel a lot! Even though it can be exhausting I am truly getting to see it all!

Every Friday morning, from 8am to 12pm all the teachers from all the communities meet in the main office of the state to discuss the week. We plan out the next week, see how to solve problems, and develop future projects.

I love blogs with fotos, that's why I make the effort to take pics! This is what we do.....

I already talked about the trash collecting campaign, but there are more.

FUNDAMUNI gave each family a fruit tree to plan in their land. This is going to not only provide the family with fruit to eat, but also a source of income if they decide to sell the fruit. The children loved when we delivered the trees to their school :)

 The kid in the middle of this

picture is seriously a little MESSI! Best soccer player I've seen yet. And the plays in his socks...

The soccer league we have going on is also a big deal. Each community has four teams compete for the trophy. There is the kid's team (ages 8-13) and the youth (13-17).  Each age group has a team of boys and a team of girls. Some of the kids that are on the teams are in my dance workshops. They dance at the tournaments, were the winning team gets a trophy and the dances a diploma of participation and a dance uniform for the school to keep.

FUNAMUNI makes it a point to begin each game telling the kids that this is for fun. That rivalry is not good and that they should understand that they are all part of a bigger team. The organization provides the kids with uniforms, soccer balls, and transportation to each event. This is the final between two communities, it takes many weeks for all communities to play one another until only two are left for the final. The final was held on a Saturday. Parents came, siblings came, many of the town folk came. Local food vendors also came to the event to make some money. That day I ate a mango with chile, ice cream, yuca frita, and yes my belly hurt a little after but it was well worth it.
The organization also brings the kids Gatorades and apples as snacks. There was music, and big speakers were the rest of the town could hear each play.

FUNAMUNI also has painting workshops, there are murals all over the towns painted by the children. I will make sure to take a picture of some this week when I travel to the different places.

These programs are not funded by the schools. If it wasn't for FUNDAMUNI they would not be also to discover the arts such as painting and dancing. And they would not be able to receive athleticism or soccer classes. This is what I like about Public Health. It's not about fixing something necessarily broken, but it is about improving and preventing on a large scale.

What is coming up now is the carrera de kilometro (The kilometer mile race) in this event kids get to participate in an Olympics type project. We have gone around to each community and held races, long jumps, and other olympic games and have selected teams to represent each community. On the 28th we are bringing these kids to the capital to compete for a trophy here in a stadium in the city. The kids are super exited to get the change to come compete here in a real stadium. And my kids are going to be dancing!! ah!!

On a side note.... El Salvador truly has some great athletes, artists and dancers! Not to mention the little Leo Messi, I'm sure when he grows up he will be on the national team!

Common knowledge in El Salvador...

I've encountered some pretty interesting common knowledge here. Now, before I begin I don't mean to make fun of people's belief's here... Though, some of the things are kind of funny.

This common knowledge covers all subjects, health and well being, and everyday life.

So, I went to eat valiadas at this place that had a ton of water bags hanging from the roof. When I asked the cook why  she had these up she said it was to scare the flies away.   ???? Yeah, so I asked her how?  She said she had no idea...and that frankly she didn't think it worked, but that they looked nice anyway.
After spending half my lunch time waving the flies off my place, I ended up agreeing with her--the bags did look nice...

Here is the fly fighting bag..

There also seems to be a lot of common knowledge and advice concerning babies. The other day I heard a lady say that hiccups could be cured if you put a red string on the baby's forehead. It was the same lady that told me that one should not eat and breast feed at the same time, because the baby could choke on a crumb.

There is also a bracelet that prevent people from giving babies "the stink eye". If they are not wearing this bracelet someone could give them the "eye" and one of their eyes could turn smaller than the other, they could even die.

What's really interesting to me is that this is not one person's beliefs. Most people I have talked to have had plenty of these to give me advice with. 

I had a dog hair fly in my mouth, so I spit it out. I was told that if I ate five of those I would become infertile..

No one really knows how these things happen, but they do.

Trash collection campaign!

We dance, but we also pick up trash! Every two months or so we organize a "campaña de limpieza" which translates to a trash collection campaign. Basically we gather all the kids from one community and meet at the local park or soccer field, we bring trash bags the kids bring their hands and we clean up!
I love it! Especially because we are teaching the kids that throwing the trash everywhere affects their own community. People in El Salvador have a nasty habit of throwing everything everywhere. People pee on the sidewalks and throw their trash out their windows.
So, we start them early and attempt to teach them to take care of their planet earth...

Here are the little trouble makers hard at work!

Contamination does worry me. The same day we were cleaning up we had a case of a sick little boy. He was throwing up and feeling faint. His big sister said he had been like that for a few days now... she said he must have eaten something.

I agree. If he drank contaminated water, washed food with contaminated water, or prepared a meal with contaminated anything this could make him sick. As a Public Health major I am closely paying attention to everything around me that is health related, and it is a lot.

While working here in Chalatenango I've had the pleasure to meet this little boy, his name is Jairito. He is such an example to all of us... he is also one of the biggest trouble makers! He lifts the young girl's skirts with his toes..haha. I can't help but wonder if the contamination around this area, both environmental and prenatal had anything to do with his condition. 

Jairo is an example to all.

What occupies my days..

So, I’ve been interning at this organization called FUNDAMUNI. Even though I read through their history and yearly planned projects, I had no idea what they actually did. I thought I did, but now that I am here I can tell that they are a pretty special organization.

This is how it works:

The government has created a (very tiny) budget to give aid to the most war-affected areas of El Salvador.

Every year a bunch of NGO’s plan projects and organize presentations to get this funding, FUNDAMUNI has been rocking it since 1994 and manages to get funding.

(This makes me wonder how stable their aid can be if the government decides to quit “helping” the people.)

FUNDAMUNI not only works in different geographical areas, but they also work in different structural areas of the society. They work with children, adults, local government, schools, etc.

Now, what I am doing is helping out with the youth programs. I am the dance teacher. I work with multiple communities and at the end of the program in their school we have a presentation of showcase of what they have learned. Just recently the youth (ages 12-17) performed in front of their whole community.

Here is a picture of my beautiful girls!

I am just loving being here. I feel like I have created a good relationship with the kids, they tell me about their lives, we joke around, they teach me something new every day.

Most of them don’t have much, they don’t own a TV, or ipod, they barely have more than two pairs of shirts, and more often than not they come to practice barefoot, yet they are always happy and eager to learn and play. As an American society I think we have a lot to learn about giving less value to our stuff, and more value to experiences. So, instead of watching so much TV we should go out and play something, meet up with friends, be social… and instead of listening to our ipods so much maybe we should try talking to the person next to us on the bus or subway.

These kids know each other so well. Granted they do live in communities of less than 400 people, but I bet if we took the time to go up the street and meet our neighbors like they do we would be able to unite our communities a little more.

How many of us even know who are neighbors are? What their names are? If they have kids?

If we don’t know them, how can we be able to collaborate to better our neighborhoods?

Just the other day, there were too many bushes and trees blocking the entry way to one community. So, they had a neighborhood meeting, they grabbed machetes and cut down the bushes and tree.