Pipil language: Nawat

This is the language that my ancestors use to speak. This language is almost dead... I want to learn more of it. My grandma use  to sing me a Nawat lullaby. I can still sing this song.  This website is a lesson based course to learn Nawat.

http://www.computing.dcu.ie/~mward/nawat/L01/html/l01s1a_eng.html

The Panel Discussion

As class began yesterday I thought I might not gain too much from the discussion. I don’t really have questions about my experience. And I don’t think I will have too much culture shock. Since I am from that same country. But I figured listening  wouldn’t hurt.

When the translator issues came up, I couldn’t relate. Or the living arrangement issues.  But then the issue of being homesick, and missing the simple things. For this part I sat up in my seat.

It’s already happening. I am already beginning to feel the stress of my trip and I am not even gone yet. Especially tonight, I don’t know why. Maybe it’s the fact that I have heard my friends talk about all of the fun things they will be doing this summer. The places they are going to live, and the parties they are going to go to. While listening, I’ve been thinking of how different my summer is going to be. It’s been a little difficult trying to explain to my friends what it is that I will be doing. Most of them still think its some sort of vacation. They really don’t know all of the planning that has gone into this.

That’s the other thing that worries me, all of the planning… what if things don’t go as planned? I have really taken to heart what we have been told, to keep and make REALISTIC expectations. Plan to succeed, but be prepared to fail and get up. I want to prepare myself emotionally for this. That’s the other thing that came up a lot. The emotional distress of the trip.

I don’t think I realize how different things are going to be… especially when I stay in the poor communities. I remember how things are, but I haven’t lived that way in a while. I will be back into the world of latrines, bucket showers, chickens running while all over the place, and waking up at 4:30 in the morning no matter what. I am underestimating and honestly having a cocky attitude about how prepared I am for my trip. I want to change my attitude. This is not going to help me. the less prepared I feel the more I will eventually prepare. I am going to prepare for success! So far my connection with the NGO is going great. I am writing a letter to the head of the organization to finalize things, and make them formal. I’m nervous but I know I am qualified, I have done many other projects similar to this one.

Still, got to recognize that I don’t know everything… I really don’t. Confidence is  a mixture and a balance of humility and pride/confidence.  Sometimes I find I, but most times I am looking for it.t

The Whole Experience

Last Friday I got some feedback on my proposal that I have not considered before. To be completely frank I didn’t think that my proposal would include this kind of information.

Our facilitator asked me why I had not included more information about what I would be doing on a day to day. Its true I talk a lot about my project but I have not really mentioned the other big factor that influenced me to decide to go to my field study in El Salvador.

As I have stated before I am Salvadoran. I left when I was ten. Two summers ago before leaving to college I decided to go back to El Salvador. I knew that if I didn’t go then I might not get a change to go in a very long time. I wanted to go because I had not met two of my sisters. One of them had been born in the seven years I had been away and the other one was a well kept secret of my fathers.

I remember he had told me about her when I was ten. He took me for a ride on the day I was to say good-bye to him. The next day I was leaving with my mother to America. He took me to a house with a red door. A little girl came out, he pointed at her and told me she was my sister. I never saw her again until two summers ago when I visited. She is 12 now.

I have 3 sisters, Alejandra who is 12. Diana who is 11 and Sara who is 3. There is another baby boy on the way. I am really exited! He is due to be born in the middle of my study! I want to be able to meet my baby brother and spend some time with my sisters. I wan them to know that I have not forgotten about them at all, that I think about them all the time. It was Diana’s dengue fever that got me to be interested in the water problems El Salvador has. If we were more careful about mosquito breeding grounds she may have never been sick. That was one of the worst emails I have ever gotten. She was in a very critical state.

This is the kind of other activities I will be doing while abroad. I didn’t know if I should add this to my proposal… interacting with my sisters. I want to get to know them, I don’t even know their favorite colors! But I will. I had not even though about this as part of my “whole” experience, but my facilitator was right. It is a big deal.

School is where most kids get sick

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Standards for Schools in Low-cost Settings by John Adams, Jaime Bartram, Yves Chartier, and Jackie Sims

This book is a publication by UNICEF and the World Health Organization dealing with the issue of school sanitation. I am very interested in this kind of topics. How can we help prevent simple disease spread that potentially may kill malnourished, impoverished children.

El Salvador Through Art

Last class we visited the Islam Exposition in the Museum of Art here at school. I loved it. I feel like I really got a feel for what that culture values. There are all about story telling--especially through the written word. Everything had writing on it. Calligraphy is art. They have shown the internal beauty found in the Koran through their art. Very religious oriented people.

So, how can art help me understand the culture in El Salvador?

One of the greatest things about living in San Francisco is how cultured those people are. After looking at the Islam art, I remembered I went to see the Mission murals in the city. I was very surprised to find that a vast majority of the murals on that street are about El Salvador--and the civil war struggle. Here are some of the images.

Fleeing mother with her infant. In the background you can see the volcanoes--major land marks of El Salvador.

Monseñor Romero. Religious leader, adored by the people. Supporter of the people. Murdered for the cause.

El Escuadron de la Muerte. The group that took you out of bed at night. Tore your body apart--never to be found. This is the eye that caught the monster. 

Iconic Salvadoran art. The child is free, and our future is bright.

La Virgen Guadalupe. Most Salvadorans follow the Catholic religion (though we have an LDS temple there now!)

Inspiring Stories

How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas by David Bornstein. I This book is the next step beyond the idea/or desire to do some social change. This tells the stories of individuals who are and have made a change. It discusses what business entrepreneurs are to the economy, social entrepreneurs are to social change. They are, writes David Bornstein, the driven, creative individuals who question the status quo, exploit new opportunities, refuse to give up--and remake the world for the better. 

Technology?

Social media is amazing. I have been able to plan and set up skype meetings with the people that I will be collaborating with. I have even been able to get a hold of the other kids that were taught by this organization as well. It is crazy to think that I haven’t talked to them in about 13 years, and now all of the sudden we can communicate. “We were only kids then,” Caren said to me over Facebook. I am going to have the opportunity to see them again!

I’ve been thinking a lot about culture and communication. And how much, and quickly things are changing. We have been learning in class a lot about symbols and gestures. How they are interpreted very differently across regions and cultures. I agree. I have to flip a switch whenever I am talking in Spanish or English. It is not that simple to do. The language yes, but the mannerisms and even the humor is completely different. When you learn a new language and live in a new country, it is not only about knowing the translation of the word, but also knowing what it means.

So now that Facebook exists, will this mean we are kind of creating a new language? A new way to communicate with others in the say way? People in El Salvador know what a “pared” is, you wall. They know how to chat with people, granted it is in Spanish, but still. It is interesting to see how even within the standard chat, there are different abbreviations for things.  In Spanish they are very different than English. They don’t know what lol means. So, does this mean that even through this generic medium, different cultures are still being developed?

Since it is a fairly new thing, there is not much information about it. By this I mean research and stuff. But we can observe it. I bet I will learn their own abbreviations of things in Spanish while I am down there. It’s a whole language. In the future this will be how we reach out to people.  In fact we already do. FUNDAMUNI has a profile on Facebook. I already liked it. Through the internet they are posting information about their events. The youth as well as the sponsors can be updated and informed this way.  I wonder how much technology I will find in the rural area of Chalatenango. I am guessing maybe a cibercafe…but to be honest I’m not sure what to expect. Maybe I am underestimating the access or innovations this little town may have.

Social Change

Development and Social Change by Phillip McMichael.

This book is helping me see that if I want to make change in a community it will have to be more than just a structure change. In order for change to last, there needs to be a social change. One of the most pressing changes that needs to happen now, I believe, is women's equality across the globe. In my health classes we have seen how much women's empowerment benefits societies in multiple ways.

Women, family, and work.

http://genero.ues.edu.sv/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=104:mujeres-familia-y-trabajo&catid=43:derechos-humanos-de-las-mujeres&Itemid=70

This is a study about women and their current role in the family. I was curious to see how Salvadorans are seeing women's roles. It turns out that although El Salvador is a very small country (the smallest in Central America) it very much depends on what region of the country you are. I guess it is kind of expected that the women in the cities will have a more independent view of life. They will get an education and support their children by obtaining a job. The women where I will be going have a more conservative view on the woman's role. These women are homemakers, and from very smalls towns.

The IRB

As I’ve been talking with my faculty mentor, I have realized that there is a lot I can do to make the most of my project. Dr. Cole has been really supportive and enthusiastic about my water quality efforts.

Not that my fellow students don’t care, but it is hard to show excitement about something you may not be so passionate about. I know I feel this way about some of my classmates’ projects. And its okay that is why the world goes around because of our diversity. If not we would all want to be kings and sit and be lazy. But some of us like to cook, others teach, and even if we may not love it others dedicate themselves to the custodial arts.

Anyways, I am very exited for how things are going. Dr. Cole is preparing some readings for me to do while I am abroad. I will really appreciate insight while I am there. Dr. Cole is doing a similar project with some students in Thailand this summer. It could not have been a better match.

While I am gone I want to go to La Universidad Nacional ( the national college of San Salvador) and try to find someone who is researching or has researched water quality. It’s kind of hard to find the most currents information or stories online. Another thing I’ve been thinking about is going to the environmental office or something like that there. I’m sure we must have some place that makes sure El Salvador has good water.

Last class we went over our IRB. I’m scared, or I was scared about it. but I think that is looking much better too. I was confused about making it sound like an internship rather than a study… and explaining the whole water quality part of it. its funny how much my ideas have changed throughout the hole process of applying and writing the proposal. I think nutrition is calling my attention next. I would like to see what the situation is about this issue while down there. I mentioned it to Dr. Cole and he told me he would get me in contact with this one grad student who apparently had the same idea, that communities should be educated about home gardens. I wonder if there would be major things preventing this from happening, and if there are obstacles how to go about over coming them. But now though I think I should focus on what I have planned so far.

The meetings and peer edits we have been having have been very helpful to me. I really needed others perspectives. Sometimes it makes sense to us because we have seen it and heard it too many times. A fresh pair of hears though can make all the difference.

IRB-making me think about my project.

In a weird way the IRB process has helped me think deeply about what my project is really about and what  I want to accomplish.
There are two big aspects about my trip that I wanted to accomplish. I want to study FUNDAMUNI and initiate a water quality workshop. I was not very sure which of these was the actual reason of nature of my study. I talked it out with Jay... the water quality workshop is not really a study at all. After the conversation we had, we concluded that the workshop is not the "study" aspect of my study. It is very interchangeable. I even thought about a new idea that I would like to try out soon.
I was thinking about the possibility of creating a community garden. We have the problem in El Salvador that we are not very creative with our food choices. We have been stuck with corn forever now. Nutrition is limited when all you are growing is one crop. I am not saying that the whole country needs to change their agricultural products. But families can start planting more lettuce or vegetables in general. It is about introducing the idea and benefits of this. Also thinking about how to get seeds, etc. But this project will have to be at another time.
 Juts the fact that the workshop part of my project could potentially be changed so easily helped me realize  that the prominent or actual "project" is to learn how to carry out a workshop. I want to learn how this organization is doing these workshops on an everyday level.
Some of the questions that I have been thinking about are:

Where are they finding the people?
What workshops are relevant to this community?
How do they present the information to them
What materials, or learning props do they use?

Besides these questions, I've also realized or have thought to finally apply all that we have been learning in past classes. I want to take into consideration the community's value system. How much do they value water quality? Good nutrition?
They may see the effects of having hazardous water and poor nutrition, but this does not mean that it is on their priority list. (Even though it should) How does FUNDAMUNI go about strategizing workshops that will first educate the people about action-consequence scenarios? If you don't understand what you have... it's much easier to miss its importance once it's gone.

I feel a lot better about my IRB application. My study is much clearer. I was scared that the word "children" would make my application difficult. It is all about really explaining that the workshop is but a small part of what I will be doing. I am not studying the children or anything like that. I will be observing their reaction to the workshop... that should not be too scary for the IRB. I was a little worried because I didn't want to make it seem like it was a big deal. Jay and I discussed that I will be interning... more than study something (intern is a much "safer" word to use). What I will study will be how it works.

Icebreakers

http://insight.typepad.co.uk/40_icebreakers_for_small_groups.pdf

I am not an expert with groups. Even though my research is not directly about the children... I still want them to like my workshop! I think starting with some sort of icebreaker can help me create at atmosphere where the kids can feel free to let me know what they think about the activity. I liked this source it reads like a study. And it explains some of the psychological advantages of the activities.

In the long run....

So I've been thinking. How is my project going to matter in the long run. I have an idea or... a dream of what I hope will happen after I introduce my project to the communities. Hopefully the people will take the project.. perhaps make changes make it more efficient to their needs but ultimately continue it. It would be amazing if it became part of the science classes of (El Salvador) the communities.
What I would want is that it became like cow eye or frog dissections here in the US. Schools just do it. That would be awesome, I think it would be a great way to create awareness about safe water, and what we can do to keep it healthy.
Today in my religion class, we talked about how the person who gave his 5 loafs of bread must have felt like. I commented that if it was me in that situation I would have seriously pondered how that little bread would feed ten thousand people. What is the point of giving that little bit if it's not going to help out but a hand full. And then the miracle happened.
I am not saying that my project will be a miracle. But I do need to be more humble in trusting the Lord. Of small and simple things right? With the organization I am working with, I will be an intern or a volunteer... I am not the star of the show at all. But I can contribute, in small ways I can make a difference.
I think mentally things are coming more into perspective for me. I am realistically setting goals for my project, I am aware that this is a learning experience for me, but that at the same time I can start something big here. Field notes are really going to be important for me. I really have to work on being very observant, usually I am the distracted type. But I don't want to miss anything. One day I will run my own project. If I don't learn how they (programs) work I will waste tons of time trying to re-invent the wheel. I get overwhelmed because there is so much to do. I even let my mind go as far as to think that water quality is not even that important...that I should look for the very root of all problems. This is were I need to stay focused, and know that I cant go attacking all problems all at once. Baby steps get you to your final destination. Again, I'm not exactly sure how or what that is... I do know it will involve the betterment of people's life (somehow). So much to decide all of the sudden as we grow from children to adults. If we don't remain calm and take a breath every once in a while...we might just lose our heads trying to figure out the "rest of our lives". Day to day. Day to day.

Source Document

A couple of weeks we were talking about how much culture and perspective matters. I've been reading this book that discusses this same exact issue. The author, Lawrence E. Harrison emphasizes that it is value that shapes human progress.

Lawrence E. Harrison
Culture Matters

Things don't just happen.

It was really interesting that in class we talked about the same things that I had written about just a few hours before class. Last post I wrote about decision making, which choices I would be confronted with while in El Salvador. Most of my ideas had to do with my safety. For example choosing to sit in the back of a pick up truck will probably not keep me very safe.
In class Sarah brought up the example of choosing whether or not if was safe to intervene in a domestic fight. Some of the people in class argued that it was, others thought that it was not the place or time--and the culture was different.
When I wrote about choosing I didn't necessarily think about these kinds of scenarios but I'm sure I will see some of this. What shocked me most about our conversation in class and my previous post was that own of the girls brought up that if we decide before we are presented with the choice it will be a lot easier. This is exactly what I had written that same day. I guess we all have been very tentative to what church leaders have been telling us for the past couple of years. If we decide we will not break the word of wisdom it will be that much easier to say no to drugs or alcohol when it is in front of us.
So, I should decide now if I am or will intervene in certain situations. The best advice from class was--follow the prompting of the Spirit. This is what I can trust will work every time. I want to take precautions and make choices that will keep me safe, but I also don't want to be a Pharisee or a Priest I want to be a good Samaritan and help those in need.
Its a complicated issue. And I need to see how far I am willing to go to do the right thing... till the ends of the earth I hope. At the same  time if something happens to me I won't be able to be that good Samaritan... I might just end up being the one who needs help.

Satellites!

http://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/education/kids/watermonitoring/measuring.html

This is another web site that talks about measuring water quality. It says in here that besides using instruments, scientists also sample local wild life...but more exiting than that is that they take satellite pictures!

It would be really cool if I could try to find some of these pics before I go and bring them to show the children..