Relationships Take Time

So we´re in the final quarter of our servie here – WIERD!! The last six months of our service are turning out to be the most productive activity-wise. Which tells us one very important thing: relationships come first. Always. Life is inevitably social, defined not by the existance of something in isolation (because it doesn´t), but by the boundless, infinate connections between it All That Is. It´s hard to make good things happen without first developing the textures and pulse of your relation to others who are involved in whatever you´re trying to do. At work, home, in the park, whatever. I knew that as a teacher, spending the first two months of school mostly on establishing a good ¨classroom environment¨, and it always paid off later on. Something not working? Try working on the relationships with those around you instead of the actual problem itslef.
So Sícchez is proving to be the same. But it sure did take a while, which I guess is normal for being foreigners and all. Over a year to earn trust. To establish patterns so that we were predictable (you wouldn´t believe how important predictability is even in adult relationships. It´s not just for kids!). And finally, they are starting to see that we are serious about what we say and that we won´t dissapoint them. As Brian would say, it took a lot of drunken-ear-numbing-four-hour-late meetings and parties to get to where we are!

Okay, so I know I´m a fluffy writer. I can´t help it, I´m a Romantic. The Synic could easily make several observations about the work we do with people in Sicchez: 1) people only motivate when they´re given something, 2) 99% say they´ll do something and don´t, 3) political and institutional dysfunction hamper possibilities, and 4) once we leave, it´ll all go back to the way it was. Unfortunately, our own host family holds this synical view. They think I´m wasting time and money developing a new trash management system. They say people are just stuck in their ways. They don´t think it will work (hey thanks for the support, family!). But they also don´t participate in the community. I never see them at meetings or helping out in communal work days. So the question remains: can we overcome these obstacles by building good relationships? It think so, with a few key people to keep the forward-moving juices flowing.

With these things in mind, I will describe some recent developments with trash collection and veggie gardens. Luckily, or not, you got me on a good week – so onward with the fluff:

My community partner and I recently received some funds from a grant we wrote together and purchased materials for a new waste-management system (in the population center only). After going house-to-house to inform community members of our work at the beginning of this year, we prepared a little hut for recyclables storage and improved the sanitary landfills that the municipality is using for trash disposal (remember the situation when we arrived - trash being dumped behind a tree and burned, and a few community trash cans that were used more frequently by hungry dogs than by people?).

The recycling storage hut.

Inside the hut.

Municipal sanitary landfill.

The materials we purchased are large plastic buckets (60 liters) and sacks for each family to separate recyclables from true trash in their home. According to a fixed schedule, the trash collectors will go around with their wheelbarrows house-to-house collecting the segragated trash, collecting from public cans, or classifying the recyclables in the hut; depending on the day. After a sufficient amount of recyclables are collected they´ll be sold in the city, the income of which will be re-invested in maintaining the system. Hoepfully having a trash system will negate the need for people to take it to the fields or streams for dumping.

A week ago, we handed out the materials to the first 40 participating families (we´re starting with a thrid of the population and adding another third every two weeks so the whole thing doesn´t overwhelm us). Handed out, NOT handout. The municipality contributed 40% of the total budget, and people who do not use their materials correctly wil have them taken away. People were really excited and personally told me how much they appreciated the information and effort to clean the town up. A lot of them just don´t know the dangers of inadequte trash disposal. Nobody had ever heard of the Three R´s. And, to put the icing on the cake, 90% of the invited families actually came to the meeting!! (This being amazing knowing that usually 10% of people ever show up to meetings – I´m not exaggerating). I was so proud!! Of course, it isn´t all fariy tale. One of the authorities showed up stumbling-slurring drunk and tried to give the introduction and objectives of the project while waving like a willow in the wind. But hey, we are in Sícchez, they like their liquor. What could I do but look at Brian and smile?!?!

Now they will separate trash at home.

Here we are at the training while an authority who showed up extremely drunk (slurring, waving) tried to introduce the project. Whachya gonna do?

The new activities are accompanied by lots of education about littering, ¨illegal¨ dumping, and other related themes at meetings, over the loudspeakers, house visits, etc. Each institution (school, municipality, asociations, clubs, etc) in Sicchez will also recieve the materials to classify trash, and hopefully we´ll get a recycling committe together with the local school kids to manage everthing in their schools. Ongoing monitoring is to be done by the local governor and an environmental regent, but I will probably do it with them for a while until it becomes a habit.

I have to say, I´ve been really proud of the Siccheñans lately. My community associate is starting to take the lead, I don´t have to remind him about things anymore and he actually programs activities like clean-up campaigns on his own now. Some of the authorities are beginning to remind people about cleanliness without my urging, and lots of people who didn´t go to the first meeting are asking me when they can start participating in trash selection too. It´s encouraging because the desire is beginning to shift from me to them. And I know it´s because of the relationships I´ve made. I believe in what they can accomplish, and now that they trust me, they are starting to believe that they can believe in themselves too.

And I guess that’s the main thing – I just want them to be able to see themselves as people who are empowered, progressing in their goals as a community, and fully capable of taking care of themselves. In a country with such high paternalism and low self-esteem, having a clean and organized community can mean a lot for their collective self image.

On Brian’s conquest against a 40% malnutrition rate among Sicceñan children, gardens are beginning to take shape. We opened the participation up to any mom with children under three years of age and pregnant women in the entire district. Participation is voluntary and the moms must complete a few required taskes before receiving seeds to start a garden: they have to participate in all the trainings, fence off an area for a garden, have a compost pile, and agree to harvest seeds to keep the garden growing each year. All of which we verify by doing house visits, which is a lot of walking all over the place – right up our alley!

*Here we must add a huge and warm thank-you to Jane of Altrusa in Texas for donating the funds for the seeds. Your organization is extremely generous and the Siccheñan children and women are very grateful!!

Hey Dad, did I kill you with all the verbose prose? Heeeheee, enjoy!

Happy Mother´s Day and Happy Farther´s day to our loving and supportive parents. And Happy Birthday Dad! We´re sad we can´t celebrate with you!!

And congrats AnnMarie, Ash, Melia, and Jim!!!!! You are going to learn so much about life and love with new little ones! We really wish we could be there to share it all!