TERMINATION REPORT Selections

A selection of my final Peace Corps Termination Report...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

Santa Cruz El Chol is a small town in the department of Baja Verapaz located 90 kilometers from the capital of Guatemala City. The town has a hot climate and is in a valley surrounded by mountains at about 1,000 meters above sea level. El Chol is mostly non-indigenous and Spanish speaking, with a population of almost 9,000 people in the municipality. The community is very welcoming and excited to share with Peace Corps volunteers and other outsiders. It is a very safe town with almost no violence or delinquency.

As a Municipal Development volunteer, my primary responsibilities were to improve the quality and efficiency of the services provided by the Municipal Planning Office (OMP) and to increase citizen participation in the needs assessment and development process of the communities the OMP serves. Working in the OMP I facilitated monthly inter-institutional meetings with governmental and nongovernmental organizations to coordinate activities, published a Municipal Newsletter to increase communication between citizens and their local government, and strengthened the Municipal Development Council (COMUDE). I also initiated the Municipal Women’s and Youth Office (OMMJ) and assisted in the planning and execution of its activities. Key accomplishments in the OMMJ were the execution of gender-focused participatory community diagnostics, a series of Municipal Women Leaders Workshops, and trainings for rural women’s groups on various topics including self-esteem, leadership, the importance of women in development, the Guatemalan system of Development Councils, small home income generation, and HIV/AIDS.

The municipal workers and community members enjoyed working with and learning from a Peace Corps volunteer. There are several key players in the community that are especially supportive and collaborative, that are essential to know as a volunteer.

In addition to my work in the municipality, I taught community English classes, taught a citizen participation course in the local high school, coordinated a World Map project, and coached an elementary school girls’ soccer team. I acted as the Municipal Development Program representative on the Peace Corps Guatemala Gender and Development Committee. I was responsible for encouraging the inclusion of gender sensitivity in their projects and as Alta/Baja Verapaz Regional representative on the Peace Corps Guatemala HIV/AIDS Prevention and Education Committee.

The volunteer experience working in El Chol had many challenges due to the political situation in the Municipality, lack of resources, and the machismo present in the culture. However, it was a fulfilling experience both personally and professionally. I hope that the Municipal Women’s and Youth Office that I started will continue to function well with the support of the next volunteer and contribute to the development of vulnerable populations for future generations.

A. Site Description:

The town of Santa Cruz El Chol, Baja Verapaz is situated at 1008 meters above sea level about 90 kilometers northeast of Guatemala City in a small valley surrounded by mountains. The town is located about 2 1/2 hours down a dirt road coming from San Juan Sacatepéquez (the more traveled route) or 1 hour from Rabinal, Baja Verapaz. The town center is made up of about 5 intersecting cobblestone streets that are mildly busy with mostly motorcycle traffic. The climate is usually hot and dry with some humidity during the rainy season. During the rainy season it is hot and sunny during the day, but rains most afternoons. The town center has three main bridges, which pass over the two small rivers that run through town. There are some popular swimming holes that the townspeople swim in during the hotter months.

El Chol has a population of 8,769 people, with over 2,000 people living in the town center. The majority of the population is ladino, making Spanish the prominent language spoken. The few indigenous communities that are native to the area speak A’chi and there are several representatives of other indigenous cultures that have relocated to El Chol, many of them during the 36 year armed conflict. Most speak Spanish fluently.

There are 9 aldeas (villages with approximately 50-250 families) and 53 caseríos (settlements with 10-50 families) in the municipality of Santa Cruz El Chol. Most have access via dirt roads that are passable most of the year. A limited number have only foot paths or no access during the rainy season. El Chol is the municipal seat with several barrios (neighborhoods) including El Centro, El Calvario, Tamarindo, El Campamento.

Santa Cruz El Chol is known for its production of corn, black beans, hibiscus flower, and other crops. Socially, it is an extremely tranquil town, with a municipal market and hotel, basic small convenience stores, a bank, a post office, a health center, a justice of the peace, many small elementary schools, several middle schools, two high schools, one university extension, two dirt soccer fields, a gym, and a few small cantinas.

The municipality is located in the town center next to BanRural and across from the park (built about 4 years ago). The mayor, Aníbal Sarmiento Reyes is in his fourth term in office and currently represents the Union Nacional de Esperanza (UNE) Party. He is popular among many people in the surrounding villages and has loyal supporters in the town proper. He is very collaborative with projects and highly esteems Peace Corps volunteers. It is important to get to know the mayor and his wife, who is also a very successful and well-respected leader in the community.

The community is fairly well developed in comparison to other small towns and has a good amount of commerce. The community is well organized and is committed to improving infrastructure. There are several projects that are underway or soon-to-be underway, including rebuilding the elementary schools in the Caserío Trapiche Viejo and in the urban center. The municipality finished improving the soccer field and has plans to build a stadium. The government is also involved in a 5-year project to pave the road from San Juan Sacatepéquez to Rabinal, Baja Verapaz.

There are 28 registered COCODEs (Community Development Council) in Santa Cruz El Chol. Each aldea has a registered COCODE, the barrios of the town center and many caseríos or pairs of caseríos have a registered COCODE as well. There is a functioning COMUDE (Municipal Development Council) that meets the third Thursday of each month. The CODEDE (Departmental Development Council) of Baja Verapaz meets the first Monday of each month, rotating the meeting location among the eight municipalities of the Department.


D. Projects:

My two years working in the Municipality were very different. In my first year I worked only in the OMP and my activities focused on increasing office communication, coordination, planning, and transparency. Specifically, I:
• Facilitated monthly inter-institutional meetings with governmental and nongovernmental organizations to coordinate activities and share experiences of challenges in development work and look for solutions.
• Coordinated the publication of a bi-monthly (every two months) Municipal Newsletter to increase transparency and communication between the Municipal Government and local citizens.
• Assisted with socioeconomic data collection and organization and presentation with spatial analysis using ArcView GIS.
• Conducted SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis of the OMP and Annual Operating Plan for 2008.
• Assisted self-diagnostic of the Municipal Development Council (COMUDE) to assess strengths and weaknesses and find solutions to strengthen the Council.
• Accompanied the Municipal Women’s and Youth Commission as part of the COMUDE to research and write a Public Policy for a long term Municipal Development Plan for Children and Youth.

My main project was to start and help run a Municipal Women’s and Youth Office, which I focused on almost entirely my second year. I began writing the project profile as soon as I got to site in November, 2007. The Mayor and town council approved the project in May, 2008. In November, 2008 we received permission to start to hiring process. January 15th, 2009 was the new coordinator´s first day of work. In order to start the OMMJ, specifically, I:
• Researched socioeconomic data to assess the need for the office.
• Wrote Project Profile with justifications based on international agreements, Guatemalan national laws and Constitution, and municipal specific needs, regulations and development plans. I also included a chronology budget proposal, goals, objectives, and expected outcomes for the project.
• Presented the project to the Mayor and City Council to get political approval and permission execute the project.
• Was in charge of selection process for the Coordinator of the office. I advertised for the open position, accepted resumes and paperwork, selected viable candidates for interviews, conducted interviews, made final recommendation of selected candidate for Mayor’s approval to hire.

To run the OMMJ, together with the coordinator I:
• Planned annual activities for the Office including month-by-month chronology.
• Wrote vision and mission statements.
• Solicited office equipment from governmental and nongovernmental institutions.
• Planned, coordinated, and executed gender-focused rural community diagnostics in order to assess and prioritize women’s specific community needs.
• Planned, coordinated, and executed a series of Women’s Leadership Workshops for women community leaders where I co-taught trainings on topics of self-esteem, leadership, the importance of women in development, and the Guatemalan system of Development Councils.
• Gave charlas (“chats”) to rural women on various topics related to self-esteem, leadership, the importance of women in development, the Guatemalan system of Development Councils, and small home income generation.
• Gave workshops on HIV/AIDS to rural women´s groups.
• Developed promotional materials related to the office and our work.
• Coordinated governmental and nongovernmental organizations.
• Responded to the public daily.

There is still much that needs to be done to strengthen and continue the work of the OMMJ. There are no organized women´s groups in El Chol, which is one of the reasons why the work of OMMJ is so important. In order to gather women together for a meeting, we would inform the Community Mayor and the teachers of the local school to tell their students to tell their mothers. We were only able to complete the gender-focused rural community diagnostics in communities that were close enough to walk, since we have no other means of transportation. This diagnostic should be completed in the rest of the communities in order to have a complete picture of the situation that women live in and their needs. I would recommend continued visits and charlas to women’s groups on topics of their interest that they suggest, in addition to more work in HIV/AIDS education. We started the series of Women’s Leadership Workshops with the idea of electing a representative for women´s needs for the COMUDE, as allowed by the Development Councils Law. We felt that the women needed more preparation on the topic before having the election, so I would recommend continuing with the workshops and strengthening the organization and confidence of the women, and then proceeding with the election.

As secondary projects I:
• Taught basic and advanced English classes to two community groups.
• Taught a series of classes in the high school related to citizen participation.
• Coached and trained elementary school girls’ soccer team and took them to Departmental and National Tournaments.
• Painted large world map on the basketball court of the local elementary school with my site mate. We solicited local donations for materials from local hardware stores, coordinated with high school students to execute the project, and trained teachers on activities to use with the map for educational purposes.
• Acted as Municipal Development Program representative on the Peace Corps Guatemala Gender and Development Committee. I was responsible for material and resource organization and distribution to fellow Municipal Development Volunteers and trained the participants to encourage the inclusion of gender sensitivity in their projects.
• Acted as Alta/Baja Verapaz Regional representative on the HIV/AIDS Prevention and Education Committee. I was responsible for production of HIV/AIDS educational materials and facilitated large (60-100 participants) regional and national “Training of Trainers” workshops. I taught participatory learning techniques and HIV/AIDS education and prevention to Guatemalan educators and professionals.

E. Women in Development and Community Development

The situation for the development of women in El Chol is not distinct from the rest of Guatemala. In El Chol, the Mayor is male with only one woman actively on the town council. There is some female participation in the COCODEs with 26% of members being women, but only 16% of the leadership positions (President, secretary, treasurer) are women. Women have historically had fewer opportunities for education and have higher illiteracy rates because with limited resources for education in a family, priority has often been given to sons while daughters were expected to help out around the house, care for younger siblings, and look for a husband to take care of her. This situation is improving with current generations, but much discrimination still exists. The machismo culture that places family/home responsibilities heavier on women, and having to ask permission from their husbands to leave the house makes citizen participation more challenging for women. Domestic violence is an acknowledged problem resulting in women having very low self esteem and fearful of speaking out or participating in public decision making processes.

Due to these conditions, the work of the OMMJ is very important. In order to address these challenges, more work needs to be done in with the following:
• Education on laws, rights, decentralization, COCODEs, COMUDE, via community trainings, newsletters, radio, etc.
• General support for women’s groups
• Political and financial support for the OMMJ
• Literacy campaigns
• Involvement in community activities that support girls/women’s development, such as sports teams or other social/cultural activities.
• Seek NGO support
• Family planning/reproduction health/HIV education

F. Personal Thoughts

In the technical work of the volunteer, there are common problems that I faced such as the lack of transportation to the communities, the lack of financial resources in the Municipality and in the communities, the political agenda that dictates municipal development, the difficulty of communication with women in rural communities, the lack of support from male community mayors for women’s activities, and the limited coordination among various NGOs and the Municipality.

These problems will probably always exist in some form, so the volunteer must have much patience and understanding. In order to work around these challenges, a future volunteer might:
• Be creative with transportation out to the rural communities and solicit the use of the Municipal car when possible.
• Make sure that the OMMJ is included in the Municipal Budget with personnel and materials for activities.
• Continue to strongly solicit resources needed to run the OMMJ from the Municipality and other NGOs or governmental organizations with presence in the Municipality.
• Continue to improve communication between the Municipal Council and the municipal employees with meetings and reports.
• Send written invitations for meetings and workshops through community mayors, teachers, or other known persons.
• Sensitize men about the importance of participation of women in all levels of development and the system of development councils.
• Continue monthly inter-institutional meetings, letting participants know the date and time in advance and with reminders.

Since El Chol is a very small town, it is easy to get to know people and form solid friendships. People are eager to get to know you and eager to help you in any situation. However, male/female friendships are limited due to cultural norms. As a 25-year-old woman, it has been a little hard to make girl friends my age, since most are already married with kids and don’t necessarily have the freedom to leave the house to go to the park or come over for dinner, etc. Thus, my friendships here are different than those I had in the US, but no less meaningful or rewarding.

It can be very frustrating working in the Municipality. Guatemalan politics both on the national and local levels are very complicated. Guatemala is not a meritocracy; jobs and benefits are usually given based on who you know and favors owed rather than merit. There is much turn over with municipal employees due to these conditions and also the fact that the pay is low and never on time. (Salaries should be paid monthly, but often 2-4 months pass without payment). It is difficult to create sustainable projects and sad to see lost human resources with such turn over. Politics dictate everything. Despite efforts for transparency and following the spirit or intention of the system of development councils, politics determine which communities are benefited for any project or program. It is important as a Peace Corps volunteer to seek means to increase transparency and more fair distribution of benefits, and when not possible, to distance oneself as much as possible from this drama.

Working directly with rural women has been the most challenging and rewarding aspect of my work as a volunteer. Due to the situation of the culture of machismo which brings discrimination and even abuse against women, Guatemalan females, especially in the rural areas, have limited opportunities and low self esteem. In certain situations, just asking a woman to say her name in public causes her to giggle, hide her face, become extremely embarrassed and incapable of responding. It is very rewarding to see women build confidence in themselves and be able to speak in public.

Religious beliefs, both Catholic and Evangelical, are very strong here and a fatalistic outlook on life on common. For example, when asking a group of women what they wanted their community to be like in ten years, one woman responded that only God knows if we will be alive in ten years so there is no point in bothering to think about it. But for every woman with her attitude, there is perhaps another optimistic woman working hard to bring up her family and her community from their current conditions, taking an active, rather than passive role in what happens in her life. It is important to encourage women and motivate them to see the positive side of life and their role in improving it. I also have learned so much from the women here and they are truly an inspiration for me.

In the end, the volunteer experience is truly rewarding. Oftentimes we may not even know that effect we have had on individuals’ lives. It is important to keep positive and look for the small changes, and focus on relationships with people.

G. Views on Peace Corps’ role

El Chol is surprisingly developed for such a small town that is so secluded from any big city. There is a lot of commerce and building going on, with many family members sending money home from the US. At times, the volunteer can feel like people here do not need as much help as in other places – that although they are still behind in many areas, there are other towns that could use a volunteer much more. However, even though El Chol is more developed than some other places, there are still many poor or disempowered families in town and in the aldeas, and all are in need.

It is important to keep in mind the history of paternalism with development work in Guatemala. In some cases people in the communities do not value knowledge-based development with adult education, but prefer infrastructure projects or programs that give material goods. The volunteer should maintain an awareness of this situation and not continue the paternalism that has been taking place in this country for decades. For this reason, I think that Peace Corps is one of the few organizations that genuinely gets development work right. While no organization is perfect, Peace Corps allows people the time and opportunity to really get to know a community and its people before attempting development projects with them, not for them. As volunteers we serve as a human resource rather than a checkbook, teaching, training, and sharing rather than giving, giving, giving. We have the tools and the support, and it is up to each one of us to do what we can to help the people of Guatemala to the best of our ability.

I believe the role of a Peace Corps volunteer exchange knowledge, experiences, and ideas, learning and teaching simultaneously. It is very difficult to teach people from a culture and community that you know nothing about so it is important to learn the customs, the language, the worldview, and the sensitivities of the people before you begin to teach. I also believe a volunteer should be open to trying new things, making new friendships and slow to judge. A volunteer goes through many different stages of emotion and it is often hard to adapt to a new culture, but it is important to remember that we are guests in this country, in each community, and in each home.

In terms of Peace Corps’ mission, we are supposed to be bridging the gap between the two cultures while doing development work. I have found it very rewarding to tell people here was it is “really” like in the US, since most of their concept of it comes from the media. It has also been special sharing Guatemalan culture with friends and family through pictures, stories, a blog, and their visits there.

Lessons learned:
• It is important to maintain good communication with the Municipal Mayor and Municipal Council through written reports, formal meetings, and informal advisories.
• Annual, monthly, weekly, and daily planning is very important with coworkers.
• Take advantage of the knowledge, resources, advice, contacts, and community organization of the NGOs present.
• Talk a lot with everyone; make professional relationships and many friendships.
• Look for people who want to work with you such as teachers, youth, community leaders, neighbors, etc.
• Always be a good example of an independent professional woman without tolerance for machismo, abuse, discrimination, or disrespect.
• Have patience with everything, but keep fighting the good fight with perseverance and a positive and optimistic attitude!

Good byes and the end.

I went to the preschool and sixth grade graduation ceremony of the Trapiche Viejo school with one of my friends whose daughter was graduating from sixth grade and whose niece and nephew from preschool. She doesn´t have a camera, so really wanted me to take pictures of the event. Many kids don´t continue studying passed sixth grade (and some don´t even make it that far), so it´s a big deal. It was a really cute ceremony, except that the Mayor was the sponsor of the event and was supposed to give the welcome speech, so they waited two hours to start (one hour is normal waiting time here) and he never showed up. It was really cute watching each kids parents or family member pass to the front to congratulate their kid and take pictures with the teachers and the director. There was one father who went up alone and shook his kid’s hand, (what parent shakes hands with their kid for their graduation?) then paused, then gave him a rough hug pulling the kid’s head to his chest and went he went back to his seat, you could see the dad was crying and the kid was rubbing his eyes and shaking his head like he was crying too. I think the public witnesses the first hug that dad ever gave to his son.

At a woman´s solicitation, we went and did a charla (“chat”) in the very far out aldea of Pacoc. It is technically part of El Chol, but it´s on the other side of the mountains closer to Rabinal and more culturally similar to there, so it is a very forgotten little settlement. A lady that lives there has been participating in our Municipal Womens Leaders conferences and she invited us out there since there´s not much support that goes there. Doña Mari is a super spunky lady that is chatty, smiley, and gets excited about everything while her neighbors that came that were the shyest group of women I have even met here who were too shy to even tell you their name. They also speak shaky Spanish since their mother tongue is A’chí. We had a great time though. Her house is in the middle of nowhere on a precipice, looking out on a gorgeous green valley with view almost all the way around. She has all kinds of plants growing and chicken, dogs, pigs, and little kids under foot. When we showed up, she gave us lemonade (never mind the source of the water) and homemade bread. We did an activity on self-esteem and women’s rights that they accepted very well. By the end they were laughing and enjoying themselves and had gotten over their shyness, slightly. At the end of the activity, Doña Mari served us arroz con leche (rice with milk), a sweetened hot drink made with cinnamon. Her three daughters were adorable taking a hundred photos of me on their cell phone. She also sent us home with cooked guisquil, a green spiny squash. It was such a nice experience it made me wish that we had started going there early on.

We did our last HIV/AIDS workshop together from the Women’s Office in El Amatillo. This is a mostly indigenous rural community with very shy women, mostly illiterate, who are not used to talking about such topics. We started off with about 25 women there, part way through it started to drizzle so a bunch of them left before they thought it might rain harder as the excuse, but really because they didn’t really want to be there learning about HIV. There were about 8 that stayed through the whole thing, and most of them weren’t really paying attention. So naturally I was pretty bummed about the whole thing. However, there were two women who were paying particularly close attention and asking questions. That’s pretty much development work in a nutshell. It’s slow, poco a poco, (little by little), and you have to be satisfied with small results like 2 out of 25 women really grasping an HIV workshop. You have to find the success in that those two people, even though only two, were two people who weren’t informed before, but maybe are more empowered now. That about sums it up. Frustrating as hell, but worth it for the little successes.

I went and saw a fellow volunteer’s project in Granados when she coordinated the construction of additional classrooms for the elementary school out of plastic bottles filled with trash. Really cool way to involve the community, reuse trash, and raise environmental awareness. It was an amazing project and I am so proud of her.

Leaving here is a BIG process of good bye activities with every sector. I had an awesome good bye excursion to a swimming pool in Granados with my little soccer girls and their families and my family that a few soccer moms helped me plan. We all piled into a big truck used for carrying construction supplies, standing up holding onto the iron bars and bouncing our way along the dirt road. I organized all the food, getting tortillas, meat to grill, refried beans, salad, and sodas for almost 50 people. I was greatly pleased when there was plenty of food and everyone said it was delicious. We were there all day long from 10 am til 4:30 there girls ridiculously happy playing in the water and the parents and families enjoying themselves too. It’s not every day they go doing something fun and different like that. I printed out pictures from the Departmental Games tournament and gave each girl a copy. It was a great day and great memories.

I had a good bye lunch in La Ciénega where the ladies killed a chicken in my honor and made a delicious stew. I made them recipe books with a collection of all the recipes we had made together with photos of them and cute graphics of smiling carrots and what not. They were quite pleased. The trek out there was rather exciting since we ran into many cows which we were warned were quite ferocious. We ended up shooing them quite a long ways before we found an escape path to get around them. Since I´m not accustomed to herding cattle, I yelled at them what seemed natural in Spanish, which was “Échense chuchos!” which translates as “get out of here street dogs!” My compañeras just about peed their pants laughing at me yelling that.

There was a good bye/Halloween party with Peace Corps volunteers from the Verapaces region at the cabin in Tactic, the usual site of our regional gatherings. The theme was superheroes and people went all out. I wore a beautiful apron the indigenous women wear as a cape.

I did a ceremony of the giving of diplomas/good bye party for my English students, one for each class. I baked a congratulations cake and we celebrated in my house and they were all very appreciative of the classes and the gesture.
My closest muni girls, being the coordinators of the Womens Office and the Planning Office and the secretary all came over to my house for an intimate little good bye parties with just us. They brought the traditional Guatemalan snack food of sandwiches made with white bread, processed ham, ketchup, and mayo and orange soda to drink. It was quite precious.

The next day we did one with the whole muni in the afternoon after work on my last day. We ate hamburgers and drank hot chocolate and every single person that works in the muni gave words, meaning a little speech about me. And then of course I had to give words. It was a cute formal affair and made me feel all special and fuzzy inside. They gave me a lovely stuffed animal of a pink dog on a red velvet heart and a banner than they all signed.

My host family did a really sweet good bye dinner for me with the whole family. They made their specialty of “Pollo en Pepsi”, chicken in Pepsi, as in the soda. The sauce is actually made with Pepsi soda. Dona Hilda gave a very tearful speech before the meal, telling me that I will always be part of the family, that they love me very much, and that the meal was very simple, but the least she could do. It made me cry too and I had to give a speech, of course, thanking them and giving my most heartfelt sentiments.

My old site mate came back and surprised me! I was so excited and had no idea she was coming, so we got to catch up and she helped me so much in every way in my moving out process.

My last day in El Chol was All Saints Day. I went to the cemetery and saw families there fixing up the graves of their loved ones, laying flowers, pine branches, candles, soda, oranges, and sharing a meal together. There was live marimba music and tons of kids flying kites in the soccer field. It was cool since there were lots of people there I could go around and say good byes, having the same conversation with each one. My last few days were kind of a constant flow of people stopping by my house with good words and gifts. It was very intense and very emotional, but what it needed to be. My feelings about leaving are so mixed up and complex; it’s so complicated.

So now I have left El Chol, sad and happy, I am. Did all the Peace Corps paperwork, signatures, reports, and bureaucratic stuff. Sadly saying good bye to all my closest Peace Corps friends. Heading out on a bus to Honduras, traveling through Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, taking a sailboat to Colombia, and traveling through Ecuador and Peru. Flying back to the states from Lima in time for Christmas.
Thank you to everyone for all your support in this crazy adventure I’ve been on. Can’t wait to see you all soon!!!