So I know it’s been awhile (again) but I’ve been pretty busy with work lately. Me and my group of jovenes (youth) and planning a huge event for Global Youth Service Day (April 23-25). It started with the idea that we would do the World Map Project to give to the schools (a mobile 8 by 15 ft map) and a concert featuring a band from my organization in Guayaquil. And on a whim I applied for a “GetURGoodOn” grant sponsored by Youth Service America and Miley Cyrus. Didn’t think we’d get it, so I also did a Peace Corps Partnership Program grant application for just doing the world map. But surprise, we got the GetURGoodOn grant! So suddenly we have almost $300 to spend on making this event into a huge thing. First my host brother (the leader of the group) and I wrote up a proposal and sent it to the mayor (beaurocracy is huge here). Then after waiting for 4 hrs we had a meeting with him and discussed the idea. He jumped for it and is really excited we have an activity planned (and financed). There aren’t a lot of things for youth to do in my town so they turn to drugs and alcohol for pastimes, so the plan is for GYSD to be a jumping off point to connect with the youth in the community and try to work with them through the mayoral office. So the mayor set up a meeting with the leaders of organizations that work with youth in my town. We met twice with that group planning activities and just getting to know each other so we can collaborate more easily in the future in projects for the youth. After GYSD they want to meet and plan bimonthly activities for youth in the community =) And so far we have this planned:
Friday April 23:
• finish the World Map Project
• advertise for the concert (fliers, posters, and a truck that drives around making loud announcements)
Saturday April 24:
• an open house during the day with information for jovenes in the community (health center will have info about sex ed/STDs, mayors office will have info on their youth programs, etc)
• presentation of the World Map to the city by the group of jovenes
• a concert starting in the late afternoon with 5 youth bands from the community and 2 bands from my organization in Guayaquil
Sunday April 25:
• is also World Education Day, so we’re collaborating with the ministry of education to do a mural about juventud (youthism?) and theyre also doing an open house on the educational opportunities available in the area
• cleaning up the park from the concert
This project has basically turned into a volunteers dream. I helped get the project off the ground and now the community has taken and molded it to the event they want, which is theoretically sustainable. I’m still involved in everything but having community leaders involved provides greater sustainability. In fact, the mayor’s office said they want to make this an annual event that they will run next year and will put it in the budget so funding isn’t an issue. Of course, I’ve had a little bit of a hard time letting my baby go, but it’s great to see how well everything is going. And I did design the logo for the T-shirts so I have my imprint :) Oh, and some of the vols that live close to here are gonna come out for the concert and finally see my site. And my program manager said she’d really like to come down from Quito if she can manage, so I’m getting a lot of help from the Peace Corps side! But anyway, I’ve been busy doing prep for the meetings and the event, writing oficios (formal letters), handouts, etc. and I’m about to be a whole lot busier because we bought the materials for doing the Map and we have less than 3 wks to paint it (and its huge). Also I’m going to an AIDS conference with my host brother Tuesday-Friday, so I won’t be around to help with the painting, and I’ll be surprised if they work on it while we’re going. I need to get a bunch of stuff done tomorrow, like preparing the press releases (we’re inviting the Guayaquil newspapers to put in a story on the event, but I have to get the press releases checked by Peace Corps, so I need to get moving on that).

I’ve also been busy helping my host mom on math for her government mandated university ‘refesher’ course. She has class every mon and wed, so I help her twice a week, usually for about 3 hrs. She understands it but has a hard time figuring out how to explain it to 6th graders, so I've been helping think of alternative education techniques (using marbles for doing division etc). And I’ve also been helping one of the girls in the community with her English. Schools start here tomorrow and they are given work to do before the year starts, so I helped her with some grammar and pronunciation. She’s very bright and caught on quickly, and she says she wants to be an English teacher. So if that’s the case, I’ll be working with her a lot.
On that note, I am also trying to coordinate with one of the high schools to do English tutoring for 3 hrs in the afternoon twice a week. Right now, kids who need help with English and know where I live just come to my house, but that’s not really ideal for me as I cant really say no even if I'm busy. So what I want to do it just set up a time and place to be that they can come get help if they want it. Which is why I need to talk to the high school principal, to be given access to a classroom and for them to tell the English classes that I’m available for free tutoring. I much prefer this to teaching English, seeing as how I’m not a teacher. Annnd I’m trying to start a tutoring program with my jovenes which I hope will turn into a mentoring program similar to Big Brothers Big Sisters. I talked to a few of them and they said they’d be willing to go to one of the elementary schools to help some of the kids that are having trouble. The idea is every Friday we’ll have the program in the afternoon and the youth will be on a schedule so they only have to “work” every couple of weeks, though they could of course help out whenever they wanted. It would be a nice way for them to give back to the community and help the children who come from problematic families. And my long-term idea is to form pairs between the youth and kids so that the youth can help them with non-school issues, maybe having soccer games or movie parties or something. Using the youth as mentors for struggling kids in the community.

And I’ve been talking with my host mom about preparing some sort of easy-to-use program for using the World Map in the elementary and high schools. The idea is that they have a sort of culture fair, where the kids each get a country, research it, and present it in a world fair. I did that in middle school and really enjoyed it, and it would be motivation for the kids to learn about other cultures, use the map, and gain the confidence in researching and presenting material. My host mom likes the idea, so I’ll be drawing up another oficio for the schools, as soon as the GYSD stuff calms down.

And the last thing is that the jovenes are participating in a soccer league for the next couple months. I’m sorta like the soccer mom for the whole team, even though the refs kicked me out of the stadium the first game because women weren’t allowed on the field. But we’ve worked that out now so next weekend I’ll be able to hang out with the team while they play. They have really weird rules here. But anyway, they’re doing training Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday with games on Sunday, and I’m going to try to support them by participating in some of the exercises. Thursday I went with them when they were just scrimmaging, thinking I’d participate, but it soon became clear that they play way too rough when they’re just playing around. So I’ll stick to jogging and stuff with them. So that fills the rest of my time :)

Alrighty, going to sign off. I realize this was just about work, but as you can see that’s pretty much all I do for now. I haven’t gone around to the homes, which is my initial assignment with my organization, in several months because of all the other stuff going on. Things should calm down after GYSD though

Still rains a good bit, and its still hot, though tonight is pretty pleasant, so maybe the hot seasons almost over..

Alright, peace out!