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Alison Busch writes...about her experience while volunteering in El Salvador.I�ve obviously stopped counting my days here. I�ve been here a little over a week and it feels like a month. I�ve forgotten so much about the U.S. already. I can�t remember clean streets, or what it�s like to walk down the street without being stared at, and hot showers. But I like it. This place is amazing and the air is thick with humidity and odors and food. My lungs are becoming more cancerous everyday from the smog from the cars and buses, but hopefully three months won�t kill me. There is so much poverty here. In Santa Ana, where I�m staying, I haven�t seen a single house that I could point to and go oh, that person is obviously wealthy. In San Salvador I could, but here it very different. The streets are crazy and many are one way and the drivers are absolutely mad. But not angry or anything, and not even really in a rush. Everyone just drives like a looney person. The sidewalks are all torn up and uneven and sometimes nonexistent. Okay, brief update. I started work last week at a project called Terminal, which was working with children. I went with the other volunteer Eva, whose been working there for over a month, and got to meet the kids and talk a bit with them and play a little. They were so amazing, little bundles of energy and craziness. I had a girl fall asleep in my arms one day, which I can honestly say has never happened to me before. After a few days of work there, it was the weekend and I got to go to Guatemala. WOW! I went with two other volunteers, Asha and Alexei, and three Salvadoreans that we know. I obviously have to edit this entry severly, but I will say that Guatemala was beautiful and the land was lovely. Lots of mountains and badlands and crazy winding roads that we took at like 140 km/hr. Don�t know what that is in miles, but I know it is damn fast from the way I was tossed around in the backseat. We all danced like crazy, drank Guatemalan beer like crazy, and had the best time. I got sick for a few hours one day and was bound to the toilet like it was my lover, but luckily it was just some bad food and once it was out of my system I was mostly okay again. I few more bottles of Gallo (the cervesa) helped me out that night. The places we stayed were a bit touristy for me, a lot of women trying to sell necklaces and dresses and way too many kids working in the streets for me, but they were beautiful anyway. So now I�m back in El Salvador and finally found out what my permanent job is going to be (the woman in charge was sick last week so I couldn�t meet with her). I�m going to go to the other project with Alexei. He�s going to teach English classes and I�m going to work with the kids with theatre, art, music, cooking, and things like that. Give them a chance to have fun. All of the kids at the project used to work in the garbage dump with their families. And I don�t mean like driving a truck or working in a building as a supervisor. I mean they worked IN the dump, looking for garbage to sell and eat so they could survive. I�ve been told that many of the kids are undernourished and some are undersocialized, but that they are sweet and super eager to learn. I know it�s going to be hard work because right now there is only one woman taking care of all 100+ kids during the day. Alexei and I are the only volunteers they�ve had in a while. The good news is that all the kids at the project have been successfully removed from the dump, and none of them are working there any longer. So I start tomorrow! I�m really, really excited. My Spanish needs some major improvement, but I have noticed changes already. Last weekend was bad for me, because I spent it with two English speaking volunteers and three English speaking Salvadoreans, but hopefully once I start my job it can improve more. I�m already noticing that I understand much more, but it is still really hard to talk. There are times when I really want to get into a conversation with people, tell them my opinion or ask them questions about themselves, but I�m very limited by what I can say. So I�m definitely in a strange limbo period. But I do have to say once again that I love the family I�m staying with. They are so wonderful. The father, Cesar, recently got his first job in eight years (the economy is pretty bad down here), and his schedule is that he works twenty-four hours straight, then has twenty-four hours off. But he is grateful and happy for it. The mother, Leila, stays home all day because two of their daughters are severly disabled. Their nicknames are Negra and Chele, almost like darkie and whitie in English, because one has brown skin and Chele has much paler skin than your typical Salvadorean. They are really sweet girls. They can�t walk or talk, and they must drink from a bottle, but they can eat with help, and they can smile and cry and move by themselves a bit. I�ll admit, my first day I was very shocked by how sick they are, but after about a day, after I had played with them and talked to them I realized how great they are. Negra is much less tempermental than Chele. They each definitely have their own personalities. The other two daughters are so nice. Viki, the oldest, is seventeen and is so beautiful. She is actually a beauty queen, she�s been in and won a few contests down here. The youngest daughter, Chata, is seven (almost eight) and is a little cutie. She�s going to grow up to look just like Viki. But the food is great even though it constantly gives me the runs, and I have my own room and Leila folds my sheets up everyday because I always forget too. Oh, and there is a dog! Nyulca (probably not spelled right) is this big, beautiful, white beast of a dog. I have started taking her walking everyday, because she spends most all day in a room by herself. I want to get her accustomed to the outside, give her some exercise. And when I�m with her I feel safe to walk by myself, because even though she is completely timid, she looks like a monster. So I guess that is all for now. Sorry about these crazy entries void of any paragraphs or logical order. I�m in this phase right now where I�m trying to do more stream of consciousness type writing in my personal journal, and I guess it is just spilling over onto here. I�ll try to be better next time. I just feel as though I could never convey all I�m seeing here to people at home. But I love it here and I�ll tell you more about my project when I work with the kids this week. Later, rather than sooner. |
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Feature Fundraiser: Machu PicchuIn August 2006 we will be hiking to Machu Picchu in Peru to raise funds for endangered rainforest in Ecuador, among the most threatened pristine forest eco-systems on the planet. Funds raised in the climb will go towards buying and protecting land in two of our Ecuadorian reserves.more >> |
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