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3/5

The Good

Last weekend I went on a site visit to spend time with another urban youth volunteer who is currently in the field. She lives in a town called Quiindy. It was pretty similar to where I live now but a little smaller. It was a three day weekend so we had a lot of time to talk and chill. It was a much needed break from the rigors of training. I got to ask a bunch of questions about what my process will be going forward and what life is like as a volunteer. She is currently working with a youth group as a facilitator, providing them with leadership training and various workshops on things like sex-ed HIV/AIDS etc. The group is fairly new and has very energetic and ambitious young people. They want to do a lot in their community and just need the guidance and training to be effective. The volunteer’s other project is working in the local library. She is helping do inventory and soliciting the US embassy for computers and other resources to have at the library. They hope to start having computer classes and various sorts of e-learning with the help of donors. One thing that volunteers have to constantly keep in ind is making our Projects SUSTAINABLE. It’s been drilled into our head day in and day out. In essence we have to establish projects that will be functioning long after we are gone. Because of this, in some ways it is a bit detrimental at times to establish projects that constantly rely on outside funds and do not incentivize sustainable innovation within our communities.
It was cool hearing from some of my other trainees about how their visits went. One volunteer works at a juvenile hall with a broad spectrum of kids. Some sold drugs and grew marijuana, others committed homicide. In another project a trainee got to watch a youth group do a charla on diversity and went to visit a comedor. Comedors are more or less the equivalent of a soup kitchen in the US. Poor families send their kids to eat there several times a week and they are funded for the most part by the church or other private goups. Other trainees co-taught in a school and worked with teachers. What I’ve come to learn is that as an urban volunteer you can do so many different things. You can be as busy as you want to be (or as free). It was also very interesting meeting a returned Peace Corps Volunteer (She did environmental ed) who was a volunteer in the town of Quiindy in the late 80s. She married a Paraguayan and lives there to this day. She goes to the USA for periods of time but for the most part has lived in Paraguay. She saw the country go from dictatorship to democracy and had a lot of insight about how things were here. One other cool rural volunteer I met is finishing her service here in the next 2 weeks. She is then extending for a third year to Jamaica. It is becoming more and more common for volunteers to extend their service a to a 3rd year. Most stay within their country in which they have been serving but some go on to another country to do a similar project.

The Reckless
This past Sunday was a huge day in Paraguay. The national religion here is futbol (soccer). The two most famous club teams Olympia and Cero were playing each other. Towns and cities pretty much shut down minus a few bars and restaurants that stay open for people to come watch the game. I rolled with my host to the town of Carapegua to catch the game. We met up with a couple rural volunteers and one a municipal volunteer. It was cool hearing about their experiences one year in. My host dad and brothers are all Olympia fans and naturally so am I. Most Paraguayans are actually Cero fans. The experience at the bar was unforgettable. People crowded around small TVs in complete silence. There were gasps or cheers depending on a play or event that took place. Feelings of anguish, joy, fear, and hope were being projected from so many faces. Olympia ended winning the game in a thriller. Immediately after, all the Cero fans walked home silently. About 5 minutes later, a good 50 people rolled through the center of town on motos screaming shouting and dancing. People rolled through with cars blasting music from the speakers in their trucks. It was truly una locura. We hung out with the locals cheering and enjoying ourselves. Me my host and 2 other volunteers ended up staying out all night and didn’t leave the town until 5am. When we were on the bus back home, my host accidentally had us get off at the wrong stop. Consequently, we walked through the campo aka country side for 2.5 hours! It was definitely a battle haha. At first it was cool just being there with the crickets in cow country gazing at the stars. After the first hour of walking it started getting a litte tedious. My feet were hurting from dancing all night. By the time we arrived home I had never been more thankful for a bed and a good night (morning’s) sleep.

On Thursday night we went to a celebration of Villeta’s 296th birthday. (Villeta is the city I live in) We got to see/hear a bunch of Paraguayan music and dancing. It was a good time and everyone was out with their families enjoying themselves. Most of us volunteers crashed early as we had class today while our families ended up staying out till 3.

Hard Times

Today some of our group went to visit a comedor (soup kitchen) which serves food to very poor youth in a given neighborhood. We talked briefly with some of the staff and got to talk to some of the youth. It is tough at times to see families living in precarious situations. A million thoughts start running through my head about the problems of arriving from a lack of equity in society, poor education and parenting, the dark side of capitalism, the corruption of government and the apathy of humanity. Why was I so lucky to be born in the US? Then again, even having some of these thoughts is a Western luxury. No time for intellect when dinner tonight isn’t guaranteed. The anger and sadness I feel does nothing for those I see and a sense of hopelessness arises, if only for a moment. Then I tell myself keep pushing, keep trying don’t dwell on the bad, just work towards the good I want to see. These kids don’t need my tears or anyone else’s, they need to be empowered, they need to believe in themselves.

What leaves a strong impression is that despite a lot of these adverse circumstances, there is a joy more prevalent among the people here. They are aware of how tough things are but take more stock in the simple things. It makes one wonder how much more beautiful life could be if we didn’t spend the majority of it concerned about acquiring resources and achieving a certain level of economic achievement and defining it as a life well lived. Obviously we all want to live comfortably, but I can’t help but think about how much energy the masses spend towards trying to eat well and then renting a house and then owning a car and then owning a nicer car and so on. I wonder when we become content… perhaps some of it is (as we learned in Psych) relative to how we feel compared to those around us (social comparison). Is the idea of rags to riches somewhat damaging in itself? A perpetual cycle of wanting more? I will say that I’m just glad to be able to help the best I can and be a part of something I believe in. Some days are full of inspiration and some are full of desperation. Such is life I guess.