I guess I can say things have been pretty slow these last few months at site and off site. Collectively, one can say a lot has been done however the time I have put into my service per day has been much less in comparison to my work schedule before. This has proven to be tough to swallow for me. To feel more productive I have taken it upon myself to research potential schools and dedicate a few hours a day to my GRE exam, which I hope to take in June.
I however still feel guilty that my service in site is coming to an end and that these last few months are dedicated mostly for my own benefit and loosely wrapping up legalization work and the construction of a few more latrines. There is a group of volunteers that have completed their service and are returning to the states this Friday; officially making my cohort the seniors in PCDR. Our service is scheduled to end in 6 months, which is really hard to believe.
In reality, the projects that I am working on are now pretty much running on their own. For example my youth group for HIV/AIDS prevention has become sustainable for the time being, expanding more and more each month. Last October I recommended one of my youth to take the role of Regional Coordinator and be the one to create an action plan and timeline to target more youth in the area of Jarabacoa. I am still in charge of financing from a grant I received distributing money based on my regional coordinators expenses. In other words my responsibilities have become almost non-existent. The regional Coordinator has done an amazing job. I’m really moved by how dedicated he has become in this role. He is doing a better job than I feel I could have done in all honesty.
The Coordinator has created a team of his own who have graduated from the program I taught last year. They are now branching out and teaching the courses to other youth in the area. So far two new groups have received training and graduated. A new course is well on its way. A festival for Easter was hosted for all the youth in the area. Other regional coordinators and their youth were also invited to attend. It was a very well planned event. The municipal government lent out a projector, screen and a sound system for the presentations. The youth prepared choreography, poems and songs for the occasion. Lunch was prepared by local volunteers. I wasn't asked to do anything other than provide the funding. Truthfully, I feel a little unproductive for not having volunteered myself, however the purpose of our service is to teach and multiply, right? I should be satisfied knowing that my youth group is capable of hosting a function on their own not asking me for one piece of advice.
I am also having the same luck with my health promoters. Well I feel like they have always been sustainable because they have steady income from an NGO, however they are better established and have a stronger action plan for the coming years, when I am no longer present.
I finally received my first grant toward the new national health consortium project. 8 health volunteers and myself each received about 10 grand U.S. (PEPFAR FUNDING) specifically for educational material, transport, food, and some leg room to teach youth and woman about prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. This is basically what I have been doing in my community but on a larger scale. The money I was given for my community initiative was around 500 US and my team has multiplied the awareness on a pretty large scale in my opinion so you can imagine what can be done with 10 grand each a total of 90 grand. The volunteers that received this funding were asked to open these accounts with a leader from an assigned local health NGO. The point of this project is not only to multiply awareness on a very large scale but to enable these Health NGO's to take up this initiative on their own so Peace Corps can pull away and leave this responsibility to them, with the proper training and mission and vision. As the National Coordinator for this consortium, I have already heard feedback from most volunteers working on this initiative and unfortunately we are foreseeing obstacles which entails lack of motivation, maybe some special interest and inefficient use of funding. Each volunteer knowing that a little money can go a very long way, we feel that our initiative should be redefined before spending this large amount of money. So at the moment I am working with volunteers coming up with ideas and plans to better our project plan and long term goals.
Recently I have begun involving members of the community association with the legalization process. In all honesty I need them by my side in order to complete the process and to feel that they can defend themselves if or when something occurs where they may need legal assistance. This endeavor has really opened my eyes as to how backwards the system is here. Every step takes weeks which would take a few hours or a day back at home. The money that has been poured into transportation alone would prohibit any villager from taking the time to do this. I have literally lost count as to how many times my paper work has been turned down because it lacked a ‘minor detail’ when in reality I followed their guidelines step by step (which they hand out). It has come to the point where I feel some offices don’t want to recognize community associations as a legal entity. I don’t want to believe this but it’s been almost a year now when I should have been done a few months into the work. I don’t like to admit it but I’ve cried from frustration when usually I’m pretty patient and understanding. Im crossing my fingers and praying that this process will be completed by Mid-June.
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