Field Based Training

Field based training has already come and gone. I can’t believe it! Field based training is an exciting, action-packed week in which a group of trainees go off to visit volunteers’ sites while having hands-on experiences.

Monday
Unlike the other groups, our Quetzaltenango group had to do our individual classroom presentations to kids first thing Monday morning. One of the volunteers, Sarah, took us to her favorite school, and we all did a 15 minute activity with a different class. I did a brief trash management activity and discussion that went relatively well. Later on that day, we visited the women’s group with which Sarah had been working. This was by far the highlight to the day and quite possibly, the week (sadly, it’s biggest competition is lots of fart/poop jokes--try to understand the vast intake of beans daily).

Marta, our AMAZING Guatemalan technical trainer, drove us out in the microbus to one of the women’s home. It was my first REAL experience with poverty so far. While a lot of people are poor, a lot of them still have their basic necessities--water and food. There were about 25 women present, the youngest being a girl of about 12 and the oldest seeming to be in the late 60s though age is quite difficult to tell due to living rough lives. Most of the women didn’t speak Spanish so a few of them did the translating. We started off doing a silly icebreaker of saying “In the morning, I wake up and wash my (insert fruit here but motion a body party).” The women were so shy and easily embarrassed, but it worked out well.

Since the theme of this meeting was stress, the activity was to draw a main source of one's stress on a little piece of paper and present it to everyone. Most of the women are illiterate so they were not used to writing or drawing, but they still seemed to manage. As they presented in Spanish and K'iche', they revealed their problems humbly with smiles on their faces--they had no money, not enough food, no water, their husbands had died, the men in their family drink too much, and their children had left them. As the trainees presented their causes of stress, we focused on worrying about family back home, worrying about being successful in work, and worrying about life after Peace Corps. The differences amongst our causes of stress were stark, putting things in perspective. These women were rightfully stressed out for very immediate reasons or problems that lingered as a result of the past. Our issues all had to deal with uncontrollable preoccupations about the future. When the 12 year old girl went up to present and solemnly stated, “I drew a table because we have no food,” all of the women laughed. I felt so silly, so privileged, so helpless. It made me realize that worrying about the future is a luxury when you’re just trying to survive.

After the meeting, they gave us all tamalitos, a cornmeal dough with meat in the middle, that is wrapped in a corn husk and boiled. I think we all felt ridiculous accepting two tamalitos (or a platter of fruit in my case) when we knew that these women had difficulty feeding themselves and their families, but it would have been a very strong insult to reject any food or drink that they wanted to give us. After finishing up, we sang several children’s songs and laughed with the women as we were all squished into a small adobe meeting room.

I’ve been really excited about working with women’s groups to help empower women in a very machista culture. The very simplicity of giving these women a forum to discuss their problems is such a small thing, but a necessary way to start change. Studying at university and reading theoretical books about women’s liberation is so large scale. The women thanked us and Sarah, the volunteer, for sharing and helping them. They mentioned how her cooking classes have allowed for them to bake cakes and other goods to sell to people. It’s the very small, seemingly minute things that can make all the difference.

The rest of the week, we helped do a Training of Trainers (TOT) to a group of teachers at a teacher’s high school. The subject was classroom management since most schools in Guatemala have very lax, if any, rules for the classroom. I also did a 15 minute teeth brushing activity with parents at a parent-teacher meeting. In between all of that, we visited two municipal buildings, a health center, three other schools, met the superintendents, etc. At one of the schools, I ended up playing in a heated game of basketball with some 12 year old girls. Despite the fact that they were wearing the traditional corte (dress) and heels, these girls were tearing it up! It was some of the most fun I had all week.

One of the main ideas that I’m getting from this is that every site is different. One of the districts that our volunteer leaders were working with only receives water every 15 days or so, which is a major improvement from the previous 28 days. When communities don’t have access to water (this isn’t even to say it’s potable), they are unable to wash their hands to prevent illnesses such a diarrhea, which can lead to malnutrition and developmental disorders. It’s crazy to think that such a small thing as washing your hands can be so crucial. In the same vein, lack of water also means the inability to maintain proper dental health, which can once again be related to malnutrition when teeth aren’t strong enough to eat certain foods. I have never had to personally struggle with accessing water or clean water until moving to Guatemala, where it can be an everyday struggle for thousands of people.