AisVentures: July 2013

Our workshop was FULL!

and fun!

So full, we don't have room for everyone! Also, the coldest day EVER here....who would have thought COLD was possible?!

My secondary project has really begun to take off. So much so, that it has become my primary project! I am happy to say that I now have four people dedicated to this project with me. Andrea, Patty, Alexis and and Carmen. CAI is officially my other counterpart institution (apart from La Casita de Mis Suenos).

We have named it 'Mujeres de Exito' or women of success. The objective of this project is to organize marginal neighborhoods throughout the port and the city of Machala, to solve problems that they themselves have defined within their communities (this is where my research comes in handy ;)).

In addition, this project will include workshops in human rights, cycles of violence, sex education, self-esteem as well as in prevention of drug and alcohol abuse.

4 de Abril has expressed their needs are primarily for work, a better income and less violence. They all agreed on this common problem: of having to go hungry at times.

Our dream here is to start a small business with these women, taking advantage of their natural resources which are the ocean and time! Nearly every woman I have spoken with in this neighborhood is incredibly motivated to start working. They tell me they want to learn anything...that it doesn't matter what it is, as long as they can move forward and better their living conditions.

Men playing soccer in the streets

I have fallen in love with this barrio! Upon arriving, you hear salsa music in the streets and see women and their children posted in front of their homes gossiping with their neighbors and playing games such as bingo. The men arrive in the early afternoon from fishing (as this is an early morning sport) and put themselves to work creating fishing nets for their next journey. Once they are done with this, they play soccer or volleyball. They have three main streets in this neighborhood, and all three become soccer fields or volley ball courts by the early evening. The women take care of the children and cook dinner for the men. A few women and men in the community have a small business called Mares y Manglares, where they buy and sell fish. This spot also serves as a restaurant, when there is demand. Its a pretty little spot overlooking the ocean and its mangroves.

And making fishing nets

My partners in this Andrea and Alexis are social workers at 'CAI' Centro de Atencion Integral Rosa Vivar, (they serve women and children who have survived intra-familiar violence and also do work in prevention with various communities). Andrea is my age and really motivated about this project. She used to work in youth groups so all of this is right up her ally. It has been inspiring meeting someone here who is so gung-ho to create and carry out well done projects with me.

Especially as I seemed to have been hitting my 1 year downward slope, feeling like successful projects were impossible!

Patty, my other partner, is a woman I recently met and recruited to help. She is amazing! She has decided to volunteer here in Machala and isn't affiliated with any organization. She just does all of this out of the goodness of her heart! She is from a city here called Guayaquil and is incredibly intelligent in Montessori educational systems, as this was her previous work. I am so grateful to have met her. She has put herself in charge of working with the women's children during our meetings.

Patty working away with the nenes!

She improvised and still did a great job!

Today was our first workshop in '4 de Abril' a fisherman's neighborhood in the local port here.

We had about 50 women show up to this workshop!! We left the decision up to them of whether or not they would like to continue to meet and move forward with projects. We also let them decide when and what we will be doing (this seems to be the key to successful projects!) They eagerly said they want to meet Fridays at 3pm. When we asked if they just wanted to meet one Friday per month, they all said NOOO, EVERY Friday!!

The best part of all of this is the way these women laugh! They can talk about their suffering and move you in profound ways and then in the very same sentence, make you laugh.

We got them chanting Mujeres de Exito and ready to organize themselves. First stop, small business! Thanks to the Peace Corps, UN's EXTENSIVE resources and books, I have capacitated myself in these subjects! Who would have thought??
Until next time,
Ash