Project Update: What exactly have I been doing for the past 2 1/2 months...

By now I am sure everybody is probably wondering about my "project"- what is up?? How is it progressing? What exactly do I do with my time?

So I wanted to prepare a brief summary of my activities thus far. In a second post, I will tell you in more detail about my future plans...

- Biointensive Sustainable Agriculture Organic Workshop:

During my first few weeks here I attended this intense workshop. At the time it was a bit overwhelming (I wrote about it in an earlier post), but it has proved very helpful and given me many ideas and resources for my project.

- Community Diagnostic

During my first month here, I completed a community diagnostic with detailed family, work and agricultural information. This really helped me to see what each family grows - which in reality is very little besides corn and beans - and what things grow naturally in the area. There are 18 different types of fruit trees that grow in the area! I also learned a lot about the economic status in the community, and honestly, I don't understand how some people live day to day. Granted most people grow enough corn and beans to live off, but they still buy a few things rice, sugar, coffee...soap, and many have very little income. This info helps me to better understand the reality of the community...  and is invaluable as we work together to create a project plan.

- Community Survey

You are probably thinking that is the same thing as a "diagnostic," and maybe you are right and I am just using the wrong words. However, for the diagnostic I visited every family and gathered very specific information with numbers, dates, and quantities. For the survey I met with community leaders, the women's group, the youth group, and the members of the cooperative. I learned about all the various organizations and groups within the community and gathered info on all current projects in the community. I documented the project's history, related challenges and successes, which community members are involved, project needs, and the amount (if any) of income generated with each project. This information has been extremely helpful to me and some of my bosses at FUNDAHMER. There are a lot of good things going on in the community, but very little is generating any $$ for the people. It is actually am

azing to see how hard the people work to see little benefits. From this survey, I also learned about 2 other organizations that are interested in promoting organic agriculture in the community that we may end up collaborating with!

- Visited other projects

Part of my plan from the beginning has been to spend time visiting other organic agriculture and cooperative projects to learn from some of their ideas, successes, and challenges.  From these visits I have gotten an idea for irrigation during the dry season, and learned a few things that I don't want to do. The problem has been that at every place I visit, I get ideas for other projects to visit! However, it has been good overall. I have learned a lot and made some good contacts.

- Visited Markets

One thing I have noticed in a lot of other development projects is that groups can be producing really great products, but the products are sitting in storage until they ruin and people are leaving the project because there is no market plan. People are producing but not selling. Thus, I want to have a plan for where to sell things before we start producing. We want to produce and sell. 

- Applied for space in an Alternative Community Market in San Salvador

I was pretty excited about this. It was my first formal document that I have written in Spanish that people outside of FUNDAHMER would see - but I have to admit that Anita helped me a lot. I sent in the application a few weeks ago, but we still haven't heard anything yet because we have to wait for the market committee to meet so we can make a presentation!

- Attended a Forum on the Food Security Crisis in El Salvador

Someone from another organization that sometimes works in my community invited me to attend this Forum with them, which I was a little nervous about, but I had a lot of fun and learned a lot of interesting stuff. It was good to see data backing up some of my own observations thus far. It was also good to be back in a semi-academic setting for once... this is the first time since I was 5 that I have been out of "academia" for more than 2 months, and I have to say I miss it a little. 

- Taught Computer Classes

The school in the community was donated 3 computers by a rotary club in El Salvador. However, of course no one at the school - including the teacher - knows how to use them! Thus, I have been attempting to help a few of the older kids learn computer skills in the little free time they and I have. But summer break will start next week and I am working on creating a formal "class" for those interested 2 days a week. Youth from a nearby community have already written me a letter asking if they can attend! I have never formally taught computer classes so anyone with experience or ideas, please contact me!

- Began working with the community youth

In my time here thus far, one of the things that has impacted me the most is the reality of the youth in the community. It is hard for them. I honestly can't even imagine living the life they live... and yet, it is they who make me laugh when I am having a hard day, and who give me hope when everything seems so overwhelming. It quickly become obvious that if I go somewhere all the youth in the community want to go, if I go to a meeting or an event, they all want to go. I have decided to take advantage of that and start working a little with the youth. Currently I just attend all their meetings and events and aid in the organizing part, but we are working to put together a project or try and raise some money for the kids to go to the beach one day or something else fun. After all...the youth are our future :)

- Hosted a group of 20 Furman University Students

Furman (the University I graduated from) has a Central America study abroad class and they are currently in El Salvador! Last week I was lucky enough to have them visit Los Naranjos for almost an entire day. It was really a beautiful day for me... two really important things in my life thus far came together for a short while. I think the students and the community both loved the day. I met the students on a Sunday, spent the afternoon/evening with them, sharing my experiences and then they came out to the community on Tuesday morning, getting to know the people I love so much for themselves.

- Revised my project plan and created modified more realistic proposal

My original project proposal was more like a 5 year plan, and so after my time here, visiting other projects and getting to know the community better, I have come up with a revised version that is both realistic for a year and will still make positive sustainable difference in the community (and don't worry I will tell you more about this plan in another post). What's even more exciting is that I presented the idea to the community 2 weeks ago and they liked it, and so Armando, the director of FUNDAHMER, and I had a meeting with the community a few days ago to formalize everything. So we are ready to start doing stuff!!

So, maybe it seems like I haven't been doing that much, but I feel like I have been running around like crazy attending meetings and such, as well as trying to spend as much time as possible in the community. I hope this helps all of you picture a little bit of the "work" I have been up to.

This is a picture of me working in the beehives in the cooperative - they have a beekeeping project and sell the honey! I am one of the few women who will actually go in with the bees :)