Gracias Cuerpo de Paz

May 19, 2011

Gracias Cuerpo de Paz

Me and my Spanish teacher Liz, at swearing in ceremony

Today is my last day as a Peace Corps Volunteer.  I think it’s a little ironic that my lunchtime fortune cookie read “You will soon gain something you have always wanted.”  I have completed exactly one year of service and can honestly say that I am looking forward to being back in the USA.  I am being medically separated because of a stomach infection that won’t seem to go away; after having numerous tests done, a hospitalization about six weeks ago, and a colonoscopy last week, I keep coming up clear.  That hasn’t stopped my stomach from constant moving, like an old washing machine detaching from the wall.  Since the colonoscopy I have felt A LOT better and the doc says it will just take time…that I probably picked something up from my last bacterial infection that just needs to “move its way out” or IBS.  If you don’t know what that is, I suggest you Google it.

Me and my training instructor, Javier, at swearing in ceremony

As I leave my time with Peace Corps, I went back to read my ‘Aspiration Statement’ and see if I had achieved the goals I hoped to so long ago.  I had written:

“While traveling through Latin America before, I learned how difficult it was for women to gain respect and leadership within Latino communities.  I tried to put myself in the shoes of successful international policy women, such as Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton.  While admired in their home country of the United States, I found that they may not gain the same reception when traveling abroad for meetings and found that adopting this mentality helped me to effectively work with area leaders on a more successful level.  In Honduras, I expect more ‘machismo’ factor, and plan to best adapt by respecting the Latino culture, while effectively expressing to the community that women are smart, intelligent thinkers, whose ideas can be shared on an equal playing field.” 

FYI, THE MACHISMO FACTOR IS ALIVE AND WELL IN HONDURAS.  It doesn’t matter how long you live in your community, who you work for, or who your counterparts are, you will always be viewed as a woman.  It is beyond difficult to be a woman in Honduras and everyday I pray for the women who have to live there.  As a “gringa” woman I do receive slightly more respect, but not much.  

Awesome friendships made in PC; at the feria in Orocuina!

“Three times I have been fortunate enough to live with Latino families and immerse myself in their culture; Nicaragua, Panama, and Ecuador.  Each family taught me something completely different and I made friendships to last a lifetime.  During pre-service training, I hope to continue strengthening my Spanish-speaking skills so that I can succeed in my Peace Corps role, I want to listen and hear what are the top issues facing local Honduran families so that I can work with NGO’s to find solutions, and finally I would like to gain a true understanding of what a day in the life of an average Honduran is, so that I can see through their eyes what it is like to live in the country I will call home.”

The issues facing Latin American families are the same issues facing families in the USA; economic hardship, healthcare, and education.  In the USA everyone has access to an education, but parents and kids take advantage of it and right now the government is cutting teacher jobs (teachers who want to work and love their jobs).  In Honduras only 40% of kids make it past 6^th grade, where teachers go on strike all the time for 10 different reasons; you have kids and parents who want to go to school but can’t.  In Honduras you have people who want to get a job and work for $2/day to support their family, then come home and work over a hot stove all night long.  In the USA you have elected officials that can’t even get a recycling bin on the corner b/c they can’t decide on the right contracting firm to build the trashcan.  Really, America, let’s get it together.

“There is no telling what I will decide 27 months from now; 27 months ago I was working at the United States Senate when I decided to quit my job and ride the chicken bus through Latin America.  This decision led me to a volunteer opportunity in Ecuador and an application to the Peace Corps.  It has always been my intent in life to help those that cannot help themselves; if I find that my work in Honduras is not done in 27 months then I will continue to work with local organizations towards bettering the country.  Without a doubt, the Peace Corps will strengthen my Spanish-speaking skills and could lead me to return to the United States and help the Latino population in a leadership role. “

Yeah….so here I am 12 months later.  My Spanish-speaking is fantastic.  According to my fortune “I will soon gain something I have always wanted.”

All sworn in at the Embassy and ready to go

Thank you Peace Corps for giving me a great year of my life, for helping me make new friends from all over the small aldeas and communidades de mi nueva casa.  Make no mistake, Peace Corps is hard.  As the saying goes “it’s the hardest job you’ll ever love.”  That is correct; there is nothing more difficult than going into the unknown, thinking you speak the language, learning you don’t, living with strangers, eating strange food, eating the same strange food (day after day after day), get scabies, having men follow you around, watching guns fly up in the air, running past machetes, getting robbed, getting sick, hiking up a mountain in the rain, riding a broken bike 20K in the 100 degree weather, having no electricity/computer/iPod/TV for three days, cleaning a pila, finding out what a pila is, but there is nothing better than laughing and sharing ideas with people who have made the same decision as you to build new roads, bring water to the rural world, treat a bronchial patient that otherwise wouldn’t see a doctor, teach kids about HIV/AIDS and self-esteem, give someone a new stove so they don’t need cataracts at age 40, celebrate Thanksgiving with 20 of your best new friends bonding over the only turkey within 100 miles, watching Harry Potter in Spanish with your counterpart who has never been to the movies, and yes, even going on a date with someone who immediately calls you their “novia.”  Thanks for the memories Peace Corps, see you on the flip side.