Ya viene la lluvia!
It's May, which means one very important thing... it's started raining again! This means leaky windows, crazy thunderstorms, no power and lots of scorpions seeking refuge in dry places, like my bed, but it also means a much appreciated break from the humidity that threatens to scorch my sanity day in and day out. Six months of rain also means this country goes from looking brown and brittle to lush and green again... for anyone who's thinking of visiting (hint, hint) between now and November is a GREAT time to head down here. Just, you know, if you were thinking about it.
Back in late March all the municipal development volunteers in country gathered for a 3-day in-service training. I found this to be incredibly interesting, as we were presented with some tough open-ended questions to ponder throughout our training time and spoken to by a myriad of foreign and local presenters. Our APCD (loosely, our "boss") Bryan started things off by asking us, "Does international development work? If the developed world should help the developing world, why? Defend that idea." I found myself really contemplating this stuff as we went through training. An economic officer of the US Embassy discussed macro-economic dynamics in El Salvador with us, sharing that while the poverty rate has fallen from 64% to 35% as of 2004, crime costs equate 11.5% of GDP and debt level is 40% of GDP. Salvadorans receive $3 billion in remesas, cash transfers from Salvadorans living outside the country to family members and friends in El Salvador, annually in a $17 billion economy, and yet each year $900 million in uncollected taxes is lost upon the country. Unlike in the US, people who refuse to pay taxes are not reprimanded in any way here. An American representing the US Millennium Challenge fund shared President Bush´s plan for El Salvador - a $461 million, five year endeavor to construct a northern transnational highway across the north of the country, which currently has no direct road. The MC´s mission - poverty reduction through economic growth. The rep shared with us that if the project can be completed with less than 5% of funds pilfered in corruption, they will consider it a great success at much less stolen than usual. That´s $23 million in the pockets of politicians, bureaucrats, and investors. The ambassador to El Salvador from the European Mission mentioned how Salvadoran ethanol (cultivated from sugarcane) entrees the US duty-free. Some are concerned that Salvadorans will plant sugarcane all over the country, thereby further deforesting an already overly exploited country, and send it all to the States for sale.
As I listened to these guys talk I thought about Bryan´s questions - does international development work? Should we help each other out? It can be said that in an increasingly-globalizing world all countries regardless of North/South status are more connected and drawing continually-closer relationships and dependencies. But what drives the willingness to make these necessary investments, and to whom are they most beneficial? Take the US and El Salvador for example. $3 billion in remesa money enters this country a year, and many of the sources are Salvadorans residing in the US. While improving the living conditions for those who receive them, remesas also discourage recipients from raising money through their own means, aka, pursuing jobs. They are often used for nonproductive investment and short-term consumption gains (approx. 80%). Only 1.9% are used for savings, 9.1% for education and 4.4% for healthcare. During initial training last summer, I once entered the house of a single woman with three kids that had a huge hole in the roof, covered only with tarp. The kitchen and garage were virtually the same room, with no wall between the dining room table and the parked truck. Nonetheless, in the family room the family had a brand new surround sound system and television, and the mother sported a Razor cell phone. Remesas had been good to them, she said. Now, the US is pumping millions of dollars into a two lane highway and accepting Salvadoran ethanol duty-free, but at what price? How many further areas will be deforested, homes lost, to create this road and plant thousands more kms of sugarcane? Who is benefiting - the guys who will pocket over $23 million in siphoned money? I´m not sure how much El Salvador as a whole is "benefiting" from any of this. I can think of a few reasons why the developed world does help the developing world - in our time, increased production, education and resources in one country is good for all. Economic dependencies run from north to south as much as from south to north, and natural and human resources know practically no geopolitical boundaries. The isolationalist approach is practically null and void, and in an uncertain future the best security defense is to make allies, rely on one another to improve our status. Now, we protect our own interests by protecting "theirs." But why should the haves contribute to the well being of the have nots? As a Peace Corps volunteer and recipient of a liberal arts education I guess I´m a little biased, but I would argue for the altruistic point of view. We should help one another because in this world basic fundamental human rights are unevenly distributed, denied to some, and everyone deserves such rights. If I have food, water, education, healthcare and security and you don´t, I have an obligation, a responsibility, to fight so that you have the same. I´m not talking about one´s right to a big screen TV, or even to a democratic government - I´m keeping it as basic as possible. I´m not sure if this is as much a socially-ingrained notion to "help the less fortunate" as much as it is an individually-based thought of the extreme value of equality - either way, I realize it´s a personal theory, subjective at best. But it is what I believe from experience, both pre and current Peace Corps.
On a different note, in early April I had the opportunity to travel to the western part of the country to Bosque Imposible, a natural forest of reserved land. Every month a few volunteers organize full moon hikes, where PCVs have the option to travel to another volunteer´s site or nearby to hike either during the day or at night during the full moon. The Bosque Imposible trip was a day-long guided tour, a hike in the forest following a river from start to finish. We were told it wasn´t for the feint of heart and also that everything we brought with us, including ourselves, would get soaking wet, so I was curious and opted to go. About 30 volunteers showed up and we started with an hour long pick up ride into the forest to the point where the hike officially starts. We walked downhill through coffee fincas for a while, then found ourselves at the start of what appeared to be not much more than a babbling brook. From that point on we followed the river as it grew wider and stronger. At times you could hop across from rock to rock, other times make your way across the bank or rock wall along the side. And then at other times, there was no choice but to jump into the water and wade or swim to the next point of land. At first the jumps were smaller - 2m, 3m - and the only real shock was jumping into icy water. The third jump was different - the guide broke ahead of us and perched waiting at what appeared to be a cliff ledge. To see it clearly, you had to scale down a slick rock wall until you were right at the point of jumping - no turning back. I was jumpy but decided to just go for it, so four or five volunteers in I followed suite and shimmied down to the ledge. I remember standing straight up and looking down at a 9m drop into a deep pool of dark water, rock walls shooting up on all sides save a bank where the river continued. The guide, who appeared to be cool as a cucumber, simply told me to make sure I jumped far enough out because too close there were rocks directly below. I must have looked at him in panic, because he put a hand on my shoulder and told me to just jump. So, I did. I remember in that split second I was airborne thinking, I didn´t jump out far enough, I´m about to die. But of course I didn´t - I landed in the water, swam to the bank and watched my fellow volunteers battle their inner voices of caution and eventually whoop as they dropped into the water. Some people were harnessed down, but everyone made it. When we reached the largest waterfall - some 85ft tall - we scaled down the side and eventually came to an optional 10m jump. Many of us did that one too - for some reason after that terrifying 9m drop, anything seemed do-able. We finished the hike with an hour inclined walk back to the trucks. We were wet, muddy from the hike, and eventually soaking through from a sudden downpour that wouldn´t let up, huffing and puffing and working already-sore muscles. The truck ride back in the bed was miserable - quite possibly one of the 3 times I´ve been really cold in this country, prickly goosebumps and all. But despite the physical discomfort it felt good - the bruises and sore muscles signifying a challenge I´d just overcome despite myself. We finished off that day heading to a location of naturally-heated thermal pools. Our hiking guide also happened to own a local bar, so he brought along coolers of beer and walked from pool to pool selling them to us. I´m trying to remember a time when I felt physically better in my life than that night – sore body submerged in hot water, an icy cold beer in my hand, toads croaking, music playing, good company all around.
Everything´s going well in site. I´m planting trees with my environmental group at school, translating awesome 80´s songs (which are incredibly popular here) such as Guns ´n Roses “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” with my English class, requesting money from USAID for our health promoters to give talks to our rural folk about how to prevent AIDS and working with my community to raise money for a new computer and science lab in a rural school. Many thanks to everyone for all the uplifting emails, phone calls and letters… as usual, they keep me going and mean more to me than I can express. Thanks to Mom for patiently reading off the lyrics of Bryan Adams´ ”Please Forgive Me” via the phone… my English class thanks you. Mother's Day is coming up... I'll call you someday from class and the kids can sing it to you. Congratulations to Carrie for finishing grad school/finding a job/getting an apartment with Andrew… I´m so proud of you and just so you know, use you as an example of how to get it together for one day when I´m done with the PC experience! Except for the moving in with Andrew part, I´ll leave that to you. Congrats to Nicole for getting into law school…you´re awesome chica! Here´s to Aaron coming home this month for the first time since March 2006… remember, toilet paper goes in the bowl, not the garbage, in the States. To everyone, be well, be safe and take good care…most of all, keep in touch!
Paz,
Erin
Back in late March all the municipal development volunteers in country gathered for a 3-day in-service training. I found this to be incredibly interesting, as we were presented with some tough open-ended questions to ponder throughout our training time and spoken to by a myriad of foreign and local presenters. Our APCD (loosely, our "boss") Bryan started things off by asking us, "Does international development work? If the developed world should help the developing world, why? Defend that idea." I found myself really contemplating this stuff as we went through training. An economic officer of the US Embassy discussed macro-economic dynamics in El Salvador with us, sharing that while the poverty rate has fallen from 64% to 35% as of 2004, crime costs equate 11.5% of GDP and debt level is 40% of GDP. Salvadorans receive $3 billion in remesas, cash transfers from Salvadorans living outside the country to family members and friends in El Salvador, annually in a $17 billion economy, and yet each year $900 million in uncollected taxes is lost upon the country. Unlike in the US, people who refuse to pay taxes are not reprimanded in any way here. An American representing the US Millennium Challenge fund shared President Bush´s plan for El Salvador - a $461 million, five year endeavor to construct a northern transnational highway across the north of the country, which currently has no direct road. The MC´s mission - poverty reduction through economic growth. The rep shared with us that if the project can be completed with less than 5% of funds pilfered in corruption, they will consider it a great success at much less stolen than usual. That´s $23 million in the pockets of politicians, bureaucrats, and investors. The ambassador to El Salvador from the European Mission mentioned how Salvadoran ethanol (cultivated from sugarcane) entrees the US duty-free. Some are concerned that Salvadorans will plant sugarcane all over the country, thereby further deforesting an already overly exploited country, and send it all to the States for sale.
As I listened to these guys talk I thought about Bryan´s questions - does international development work? Should we help each other out? It can be said that in an increasingly-globalizing world all countries regardless of North/South status are more connected and drawing continually-closer relationships and dependencies. But what drives the willingness to make these necessary investments, and to whom are they most beneficial? Take the US and El Salvador for example. $3 billion in remesa money enters this country a year, and many of the sources are Salvadorans residing in the US. While improving the living conditions for those who receive them, remesas also discourage recipients from raising money through their own means, aka, pursuing jobs. They are often used for nonproductive investment and short-term consumption gains (approx. 80%). Only 1.9% are used for savings, 9.1% for education and 4.4% for healthcare. During initial training last summer, I once entered the house of a single woman with three kids that had a huge hole in the roof, covered only with tarp. The kitchen and garage were virtually the same room, with no wall between the dining room table and the parked truck. Nonetheless, in the family room the family had a brand new surround sound system and television, and the mother sported a Razor cell phone. Remesas had been good to them, she said. Now, the US is pumping millions of dollars into a two lane highway and accepting Salvadoran ethanol duty-free, but at what price? How many further areas will be deforested, homes lost, to create this road and plant thousands more kms of sugarcane? Who is benefiting - the guys who will pocket over $23 million in siphoned money? I´m not sure how much El Salvador as a whole is "benefiting" from any of this. I can think of a few reasons why the developed world does help the developing world - in our time, increased production, education and resources in one country is good for all. Economic dependencies run from north to south as much as from south to north, and natural and human resources know practically no geopolitical boundaries. The isolationalist approach is practically null and void, and in an uncertain future the best security defense is to make allies, rely on one another to improve our status. Now, we protect our own interests by protecting "theirs." But why should the haves contribute to the well being of the have nots? As a Peace Corps volunteer and recipient of a liberal arts education I guess I´m a little biased, but I would argue for the altruistic point of view. We should help one another because in this world basic fundamental human rights are unevenly distributed, denied to some, and everyone deserves such rights. If I have food, water, education, healthcare and security and you don´t, I have an obligation, a responsibility, to fight so that you have the same. I´m not talking about one´s right to a big screen TV, or even to a democratic government - I´m keeping it as basic as possible. I´m not sure if this is as much a socially-ingrained notion to "help the less fortunate" as much as it is an individually-based thought of the extreme value of equality - either way, I realize it´s a personal theory, subjective at best. But it is what I believe from experience, both pre and current Peace Corps.
On a different note, in early April I had the opportunity to travel to the western part of the country to Bosque Imposible, a natural forest of reserved land. Every month a few volunteers organize full moon hikes, where PCVs have the option to travel to another volunteer´s site or nearby to hike either during the day or at night during the full moon. The Bosque Imposible trip was a day-long guided tour, a hike in the forest following a river from start to finish. We were told it wasn´t for the feint of heart and also that everything we brought with us, including ourselves, would get soaking wet, so I was curious and opted to go. About 30 volunteers showed up and we started with an hour long pick up ride into the forest to the point where the hike officially starts. We walked downhill through coffee fincas for a while, then found ourselves at the start of what appeared to be not much more than a babbling brook. From that point on we followed the river as it grew wider and stronger. At times you could hop across from rock to rock, other times make your way across the bank or rock wall along the side. And then at other times, there was no choice but to jump into the water and wade or swim to the next point of land. At first the jumps were smaller - 2m, 3m - and the only real shock was jumping into icy water. The third jump was different - the guide broke ahead of us and perched waiting at what appeared to be a cliff ledge. To see it clearly, you had to scale down a slick rock wall until you were right at the point of jumping - no turning back. I was jumpy but decided to just go for it, so four or five volunteers in I followed suite and shimmied down to the ledge. I remember standing straight up and looking down at a 9m drop into a deep pool of dark water, rock walls shooting up on all sides save a bank where the river continued. The guide, who appeared to be cool as a cucumber, simply told me to make sure I jumped far enough out because too close there were rocks directly below. I must have looked at him in panic, because he put a hand on my shoulder and told me to just jump. So, I did. I remember in that split second I was airborne thinking, I didn´t jump out far enough, I´m about to die. But of course I didn´t - I landed in the water, swam to the bank and watched my fellow volunteers battle their inner voices of caution and eventually whoop as they dropped into the water. Some people were harnessed down, but everyone made it. When we reached the largest waterfall - some 85ft tall - we scaled down the side and eventually came to an optional 10m jump. Many of us did that one too - for some reason after that terrifying 9m drop, anything seemed do-able. We finished the hike with an hour inclined walk back to the trucks. We were wet, muddy from the hike, and eventually soaking through from a sudden downpour that wouldn´t let up, huffing and puffing and working already-sore muscles. The truck ride back in the bed was miserable - quite possibly one of the 3 times I´ve been really cold in this country, prickly goosebumps and all. But despite the physical discomfort it felt good - the bruises and sore muscles signifying a challenge I´d just overcome despite myself. We finished off that day heading to a location of naturally-heated thermal pools. Our hiking guide also happened to own a local bar, so he brought along coolers of beer and walked from pool to pool selling them to us. I´m trying to remember a time when I felt physically better in my life than that night – sore body submerged in hot water, an icy cold beer in my hand, toads croaking, music playing, good company all around.
Everything´s going well in site. I´m planting trees with my environmental group at school, translating awesome 80´s songs (which are incredibly popular here) such as Guns ´n Roses “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” with my English class, requesting money from USAID for our health promoters to give talks to our rural folk about how to prevent AIDS and working with my community to raise money for a new computer and science lab in a rural school. Many thanks to everyone for all the uplifting emails, phone calls and letters… as usual, they keep me going and mean more to me than I can express. Thanks to Mom for patiently reading off the lyrics of Bryan Adams´ ”Please Forgive Me” via the phone… my English class thanks you. Mother's Day is coming up... I'll call you someday from class and the kids can sing it to you. Congratulations to Carrie for finishing grad school/finding a job/getting an apartment with Andrew… I´m so proud of you and just so you know, use you as an example of how to get it together for one day when I´m done with the PC experience! Except for the moving in with Andrew part, I´ll leave that to you. Congrats to Nicole for getting into law school…you´re awesome chica! Here´s to Aaron coming home this month for the first time since March 2006… remember, toilet paper goes in the bowl, not the garbage, in the States. To everyone, be well, be safe and take good care…most of all, keep in touch!
Paz,
Erin
posted by Erin @ 8:50 AM
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