The light side.

So, after what was probably the dark side of Peace Corps in those last two posts, I decided that I should bring us back to the lighter side of Peace Corps: actually successful work.  Of course, success depends on your own definitions, but right now success in my book means having work to do!

As I wrote about a month ago, my Alcaldeza (female mayor, or in this case, vice mayor) came to me because she wanted to start a micro-empresas class for women.  I suggested to her that we work in conjunction with the Women's Office for our municipality.  We set up a meeting for the following monday, and promptly sat down, went through names of needy women, thought about how large a class I could do, and right then and there wrote a proposal to take to the Mayor.  The following day it was typed, the Alcaldeza and I signed it, and it went to his desk.  It was approved before the end of the week.  Sometimes it is awesome to work with the vice-mayor.

However, that was the end of the awesome efficiency we had going and we promptly waited a month for funds to be released.  We had timed the class to end right before reconnect, but in reality, we started the week before reconnect, and I did three of the scheduled six classes on a thursday, friday, and the following monday.  The very first day there were 25 women who attended--some of whom walked an hour to come.  Unfortunately (or fortunately, as my class got smaller), there are about 14 who stayed on, and I had a regular attendance of about 12, not including the Alcaldeza, women's office director, and librarian (classes were at the library).

The class concluded last week with the women being in three groups, and preparing business plans for three businesses (a cafe, a restaurant, and artisan jewelry).  However, in my attempt to bring some start-up funds from the government, the women realized they needed a group of at least 10 to get the seed capital and promptly decided to give up their plans in favor of one big panadería (bakery).  I think this is extremely unfortunate, because they could have formed a group of ten or more, obtained their small business loans, and still started three businesses.  One large panadería is a terrible idea here, because there is no way a business of a size large enough to support 10 families can be successful or sustainable here.  I mean, I haven't even SEEN a business with more than 5 employees who aren't related to one another.  So, I'm still trying to talk them out of it.  I was happy, however, when one of the best students was like "Even if we don't decide to be a part of this group and get the loans, now we have the capacidad to start our own businesses", and one of the students even called me yesterday to see if I could continue advising them.

So, it's not all a wash.  After seeing Carrie's presentation at Reconnect on her class "Mi Vida Empresarial", I'd really like to adopt that format, though I have doubts about how to obtain the funding for that.  Jeff might be starting (read: the doctor wants him to start) a pregnant teens support group, and this might be the next step for them toward income generation as well.

P.S.  I'm sorry that our blog lacks photos.  This is because until recently we only had iPhones to take photos with, and those are likely to get stolen if we take them in public.  We have a digital camera now, but are waiting on a connection cable and battery charger for it.

lloviendo

Yuscaran is beautiful.  It's a nice colonial town situated on the side of a mountain.  I think its horribly hot, and the hondurens are constantly complaining about the heat, but it's no where near as hot as where Jeff is (I think I will wait to visit him).  Still, the sun is tremendous, and it's really hard to concentrate in classes in the afternoon.  My host family is great--my mom works at Hondutel, my dad is retired, I have a 27 year old brother with Down Syndrome who is very high functioning, a host sister who is 14 and lots of fun (she's teaching me songs in spanish), and a host brother who lives in Teguz and studies medicine at the Universidad Catolica (he's 19).  They are a fun family because they are physically affectionate in a way that is normally uncommon for families here, possibly because they have a kid with down syndrome. 

Today was interesting--it was shadow day where each of the aspirantes got assigned to a business for a few hours.  The rest of the week have to work on developing business plans for them.  My first two businesses were closed due to a lack of power (this is fairly common, it was out for 8 hours yesterday).  I ended up at a ferreteria or hardware shop, but pretty much this one just sells motor oil and bicycle parts, and is a partition of the lady's house. 

This weekend I hung out with my family.  They own the hotel next door which they are renovating, another hotelito on the other side of the house, a casita in the country, and a farm with cows, coffee, bananas, and mangoes.  One of these days my father is going to take me to milk the cows--I already learned how to make leche cuajada, a kind of queso fresco.

It rained this afternoon which is super rare in this season, but I loved every second of it.  My host sister Paola took pictures of me jumping in the puddles.