¿Cómo está Theresa?: Proximamente...

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Proximamente...

I swear to post soon, just not now. I am a little crabby right now, I dont like posting when I am crabby.

I have added a new portion to my blog. Its linked under Random Thoughts with Theresa. It includes...my random thoughts, of course! Check it out if you dig.

Also, rest in peace Ms. Anne Kok. Spirit lives forever, never forgotten.

Con Paz,
Theresa

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My Peace Corps Assignment

My Peace Corps assignment is under the Youth and Families Program with the job title of Urban Youth Development, Community Service.

My specific site is in the city of Guayaquil, which is the capital city in the Province of Guayas. I am assigned to work with an AfroEcuadorian organization for the purpose of supporting their sex education and HIV/AIDS prevention campaign in five urban, marginalized neighborhoods in the south of Guayaquil.

I tend to not be very good at doing what I am told, therefore I actually work on the following projects:

Mujeres de Lucha
A group of women in Calle Ocho (an area of Guayaquil) that was well formed when I arrived here. My work with the Mujeres de Lucha includes supporting them in the various activities that they have going, such as a community lunch program, community store, community beauty shop and community bakery (I say "community" because the purpose is to support their community, not to make money for themselves, so everything they sell is very inexpensive so that folks in the barrio can afford it), and any other various activities that they get themselves into.

In the community I also give art classes (with a forced English component) to kids and do charlas with the Mujeres. Most of my time is spent making check marks next to people who eat lunch, and then recording that information in the computer. It might look mundane, but I swear it will save the world...

2. Jovenes de Afromix
Getting together with a bunch of cool teenagers from Isla Trinitaria (another part of the city) to talk about sex, STDS, private parts, values, stereotypes and things of that nature. Its frustrating work, but its really fun when the kids show interest in what we are doing--so its totally worth it and totally gonna save the world...

Information about Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador
"Guayaquil is the most populated city of Ecuador with 2,268,338 inhabitants in its metropolitan area and the second most important city of the country. Guayaquil is the capital of the province of Guayas. It is a diverse city and has the most important port in the country Guayaquil is located on the Ecuadorian coast, close to the Pacific Ocean, for this reason, the city is known in Ecuador as 'Perla del Pacífico.'"

Thats the official information that I was given. In my opinion: its a huge freaking city with hundreds of buses that run on absolutly no schedule whatsoever, with no route-maps to speak of. Its noisey at all times except between 3am and 5am, the rift between the haves and the have nots shocks me on a daily basis, and you can buy really cool tshirts for $2. Your guidebook will tell you that there's nothing of interest outside of the Malecón and the north side. If you are a tourist who likes pretty things, thats the truth. If you want to get to know what the city really has to offer, let me know and we will learn together.

Its on the coast, but dont be fooled: there is no beach here.

How did I get here???

My name is Theresa and I am from Green Bay and Milwaukee, WI. I graduated from UW-Green Bay with a Bachelors of Social Work and a minor in Human Development in 2005 and began working in Child Protection after graduation.

During the fall/ winter of 2006 I started to social-work myself and assess what I was doing with my life. What else is out there? If everything in my life is painted yellow, how can I figure out what blue, purple and red look like? After much "soul searching" I realized that to truly know oneself, you must begin to understand that which is outside of yourself. To know what yellow is, you must also know what blue, purple and red are.

So...In December 2006 I grabbed my nose, closed my eyes and took a leap into the unknown waters that is the United States Peace Corps. The website said that from application to departure, it took an average of 9 months. I began mental preparing myself and those around me that I would leave in September 2007.

In February 2007 I completed my interview with the Regional Recruiter and was nominated within a few days to a Community/ Organizational Development Program in Latin America departing sometime in June 2007. Peace Corps is like a funnel, things get more specific as you go through, but you best be ready to deal with the vaugeness until you get there. With that, switch preparations to June 2007.

Days after my nomination, I received my medical/dental packet and began the waiting game that is Medical Clearance. From late February 2007-early May 2007 I completed medical exams, dental exams, wisdom tooth removal (worst pain ever, 2 dry sockets!) and preparing myself, my friends, my family and my co-workers that I would likely be leaving in June. One week before my invitation, I was still not medicall cleared and was getting emails from Placement and Medical to hurry it up or forget about June. I gave up hope that it would come on time to leave in June. In true Theresa-form, I soothed myself with shopping.

On Friday, May 4, 2007 I received my invitation to serve with Peace Corps Ecuador begining on June 18, 2007 in Urban Youth Outreach! I accepted the invitation the next Monday and started the even harder process of waiting knowing that it was now real (and wearing all those new, totally not-practical clothes at least once before I left!)

¿Cómo está Theresa?

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Proximamente...

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¿Cómo está Theresa?

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