There is no easy answer to that because there is such thing as a regular day. But I will try to summarize what my week and weekends consist of as well as what the first 3 months of my service is supposed to include.
In the first 3 months in my site, I get to live with a host family and I am only supposed to start one small project and spend the rest of the time learning about the needs of the community through observations, interviews, and interacting with community members. The PC approach is to help people develop the capacity to improve their own lives through training and integration (i.e. PC programs). Entonces volunteers try to integrate into the community and develop confianza (trust) before starting projects. That way the community and volunteer develop an understanding of what the community needs and how they can work together to create sustainable projects that can continue through community leaders and youth well after the volunteer ends his/her service (si Dios quiere). At the end of the 3 month diagnostic period, I´ll select a project partner from my site to accompany me in presenting my findings infront of the other youth development volunteers in my cohort. Once I present my findings, I will outline my first year plan of projects to initiate based on what the community needs and the skills that I possess. Prior to presenting these findings to my training group, I´ll present this info to the community and continually seek their suggestions and thoughts throughout the entire process.
Because I am also an ´extreme needs´ youth volunteer, I am partnered with an organization in the community, so I split my time between the community diagnostic and completing my organizational diagnostic. My organization is a pre-k/kindergarten school (thats the educational component) as well as a community center for the 4 surrounding barrios.The community center is a satellite site for the organization whose main base is located in the city but they have numerous programs all over the city. My goal for my organization diagnostic is to learn as much as possible about the organization overall, but focus on the strengths, weakness, opportunities, and dangers present within the community center portion. Based on these findings, I will roll out a plan for first year activities to support the community center.
Because of these diagnostics, my days and weeks are focused around these obtaining information for my diagnostic. This will change after January because I can actually start more than one project, live on my own, and travel to PCDR training activities for a variety of programs.
My weeks consist of going to the Centro Comunitario in the morning and conducting interviews with teachers or other volunteers, observing sala de tarea, observing English classes, or helping serve merindas to the kids. in the afternoons I either go back to the Centro Comunitario or I walk in different barrios to visit the (few) leaders that I know so far. I try to walk in the community as much as possible so that people get used to seeing my face since I´ll be here for a little while (smile!) The interviews are always interesting because I´m sure that I miss the context of some of their answers becuse of my limited Spanish so thats a downer but I also get really excited when I actually understand and get the humor/passion behind their answers. It is an ebb and flow that I´ve learned to appreciate and recognize for what it is. Thankfully, people are really patient and do not mind repeating some of their thoughts.
The centro comunitario closes at 5 so I usually head back to my casa to get ready to go to the gym with my primo, hermanas, co'workers, and/or other volunteers. It is about a 10 minute carro ride away and once I get there I get to enjoy an eerily similar rendition of the Greenbelt Ballys gym minus the multitude of ellipticals, treadmills, a pool and the constant overcrowdedness. This has truly been the trace of God that I needed because my gym experience relaxes me and heps me to relieve stress. It is a comfort because it is the same way I relieved stress in the States so it feels a little like home which I am abundantly thankful for.
After the gym I usually hang out with my family, listen to music, bounce off the walls with my nieces and nephews, and try to avoid having platanos for dinner. Thanks be to God for galletas, peanut butter and raisins.
Thanks to wonderful convos with my family and friends, and a very relaxing Thanksgiving break things have taken off in my site this week. I´ve conducted more interviews this week then I did in my first month, and I ave figured out what my first mini project will be. I´m going to start a step team for girls 10-14 and 15-24 (Coolidge part 2). I am hoping that these teams turn into my Chicas Brillantes groups eventually (si Dios quiere). Since I´m not the greatest at this, I am currently looking through you tube videos for my steps to teach my girls (thanks Sorors!) and I´m excited to kick off this project because the girls are super excited. They come up to me at the Center, on the street, and when I am at home asking when we will start. I am just waiting for my hand to recuperate a little but I did tell everyone within the next 2 weeks.
So my life will be balanced by the gym, conducting entrevistas in the community, hanging with my youth at their houses in order to create confianza, and starting my step teams. I am still trying to figure out how I fit into my community because of the overwhelming number of volunteers at my organizaiton, but I am gaining more confidence in my ability to contribute positively here.
PS and I promise my next blog will be about birthday gifts!!
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