Site Reflections

Intro

It is the five month mark here in Paraguay for me and my views of paraguay, paraguyans and myself in paraguay have adapted. I feel very lucky to be so close to my host sister Deisy. I have been sharing a room with her since coming to site in december (and sometimes a bed with my other sis) and each of my days are filled with laugher - not to mention my spanish has improved greaty. I made a friend so fast and through her gossip i have learned more than i could and wanted to know about my community. She proves to me that i really do not have the capability yet to understand this culture. but more importantly she has taught me to laugh at silly things and to open my mind to "odd" beliefs in the community. I have gained an 18 yr old friend and without her my experience and happiness in the community would be very different.

My House

Almost every day Deisy and i go to my house to clean it, ask uncles, neighbors and brothers to help me out or talk with the dueno ( tid bit: whose wife actually bought the house b4 she was married and now since she is married it is now the legal property of her husband). My house has not been lived in for 4 years. it has two rooms, one had a ton of garabage and a gas powered FRIG... i should find a museum for that - since it doesnt work. We have been spraying chemicals, killing spiders, washing walls, floors, burning garabage, organizing the rest of the garabage, cutting trees, getting her brother to work for me clearing the land.. This is all difficult with the heat!! Diesy´s Tio is going to be putting in new electricity cables and my modern bathroom. This saturday i will go with him into town via the truck collectivo, to buy all the bathroom parts. I will have a curtain to separate the bathroom from my bedroom. i wont have a sink and only running water in the shower and toliet. This week Deisy and I will paint the first of many coats of pain in my bedroom. the rest of the house will have to wait. My move in date is March 1st with only one of the two rooms done and without painting the house. Oh light bulbs, cant forget to buy those, a bed, plates, silverware, cooking equipment, tables, chairs... oh my!
So really my interactions with helping the community have been halted but not as much as i thought. Everyone in the community is very pleased finally this house is being cleaned and is very courious what is going on. In lue of visiting people as often as other volunteers i have had the community help me with my house and have been hosting the women´s committee under my trees in front of my house. Last week I gave the despensa owner my old glass bottles which he can sell and for this he put in my two new locks. the community knows to find me there in the mornings and after 5 and come to sell me things for my house. in short i am very busy but am activately showing to the community capability, i hope. this is always very important since i am a female....

Saudi Arabia of Latin America and Magical Realism

There are the unhappy days here in paraguay. These days i am reminded that i am a female in Paraguay. Hearing fellow female volunteer´s rants, tears, etc and especially hearing my sister´s stories causes so much confusion to me. never have i experienced the higher degree of power men have over women. my whole life till now, i have had male friends, lived with male friends and have been treated as an equal for the most part. one of the biggest role models of my life is my brother. so you can imagine the confusion i have when i cant even look, talk to males without feeling an inbalanced.

Sometimes my female agroforestry friends and i talk about why they even have female agroforestry volunteers if we cant work in the fields or cant be alone with a male farmer, and our credibility of knowing what we are talking about is impossible. A female norte thinks she knows something about our crops?

One morning i woke up and all the males in my community had turned into dogs. and these werent american dogs which we see as friends but paraguayan dogs which are sub human, sometimes get fed, should be hit periodically and seen only for their security benefit. My host brothers, my dad, the despensa owner, my tio, every male had transformed into dogs. my view has forever been changed through the stories i hear, the lack of my sister being able to go to the dentist or computer classes out of fear, the inability of a female to walk by yourself because of fear, and why so many women never leave their homes except for church.

However, their is another side as well. my two cousins: 9 and 14 yrs walked my sister and i back to our house, and hour away. they went two hours out of their way to walk us home... in the states i am not sure if this would occur. but is this another form of power? the need for protection?