the paraguayan reverie

Happy birthday hilary! I tried to call again, but then my phone ran out of money =/

Back for another instalment of everything thats been going on for about the last month or so. Its been pretty darn busy over here, so its been nice to have a free weekend in the city to unwind. The down side is that ive blown most of my money for the month. Oh well, its not really my money anyway. Thank you taxpayers!

Anyway, to begin ive been working at two schools in the area around where im living. The teachers are nice, and seem to be interested in anything that i think up for the students to work on. Last week i did a demonstration on composting and we set up a compost pile for the students to use when they clean all the weeds out of the garden for the year. A few of the students actually seemed to be genuinly interested and the rest of them seemed like they could care less. But this is the same case in the states right? Im planning on doing tree planting with the students next week when they bring in the trees ive assigned them to collect. The crazy thing about the students here is that they all know how to ID trees and what theyre good to be used for. Even the little kids know, its just part of the culture. I think about asking a 9 year old in the states to identify 10 trees by their leaves or berries and i think id be hard pressed to find one that could actually do it.

Going two weeks back from now, a group of american high school students came to visit from the states. This was strange to me, seeing as I had no idea that anyone from the states knew enough about paraguay to end up in tobati, fairly far away from the capital. Well, this group of students isnt just a little group. They were 145 students harvard medical school doctors and i think a dentist from a private, east coast highschool. Seems most of the students are well enough off that they can pay for the 3000 dollar trip from their pockets without having to do any fundraising. One laughed when i asked if they sold candy bars or something to finance the trip.

So anyway, they brought about 100,000 dollars to fund projects over the week they were there, which i see as good and bad. Good because the municipalidad is corrupt as all hell and money for any significant project tends to dissapear via graft, and bad because of the precedent it reinforces for the paraguayans in terms of depending on the handouts of external entities instead of being self sufficient. I dont deny that they have good intentions toward the paraguayans, and that its a great experience for students in the US to experience a different culture/country. I just question how their work is serving to empower the paraguayans to become better citizens, to empower them or to create the begining of good social change. They are also connected to a private school that is funded in part or totally by the macchi family, a influntial family in tobati, which serves to give a select group of needy paraguayan students free, high quality education and daily meals.

Its easy to say, "Its better if we focus on the tangible." Its good for PR, people like getting free stuff and giving to the "poor" might even aleviate some personal guilt over being financially very well-off by world standards. I dont really know. But as I was watching the buses and flat bed trucks pull up to the central plaza in tobati, with hundreds of screaming kids, baloons, and blaring music, i couldnt help but wonder why. Why this reaction. Why. If you took away the project money, how would the reaction change? Are the people really excited because they know american students are coming who want to work, to learn and teach and share? Or are they happy that they´re getting a new building at their school? I call what team tobati is doing development work, but whats it developing?

And what did the US students really get out of it? Yes, now they see that there are poor people in the world who dont just live in africa, ate some good food and got rid of that pesky required community service requirement. They now know how to toss bricks, shovel dirt, and say a few more words in spanish maybe. But to be quite honest, the 140 students that came could put their services to much better use interacting with the people here, learning what they can and teaching in return. Its almost insulting to see these kids who I know are very smart, creative people come here where creativity is in short supply and toss bricks. Two paraguayans could do the work of 12 students for 7 dollars a day and get it done faster and better, leaving the students to put their unique skills to use. I would challenge the students of team tobati to reconsider their role as development workers in paraguay, how they might come to work on some of the less visible problems inherant to the country. But how does one find out what these problems are? You ask, and then you learn, and then you act. Sounds much more fulfilling to me than shoveling soil.

As i told most of the people who came to costa alegre, I am willing and able to help in any way I can to make their experience of coming to work in paraguay more fulfilling for everyone involved. Im hoping some of them take me up on it. If theres one thing i could say to the teachers or people in charge of the team tobati exerience, its that your program is good, but you have the power to make it even better if you choose to do so. Nothing is ever stagnant and its always worthwhile learning from succeses and mistakes, right?

For people interested in sustainable development work, i emplore you to read "Two ears of Corn" by Roland Bunch. Its about agricultural development, but is broad enough that it can enlighten any development program. Its amazing and not to be missed for anyone involved with team tobati.

Also found out this weekend that a new urban youth volunteer is going to be placed in tobati in one week. This means that im going to have a very close new neighbor, and that they will be in the thick of the tobati situation in ways that i can not even imagine. I wish them good luck.

Moving into my own house in about a week, yay! Ill update more about that when it happens. Till next time then!