This past weekend we experienced what is called Immersion Weekend. What is it? Well, in few words it’s basically where trainees are sent to live in a cantón (a rural village of sorts) for two days for the following reasons:
* to use Spanish exclusively for 2 days
* to experience Salvadoran rural life where little contact with foreigners has taken place
* to feel the ‘aloneness’ of being a Peace Corps volunteer
* to get to know more parts of the country and the transport system
I’ll be honest, I don’t have anything positive to say about my experience. I was sent to Managuara, a small village on the outskirts of the pueblo Sesori in the department of San Miguel. I didn’t bring my camera along due to security issues and wanting to maintain my level of humildez or humility. I didn’t shower for two days and my meals consisted of 50% biscuits (cookies) and 50% of the saltiest beans on the planet and rice.
When the mayor of Sesori was driving me out to Managuara in his air-conditioned pick-up I found myself holding back uproarious laughter and heart-wrenching tears as I gazed out the window at the endless vista of green rolling hills. When the alcalde stopped his pick-up on the dirt road we has stopped at the entrance new home for the next two days: a crumbling mud brick house with a dirt floor. Almost immediately the man of the house apologized for his near poverty level life-style. No apologies needed, I replied.
The family consisted of 9 kids and the parents. One child was one the way, as it was still being carried in the mother’s belly, 1 lived with the grandparents and two were unaccounted for for the time I was there. The youngest child didn’t wear clothing and spent the majority of his day crying and having hissy fits that entailed rolling around in the dirt. Due to the fact that campo Spanish differs from standard Spanish (read: basically incomprehensible even to native speakers), goal number 1 listed above was not met. I spent my two days there reading in a hammock and having the children stare at me and whisper amongst themselves. The mother and I ran out of conversation after I said that I didn’t have any children of my own and was not planning on having any soon. Periodically she would pull up a chair to where I was and just stare at me. By the end of the second day I was so starved for conversation in ANY language that I began talking to myself in my journal. I finished reading a book in 1.5 days and began to read it again due to the lack of conversation and the stifling heat that prevented one from moving about.
For some reason or another there wasn’t any electricity and for another reason altogether the father used 90% of the family’s water supply for work purposes. The water remainingin the pila was covered with a slick film of some sort of unidentified substance, which prevented me from wanting to shower with it. The main reason I didn’t shower was that I’m not one for showering al fresco in front of construction workers or strangers in a puddle of mud – the same puddle of mud that the family’s pigs bathe in. A latrine was also absent from the property, as their garden was their toilet. The world was their rubbish bin and their garden was their toilet. The few times I went to go do my business I was followed by a gang of pigs who waited for me in the bushes until I was done so that they could rush in for the “gold”. This is the same gang of pigs that would hang out inside the family’s house and rummage through the kitchen. There was no separation between inside and outside and the family practically lived and slept with their chickens, pigs and dogs.
The last things I’ll say is that while the family did not have running water or electricity, they did have a television and a cell phone. Basic hygiene and proper food handling procedures were absent in the household.
I didn’t enjoy my experience, nor will I say it will be a highlight of my experience here. I will, however, say that it’s unacceptable that people should have to live in such poverty. At the same time, yesterday I questioned my reasons for coming here.
How is living this way going to help anyone’s standard of living? It won’t, but it will make you appreciate what you had and what you will have when your time in Peace Corps is over.
You are very courageous for doing what you do. Good luck.
Wow. All I can say is that I give you credit for what you’re doing. When Amanda and I (this is “Brian” from the PC-Couples blog) leave for Panama this coming August, I’ll definitely be thinking of you guys and your experiences as a primer for our own.
I love your blog and updates, thanks for keeping them up!
Brian (& Amanda)
briamanda.blogspot.com
*brrf* Sounds horrendous. Thankfully, that was only for 2 days.
And hopefully, having control of your set up will allow you to ensure that inside is not outside (and vice-versa) and that minimal hygiene is maintained.
Koudos ! Hang in there !
Adrianne you are very couragous for having surrived that experience. I know I could not have done it. I’m sure it will give you a new perspective on how lucky we are and how others in the world live. I know it must be difficult but these are definitely experiences that will last a lifetime. When is Billy going to post his experiences for his immersion?
Your right that no one should have to live that way. Learn how to build a good latrine while you are in training, it will be a handy skill to know in the future.
As for showering in front of everyone, you might find that more common than you think. In Panama, people bathed with their clothes on at a family pozo. My friend had to bath at a community pluma in her town. Learn how to build a nice campo shower too!
Peace Corps/El Savlador is big on having us process things as a group after we experience things. After bits of processing here and there I still have nothing positive to say about the experience itself, but it has inspired me to thing about what needs to happen in order to create change: we have to start with education
Many people just can’t make the connection that they just might be sick all of the time because of their hygiene habits.
Education is my new thing!
Will’s experience is soon to come, although it felt like he experiences his world’s away instead of a half hour away.
I really enjoyed reading this entry. It is difficult to explain the poverty that one sees in words but you gave an excellent description. It is one of those things that I face a lot and will still face for another 17 months.
Keep up the great work.
Adrianna,
Ted and I have been following your entries. We give you alot of credit for what you and Bill are doing. I am sure it is not easy. It certainly gives you both a different perspective on how others live and I am sure it also makes you appreciate the way you live and where you live. Our Email address Bill asked for is R4907@aol.com
Wow. I had a very similar experience 3 years ago in Cuba. It is terrible how the government don’t do anything about.