I’m pretty slow at these blog updates. I’ve barely been to the city in the past month. Why? The one truck driver who stops in Guayabo to take people to the city recently raised his prices from 100 pesos (3$) roundtrip to 150 pesos (4.50$) roundtrip!! Everyone is up in arms because this is really a large increase. I agree. My trips to the city will also be less frequent because my other source of transportation, my boyfriend, is starting school again and will be a bit more MIA.

I have been very busy the last month which has been great—time is flying by (Less than 9 months until I’m back in the states permanently)! I finished my filter project (that comprised over 80 visits to community members’ houses) which took way more time than expected. Luckily, Rafelito was a huge help in accompanying me to all the installations, helping me install, and giving me transportation. People are very satisfied with their filters (except one lady who got her water “tested” at a lab and said it contained pig parasites (which is basically impossible due to the composition of the filter)). I am looking into this matter with filter professionals. It is interesting that now I have completed the project how many people have come to me and asked me.. “can I get a filter?” Firstly, no, because I have no more, and secondly, you didn’t participate in any of my community meetings! Hopefully this will motivate more people in the community to participate in my meetings.

Last weekend was my first ever health fair! It was a success!! Basically, some of my health promoters and I (along with kids in my sex ed class) held a “sexual health fair” with tables focusing on: Sexually Transmitted Infections, HIV/AIDS, the use of the Condom, and cancer of reproductive organs (cervical cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer). We held the fair in Jobo, which is the town next door that holds the general store, health clinic, school and police station, from 9am – 11:30am on a Saturday. I spent all last week making signs, charts, games and demonstrations for the fair. The objective of the fair was to target the Jobo population, who are a bit more “caliente” (hot), and who don’t have a health promoter. All the visitors to the health fair were directed to the four tables to participate in an activity or lecture—if they completed the four tables they could then be entered in the raffle! We raffled off two baskets each worth about $20. One basket was filled with food goodies, and the other was a “house hygiene” basket containing toothbrushes, bleach, sponge, soaps, detergent, etc. We had over 40 community members participate at the four tables (this is good because Jobo was a bit deserted that Saturday and only has about 50 homes). We gave out over 200 condoms and had youth and the elderly attend. There was something for everyone! I think this fair was one of my biggest accomplishments yet. I hope to do something similar in another 4 months.. maybe on chronic diseases.

Also exciting is my sex-ed youth group. I have 10 high-school “multipliers” who completed my sex-ed course last spring, and another training course this fall. Currently, they are leading their own sex-ed group in Jobo. They design all the lectures and activities! We had our first class yesterday and 12 kids from Jobo showed up! This is a definite success! I am so proud of the kids for their dedication to the cause (especially because they spend about 2 hours a week planning their lectures, and another 2 hours during class days—walking an hour just to teach the class!). I hope the rest of the course flows as smoothly.

Coming up is the dreaded stove project. Why do I dread this? Because this is the biggest project yet that entails many details and lots of money (over 3,000$). I currently have 40 homes that will be receiving the stoves, which are made out of cement block, cement, rebar, brick and tin. We have to order and deliver about 45 different materials to each house that will be receiving the stoves—which means lots of work for us (and lots of coordination with the hardwares stores, delivery trucks and beneficiaries). The 40 beneficiaries are women who participated in my nutrition class last year (those who participate win!!), but I already have other people haggling me for a stove. Its just annoying, frankly.
While I have already started complaining about the stove project (mainly just because the other health volunteers who have done the project complained a lot), the stoves are definitely important. The stoves use chimneys which reduce smoke inhalation in the house and also are more fuel-efficient, burning less wood. We hope to order materials in the next two weeks and start construction in three weeks!!

Other exciting, important news is that I AM HOSTING AN ALTERNATIVE SPRING BREAK (ASB) GROUP! It was a last-minute arrangement due to another site falling through, but I couldn’t be more happy to share my site with such an amazing organization! They are coming for a week in March and will be working mainly in the school. We will see how they like the rural DR!

Those are all the exciting updates I have for now. Rafelito has fully recovered from his motorcycle accident and I am eagerly awaiting my parents’ arrival in March!

Hope the winter weather isn’t getting you down—its already so hot here!