trash talk

I was working on this recycling project at a school in Santa Eulalia last week. I had a school whose director seemed interested in starting a recycling program. Usually Peace Corps volunteers don't take on projects during training. At most, they'll teach a class. This is because we are expected to do a 3 month diagnostic before deciding on what projects the community needs and will support. But I struggle with the idea of having communities where Peace Corps is trained, but the communities see very few results. Around a hundred volunteers go through Santa Eulalia every year, and I think it is a waste to have so many volunteers in one place and see so little help given to the people.

So, I saw an elementary school (primary school) without a recycling program and took a chance. I asked the director what she thought about starting a recycling program. She told me it was on the agenda for next year and was something her school was very interested in. I asked if she wanted to push up the plan a year and have the help of a couple Peace Corps volunteers. To make a long story short, Tina and I agreed to teach three grades and decorate signs for 9 new trash cans for the recycling program. We would implement the program and get the kids excited about recycling. We showed up the day of the event to find the director had not purchased any cans. She said she would go to Lima and get them later that day. We decorated papers for the cans anyway and had fun teaching the kids about the upcoming program. In the end, the director purchased 3 out of the 9 cans. I got them ready and put them outside with decorations from all 3 grades involved. I went back to check on the program this week (as I had said I would) to find all three cans nearly completely empty and shoved in the office of the director.

We're leaving for a camping trip in the morning and I won't get to ask the director what happened until next week. But I'm frustrated that "yes, I'm excited to do that" could mean "I'm not at all interested in what you're talking about". We were taught that this is a part of Peruvian culture. It's called the "si, si, si syndrome". But how can I tell when an enthusiastic yes really means no? I'm hoping I'll get to the office next week and find out there was some confusion. But I have this fear that the director and the teachers at the school didn't really like me or care about the project, but just didn't want to say no. And I hate that the kids might have put the effort to make the signs and learn about the new program just to see a failed project.

This is definitely not the way I want to go about doing projects in my site. I'm also sure that I could learn to ask more questions and find creative ways to support programs so that they will sustain. Even so, I think I would have felt worse about my work if I hadn't tried. And I'm still going to show up at that school and see if I can't figure out what inspired the director to move the expensive cans the school invested in into her office. I'm learning that the important part of my service is that I try, that I make the effort. I won't always have the time and the resources to do things in the ideal way, but that seems to be a part of trying to change things for the better. Most importantly, I've gotta do something.

On a happy note, Leslie, Willa, Laura, and I did a puppet show written by our tech trainer, Monica. The spanish was far beyond my level, but we were able to put on a great show for our fellow aspirantes and a primary school. The puppet show was about a snail and a porcupine who are disgusted by the trash everywhere. The porcupine smells like a skunk due to the trash collecting in her spines. I played "Don Cochinon", a smelly character who loves trash and hopes to dirty the entire planet. We taught the kids about recycling and the importance of not littering through songs, hilarious dialogue, puppet-kiddo interaction, and some good ole fashion slow-mo karate moves.