When It Rains, it Pours

Since my last blog a lot has happened. There were tropical depressions/ storms that affected hundreds of thousands of people here in El Salvador. It rained ten days straight and the sun was nowhere to be found. Bridges and roads were washed out and many people lost their homes and, unfortunately, about 3 dozen people died. The President issued a national emergency warning and PC put us on “stand fast” as a safety measure, which means that we were not allowed to leave our communities.

A river runs through my community at three locations and many families live really close to it. The river had already flooded by day 3 and many people weren’t able to SAFELY leave their homes. My host Dad tied a rope from one side of the river to his store so that people could hold on to it when they braved the rains and left their homes for shopping. On day four of the stand fast I went to my neighbor’s house to make food packages for people that couldn’t leave their homes to go shopping. Each package contained 1lb. bags of rice, beans, sugar, and salt and a small bag of cooking oil. We made about 200 packages and then delivered them throughout my community. It was a good day and I felt great being able to help out my community. Some communities were hit really hard and it’ll take some time before they’re up and running again.

After ten days of rain and no sunshine, my furniture, house, shoes, and clothes were covered in mold and everything smelled gross. I really believe that my house was making me sick. I woke up with terrible headaches and swollen eyelids. I couldn’t stand being in my house, but I didn’t dare to leave out of fear that a tree or boulder would fall on me (landslides are very common) or that the river would wash me away. Finally the rains stopped and the sun showed its beautiful face, gracias a DIOS! The battle of Mya vs. Mold could finally begin! I took an entire bottle of bleach to everything that could be bleached. I soaked all of my clothes in soap (and more bleach) and threw a lot of stuff away. I am really glad that this is my last rainy season in El Salvador. Mold makes me gag and I just hate seeing it.


In other news, I will be home 4 or five months!!! I am so excited to be done here. Overall, I’ve enjoyed my time here, but I am anxious to start the next chapter in my life. I’m curious to see what God has in store for me.

Take care,

Mya

Update

So I guess it’s been a while since I’ve updated this thing. A lot has happened over these past few months, but I’ll keep this short.

July-
I went home to meet my paternal grandmother for the first time. She is an amazing, funny, caring, loving, and inspiring woman. I cherished my time with her and I can’t wait to go to Nigeria.
My peaceful home stay with my Salvadoran host family came to an end when I came back from vacation. While away my host family decided that fourth and fifth grade students could have class in our living room until construction on the school is over. It was a very chaotic environment everyday with children running around screaming and staring at me while doing regular, daily tasks. I think they were out of class more than they were actually in class.

August-
I dealt with them (the kids) for a month, but then it became too much. I was stressed out and started to hate them and my host family for allowing them to be there. Long story short, I looked for another house and, after a terrible experience filled with lots of drama and horrible gossip, now finally have my on house for the next six months. The house is absolutely perfect and I am much happier. My host family has been acting a little strange with me, but over time I’m sure they’ll get over it.

Present Day-
I have about five months left down here in El Salvador and I still have not had a visitor. At this point I’m over it. Instead of begging friends and family members to come down here, I will travel to Honduras and Guatemala for vacation. Honduras next month and hopefully Guatemala for New Year’s (if we ever get that ban lifted). No hard feelings people…I know that if you truly wanted to visit you would have.

That’s all for now,
Mya

This PCV Loves to Get Down and Dirty

This morning at 3:30 the school committee killed a cow in order to raise money for construction. I even helped take off the skin! It was a very tiring job and I still can't get the smell of blood off of my hands, but I love how my community members were gathered around watching the morena get down and dirty. It made me feel a lot closer to them. Isn't this what it's all about? I still can't get the smell of blood off of my hands, but I really love my job!

Take good care and I love you all,

Mya

Peaceful Heart

My God has given me the strength to overcome some spiritual strongholds that I have been battling with for years. When you trust completely in the Lord and you stop trying to justify your failures, good things will happen! I continue to learn from the past while looking forward to a brighter, more Christ-focused future. I wish that I could explain just how peaceful I feel right now knowing that He is with me, but I can't seem to find the words :)

God is good all the time and all the time God is good.

Btw...work is awesome! I have a workout class up and running at the school and it's a lot of fun. Sometimes the kids make me feel old because they have way more energy than I do. Next Monday we're FINALLY starting the school garden! Tomatoes, anyone? Also, we got the land to start building the clinic!!! The Ministry of Health told us to cut down all the trees so that construction can begin, so we've been busy chopping away. The first day I went chapodaring my machete wasn't sharp so it took me an about an hour to chop down one tree. While taking pictures of all of our hard work, a tree fell on me and everyone started cracking up. Eventually I was sent home because, according to my neighbors, I am not cut out for that type of work. Take a look at my neighbor hard at work.

I have fallen truly, madly, deeply in love with my community. The bolos and even the super dirty children have taken up a big space in my heart! I love when the kids walk pass my house and scream out, "SALÚ NIÑA MYA", or when they run up to me at school screaming my name. On my morning runs, the old men that are heading to the fields always tell me that they will start running with me. I like to think that one day there'll be a group of senior citizens running beside me down the hill(haha). As my time here winds down the reality that one day I must leave this place hits me like a brick. My host sisters know that I have only nine months left and it kinda stings when they ask if the next volunteer will be a man or a woman. WHY ARE YOU GUYS ALREADY THINKING ABOUT THE NEXT ONE!? The old ladies always tell me that I should stay, get married and have a couple of kids with someone from my village...and then they offer me their sons or grandsons, lol.

All in all things coulnd't be better for me right now. Life is good, it's calling and I'm glad that I answered.

Have a blessed day everyone,

Mya

Prayers Answered

My oldest sister, Kelli, has just accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Saviour! I've been praying for this day for a while and it's finally here. God is great and I am so happy that He has answered my prayers. I see good things in store for my family. He's a GREAT God!!

Carrera de Cinta

Hello All,

This post is a little late, but it's really important for me to write about it because it was one of the happiest moments that I've experienced as a PCV.

So back in early March, my community and I began to plan a carrera de cinta to raise money for the health clinic. A carrera de cinta is almost like a horse race. Ok so picture a limbo pole with small rings hanging from loosely tied strings. As the rider pass under the pole they reach up and try to grab one of the rings with a small pencil. The riders that get the most rings gets the most gifts from the "madrinas"(godmothers) at the end of the race.

At our event, the health committee and I got 50 madrinas (including two really great PCVs, Jordan Fox and Megan Butler) to participate and I was the "reina" (queen) of the entire event so I got to start the parade on top of one of the prettiest horses in town. Once the race was over each rider recieved at least one gift and some received two. Now, I dont find Salvo men to be particularly attractive, but there is something very sexy about a man on top of a horse...lol.

All in all, it was a great day. We raised more than $257 for the clinic and I felt like just another member of the community instead of the freakishly tall gringa. Life in El Pastor just might suit me :)

HIV Workshop El Tamarindo

Greetings!

This past weekend I took five community leaders to an HIV workshop and it was probably the best workshop that I've ever participated in. The chemistry amongst all of the participants was amazing. We invited a person living with HIV to give his testimony to the 25 others participants and it must have been the most impacting moment of the workshop. I was afraid that the participants might treat him differently after they found out the person that they had thought, up to that moment,to be just another community leader there to learn about the prevention of HIV/AIDS. Once the news was revealed the question started coming, but everyone took the news really well. I was really surprised by these Salvos...who can at times be very judgemental. Their interactions with the invited speaker changed FOR THE BETTER. It was probably one of the most emotional moments that I've experienced as a volunteer.


Life's good!