Health is an issue that merits much attention in Chaquijyá Central. Currently, the most pressing problems affecting the community include malnutrition, dental issues, respiratory diseases, and skin ailments. Although residents will travel to the nearest hospital (about 40 minutes away) when faced with a dire emergency, most community members rely on the services provided by a few local practitioners and organizations. Ixim Achi is the primary health organization in the community and receives funding from the Guatemalan national government. Working in numerous communities throughout the country, Ixim Achi sponsors health clinics in all four caserios in Chaquijyá and provides them with medicines, equipment, and oversight on monthly health workshops (“charlas”) provided for expectant mothers and women with recently born children. The clinic in the Chaquijyá Central is directed by Rosa Chumil, who also oversees nine volunteer health promoters, or “vigilantes,” who assist in the monthly charlas and monitor health issues and pregnancies in assigned sections of the community. Despite the presence of these individuals and organizations, existing programs in Chaquijyá Central only target children under 5 years of age, expectant mothers, and women over the age of 15, as many girls in Chaquijyá begin having children at this age. Children between the ages of 5 and 15, namely the children in primary and middle schools, do not receive adequate medical attention or health education.
Consequently, considering the number of preventable ailments affecting children in the community, my fellow PDs and I concluded that health education in the Primaria Central would be an ideal premier health program for MPI in Guatemala. Our initial idea was to collaborate with the nine local health vigilantes to lead monthly charlas in the school. Each month would target a different grade of students and focus on basic health topics, such as washing hands, sanitizing food, hygienic dental practices, and women’s health for girls in the older grades. Providing incentives for their efforts, we would work closely with the vigilantes to create lesson plans for the workshops, and then the women would lead the charlas themselves. Although we would devise ways to reinforce the lessons in our classes throughout the interim months, we would take a backseat during the actual workshops, so that the vigilantes might be able to lead the lessons themselves if we were forced to leave Chaquijyá suddenly (yay sustainability!).
Well, it was a great plan. We held the first day of the program this past Thursday and Friday, and the charlas themselves were very successful. Health promoters from Ixim Achi generously offered their time to help us conduct our initial two charlas with the first grade students, and the women lead workshops that not only were fun, but that also instilled in the students useful information about personal hygiene. By and large, we were so thrilled with the charlas and the students’ positive responses.
Unfortunately, the vigilantes did not share our same enthusiasm. My coworkers and I had asked the nine women to attend the charlas so that they might receive a clearer idea of our vision for the project, and they did react to the workshops as eagerly as we had hoped. Lacking a financial incentive, the vigilantes did not feel as though the program would be valuable use of their time.
Needless to say, my coworkers and I were disheartened. We had invested significant time and effort into devising the details of the project, and the most crucial component of the program, the vigilantes, were reluctant to participate. What were we going to? Considering that Chaquijyá has no other organized health promoters working solely in the community, should we scratch the program? We could lead the charlas ourselves, but then how could we make the program sustainable?
My coworkers and I ultimately decided to keep the program with a few alterations. For the time being, we will lead the charlas ourselves; however, we will continue searching actively for other individuals and organizations with whom we could partner. To make the program more immediately sustainable, we will pull from our connections and resources to create a health curriculum with various topics, activities, talking points, and other information that may be used by PDs or organizations in the future. Additionally, we have spoken with Ixim Achi concerning the possibility of training a community member to lead charlas, and so we will be searching within the community for someone who is interested and qualified.
Overall, despite the change of plans and initial disappointment, I believe that we have learned many valuable lessons from our experience with the charlas and the vigilantes. Primarily, the experience serves as a reminder to establish shared goals with our partners and partner organizations. If we are not on the same page with our desired partner organization, we cannot hope to accomplish any program. Effective and lasting change cannot occur if the community and we are not striving for the same objectives; development is a joint effort. Furthermore, we have once again realized the importance of flexibility and resourcefulness. In the sphere of international community development, events and programs sometimes (in fact more often than not) do not unfold as planned. In creating a health charla curriculum and working with Ixim Achi to train individuals, we have learned to make the best of what resources we have and allow for flexibility in our programs. There is no easy road to successful development, and we must remember to remain flexible and positive, while keeping realistic expectations.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Think Fast
Approximately 1 billion people currently experience hunger. According to World Vision International, about 1 in 4 of the world’s children suffer from malnourishment, and about 5 million children will die this year from hunger-related causes. Hunger is a formidable issue that fuels civil unrest, a cycle of 
poverty, and economic crises throughout the world, and the number of hungry people in the world continues to rise each year.
This year, in order to further our understanding of global hunger, the Program Directors at all three MPI sites participated in the 30-hour fast organized by World Vision International. Though allowed to consume fruit juice, we were highly encouraged to not consume solid foods or coffee (eek!) from 1:00pm this past Thursday until 7:00pm the following Friday. In addition to the fast, PD’s also participated in service activities organized through their respective sites, and discussions concerning our personal sentiments regarding the fast. In Guatemala, we began our fast with an hour of service at a local feeding program and then conducted dialogues in house and with the Ecuador PDs via Skype. The fast was both physically and emotionally taxing, but we all persevered
and I believed that we learned a great deal from the experience.
To be honest, when I first learned about the fast, I was not crazy about it for numerous reasons. Primarily, any given day, I probably spend more time eating than not, and I was not sold on the idea of forgoing food for an entire 30 hours. Additionally, I felt several moral qualms on the matter. Who were we to expect that a mere day-long fast would allow us to empathize with the suffering and turmoil of hunger victims? Watching movies on laptops, drinking clean water, and cozily sitting in our warm beds, we would be surrounded by numerous luxuries and we would have a kitchen stocked with food in case of emergency. We would begin the fast with the assurance of copious amounts of food in 30 hours and we would never suffer the anxiety of wondering the source of our next meal.
The fast also did not touch me initially at a personal level, as our physical experience of hunger would not resemble the experiences of the hungry in Chaquijyá. Many residents of Chaquijyá suffer from chronic hunger. While many of them may only eat one meal a day, they do eat. Our experience would more closely resemble the acute hunger of victims of natural disasters or war, whose food sources become cut off very suddenly. Like I said, there were numerous reasons. Overall, it seemed to me that our experience would not remotely resemble those lived by the impoverished, and I was hesitant to believe that the fast would affect my perspectives in working with the community members of Chaquijyá.
Having successfully completed the fast, I cannot say if the experience will affect how I make my lesson plans or teach my classes in Chaquijyá, but I can say that the fast did prove to be more enlightening than I had expected. Namely, even if the fast did not radically change my thoughts on world hunger, the experience did stimulate me to think. Though the fast was not “authentic” per say, hunger dominated my thoughts for 30 hours and compelled me to ask to ask more profound
questions about myself and the larger issue. Indeed, I realized that is impossible for me to fathom the experience of chronic hunger. This realization excited in me both a rush of gratitude for the numerous blessings I am fortunate to enjoy, and also a larger appreciation for the resilience of people suffering from hunger. All over the world, people who survive on minimal food still work and struggle to support families. Often the most impoverished people possess the most physically taxing jobs, and millions of hungry people toil each day all the while still nourishing love for their families, religious beliefs, and/or inner determination.
I am so grateful for the smack-in-face, out-of-the-comfort-zone experience that was the fast. Sometimes I need a shock to my system to make me open my eyes and see the world around me more clearly. Global hunger is truly a world issue that cannot be fixed in a flash by one organization or government. Whether through monetary donations, volunteering, or spreading awareness, all of us must find our own ways to contribute to the struggle to insure food security for our fellow humans.
poverty, and economic crises throughout the world, and the number of hungry people in the world continues to rise each year.
This year, in order to further our understanding of global hunger, the Program Directors at all three MPI sites participated in the 30-hour fast organized by World Vision International. Though allowed to consume fruit juice, we were highly encouraged to not consume solid foods or coffee (eek!) from 1:00pm this past Thursday until 7:00pm the following Friday. In addition to the fast, PD’s also participated in service activities organized through their respective sites, and discussions concerning our personal sentiments regarding the fast. In Guatemala, we began our fast with an hour of service at a local feeding program and then conducted dialogues in house and with the Ecuador PDs via Skype. The fast was both physically and emotionally taxing, but we all persevered
and I believed that we learned a great deal from the experience.
To be honest, when I first learned about the fast, I was not crazy about it for numerous reasons. Primarily, any given day, I probably spend more time eating than not, and I was not sold on the idea of forgoing food for an entire 30 hours. Additionally, I felt several moral qualms on the matter. Who were we to expect that a mere day-long fast would allow us to empathize with the suffering and turmoil of hunger victims? Watching movies on laptops, drinking clean water, and cozily sitting in our warm beds, we would be surrounded by numerous luxuries and we would have a kitchen stocked with food in case of emergency. We would begin the fast with the assurance of copious amounts of food in 30 hours and we would never suffer the anxiety of wondering the source of our next meal.
The fast also did not touch me initially at a personal level, as our physical experience of hunger would not resemble the experiences of the hungry in Chaquijyá. Many residents of Chaquijyá suffer from chronic hunger. While many of them may only eat one meal a day, they do eat. Our experience would more closely resemble the acute hunger of victims of natural disasters or war, whose food sources become cut off very suddenly. Like I said, there were numerous reasons. Overall, it seemed to me that our experience would not remotely resemble those lived by the impoverished, and I was hesitant to believe that the fast would affect my perspectives in working with the community members of Chaquijyá.
Having successfully completed the fast, I cannot say if the experience will affect how I make my lesson plans or teach my classes in Chaquijyá, but I can say that the fast did prove to be more enlightening than I had expected. Namely, even if the fast did not radically change my thoughts on world hunger, the experience did stimulate me to think. Though the fast was not “authentic” per say, hunger dominated my thoughts for 30 hours and compelled me to ask to ask more profound
questions about myself and the larger issue. Indeed, I realized that is impossible for me to fathom the experience of chronic hunger. This realization excited in me both a rush of gratitude for the numerous blessings I am fortunate to enjoy, and also a larger appreciation for the resilience of people suffering from hunger. All over the world, people who survive on minimal food still work and struggle to support families. Often the most impoverished people possess the most physically taxing jobs, and millions of hungry people toil each day all the while still nourishing love for their families, religious beliefs, and/or inner determination.
I am so grateful for the smack-in-face, out-of-the-comfort-zone experience that was the fast. Sometimes I need a shock to my system to make me open my eyes and see the world around me more clearly. Global hunger is truly a world issue that cannot be fixed in a flash by one organization or government. Whether through monetary donations, volunteering, or spreading awareness, all of us must find our own ways to contribute to the struggle to insure food security for our fellow humans.
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