I wish I could have been better about blogging, but alas, my time here in Paraguay is up and the last time I wrote anything was halfway into my trip! So I'll try to sum up everything here, bear with me!
This trip to Paraguay has taught me many things. I have learned more about this small country which is often forgotten or pushed aside—not only did I witness what is being considered a political coup, but I heard from people about the 30 year dictatorship that ended less than 25 years ago and whose traces are still found everywhere in the culture. I have also learned what a small, isolated country it is—I am currently in the airport, where there were NO lines anywhere (I didn’t even have to take my computer out of my backpack while going through security), and everyone must go through immigration, because (I guess) there are no flights within Paraguay. Amazing. I must say, despite the tranquility, this country continues to surprise me.
But this trip was of course about data collection too, which I did plenty of! Thanks to this experience, I have certainly gotten much better at qualitative methods, aka, interviewing people and asking them questions in a way that they answer with nice, “rich”, informative answers. The best part about my work is that I was able to talk to both mothers and their children about their relationships and the way they communicate about abstinence and sexual relations. I could tell when a mom and her kid had a great relationship because they would both say practically the same thing in their separate interviews (one son said his mom always knew when he was sad, the mom said the same thing and proceeded to tell a story about how she figured out that he had gotten in a fight and convinced him to talk about it). Just talking to the parents (who all attended the organizations weekly parenting classes), it was obvious that they want the best for their children and are dedicated to making sure they guide their children to make the right decisions in a very rough environment. The sincerity and interest they showed was amazing. Of course, not all the parents are like that, but just talking to these parents I was inspired and encouraged to keep working on this topic.
I did indeed learn some Guaraní, the indigenous language spoken here which is far from any language I’ve tried to learn previously. I basically learned the words that the kids used when talking to me about relationships and sex (so I learned words like “Takula” which is when a guy or girl is horny, and “jakare” which is when someone sneaks into your bedroom through a window). I was always able to entertain my family by telling them the words I had learned that day!
My family was also one of the highlights of my trip. Maybe because this was the 5th host family I’ve lived with, or maybe because they were just so accepting, this was the first time that I felt like I was treated almost exactly like everyone else in the family. I loved listening to my host sisters (21 and 25 years old) complain about how their mom likes their brother best, loved seeing how they loved their kids, and of course enjoyed hearing about my host mom’s work as a health promoter (she has to visit 70 houses each month, visit the pregnant women in her area once a week, and deliver TB medications every day to those who need them).
But at the same time this trip also made me realize how much the Dominican Republic has stuck to me, and this made me miss it even more. I first began to discover this as I tried to speak Spanish in Paraguay. So many words I used regularly in the DR (gua gua, mascota, coger) are either not used in Paraguay, have a different meaning, or even are considered “dirty” words. I was constantly struggling to correct my Spanish before it came out of my mouth. Though I tried not to make too many comparisons, often times I found myself comparing and sometimes wishing I was back in the loud, comical, friendly culture of the DR where people were quick to laugh, tell you what you’re doing wrong, and jump in and do a dinamicarather than this quiet, mellow, though very accepting culture. I found myself feeling like a loud, rude intruder when I said things like “Dame un jugo” or didn’t say thank you, tendencies that I didn’t like in the DR but adapted anyway, and honestly now, I miss. Despite the lack of electricity, water and all those other difficulties we confronted in the DR, after being here I realize how lucky I was to live there for 3 years and work with Peace Corps. We were supported in our work by both administration and peers, had the beach at our disposal if we needed a break, and were able to become outgoing, bachata-dancing, caña-chewing dominicanos (or something like it).
Part of this homesickness and preference for the DR is simply due to the amount of time I spent there, I came to know it much better of course than I know Paraguay. Who knows how I would feel about Paraguay and Peace Corps if I had served here, I'm sure I would have enjoyed it and become more Pargauayan. Paraguay has some great traits: friendly, sincere people, (even at the airport), a great habit of drinking terere (cold tea), and inspiring people who are working really hard to improve their country. But I can say right now that though I am glad I had the chance to learn more about Paraguay, I am forever thankful I was able to serve in the Dominican Republic, and I will constantly be comparing and measuring other international trips against my time in the DR, my gold standard. That is, I suppose, the Peace Corps curse.
Monday, August 20, 2012
Sunday, July 15, 2012
5 weeks and counting
Well I've been here for almost 5 weeks, and have almost 5 weeks before I'll be leaving. I definitely feel like I am in the middle of my time: there has been a lull in my project which I foresee picking up soon, I can get around the city with some ease (at least, I know what to ask to get good directions), and I am getting a little sick of the food but at the same time trying to eat all the good stuff because I know soon enough I won't be able to eat it anymore!
My project, per usual, is not going exactly as planned. It's hard to get people to come to the workshops that I am currently doing because it's the schools' winter vacation, and it's frequently cold and rainy. However I have done two full workshops now (I was planning on doing 3 but will probably do 4 because of low turnout), and the parents who came to them have been very receptive and participated a lot.
I was beginning to worry that I wouldn't have enough data to analyze for my thesis because of the smaller amounts of participants than anticipated, but my advisor assured me that all of my field notes about the workshops will also serve as good data, and once I got to thinking about it, I realized I had heard and documented a lot during the workshops! So that's promising. These next weeks will involve finishing (hopefully) two more workshops and doing focus groups and interviews with the parents who participated, and separately with their kids. I'm excited to interact a little bit more with the youth, because until now most of my work has been directly with the parents. It's also exciting to see how these workshops are working out and the potential for their use in the future. Honestly, it seems like a lot would need to be adapted to use them and attract a larger group of parents, but it's exciting to think of the possibilities.
I am also planning on doing interviews with experts in the fields of adolescent health and youth development. I met with the research team at an organization here which is supported by International Planned Parenthood yesterday and they gave me some great contacts. It was really nice for both Vanessa and I to sit with them, discuss doing research in Paraguay and see some of their publications. They do some really important research on reproductive health here, however a ten year USAID grant that had supported their division and the clinic ended in 2009, and since then it has been a struggle for them to find funding. Our conversation just reminded me how ignored Paraguay is!
In other news, we went out dancing for Vanessa's birthday, which was fun. We danced to reggaeton, a little merengue, cumbia, some Brazilian music and ended the night with some "rock," but I sure missed my bachatica! It's also been incredibly cold here (one night I slept with gloves on), but this weekend cleared up and we went to a cute little town that's on the edge of the lake and sells some nice and some tacky ceramics. It was nice to get out and enjoy the weather and fresh air!
My project, per usual, is not going exactly as planned. It's hard to get people to come to the workshops that I am currently doing because it's the schools' winter vacation, and it's frequently cold and rainy. However I have done two full workshops now (I was planning on doing 3 but will probably do 4 because of low turnout), and the parents who came to them have been very receptive and participated a lot.
I was beginning to worry that I wouldn't have enough data to analyze for my thesis because of the smaller amounts of participants than anticipated, but my advisor assured me that all of my field notes about the workshops will also serve as good data, and once I got to thinking about it, I realized I had heard and documented a lot during the workshops! So that's promising. These next weeks will involve finishing (hopefully) two more workshops and doing focus groups and interviews with the parents who participated, and separately with their kids. I'm excited to interact a little bit more with the youth, because until now most of my work has been directly with the parents. It's also exciting to see how these workshops are working out and the potential for their use in the future. Honestly, it seems like a lot would need to be adapted to use them and attract a larger group of parents, but it's exciting to think of the possibilities.
I am also planning on doing interviews with experts in the fields of adolescent health and youth development. I met with the research team at an organization here which is supported by International Planned Parenthood yesterday and they gave me some great contacts. It was really nice for both Vanessa and I to sit with them, discuss doing research in Paraguay and see some of their publications. They do some really important research on reproductive health here, however a ten year USAID grant that had supported their division and the clinic ended in 2009, and since then it has been a struggle for them to find funding. Our conversation just reminded me how ignored Paraguay is!
In other news, we went out dancing for Vanessa's birthday, which was fun. We danced to reggaeton, a little merengue, cumbia, some Brazilian music and ended the night with some "rock," but I sure missed my bachatica! It's also been incredibly cold here (one night I slept with gloves on), but this weekend cleared up and we went to a cute little town that's on the edge of the lake and sells some nice and some tacky ceramics. It was nice to get out and enjoy the weather and fresh air!
Friday, July 13, 2012
Independence Week
A little delayed, but here's a description of my week of 4th of July:
On a nice, sunny, 80 degree Sunday Vanessa and I headed back to the Banado to help out with the organization’s small festival for their patron saint, San Juan (their fiestas patronales, if you will). The branch of the organization who works with mothers who are going back to school was putting on the festival, which involved selling lots of typical Paraguayan foods (yucca empanadas, a cheesy/yucca floury type thing, arroz con leche, and a couple other fried things) as well as selling kids tickets to play games which might win them a prize, and burning life sized dolls at the end. It was fun to help out at the festival and interact a bit with the mothers and their kids. The week before, the branch of the organization which works with adolescents also held a festival, and we helped out there which was fun; usually at these festivals they make a “disco” for the kids and charge to enter. Watching the little 7th and 8th graders at the disco was hilarious, and reminded us of 6th grade dances where all the boys were on one side, the girls on the other, and a couple daring couples in the middle grinding on each other.
The festival at the mothers’ center was different of course. It was mainly filled with little kids and their mothers hanging out and playing games. Towards the end of the night, as per tradition, the organizers brought out two large stuffed dolls. These dolls were meant to be burned, and are usually representing people that the group isn’t very fond of. Well in this case the two dolls were the new president and a lawyer who was involved in the impeachment trial a couple weeks ago. A few teenagers took care of propping them up together and used some cooking oil to help the fire on them spread. Definitely a thrill watching things burn!
At the end of the night most of the moms and kids went home, but a few mothers and some teenagers stuck around and they tried to open up the disco. Unfortunately, not enough people were interested in dancing to really charge to enter. One of the staff at the organization was trying to get people to dance, and given my time in the DR, I jumped in and danced with a couple little kids. We tried to get other people dance too, but once again I was reminded that we were not in the DR, and we couldn’t get anyone to dance for very long. I enjoyed myself nonetheless.
On Wednesday I celebrated our day of independence by attending an “asado” (basically, a barbeque), for my host sister who was turning 22. Because she had to take a test at her university first, the meat didn’t go onto the grill until 9:00 pm, but I didn’t care; I always love watching people put huge chunks of meat on the grill! As we were waiting we all shared some wine, but in a different way than normally at parties, where everyone has their own glass.
Let me give a little background: in Paraguay it is common to drink “terere” which is a cold version of the tea “mate”. You drink both teas through a straw stuck in a small cup. The leaves are already in the cup, and someone will pour hot or cold water into the cup, drink it up, pour more water in and pass it to the next person to drink. It’s common to share between several people, pouring, drinking, and passing for a while until the water in the thermos is gone. Apparently, the tradition doesn’t stop with tea. I had been warned that in Paraguay wine is often mixed with Coke, but when they began to drink wine I was surprised to see that they drink it in a similar way to mate and terere. My host mom filled up a thermos with wine, coke and ice and would pour some into a huge wine glass, filling it maybe a third of the way. She drank maybe one or two sips, then handed it to me. I wasn’t sure how much I was supposed to drink, but soon saw that basically, we were supposed to drink a bit and pass it to the next person, re filling the glass when necessary. Here’s a picture of my host mom, her sister and I; in the corner you can see the huge thermos (which is filled with wine) and the wine glass.
This continued in several different circles the entire night. I enjoyed this kind of communal drinking, despite the fact that my host mom now has a really awful cold and I’d be surprised if I didn’t get it, considering how many times we passed that glass back and forth!
Dinner, which we had around 10:30, was sausage, pieces of the rib, yucca and a cold rice salad, it was great! We then all slowly started going to bed, since my host sister usually wakes up at 4:00 to go to work and the rest of the family starts rising around 5:00. The following two days made it hard to wake up though because it got colder and started to rain off and on. The Banado has streets made of dirt and stones, so when it rains things get really muddy. On top of the cold, the rain makes it a whole lot less likely that people will leave their houses. This is unfortunate for me since I’m at stage in my project where I’m beginning to teach the workshops I hope to evaluate, but in order to really understand what people think of them, they need to actually attend! Of course, when it’s 55 degrees and raining, I don’t want to go walking around in the streets either. A lot of my week next week will include sitting with my organization’s staff people discussing how we can get parents to come to the workshops, calling them to remind them, and figuring out how to best present the workshops so that the most parents possible are able to attend. This reminds m
On a nice, sunny, 80 degree Sunday Vanessa and I headed back to the Banado to help out with the organization’s small festival for their patron saint, San Juan (their fiestas patronales, if you will). The branch of the organization who works with mothers who are going back to school was putting on the festival, which involved selling lots of typical Paraguayan foods (yucca empanadas, a cheesy/yucca floury type thing, arroz con leche, and a couple other fried things) as well as selling kids tickets to play games which might win them a prize, and burning life sized dolls at the end. It was fun to help out at the festival and interact a bit with the mothers and their kids. The week before, the branch of the organization which works with adolescents also held a festival, and we helped out there which was fun; usually at these festivals they make a “disco” for the kids and charge to enter. Watching the little 7th and 8th graders at the disco was hilarious, and reminded us of 6th grade dances where all the boys were on one side, the girls on the other, and a couple daring couples in the middle grinding on each other.
The festival at the mothers’ center was different of course. It was mainly filled with little kids and their mothers hanging out and playing games. Towards the end of the night, as per tradition, the organizers brought out two large stuffed dolls. These dolls were meant to be burned, and are usually representing people that the group isn’t very fond of. Well in this case the two dolls were the new president and a lawyer who was involved in the impeachment trial a couple weeks ago. A few teenagers took care of propping them up together and used some cooking oil to help the fire on them spread. Definitely a thrill watching things burn!
At the end of the night most of the moms and kids went home, but a few mothers and some teenagers stuck around and they tried to open up the disco. Unfortunately, not enough people were interested in dancing to really charge to enter. One of the staff at the organization was trying to get people to dance, and given my time in the DR, I jumped in and danced with a couple little kids. We tried to get other people dance too, but once again I was reminded that we were not in the DR, and we couldn’t get anyone to dance for very long. I enjoyed myself nonetheless.
On Wednesday I celebrated our day of independence by attending an “asado” (basically, a barbeque), for my host sister who was turning 22. Because she had to take a test at her university first, the meat didn’t go onto the grill until 9:00 pm, but I didn’t care; I always love watching people put huge chunks of meat on the grill! As we were waiting we all shared some wine, but in a different way than normally at parties, where everyone has their own glass.
Let me give a little background: in Paraguay it is common to drink “terere” which is a cold version of the tea “mate”. You drink both teas through a straw stuck in a small cup. The leaves are already in the cup, and someone will pour hot or cold water into the cup, drink it up, pour more water in and pass it to the next person to drink. It’s common to share between several people, pouring, drinking, and passing for a while until the water in the thermos is gone. Apparently, the tradition doesn’t stop with tea. I had been warned that in Paraguay wine is often mixed with Coke, but when they began to drink wine I was surprised to see that they drink it in a similar way to mate and terere. My host mom filled up a thermos with wine, coke and ice and would pour some into a huge wine glass, filling it maybe a third of the way. She drank maybe one or two sips, then handed it to me. I wasn’t sure how much I was supposed to drink, but soon saw that basically, we were supposed to drink a bit and pass it to the next person, re filling the glass when necessary. Here’s a picture of my host mom, her sister and I; in the corner you can see the huge thermos (which is filled with wine) and the wine glass.
This continued in several different circles the entire night. I enjoyed this kind of communal drinking, despite the fact that my host mom now has a really awful cold and I’d be surprised if I didn’t get it, considering how many times we passed that glass back and forth!
Dinner, which we had around 10:30, was sausage, pieces of the rib, yucca and a cold rice salad, it was great! We then all slowly started going to bed, since my host sister usually wakes up at 4:00 to go to work and the rest of the family starts rising around 5:00. The following two days made it hard to wake up though because it got colder and started to rain off and on. The Banado has streets made of dirt and stones, so when it rains things get really muddy. On top of the cold, the rain makes it a whole lot less likely that people will leave their houses. This is unfortunate for me since I’m at stage in my project where I’m beginning to teach the workshops I hope to evaluate, but in order to really understand what people think of them, they need to actually attend! Of course, when it’s 55 degrees and raining, I don’t want to go walking around in the streets either. A lot of my week next week will include sitting with my organization’s staff people discussing how we can get parents to come to the workshops, calling them to remind them, and figuring out how to best present the workshops so that the most parents possible are able to attend. This reminds m
Monday, July 2, 2012
An attempt at Tourism
Vanessa and I had been warned before coming that there was not a whole lot to do in Paraguay, that it was really the people that made those who had come enjoy the country. Even though we were prepared for that coming in, by this past weekend after a long week of data collection (if you’re really interested in it, you can see the “boring post” below), we were itching to do something, see SOMETHING cool! I don’t think it helps that every time we get on Facebook one of our peers from school is posting a picture of them in a gorgeous spot, or with a giraffe, or mentioning monkeys in their status updates. Thus far we have seen urban, and urban slums basically. We’ve seen plenty of mice, dogs and cats, but no wild animals.
So Saturday we decided to head to a town that is known for its silver jewelry. We had seen some of the artesanal jewelry in two craft markets in Asunción, and had been told that this town had tons of little jewelry stores lining the streets. A lady at the Instituto Nacional de Salud told us how to get there, telling us it should really only take about 20 minutes. When we got on the bus, we asked the driver to tell us when we were in the center of town. After an hour, and passing through what looked like it might be a downtown, the bus driver looked at us and said, “oh yeah, you passed it”. So we got off, hopped on another bus 10 minutes back to the downtown, and started looking for the jewelry stores. We wandered around a bit through the streets, which were filled with little stores selling everything from baskets to flip-flops to party decorations. We asked around for the jewelry stores, and were directed to another street. The jewelry stores were interspersed with other small stores, had pretty standard chains, trinkets and earrings that you could probably find anywhere. I guess they were real silver, which made them a good deal, but let’s be serious, I couldn’t tell the difference between real and fake silver anyways, so we weren't that impressed with the stores.
After being a bit disappointed, we decided to go to the cementary across the street. Cemetaries are always interesting, and a good fallback if you can’t find anything else interesting to see. We saw some family mausoleums, the little lockers where they store coffins, and plenty of coffins themselves. We felt a little better after that.
That night we decided to go downtown to a famous Paraguayan restaurant and then try to meet up with a Peace Corps Volunteer we had met the week before. The restaurant was nice, decent food and right across from a historic building, however the downtown itself seemed pretty dead. I kept wondering where the music was and why it was so quiet. We headed to an expat bar and did meet a few volunteers, but there was STILL no music, and no dancing to be seen. After our underwhelming day, we decided to call it a night and try again next weekend. On the one hand, I feel better knowing I’m not really missing much; instead I can focus on my work and really understanding the Banado and culture of Paraguay, and enjoy the people, who have been incredibly nice and helpfu. But we’re still going to try and get out and see some things—Lonely Planet promises a few cute towns and nice views around Asuncion. In the meantime, it’s back to the Banado!
Though I said I wasn’t going to compare the DR and Paraguay, I can’t help it so I figure I’ll just embrace it.
Here’s my list thus far:
Things from the DR I wish Paraguay had:
Motoconchos
Rice and beans
Bachata and merengue
No verguenza (embarrassment) about dancing
The tendency to greet everyone as you get on a bus
What Paraguay has that I wish the DR had (in my opinion):
Dulce de leche
Good beef
People saying “Gracias”
No use of the word “Dame” (give me)--Haven't heard it once!
Fewer piropos (catcalls) (I haven’t even received a marriage proposal yet!!)
My real work (warning, this is the "boring" post)
So I guess if I want people to follow what I'm doing here in Paraguay I should actually explain the details of my project; I'm not just following Paraguayan politics and trying to understand the weather here!
As mentioned previously, I am here to pilot a pregnancy prevention program that focuses on the mothers of adolescents, giving them techniques on how to talk to their children and convince them to delay sexual relations, and if they have sex, to use protection. The program itself consists of 3 sessions with mothers, but in order to evaluate whether this program, which has been proven effective in the US, works in Paraguay, I will be doing pre and post tests with both mothers and adolescents, as well as focus groups and interviews with participants and "key informants" who are professionals and experts in the field of adolescent health in in Paraguay.
Whew. So yeah, I began with doing focus groups with adolescent mothers, who gave me some insight into what they thought of parent-teen communication and how parents and schools should teach kids about sexual education. Doing the focus groups was challenging and I learned a lot (that's why I'm doing this, right?). We have been warned consistently that Paraguayans are pretty timid, and indeed trying to get a group of girls who barely knew me to open up about their opinions of communication with parents was not easy. However I did get a lot of interesting information and will be able to use their experiences as some examples for the parents when I work with them.
This week I began doing pre-surveys with parents. If I thought the focus groups were challenging, the surveys were far more challenging. I worked very diligently on formulating the survey so that we were asking the right questions, and spent several hours with a woman at Mil Solidarios going over every single question. I also had my research assistant go over it with me, which I thought would be sufficient to ensure that the survey was ready for the parents who would be attending the workshop. But by the end of the week I still wished I had had more time to work on the surveys, as there were still some questions that were difficult for the mothers to answer.
I was able to survey 35 mothers and some of their sons and daughters this past week. I had originally hoped that most of them could fill the surveys out by themselves, however people in the US are far more used to taking surveys than people are here, so generally we sit with those who are taking the survey and read it question by question, while they fill out their own form. This way they can ask questions and we can further explain if they need help. It's of course more time consuming than I originally thought it would be, but I was happy with my progress!
This week has taught me a lot about data collection, which I guess is one of the "competencies" we're supposed to be learning this summer. But I'm really looking forward to actually beginning to give the workshops and interact in a little bit more relaxed environment with the mothers.
As mentioned previously, I am here to pilot a pregnancy prevention program that focuses on the mothers of adolescents, giving them techniques on how to talk to their children and convince them to delay sexual relations, and if they have sex, to use protection. The program itself consists of 3 sessions with mothers, but in order to evaluate whether this program, which has been proven effective in the US, works in Paraguay, I will be doing pre and post tests with both mothers and adolescents, as well as focus groups and interviews with participants and "key informants" who are professionals and experts in the field of adolescent health in in Paraguay.
Whew. So yeah, I began with doing focus groups with adolescent mothers, who gave me some insight into what they thought of parent-teen communication and how parents and schools should teach kids about sexual education. Doing the focus groups was challenging and I learned a lot (that's why I'm doing this, right?). We have been warned consistently that Paraguayans are pretty timid, and indeed trying to get a group of girls who barely knew me to open up about their opinions of communication with parents was not easy. However I did get a lot of interesting information and will be able to use their experiences as some examples for the parents when I work with them.
This week I began doing pre-surveys with parents. If I thought the focus groups were challenging, the surveys were far more challenging. I worked very diligently on formulating the survey so that we were asking the right questions, and spent several hours with a woman at Mil Solidarios going over every single question. I also had my research assistant go over it with me, which I thought would be sufficient to ensure that the survey was ready for the parents who would be attending the workshop. But by the end of the week I still wished I had had more time to work on the surveys, as there were still some questions that were difficult for the mothers to answer.
I was able to survey 35 mothers and some of their sons and daughters this past week. I had originally hoped that most of them could fill the surveys out by themselves, however people in the US are far more used to taking surveys than people are here, so generally we sit with those who are taking the survey and read it question by question, while they fill out their own form. This way they can ask questions and we can further explain if they need help. It's of course more time consuming than I originally thought it would be, but I was happy with my progress!
This week has taught me a lot about data collection, which I guess is one of the "competencies" we're supposed to be learning this summer. But I'm really looking forward to actually beginning to give the workshops and interact in a little bit more relaxed environment with the mothers.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Politics in Paraguay
All this week I was composing this blog in my head. I was going to describe my living situation, the “Banado” where we are working, list a couple more differences between Paraguay and the DR. But that all changed on Thursday when people began to discuss the impeachment of Paraguay’s president, Fernando Lugo. I’ll preface this explanation by saying that everything I know has been transmitted to me by word of mouth or the Paraguayan press, but there are still a lot of things I’m confused about. Here’s my best attempt to explain the situation:
Lugo has been controversial during his presidency, to say the least. He is an ex-priest, pro liberation theology, while in office admitted to having two illegitimate children, but at the same time brought some beneficial social programs to Paraguay. Given what I knew, and the way people talked about him, I didn’t expect him to be kicked out of office.
On the other hand, politics in Paraguay have not been hunky-dory as of late. Lugo, who belongs to a third party, had to form a coalition with the “Liberal” party to control the government against the “Colorados” when he came into office. That coalition has slowly been weakening to the point of breaking. Last Friday, I was working at the organization I am at in the Banado when we started watching a news story about conflicts over land rights between campesinos and police in a town in the interior of Paraguay. Seventeen people, campesinos and policemen, had been killed. I didn’t realize the severity of the issue; I had heard of previous conflicts over land in that part of the country before, and assumed this was an escalated version of that. But people in the Banado and at the Instituto Nacional de Salud were surprised and frightened by it, and everybody seemed to tell us that this incident implicated something larger for the country. Paraguay is a very pacific country and things of this sort, especially between police and well-armed campesinos (no one knows where they got the weapons from) is rare.
People were still talking about it when we returned to the Banado on Monday, but as far as we knew, it was an isolated incident. Thursday all of the sudden we heard that the “Camera de Diputados” (similar to our house of representatives) had voted to impeach Lugo with only one “Diputado” dissenting. Their reason: mishandeling of the conflict the previous Friday. Lugo would have to prepare his defense and was allowed two hours to present it on Friday. The decision would be made by the Senate by Friday afternoon. Basically, within 36 hours Paraguay could have a new president. People, including many from the Banado and the leader of the community organization we are working with who is a very well known political figure in Paraguay, started flooding the plaza around the government buildings to protest what appeared to them as an undemocratic and unjust process. Thursday night I watched the news with my host family, trying to understand exactly what was happening, why, and how this could unfold and affect the country. Not knowing what the security situation would be like once the decision was made, Vanessa and I decided to travel back to the Instituto Nacional de Salud after lunch on Friday and hunker down there during the proceedings that afternoon.
As we made our way back on the bus, I was surprised that things seemed fairly normal. Our host families were not worried about us riding public transportation. Many buses of people (including our two host moms) had traveled to the plaza that morning to join in the protests, which were largely peaceful. The bus we were on passed about four blocks from the plaza, and though the crowd was not huge (we’ll never know really how many people were there, I heard estimates between 3,000 and 30,000), you could certainly see the entire square filled from where we were watching. We arrived at the INS and tried to get more information and opinions from the staff there. Many of them seemed not to care about politics; they don’t trust politicians and believe they should all be thrown out. Others still said they didn’t care for Lugo but this process seemed completely unjust and undemocratic.
We spent the rest of the evening watching the proceedings in the dorm on TV with several other nurses and doctors who were staying at the dorms as well. The senate voted 34-4 to impeach Lugo. In the meantime, representatives from South American countries had traveled to Paraguay to try to negotiate with the government and prevent the impeachment, as many of those countries saw it as a coup d’etat given the short trial and lack of evidence. Once the verdict was announced, there were several tussles with police in the plaza, and we did see footage of tear gas and hoses sprayed. People dispersed and came back peacefully, things were calmer than I expected. Vanessa and I went out to eat dinner and if it weren’t for the televisions broadcasting the news, you would have never known that an impeachment/coup d’etat just happened. Lugo gave a speech on his way out, calling for non-violence, and the vice president from the Liberal party was sworn in as president. Needless to say, his supporters were thrilled (it’s worth mentioning that his wife is a diputada and also voted for impeachment).
Yesterday things were calm and Vanessa and I kept checking the news to make sure there wasn’t any violence. Thus far, there have been some protests but things have been peaceful. We even went to the mall, where people were going about their daily business, and only heard several people mention Lugo or Franco (the new president). The news has been covering other countries’ reactions to the impeachment/coup: many Latin American countries are refusing to recognize the new president because of the manner in which he came to power. Argentina has officially removed their ambassador and Brasil and Uruguay have called their ambassadors back to their respective countries. The union of South American countries will be meeting this week to decide what further measures to take against Paraguay. What could happen is not yet clear, but if measures are taken it could mean some hard times for the country, since they rely on the other countries for trade and energy.
Vanessa and I have been following everything with a certain fascination. We were at first horrified that a “democratic” government would do such a thing. Given that the dictatorship is only a thing of the recent past, this incident for us suggests that Paraguay is not completely a democracy yet. The Senate and “Camera de Diputados” are not directly elected, rather they are chosen by the party depending on the amount of votes each party gets in an election. The president, on the other hand is directly elected. For the legislature to be able to oust a democratically elected president in such a short time seens unjust.
Another remnant of the dictatorship was seen in the plaza. Over ten years ago there was another protest in the plaza, and things got violent. Snipers that had been placed on the roofs of the buildings shot into the crowd and killed 8 people. This was the government killing its own people. No one had forgotten that incident when the most recent protests began, and people were quick to point out that there were once again snipers on the roofs. It’s hard to tell really why people were so peaceful; was it because they really are a peaceful country (I’ve seen plenty of evidence of this)? Or because they really don’t believe enough in the politics and politicians of their country to fight for them? Or because they were afraid that they might be shot on if they tried to show their feelings in any other way? (I must admit that I’ve been reading the Hunger Games this past week, and perhaps that’s influenced my paranoia a bit, I can’t really say :) ) It's hard to understand what the majority of the population think about this situation, given that I don’t understand everything that has gone on and have only spent several weeks here thus far. I will say this, it’s been a lesson in democracy for me, and I imagine this event, which happened so quickly, could affect Paraguay in a very big way for quite some time.
In case you’re wondering, Vanessa and I are completely safe. Emory/Rollins have been checking up on us constantly since they found out about the impeachment (we appreciate it, however find it a bit comical that the Deans of our school are being copied on all the emails, making it seem urgent, when we went to the mall the other day, are completely safe in our dorms, and see no real threat). We have been checking up on the Embassy website (they have not even issued any warnings after the impeachment Friday) and I have been in contact with a couple of Peace Corps people who have said they are not worried about their volunteers either. So in sum, we’re safe. I’ll keep you all updated and hope to be able to write more about the Banado and my actual work soon.
For a better, comprehensive overview of the situation, here's an article from the NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/24/world/americas/in-paraguay-democracys-all-too-speedy-trial.html?_r=1&ref=world
Lugo has been controversial during his presidency, to say the least. He is an ex-priest, pro liberation theology, while in office admitted to having two illegitimate children, but at the same time brought some beneficial social programs to Paraguay. Given what I knew, and the way people talked about him, I didn’t expect him to be kicked out of office.
On the other hand, politics in Paraguay have not been hunky-dory as of late. Lugo, who belongs to a third party, had to form a coalition with the “Liberal” party to control the government against the “Colorados” when he came into office. That coalition has slowly been weakening to the point of breaking. Last Friday, I was working at the organization I am at in the Banado when we started watching a news story about conflicts over land rights between campesinos and police in a town in the interior of Paraguay. Seventeen people, campesinos and policemen, had been killed. I didn’t realize the severity of the issue; I had heard of previous conflicts over land in that part of the country before, and assumed this was an escalated version of that. But people in the Banado and at the Instituto Nacional de Salud were surprised and frightened by it, and everybody seemed to tell us that this incident implicated something larger for the country. Paraguay is a very pacific country and things of this sort, especially between police and well-armed campesinos (no one knows where they got the weapons from) is rare.
People were still talking about it when we returned to the Banado on Monday, but as far as we knew, it was an isolated incident. Thursday all of the sudden we heard that the “Camera de Diputados” (similar to our house of representatives) had voted to impeach Lugo with only one “Diputado” dissenting. Their reason: mishandeling of the conflict the previous Friday. Lugo would have to prepare his defense and was allowed two hours to present it on Friday. The decision would be made by the Senate by Friday afternoon. Basically, within 36 hours Paraguay could have a new president. People, including many from the Banado and the leader of the community organization we are working with who is a very well known political figure in Paraguay, started flooding the plaza around the government buildings to protest what appeared to them as an undemocratic and unjust process. Thursday night I watched the news with my host family, trying to understand exactly what was happening, why, and how this could unfold and affect the country. Not knowing what the security situation would be like once the decision was made, Vanessa and I decided to travel back to the Instituto Nacional de Salud after lunch on Friday and hunker down there during the proceedings that afternoon.
As we made our way back on the bus, I was surprised that things seemed fairly normal. Our host families were not worried about us riding public transportation. Many buses of people (including our two host moms) had traveled to the plaza that morning to join in the protests, which were largely peaceful. The bus we were on passed about four blocks from the plaza, and though the crowd was not huge (we’ll never know really how many people were there, I heard estimates between 3,000 and 30,000), you could certainly see the entire square filled from where we were watching. We arrived at the INS and tried to get more information and opinions from the staff there. Many of them seemed not to care about politics; they don’t trust politicians and believe they should all be thrown out. Others still said they didn’t care for Lugo but this process seemed completely unjust and undemocratic.
We spent the rest of the evening watching the proceedings in the dorm on TV with several other nurses and doctors who were staying at the dorms as well. The senate voted 34-4 to impeach Lugo. In the meantime, representatives from South American countries had traveled to Paraguay to try to negotiate with the government and prevent the impeachment, as many of those countries saw it as a coup d’etat given the short trial and lack of evidence. Once the verdict was announced, there were several tussles with police in the plaza, and we did see footage of tear gas and hoses sprayed. People dispersed and came back peacefully, things were calmer than I expected. Vanessa and I went out to eat dinner and if it weren’t for the televisions broadcasting the news, you would have never known that an impeachment/coup d’etat just happened. Lugo gave a speech on his way out, calling for non-violence, and the vice president from the Liberal party was sworn in as president. Needless to say, his supporters were thrilled (it’s worth mentioning that his wife is a diputada and also voted for impeachment).
Yesterday things were calm and Vanessa and I kept checking the news to make sure there wasn’t any violence. Thus far, there have been some protests but things have been peaceful. We even went to the mall, where people were going about their daily business, and only heard several people mention Lugo or Franco (the new president). The news has been covering other countries’ reactions to the impeachment/coup: many Latin American countries are refusing to recognize the new president because of the manner in which he came to power. Argentina has officially removed their ambassador and Brasil and Uruguay have called their ambassadors back to their respective countries. The union of South American countries will be meeting this week to decide what further measures to take against Paraguay. What could happen is not yet clear, but if measures are taken it could mean some hard times for the country, since they rely on the other countries for trade and energy.
Vanessa and I have been following everything with a certain fascination. We were at first horrified that a “democratic” government would do such a thing. Given that the dictatorship is only a thing of the recent past, this incident for us suggests that Paraguay is not completely a democracy yet. The Senate and “Camera de Diputados” are not directly elected, rather they are chosen by the party depending on the amount of votes each party gets in an election. The president, on the other hand is directly elected. For the legislature to be able to oust a democratically elected president in such a short time seens unjust.
Another remnant of the dictatorship was seen in the plaza. Over ten years ago there was another protest in the plaza, and things got violent. Snipers that had been placed on the roofs of the buildings shot into the crowd and killed 8 people. This was the government killing its own people. No one had forgotten that incident when the most recent protests began, and people were quick to point out that there were once again snipers on the roofs. It’s hard to tell really why people were so peaceful; was it because they really are a peaceful country (I’ve seen plenty of evidence of this)? Or because they really don’t believe enough in the politics and politicians of their country to fight for them? Or because they were afraid that they might be shot on if they tried to show their feelings in any other way? (I must admit that I’ve been reading the Hunger Games this past week, and perhaps that’s influenced my paranoia a bit, I can’t really say :) ) It's hard to understand what the majority of the population think about this situation, given that I don’t understand everything that has gone on and have only spent several weeks here thus far. I will say this, it’s been a lesson in democracy for me, and I imagine this event, which happened so quickly, could affect Paraguay in a very big way for quite some time.
In case you’re wondering, Vanessa and I are completely safe. Emory/Rollins have been checking up on us constantly since they found out about the impeachment (we appreciate it, however find it a bit comical that the Deans of our school are being copied on all the emails, making it seem urgent, when we went to the mall the other day, are completely safe in our dorms, and see no real threat). We have been checking up on the Embassy website (they have not even issued any warnings after the impeachment Friday) and I have been in contact with a couple of Peace Corps people who have said they are not worried about their volunteers either. So in sum, we’re safe. I’ll keep you all updated and hope to be able to write more about the Banado and my actual work soon.
For a better, comprehensive overview of the situation, here's an article from the NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/24/world/americas/in-paraguay-democracys-all-too-speedy-trial.html?_r=1&ref=world
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Those details I should have known earlier
The month before coming to Paraguay I had many people ask me about the basics of the country: population, elevation, temperature, etc... I didn't really have any answers for them, partially because I hadn't done much research on the country itself (though I can tell you all about the adolescent pregnancy rate in PY), and partially because Paraguay isn't necessarily a tourist destination, which means there is not a whole lot of travel literature out there about the country. So here's what I've learned and know this far:
Population: 6.5 million, of which almost 2 million live in and near Asuncion
Elevation/Climate: I'm still not really sure about the elevation, but for some reason I thought it was going to be dry, which it isn't. Even though we're here in winter, it still feels a bit tropical with lots of fruit trees and greenery.
Temperature: Because we're in the Southern hemisphere, it's technically the winter here right now. The past week that I've been here it's actually been between 75 and 85 degrees the whole time, but it's supposed to get colder this week, down to the 60s which doesn't seem that bad until you realize none of the houses are well insulated or have heating. In the summers, temperatures can reach over 100 for days on end, so the houses are designed keep cool in the summers and keep just a little bit of the cold out in the winters. I brought wool socks and a sleeping bag.
To do: Well, everyone has told me there's not a lot to do in Paraguay except see the Iguazu Falls, which I have already seen. The day after I arrived Vanessa and I went to the presidential palace and downtown area where we also saw the legislative palace and walked through a short little market for tourists. We felt a bit like tourists, but this outing was the extent of my tourism here thus far. There are a couple other small towns that we might visit in the future that are also somewhat touristy. It's actually kind of refreshing to be somewhere that isn't teeming with Americans and Europeans snapping pictures.
So that's still about all I know. Where we are staying in Asuncion is actually a somewhat suburban neighborhood, so we are not in the heart of the city, where I imagine we might see more. I imagine we will find some other things to do and see while we are here as time goes on.
Population: 6.5 million, of which almost 2 million live in and near Asuncion
Elevation/Climate: I'm still not really sure about the elevation, but for some reason I thought it was going to be dry, which it isn't. Even though we're here in winter, it still feels a bit tropical with lots of fruit trees and greenery.
Temperature: Because we're in the Southern hemisphere, it's technically the winter here right now. The past week that I've been here it's actually been between 75 and 85 degrees the whole time, but it's supposed to get colder this week, down to the 60s which doesn't seem that bad until you realize none of the houses are well insulated or have heating. In the summers, temperatures can reach over 100 for days on end, so the houses are designed keep cool in the summers and keep just a little bit of the cold out in the winters. I brought wool socks and a sleeping bag.
To do: Well, everyone has told me there's not a lot to do in Paraguay except see the Iguazu Falls, which I have already seen. The day after I arrived Vanessa and I went to the presidential palace and downtown area where we also saw the legislative palace and walked through a short little market for tourists. We felt a bit like tourists, but this outing was the extent of my tourism here thus far. There are a couple other small towns that we might visit in the future that are also somewhat touristy. It's actually kind of refreshing to be somewhere that isn't teeming with Americans and Europeans snapping pictures.
So that's still about all I know. Where we are staying in Asuncion is actually a somewhat suburban neighborhood, so we are not in the heart of the city, where I imagine we might see more. I imagine we will find some other things to do and see while we are here as time goes on.
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