Week One In Site

Training is over and all of us are on our own, in our sites just trying to figure out what’s going on and desperately trying to find a place to call home. I’m lucky because I’m in a relatively big site with a population of 45,000 and an ample amount of resources. I’ve just finished my first week in site and definitely feel exhausted but very excited about the potential for growth here in Rivas.

My week started with an early bus ride to Granada, about 1 ½ hours away to the office of Opportunity International (OI), an NGO I’m working with here in Rivas to establish an office and presence in the community. OI provides project assessment, planning and support to pre-existing clients of a microfinance organization called ASODENIC. There are many microfinance organizations here who can provide small loans but can’t provide the project support. Needless to say, it’s imperative and it’s my hope as a PCV to help with that. I’m identifying clients whom we can invite to the office for workshops on basic business concepts such as accounting, cost of production, cashflow, market study, etc. I’m looking to train key community members so that they can bring the information back to their communities to share with family members and other business owners. I’m currently working on a seasonal calendar and community diagnosis to identify potential challenges in getting training sessions started during certain parts of the year due to crop harvests, school vacations, national holidays, water shortages, etc. In the case that the people can’t make it to sessions because they can’t leave their kids at home with someone or have a business to run, etc., I’m looking into traveling to their village/town to give these lessons—in other words, bringing the resource to them.

Scheduling has been incredibly challenging because I’m teaching 6 sections of 4th year classes in the public high school and 2, 3rd year classes at the private school. In addition, I have to factor in the time I need to review the material before having planning sessions with my counterpart teachers, preparing teaching materials and trying to answer any questions or address doubts they have on the lesson. In addition, I am working with a local women’s center and we’re trying to organize times for me to work with the youth on HIV/AIDS prevention and perhaps doing a collaborative community project.

I happened to stumble upon a start-up restaurant run by a woman from El Salvador, named Susana. Her husband was assigned here to work in the free zone by his company and she and her 8 year old son, Kevin, followed. They now live about 3 blocks north of the house where I am staying. I’ve arranged to have lunch and dinner at Susana’s and have started chatted with her about calculating the cost of production, how to promote, and how to get the human resources she needs to grow her business. She seems interested and I’m excited about this project.

I have been looking into housing options here but because I’m in a department capital, rent is incredibly expensive and there aren’t many places to rent either. I’m looking at a couple places but nothing in my price range. Hopefully everything works out in 5 weeks. Until my next post, adios!