here's a little clip of what my work entails. (and no i'm not in the video, but wish i could've been)
We had a clean up day of my town and Peace Corps was invited to participate. This happened in June and i just now am getting this video up. oops! the footage was taken with my digital camera so the quality is so so. Overall it was a good day. I learned a lot about Bolivians and their views on trash. They have an out- of- site, out- of- mind attitude and who's to blame them, no one's taught them it could be damaging to their health and future children so i thought it was really funny when one of the PC volunteers told me that a lady asked her while she was picking up trash we (meaning Peace Corps and the JICA volunteers) were going to be doing this EVERY week for the town! (ha!) I imagine everyone in my town was thinking "oh how nice! the gringos and japonesas have come to clean our town FOR FREE!!!" Goes to show how the lack of explaining of your purpose really impacts the outcome of the project.
If it's one thing i've learned from this little project, it is to make it very obvious the purpose of my project to everyone involved. The people had no idea that Clean up day was to help rid the community of pesky flies and mosquitos and other animals that could cause diseases and to better the health of the entire community. Oh well, they got a free clean up and unfortunately it's back to the same old thing, people still dumping stuff into the river (one of our water sources), into the streets (where stray dog run rampant), and all around their yards (where their children put everything and anything into their mouths).
I'm going to try address this problem again, but instead of teaching trash management, it's going to be simple recycling (where cash is involved). Maybe this will become sustainable. I've got a feeling it could happen b/c i've got a man with great influence that works in the mayor's office backing up my project and the support of my surrounding PC friends. Plus, i've been working on this thing since July! Believe it or not, i knew it'd take this long and to my content everything's running right on schedule! (big smile -i think i've finally met the right person in the mayor's office and figured out the Bolivian concept of time to help me get things done and to keep me from feeling like a complete failure! ha!)
Here's wishing me luck, eh, what do i need it for? It's in the bag!!!!!
We had a clean up day of my town and Peace Corps was invited to participate. This happened in June and i just now am getting this video up. oops! the footage was taken with my digital camera so the quality is so so. Overall it was a good day. I learned a lot about Bolivians and their views on trash. They have an out- of- site, out- of- mind attitude and who's to blame them, no one's taught them it could be damaging to their health and future children so i thought it was really funny when one of the PC volunteers told me that a lady asked her while she was picking up trash we (meaning Peace Corps and the JICA volunteers) were going to be doing this EVERY week for the town! (ha!) I imagine everyone in my town was thinking "oh how nice! the gringos and japonesas have come to clean our town FOR FREE!!!" Goes to show how the lack of explaining of your purpose really impacts the outcome of the project.
If it's one thing i've learned from this little project, it is to make it very obvious the purpose of my project to everyone involved. The people had no idea that Clean up day was to help rid the community of pesky flies and mosquitos and other animals that could cause diseases and to better the health of the entire community. Oh well, they got a free clean up and unfortunately it's back to the same old thing, people still dumping stuff into the river (one of our water sources), into the streets (where stray dog run rampant), and all around their yards (where their children put everything and anything into their mouths).
I'm going to try address this problem again, but instead of teaching trash management, it's going to be simple recycling (where cash is involved). Maybe this will become sustainable. I've got a feeling it could happen b/c i've got a man with great influence that works in the mayor's office backing up my project and the support of my surrounding PC friends. Plus, i've been working on this thing since July! Believe it or not, i knew it'd take this long and to my content everything's running right on schedule! (big smile -i think i've finally met the right person in the mayor's office and figured out the Bolivian concept of time to help me get things done and to keep me from feeling like a complete failure! ha!)
Here's wishing me luck, eh, what do i need it for? It's in the bag!!!!!
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