RIP Good Friend

Cora Roxana Cavanaugh

November 1, 2011 – April 29, 2013

Gifted to me as an early Christmas present my first Christmas in Ecuador, little Cora was only a few weeks old and a tiny little ball of fur when she came to me. Saving her from being killed by owners who didn’t want her, the nearest volunteer gifted her to me to save the little pup with a heart-shaped spot on her side. The name Cora quickly emerged from the spot, standing for “Corazon,” or “heart” in Spanish. Cora quickly grew into my heart and the heart of the kids in the community.

Being so tiny, Cora went everywhere with me those first few months. She was conveniently pocket-sized and caused many looks of surprise when she popped her head out of my purse in the grocery stores and internet cafes when we went to in Azogues on Saturdays. She and Nayeli quickly became good friends and the three of us spent all of our free time together, trying to train Cora, playing fetch and tag, or just parading her around town on her leash.

Cora certainly didn’t stay little for long! After just a few months she was too big to carry up and down the stairs to my room, so she had to learn to brave the mean dogs at the door by herself. Beginning to take up too much of the bed, the little baby also had to learn how to sleep alone on the floor. There were exceptions of course, such as when my mom visited and Cora felt too left out to stay on the floor, so she came into the bed with me and my mom so that everyone could get a good night of sleep!

When Cora and I moved to Chibuleo, she instantly became a star and helped me integrate into the new community. All of the kids loved the clean, friendly puppy that liked to play. I think everyone knew her name before mine, but they talked to me out of curiosity about her and I quickly felt comfortable in the new community. Cora also settled in easily, becoming best friends with Precioso, my host family’s dog, and the duck, Mr. Pato.

Cora became a free dog in Chibuleo, running around on the basketball court, chasing soccer balls with the kids, eating lunch at the foundation, making trips with the host family to milk the cow or move the sheep, or following the grandpa on his walks. She wandered all over, enjoying her freedom and friends, but never failed to be at the door with her shiny eyes and wagging tail when I got home.

One of Cora’s favorite games that she picked up in the last few months was playing fetch. Unlike an American dog, however, Cora wanted nothing to do with the fancy tennis balls and squeaking balls that people brought her from the States. What did she want? Rocks. Cora loved nothing more than to chase little rocks and pebbles along the road when we were walking to or from the foundation, a game that my host family, all the kids, and random passersby would join in!

Cora and Precioso both passed away on the 29^th after a bad encounter with poison. While everyone is sad that she is gone, I would not have changed any of my time with Cora. We were both there for each other in our greatest times of need and I will forever be grateful for what Cora did for me in our short time together. Rest in peace my little Corita <3

Play and Work

So many fun and exciting things have happened in the past 6 weeks; both teams from San Pedro were the soccer champs, my host brother got married, and I have been having fun with all of my work.

The wedding was a huge ordeal at our house and was a ton of fun. I was a bridesmaid for Santiago and Jessica’s wedding, which was a very nice double ceremony for their wedding and the baptism of their daughter Rashel. The after party was held in my house in San Pedro, so everything was moved out of the first floor rooms (mine included) to leave space for us to dance the night away! There were 5 guinea pigs, 60 chickens and a full pig cooked for dinner, four cakes served, and music until 8:30am the next morning. It was my first wedding here in Ecuador and so fun to be a part of the family and festivities!

Around the same time were the fiestas in Ambato and Carnaval. Carlos and I went to Carnaval in Guaranda, which is the biggest fiesta in the country, and met up with about 30 of my Peace Corps friends. We spent two days there watching the parades, “playing” Carnaval with foam spray, flour and water, and just enjoying the company of all my friends. Two days was enough and we went back to Ambato in time for the last day of the fiesta of fruits and flowers to watch the beautiful parade with elaborate, amazing floats.

After a months of festivities (they seemed to last from Christmas through mid-February), it was back to work. I spent a week working at a hospital in Ambato with American doctors who came to give free pediatric orthopedic surgeries, braces, splints, wheelchairs, prosthetics, rehab and care. The team who came were wonderful and it was an amazing week working both with the Americans and all of the kids they helped this year and continue to help from years past.

Now I am back at work at KNH for my last few months, trying to do as much as I can with the kids. I am doing a lot of different health talks and workshops with them, mixed in with other fun activities. Just today I began to teach them how to play lacrosse because I had a few lacrosse sticks donated – we are all having a lot of fun with it! Next week I am taking two girls with me to a workshop in Quito to learn different recycled crafts, strategies for youth groups, etc. It should be interesting and the girls are really excited to go to Tumbaco with me for 4 days!

Dalila is getting cuter by the day and she and Cora are now BFFs. Dalila spends her time calling Cora a horse and trying to ride her around the yard! Everyone else in the family is great too. 'Indor' soccer is a lot of fun with my host sisters and Shannon, and my host mom is as sweet as ever. I am spending a lot of time with them because the months seem to be flying by and before I know it I will be leaving Chibuleo. It is still unclear what I will do once I leave Chibuleo, but I am looking into my options and trying to enjoy the present.

I hope all is well there and everyone in CO is enjoying the snow!

 

Un abrazo,

Kerry

Futbol, Familia and Friends

Sorry it has been so long since I’ve written, but things got very busy with the holidays. A last minute decision, I got to go home for a week for Christmas! It was wonderful to see my family and friends, be home for the holidays, and have a white Christmas J

I was only there for a week, but it was a great time to relax, catch up, make a quick trip to Santa Fe, and enjoy the holidays in a familiar fashion.

I am now back and in the full swing of work at KNH for the month of January. We have the big annual presentation on Tuesday that details everything that happened in the foundation during the year 2012. The authorities from the national office and other guests are coming for the presentation, which has become a mini-theatrical type performance with the kids. It has been a ton of work, so I have only been at the foundation this month, taking a break from the elementary school and high school.

I have three more days to prepare with the kids, plus get all my parts rehearsed for my 20 minutes of presentation in Spanish. The kids don’t have to present too often like this, so it is challenging to get them to memorize lines, speak loudly and clearly, and be animated. We will see how it turns out!

It worked out that I am taking this month off from the school and high school because in February everyone is on vacation for the end of the semester. That means that I have the whole first half of February free, which should be fun because during that time is Carnaval and the fiestas of Ambato. First I am going to visit Katrina in her site in the coastal region to help with some Dengue prevention training at her health center and with her group of health volunteers. I am excited to go visit her and see her site, have a little bit of warmth (although I hear it is sweltering right now…), and do some different work for a few days. The visit is long overdue since she has now visited me in both of my sites, so it should be great!

The plan right now is to go to Guaranda for one night during Carnaval to see the biggest parade/celebration in the country, which is great because I am so close to Guaranda this year. The other days I will spend in Ambato, going to the fiestas, toros, etc. It is the festival of fruits and flowers in Ambato, so I’m excited to see what it’s like!

After vacation is over in mid-February, it will be back to work. I’m excited to get back to the high school because I will begin with teacher trainings. The plan is that I will give workshops once a week or every other week about the sex ed classes and the teachers will then replicated the workshop in their classes with grades 10-13. I’m a little skeptical of how much support I will get from the high school because we have been talking about it for a long time and it still has not begun, but I’m still hopeful because this will really help make the project more sustainable and help them progress into teaching sex ed each year to the incoming students. Time is passing quickly, so I only have a few more months to try and get things going and self-sustaining.

Outside of work, there is soccer! One Sunday my women’s team and our co-men’s team both play in the championship game, so hopefully San Pedro will be all around champions this year. It has been so fun playing on the team, meeting new women and sharing in the favorite pastime on Sundays. Luckily I think the new season begins again in 1-2 months, and in the meantime I’m playing on an “indor” team in San Pedro where we play on the basketball court with fewer players and a mini ball. I am playing on a team with my host sisters, host cousins, and Shannon! Last week was the inauguration of the season which included the parade of the teams onto the court, the announcements and the election of the “Senoritas de Deportes.” I was the candidate for my team so I got to participate in my first reina pageant, which was quite something. It was fun because all the women on my team are so funny and energetic, so we just had fun with it. It was nice to participate in the tradition once, but I must say I am okay that we don’t have the reina pageants for every event in the US.

Those are the updates for now. I am just working to enjoy the time I have left here with my host family, Carlos and my Peace Corps friends, see as much as I can of this beautiful country, and continue to develop my projects with a goal of reaching some level of sustainability. I hope all is well with everyone at home!

Un Abrazo,

 

Kerry

Picture Update!

 Mom and Dad in Ecuador :)

 Visiting Chibuleo

 Mom teaching her brownie recipe to the kids at the foundation

 Dad playing with Dalila at the foundation

 Meeting with my KNH boss, Teresita, and my Peace Corps boss, Rebecca

 My dance crew!

 Mom and Dalila!

 Mom crowned ¨Rey Pan¨ the king of bread for our Day of the Departed celebration

 Dad teaching the kids where Colorado is

 Learning the traditional game with tops

 My two families :)

Best buds

Visitors in Chibuleo

These past few weeks have been both busy and wonderful. Mom and Dad came and it was so great to spend 10 full days with them in a few parts of Ecuador. We spent a couple of days in Quito just hanging out, then went to the Ambato area where we had some adventures and they got a peak into my life. We spent two days at the foundation in Chibuleo, which was perfect! My parents met all the teachers at the elementary school where I work, my boss and coworkers at the foundation, my Peace Corps boss, and my host family. We had a lot going on with the Day of the Dead celebrations, which was also fun to have them there for.  I was so happy to have the chance to share my life in Chibuleo with them – it is hard to share all the realities of things, so now they had the chance to make sense of all that I have told them!

Everyone in Chibuleo was so excited for the visit and talked about it for weeks ahead of time and continue to talk about it weeks later. My parents were a big hit with the kids, my mom teaching the cooking group how to bake brownies and my dad repeatedly pointing out where Colorado is on the huge world map mural. They got to share in my annual visit from my Peace Corps boss and see more of the Peace Corps process, then we had a special lunch for Day of the Dead with guaguas de pan and colada morada, the typical food for the day. My kids and I performed our dance for them, then we spent time hanging out with the host family. I am still so thrilled that they came and my two worlds are a little more intertwined now.

From there, my parents and I went to the beach! We went to Puerto Lopez, but it is after the whale season. We did get to do an incredible bird-watching hike along a river where we saw about 40 species of birds within 2 hours, including one of the rarest endangered hummingbirds of Ecuador! We stayed at a lovely little hostel where we spent time on the balcony by the ocean of laying in the hammocks on the beach. The weather wasn’t hot, but it certainly beat the cold of Chibuleo and the first snow in Colorado!
We spent a few more nights in Quito where we met up with Darcy before my parents headed back to the States. Even though the time flew, the trip was perfect and I had such a great time! I also know that time will continue flying, so I’ll see my parents again before we know it.

Once my parents left, Darcy and I came back to Ambato for election night (whew!), and then spent a few days in Chibuleo. Darcy seemed to really like Chibuleo, got to practice her Spanish a lot with the kids, and everything went really well! My host family was wonderful with all of the visitors, which isn’t surprising because of how sweet they are. They continue to ask me when Darcy will be back, so hopefully we can work something out!

On Saturday we went to a big parade in the city of Latacunga called the “Mama Negra.” It is an annual celebration that basically just showcases the wealthiest people in the city, but they throw a huge fiesta for everyone. The parade lasted for about 4 hours and there were tons of bands, dances with people in traditional attire, elected queens and more. There were tons of groups dressed up with bundles of herbs, sticks and bottles of alcohol who acted as the healers. They selected spectators of the parade, pulled them into the street and did a “traditional cleaning” with some chanting and spitting of alcohol onto the person. Of course being gringas, we were selected many times. The parade was one of the best fiestas I’ve been to so far!
On Sunday I went to my first professional soccer game here with Carlos and his family. It was Macara vs. one of the teams in Quito and it was a lot of fun. Even though Macara lost and they are all die-hard fans, it was still a good time! I hung out in Ambato until Monday evening because Ambato was in fiestas, so there was no work on Monday. There was another parade in Ambato, but I was paraded out after the Mama Negra, so I just watched a little bit on TV.

I am now finally back at work where thing s will settle down and normalize a little bit. I have a lot of work to do, but am excited for it all. After my meeting with my Peace Corps boss, I am going to try to refocus a little bit in the training of teachers rather than only working with the kids. This will hopefully help to try and make some of my programs and lessons more sustainable after I leave. The tricky part is finding people who are interested and want to spend the time working with me. We will see!

Everything else is going really well – my host family continues to be wonderful and I am so happy to live here. I love spending time in Ambato too, getting away and spending time with others. The holidays are coming up and I am looking forward to Thanksgiving with some of my Peace Corps family (even though we are celebrating the Saturday after – I will be bringing REAL pumpkin pie thanks to mom and dad’s gift of canned pumpkin!). Darcy and I will spend Christmas together and New Year’s is always exciting in Ecuador, regardless of where I end up. While I still miss home, the holidays won’t be nearly as lonely this year being surrounded by people I love.

I hope all is well with everyone there!

Un abrazo,
Kerry

Photo Update

Darcy and me at the Basilica in Quito

 Cora making friends

 On the clearest of days, the volcanoes of Karyhuayasco and Chimborazo are visible!

 Presentation of my work at the MidService Conference

 The harvesting of the radishes!

 Nutrition Charla on the day of the visit from a Washington DC boss

Re-enactment of the three little pigs during storytime!


These are a few quick photo updates - hopefully there will be more to come soon!

Un Abrazo,

Kerry

Fully Engaged

The school year has begun and is flying by! I can’t believe it is already mid-October – scary and exciting all at the same time. Just a month ago we had our midservice conference at the training center in Tumbaco. All remaining volunteers from my training group were there and we spent the week reflecting on our first year, preparing for our second year, and sharing our successes, failures, and project ideas with everyone. It was wonderful to see everyone again and really empowering to learn about all the different projects people have going. While we may not be making a huge difference on an individual level, there are a lot of amazing things happening as a whole in Peace Corps Ecuador!

Leaving the conference, I was inspired to get things going here in Chibuleo, and they started going fast! I have now fallen into a somewhat regular routine. On Mondays and Thursdays I spend 5 hours at the high school giving lifeskills and sex ed classes to the three 8^th grade and three 9^th grade classes. We are only a few weeks in, but I have found it to be really meaningful work. I did an evaluation during the first class and the lack of sex ed knowledge is horrifying. I am hoping to at least put a dent in it and most importantly, create a space in which the kids can ask questions without fear or embarrassment and get the information they really need.

I spend 6 hours on Tuesday mornings at the local elementary school that is just outside of my front door. I am the profesora de cultera estetica, which is essentially arts and crafts! So far we have learned symmetry, texture, figures, and origami butterflies. It is really a lot of fun, the kids love it, and since they’ve never really had art classes, I can do basic things so I have enough of a skill-set for it. If anyone has ideas for arts and crafts with very limited resources, PLEASE send them my way! I always loved arts and crafts as a kid, but I realize that weekly projects are a lot and that I am going to quickly run out of ideas…

I agreed to help with English classes one hour a week, so I spend an hour on Wednesday mornings with the 7^th grade class at the elementary school. I teach them a few basic things, then help them with the homework they have from their actual English professor. They begged me to help since the kids from my school tend to be far behind when they enter into the high school. Although I know very little about teaching English, I have at least been able to help with begin with basics that they are lacking. After my English class I go up to the foundation where I have a Kichwa class for myself! One of the educators at the foundation is tutoring me in Kichwa so I can have a basic foundation of the native language spoken here in Chibuleo. I am taking an hour of class on Wednesday and Friday mornings. So far it is going well, although it is nothing like any Germanic or romance language, so it is slow learning for me.

On top of all of this, I spend every afternoon at the foundation with the kids. There are a lot of plans for things this year, but it has been slow starting at the foundation. Since it is the beginning of the year, there are a lot of things to be done and organized, which unfortunately doesn’t leave me as much time as I would like with the kids, but hopefully that will change in the next few weeks. One thing I have been doing with them is reading! The kids didn’t have a single storybook at the foundation or any interest in reading, but that is changing. I convinced the foundation to buy us 15 simple little fairytale books and I have storytime with the younger kids after they finish their homework. They now all go upstairs right after lunch to do their homework quickly so they can participate! The other day I made little paper ears and noses and some of the kids acted out the 3 little pigs while I read it. They loved it, so hopefully I will be able to put together more activities with the stories. I am also on the hunt for simple books to help the kids who are behind grade level learn to read better. Hopefully they will become book enthusiasts for life!

There are lots of exciting things happening right now. First, Darcy is in Ecuador! She came last week and I have gotten to spend a little time with her since. Carlos and I went to get her at the airport in Quito, then we spent the next day in Quito showing her around a bit. We didn’t have a lot of time, but we went to the Basilica, which I LOVE and neither of them had ever been to. It was a clear day, so we had a beautiful view of the whole city from the top of the clock tower. From there we took Darcy to the airport because she went to Cuenca to start language school, but we went to visit her there this past weekend too. It seems like she is doing well, enjoying it so far. I’m excited for her to visit Chibuleo so she can see what my life and work is like here!

Mom and Dad come to visit in just 8 days!! I am so excited to see them, take some vacation time, show them Chibuleo, and just spend a wonderful 10 days together. There is so much to do and see in the tiny country of Ecuador, but they will mostly be spending time around the Chibuleo area with a quick jaunt to the beach J

I also got a call last week that Liam and Jamie got engaged! I am so, so happy for my favorite big brother and can’t think of anyone better to have in the family than Jamie. I know they will have an incredible life together, and I can wait for my next trip home for the wedding!

That’s all for now – things are going to continue to be busy until, oh, next May. I couldn’t be happier with the work and life here though, and I am glad to be busy at last! I hope all is well with everyone in the States.

Un abrazo,

Kerry