Project Updates!!
So now that I've been living in Paraguay for over half a year, I've been getting a lot of questions about how my day to day life has been changing. The biggest changes have been that I am now renting my own house and have several projects in the works. As with anything new some things I've tried have gone better than others, and I'm making changes to improve as we move forward. Here are a few of the things I'm doing:
Life Skills/Sex Ed- For the past month I have been teaching twice a week in my local high school. My students were definitely skeptical at first, but participation has been getting better and better and a few of my young women have even approached me to ask my opinion/support on a potential reforestation project. My classes are based off a really cool program called "Como Planear mi Vida" which has a ton of interactive activities. This week, our theme is Gender Roles and Stereotypes.
Hygiene and Parasite Charlas- With my first through sixth graders, we got back to the basics this month with "charlas" or short mini classes on hand-washing and how to avoid parasites. Intestinal parasites, including ascaris (round worm), hookworm, and giardia are extremely common in my community. The Ministry of Health provides medicine free of charge every year, but the pills only treat current infections. For this reason my charlas focused on avoiding new infections. I've used stories and games in my classes and the kids have responded really well. I love that they are always excited when I show up. We're planning to finish the Parasite lectures and get through Nutrition before summer starts in December, and to kick of the coming school year with a bigger dental health campaign.
English- Paraguay recently changed their national curriculum to include English as a foreign language at the high school level. The kids only have class once a week, but I've been going in to help out. It's been a good way to get to know the other grades that are not taking my class yet, and we have a good time.
Exercise Class- Last week I brought one of my friends from site to a training in project development, and she was inspired to work with me to teach a Zumba- type fitness class for women in our community. Young men play a LOT of soccer, but opportunities for women are harder to find. We are going to start with twice a week and judge community interest from there.
In the near future I hope to do a summer reading program with our cultural center/library as well as continue working with my health center to put together a sort of birth class for young mothers. My site has 21 companias which are even more rural communities that are served by our health center and we are seeing quite a lot of young women coming in. I've seen first hand how empowering giving birth can be, but there can also be a lot of fear where there is a lack of knowledge, especially for young first time moms. My friends Vania, Rachel, and I are also talking about doing a traveling camp this summer (December) using the Grassroots Soccer program which uses soccer practice to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS, reduce the stigma associated with HIV positive individuals, and do general education and prevention. The program started in Africa but has recently expanded to work with Peace Corps communities.
I'm very excited to be busier and I can't wait to update you all with how things are going!
So now that I've been living in Paraguay for over half a year, I've been getting a lot of questions about how my day to day life has been changing. The biggest changes have been that I am now renting my own house and have several projects in the works. As with anything new some things I've tried have gone better than others, and I'm making changes to improve as we move forward. Here are a few of the things I'm doing:
Life Skills/Sex Ed- For the past month I have been teaching twice a week in my local high school. My students were definitely skeptical at first, but participation has been getting better and better and a few of my young women have even approached me to ask my opinion/support on a potential reforestation project. My classes are based off a really cool program called "Como Planear mi Vida" which has a ton of interactive activities. This week, our theme is Gender Roles and Stereotypes.
Hygiene and Parasite Charlas- With my first through sixth graders, we got back to the basics this month with "charlas" or short mini classes on hand-washing and how to avoid parasites. Intestinal parasites, including ascaris (round worm), hookworm, and giardia are extremely common in my community. The Ministry of Health provides medicine free of charge every year, but the pills only treat current infections. For this reason my charlas focused on avoiding new infections. I've used stories and games in my classes and the kids have responded really well. I love that they are always excited when I show up. We're planning to finish the Parasite lectures and get through Nutrition before summer starts in December, and to kick of the coming school year with a bigger dental health campaign.
English- Paraguay recently changed their national curriculum to include English as a foreign language at the high school level. The kids only have class once a week, but I've been going in to help out. It's been a good way to get to know the other grades that are not taking my class yet, and we have a good time.
Exercise Class- Last week I brought one of my friends from site to a training in project development, and she was inspired to work with me to teach a Zumba- type fitness class for women in our community. Young men play a LOT of soccer, but opportunities for women are harder to find. We are going to start with twice a week and judge community interest from there.
In the near future I hope to do a summer reading program with our cultural center/library as well as continue working with my health center to put together a sort of birth class for young mothers. My site has 21 companias which are even more rural communities that are served by our health center and we are seeing quite a lot of young women coming in. I've seen first hand how empowering giving birth can be, but there can also be a lot of fear where there is a lack of knowledge, especially for young first time moms. My friends Vania, Rachel, and I are also talking about doing a traveling camp this summer (December) using the Grassroots Soccer program which uses soccer practice to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS, reduce the stigma associated with HIV positive individuals, and do general education and prevention. The program started in Africa but has recently expanded to work with Peace Corps communities.
I'm very excited to be busier and I can't wait to update you all with how things are going!
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