What´s up down in El Salvador

A number of little things have started going on – one may even say I’m starting to work!

I’ll start off with my little fuel efficient stoves. Finally – I have one of the woman using it and the others will start soon enough. The woman who is using it loves it – she says it cooks the fries quicker and with less wood! Also that the wind doesn’t effect the flame. Yey! She has even agreed to go with me to the school to teach the women there how to use the stove correctly and talk about how great it is. The only draw back is that I giften the first three stoves – now I have had at least one person ask me to give her one. I said I didn’t have any more and she told me to go build another one and give it to her – this could get ugly. But, I told her I would teach the artisans and she could buy one from them. Thus, I’m going to talk with my artisans and ask when they would like to learn how to build them.

Speaking of my artisans – they seem like they are going to be a bigger project. An NGO is helping them build two new ovens in which to fire their pieces, but this NGO doesn’t have funds for improvements to existing stoves – like chimneys and roofs. So, I’m gonna put together a proposal and see what funds we can get. More on this in the future!

I also headed out to a market with them on Friday. It was this artisan market being held in a park in Santa Tecla. I basically just sat and watched them sell – but at least I got free food out of the deal and found some artisans that make cookies…the oatmeal raisin variety. I ate a lot of those and will prolly ask for more. Getting back to the community proved a little tight – there were a million people waiting for the bus at the terminal and it was a mad dash to get on. I, somehow, managed to get a seat! Though, the artisans didn’t realize it and when we finally got back and they saw me get off the bus, they were quite relieved. They thought they had accidentally left me back in Sonsonate. It was cute to see their concern.

Then, there are the English teachers. I’m working with two English teachers from the local school to work on their English (pronunciation, grammar and such), as well as teaching methods. This past Tuesday, I went into their classes to play a grammar game – it was tic tac toe but with words. In order to win the box for their team (whether it be x’s or o’s) they had to come up with a sentence correctly using the word in the box. They actually participated and the teachers were pleased. It was a good day.

On the other English front – my English classes bombed and I’m pretty happy about it. I prolly already mentioned it, but only two people signed up and so I canceled the classes. I can now say – ‘ I offered’ and I have. ‘tis nice.

Finally, I went to the swearing in of a new ADESCO up in Canton Carrizal. An ADESCO is a locally formed group of citizens to work together in order to help develop their community. After the swearing in, I went to one of their first meetings. I talked with the group and offered my assistance with technical stuff. The first being presentations to the directive about leadership. I also addressed their wanting of a project. Many wanted to start off with a large project – building a community house or repaving a road- I told them to think smaller. Before any NGO is going to help them with a large project, they want to see that the group has experience. This experience can be smaller projects – trash, fuel efficient stoves, new town signs – small things. So, hopefully, I can continue working with them and helping them get their legs beneath them.