Winter Perspective

--the following photographs were taken my my ninth-grade photography students, three of which were chosen for the national exhibit in Asuncion! The blond girl in the photo is from the family I mention in the entry---

The cold is here. I cover my tomato and strawberry plants at night, protection against that a frost that could wipe out months of labor and delicous potential in a single nippy night. The combination of cold and rain prompted me to break out my brasero for the first time this year. A brasero is a little metal bin used for burning charcoal (made locally with a dwindling supply of trees). In the winter it is used as a central source of heat and cooking utility. It assists my bread dough to rise, dries my socks, and keeps a steady supply of hot water to feed my bottomless thermos and mate addiction.

I have also learned to slaughter chickens, and am proud to have been a part of the entire process from raising the chicks, twisting their necks, cleaning out the organs, and feasting on tasty pollo al horno!



I was planning to go to an agriculture workshop to talk about green manures, but a rain day was in order instead. Before I left for Peru, I had been feeling generally frustrated with life here and somewhat useless professionally. I have come back from vacation with a renewled energy for my work--and urgency, as well, knowing that I only have four-and-a-half months left here. I feel like I have a responsibility to expound all the knowledge I can before I leave, but after almost two years in Paraguay I have a more realistic sense of what is possible, practical, and within my limits of sanity. For example, instead of promoting green manures in general--covercrops which suppress weeds, aerate soil, fix nitrogen, prevent erosion, attract beneficial insects, and some of which can be used for animal and human consumption--I need to provide a breakdown of exactly how they will be incorporated into existing crops. One would thing I would have figured this out earlier, but I´ve been getting my own education about Paraguayan crops, and timing is everything.

Yet reality tends to put things in perspective. As I said, I came back with a gung-ho attitude about promoting more sustainable agricultural techniques, and the same day I started planning presentations, I got word that a 35-year-old woman in my community had just given birth to her 19th child (three have died), and both she and her husband (whom is opposed to birth control) are in the hospital in Villarrica, leaving fifteen children to fend for themselves at home. I went with a few Señoras to their secluded home to see how they were holding up. When I arrived the kids were piled around the cooking fire on the ground, eating beans out of three plates and a few plastic lids. Despite the cold, they were all either in flipflops or barefoot and no underwear. It´s nearly impossible to guess their ages due to mal-nourishment. One boy just turned fifteen, but I had assumed he was about eight years old. They all have a serious lice infestation, and half of them have sores on their scalps, which I believe are caused by a worm that burrows there, and is easily transmitable. We washed their hair one by one in a tub of warm water, and treated their scalp sores with alcohol. I have never seen anything like it.

The next day I made a double batch of banana bread, and I put together a bag os soaps, crakyons, toys, socks, and warm clothes that I scrouned from around my house, and I made the trip back. I am not usually a fan of donations, which are generally unsunstainable, but I´m also a member of that community and can´t ignore the needs of those right in front of me. Barefoot and covered in snot, the six or seven smallest ones came running out to meet me and all vied for one of my hands. I treated their scalps again, and we played soccer. I drank terere with their dad, whom had just returned after two weeks in the hospital. Because of the high-risk pregnancy, they had to do an early C-section, from which the mom and her new daughter are still recovering. I was friendly and cautious with the father, because I knew he was proud about accepting outside help, though I wanted to slap him into reality.

So...I may need to take a step back from my prior planning and promote some family planning and basic hygeine. First things first.