May 25, 2011
As you may remember, I live in the coffee growing mountains of Western El Salvador. Most of the land around here is coffee fields, all of which export coffee to the major coffee corporations around the world, including Starbucks. Therefore you would expect the coffee that my host family makes by shelling, drying and roasting the coffee the old fashion way to be absolutely delicious. You would be wrong. The coffee they serve is watery and ranges in taste from smoky to kind of like caramel on good days. Nothing like you want and expect coffee to taste like. I had assumed that this was either because they use only the leftovers from the coffee they export or the cowboy style they use to prepare it. Nonetheless, I drank it with three meals a day and got used to it. The other day I finally learned what is going on with this stuff. My host family let it slip that they use half coffee and half corn to make it. That’s right. CORN. I was outraged, to say the least. It was like a cruel joke. They said it was too bitter without corn. “Are you all insane?!?” I demanded. I have since calmed down a bit but have decided to make get a coffee pot and make my own. I still can’t believe they took the thing they do best, producing world class coffee, and completely ruin it with corn. Unbelievable!
Yesterday I had some gringo visitors here in my site. Matt and Liz were working for an NGO trying to quantify carbon emission reduction from using the fuel efficient stoves that I sold a few months ago. They came out with the bosses of the stove company to ask people questions about their stoves and take pictures. I found a house we could visit that said they used the stove everyday. When it came time for the woman to demonstrate how she makes tortillas on it, we could not get the fire to light for about 15 minutes, all the while the stove billowed smoke everywhere. So much for efficiency. Apparently we were using pieces of wood that were to big. Finally got it going, and we cooked some delicious tortillas and ate them with cheese. All the while Matt and Liz snapped pictures with what must have been thousand dollar cameras. It is always strange to see stone age methods juxtaposed with modern technology. I see this kind of thing daily, such as women pausing their daily grinding of corn on a rock slab to answer their Blackberry. What a crazy world we live in.

Also, I am still looking for donations for the women´ empowerment camp, check out the last post if you missed it.

May 10
I’ve been busy lately, although my standard of busy has fallen drastically. I attended a training session that lasted four days last week. This was my last mandatory Peace Corps training session, and it took place at the national agricultural university. The focus was on helping local people to start small businesses. These are important since most Peace Corps projects have a tendency to fall apart after the volunteer leaves, unless people are making money, in which case there is a good chance of it being sustained. We were taught how to make soap, shampoo, hair gel, disinfectant, marmalade, and dried fruits. These are relatively simple group activities which can bring a small income. However, some of the profit margins seem razor thin, demand for some of the products is doubtful, and some ingredients are only available in the San Salvador, (three hours away) adding transport costs that can further diminish profit margins. That being said, some volunteers have been successful in forming a reliable small business group and making profits, especially with shampoo. I am interested in doing this, as it sounds like a good way to interact and connect with people and teach them about business. My challenge is that no community group exists, and starting one is a rather intimidating task, in that one must have the right amount of people who will actually show up regularly, and not making the whole community bitter if we make a profit and they aren’t included. I am going to try marmalade, hair gel and shampoo first, and see what happens. It’s funny how a big part of my job is taking things I know almost nothing about (business, making products like these) and showing enough confidence to lead other in doing them. We will see what happens.
Another project I am really excited about and need YOUR help with is a women’s empowerment camp that me and a few other volunteers are putting on in July. We are each bringing three girls between 13 and 18 years old to a three day camp where we will do fun activities and workshops on themes aimed to keep girls in school, help them find jobs, and generally inspire them to follow their dreams and aim high in life. This is especially important in Latin culture since women are much less encouraged to pursue careers and a lot of them end up having kids and leaving school early and becoming housewives. The lessons we will focus on include self defense, self esteem, how to pursue careers, sex education, empowerment, and interaction with successful Salvadoran women like policewomen, lawyers, doctors, nurses mayors, ect.
Here is where everyone who is reading this can help. We need money for transport, lodging, food, supplies, and all other costs. We are each raising $350, and our primary source is friends and family back home. I believe this is one of the most direct and intimate donation opportunities you will encounter, as I will be able to provide a personal connection from these girls to you via text, pictures, and storytelling, whereas aid agencies can distance the donor from the beneficiaries. So if you have been blessed financially and want to help inspire these girls to rise above cultural barriers and follow their dreams, now is your chance. Please let me know in a comment here or an email to forest.carter@gmail.com if you would like to donate and how much, and I will let you know soon how to send it. (We are still working that part out). I will gladly email pictures, answer questions, and take suggestions from everyone involved.
Thank you, and please pass the message on to anyone you know who may be interested.