Well, after my last little rant entry (I apologize, i was in an emotional state and needed to reach out to the world) I talked with Bethany who is the other Sippie working with Oikos and found out she was feeling about the same as I was. We called up Sally, our coordinator, and asked her if we could maybe return to San Salvador with her when she came to visit. She thought it was a perfect idea and said she might see if Amanda would want to return too. Amanda has been having a hard time in her community and this would give all the girls a chance to take a mini-holiday from campo living. The heat had been getting to me the past couple days as well because it´s been rediculous! Anyways, now I´m in the capital until tomorrow morning.

Thinking about it, I really needed this break and it has helped a lot, but I was also just thinking about how much of an outsider I am and how lucky I am to have an opportunity to escape the heat. A shower and a coffee maker are luxuries that I am able to come back to, while my family sticks out the heat in hammocks unable to move in El Tránsito. I feel a little guilty, but I think this break has given me an opportunity to think and collect a bit. I still find myself wanting to go home, but I want to stick this out. (Dad - thank you for your cute email about life and the calculations... I realized that this is such a short amount of time and thanks to all my friends who sent reminders about how I need to really focus on taking in every moment)

In these blogs and in emails, it is always so difficult what to type about because every moment of every day is full of new details and experiences. I thought I might take this reflection opputunity to explain more about what I am doing in general and not stick to specific experiences.

My work with Oikos Solidaridad is starting to take form. The organization is continuously working on so many projects all over the surrounding area. They would like me to focus most of my time with them on the community of Piedra Azul. Bethany lives in that community and we will be working on some of the projects there together. (She is amazing to have because I use her as my Spanish teacher-tutor and continuously ask her how to say things) Piedra Azul is a community divided into neighborhoods or caserios that seems to curl its way up a mountain/hill. It is more rural than where I live which is more like a neighborhood. Our main projects there with Oikos include one that involves the different caserios building leadership groups who can evaluate their environmental risks and create plans in case of emergency. They will also hopefully form their own projects to prevent desaster. We have our second reunión or meeting for this project all day tomorrow (saturday).

A second project Oikos is helping with in Piedra Azul I think I already wrote about some. It involves the women of the community coming together to build gallineros or structures for their gallinas/chickens. I took some photos of model examples we visited with a CRS (Catholic Relief Services) women who is collaborating with Oikos on this project. Possibly later I can upload some photos in my journal because I got my card reader in a package yesterday (THANKS MOM!!! xoxo). It was obvious the difference in health and size of the gallinas that were in the built structures we visited compared to most I´ve seen in people´s yards, including my own. The common practice is to let the chickens run wild in your property or wherever they decide to run, throw food on the ground for them, and basically that´s it. These structures guarentee the animals will be accounted for, fed in a healthy manner where they can recieve nutrients and water, and have a large enough area to move around and graze. It also is a way to bring the women in the community together and a way for them to earn money with the sale of large, healthy birds.
This project is coming along. We´ve had a few meetings and visited the example structures. Some of the women in the community seem to be pretty concerned about the lack of space they may have, but we try to say they can adjust size depending on the amount of animals they want and that the results will be worth it!

The third project, the one Oikos wants Bethany and I do do the most work and coordination of, is a plan to provide and plant fruit trees with 30 families in Piedra Azul. This project has been in the process of planning and really takes off this Tuesday. On Tuesday we will plant 14 trees at Bethany´s house which is also the meeting center for the town. It is going to be an example to teach how to plant the arbolitas and to analyze how many trees each family has the space for. The 14 trees are mostly in groups of 2 ranging anything from mangos to oranges to pineapples... I´m really hoping that Bethany and I will be allowed to actually help with the work of planting and organizing and do more than just observe. Oikos wants this project to be complete by the time a big delegation from Germany comes in August right before I leave. I think this is because most of the company funding comes from Germany and some other European countries and they would like to show the completed project as successful and show the great amount of work they are doing and how much it really is benefitting the people.

Other than these Piedra Azul projects, i love travelling to new communities and new projects to learn what other interesting things Oikos is involved in. By doing this, I can ask Hector, Guillermo, and Alex about the company, its funders, and how it began. I am also hoping to return and maybe talk to the school about teaching English to the younger kids once, maybe twice a week. I don´t have work on Fridays so that is a possibility and then maybe Wed. afternoons...?

Anyways, I might update later with some pictures, for now I´m thinking a lot about my future here and in life, what I would like to do, and trying to live in the moment. No matter how much i want to go home, this is a life-changing experience and I can´t quit. I don´t want to quit!