Community Mapping

Happy two months in-site to me! It has flown by. In total, I’ve been living in Guatemala for 4 months! Think I’ve earned the title of a Guatemalteca, yet? Not quite… I think I have to eat 100 more plates of beans and tortillas before the title becomes legitimate. So give me one more month!

Tomorrow, I’ll be leaving my site and heading to the Peace Corps office for three weeks of training. I am SO excited to be reunited with my fellow volunteers and share stories! Considering the craziness that’s been my first two months, I can only imagine what the other volunteers are going to bring to the table.

Today, Seño Josefina (AKA me!) led her first class! It was AWESOME. I never imagined that my first teaching experience would be in a Guatemalan middle school of 270 students! Also definitely never imagined it would be completely in Spanish… But I did it! Si, se puede! I led my class in a PACA tool (Participatory Analysis for Community Action). My students broke into groups and created community maps, identifying current resources, institutions, and important places in San Lorenzo. I had them label their maps with different symbols to show where: A. the youth hang out B. the señoritas hang out C. where no one hangs out. This gave me so much insight into patterns of frequency, likes and dislikes, and importance of certain areas in the community. I was fascinated to see how many groups marked the cemetery, the municipality, and the police station as the places where people do not go. When I asked them why, many responded that these places felt unwelcome and they felt fear of going to them.

Finally, I had them put a circle around something in the community they felt proud of and a triangle around something they wanted to change. I loved seeing the pride the students had in San Lorenzo. They were proud of their soccer court, their churches, their central park, and the house where Justo Rufino Barrios, a former Guatemalan president, was born. However, they also had many things they wanted to change. One group talked about their desire to change the Cantinas (bars) here in the community. Alcoholism affects many families here in San Lorenzo. Another group wanted to change the area, right next to the river, where the community dumps our trash. I was fascinated at how insightful the students were and how they helped reveal areas of concern and potential changes desired and needed. I can’t wait to use this information to start developing projects, such as river cleanups and collaborations with the municipality and police stations.

Here are a few pictures from the activity:

It was overall a great first experience in the classroom and I can’t wait to learn more from my students. For now, I’m off to pack! My camioneta leaves at 6 am, tomorrow morning. During my trainings at the Peace Corps Office, I will be returning to my training town of Ciudad Vieja and living with my old host family! I am overjoyed to see my sweet host family and show them how much my Spanish has improved!