It's almost the end of February?!

Time has been flying by... and by that I mean I didn't realize it's been two weeks since my last post- but by no means does that mean there has not been some extremely long drawn-out days in there.

After my last post, I spent a week or so in Chiquimula. I learned a lot about stoves and biofuels during my time spent with Boston. We spent the first few days preparing the materials that we would use to make the briquettes. Basically, in order to make an effective briquette, we needed binders and fillers. Binders were fibrous materials that, when broken down, can be mixed and compressed to hold all other materials (fillers) together for efficient burning.

We made different combinations of binders and fillers. Our binders were: newspaper, cardboard, decomposed banana peel, decomposed corn husk, and cow dung. Our fillers were: coffee husks (the shell, not the fruit husk), saw dust, and charcoal. Unfortunately, by the end of the week when it came time to burning them and testing their efficiency, only one combination worked decently. From what I have learned, the concept of briquettes is not only hard to instill among locals, but the briquettes themselves are difficult to create and use efficiently- it is not just a matter of having the ideal briquette, but having the ideal stove.

After the briquettes were complete, we traveled slightly outside Chiquimula to our technicians home to test them. We attempted to burn some of the briquettes in a comal, traditional Guatemalan stove, but the briquettes acted more as smoke bombs rather than fuel. Stoves must have a certain air flow to burn briquettes correctly and the comal could not do that. We then went next door to use the neighbors stove. The neighbors lucky enough to have just received an ONIL stove- a much more efficiently stove, which is also much better for health- which is why Save the Children is giving them to all families that have children under the age of 5...for free! Though the ONIL burned one briquette combination well enough to make tortillas, overall the briquettes were not a success.

Although the briquettes weren't as successful as we had hoped, we still were able to make solid conclusions and I learned a lot. This trip also helped me realize the importance of understanding, patience, and empathy. If you want to help find solutions for the poor, it is essential that you understand the parameters, resources, and other circumstances in which they live. It is easy to do tests and research and form conclusions and "solutions" but it is all in vain if you don't factor in outside factors. And I'm not saying that one must empathize to truly succeed in this field, but in my opinion at least...they should go hand in hand. In my opinion, empathizing (not sympathizing) and truly wanting to understand what the poor need and how they themselves can get access to it is the only way you'll find a sustainable solution.

We returned to Guatemala City midweek and I continued to work on numbers and what not for Eco-Creativas and Kask'i. I was feeling a little under the weather my whole time in Chiquimula and all last week as well. I stayed home Friday and rested up and felt better by the end of the weekend. I booked my flight to join my school's Social Enterprise Institute in Nicaragua the first weekend of March. The Advanced Social Entrepreneurship class is traveling to Nicaragua and Costa Rica to gain some first hand knowledge on agricultural programs. Since they will be visiting the TechnoServe office in Nicaragua, I decided to tag along- it'll be great to compare countries.. and see some close friends!

So far this week I am still doing some odds and ends for Kask'i and Eco-creativas to pass some time. The coffee program is still delayed so there still isn't much for me to do, but I should be talking to my boss this week to figure out a game plan for the next few months.

Beginning of Chiquimula

We left for Chiquimula today. To be completely honesty, I had no idea where I was going exactly until about an hour before I got in the car. Around that time I was also able to meet Boston, a recent Masters graduate from Boulder currently working for a non-profit called Burn Design Lab. I will be assisting him this week as he researches to find the ideal biofuel briquette, using corn husks, coffee husks, binding materials, and other decomposed matter.

We left around 3pm and arrived here around 6pm. Just as we were about to arrive we stopped at the garbage dump right outside Chiquimula to get an idea of the accessibility of cardboard and other binding material for the briquettes.

You may remember me writing about the dumps I saw near and inside Guatemala City. The situation was heart-wrenching, but I wasn't able to actually witness what went on directly inside the dump. But here I did. We pulled over to the side of the road near the entrance to the site. There were three young girls sitting on huge bags of collected cardboard, glass, plastic, and other various items. As we began talking to the girls, their mother came out. Michelle asked a few detailed questions about the dumps and the people that collect the items.

As they're speaking with each other, I see her son (no older than 6 years old) begin to walk towards us. I can see him playing with spool of string from a kite with a tin can tied to the end- he was having a blast. He knew no better. To add to it, this boy's skin was completely blackened by spending his days in the dump. It was evident that his skin had a very think layer of ash on his entire body. Flies were swarming him and his family. Upon talking to the mother more, we found out that he and his sisters do not attend school and spend their days collecting garbage, as their mother is the buyer of the dump. This means that number families, totaling about 200 people, come to the dumps every single day to collect trash from the dumps that they then sell to this woman. She pays them 15 Quetzales (a little less than $2) for collecting 100 pounds of cardboard, with an average of about 200-300 pounds per week . I believe she also said she pays 18 Quetzales for about 17-20 pounds of plastic. The woman then resells it to buyers that come from Guatemala City.

Let's calculate this with very rough numbers...We'll be generous with the numbers and say that each family is about 5 people, which means there are about 40 families in the dump every day collecting trash. On average 200-300 pounds (30-45 Quetzales worth) of cardboard is collected in a week. So... Q45 of cardboard divided amongst 40 families? Given they also receive money for collecting glass and plastic, but still...hundreds of people are spending their days in a dirty, toxic, and dangerous dump and barely making any money. It's devastating.

As we walked through the dump a little, I noticed that the boy was now in a whole the size of his body with a pick digging for garbage. Turns out the dump is 8 years old, but people just started scavenging last year... so, there is literally layer upon layer of trash that they dig through. Once they collect the majority of the valuable materials, they ignite the dump so that it is easier to dig through the unwanted material. We stood on a ledge and looked out into the dumps..vultures everywhere, dogs attacking each other for food, and flames and smoke creating a haze across the entire area... Now the boys skin color makes a lot more sense....

After the dump we checked into our hotel and went to get dinner. Michelle began reminding Boston and me of how dangerous the town can be at night, and what to do if robbed. This was all very comforting of course? But either way, I'm still looking forward to this week- Boston and I will be doing some interesting work and I think I can learn a lot from him and his organization. Plus, (although people in the office do know English there's still a huge disconnect at times) its a total different experience having a guy from the states here, around the same age, with similar interests and sense of humor...it's sort of be a nice break from four weeks of solitude.

End of the fourth week, already?

This week was the longest so far- not that it was a bad week, but long and tiring.

I was in the office on Monday, didn't have too much work to do. Half the reason I was excited for this trip was that I had 6 months to immerse myself in books and research. Not going to lie, that really hasn't been my top priority these first few weeks. However, after spending more time in the office without much to do, I decided it was time to start creating my own work. I began an outline for a paper I figured I'd write to take up some time.. researching poverty in Guatemalan, specifically rural poverty and an analysis of TechnoServe and how it attempts to address the issue. I also outlined a few reports that I plan to put together for Kask'i and Eco-Creativas.

Tuesday I was out the door around 5:30 in the morning and on my way to some avocado farms with one of our technicians, Nestor. We met up with the Project Manager, Alfredo, in Antigua and headed to the farms. The day consisted of Nestor and Alfredo speaking to a group of male farmers on proper avocado farming techniques, in addition to basic concepts to improve sale/export value. It was a pretty long day, we ended around 3 but then Nestor asked if I would go with him to another farm (unrelated to TechnoServe) since we were already in the area and he had some work to do. I didn't mind whatsoever, it was nice to spend time with him- he doesn't speak any English so it was great practice and he even enjoyed helping.

Wednesday I was in the office for the first half of the day then returned to Junkabal, where I was the week before, to visit the actual women making the products for Eco-Creativas. We had actually showed up just as they brought in a new group of women to start teaching them how to make the products. I won't lie, when I was there I felt a little defeated. Here I was watching young girls to old women learning a craft to hopefully increase their income, yet completely unaware that TechnoServe is finished with them at the end of the month and Junkabal does not have the funds to keep them going. Although it is not going to die out immediate- there is a decent system in place with Junkabal- it is still by no means sustainable.

However, I had a complete change of heart on Thursday when Maria, the director of the program, sent me their financials and sales in my attempt to put some order to it and create a plan for the women, products, and prices to make them more sustainable. After looking through the numbers all day.. it clicked. These women spend most of their time tending to their homes (if they have them) and families. They and their families struggle to survive, but fortunately now, on their spare time, they know how to make recycled products into beautiful new products. As I went through the sales, I see women bringing in bag after bag, some up to 65 Quetzales (around $8). And although that may not seem a lot to people in the States, its a drastic increase in income that they wouldn't normally have.. it's of no cost to them- a 100% benefit. Although the organization itself is not sustainable just yet, hopefully the work I do the next few weeks with Junkabal will help because these women NEED this money.

Friday I traveled to San Lucas Toliman to see Kask'i, the natural juice company I mentioned in previous posts. They too are having difficulty becoming sustainable, so I sat with the women running the office and gathered all their financial information since TechnoServe did not already have it. Hopefully, with this information, Michelle and I will be able to create a better long term plan for them. They are in far better shape than Eco-Creativas, but definitely still need help- I'll know more after reviewing all of the information that I was given.

After our short visit to Kask'i, Michelle took a longer way home- through the mountains along Lake Atitlan. I saw the Lake briefly on my way to Quiche, but it was from a distance. These views were absolutely remarkable. Fun fact- Lake Atitlan apparently started off as a volcanic crater many many many years ago. We also stopped at Panajachel, a small town on the lake, high in tourists and full of markets and great food. I've been seeing so much of the country through my field visits, and so much extra from the pure generosity of my co-workers and them wanting to show me their country!

I leave tomorrow to do the research on biofuels with the man from Boulder that I also discussed in a previous post. I honestly don't know that much about where I am going or what exactly I am doing, but I will be gone all of next week and some of the next. I'll definitely be busy the next few weeks!