Friendship Day

International friendship day in celebrated on July 30th. Although it is international I don't think I have ever celebrated it in the states or heard of anyone that has. In Paraguay it is a different story. Friendship day is a huge deal and I love it and hope to bring that tradition back to the states one day. There are days to celebrates, fathers, mothers, lovers, martin luther king and free slurpees on 7-11 but a whole day to spend with your friends celebrating.. come on doesn't that seem great??

I spent that day at my health post with all my paraguayan friends. We spend a lot of time together during the week and these people have become my so called "friend group" in Paraguay and I am really thankful for them and what they mean to me here. We had a cook out- your typical Paraguayan asado and I made cupcakes and we had a gift exchange. It may seem a little over the top and at first I thought it was.. like most occasions here in Paraguay they take any chance to have a cook out but while it was happening I took a moment to look around and was so thankful to be celebrating with those people. Here are a few pictures from the day.

A birthday and a celebration

Somedays it feels like there is nothing to do. Like I have already cleaned and re cleaned my house twice, been to the health post, cooked lunch and made a desert and it is only 11am. Then there are days when there is too much to do. The days where I leave my house at 8am and do not return till midnight or sometimes later. These days are usually birthdays. I know I have blogged a little bit about how birthdays in Paraguay are celebrated but I want to blog a little about my host dad's birthday because it is a bit of a bigger deal then the others and was so special.

My host dad is named after Saint Salvador. His family has had this saint ( literally a porcelain doll) in the family for generations. This saint's day is August 6. My host dad just happened to be born on August 6 and there for his name is Salvador. About 7 years ago my host dad had a small chapel built on their property to house St. Salvador. Now every August my host family says the rosary for 9 days leading up to August 6. Then on August 6th we have a big celebration for the saint and then a birthday party for my host dad. This past year was my second time attending and it was such a beautiful evening. The celebration was outside under the stars. A brother came and gave a mass and we sang and danced and was beautiful. My host dad made sure I sat up front and center with him and his wife. I felt so comfortable and at home with them. A million happy thoughts were circulating my mind until I started to think about how this could be my last celebration here... then I got a little sad. But there is still lots of time to spend with them!

A celebration like this takes a lot of work and time and manual labor. We started by making all the flags that you will see hanging in the yard below. We had to cut the paper out, glue it to the string and then transport them to the yard. Then we went shopping for all the food. It is tradition in Paraguay that after a celebration like this one to serve the guest food. There is a mixture of what is appropriate and my family went all out- little goody bags filled with candy, loli pops and cookies, empanadas, sopa paraguaya, a fried meat called milansea, soda, the paraguayan version of cheese puffs. The day of was spent preparing all of this. We worked all morning and through lunch then I ran home to shower and change and continue the evening.

We decorated the chapel, attended the mass, handed out the food, rested for a little while and then begun our cook out for the birthday party, which included 15 kilos of meat, other assorted culturally appropriate party foods and cake! There was beer, wine and whiskey. We danced, talked and celebrated. I was in pure bliss and enjoyed every moment. These people have really become my family athe more time I spend with them the harder it is to think about how in 8 months I will be closing my service.

Please enjoy some of the pictures I took from the celebration!

Girls Leading Our World ( Camp GLOW)

When I got back to Paraguay a few weeks back I had just enough time to rest un pack, clean up my house a little and re pack again for winter camp. This particular winter camp was an all girls camp called GLOW. Which means Girls Leading Our World. This is an internationally known camp run by Peace Corps Volunteers around the globe. Camp GLOW encourages self confidence and challenges campers to think beyond traditional gender roles. Young women are empowered at these camps, creating a safe and supportive environment for cultural exchange, leadership, development and fun!

A little history behind the camp- The first such camp was established by Peace Corps Volunteers in Romania 15 years ago. Since 1995, Volunteers in 60 countries have established similar programs to promote the empowerment of women.  The concept has been adapted and developed since originally conceived, with one group of Volunteers passing along the lessons learned to the next group of Volunteers who serve as counselors and mentors.

This was my first time attending camp and it was beyond my expectations amazing. I was able to take one Paraguayan girl from my community and hope to take more in the future. The girl I took was 14 and had never been to any type of camp before in her life. She had never traveled without her mom and definitely had never been in one room surrounded by 40 + girls her age hearing about female empowerment, health, self respect and leadership. I watched each one of those girls engage in the topics discussed, make connections and share their thoughts, feelings and concerns. 

There were speakers each day, art and fitness activities, sports and group time. Those girls all came as strangers and left like sisters and what a beautiful thing that was to watch. In Paraguay young girls especially, do not get the opportunity to hear about gender roles and lead an open discussion or have sleep overs and dance parties. The female youth of Paraguay spend most of their time in the home doing house chores. If they are allowed to go to school they go and come right home, if they don't have to clean the house or do another chore. In some households they are not permitted to ever leave the house. It is hard to explain in this blog the huge culture difference in gender roles here in this country and on a bigger scale around the world, I will save that for another post or 5. 

In conclusion camp was perfect. Youth were given an opportunity to go to a camp that they might never have again. That in its self was enough for me. I remember thinking that if all my projects fail going to camp would have been enough and I stand to that. The youth of this country will soon be the next generation of leaders and I see no better cause to spend my time, energy and funds on their education and development as leaders. 

Displaying their leadership qualities through art 

All the youth after a leadership project 

My girls group! 

The girl that I took to camp! 

All the girls on their last day at camp! 

The group of Peace Corps Volunteers that took girls to camp.