Garbage Lady

There has been a staggering change from lying in my hammock studying Spanish and pondering development work to running around asking for money from the mayor with sawdust and paint all over me. This change was the result of someone asking me if I would paint garbage cans with a youth club. There is a huge religious festival in caves of a protected area in my town. Tens of thousands of people come to make a promise to God and meanwhile buy a bunch of crap and get plastered. The area inevitably gets trashed and, because neither volunteer work nor environmental appreciation is popular, there are hills of garbage that grow every year.

I was told that there were twenty garbage tanks donated from the capital and all of the paint will also be donated. I could use environmental themes to paint environmental images and messages on the tanks with kids. Easy enough. With about a month before the festival, I started working on the designs and messages. I went to meetings to listen to many creative ideas like putting religious figures within every image (advice I was not about to take). The tanks finally arrived and with two weeks to go and I started off with a drawing event with high schoolers (because we had no paint). I then went every day to work on the drawings and lettering hoping to eventually get the donated paint. About a week and a half before the parties it became clear that the paint wasn’t coming and a resident of the protected area yelled in my face about the fact that there are no latrines and everyone is going to do there business wherever.

I spent two days riding on the back of a motorcycle going to the town government buildings with a letter asking for money and supplies, visiting construction sites for extra materials and back and forth to the caves to tell the community they could start digging the hole (they are latrines after all). Although we, the protector of this area and I, were feeling pretty proud, I had no idea what I was doing. My partner for this project left for the capital and I was then the construction supervisor for the latrines with the trash can painting project still absolutely unfinished. I held a painting event that was a disaster with little kids painting wretchedly and the bottoms of the paint cup melting out.

It also became apparent that the latrine workers had no idea what they were doing as they needed more and more materials leaving me to beg the mayors and even the priest. I did some commanding, really yelling, in Spanish and mentioned loudly that I was a volunteer and it did not seem like anyone here was willing to organize nor work voluntarily. In the end, the latrines are up with one door made of trash and the trash cans are out with horrid paintings and environmental facts. I didn’t go to the festival because I didn’t want to work nor see thousands of people throwing trash on the ground next to the garbage cans. I will be organizing a trash clean-up soon but all I really want to do is sleep. Although I would hope that I have gained respect in the community, I am pretty sure everyone is just mad that I finished my English classes.

It has become scarily clear that no one wants to have any extra work to do. I get really excited thinking about literacy and garden projects until I realize that nobody is with me. In general, the people here don’t like to read or eat vegetables and there is no way I am going to change their minds. I am going to spend two years struggling to feel like I am doing something of value when all anyone wants is money. I am pretty sure I should just lie in my hammock, study Spanish and hang out with friends!