LearnServe International

El barrio

Santa Ana is a “barrio” (neighborhood) that is built on top of a landfill. Walking through the community you can’t imagine the obvious environmental problems. There is trash on the streets and a drainage system is virtually non-existent. Working in the environmental group has allowed me to realize the relationship between poverty and environmental problems.

Houses in the barrio

In the US, while we are the most wasteful country in the world, we have access to recycling plants, environmental education, and government assistance. Moreso, we are fortunate enough to have lifestyles that allow us the opportunity to make the environment a priority. In areas marked by extreme poverty and destitution, environmental awareness is not a priority. It is apparent and in many ways understandable that in Paraguay there is not a focus on the environment. There is a lack of understanding and resources necessary for environmental education. In Santa Ana that pipes and sewage enter into the streets and ultimately flow into the river. Santa Ana is not recognized by the Paraguayan governtment so in order to get rid of trash it needs to be taken down, too. This is very difficult because most people in the community don’t own cars. In Carapeguá there is also no trash or recycling system, and the town is located two hours from the nearest recycling plant. As a result, trash is usually burned or dumped into the river.

After a hard days work in the park

Despite these obstacles, the communities of both Carapeguá and Santa Ana have been enthusiastic and determined to learn and work to change the way trash disposal and recycling are viewed. In Carapeguá we worked with multiple schools to create color-coded trash cans, to raise awareness about the effects of trash burning, and to brainstorm about ways to reuse everyday materials. In Santa Ana we have worked with the kids and completed the planting of 100 trees in the community. With the help of the kids at the community center, we have also recovered and beautified a park that was once entirely covered by sewage.

While there are many obstacles that are apparent in the community, the determined and excited attitude of the community members offers hope.

Grace, a student at Wilson High School

Pools in the barrio streets

Today was the first work in Santa Ana, The strangest part about the barrios (Santa Ana, San Blas, Santa Rose, and Divina Niño) are the streets. The river that borders Asunción flows over into creeks and marshy ponds and in many places into the streets themselves. They are riddled with full gutters and puddles that span the width of the road in some places. People drive their motorcycles or horse carts through, but the walkers (like us) have to pick a careful path along sidewalks and occasional stepping stones. Also, it is very common to run into animals along the street- usually chickens and dogs, but horses, pigs, and cows, too. In places, Santa Ana resebles a photo of an American town after a hurricane complete with debris, as the river carries the trash littering the streets to collect in gutters and streams.

Walking in the barrio

The houses are very different; some are bits of corregated tin and plywood held together tenuously. Others are slightly cramped sort of smallish houses mirroring Carapeguá, only a bit more squished. However, some houses are larger, fenced in with gardens and livestock and an air of sprawl.

A stream in the barrio

The health group hiked around Santa Rosa for awhile, visiting 2 of the 6 houses in the area to which we will return several times over the week. The first was empty and partially collapsed; in the second, we found the elderly man who lived there. He told us that he hadn’t eaten in almost a week. One of our group leaders, a girl who lived nearby, later told us she would bring him something at the end of the day.

Making friends

I ate lunch with a girl who lived in Santa Ana only a few blocks from the community center. The soup (soyo) was delicious, but I still felt my lack of Spanish skill as I tried to offer a little conversation. I was dreading awkwardness that would ensue when my Spanish ran out, when another girl from Santa Ana and her American LSP guest showed up. Lucia, my Santa Ana host, Cecilia, my hose sister from San José, Zoe, her Santa Ana hose, and I watched the first part of the movie Twighlight together. Zoe and I tried to piece together Spanish explanations of the movie and we compared our crushes to Edward Cullen, the movie’s star. The five of us, laughing the way we were, could have been on any couch in any living room in the United States. It was so universal, the girl talk, the laughter, and the movie, that our vastly different backgrounds just sort of didn’t matter.

Nicole, a student at Woodrow Wilson Senior High School

What is art? It is looking at the world in a different way. As a “member” of the art group here in Santa Ana I made it a goal for myself to show the world under a different light.

Sketching the donkey

Right now I can only speak about the part of the wall I painted and supervised which is only a small part of all that this group has accomplished so far. I painted a donkey surrounded by colors and I wrote on that same wall (with some help) a poem by Federico García Lorca that I had learned in the USA. I realize that when people will look at the painting of the donkey on the wall they will have no clue what it means, and that is the point. I want children in the school to see the painting every day and wonder every time about it.

Isn’t the feeling of mystery one of the most exciting human feelings? Einstein thought so. For the poem, I am really glad I wrote it on the wall. As I was painting the letters, the children would come around and read it aloud. That immediately persuaded me I had had a good idea. One French writer thought that one could be a scholar if one knew very well at least one piece of good, written work.

Drawing and learning

When you see that same poem every day painted on a wall, you start to get interested in it and you learn it, and then you reflect upon it. To me, poetry is an eye-opener, and I think that everyone should have the opportunity to experience it. I suppose the children in this school do study some poetry, but I remember poetry I studied when I was that age, and it was nothing like García Lorca, more like, “Today I am going to school/Tomorrow to the swimming pool.” I do not have the pretension to be able to judge what good poetry is, but I do want to share what is important to me with other people.

Eva Bessette, a student at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School

Here in Santa Ana, I’m working on the Comité de Salud, or in English, Health Committee. Our job is to… well, we have a lot of jobs. But our main focus is to promote good health and hygiene in Santa Ana.

Sorting donations

In Santa Ana, some people don’t have running water, so it’s hard for them to maintain good health. Also there are no trash collection trucks, so throughout the community there are piles of trash. Many people are left without any option but to burn their trash to prevent huge piles from building outside their homes. Burning trash isn’t only bad for the environment, but also for the health of the people living here.

Right now we are getting ready to start health day in the Divino Niño neighborhood of Santa Ana. We are going to wash some little kids here. It’s going to be fun. The kids here aren’t necessarily very dirty or anything, they just don’t all have the means to stay clean all the time.

I hope that we can leave something for the people here in Santa Ana. It’s not only important for us to do stuff here but to leave our messages behind. That’s the one thing I hope we can do.

Zoe, a student at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High SchoolComité de Salud