The APCD (Associated Peace Corp Director) Holly who decides where our sites will be located, thus why we call it a ‘Holly’day, finally presented us with our sites at 3:45pm. So after a short introduction we were finally given our first official Peace Corps volunteer folder with our official site information. Here is the opening letter included in my packet:
18 November 2009
Jessica Blatt
Site Assignment
We are pleased to inform you that your site assignment as an environmental education volunteer will be in Ayolas, district of Ayolas, department of Misiones. Your main contact will be Nelson Montiel (SEAM representative) and Cresencia Caballero de Alegre (directora de area) and Loudres Marin (teacher). You will be the second environmental education volunteer in the site following Mandi.
You expressed interest in a community where you could work with youth, local organizations and schools and you got it! Ayolas is a small city in the south of Paraguay of some 5000 people. It is along the banks of the Rio Parana and not so long ago was a sleepy fishing village. After the construction of the Yacereta dam, the city grew to its current size and has a uniquely modern look about it. You have a smooth ride of less than 6 hours. The city is the Paraguayan headquarters of the Bi-national entity Yacereta –“la represa” as it is refereed locally. The population gains its livelihoods from a mix of sources- la represa, businesses, teaching and as local government employees. Fishing is still a major activity in the area though it is controlled seasonally. The population is a mix from other parts of Paraguay and Argentina, Spanish is more widely-spoken (but they do love a bit of jopara).
We wanted to put your strong environmental education background to use. Ayolas offers a lot of work options. The community is looking for a volunteer who will help continue to strengthen the environmental sensitization of the community on the environment. Your primary project work should focus in the schools to help teachers use new methods of teaching and developing projects in the classroom. Teacher workshops will be the key in this big area and the local directora de area is open to continuing the work Mandi started on workshops.
You will also be working with the local youth group Eco-Ayolas. They have been doing bi-annual aquatic bird surveys and are really pumped after a recent trip to Bahia Negra. They receive support from the NGO Guyra; you can help continue those bonds.
Mandy has worked with the local SEAM representative on radio shows which can be a great activity to expand upon. She has also made some connections to the municipality, which you can explore. On-going is a great cross sector project with muni volunteer Jesus in Villa Florida on trying to get folks to use cloth bags in the two towns.
And then there is represa. They have on going environmental education programs, a nature reserve, a museum and tons of resources. You should look for connections with them to further develop solid program offering to the locals and visitors.
We are not sure you will have time to do secondary activities, but explore the possibilities. The local fire department has a great bunch of super dedicated folks who can help you reach out to do community work perhaps in mentoring.
You are in the Misiones VAC group which is spread out, but super collaborative.
There are a few Protestant churches to choose from in the city and trees are abundant!
Cheers and enjoy!
APCD Holly Radice
After reading this letter my brain was spinning. What does it all mean? Where is my site exactly? How far away am I from the nearest volunteer? Do I have the internet at my site? How much does it cost to get into Asuncion? These plus many more questions flooded my head and those of all the other trainees. The nice news was that all these questions were about to be answered since our community contacts would be arriving the next day for our meeting process and then travel to the future site for 5 days.
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