Maine & Michigan

Agua Pura staff, Maine Rotarians and filter workshop workers at the filter workshop

Agua Pura para el Mundo (Pure Water for the World), my counterpart organization, receives its funding from grant money raised by various Rotary Clubs in Maine and other states, then matched by Rotary International. Every six months members of the head Rotary Club from Maine come to Santa Barbara to visit the project, meet with local Rotarians and help us with the project. The trip is always productive and allows us to deal with things that can’t necessarily happen over e-mail. This year they came with a group of five to spend the week visiting the filter factory, installing filters, giving deparasiting medicine and checking up on filters already installed. In addition to that, they donated medicine and supplies to the hospital and helped Nineth review the finances and project goals.

Me in El Dorado with Community Agents

One of the big things that needed to get done during their visit was a meeting with the local Rotarians on the filter committee. I was supposed to be the translator but I only lasted about five minutes. Just as soon as I sat down on of the Rotarians asked about something written on our white board in the office (we has listed who was lending us cars and drivers to take the group to the communities). I mentioned that Medicos del Mundo (Doctors of the World) was very generous to lend us their SUV with driver for three days. He responded back that he was also very generous to lend two of his cars for two days (although at the last minute he canceled and we had to find cars at 11 pm the night before…). To anybody else that comment wouldn’t have seemed like a big deal, but to me it encompasses all that I dislike about those men. He needed to feel good about himself and get credit for all that he was doing and didn’t even care that I had gotten another organization that has nothing to do with us to lend us their car and driver for three days. It really got to me and I left the room and started crying. I eventually called Nineth out and told her I couldn’t do it because I knew that the meeting would just get worse and I would just get more upset. I felt selfish ditching Nineth like that because she didn’t have the option to leave, while I did. In the end it was a horrible meeting for Nineth, who called me afterward crying. I felt guilty that I hadn’t been there to support her. She is so strong and puts up with so much disrespect; I hope I never have to deal with a situation like that.

Just a few days later we attended the weekly Rotary Club meeting. Nineth and I were there until 11 pm trying to organize cars, drivers and translators for the following day. When we finally finished we sat down with the Rotarians still hanging around. The same men that give Nineth and I such a hard time were teasing and flirting with us and just being incredibly jolly. We stayed until 1 am and had a wonderful time laughing like crazy. It really amazes me how differently people can act and how people who despise each other can act like the best of friends. In the end, although working with them hasn’t been pleasant, it sure has taught me a lot about life.
Maine Rotarians, Nineth and me at the Santa Barbara Rotary meeting

Like Minnesota, Maine has had some experience in Honduras and has kinda figured out how things work and they are a pleasant group to host. Well, half way through the week a group of 13 from Michigan (including 3 from Canada) arrived in Santa Barbara. They had contributed to the Agua Pura matching grant and were also interested in starting a new water filter project or funding one in Santa Barbara when the current grant is up, so they came to check it out. Individually, the members of the group were all very interesting and kind but as a group they were a handful. It seems like whenever large groups get together, go to a country they don’t know, in a language they don’t know, they loose all reasoning abilities. I felt like a travel agent, tour guide and babysitter. They didn’t rent cars and only one of them spoke Spanish so we had to find cars, drivers and translators for them as well as set up their transport out of Santa Barbara. It was a lot of work but they all expressed their gratitude and appreciation for the help I gave them, which was nice. They wanted to give me a thank you gift for all my work but I really couldn’t think of anything I wanted since I will be home in a month and can have whatever I want. So, finally I told them that I would like them to donate to Agua Pura and they ended up giving $185!
Rotary members from Maine, Michigan and Canada

Being around the group helped me appreciate the perspective I have gained being in the Peace Corps. Many people who come down have good intentions but can be naïve. People say things like “We are going to transform this country” and “Once we fix these people…”. Hearing things like that always makes me a little self-conscious about being an American and aware of our altruistic yet sometimes arrogant attitudes.