Saturday 28 May 2016

Two week update...

Okay, so it's now officially been two weeks. As an important update, it's not a box, rather an octagon shaped room (with lots of windows and even air conditioning which was a plesant surprise). The Oikos area is nice, a couple toilets, a shower (with water less cold than anticipated), a fridge (broke twice, so not too reliable though..), and a stove. Pretty decent overall. All the staff is super nice, it's super difficult (for me at least) to communicate with them, (apparently I suck at learning languges). But it's bareable. 

The goal for the first couple weeks was simply to observe the community and get to know how Oikos works and what they do. So it was pretty chill. A lot of waiting, and driving, stopping by farms, walking up hills.. We saw so many different types of farms, (ALSO so many dogs here too, stray and pets. It's good.) There are an awful lot of these strange greenhouse like structures,  not quite a greenhouse because the function isn't to be extra warm and humid, but more so act as a barrier against harmful sun rays and bug protection.  Which is cool. Most of the farms also have intensive irrigation systems that involve rainwater collection which I thought was super cool. 

We ended up going to San Salvador last weekend and stayed with both Benjamin's and Guillermo's families on seperate nights. Which was super sweet of them. Unfortunately I think I made a strange impression on them due to my entire loss of appetite for a few days (unfortunate side effect of traveller's diarrhea whoops). But it was still good. They both have children (grandchildren) who speak English so communication was good for that weekend. Now Jen is here for a few weeks to act as a translater and help us out for a couple weeks which is awesome. 

Hopefully soon we will start work on the dehydrator! 

[Here we are at Benjamin's family's farm, there was a wonderful view.]


Phase 1?

Alright so mi nombre es Andrea Kauehowen, and I just graduated from Asper with my Bachelor of Commerce degree. I was referenced to join this service-learning program due to my interests within the fields of social enterprise and international business.
We are just finishing our second full week here in Usulutan, which is a rural district of El Salvador where the Oikos office is located. We are around 2 hours away from the main city of San Salvador which we have already visited a couple times, and there are plenty of amenities close to where we are staying as well - including places like Wendy's and Pizza hut for anyone who thinks we are literally in the middle of nowhere. Although we were brought to Pizza Hut once for dinner, we have mostly been eating at one restaurant close by that has an agreement with Oikos. The food is good! And I'm pretty sure we have already eaten pupusas at least 7 times.
For our first weekend here, two of the Oikos members invited us to stay in their homes in the city and we were able to enjoy the beautiful nearby beach, as well as a much needed cervesa at dinner. This weekend is a little more low key, as all of the Oikos workers went home for the weekend. However, we are getting some solid reading time in, as well as hoping to start studying our Spanish a little more diligently. The language barrier has definitely been the most frustrating aspect of this experience thus far. Thankfully, today we had Jennifer join us from Winnipeg for two weeks and she is fluent in Spanish! Yay! She is going to help us with the communication needed to really start the process of setting the project in motion. After two weeks of tagging along to meetings and touring local farms we are definitely ready to make a game plan for getting this dehydrator built and put in action.
The room we are sleeping in here on the Oikos grounds has A/C which definitely feels luxurious considering many homes around here do not even have electricity or running water. Everyday the temperature reaches between 35-39 degrees Celsius, but I think my body is finally starting to adjust to the climate.. slightly. Sweating is good for you though, right?

Week Two

As of today we have been in El Transito in Usulutan for two weeks. Our goal for these first two weeks was to shadow in a sense, the OIKOS employees and figure out more about how the organization works. Monday to Friday since we've arrived we've been going around to different farms and areas that OIKOS works with and just observing. At times it has been really difficult with the language barrier but we've had our chance to practice Spanish to say the least! We've also needed to be flexible, easy-going and to get good at the waiting game.
We have learned a lot about the surrounding areas and the way the organization has benefitted local farmers. We have visited shellfish, papaya, maracuya and sweet pepper farms and seen the various greenhouses and irrigation systems that OIKOS has helped install. We've learned that OIKOS has a strong focus on sustainable agriculture, use of organic fertilizer and pesticides, maximizing profits for local farmers and helping them get their products to the formal or informal market.
We have also been lucky enough to go to the beach twice last weekend! Last Friday we visited Playa Espino after a short ride in a fishing boat from the mussel farms in Remolina. On the following Sunday we were staying in the city of San Salvador and visited Playa Trunca in the area of La Libertad. Both times we were super happy to be in the water after experiencing 38 degree weather for days on end.
Everyone we've met at OIKOS, and also their family members, have been extremely welcoming and made us feel very at home, despite communication being a challenge. We are anxious to work out the final details and start our actual UMANGOES project.

Saturday 14 May 2016



Okay. Well, Hi! My name is Kassandra Swan, I’m a fourth year biosystems engineering student aiming towards a specialization in sustainable building systems. I should be graduating at some point in the next year and a half. I think that alternative building and renewable energy are just about the coolest things ever, even though I’m not quite sure what I can do with that. I’m also an active member of the Engineers Without Borders chapter at the university, which takes the engineering problem solving process and applies it towards social change. As for some other things about me, my main hobbies/interests include videogames, Netflix, rhythmic gymnastics, acro yoga, local metal concerts, craft beer, tea, and petting cats (though dogs are cool too..). 

We left Winnipeg a few weeks ago, and headed to Quito, Ecuador for a couple of Spanish lessons. (My spanish teacher was super funny and sweet and I regret not taking a picture with her...) Quito is a beautiful city that I'll need to go back to one day because there is so much more that I still need to do. I really enjoyed all the hiking we got to do (up ALL the volcanoes!), and also the Otavalo market where I purchased a sweet alpaca blanket and backpack. The most memorable experience I think I have from Quito (but not best cause it makes me a little sad) would probably be all the stray dogs.  There are so many, holy, I counted seeing around 50 in one day alone. 

We arrived in San Salvador 2 days ago, and leave for "the box" in Usulutan in an hour. It is SO hot and humid here, nothing in my life so far has prepared me to sweat this much hahahaa.. But actually, I am so excited to start doing stuff, we met with the people at the LWF the other day, and get to meet OIKOS later. :)

Friday 13 May 2016

Early Thursday morning Andrea, kassandra and I left Ecuador after about 12 days in Quito. We had a great time going to Spanish lessons, sightseeing and attempting to cook and practice Spanish in our apartment. I thought Quito and the surrounding areas we saw were beautiful, how It was framed by mountains and volcanoes. I really enjoyed our trip up the Pichincha volcano in the Teleferico cable cars, but I think my favourite part of the time spent in Quito was when we all rented bikes on a Sunday and explored some streets around our apartment that were closed to vehicles. There were so many people out and about and the weather was perfect. We found some beautiful parks and also drank some delicious coconut milk that was totally worth it and had no negative consequences at all!! 😉😉😉