Presidential Festivities

We have a new president here in Uruguay! As of a few hours ago, Jose "Pepe" Mujica and his vicepresident Daniel Astori took their oaths in the Legislative Palace and marched down the packed 18 de Julio right by my apartment, assuming their roles for the next 5 years. Currently, I am alternating between watching the action on TV and watchin the madness in the street from my balcony. The plaza where the new president currently is making his speeches is less than a block from my apartment, but I cannot actually see it from my balcony due to another tall building placed inconveniently in the way.

Uruguayans are quite passionate about their politics, and also like to celebrate, and this day is the perfect storm of both elements. It was interesting watching them setting up the stage in the plaza throughout the week; you could almost feel the excitement mounting as the days went on. As soon as all the formalities fnish up a couple bands are going to play (they were doing sound checks complete with recorded reggae music, loud speeches, and live music until about 2am last night) and I am certain the crowds in the street will be celebrating well into the morning hours. The day is actually an official holiday, so most businesses and operations are closed as well.

In recognition of the importance of the day, quite a few dignitaries have shown up including Evo Morales (Bolivia), Lula (Brazil), Cristina Kirchner & husband (Argentina), Uribe (Colombia), Chavez (Venezuela), King Juan Carlos of Spain, Lugo (Paraguay), as well as high ranking Peruvian, Nicaraguan, and Guatemalan officials. Oh yeah, and Hillary Clinton is here too, kicking off a regional tour including Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Costa Rica, and Guatemala (the local Communist Party made a banner for the event saying "USA out of the Middle East & Latin America!" -- not sure if that includes me or not). Its pretty interesting to have most of these people staying in a hotel less than a block from my apartment and watching them all hang out together, since many of them dont always get along -- Uribe and Chavez just had a big fight last week in Mexico.

Anyways, thats what is going on in Uruguay today!

Proyectos! And many of them...

WARNING: This is a very long blogpost. Grab some coffee, get comfortable, and blink your eyes a few times because this might take you awhile to read. That, or you can take breaks along the way. Good luck! Ready, Set, Go!

I'm back! I've been planning on writing this particular post for quite awhile, but kept feeling like I was just about to find out more about a particular project and wanted to wait until I really knew where I would be focusing. I've finally reached that point so I'm finally writing the blog!

I came down to Uruguay having contacted one NGO in particular to potentially work with in my time here, but was leaving myself open to finding projects based on the needs I observed in the country. I've been working with that NGO and have really enjoyed the work and feel it is a very necessary and helpful organization, but have also observed great needs in the peripheral slum communities of Montevideo and have been wanting to get more involved there. I've been in a trial and error process of finding ways to accomplish that goal the past few months, and finally have been making some great progress!

I began teaching chess lessons to help out another Rotary scholar, Gabriel, and through that started spending more time in a community called Maracaná and getting to know an organization called Juventud Artiguista. The group was started by a couple guys who live in the community (the largest slum in the country), and they are trying to help their community by building up the local merendero, clinic, and associated community group (more details below). I've had a lot of fun helping them and am really excited about the opportunities I have at the clinic!

So, here it goes, a somewhat detailed breakdown of each of my current major projects.

Claves: Claves is the organization I spoke with before coming down here, and was my first major job and I still have been working there typically two times a week. I won't spend too much time on it since I discussed it in a previous post. Claves educates students, adults, educators, psychologists, social workers, etc in Uruguay and quite a large number of other countries in order to reduce levels of mistreatment and abuse. The weeklong annual campaign encourages adults to commit to listening to and believing children when they tell them something and denouncing situations of abuse when they are aware of them. I have found myself in the role of preparing the many materials we sell through local bookstores, and at times delivering ordered materials and picking up overstock. I've really enjoyed working at Claves, more than anything for the people I've met.

Maracaná: That's the name of the largest slum in Uruguay with between 1,000-2,000 families, and I've been spending a lot of time there lately! For a slum it's relatively nice compared to some I've seen here with gravel roads, cement paths over the sewer ditches, most houses with electricity, drinkable water, and a fridge, and few people working in "trash classification" -- o sea, the people that ride around all day in horse-drawn carts digging through the dumpsters, separating the trash, and selling what they can. That also means there are a lot fewer trash piles in the slum, which in some places I've seen tower high over the roofs of the houses. However, it's still a slum and the poverty is still evident, especially as I've been able to meet face-to-face with patients in the policlinica (few of whom eat more than one true meal per day).

But I'm getting ahead of myself; let me tell you how I got started there. As I mentioned above, Gabe has spent a lot of time developing a chess program to teach kids here, and also teaching others who are interested in teaching chess how to teach it (that's a lot of teaching)! My roommate Diego and I went to one of his teacher workshops, and then I later went with him to a meeting of a group called Juventud Artiguista that is working to help Maracaná in any way they can. Their approach is working with the merendero (a community center type place that functions as a preschool by day and a place for kids to get something to eat after school) and with the local civil association, trying to get greater integration from the local residents by offering membership in the association for about 50 cents per month in exchange for a variety of services. They're still working on hammering that out, but some of the services that will be offered are a lawn-mower so they don't have to hack at their grass by hand with a machete and a library (they already have ~1,500 books) that kids can check out to read. That, plus the chess classes we've been offering twice a week and some other classes they hope to develop are the base of their initial pitch. Another key part of their plan is getting people in higher class neighborhoods to become members for the same price (or a bit more if they wish), creating a network of support giving them greater resources to help the neighborhood and hopefully planning activities that bring the people of the two communities together -- something that might not otherwise happen in daily Montevidean life. They're also teaching chess in the elementary school, and I have a great time tagging along with that when I can. So far, my involvement with the Juventud Artiguista includes teaching chess two afternoons per week and helping on the weekends fix up the merendero. We've painted the outside, are working on the inside, started electrical work, and more!

Gabe the master teaching a couple of the girls what exactly the bishops do.


Probably my all time favorite picture I've taken in Uruguay.


Two of the Juventud Artiguista fix the bench!


Alberto the ringleader of J.A.


Lourdes chips away at the old mural. Take note of what the merendero looked like...


Outdoor chess lessons when the guy with the key to the merendero didn't show up.


Joaquin and Jose (2 more J.A. guys) paint the windows pink.


One of the girls knocked over some paint so we turned it into a sun!


Fernanda (the incredible Rotaract president) and some of the girls paint the other window. The expression on the littlest girls face never changed and absolutely cracked me up.


Marcos (another J.A./chess teacher guy) draws the circles for the bubbles we decided to paint.


Almost finished product! Quite the difference, huh? I'll have to take another picture now that it's completely painted, it looks incredible and sort of tasty like a birthday cake :)

The Juventud Artiguista (by the way, that basically means Artigas Youth -- Artigas is the liberating hero of Uruguay) also are working with the local clinic to see how they can help here, perhaps with cleaning and painting and electrical work as in the merendero. I've been going there twice a week (1.5 hour bus ride one way every morning leaving at 6:45am!) with another Rotary Scholar, Jessica, meeting with patients for 10-15 minutes each. I take their blood pressure and heart rate, and then we ask them some questions about recent sicknesses in their household, recent deaths in their family, hygiene habits, what they typically eat in a day, and other questions to create a general and statistical picture of the health and nutrition challenges in the community. The goal is to use that information next year to design seminars, classes, and the like to help out the clinic and improve the health and health habits of the barrio! It's been really enjoyable getting to know the people, and we already have some great ideas for workshops. We're also hoping to leverage the many contacts we have for potential resources for the clinic, as they even lack soap for the bathroom and paper to keep medical charts.

The policlinica! The chalkboard announces which days a particular doctor will be there/what service will be offered.

All in all, I've been making the 3 hour roundtrip bus ride 4-5 times per week, and it's been totally worth it! I love the work I'm doing in the neighborhood and it's fun to start to recognize more and more people each time I show up.

Rotaract: I just recently got involved with a Rotaract club here in Uruguay (Rotary for people 18-30 years old), and I wish I would've done it a lot sooner! The people are a whole lot of fun and the one project I've taken place in so far has been great! Right now there's a lot of communication between Juventud Artiguista and Rotaract and we're trying to see how the latter can perhaps get involved with the merendero and policlinica as well.

Last weekend we went to the cerro (big hill/small "mountain") in Piriapolis about 1.5 hours from Montevideo with a group of about 30 people including Rotaract, Juventud Artiguista, CouchSurfers, and Scouts. We made the somewhat difficult climb, and then started picking up what looked like not much trash. However, the small piles of trash turned out to be literally the tips of the icebergs (trashbergs?), and we ended up filling 50 large bags worth of bottles and other litter, and had to leave quite a bit up there when we ran out of bags! We then descended down the hill -- much more difficult, very tiring, and slightly dangerous with a giant bag in each hand. We made it safely with only one fall (she's okay!), and left the cerro cleaner than we found it. We're hoping to go back sometime soon to take down the rest, and hopefully we can put up signs or something similar asking people to pack out what they pack in!

The cross at the top of the cerro. Some of the guys climbed up and waved the Rotaract flag, though it's so high up you can't read what it says!


Jessica models the project shirt. Next to her and behind the rock Brandon is leaning against was an endless pit of trash. We thought it was just a few bottles but it was the first place we started digging and 2-3 hours later still had a loooong way to go when we ran out of bags :(


The bags pile up. The group in the background is digging behind the rock in the endless pit of trash.

Most of the group with a lot of the trash bags right before we headed back down.

Others: I had been hoping to help out with a local church's soup kitchen, but unfortunately it has closed due to lack of resources. They know that I am willing to help in anyway to get it re-opened, and I'm hopeful that may happen next year!

I've also been hoping to do more work with Techo's health group, but their meeting times clash with my schedule. I'm still in contact with them, and ideally I'd like to build on this health survey idea and combine it with the survey they have if it continues to go well in Maracaná.

Finally, I also contacted a group that I had found out about in Minnesota called Partners (or Compañeros here). They are a NGO that sponsors lots of exchange between MN and UY (I believe there is a similar NGO for each Latin American country and a different state of the USA), and have different teams working on projects in all sorts of areas here. I recently went one day and helped out with a conference put on by Compañeros and the US Embassy discussing human trafficking. It was quite interesting and I learned a lot! Not sure what more I will be doing with them in the future but hopefully more projects will come up!

So that's what I've been up to! I hope you survived to the end of the post, or better yet took breaks along the way. I'll be sure to keep you posted on how things develop, especially with the merendero and policlinica. Email me if you have any questions or comments!

chau chau

And the winner is...

....nobody, yet. Pepe managed to garner ~48% of the vote, but you need a 51% majority here to win outright. Lacalle won an underwhelming ~29% and Pedro Bordaberry a surprisingly high ~17%. Others and the Independent Party both won in the neighborhood of 2-3%.

Now we head to runoff, one month from now. Unfortunately, that means another month of campaigning and focus on the elections instead of important issues that need addressing now. It should be an interesting month, however, because even if all of Pedro's supporters vote "blanco" (that is, Lacalle), the Frente Amplio would still have more of the vote. Assuming the vast majority of "colorados" do choose to vote blanco, it comes down to the Others and Partido Independiente to decide the election. Anyway you look at it, it is going to be close.

I find it incredibly interesting to listen to the critiques of my friends. Pepe is characterized as a folksy but inept candidate who allegedly killed people during the guerrilla struggle against the dictatorship, while Lacalle is characterized as a shady, potentially dishonest fellow who allegedly dealt corruptly in his previous presidency. Surprisingly, his past presidency is rarely touched upon during the campaign and in the media. You'd think having 5 years of experience with this man everybody would be racing to breakdown what he did or did not do during those years to see what he can and may do during another presidency (especially if he was perhaps corrupt), but for some reason that's not the case. In the roughly translated words of one of my Pedro-supporting classmates that will vote Lacalle in the runoff, "I'd rather have a corrupt than a murderer [for president]." Interesting perspective, especially coming from the USA culture of war hero candidates being greatly ballyhooed (e.g. John McCain), while even candidates who participated in war but allegedly were not that involved in conflict are deemed unsuitable (see Al Gore).

In the other major issues, neither of the ballot initiatives passed. The vote to essentially get rid of amnesty for criminals on both sides of the dictatorship struggle only received 46% of the vote, and the vote to allow Uruguayans in the exterior to vote around 37%. I find it quite sad that the human rights of the families and friends of those who simply disappeared without explanation during the dictatorship will continue unaddressed, while the implicit suggestion that there is an untouchable class of people not responsible for their crimes persists. Granted, the politics of actually persecuting those criminals so many years later would be quite complicated, but sometimes the easy things in life are not the right things. As for the voting from abroad, the result probably reassures some of the present populace that they will not be subject to taxes or other propositions voted through by the 15-20% of the citizenship not residing in the country & therefore not subject to the effects (I got the number wrong in my last post), but is disappointing for those people who are still holding out for certain political changes they want a voice in before choosing to return to their homeland.

Got any questions about Uruguayan politics after these two posts? Email me!

Election Day!

Update: A NY Times article on the elections as they likely head into a runoff: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/world/americas/26uruguay.html?_r=1

It's election day in Uruguay! Presidential & congressional elections following non-stop campaigning ever since I arrived. I'll do a very minimal breakdown of the main presidential candidates, the electoral system, and share some of the idiosyncrasies of the campaign & election style here in Uruguay.

The Candidates:

1. Jose (Pepe) Mujica: Pepe is the leader of the "Frente Amplio" (Broad Front), a very diverse coalition ranging from the conservative Christian Democrats to the much more liberal socialist & communist parties. He was a guerrilla fighter under the dictatorship, and one of the most frequent objections I hear from people who don't want to vote for him is "He killed people." This is interesting to me, since it seems so important to so many in USA elections to vote for somebody who has been in a war. Though I haven't seen a lot of poll breakdowns on these lines, judging by the neighborhoods I've been in and people I've talked to, Pepe is much more widely supported among the "clase obrera" (working class, blue-collar lower wage) then the middle and upper classes, though there are obviously exceptions. Pepe is leading all polls, but if he doesn't win 51% of the vote there will be a run-off between the top two candidates in November, and most analysts and Uruguayans seem to think it would be hard for him to attract many more votes in that runoff.

2. Lacalle aka Qki ("cookie"): Lacalle was president a few terms ago and is running again with about 35% in the polls. He's the candidate from the "blancos," one of the two historically dominant parties. I don't know that much about him, though he is most likely to win if the election goes to runoff. He has a bit of a reputation among some people I've talked to of being a bit secretive or potentially corrupt from his last term, but I really don't know much about the truth of those claims.

3. Pedro Bordaberry: Pedro is the candidate from the "colorados," the other historically dominant party and 15% in the polls. He's the son of the former dictator (now in jail), but as one of my classmates told me (a supporter of Pedro), "He's got a lot of baggage because of that, but he's completely different" than his dad. Pedro doesn't have any real shot at the presidency, but will probably get a few representatives in congress to be a minority opposition voice or an important part of any potential coalition government.

4. Other Issues: So these aren't candidates, but there are two other important issues on the ballot today.

A. One is whether or not to allow Uruguayans living outside the country to vote. Up to 10% of Uruguayans left the country during the dictatorship and few have come back, so those outside the country have a pretty big potential voice. One of the fears I've heard is those ex-pats will vote in place large taxes that they aren't affected by, not realizing their ramifications.

B. The other is whether or not to annul the "ley de capucidad," a law that says the executive power must approve any judicial proceedings on crimes from the dictator era, which essentially becomes general amnesty for all crimes on either side during that era. Just like in every other country where this law has been debated (Argentina is the only one to annul so far), the debate is between whether it's worth it to open these old wounds & isn't it time to just move on, or whether the principle of allowing the executive branch to un- constitutionally check the judicial branch on this issue sets a principle that influences the culture negatively, both not giving closure to the families of the missing and showing that some people aren't accountable for the crimes they commit. It's a difficult issue, and needs 50% + 1 vote to pass, and latest polls were in the mid 40% with 10-17% undecided.

The Electoral System

This system is quite a bit different from that in the USA, as voters don't vote individually for each open seat, but instead vote a party's "list." Each list has the same president/vice-president combinations (that's set in stone), but then for each president/vice-pres combination there are seemingly endless options for the various representatives, etc. However, all these combinations are still within the same general party, so it is impossible to vote for a senator from the colorados and Pepe for president, as they would never be found on the same list. The vote is also obligatory here as in most Latin American countries (or you have to pay a $100 fine), though you do have the option to vote blank -- not choose. Voters from the interior of the country living in Montevideo have the option to re-register to vote here, or, as many do, go back home for the weekend to vote.

Idiosyncrasies

As in many areas of life, Uruguayans are passionate about their candidates, and spend hours in the streets waving their flags, handing out their lists, and blaring their horns and music. It's a semi-party, semi-annoying atmosphere way different than anything I've seen in the U.S. Candidates were officially required to close their campaigns 48 hours before election day, but supporters were still strong in the streets, waving the flags and blaring the cumbia (since they can't play official campaign music in the last 48 hours), and honking at others waving the same flags. Surprisingly, today it's really quiet. Everybody going out to vote, but no more party style campaigning. Beside the 48 hour ban on candidate speeches and campaigning, restaurants and stores were no longer allowed to sell alcohol after 8pm last night, apparently in an effort to keep people from dancing all night until 6am (as is usual for Saturday night) and showing up to vote with a less-than-clear mind. A somewhat interesting rule in my opinion, especially since it's always possible to buy earlier in the day and save until that night.

I think that's most of the differences I've noticed, I'll keep you posted on the results once they come in!

Un Trato por el Buentrato!

Update: Okay, so I've finally got a way that I think will reliably let me upload photos, but my first time using it for some reason it cropped the photos weird. I'm just going to leave them for now (I'm a bit busy!) and try to fix it in following posts. Thanks for your patience!

Alright, as I've been promising in the last post or two, I'm going to update you all on what I've actually been working on so far down here. I've been working with a group called CLAVES, a division of Juventud Para Cristo (Youth for Christ) that works for the prevention of mistreatment and abuse of kids & adolescents. My first few weeks there were spent preparing all sorts of materials for the campaign we had last week, which is essentially the culmination of their work each year.

Each Saturday and some weekdays leading up to the campaign CLAVES put on workshops training groups of teenagers about mistreatment & abuse, steps they can take in those situations, and how they could participate in the campaign. They also put on workshops and retreats for educators, lawyers, psychologists, and the like. These workshops take place all over the country, and they have also expanded the program internationally.

The week of the campaign involves a bunch of youth going out into their neighborhoods and joining us in downtown talking to adults and asking them to sign a certificate promising to listen to, believe, and protect children as well as denouncing situations of mistreatment and abuse (silence and believing nothing can be done is a widespread problem here). If they agreed, they were given a piece of candy as their "vaccination" against mistreatment, and then had the opportunity to talk with us in the tent for more information.

The crazy supply table staff....we had a lot of fun & attracted a lot of attention.

Look up...

...and see this giant hand that says "What do you feel with a hand raised above you?" Some of the kids in one of the workshops came up with this idea and so we added it to the tent.

This is Victoria hard at work keeping up the stock of certificates, vaccinations, and stickers. This volunteer supply table is where I spent most of the week.

"Peace begins at home"

Some of the groups of kids came and performed in the plaza outside the tent in order to promote the campaign. This was a step/dance type group.

The little kids corner of the tent! Lots of coloring and face-painting going on here.

One of our vaccinators hard at work. Before this campaign (the 7th annual) they had "vaccinated" something like 300,000 adults, and though I'm not sure of the exact numbers this year it must've been close to another 100,000 throughout the country. It's really cool how a one-room office of 5-6 paid staff (mostly part-time) plus random volunteers can put on something like this! Hopefully the ideas will begin to stick in the minds of politicians, parents, and others who were informed and the country will be a safer place for kids to live.

Un Trato por el Buentrato!

Update: So for reasons unbeknownst to me the photos I'm uploading seem to disappear and reappear at random. I'll have to figure out another way to upload them since the one I found is obviously not reliable.

Alright, as I've been promising in the last post or two, I'm going to update you all on what I've actually been working on so far down here. I've been working with a group called CLAVES, a division of Juventud Para Cristo (Youth for Christ) that works for the prevention of mistreatment and abuse of kids & adolescents. My first few weeks there were spent preparing all sorts of materials for the campaign we had last week, which is essentially the culmination of their work each year.

Each Saturday and some weekdays leading up to the campaign CLAVES put on workshops training groups of teenagers about mistreatment & abuse, steps they can take in those situations, and how they could participate in the campaign. They also put on workshops and retreats for educators, lawyers, psychologists, and the like. These workshops take place all over the country, and they have also expanded the program internationally.

The week of the campaign involves a bunch of youth going out into their neighborhoods and joining us in downtown talking to adults and asking them to sign a certificate promising to listen to, believe, and protect children as well as denouncing situations of mistreatment and abuse (silence and believing nothing can be done is a widespread problem here). If they agreed, they were given a piece of candy as their "vaccination" against mistreatment, and then had the opportunity to talk with us in the tent for more information.

The crazy supply table staff....we had a lot of fun & attracted a lot of attention.

Look up...

...and see this giant hand that says "What do you feel with a hand raised above you?" Some of the kids in one of the workshops came up with this idea and so we added it to the tent.

This is Victoria hard at work keeping up the stock of certificates, vaccinations, and stickers. This volunteer supply table is where I spent most of the week.

"Peace begins at home"

Some of the groups of kids came and performed in the plaza outside the tent in order to promote the campaign. This was a step/dance type group.

The little kids corner of the tent! Lots of coloring and face-painting going on here.

One of our vaccinators hard at work. Before this campaign (the 7th annual) they had "vaccinated" something like 300,000 adults, and though I'm not sure of the exact numbers this year it must've been close to another 100,000 throughout the country. It's really cool how a one-room office of 5-6 paid staff (mostly part-time) plus random volunteers can put on something like this! Hopefully the ideas will begin to stick in the minds of politicians, parents, and others who were informed and the country will be a safer place for kids to live.

Finally!

Updated Update: Woohoo!! All the pictures are finally loading and even are clickable to see bigger versions! Finally!!! It seems I have to upload during the day for best internet signal...now I'll work on starting the next photo blog to show you what I've actually been up to instead of just photos of all these random South American apartments!

Old Update: So, the problem isn't quite solved. I should have the issue fixed and the pictures to accompany the captions tomorrow, but until then let your imaginations go wild! :)

I finally discovered a workaround to upload pictures to Blogger with a shaky internet connection, so here's a photo blog of my new apartment which I've been in since the beginning of the month.

The view from my bedroom window. I could hear this guy playing the violin ~1/2 block away even with all the street noise! It was pretty cool.

The poorly lit living room.

Seems like I'm always drying clothes when I decide to take blog pictures. I was actually wanting a picture of the grill that's in the background -- a typical wood-burning parilla. Unfortunately, when we tried to use it for the first time Saturday night it was very windy and the fire wouldn't stay lit.

Looking from the balcony down the street to the port -- see the cranes in the distance?

Looking down the street in the other direction toward the boardwalk -- we essentially live on a peninsula part of Montevideo ~6 blocks from the water (but not beaches) either way.

I had a picture of this building in an earlier post -- I find it incredibly cool and am quite pleased I have this great view of it from the balcony. It was the tallest building in the Americas when constructed.

Looking straight down from our 5th floor abode.

See the Asian alphabet on this sign? The port area is the only place in Montevideo that I've found with an Asian influence. There are lots of Asian restaurants and even a Korean karaoke place nearby, none of which I've yet had a chance to try.

These convenient little key-copy stands are everywhere. They can even copy your remotes for your cars in those little booths!

These "carritos" (literally, little cars), are on just about ever corner downtown and serve pretty decent, fast meat sandwiches -- sausage, hot dogs, hamburgers, etc.

That's it for now! I'll work on uploading some pictures from the anti-mistreatment/abuse campaign the organization I work with put on last week to have up in a few days!