March Madness in Paraguay

March 31, Holy Week

As I post this entry, and reflect on the month that's transpired since my last one, I have to say that March 2010 has been a "mad" month in which I seem to have gotten my groove back! It began with a national holiday on the 1st (which is also the b-day of my home state of Nebraska!), and hosting the Peace Corps trainees that I mentioned in my previous post. We travelled to nearby Villarrica on March 2nd to attend a meeting of the area's volunteers, and then put them on their bus back to the Asuncion area. My pace accelerated MUCHO in the first week, as I finished prepping for our Peace Corps library workshop, held in Asuncion on March 5-6. I took the librarian from my school here in Troche, Antonia, and we boarded the 4am bus for Asuncion on Friday morning. The workshop ("taller" en español)was held in a lovely locale,

http://www.quintaykuasati.com.py/galeria-de-imagenes.html

where it was a pleasure to stay up until 2am the next morning mounting the "shelves" for the Dewey Library I would have participants create the next day. It was "maddeningly" fun to get my groove back doing the library stuff...yes, I'm a library geek, and proud to be one! Here is the thank you note sent by one of my fellow PCVs to those of you who donated! (I've forwarded it some of you as well, and my apologies if I missed you!)

Dear Library Lovers,

I could not be more excited to write to you today. Finally, the library workshop has occurred, and it was a great success! On Friday, March 5, and Saturday, March 6, almost 30 Paraguayan librarians and 30 Peace Corps volunteers convened in Asuncion to participate in two half-days of activities devoted to library creation, management, and use.

The presentations were dynamic and varied, ranging from the vibrant storytelling of a Paraguayan historian/author to Dewey Decimal games to small group discussions about the importance of story hours to software demonstrations of Biblio, an open-source digital catalogue program. Three Paraguayan publishing companies also attended the workshop as part of a miniature book fair, displaying their wares and donating books to be raffled to participants.

The participants came from as far north as Concepcion and as far south as Pilar (for those who don't know Paraguay, the two cities sit on opposite sides of the country), from tiny villages and pueblos and metropolitan areas. Some are currently engaged in building school or community libraries; some seek to better use existing libraries; some hope to create reading programs for schoolchildren in their communities. But all left happy with the information shared, the contacts made, and the energy generated by the workshop.

The Library Committee already is planning for next year, hoping to amplify the web of ideas, information, and creativity generated in this year's workshop. And, according to evaluations from participants, the workshop already is eagerly anticipated! "Sigan adelante con talleres como estos!" urged one comment.

I'm forwarding a few photos of the workshop in a following email (sorry--I'm having computer troubles, and the photos won't load as attachments): 1) of Don Clark, the director of Peace Corps, delivering opening remarks; 2) of Margarita Prieto Yegros, a Paraguayan historian, storyteller, and author; 3) of groups working together to learn about systems of classification; 4) of the publishing display of Editorial Oceano; and 5) of the 60-person-created Dewey Decimal wall library (an activity designed by PCV Denise Davis to teach the fundamentals of the oft-feared Dewey Decimal System).

On behalf of the Peace Corps Library Committee and on behalf of all the communities who participated in the workshop, thanks so much for making this happen. The experience was tremendously valuable, and I, personally, count it among my most inspiring moments in two years of service in Peace Corps-Paraguay. I truly think each participant returned to his or her community motivated to make reading a fundamental part of the community's life.

Thanks again,
Amy Dickinson

Peace Corps Volunteer
Early Elementary Education
Yuty, Paraguay

Post-workshop I worked on transcribing all the info we gathered during the event, including the evaluations, into computer files so we'll have good documentation with which to plan for the next workshop. As Peace Corps volunteers with "only" two years in our sites, the turnover in volunteers is constant so it's helpful to get as much documented as possible for those who follow.

By month's end I'd attended a library inauguration in Asuncion, for the Fundacion Biblioteca Maximilian Freundorfer,

http://fbmf.org/

which I'd learned about in the course of revising the library manual for the workshop. It was like food for my librarian's soul to attend this milestone event, to see the 80-yr old Japanese woman who has dedicated her life to libraries and librarianship in Paraguay, open a beautiful library primarily for children.

While enjoying delicious sushi once the ribbon had been cut by the Swiss ambassador to Paraguay, I had the pleasure of meeting a fellow American, Robert Russell, who has lived here many years and brings his children to this jewel of a library. He serves as the treasurer of the library's foundation, and is also involved in the local American Chamber of Commerce Foundation. Turns out one of the current projects of the Foundation is the construction of a library in another area of Paraguay....fast forward, and less than 10 days later the President
of the Foundation has called me, and invited me to visit the construction site with her, and to later attend THAT library's inauguration, sometime in April/May.

Spent the last weekend of the month in Asuncion (first and probably only time I'll be in Asuncion so often in one month!) to meet with my PC boss, participate in an interview for new PC full-time staff, and to attend a library committee meeting. We debriefed the library workshop, and "elected" new leadership. Yours truly will be the "President" of the PC library committee for the coming year, and is delighted to have the chance to work with other volunteers in this area of INTEREST/PASSION!

Oh yes, and now it is HOLY WEEK, a VERY big deal here in predominantly Catholic Paraguay. Holy Wednesday, today, appears to be NATIONAL MAKE CHIPA day...and oh my gosh, how I love the INTERNET, for after typing "appears to be NATIONAL MAKE CHIPA day" I just had to query the web, y VIOLA:

http://discoveringparaguay.com/home/

in which you can read how HOLY WEEK ("Semana Santa") is also Chipa Central, y specifically TODAY.....in fact, I must log off now for I've been invited to go help make, and partake, in some local chipa creation, a final day of MARCH MADNESS a la Paraguayan!

Hasta abril amigos y amigas!