“Confianza”

For our first three months in country, the Peace Corps considers us trainees, and not full volunteers yet. There are a set of goals we must accomplish and training we must complete, which include: language, culture, field-based/technical training, as well as training on medical, safety and security measures. Our schedule is pretty hectic, with Sunday as our only free day. However, it is nice to stay busy, as it keeps my mind so preoccupied that as of yet anyhow, I haven’t even had time to feel homesick (though, I do miss my SO CAL Mexican food—bean and cheese burritos— and I could totally go for a slice of pizza right now…I don’t think you can send me these items…)

Mon/Wed/Fri we have Spanish class from 8am to 4pm usually in our training neighborhoods. My town is called San Luis Las Carretas and is teeny tiny, the highlights include the church, the “park” (which is the concrete area right in front of the church) and the futbol field, which happens to be right in front of my house (Score!). There are 3 other volunteers in my neighborhood (these volunteers are my Spanish class and the people I see the most often) Saturdays we only have Spanish class from 8am to noon, then we are supposed to spend time with our host families. Tuesdays we have a full day of medical, safety, security, and technical trainings with the entire group (there are 32 of us), though for technical training we are divided up by project group (municipal development for me, and there are about 15 of us…I think). I have to leave my neighborhood by 6:30 (via bus) to get to the Peace Corps Headquarters by 8am…then we usually stay until 4:30 pm (LONG DAY for ME)But is great to see everyone and share all our stories. Thursdays we are just with our project groups at site, 8am-4pm. Basically, I love Sundays now.

“Confianza” (Spanish for trust) is a huge part of the culture. In order to integrate into our communities, we have to be accepted by our families, and then communities. Spending time with our families through chatting, watching tv with them, helping with household chores (cooking or whatever), playing with the children, or even some “chisme” (gossip, though I don’t say anything, I just listen…!) will help us build strong relationships with our families. If our families accept us, then our communities will follow. To “Gringos” (or north Americans in this context) this may seem trivial, but here you’d be surprised how important this is. “Confianza” is a lot like social capital. I was sitting with my “madre” after dinner, and we were just chatting, and she was like, “we had one volunteer who only came out of her room for meals, and never talked…we didn’t have much confianza in her, and she had a hard time…she ended up leaving early”…Confianza can really make or break a volunteer’s Peace Corps experience. Thus, I am working hard to build up my “confianza” to make the relationships and solidify the friendships and resources that will hopefully lead to my future success as a volunteer…and for the more obvious reason—in development, if the community you are working with has no faith in you, then you won’t really be working in development for too long…!