How do dogs know Spanish? A thirty month study concluded.

In May of 2008 the quest to discover the answer to the worlds most intriguing question ´how do dogs know Spanish?´, a question once proposed by my brother, William, while performing a Socratic Method lecture at the age of seven brought me to El Salvador. After more than thirty months of investigation, up-close and hands-on interviews, and countless hours of pondering I present to you my academic thesis.

We all know that dogs don´t speak English or Spanish, nor any human tongue for that matter. Dogs love, and are loyal. They are silent listeners and even though they may not understand they do offer one trait that is almost impossible to find amongst ourselves – complete lack of judgment and complete willingness to give love regardless of whether it is returned or not.

At many points in my Peace Corps career, as odd as it may seem, I had dog like characteristics. I spent months upon months walking through dusted streets, passing house to house, nervously walking up to people. Only wanting acceptance, but facing the constant fear of rejection. I often found myself sitting in a safe corner of a small house surrounded by people that were very different from me both physically and culturally.

Wanting to feel the warmth of human presence, many times I would tuck myself in that safe corner and just listen. The vibrant glow of the fire that slowly cooked our bean dinner. Its reflections dancing on the dirt floor. The shadows of our bodies escaping the waving flames heading into the dark night. Especially within the first months of my Salvadoran experience, the words that I heard while eating, while walking the streets, while sitting in that corner at night trying to understand the stories being told, it all just seemed like odd noises to me. Without the ability to understand I was forced to let go. For the first time in my life I became a silent listener that may not have understood but also did not place any judgment.


For thirty months my neighbors, friends and family here have given me everything. Food, coffee, conversation and most importantly a sense of belonging even though I never quite completely fit in. I feel that the love that the people that I have lived and worked with have given me has been offered without the need for compensation. It was love offered for the sake of love, even though in many ways I was never completely able to return it.


The trust given to me by over 500 community members that taught me the meaning of loyalty. The thousands of non-rushed conversations accompanied by a Salvadoran rainy day. The swinging of a hammock and the brilliant smile of a nearby neighbor as he welcomes me to join him. The comfort of silence. In many ways, it was all perfect. Even the imperfections, they were perfect too.

El Salvador has taught me so much about who I am. I have a new self confidence. I hope no one can see it. It is just for me. El Salvador has taught me to love and appreciate both the simplicity and hardness of life. My experience here has taught me about love. It has taught me to love myself and accept my failures and not let them consume me. El Salvador has taught me that life goes by very quickly and that each moment spent not being thankful for all our gifts is an opportunity to be truly happy wasted.



I guess I haven´t really learned how dogs know Spanish, sorry Billy.

But I have learned that it is possible to be completely different from everyone around you, living in conditions that most would consider below-standard, and in spite of it all be completely happy.

And with that, it is time to go home.

Muchas Gracias, El Salvador.

Jimbo Leddy
Rural Health Specialist
March 2008-July 2010
United States of America Peace Corps

Reconstruction Project Santiago de Chile - A Sucess Story!

It all started November 8th, 2009.

It was a horrible night. The tragic memories are still very much alive. With every raindrop that falls, young kids smiles are erased by the fear of another bad storm. The area of San Vicente still morns the deaths of innocent people, many of which were women and children. New houses are built and fresh monte grows over the boulders that came crashing down in absolute darkness.
With my new job with Habitat for Humanity, I am working in a new community made of 50 families that lost everything that night, everything except the sounds, smells and terrifying memories of what Mother Nature can really do. ‘Don Jim, I really like our new house, I just don’t like that I can still see the volcano because it scares me’, an 8 year old girl from my new community confides in me. A lot of innocence was lost.

A week after the destruction, while the local pueblos were still in the beginning stage of healing, I went home for two weeks. Amongst a range of emotions I was scared. It had been 20 months since I had last touched US soil and my current living situation was very different to my Michigan way of life. Confronting who I was in Michigan with who I am here in El Salvador while trying to make sense of the scariest night of my life made me very uncomfortable.

A little over six months later, I am still in awe of everything that has happened.

Walking into the Crow’s Nest with Erin Williams (a dear friend that was a major player in this project), I remember thinking – I hope we raise a few hundred dollars to help get the people from my community back on their feet. This was before I shook hands and hugged just about everyone that I have ever met from the Plymouth Canton area. Everyone that I had met in 20 some years all in the same night. The emotional support that I received and the financial backing has led us to have unprecedented success in our efforts to give people a sense of security. It has also taught me so much about compassion and the desire to help that we as US citizens have. My words will not do justice to what my eyes have seen and to what my heart feels.

From a numbers standpoint, the Santiago de Chile Reconstruction Team (because WE are a team) collected donations varying from quarter collections to large checks. The spark that started in the Plymouth Canton area led to people that I have never met that live in other states donating to the cause. All in all, your support and the hope to collect a few hundred dollars has been the base of a collaboration between Peace Corps and multiple levels of AID: local mayor and advisors, the governor of our department, the National Ministry of Living of El Salvador, the Catholic Church and a serious of NGO’s and other organizations: CoCoDa, Intervida, Rotary Club, Lions Club, and Save the Children.

We recently held an event to celebrate the success of our project and give thanks to the hundreds of people that helped. That day, all of you back home were applauded. The day also was my going away party now that I live in a new area and have a new job. I had already moved away from my community and was too busy with new work to help out with the ceremony plans - the community organized everything. Upon arriving to my old home here in El Salvador I was blown away by the community response. Here is a look into the final day of our project:

We designed a sign to help commemorate the project, its purpose and all of its sponsors. Once I am able to access some files on my laptop, I will be putting up the actual design so that all of you can see it from close-up. Here it is hung outside of the community's meeting area.


Inside the meeting area the community set up a table of honor where I was joined by the governor of La Paz, our mayor, a Catholic priest from San Salvador and representatives from many NGO's.

The man speaking is my former counterpart.

A shot from the table of honor. As you can see, many people attended. The kids in front started the ceremony off by singing the national hymn - probably the cutest thing ever.

Here, the governor of La Paz shares with us some words about the tradgedy and our projects efforts.


My favorite moment of the day. Another counterpart of mine, Miguel, came up and gave us his words, "Jim, after the time you have spent and the project that we have done I do not look at you as a North American or a volunteer. It is clear that we are brothers." I cannot tell you how touching that was to hear after being away from home for so long.

Then of course, the gringo had to speak.

I had a million things to say, but after listening to the kids sing and the kind words of my counterparts I had to fight to keep the tears from falling:

This project is not a series of walls that we have put up after a tragedy. It is a symbol of what can happen when a group of people who are compassionate and willing to allow a complete stranger that comes from a different country and speaks a different language into their home. Because when that level of trust is offered, skin color, nationality and other differences cease to exist. I hope that we all look at the retention walls today and remember that there are hundreds of people in the United States that even though have never been here or met all of you care about who you are and how you live. If anything, I am blessed because I have lived with both groups of people and now from personal experience know that we are all equal. Where I do look different and come from the United States, from this day forward, I have two homes and consider myself a member of Santiago de Chile. Thank you so much.

A shot of my with our mayor and Father Quintanilla, Catholic priest from San Salvador

The entire community walked the project and then at the top where we started our work (remember all those shots of the tubes?) Father Quintanilla blessed the community and our hard work.

A shot of me with Miley, my 2 year old sister from Santiago de Chile. When I moved here, she couldn't walk. Now she runs and talks.

At the end of the ceremony, my counterparts presented me with a plack for my time spent in the community and the success of our project. I will be taking a close-up shot to put on the blog for all of you to see. This plack is not for me, it is for all of you. My job was easy. I have been here for the last months working and learning - doing what I love. That has been my reward. If it wasn't for all of you none of this would have happened.

More than just a fundraiser, more than just one project, the last six months have completely changed my life. I had never worked in disaster relief before this. Now I write to you as a Habitat worker who specializes community organization working with victims post-tragedy. As I look to the future, I also want to go back to school keeping in mind all that I have seen and experienced here. Peace Corps and this project truly have touched me.

A special thanks goes out to all of my friends and family. To everyone that participated. There is no way that I could ever repay you. Just know that there halfway up a volcano, in a rural, coffee planting area that there are 500 people that sleep a lot better at night because of the relief that you have provided. I have personally seen the effect, and it is without a doubt a miracle.

To my mom and dad - thank you for understanding when I said, 'I'm thinking about doing Peace Corps'.

To my entire family - from all the letters, packages and support during this project. What a great family I have.

To Erin Williams and her family - thank you so much for jumping right in. Your energy and motivation to talk with the press and design the fundraising night made everything possible.

To Father Matthew - I will never forget walking into your office as a scared kid to talk to you about El Salvador. Over two years have passed. Thank you so much for you support. It has been such a blessing.

To Wayne Titus, Deacon Don and Ivan Villasboa. Thanks for teaching a young guy the importance of the financial side of project management. It has been such a blessing to meet and work with all of you. Wayne, it is an honor to have had the support that you have offered me.

There is not a real way to end this journey. Nothing I can say that will wrap it all up. I have grown up in so many ways. I am no longer a stranger in this country trying to find my way. I now walk with a new confidence and a new love for El Salvador. I have also never been more proud to be from Plymouth-Canton and the United States. Many volunteers worry about moving back home after their time serving as a volunteer because of cultural differences and the fear that friends and family won't understand everything that has happened here. All of you have made my experience here so amazing. You have all impacted my life so much and because of that I am so grateful. I will be home in November without the typical Peace Corps volunteer fears.

Muchas gracias por todas las memorias,

Jimbo

A quick update

The project is almost done! It has been such an experience thanks to all of you! We have only 2 weeks left and all the hard work will be done! Here are a few shots of current progress. Remember, this is all new construction inside the community!

More updates to come. We are planning a party to celebrate the construction and will be inviting the governor, the mayor, Peace Corps and all of you!

Update 3

Hello to all! I hope that you are ready for the third update, I tried to put this up a week ago but for some reason the internet Gods would not let me. Let´s take a look!

Also, I have been told by fellow volunteers that my spelling is very poor in my updates. I will not apologize - I take it as the highest compliment towards my Spanish fluency. All I can say is that I will try to do better, haha.

An update on the map:

Take a look at an older version and you will see that I have included some other roads that run through the community. We have decided to make a few small additions to the project so these extra roads will be important at the end of this blog!

Up at the tube area of the project we have come a long way. We have poured cement over the road and added more wall on the sides to make it stronger. The bus now passes through the road as it did earlier. We still have to construct the legs that extend out towards the landslide but the progress has been impressive.

A look through the newly poured cement box.

A look at the cement addition the extends from the box area out.

Branching out from the cement cover over the road we have also replaced the original road, removing old rocks, placing in new ones and then compacting them. It is weird that I know how to make a road out of rocks.

The guys getting rid of the cement tubes that have been sitting on the side of the road.

We used tree branches to do it.

A pic of the cement drainage box from where the landslide came.

A true gentleman.

Freddy telling me that the order has not arrived yet....

Miguel.

New drain system - it is wide and very long!

Repairing the road near the water station and the small wall. This is so that the water flows away better. The road was very beat up and there has always been a lot of stagnant water in this zone. We tore the rocks out, put new ones in, and then compacted them with more dirt!

Here are a few more additions to the original map. This part of the project is centered near my house and the church, the zone marked.

This is a shot from right outside my door up towards all the construction. The boulders that we took out of my house after the landslide are still there. The long pieces of metal that you can see once were part of a latrine.

A shot from the same zone only downwards towards the heart of the community. The area highlighted is important in terms of new construction.

A closer look and one can see that it is a latrine. Directly to the right of it we will be constructing.

I have now walked to the road, the church is now behind me and this shot is to the left of the latrine, as you can see. Notice that directly next to this latrine there is a natural drainage system, like a dried river bed, that runs from this road down and out of the community. We will be using this to push the water out of important community zones. A small wall on both sides of the dried bed will do the trick.

The water will then flow down though the bottom half of the community towards the second zone of new projects.We have now gone to the next road below and are looking up towards the church and the first zone of new construction.

Here we are looking up at the church towards the second road. This is a great look up the river bed that we will use as the drainage system.

This is a shot from the same zone, I just turned around. So, behind me is the church a ways up and we are looking towards the bottom part of the community. The green square highlights where the river bed continues, there is a break in it because of the road - this bed kind of cuts to the left so we will put a wall here so that the water follows the path of the bed.

It will be a beautiful thing.

A new map of the project. In this one I have tried to draw a 3D version of the landslide zones and have marked all aspects of the project, including new builds - as you can see it is quite the experience. I hope that I am explaining myself enough - I realize that it is hard to get your head around it never having been in El Chile. Any questions - please send me them!

That is all for now!

Jimbo