Questioning and discovering...

Dear family, friends, and anyone else in this world wide web with whom I have the pleasure of being in touch:

It has been a while since I checked in with you !

I have a lot of photos from Fulbright Orientation, Uxmal, and other little adventures that I have been up to, and I'd like to use the photos to guide my writing the blogs. As I have not had the time to write those entries in high-quality details (shooting myself in the foot for setting high standards in the first place), I am opting for a temporary catching-up blog just to let you know what I have been doing. I promise you'll still get the other blogs later. For now, I'm going with the FAQ style with Questions and Answers to let you know I am alive and trying to make a difference in the world.

Sans photos - but I'll use the gifs to make up for it 😁

SO...HERE WE GO:

What has happened so far?

I have officially found a community here in the Yucatán (after the 3rd or 4th organization I looked at...). Over the past weeks, I've met with Dr. Federico Dickinson and Dr. Teresa Castillo, my future mentors, who have worked with the San Crisanto community for over 2 decades. The conversation went so well that I will move forward with living in the community starting this October 14th!!!

I have yet to develop a concrete project proposal because I strongly believe that I need to get to know the community first rather than writing an ideal proposal that is not going to happen. For my long term vision of sustainable change, community input and local leadership on this project are key.

Where will I be?

San Crisanto is a small fishing village about a couple hours away from Yucatán's capital. This project involves interviewing community members (perhaps hosting community conversations as well) where they and the organization worked together to develop sustainable, hurricane-resistant dwellings and community clinic. Specifically, I will be working on the formation of the community clinic. I am curious to learn more about the local practices and customs of San Crisanto that contribute to community-wellbeing. More concrete details will follow after I talk with the community members in terms of what the project will look like.

Dr. Federico Dickinson and Dra. Teresa Castillo and I agreed that it would be better for me to live in the community for an extended period in order to develop the project with community expertise.

What do I hope to do?

With my knowledge and passion for community health as well as respect for local people and culture, I would like to develop a project that builds on the community's local assets and human capital to promote well-being. It is my hope that the project is replicable across other fishing villages, locally as well as globally.

What I am doing now?

To prepare myself before heading out for field work out in the community, I have been reading various works from anthropologists, researchers, and storytellers to learn more about the Yucatán in general and I am reading San Crisanto's genealogy which Dr. Federico Dickinson and Dra. Teresa Castillo gave me. Genealogies are books about people in the town and what they do - perhaps like a very personal yellow pages book. Basically lots of reading :)

Future steps?

On September 24th, I will visit San Crisanto for the first time to meet my host family. After this initial introduction and a few weeks of observation in October, I will follow up with an official project proposal after getting to live in the community.

Questions for myself to keep in mind as I develop this project:

How to balance different ways in which people of different cultures may experience and view community wellbeing?
In a place where the day to day survival is difficult, how does one make long-term prevention relatable? The privilege to care and to be able to make healthy choices is not available to everyone.
What are the ways in which I keep in mind the privilege I have (e.g. US citizenship) but not let that be a barrier or guilt which render me ineffective as a changemaker?
How do I participate fully while also remembering my role as an objective observer? Is this possible?

Below are the questions that (I think) I have the answers to:

Where do I want this project to go?

To have a rippling effect, from one fishing village to the other, and potentially across the big ponds. I already know that this is a potential from what I have heard about the women in San Crisanto forming partnerships with women in another village on building hurricane resistant-dwellings.

What can I offer?

Community health knowledge, community mobilization, bridging connections between academia and community leaders and local residents, outsider's perspective (treacherous slope here…)

What are my fears?

That I won't get anything done. Either being pulled by too many directions or not having the time required to develop strong community connections for sustainable change.

Who/What can I count on to anchor myself?

My local mentors Dr. Federico Dickinson and Dr. Teresa Castillo, my Stanford mentors Dr. Gabriel Garcia and Dr. Lisa Goldman Rosas, my coach Bela Shah from Dalai Lama Fellows, my mentors rom Spiritual Ecology, as well as my friends and family. Last but not least, also myself - through regular journaling and reflections.

What do I need to keep in mind?

Being focused ≠ mindful. With the former, I am at risk of being present for one thing and forgetting other important things. The latter keeps all things in perspective.

Why does this project matter?

There are important traditions and ecological knowledge in the Maya culture gradually being replaced with globalized culture of consumption. These traditions have been found to be protective factors of community health. If granted permission, I want to learn and help preserve these community assets.

Phew! Writing all of this actually helps me crystallize these thoughts floating and colliding in my head. I look forward to sharing more about San Crisanto after being in the community.

Until next time,

Vy

#September #SanCrisanto #Summaries #Researchdescription