yesterday i held the first meeting of my young (mostly teenage) mothers group. out of 18 invitations sent, 4 women came, but that is ok. 18 would be too many. we talked about what they wanted to do in their lives apart from raising their kids. brenda (17) was in cosmetology school when she got pregnant , and once her baby is 1 year old, her family is going to support her to return and complete the two-year degree. alba (19) had a hard time coming up with something. is there anything you want to learn, anywhere you want to go, i asked her? i mentioned cooking and she said she would like to learn how to make different food from different cultures, not just typical salvadoran foods. she also wants to play sports. softball is the women's sport here. the father of alba's baby left her but still sends her money. alba added that she wanted to work in a factory to make money for her baby. sandra (22) is the outlier in this small group. her pregnancy was planned. she wants to learn how to make bread by hand. i told her about my efforts to do that last year, how sometimes my breads were "super feos." tatiana (18 i think) is also interested in playing sports. when i think about the options open to them versus the options that i have already enjoyed and will continue to enjoy, it is kind of embarrassing. they asked me what i wanted to do. i told them i wanted to travel, and even that is something they can't really do. apart from this sad/grateful feeling, the meeting was good, they were talkative, perhaps they will bring friends next week. the point of the group is to expand upon the basic sex ed they have received and talk about family planning and women's health.
similarly, two seventh grade girls came to the first meeting of the music video group. to be fair, the entire 8th grade had been let out early so they were gone. i'm not sure if i have explained this project to yall yet. basically, we are going to write parodies of popular songs so that they convey health information about, for example, dental hygiene or malnutrition. then we are going to plan out a music video, record the track, shoot the video, and BAM youtube sensation. the two girls who came seem psyched about it and hopefully, again, more people will show up next time. i taught them a little bit about my beloved rule of thirds for composing shots.
last night i finally made it to the fabled "bohemian district" of san salvador with some friends. the scene was quite familiar to me compared to my swanky fancy neighborhood. people with dreads! piercings! a sweaty dance party! why, this feels like a house party at wesleyan. at one point the music stopped and some guys started playing drums and a conch shell and a tortoise shell and maracas. why, this feels like drum circle in dc. it's nice to know that this scene exists in san salvador, but kind of sad that it is so far from where i live.
in other news, i can play the chords to midnight special on the guitar now!
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