BLOG ACTION DAY 2010: WATER

After living in the day to day among the local people of a third world/developing country, we had the unique perspective of experiencing water on a different level.

Today thousands of bloggers from over 125 different countries come together to write about water issues in their communities around the world today.  Please visit change.org - a really interesting website.   Some interesting facts from the website:

• Every WEEK nearly 38 thousand children under the age of 5 die worldwide from unsafe drinking water and unhygienic living conditions.
• Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of diseases and kill more people every year than all forms of violence including war.

 WATER IS A HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE.  WATER IS A GLOBAL ISSUE.

In Canada we do not have true poverty.  We are fortunate to live in a country that does not lack water and the water that we do have is filtered through sanitation filtration systems. A study conducted last year in a Toronto paper investigated whether the municipal water supply is safe - some municipalities had "safer" drinking water than others. Some had lead in the water due to old lead pipes in the older homes, prescription drug toxins and bacteria were found at different levels, but the overall message was that the water was safe to drink.

I read these facts today that really blew me away: The basic water requirement for one person is 50 litres. The average Sub-Saharan consumption is 10 to 20 litres per person/per day.  In Europe it's 140 litres per person/per day. In Canada, the average consumption is 335 litres per person/per day. I was reading all the "tips" to conserve water.  I absolutely understand the need to conserve and I understand that we waste a lot of water here. Bring in the rain barrels! I swear I will turn the water off when I am brushing my teeth, but I cannot turn the water off in the shower when I "lather" - that ain't happenin'!


In most of the world, water is not in such plentiful supply.

It's trivial, but in El Salvador, we couldn't even use the running water from the faucet to brush our teeth. The smell of the water and the warnings of impending "yellow teeth" from Americans were heeded.We also would never have ice in a drink, shaved ice treats or anything that was washed in water that was not from a bottle. (The latest movement in diminishing plastic bottles, thereby reducing oil consumption etc) is not even on the radar in El Salvador. Bottled water is a necessity in this country.

In wiki - it states that 90% of the surface water is contaminated and that the industrial waste water spews into the creeks and rivers without being treated. The photo above is where the locals do wash their clothes and themselves.  Running water is not available in the shanty villages.  There are some wells, but most women and some men can be seen walking along the roadsides with their vessels on their heads carrying water back to their homes.

If you are lucky enough to have running water - it's not unusual for it to be turned off for days - especially during the rainy season.  The limited filtration systems can't take the muddy waters, so hence the water turn offs.

To turn your water off  for a couple of days is to experience a fraction of life experienced by most of the world's population.  In the first world countries, we should be very grateful for the running water in plentiful supply.

The Simple Life in El Salvador

Trinity and Daddy lived in an isolated Rancho by the ocean for a couple of months until it became apparent that they really needed to move on.  

Douglas found a new place to move into in July right on the ocean where all the little bohemian beach villages are located.  The social networks are all you have in these little villages - so we enjoyed meeting travellers from all around the globe - in particular some really nice guys from Israel and a fiesty Swede.  It's a very cute little place where everybody knows every one in town.  There are cobble stones  - where you have to be careful not to break your ankle while walking and a main "pedestrian street" covered in sand where all the surfers walk with bare feet down to the ocean waves.  The ten foot cable was apparently stolen not once, but twice, and thus we had no cell or internet service for a good part of a month.  I will have to remember to pack a cable in November.

Our little Casa/Rancho is very cute, but has some challenges in the "kitchen" area, namely that it is an open area where insects and animals can forage.

We love the pool!!!!!!  Avalon has become a Mermaid!

The view of the coconut tree from our living room. There are deers, turtles that Tequila loves to dig his paws into, geckos and parrots and a little baby possum that forages in the garbage every night!

The salon looks great - I brought up suitcases filled with products to sell in the salon.  Some images of the Salon:

Some images from the village Playa El Tunco:

The tides were very high, so unfortunately, there were only a couple of days that the girls were able to swim in the ocean.

Goofy Kissface!

We went to a very interesting little colonial town in Northern El Salvador - Ataco.  A bit dicey with the directions, but three hours later up in the cloudy mountainous region, we finally found it.  It was worth the drive:

My sister asked me why he was crying - I think because the milk gives him the runs and the butter tastes like crap - sorry El Salvador I just had to get that out of my system!

Unfortunately, we were traveling in the dark on the way home and had a flat tire.  It was a bit scary - we limped along the dark highway on the rims looking for help - there isn't exactly the CAA that we could call for help.  As we were arranging through our cell phone for a taxi to find us and bring us back home (we were about 2 hrs from home at that point), we happened to come upon the Policia.  As we pulled over to them on the curb, they then took off.  Douglas flashed his lights and honked his horn to no avail.  We limped back onto the highway again and pulled over to the curb when we came upon the Policia again.  Apparently they were chasing down some gang members when we had pulled over.  They dealt with their situation, told us it was a very dangerous area where gang members can form lines to stop traffic and pull innocent victims over.  So after that reassurance, we paid them to change our tire to the donut, as Douglas has only ever done that once, and then off we went back on the highway. We made it back home late that night in one piece.  Of course it was all my fault because I "love to gallavant around" - well true.  So, the next daytrip will be better planned and we will find a hotel to stay in overnight!

We ventured to the Muelle - fish market down by the pier of La Libertad.  The "major" town about 6 minutes down the road is stuck in a 1960's time warp, dirty and run down, but quite interesting.  We especially loved the filleting of the sting rays by the ocean.

The girls and I just made it back in Canada to the balmy temperatures of 10 degrees!  Just in time to run around getting their uniforms and "back to school" paraphernalia in order.  Trinity was with her Daddy for over three months and was ready to come back to Canada. Unfortunately, besides swimming, surfing, and watching movies on TV(no cable), there wasn't much else to do.  She was always wanting to go to the malls of San Salvador - but this became an expensive past time. Avalon was there for the month of August and thoroughly enjoyed all the swimming - we had to beg her to get out of the pool in order to go to the mall or grocery store.

I am now counting the days until November 31st, when we will be back with Douglas in El Tunco.

Got Hair?

Finally after only a couple of months of waiting for a Salvadoran Hydro employee to connect hydro to the Salon - it is up and running!!!

Douglas goes by the nickname of "Onyx"  - hence the name of the new Salon.  The salon is located in Playa El Tunco.

Two Peas in a Pod

The sisters together again after almost three months apart! Douglas took these pics inside the Salon - "Onyx Hair Studio".  Yesterday was a fantabulous day - not only because Avalon arrived safely in El Salvador, but also because, after two months of waiting, the HYDRO was finally installed in the salon!!! Yippee!! The salon has been painted, furnished and decorated - ready to go since June - so this is wonderful news.  I sent down all the marketing brochures and business cards with Avalon - so now he will officially open the salon this Friday!

I Managed to Pry her from My Hip

It took a little convincing from her big sister, but Avalon finally agreed to leave my embrace and travel to El Salvador ahead of me by ten days. (So, I'm childless for 10 days? What will I do with myself?)
We left at 2am for the Toronto airport, handed her over to the escort and her flight took off on time at 6:30am.  For some reason they didn't charge me the $60.00 fee for the bags - perhaps because I was already paying the $100.00 unaccompanied minor charge?? Anyway, I certainly didn't point it out. She was flying in first to Atlanta, Georgia to get her connecting flight to San Salvador.

She arrived safe and sound - when she phoned me she said that she "was practically sitting in high class" because she was one row behind the 1st class passengers. They kept offering her food on the flight, which she kept declining and then finally relented and said she would have some "M&M's" - ha ha.

Daddy and Trinity (and Avalonka the II - Trinity's second Iguana - the first one died) were there to meet her.  After she doled out the envelopes filled with money (like a little Santa Claus), Trinity decided she really wanted to go to her favorite mall in San Salvador! (Now how is it that Avalon has a better tan than Trinity?)

Summer Projects

Our house is still “packaged up” in storage, still vacant and the contractors are STILL working on the renovations that snowballed and took on a life of their own. At the end of August it will be exactly one year since I started these renovations – apart from having a gorgeously fresh new house all updated to the nines, is the fact that the sour real estate market that existed when I started the renos is now a very positive seller’s market in my area. The interest rates are very appealing right now as well. It is practically a brand new house now. The renovations were extensive: brand new flooring throughout, wallpapered/freshly painted throughout, new lighting fixtures, new furnace, new water heater, new appliances, new skirting boards, new decks, new balconies, new kitchen counter tops, new cabinetry, new sinks and faucets throughout, entirely new bathroom, foundation repaired (yes flooding due to all the rain storms was a set back), chimney repaired, etc. We tried to do what renos we could ourselves to save the money – thanks to my handy parents! So, now in light of the fact that we have about four months before I would leave for El Salvador, the heat is really on the last contractor to finish up the last reno that is taking place on this bloody house so I can pop it on the market and get it sold!!




Trinity is still loving her time in El Salvador – although she does miss her sister. But no amount of begging will seem to pry Avalon away from my hips to join them down in El Salvador. Avalon is busy this summer attending a Theatre Arts Programme at Theatre Aquarius in another city that is close to us – Hamilton. She is becoming a “Triple Threat – Dancing, Singing and Acting” and all up in her own koolaid!

Avalon and I are flying down to El Salvador in August for a three week visit. I will now use it as an opportunity to start applying/sorting out work permits, resident status, (whatever it is we need to transition smoothly), research affordable schools for the girls and get them registered in a school. Thank god for the internet in assisting us with planning this stuff.



Douglas thinks that he has found a nice little Bilingual Parochial Private All Girl's school for them, so we will be able to investigate it further when I am down there. From what I can ascertain, the Public School system in El Salvador is substandard; some schools not able to even afford desks or books for their students, so unfortunately this is not an option. As well, they don’t speak Spanish, so of course that would have been an extreme challenge for them. They attended Bilingual (English/French) school up here in Canada, so we were hoping that it would help them to pick up the Spanish a bit easier. The admission fees for a Bilingual Private School in El Salvador are a few thousand, depending on the school and the fees range from $4000.00 a year all the way up to $15,000.00 per year. Yikes!



Douglas is in the process of trying to find a larger home for us near El Tunco - one that isn't so isolated and "open concept" that invites all the bugs and scorpions in. Trinity is having fun looking through all the homes and telling me all about them and which one she prefers.

African Lion Safari

We have season's passes to African Lion Safari - so we have been trying to get our money's worth and have been quite a few times now.  Besides a water park, animal shows, train ride etc., there is the actual "safari" where you drive your vehicle through animal enclosures - but really we are the ones enclosed in the vehicle watching the animals roam free.

The baboons are the best! They jump all over your vehicle - sometimes they poop on it! They always sit on the side mirrors hoping you will feed them a morsel.  We were naughty and fed them a granola bar.

 

Queen Birdie

King of the Jungle having a nap!

An elephant ride  - her name is Lilly!

 We drive past these sunflower fields on the way home - we had to refrain from picking them!

Update on Fingerprints

So I finally received a return phone call from the RCMP.  It took 8 emails and 4 phone messages before I received this phone call. 

This RCMP officer told me that although they had received his information April 5th, they did not assign it to anyone until June 18th.  From the date of June 18th it will take in EXCESS of 140 days to process!!! So I guess that RCMP officer that I spoke with over 3 weeks ago did lie to me then. I am such a fool, I didn't ask his name. He had told me that we should be recieving the fingerprints in 1 week's time. So this "limbo time" is at least four months long - I daren't think of how much longer it may actually take. The most annoying thing is that if he were here in person, he could have done his fingerprints electronically and it would have taken them 24 hours to process. 

I explained our situation again and asked politely if there was anyway of speeding it up a bit for him, since the majority of people requesting fingerprint clearances are living in Canada.  Unfortunately, she was not one of these people who is able to think outside the box and have a bit of  a heart.  I have emailed my MP to see if they can assist at all in speeding this up, but I don't have very high hopes for this.

Once we receive these fingerprints, the next departmental application has a noted waiting time of 6-12 months, although in a phone conversation with them, they assured me that it would probably be a 6 month waiting time. Once they have completed their processing, it then all goes back to the Guatemala Immigration department - at that office I am completely in the dark as to how long it would take them to finalyze his Spousal Application. His medicals expire in September, so we are now going to have to redo these again! So bloody annoying.

Obviously this saga is taking much longer than we had originally anticipated.  The inefficiency of each Department that we come up against and rely on for processing has forced my hand. So, I have arranged for an official "leave of absence" of one year starting on Dec. 1st, 2010 so that we can all be together as a family while we wait for Douglas' Canadian Permanent Resident card.  

Red Tape Frustration

When I bump into friends and acquaintances who ask if Douglas is back yet they're surprised to hear that he is still awaiting his Canadian Residency papers in El Salvador. It's now been about 15 months since Douglas left for El Salvador and we re-submitted his Immigration papers for Spousal Sponsorship.  Every step in this  process has been like pulling teeth from a lion.  Douglas got a major run-around when trying to obtain a fingerprint screen/criminal check in El Salvador (you would think he was the first person to ever request this!), but Canada is no better.

The Immigration office that we have to deal with is the one located in Guatemala City.  On numerous occasions I have emailed them, faxed them, and sent letters via snail mail to check on the progress of the application.  I have never got a response from them. We have only ever heard from Guat Immigration office ONCE in the past 15 months.  The only reason I even know that they sent a letter to him in El Salvador was because, periodically,  I have our Member of Parliament get in touch with the Guat office to check on the status of things.  In February, they apparently mailed a letter to him (which he never received) asking him for a page full of various documents etc in order to proceed.  Some of these things were police clearances. 

I had to obtain a local police check for him - five officers, many visits/ phone calls to the station and many weeks later - finally obtained the piece of paper to say that he was "all clear".  What was the big problem? Well, it seems that it was against protocol to search the database and release a form saying "No criminal record" unless the person (Douglas) was actually physically in front of them.  I explained over and over that I didn't even need to see the form, I just needed them to do the check and mail it to the Immigration dept in Guatemala.  I submitted all sorts of documents from Immigration Canada showing proof that he had left the country as part of this whole saga, provided four different forms of ID copies NOTARIZED by the Canadian Embassy in San Salvador, his fingerprint form notarized by a Salvavadoran police station - I was still coming up against a brick wall. So, short of cutting his fingertips off and having them mailed back to Canada, I had done everything I could.  I think in the end, they got tired of me harrassing them - finally the day came that I was able to cross this off my "to do" list - they released the police check. YAY!!

Next step was the RCMP check for all of Canada. Acccording to the website, processing times are "in excess of 140 days".  I sent our original fingerprint form from El Salvador via registered mail over 3 months ago, so got in touch with them via phone message and email to make sure they have the file and are working on it.  After numerous emails, I finally received a response that went like this: "No, we can't locate his file, but it doesn't mean we don't have it."  Ya, I know, sort of unbelievable for a government organization - but wait, no maybe it is believable.  I kept persisting, explaining that with each month that passes, it is another month that we are not together as a family.  I have received three emails in total from them, all of the same template, all saying the same thing.  I have left numerous voicemail messages as well.  Finally received a call three weeks ago from an RCMP officer who confirmed that they had the file and I should receive the documents in about a week.  Then two days ago, I recieved another response from them via email (from an email I sent weeks ago) saying the same thing - "no, can't find it, doesn't mean we don't have it though."  So, which is it?  As I have not received the documents, again, I have started emailing and leaving voicemail messages demanding that they just clear this up and confirm once and for all if they have the documents.  I would hate to think that we have just wasted three months on this and have to start over again, but I would rather not waste ANOTHER three months waiting to find out.  So, with regards to Douglas' Immigration status - he is "approved in principal" and we are in a holding pattern tied up in red tape. For how long is the big question.

"Orange Alert" in El Salvador

Before she left Canada, Trinity had asked Douglas if she should bring her "Wellies" (Wellington Boots) with her to El Salvador.  He had told her not to, as her feet would get too hot inside the boots.  Too bad we listened! The poor kid has seen an exorbitant amount of rain & storms since landing there.  Tropical storm "Agatha" was first and then the remnants of "Alex".  The country experienced flooding, mudslides, some deaths and an "Orange Alert" was called by the government.

The casa was built very quickly - & me thinks building codes are not the same down there! Unfortunately, every time it rains heavily, it leaks into her room.  So, Douglas is sweeping the water out every day - hopefully, when the rains ease off, it will be repaired. 

The little village they are living in  - Playa El Tunco - experienced quite a bit of damage.  Erica's restaurant was left "lopsided" due to the high winds and the "sitting area" behind  the cafe, Dale Dale, apparently was swept away in the storm into the ocean. Apparently, the other day the water was almost up to their knees in some parts of town. So, there is rebuilding all around them right now that impedes Douglas from actually opening the Salon.  Otherwise, the salon (Onyx Hair Studio) is furnished and ready to go!

Douglas & Trinity sent some pics to me through the iPhone of the water levels. In the first picture of my cutie petutie, you can see how there is very little water (note her Iguana clinging to her purse) - then in the next picture I have doodled an "X" to indicate the exact place that she was standing only a few days before (in the first pic) with the low water level.  Wow! What a difference!