The simply complicated lives we lead

As you may or may not remember, I am participating in a program called World Wise Schools, in which I write letters (emails) to a 6th grade class in Virginia, whose teacher is my friend Elizabeth Turner.  Here I'd like to share my most recent update to them, which talks about the "simple," humble lives many of our friends lead here in Peru.

Hi Ms. Turner’s Class!!

It feels like a long time since I saw you all a little more than two months ago!  I hope you all had fun on your Spring Breaks and are enjoying the weather as it warms up.  It is cooling down here because the seasons are opposite in the Southern Hemisphere- so we are heading into fall!

Last weekend, I visited another Peace Corps Volunteer named Liz who lives about 4 hours away in a town called Bolívar, Cajamarca.  It is a very rural area, where only about 600 people live in the town, and another 1,000 or so live on farms that are hours away from the center of town.  I want to tell you a bit about my visit, because the way of life there is very different from what most Americans are accustomed to.

First, there is no cell phone service in the whole town.  And almost nobody has a landline in his or her house.  So that means the whole town shares two “community phones!”  There is also no Internet.  But since the kids there have never had Internet, they aren’t as upset by that as you might be- instead of playing on the internet, they are accustomed to playing with each other or bugging their parents :)

Both nights that I was visiting, the electricity was cut off before 9pm- that means that the only way to get around your house or the streets was by flashlight or candles.  These power outages happen all the time in Bolívar- imagine what it would be like in your house and school if the power shut off all the time, without warning!

Almost all of the people in Bolívar are very, very poor… a level of poor that is very rare in the United States.  Most people are farmers and make very little money, so they can’t buy a lot of things for their house or their kids- the floors are just dirt, no tile or concrete or anything, and most people only have 3 or 4 sets of clothes to wear.  They eat rice and potatoes every day because it is cheaper, and sometimes they have a little bit of fish or meat when they can afford it.

But there is something really important you have to understand- you don’t have to feel bad for the people of Bolívar because they don’t have cell phones, internet, or lots of clothes- these are things that matter a lot more in the United States than here in rural Peru.  You don’t need these things to be happy.  While Liz’s friends in Bolívar do need help studying to go to good schools, and finding ways to earn more money, they are very happy, generous, and fun people!

Here’s something that will surprise you guys- remember those guinea pigs you were so worried about?  In Liz’s friend’s house, they run around on the floor of the kitchen!  The kitchen looks completely different than what you imagine as a kitchen.  The “stove” is just a pot on firewood, and in the corner a bunch of guinea pigs, a few ducks, and a chicken squawk and squeal.  Here’s a picture of a stray guinea pig that made it over to the kitchen table, really close to my foot!

I learned a lot this weekend, visiting Liz and meeting her friends.  While my town, Monsefú, is really poor compared to the United States, Bolívar is much, much poorer.  Liz says she knows of one person in the whole town that owns a refrigerator.  But no matter where I travel, I find that people who come from different backgrounds or have different lifestyles or cultures are never really that different from you or me – kids everywhere like to play, everyone likes to laugh, and families always have arguments and love each other all the same.

So, I would like to hear your thoughts on this question…

What do you think is most important in life,

and what makes people truly happy?

Let me know what you think.  In the mean time, here are some more pictures from my visit to Bolívar, Cajamarca!

Un abrazo (a hug),

Kim

So, there's the simple, 6th grade appropriate Peace Corps story of the day.  While it is simplified, it is also all true.  Some parts of Peace Corps are somewhat romantic, eating dinner by candle light with guinea pigs running around my feet.  My job is pretty ridiculous and fun, sometimes.

Now, if you're up to it, I direct your attention to a blog written by my friend Amanda, written on a topic that- as you know- makes my life a lot more complicated than a 6th grader would understand.  Of course, I'm talking about machismo.  This post does a great job of really describing how constant and frustrating the situation is, not only for the harassment but the fact that none of our local friends can understand why it upsets us so much.  You'll also notice a shout-out to my truck-punching experience.

Here you go: http://amandagoespc.blogspot.com/2012/04/machismo.html

If you've still got the stomach for it, I have a few more comments on machismo.  A fellow female volunteer recently told me that as a Youth Volunteer, she stopped working in the high school because of how bad the treatment by male teachers got.  How bad, you ask?  The English teacher told his class of 13 year-olds that he wished he was standing under the stairs when the Volunteer walked upstairs wearing a (long) skirt.  Said this to his class... of 13 year olds.  Boys and girls alike are taught from the youngest age that all females can be treated as sex objects.  I've had 10-year olds in Monsefú whistle and make lewd comments at me.  

Really makes you want to donate to our adolescent boys' camp that is going to touch of the topic of machismo, right??  Just kidding.  Sort of.

There you go.  Two completely different realities, same Peace Corps rollercoaster.  8 months in-site as of four days ago!  This past month has been my hardest yet, but there's still no where I'd rather be.