Not So Fast...

Well folks, that "Mid-Service Crisis" that I thought I wouldn't have definitely has happened.  This difficulty of this last month and a half hit me as a surprise, but I remember now that I saw this coming months ago-- June through August my schedule was full of exciting milestones (1 year in country, 1 year in site), new arrivals (new volunteers who I got to train on 2 occasions, my site-mate arriving in Monsefu), work trips to Lima, and the amazing visit from my mom.  I knew that I couldn't take on new projects during those busy months, so I anticipated that September and October were going to be somewhat schedule-less and quiet, and hence difficult.  Add to that an unexpected trip to the States for my grandmother's funeral, and it's easy to for me to see what put me in this weird feeling of limbo.

At the same time, I've noticed that I've reached what might be my final stage of integration in site.  And ironically, that might be what it causing my "crisis," which mainly has to do with a complete loss of patience for corruption, incompetence, selfishness, and other fun realities of my work.  My host family, counterparts, and friends seem to feel much freer including me in conversations about personal conflicts, corruption, unfaithfulness, etc.- and while it is very enriching for my experience, it leaves me wondering how someone who lives here can continue working towards "good," in the face of such selfishness, ineptitude, cruelty, and futility.  I want to share with you all some examples of what I'm talking about, and I apologize in advance that there are some really upsetting stories here.

• Strikes are a constant reality in Peru.  You probably heard about the mining strikes, but what affects even more communities are the teacher and health worker strikes.  In Peru there aren't laws like in the States where jobs that are crucial to public safety/service can't strike (air traffic controllers, teachers, etc.) so the teachers actually do it all the time.  They recently ended a strike of TWO MONTHS, meaning there was no class for two months in the public schools, except for the teachers who broke strike to teach, and what kids are going to come to school when only one or two of their teachers are there.  There was then another national-level strike, but thankfully Monsefu didn't participate in the second one.  The strike is mainly about increasing their salary, which is somewhat valid, but at the same time they don't even work a full half-day and not showing up to class is commonplace.  These strikes combined with the generally horrendous quality of public and most private school in Monsefu is maddening.

• My host dad mentioned something really upsetting over lunch a while ago- a 14 year-old girl in his class was raped recently, by her uncle (father's brother).  Her parents are separated and when her mother found out, she called the girl's father- his response was "what am I suppose to do?  I can't charge him, he's my brother."  Worst part- because of the strike in the Health Post, she couldn't get prompt medical attention.  I don't know if she got medical attention later or not.  Then, my host dad says the same uncle had the nerve to escort the girl to school one day and introduce himself as her uncle.  I can't imagine the terror she is going through, my heart breaks for her.

Open sewage smells just wonderful.

• Corruption has been rampant.  It was just discovered that the woman in charge of artisan fairs in the provincial government had been making a 100% profit on all artisan stands, because she was charging the artisans S/.300 and giving over S/.150 to her office.  She was allowed to leave quietly because she was a political appointee from the past provincial mayor anyway.

•  This is what many of the streets in my town have looked like between June and now.  This was part of a huge sewage system replacement project, funded by the national government, executed by the local (municipal) government.  Well, turns out the national-level experts found that the project was over-valued by 23 million soles (9 million dollars)... a.k.a., more corruption from my mayor.  So, the project has been suspended for investigation and the streets are slowly being closed back up.  When I took my Politics of Corruption class in college, we learned that most corruption happens in public works, because it is easy to lie about prices or number of bags of cement needed.  That is definitely the reality here in Peru.

Felipe and I co-hosting FextiMODA

• The most popular radio host in town, Felipe, was detained for four days on charges that he accepted money to say false things about someone on the air.  He was released (after paying S/.3000, I believe) and is back on the air.  His first day back he apologized for "making a mistake," and accepted tons of calls and text messages from people voicing their support for him. He does lead and help a lot of great projects in Monsefu, but it's believed that he often personally benefits from them some way.  Just this September there were whispers that he had made a big profit on the 50th Anniversary committee of his high school, where the funds raised were supposed to go to replacing the school bathrooms.  You may remember Felipe as the guy who publicly criticized my Artisan Fashion Show project when it turned out badly the first time.  This last time around, when the artisans lead the show, Felipe was my co-host (My anger at him had cooled by then).  Three other Volunteers and I wanted to put together a weekly radio program with him, which would be a fantastic project, but is very complicated by this corruption business.  I don't want to give my passive support to him and his program, but he is also just so darn helpful and likeable.  And dangerous if you offend him.

Now, it's not all bad.  I'm not depressed, I've just been finding it difficult to stay motivated in my work. But at the same time, whenever it all goes to crap, I spend more time with my host family or other friends, and my affection for Peru is restored.  So, here are some positive moments over the past two months:

• My host mom "passed the egg" on me! The majority of Peruvians believe that when you are ill or had suffered a shock or scare, you can be treated by "passing the egg."  This involves rubbing an egg all over the affected person's body, so that the egg takes in all of the "bad."  My host mom wanted to pass the egg on me because I had a terrible nightmare and woke up a little weary from it (that's what happens when ridiculously violent news stories are playing at 11:30pm).  If a person is really ill/shocked, then the egg may actually crack during the passing (hmm...), or you may need multiple eggs to get all the "bad" out.  The egg is then broken into a glass to and you can examine the way it settles in order to find out something about the person's illness.  My egg is picture on the right, and you might be able to see some small white wisps in the center.  These small wisps apparently showed that I wasn't too bad... but still I was told to chuck the egg-water far away from the house as I was leaving!
• Last weekend, I went on an awesome camping trip with a handful of Volunteers, in a dry forest called the Bosque de Pomac that is about 1 hour from Chiclayo.  It is the site of many Moche (pre-Incan) pyramids, made out of mud.  We made the short hike up one of them to watch the sunset over the pyramids and trees :)  You can't see many trees here but these are the tops of the more-than 1000 year-old pyramids, run down by water over time.  We also got to see a current excavation site where they have found 80 bodies.

• This isn't exactly a positive story, but it will be a fun Peace Corps memory.  I helped my host dad kill a mouse/rat in the kitchen.  Our dog smelled it behind the sewing machine and we chased it around the whole kitchen, taking apart counters and everything to get at it.  Finally, it ran up a corner of the wall and my host dad caught it with a broom.  He asked me to hit the rat hard with the end of another broom, but I wasn't good enough at it (also, not sure I have the stomach for that).  We switched responsibilities, so I held the body still while he blunt-forced it death with the end of the second broom.  They were embarrassed that I wanted to take a picture but I promised them I wouldn't post it on Facebook, so no one in town would see it!

Host Dad Gilberto searching for the rat under a broken stove

The finished job.  The picture my family didn't want me to take

• My host family continues to be the best.  I had the worst day I've had in a while last week, after visiting the regional government and talking to my #1 least favorite Peruvian.  She is in charge of artisanry on the regional level and is completely paranoid, gossipy, manipulative, passive-aggressive, unreasonable and just downright crazy.  Explaining the conflict in any more detail would be too arduous, so basically I came home at lunch time and a few tears started to fall after we ate.  My host mom tried to comfort me telling me about how much some of the teachers at her job can suck too, and at the same time my host dad (who was standing) started imitating the Gangam Style dance behind her, while it was playing on TV.  He had me cracking up while my host mom kept trying to be serious, and he eventually came over and started rubbing her shoulders like a massage.  They are so adorable. They are still so in love, after being married 36 years and dating since high school.  I often catch them flirting and holding hands.

So, work is a constant up-and-down, but family is an almost constant up.

Here's a great picture of my family from my host nephew's 4th birthday party.