Pictures of Puppies and Cute Kids

As I write, my mom is crossing the Caribbean to arrive in Lima!!! I can't BELIEVE I will be greeting her at the airport early tomorrow.  I can't wait for her to meet my host family, and I can't wait for our travels to Arequipa, a far-away region of Peru I have been dying to visit!

In the meantime, here are links to some new picture albums:

PUPPIES: Born to my old and new host families

Camp VALOR (the Boys' Camp I wrote about)

Family functions, work, gastronomy fair, and cute school kids

10 Things I Learned in Year 1

There were many times over the last year that I never thought I would be where I am now... more than 1 year in country, and almost 1 year in site!  June 10th marked one year since I landed in Peru, and I will complete one year in site in August.  So much has changed in the past year, but at the same time, I have become so accustomed to life here that sometimes it's hard to reflect on how Peace Corps service has changed me.  The change in my work life is easier to note.  I think I've finally found the sweet spot of having some good, sustainable projects and not killing myself to make the other ones happen.  It was necessary to do in the first year, when I needed to create my own work and find allies, but now I have an easier time finding good projects, weeding out the bad ones, and convincing the right people to get involved.  Finding ways to reflect on how I personally have changed is harder, but I would like to try to summarize- so here are my "Top 10" so-to-speak of lessons taught to me in Peru, so far.

1. Low expectations are the key to happiness.

Sounds pretty depressing, doesn't it?  But take it this way.  Life in a developing country is to be in a pretty constant state of uncertainty... will there be water in the afternoon?  What last-minute help is my municipality going to need from me today?  Is there some obscure holiday that is going to affect my work schedule this week?  All of this could drive an American crazy, until you learn to be really flexible and in most cases, plan for the Plan B.  No one showed up to my meeting tonight?  Oh well, I'll just go talk to them tomorrow.  The municipality has some absurd lie about why they don't have my document ready?  That's okay, I have another copy of what I need right here for you.  We learn to always be mentally prepared for Plan B, and when Plan A actually works out, we are super happy!  Oh, and we learn to always fill up the buckets of water in the house, and always carry toilet paper on you.

2.  Life is an experiment.  It's okay if you make it up along the way.

The Business Plan course that I, like all other Business Volunteers in my group, am teaching to people in my site is pretty technical.  So in order to teach contribution margins, and break-even points for a mix of products, I had to do a significant amount of self-teaching and preparation for each class, since I have a limited business background (not to mention, this is all in Spanish).  This made me pretty anxious in the beginning, because I felt unqualified to be teaching the class- especially because mine is open to adults and there are 40 year-olds with 20 years of business experience attending.  But again, I had to learn to let go, and just do my best to prepare.  If I mess up, it's not the end of the world.  I learned that self-consciousness is often my only obstacle.

3.  Just dance.

All Peruvians love to dance, whether on the coast or the sierra, but monsefuanos are known to be special party people.  The amount of family party invites here is exhausting, and sometimes I am just not in the mood to dance to the same old songs until 3AM on a weekday.  But, many times, I find that 20 minutes into the party, my internal grumbling shuts up when the 85-year old grandpa with a crippled arm pulls me onto the floor to dance.  The man that I am referring to just absolutely cracks me up, as he always insists that I go "bajo!" bringing it down low (totally normal at a family party here)- in fact, at my host mom's birthday party we were having too much fun and his family members had to ask me to stop dancing with him because his heart might fail.  Basically, Monsefú has taught me that there's never an excuse not to dance.  I don't always stay until 3 or 4 AM, but I do always find that the joy is contagious and dancing always cheers me up when I wasn't feeling it before.

4.  Do what you need to be happy, and don't feel bad about it.

Good Lord, Peace Corps teaches you to treasure your personal time.  Having no set schedule can turn out to be more of a curse than a blessing, especially in a culture where it is appropriate to visit someone at home for a work reason anytime, any day, between the hours of 8AM and 11PM.  And we often fall into the trap of feeling like we need to spend all of our free time with our host family, but sometimes that is just not relaxing when they are watching awful TV shows.  And taking time to really relax is absolutely crucial.  So, we learn to mark that "personal day" on our calendar every week and use it to do whatever makes us happy.  Lay in bed and watch movies?  Perfect.  Go into the capital city and drink with other volunteers?  Cool.  Eat a whole jar of peanut butter with crackers?  Sweet.  And when your work partners start calling your cell phone on repeat (3 calls in a row is completely normal here for non-emergency), turn it off or ignore it.  Work can wait.  This is your time. 

5.  Poverty is not cute, and there's not a clear way out.

What kind of images come to mind with Peace Corps service?  Barefoot kids smiling and laughing in front of the camera?  Rows of crop fields with the friendly farmers waving to you?

I won't deny that I do have warm and fuzzy moments like the images above (just check out my Facebook pictures).  But while I take my sunrise runs down the dirt roads and into the fields, there are other images that flood the scene, too.  There are the semi-abandoned kids who don't go to school.  And their uncle, who I find 80% of the time drinking chicha, a fermented corn liquor... at 7am.  And there is the time I saw a mother screaming and threatening her dirty, shoeless, and whimpering son with a fly swatter, while he cowered against a wall.  Obviously alcoholism and abuse aren't only problems in poor families, but it is more visible and heart-breaking when the kids aren't sent to school because the parents don't think they can "afford" it, and all the money has been spent on alcohol.  In Peace Corps we see first-hand what an unbelievable battle development work is, because of all of the interrelated pieces that go into the puzzle.  The best that we can hope for is that by infiltrating one small area of the problem, we can make change from there.  

6.  It is really hard to know what is "best" for someone besides yourself.

We come into Peace Corps with certain ideas in mind that seem like universal truths.  Then, as we listen more and finally start to understand the way locals think, we realize those "truths" may be wrong.  This is especially true for me, as a Business volunteer.  For example, why are all the hardware stores in Chiclayo set up next to each other, on one street?  Wouldn't it make a lot more sense to set up your store somewhere else, where there is no competition, especially if it was a more convenient location for a section of the population?  Now, a year in, I can kind of understand why copy-cat (I'm going to put up a business just like yours, right next to yours) systems work best here.  Capturing clients from competitors would be virtually impossible here unless your store is right next to theirs, because in the face of so many bad businesses out there, the clients go to the reliable option they have always gone to. Your best chance at winning customers is to have them visit you when your competitor has run out of something, and how better to do that than to put yourself right next door?

It's things like this, that I learned to understand as the months passed, that really give me a dose of humility when giving advice to local businesses.  I have to be very careful to do plenty of questioning first, letting them explain the reasoning for their decisions to me.  Often, their reasoning makes more sense than mine.  There are ways that I can help as a PCV, but only when it makes sense given the local context.

7.  Women are so, so, so far from achieving equality... no matter what country you are living in.

In the past year, I have been objectified on a daily basis, and it has threatened to unravel me at times.  Last week, a teenage boy reached out and grabbed my ass as he and his friends passed me in a mototaxi.  The day before, a disgusting man in Chiclayo loudly commented on my tetas (tits) on the street.  Sometimes when I am walking in Monsefú or Chiclayo, a solid 50% of the men that I pass make some sort of noise, comment, or stare.  For a while, I thought that the harassment was related to what I was wearing, so I avoided wearing anything feminine.  It got to the point that I stopped caring all together about my physical appearance (showering, shaving, looking put together, etc), but I came to realize that this was a manifestation of how the men were lowering my self-esteem.  Now, I try to dress normally and just curse terrible things at them silently.

When I was soliciting support for my artisan fashion show, a former mayor candidate told me he wasn't coming if I wasn't I modeling in a bikini.  A month ago, a Regidor (town councilman) posted a picture of a mostly naked woman to his facebook, with the title "Girl of the Week."  There are certain men I avoid talking to altogether, because I know that I won't be able to get more than a sentence out before they interrupt me with "listen to me, listen to me" and whatever they have to say that is so much more important than what I was saying.

There are a number of other factors that compound my feeling of helplessness in this situation.  Number 1, knowing that what I experience is completely surface-level compared to what the majority of women in Peru are forced to tolerate.  Rampant physical and emotional abuse, and with only primary school education for many, the independent-income opportunities are extremely scarce.  And some communities are so inculcated with machismo that the women passively participate in it.  In my artisan savings and credit bank of 13 members, who do you think is president?  The one man (although he is a great guy and not machista).  Housewives tell me that they can't leave the house before lunch time because "how would my husband eat."  Daughters do all the chores with the mother, while the sons and the father nap in the living room and watch TV (although this isn't always the case).  One artisan woman, whose parents didn't let her study past primary school even though she wanted to badly, told me that she is lucky because she has a good husband, who lets her go out to meetings... that is the definition of a good husband?

Compounding factor #2 in my feeling of hopelessness is the situation at home in the United States.  The debates over birth control and health care are so scary to me, because it makes me feel like there is nowhere in the world that I am safe as a woman.  And then, this month, the controversy over the sudden ousting of President Theresa Sullivan of my dear University of Virginia, where the reasons for her sudden, forced resignation are murky at best.  Unfortunately, it touches a deep nerve with me when a school that I love so much treats our first female President that way.  Obviously I have plenty to say on the topic of machismo, but I'll summarize by saying this past year has brought me extreme awareness of what it means to be female.

8.  Life is not a competition.  Stop comparing yourself to others.

This is something that is really hard to avoid in Peace Corps, wanting to be recognized as a "Super Volunteer" by other Volunteers, HQ, and our communities.  But Peace Corps work is so dependent on the specifics of the community, the opportunities for work, the personal situations that the Volunteer has to suffer, etc.  And at the end of it all, we learn to stop caring what other people think.  Be your own judge of what is enough and what is too much.  Dedicate yourself to what you love, and don't let others define what success is.  This is also really relevant during the innumerable hours we spend on Facebook.  As we dedicate two years of our lives far, far away from family and friends, it seems that every day a new engagement or marriage pops up on Facebook.  It's hard to feel like some of us are losing time, but then I think... since when was this a race?

9.  Every day is a new chance to be courageous.

I hit a pretty dark low during months 6 & 7, in the first version of the Artisan Fashion Show, and during the preparation for the second version, which I had no motivation to complete.  Every day, I felt like hiding under my covers and ignoring every phone call.  It seemed that around every turn, there was someone trying to manipulate me, expressing some dissatisfaction with me, or worse, throwing personal jibes that seriously crippled me.  The only thing that kept me going was knowing that the town and especially the artisans were so excited by the project, and that this could make a really big, sustainable impact if the artisans took it over later.  Giving up was not an option, we had gone too far.  In that reality, I just had to force myself to complete the daily tasks, with the motivation that one day, it will all be over.  In the end, it turned out very well, and I will probably consider it my biggest success in-site.

Sometimes, the stresses of the world threaten to eat us whole.  We feel like hiding and giving up.  But every day is a chance to face those challenges, bit by bit.  Bite off what you can, tackle it, and give yourself the credit you deserve for the courage you found to face the day.

10. We are here for the sake of each other.

Those dark moments made me feel like I hated all of Peru, and all Peruvians (sorry, it's true).  They filled me with aggression, distrust, and just general brokenness.  But someone always found me in that place.  Another Volunteer, someone from home, or most often, a Peruvian friend.  In the case of Peruvian friends, they were always there to show me how absolutely wrong my broad generalizations were, just by their unending love and openness shown towards me.  The artisans who thanked me for how hard I was working.  My host family who pulled me out to dance, against my will.  My university friends who dedicated all hours of the night to helping the Artisan Fashion Show happen, with no monetary or other reward.  And the rural men, women, and children who I pass on my runs, who give me earnest smiles with none of the glint in the eye that I get in the city-center.  These faces, who greet me bright-eyed and curious, show no hint of tragedy, struggle, or anything else that they have probably faced.  Makes me feel like my worries are pretty silly after all.

In November, I read a book my mom sent me called "The Buddha's Brain," and in it was this Cherokee Legend:

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life.  "A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy.  It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves.  One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego."  He continue, "The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.  The same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too."
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"
The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

In my life, I have a choice.  Whether to "live in love," choosing to see the positive in the world and in other people, or to engage in the animalistic win-lose mindset that we are so disposed to.  In my view, we have been given the gift of self-awareness so that we can chose to former, and live not only in harmony with each other, but with the purpose of achieving together what we cannot achieve alone.

So, there are my 10 Thoughts from Year 1... please excuse me for the existential ramblings, I blame my psychologist parents (like I do for most things).  Can't wait to see what Year 2 has in store.

Soy Serranito

Well, HOLA!  I'm sorry for the lapse in posting, I have been working on a "1 Year" post that will be coming soon.  I'm currently in Lima helping with the new Business group's training, and staying with my wonderful UVA friend Ruthie.  I am having an absolutely FABULOUS time being here in the drastically different world of Lima, but at the same time it makes me miss "home," or basically all the tings that characterize Peru outside of Lima.  They can be two completely different worlds.  So, here's a fun little post, about one of my favorite songs.  First, a little background:

On the coast, the most popular kind of music for a family party is cumbia.  Check out the "My Site and Work" tab to see some cumbia videos.  In the sierra (Andes), the most popular kind of party music is called huayno.  The following is a huayno song, obviously popular in the highlands, but also used as the late night song in Monsefú.

The lyrics insinuate the rivalry/tension between coast and highlands.  Because the highlands are generally poorer, a lot of people come from the mountains to the coast to find work, and are looked down upon sometimes, basically like domestic immigrants.  The word serrano means a highland person and cholo means (very loosely) "Indian."  Both words can be used in a pejorative way by people on the coast or in Lima, referring to those that they consider lowly or uncultured... but cholo can also be used on a coast as a term of endearment, like "sweetie."

With that in mind, check out this serrano-pride song about a well-known highland town called Bambamarca.  It's so fun.  But I must point out, that the scenes in this video are not from the north or Bambamarca, but such are the ironies of Peruvian music videos.  

If you're reading this post through email, you may not be able to see the video until you click a hyperlink to visit my blog website.

LYRICS

They tell me that I'm serrano

Serrano from Bambamarca.

Yes, I am serrano

with high honor, gentlemen!

Yes I am serrano

I'll show you my proof.

My land is generous

my land is productive.

Where there are always barley, corn, and wheat

This is my town
My town of Bambamarca

On the day that I marry

it has to be in Bambamarca.

She'll have to be a pretty woman

who has a lot of money

and who is from Bambamarca.

Beautiful, my Bambamarca

beautiful, her panorama

Beautiful valley Yaucano

and her river Maytabamba

They tell me that I'm serrano

A little serrano who's very loved

I don't deny my origins

I am a cholo from Bambamarca

We are from Bambamarca in our hearts!!

Success

It is often said that Peace Corps teaches you how to fail.  I somewhat agree with that statement, especially after the first version of my Artisan Fashion Show event, but I think there is a more accurate way to describe the experience:  We learn to redefine success.  We learn that success means finding yourself in front of seemingly insurmountable obstacles, and finding the courage to get up the morning and try one more time.  Each morning, success can mean something different: pushing yourself outside of your limits, trusting other people, standing up for yourself, or simply staying strong.  It means keeping your personal values and communal goals in mind, even when the outside world provokes you otherwise.

The various stages of the Artisan Fashion Show, from January until now, have brought me to hell and back.  Never in my life have I endured such agony to bring about an event or project.  I know this all sounds really dramatic, but this event and some of the people involved really threatened to unravel me.  That's what happens when you (more-so your event) is publicly criticized on the radio, or hijacked by people with personal interests, or is complicated by very high-maintenance small-town models and artisans, or nearly spins out of your control into some crazy alien form of what you wanted the event to be.  And through it all, some of the people most central to the organization have an unfortunate tendency to turn on each other (and me) and turn their backs on the event in moments of stress.  But, I also learned that when things fall apart and I need to ask for help, there are some amazing people in this world that come to rescue me.

The people who were there for me through the good and bad- Alex, José, Amy (my "sister-in-law"), and César

In the end, I had to trust that if I kept pushing through, a good product was going to turn out.  The artisans and community were so "sparked" by the project that I didn't really feel like I had any other choice.  We brought the Municipality into the picture to bring in the necessary logistical support, but along with that, we brought in a whole lot of shady political interests.  I had to learn that I can't trust anyone in my Municipality, and I had to learn how to politely (okay, sometimes not so politely) put my foot down.

Only time will tell if the event was worth it all.  The attendance was pretty outstanding, around 1,000 or maybe 1,200 people - partially due to the raffle of kitchen appliances that the Municipality sponsored, but hey, warm bodies are warm bodies.  But at the moment, I am feeling very good about the impact of the event.  The majority of the comments on the radio have been very positive (although smaller aspects were criticized) and the mayor publicly promised to put this event on for FEXTICUM, our big regional festival in July.  Our artisan associations really want that because the audience will be regional and national, and they know that they need to organize it mostly by themselves because I won't be here forever.  And they feel empowered that they can do that.

Father-Daughter wonderfulness, the girl wearing a blouse embroidered by her uncle

That might be the best result of the project, but I am also very happy with a personal result of the project.  Leyla, the 22 year-old mom who was in charge of all the rehearsals and choreography had a wonderful, beer-induced heart-to-heart with me last night.  She told me that she wanted to thank me for trusting her as our "Modeling and Choreography Director."  We went through some reeeeally tough times in terms of personal conflicts, but as the event got closer and we believed it could turn out really well, she stopped turning on me and we became a lot better at supporting each other.  Leyla said she wanted to thank me for entrusting her with this responsibility because this event "took her from one level to another," meaning she is now known in Monsefú for her work on this event, directing modeling and choreography.  She's been asked now by various institutions to put together events for them, so she may have just opened up a new source of income.  Which for a 22 year-old single mom, who is just returning to university, is really important.

Leyla doing her thing with the girls

I would happily call my Peace Corps experience a success if I get a few more thank-you's like Leyla's.

Complete photo album from the event: http://tinyurl.com/774au7l

Artisans' website I launched this week: www.artesaniamonsefu.webs.com

Me giving my thank-you's with the mayor

The girls in embroidered and crocheted tops, 1 of 3 "señorita" lines of the night

The crowd!

Fellow Volunteers Writing Articles and Facebook Statuses

I know my posts have been kind of (or really) depressing lately, so allow me one more paragraph of serious stuff and then I promise I'll get on to the comic relief!

Sometimes I feel quite bitter at male Peace Corps Volunteers, because they don't experience machismo the way the female volunteers do... but then I am reminded that there are some male and female volunteers that have to deal with discrimination of a whole other level- homophobia, for example.  Outside of Lima (and often times within the city as well), the majority of Peru is shockingly homophobic- I've sat in a high school class and listened to the Councilwoman in charge of Education in Monsefú tell 13 year-olds that romantic love can only exist between a man and a woman the Bible is very clear that God hates homosexuality.  As a result of this attitude, it is strongly recommended (by many gay Volunteers and Peace Corps staff) that gay Volunteers keep their sexual orientation private, because the backlash in their community may make their work and integration impossible.  I say all this as an intro to a really interesting article written by another Peace Corps Peru Volunteer... check it out: 

 http://www.gaycitynews.com/articles/2012/04/26/gay_city_news/news/doc4f9834fdb98e8807817871.txt

Okay, now back to the easier stuff.  I was recently looking back on some favorite Facebook posts by fellow Volunteers, and thought that they give a pretty interesting perspective on the crazy moments of Peace Corps life that start to feel pretty normal.  Here's what I mean:

Spent the afternoon with a mother's club going house to house signing up kids for a free present in Christmas. Accidently let a fart slip louder than I expected and while the adults at least pretended to not hear it the kids were in a fit of giggles. By the time we reached the end of the block every house we passed was laughing. Word travels fast when a gringa toots.

‎14-yr-old student: ¿Como se dice "¿Quieres estar conmigo?" en ingles?
me: Do you want to be with me?
student: Yes! Yes I do!    .... 

I couldn´t even get mad at him, just tried not to let all of the students see how funny I thought it was.

Helped judge a ¨Señorita Primavera¨ pageant last night in celebration of the first day of spring, and on my way out the door my host sister told me I wasn´t dressed nice eough, and in fact, none of my clothes seemed to cut it so they had to lend me some. This is not what I envisioned the Peace Corps to be like.

Week in review: Tuesday--Alpacas walk into my meeting (yes, it was indoors!).  Wednesday-- Naked man in the canal.  Thursday-- Appointed to organize breakdancing contest. 

TGIF!

Just watched a fully grown Peruvian male thrown a fit that Charlie St Cloud....the Zach Efron film was turned off before completion of our bus journey

my host sister asked for my pee to wash her daughter with. Family integration: Complete.

Peace Corps: Some days you try to change the world, some days you translate Bieber lyrics.

In October,  Lisa sent me a Twix bar, and I gave it to my host brother. He loved it. Yesterday, he found a Twix in Trujillo, bought it, brought it home, and shared it with me. Sustainable development at it's finest ;)

For a real treat go work a farm for a day pulling up aproximately 100 buckets of water from a deep well and aquire 7 open blisters on your fingers and two hours later apply hand sanitizer copiously.

Drank expired juice again this time i’m paying for it

And, saving the best for last, here is a Facebook status posted by one Volunteer, that was then commented on by many other Volunteers:

You know you've been in Peru too long when  ...you finally get a hot shower and turn it to cold because it feels more natural.

‎...you eat everything with a spoon.

… You pick ants and hair out of your food like it ain't no thang.

… you consider it acceptable to call someone 8 times in succession to ask a non-emergency question

‎...you sweep your dirt to make it look nice.

… elbowing a grandma to get "dibs" in line is polite

… rap a coin on someone's front door repeatedly yelling "¡seño!" until they answer your call--from 6am to 11pm

… you sincerely think that drinking something cold or using a fan might make you sick

… silencing your phone is a thing of the past

… fireworks don't make you wake up or even wince

‎...you can comfortably use diarrhea as an excuse to get out of a Peace Corps meeting.

Lastly, here's my most recent album of photos from Months 7 & 8 in site!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100477704393376.2589283.1526375&type=1&l=f73d58db01

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.

How You Can Help: Camp VALOR

You may remember a while back that I blogged about our annual adolescent girls camp (Camp ALMA), put on by the volunteers in my region.  Thanks to your support, we met our fundraising goal and were able to put on a really incredible 3-day camp for the girls from our sites!  Here's a picture of some of the 60 girls listening to an HIV-positive speaker.  Sexual health is always a big focus of our youth camps, since the topic is not addressed anywhere near adequately in schools or in the family. 

In early June, it will be the boys turn- we will be putting on a 3-day camp (Camp VALOR) for a total of 50 adolescent boys from our sites across the region of Lambayeque.  Our focus will be promoting the "well-rounded man"- through activities in agriculture and business, environment, future planning, nutrition, sexual health, and gender equality (fighting the ever-dominant machismo).  So, in order to achieve our goal we need to raise money FAST, about $1,400 in the next month.  A little goes a long way here in Peru!  If you weren't able to donate fast enough to contribute to the girls' camp, here's your chance!  Once we reach our goal, the link will close.

I can assure you through my experience in the girls camp that you will be contributing to a really special project.  It is very rare that Peruvian teens in our region are allowed out of the house past 9pm, much less to sleep outside of the house for 2-days, so beyond the training and information that they get, this is an experience that they remember for a very, very long time.  The girls from our camp in February still gush about the experience, posting and re-posting pictures on Facebook of their new friends from across the region!  Moreover, our camps give teens a safe space to talk honestly about relationships, health, and other topics with their peers and Peace Corps Volunteers... the adolescents trust us enough to ask very personal questions, about their bodies, families, and futures. 

As with all of our projects, a significant portion of the budget (40%) is coming from local community contributions and donated support.  All donations made through this link are secure through the Peace Corps website and tax-deductible.

DONATE HERE!

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=527-116

A picture from last year's VALOR camp in our region:

Will you help us meet our fundraising needs?  Please forward this link on to friends and family you think may be interested!  The Peace Corps Volunteers of Lambayeque, Peru and our adolescent campers thank you!!  Any questions feel free to email me or you can read more about the project in the donation link.  Again, if you find the link closed, we have met our fundraising needs.

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=527-116

Thank you and sending all my love,

Kim