Chevere Error

I´ve heard from a couple people that my link to the newsletter doesn´t work (go figure...). So, to remedy this fact, if you would like to read it, just send me an email and I will get it to you as soon as I can.

Other than that, things are going good in site. Starting my english classes while some interesting developments have happened in the form of a possible youth center in my community as well as starting a nutrition program in my primary school. Meanwhile, my community is getting ready for our town festival at the end of June. There´s apparently going to be 4 bandas tipicas (aka Hayno), food 24 hours in the plaza (which means a cuy massacre coming...), a parade (my youth group gets to march!), and a running of the bulls (eventhough we don´t have a stadium...this should be interesting).

Emails and letters are always welcome! :-) Hope everyone is doing well!

Keeping it Chevere

Being a volunteer involves not just working for your community, but also for the cause itself. Some volunteers chose or have been chosen to be a part of the bigger organization that is Peace Corps in Peru, me included. There are five Peace Corps initiatives that volunteers work towards developing in site, which are youth development, women and gender in development, HIV/AIDS, Teaching English, Information Technology, and renewable energy. There is also volunteers that are apart of VAC (Volunteers Activities Committee), which are in charge of sharing grievances on the behalf of volunteers to the head honchos of Peace Corps. And then there are the publications, which every program has, and is where I fall into place.

Last month I went to Lima to work on health’s quarterly newsletter called “Chevere” (Spanish for “cool”), in which I was co-editing along with another health volunteer. Each newsletter has a different theme with this last one focusing on recycling and trash management. I wanted to share that with you all to give you a further glimpse into what I do as a Peace Corps volunteer.

Enjoy and keep being chevere!

https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B5oPyeJ9ShHbMmM5NGQyNGQtMjdjMy00YjQyLTk0M2YtMzc3MjNlZWIwYjBj&hl=en

Hi Ho Hi Ho...

...it´s off to work I go...

So most of you are probably still wondering, what do I do in site? Well I can proudly say that after 6 months, I finally doing what I came here to do: health promotion!

Peace Corps told us that we wouldn’t start working until 6 months, but I couldn’t believe it….I mean, what would we be doing for those first 6 months?? Well, I will tell you….we were getting to know our host family, and our host community by doing our community diagnostic and just participating in everyday activities. I celebrated Christmas and New Years at site, as well as the ever-so-famous Carnaval celebrations. I also learned how to make tamales, walk up the mountain to collect firewood, and work in the fields. While all of this wasn’t what I came here to do, it definitely helped me understand life here better, and also the people.

But now, I’m ready to get to work. After my parents left, I had made a 2 page to-do list of all the things I wanted to get accomplished. And when I said I was going to hit the ground running, I meant it…and haven’t stopped yet. I talked with a lot of people in town to start getting projects going, and I think things are finally coming together.

More progress has come out of this “Project Design and Management” conference in which I brought one of my counterparts in Lima. We learned how to make a vision statement, goals, objectives….down to the work plan and budget. It was a lot of information in 3 days, but it was worth it. My counterpart and I, along with Barbara and her counterpart, are going to be working on a project focusing on raising gardens and small animals in order to decrease malnutrition.

So here are some projects I’m going to be working on in the next year or so:

• Healthy School Project: I’m going to be going into the Primary schools (potentially three) training teachers and students alike on different themes of health (nutrition, washing hands, safe water, recycling/trash, self esteem, and dental hygiene)

• Youth Groups: I will be working in both the primary and high school in youth groups. In the bigger group, I’m going to be focusing on self esteem and leadership skills and hopefully training them to become health promoters. In the younger group, I’m going to be just working with basic health topics and playing games and activities.

• English Class: While it’s not my first choice, I’ve been asked to teach English in both the primary and high school. I’m going to be teaching the 5th grade in high school on Mondays and the 4th and 5th grades in the primary school twice a week.

• Tree Planting: The volunteer before me started a pine tree nursery, and the plants are now ready to plant. I got replacement seeds as well, so I’m going to continue that tree nursery.

• School Garden: The primary school has a small plot of land perfect for a school garden. Incidentally, it’s where the pine trees are right now. But once those are planted, we will work the land and plant radishes, lettuce, beets, carrots, beans…a different vegetable for every grade. Meanwhile giving talks in the schools on how to prepare the land, how to care for plants, and how to make them grow.

• Small Animal Husbandry/Gardening project: With the help of Barbara and her counterpart, we are going to work on getting a grant for this project. Its focus is on decreasing malnutrition by teaching mothers with children less than 5 years old and pregnant mothers how to incorporate those local products in their diets.

So that’s the plan for now. There is definitely a lot on my plate now, which is what I wanted a few months ago. But now that it’s finally here, I’m almost wishing for the days when all I did was hang with the family…Funny how life is sometimes..

Back to Reality

My bags are packed, I've sipped my last starbucks, nibbled my last pieces of glorious bacon, and said goodbye to my warm shower...Now, it's back to reality for me.

It's always hard to go back to site and having been gone for a fair amount of time, which included seeing all my friends again and my parents, it's going to be about a millon times worse!

My parent's visit was a wonderful way to end it though. I took them through the gamet of Peru starting first in big city Lima at Larcomar. As we overlooked the beautiful Pacific ocean and sipping on our second Starbucks, I had to remind them "This isn't Peru." Far from it, actually.

For their first trip to Peru, I really wanted them to see the Peru that I see, which is why we were making the long and trechorous journey up north to Cajamarca, where you get away from the tourists and into the heart of Peru. What I learned though is that Peruvian transportation, while not so bad, is definitely not made for my 6 foot 5 giant of a father. But he was a good sport, and went along with the ever-lacking leg room. All apart of the adventure right?

After a Peruvian version of "Planes, trains, and automobiles" (In this case, Planes, buses, and moto-taxis), we made it to my site and was welcomed with open arms from my family and my commmunity. My parents even had the suerte to witness a real peruvian party complete with cuy and papas, music so loud you can't talk, awkward dancing, and warm beer. It was one of my neighborhood girl's quincieneras (15th birthday), which is a really big deal in Peru. And by iniviting complete strangers in to their home and feeding them until they can't eat no more, my parents got to witness the warm genorosity of Peruvians, something that I am always grateful for, and also the challenge I have with portion sizes.  It was hard to leave my site, as Peruvians give my mom a good run for their money on "guilt tripping." Many people wanted us to stay for a month...but alas, the trip must continue. We didn't leave empty handed though. My host mom did happen to be sent us away with a few goodies, namely a fried cuy included. To kill a cuy is a pretty big deal, especially since we have so few, so I was really touched.

Next stop on our tour de Peru was Trujillo. We had the option of staying in a traveler's hostel or stay in a nice hotel. At first we were going to go for the hostel and save some centimos for other things, but after the long bus rides and lack of leg room, we opted to go for broke, and stay at the hotel. That was probably the smartest decision we ever made as the hotel was amazing. Carpet? check. Warm showers? check. Chocolates on your pillow?! check, check. It doesn't take much to amaze me these days, but even my parents were impressed. So to celebrate, we had a delicious dinner complemented by my first bottle of real good wine in Peru (Naturally, the wine was from Spain and not Peru.) We did some touristy things (Chan Chan, Caballos de Paso), but mostly just relaxed and got caught up.

Since I was the only one that spoke Spanish, I handled all the travel arrangements, ordering of food, and general know-how of everything...plus I had the added stress of just maneuvrering people who haven't been in Peru as long as I have and teaching them Peruvian customs along the way. So I was starting to think that I would need another vacation from my vacation, but luckily, I got that near the end. But I got good merits from my "travelers," so I suppose if my future grad plans don't pan out, I have the option to become a tour guide.

So like I said before, it's back to reality for me. I've had plenty of time to think about my next plans for my community and I'm ready to hit the ground running. I just hope they remember who I am...