Visiting Orphanages and Jouleen Visits

March 19th thru 22nd, 2007 Lima, Peru

Visiting Orphanages

This week was a very exciting week because two friends from college visited me in Peru. Jouleen, a great friend for 4 years of college, and Julie, a good neighbor for 3 years, and work for an institution called Buckner which owns orphanages around the world. They plan trips for volunteers who want to work for a week in various homes and just love on these kids. So I journeyed down to Lima to join them.

The homes were pretty standard. About 20 boys might share a room with 10 bunk beds and a bathroom with 5 toilets and equal amount of showers. We visited all ages but most were about 8 to 11 years old. These kids just need love and attention. Some of the homes which hosted teenagers included workshops where the kids could learn technical skills to utilize in the job market.

The home that struck me most was the young mothers home. These are teenage mothers. Each had a baby or child or twins and was under the age of 16. One mother was only 12 years old and had a baby of 6 months.

At each home we passed out shoes that had been donated by individuals around the States. It’s a program called Shoes for Orphan Souls. Each kid gets a brand new pair of shoes. The joy on the faces of these kids is wonderful.

Jouleen Visits

It was really good to see a friend from college. Although I have been here for over 10 months now, it was like we had just seen each other a week ago. She brought lots of good stuff from the States, like Krunchers Jalapeño chips and home baked cookies from another good friend, Nathalie. It was great to see her and catch up but I was sad to see her go. She might get to come back in November with Buckner.

It was slightly overwhelming at first to be surrounded by 31 other Americans. A few who sat nearby me on the bus bombarded me with questions about Peru and my experience in general.

There were 4 groups and each group was supposed to have 2 translators but there were only 7 translators so I ended being the eighth. It was cool because then I didn´t feel guilty having my meals paid for. The other translators were mostly college students who had learned English here and there. They were pretty cool and the last night I went out with them for a drink.

Fair for the Denomination of Origin

March 17th & 18th, 2007 Chulucanas, Peru

Fair for the Denomination of Origin

The ceramics that are made in the zone where I live are receiving a denomination of origin. Basically, it signifies that this particular product is made in the region it claims to be from and such. For example, champagne being from Champagne. This way other artisans in Peru or the rest of the world for that matter, can´t make a style of pottery similar to ours and claim that is Chulucanas style. Now each workshop will undergo a system of quality control and must maintain this level of quality. Each workshop will receive the stamp proving that their product is a part of the committee.

To celebrate reaching this milestone, the city of Chulucanas hosted a fair. Many of my artisans set up stands in the Plaza de Armas. Tourists bought from the stands while bands played music and professional dancers did demonstrations of traditional dances. There were also demonstrations of the process involved in making a piece of pottery. There were also contests for different age groups. Although Chulucanas is a town of about 40,000 people and La Encantada only inhabits about 3,500, La Encantada won 7 out of the 8 possible prizes. My host mom won in the women´s category and my host dad won the best overall piece.

Fighting Racism via the Cumbia

March 9th, 2007 Piura, Peru

Graduation

My host dad´s side of the family is from the regional city. My cousin attends the public university there and invited me to attend her graduation. It was pretty much the same as any other college graduation although much shorter with fewer speeches. I am not complaining. After the ceremony, which takes place at night, we attended a very formal and nice reception dinner. Each department (accounting, nursing, etc.) has its own reception dinner. It was quite nice and I was very impressed with the class the place had been decorated. My host uncle was present which leads me to my next entry.

Fighting Racism via the Cumbia

My host uncle had been in attendance in La Encantada for the birthday for my host father. At one point during the night he told me that it made him very happy to see me dancing the “Cumbia” and the “Huayno”. At first I thought, “Yeah, I have accustomed myself and can dance a couple Peruvian traditional dances.” But this wasn´t his point. You see, many of the elite in Peru will not dance these two particular styles because in their opinion they believe that they are at a level above these two styles, and therefore would never dance like so. He proceeded to tell me that when I danced just like everyone else it demonstrated to the elite Peruvians that we are equal. Sometimes I forget that I am a role model at all times in this country, whether I am playing with the kids, eating vegetables, cooking despite that my chromosomes read XY, or dancing the “Cumbia”.

Birthdays and Rapids

February 26th, 2007 Yapatera, Peru

The Pilca

Today I headed out to a little town called Yapatera with some youth from town. There are some rapids about an hour and a half from La Encantada. It was really refreshing as the water was a lot clearer and quite a bit colder than the river we normally use to swim in. We packed lunches and ate on rocks with water rushing by. I wouldn’t mind going here monthly to escape the heat.

February 25th, 2007 La Encantada, Peru

Host Dad’s Birthday

Today was my host Dad’s birthday. This morning we slaughtered a lamb, skinned, gutted and butchered it for later. It wasn’t too much different from doing the same to a deer, only smaller. We would later cook it a style called capus. This is basically cooking it a big pot in the ground. It’s tender as if it were straight out of a crock-pot.

Around 3 o’clock the extended family came. We sat around and passed the cup and the beer bottle. After this party and they one for my host grandma, I am starting to get to know my extended host family pretty well. Later the dancing began and we partied until 3am. Then we had to find places for 10 people to sleep. I pitched my tent and slept with my cousin while my other cousin and her mom slept in my bed.

Community Integration

February 24th, 2007 Chulucanas, Peru

Peruvian National Team

There is an upcoming basketball tournament in Chulucanas and in Piura. There have been all these rumors that I have told such and such teams that I will be playing with them. I have only agreed to play with my counterpart, Mario. There is also a tournament in the regional city about an hour and a half away every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I had to explain them I couldn’t play in that tournament because actually it’s not my job to play basketball. Some of the guys were telling me that if I got hitched to a Peruvian national, I’d be eligible for the Peruvian National Team. I am nowhere near good enough to play for the National Team, but I figure I should at least check the validity of the statement.

February 11th to 23rd, 2007 La Encantada, Peru

Community Integration

I feel a lot more integrated into my community the last two months. Teaching computers has introduced me to many of the teenagers in town and they are fun to hang out with. Playing with the kids is refreshing. And the garden project is going well. We planted some seeds in half-cut plastic 2-liter bottles. Later we’ll transplant the infantile plants to the main garden. These first 6 months in site have just flown by. It’s crazy to think I have been here almost 9 months total. It’s going to be an exciting 2 years.

Games of Tag

February 10th, 2007 La Encantada, Peru

Games of Tag

I have started playing different games of tag with the kids at night. We have to play at night due to the sweltering heat during the day. We tried to play during the day one time but that shortly resulted in us sitting on a log in the shade eating popsicles. They like playing new games, so I taught them partners tag, stoplight, and sharks and minnows but on land. It’s been fun. And the parents love me for it, especially the mothers. Not to mention its good exercise because they all team up to get the big crazy gringo.