Pretty Please with Sugar on Top?

As a Peace Corps volunteer, winning over your community is an integral part of your success. It is vital to identify and address the needs and desires of your community members and work together towards a shared vision for the future. Through this partnership and involvement in beneficial projects they become stakeholders in their own advancement and development, both personally and collectively. Seeking to find a particular activity that will spark the interest of the youth of my town has dominated my thoughts and intentions during these introductory months here in Poroto.

Certain groups of people in my community were immediately fascinated with my presence and didn’t hesitate to befriend the “gringa” who had taken up residence in their town. Most of these early fans were little children and old men, who happily offered a smile, wave, or anecdote about Poroto. Others seemed more skeptical, but with time I have managed to acquaint myself with a significant portion of the population. Reaching youth was relatively simple during the school year, as the colegio offered a captive audience with whom I could work. However, as summer began I was forced to become more creative in my programs.

The summer programs I started were fairly successful, but I still wanted something that I truly enjoyed doing and that would reach youth not involved in school-related activities. I love baking, and my community slowly began to realize that I would happily whip up a special treat if I found out there was a birthday going on. Before long I was being summoned to prepare goodies for several community members, and the local store owner handed over the ingredients for my cake recipe before I so much as opened my mouth. Youth showed interest in my baking, and various community members encouraged me to start a “taller de reposteria.” I met with several teenage girls in my community, focusing on those who aren’t involved in other activities, including adolescent mothers and older teens, and proposed the idea of a baking club.

The idea was a big hit, and the classes began immediately. Although a baking club may seem like a trivial use of time, I’ve found that as we’ve spent whipping egg whites, waiting for cakes to bake, or rolling out pie dough, the girls have opened up to me and built “confianza” amongst themselves. The girls have also learned how to effectively utilize community resources; baking our cakes in the local panaderia, community member’s houses, or even convincing the alcalde to allow us to use the electricity in the plaza de armas. Additionally, local fruits from the girls’ chacra are proudly incorporated into our recipes, and our torta de pina and keke de platano are quite delicious.

Cultural Exchanges

Peace Corps has three specific goals in which volunteers are expected to work. The first goal, providing trained volunteers with useful technical skills to countries who solicit the support, is the most substantial goal where most of our “work” falls under. However, there are two other goals of Peace Corps in which we are continually involved: sharing aspects of American culture, values, and beliefs with our Peruvian communities as well as sharing our experiences and aspects of Peruvian culture, values, and beliefs with Americans. Although this may seem like a negligible part of one’s experience and work here, I believe it is not only important, but vital for success as a volunteer. I’ve spent the past 6 months in constant communication and sharing with my host community. Each day I learn something new about Peruvian culture, the lives of those in Poroto, and the experiences that shape the beliefs of the people here. In exchange, the community of Poroto has learned about my life in America, customs and culture from my country, and my own personal experiences and stories from home.

Although it is easy to get wrapped up in planning successful projects and programs that positively influence the life of the youth and community of Poroto, I’ve found some of the most meaningful moments I’ve spent here so far have been casual interactions. As I’ve sat around with community members at town events, in the plaza, on a combi, or during one of my programs, I’ve learned more and more about their lives. Each time I hear a new antecdote about their experiences, I can better understand the community in which I am immersed, and more open to the customs or habits that initially seemed foreign or bizarre to me.

Additionally, the more I interact with my community the more I can be myself and share details about my life and home. The language and cultural barrier can be significant at times, but the more I open up to my community, the more I feel like my personality is truly my own. I’ve shared various pictures, stories, and experiences with various people in my town, and they’re always interested by life in the US and my family and friends there.

One way I’ve been trying to facilitate communication between the US and Peru is through my World Wide School matches. We’ve started to exchange letters and emails between some of the students here in Poroto and students from my hometown. Although communication can be somewhat difficult given lack of access to technology and slow mail correspondence, the interaction that the students here have received from the US has been really wonderful. I received a huge packet of Christmas cards from Miss Mohap’s 8^th grade classes and my kids loved reading them. They tried to decipher the English phrases they’ve been learning in my classes, but ultimately I was able to translate the cards and they were thrilled to hear a bit about life in the US and the interest displayed in their lives here. The students have more in common than one might think; for example, they can happily bond over their shared interest in Hanna Montanah, the Jonas Brothers, and Justin Bieber (although I think the fans might be more die-hard here in Peru). The fact that guinea pig is a delicacy here is a favorite topic of conversation, and my students here still think it’s hilarious that guinea pigs are pets. Hopefully as the school year starts I can gain access to computers and improve the communication between the students; they’re both very curious about each other and it’s a great way to be exposed to another part of the world!

Just a bit morbid...

At the risk of writing an extremely depressing blog entry, I am going to center this particular entry on the idea of death as I’ve encountered it recently here in Peru. I’ve never given much thought to the incorporation of views of death and dying as a an important aspect of culture, but as I’ve spent time in Poroto I’ve been exposed to various cases of death and mourning. Transportation as a whole in Peru can be enough to give you a mild case of anxiety during travel, and the windy roads leading to my site are often conducive to traffic accidents. There aren’t speed limits (or at least not enforced speed limits), so combis, colectivos, taxis, buses, and personal cars fly through the carretera at lightning speeds, often passing other vehicles with barely a second to spare. While I don’t know any statistics about the rate of car accidents in Peru, I do know that they don’t seem to happen as often as one might expect given the chaotic driving habits here. However, they do happen and the most recent accident was quite horrifying.

I was eating lunch with with my host family when word spread that there’d been a car crash between an 18 wheeler and a station wagon taxi in Shiran, which is the entrance to my site. Various victims died immediately and others were rushed to the hospital, which is located in the capital. As word spread about the crash, my entire town emptied and literally ran to the site of the accident in Shiran. I also got pulled along to see the remains of the crash, and was horrified to see the 18 wheeler crushed and plastered against the house it collided into. The station wagon was barely recognizable, but passengers were still trapped inside. I couldn’t believe people had gathered around to observe this site, as passengers who had died on impact were still at the scene, trapped in the vehicles or covered in blankets and waiting for the coroner from Trujillo. I left immediately and wished I hadn’t seen the remains of such a bad accident. It seemed perfectly normal for the event to be observed by the community, and although people were clearly distraught it was turned into a spectacle of sorts.

This led me to question the differences in the perception of death between Peru and the US, and although I certainly can’t draw any extensive conclusions, it was interesting to observe reactions and habits regarding tragedies. Personally I think the most shocking reaction to the accident was the widespread interest in seeing the actual remains of the crash immediately after it took place. My town was completely cleared out and hundreds of people gathered around the scene of the accident when the victims who had passed away were still trapped inside the car and laid under blankets on the ground. People were crying and reacting to the consequences of the crash, but it also seemed like many treated it like a form of entertainment.

The accident resulted in 5 deaths, including a woman who lived in my town. Considering the size of Poroto, this woman was known to most everyone. In the days following the accident there was a large funeral in which the entire town, including me, attended. It began with a church service in a large open area where food was provided and words were shared about the life of this woman. She had three small children, who broke my heart when they played their recorders to their mom’s favorite hymn. From there, the pallbearers led a procession followed by the town where we walked through Poroto, stopping at all of the meaningful places in her life. The procession continued for several miles, all the way to the caserio in which she lived, and then ended at the cemetery for the burial. Although an accident and funeral is clearly not something I would choose to experience, it was interesting to participate in the town’s customs for funerals and see their reactions to death.

Mapa Mundial... Almost

I recently began the first steps of the construction of a world map project here in Poroto. In order to help orient the youth to their place in the world and further knowledge about foreign cultures and geography, I’ll be working with youth to paint a huge map on a wall in the school. I invited various students to participate in the creation of this map, and I was quite surprised with the response. Word spread quickly and I had about 30 kids show up to help begin the map. I was only expecting about 10, so I had to think quickly about how to entertain and engage that many kids in a project that really only needed about 5. I began with an introductory geography lesson to guage their knowledge, which affirmed the need for a geography-based project. (No, I’m sorry… the United States isn’t China and Europe isn’t Australia). Following this, I assigned each child a different task to prepare for the painting of the map- practicing drawing from a grid using sidewalk chalk, learning the countries of South America, cleaning the wall, and eventually deciding the measurements for our own map. We decided to paint a map that will be 12x6 feet, which is a fairly impressive size. Centering the rectangle and painting the initial background proved to be a project in itself, especially with a bunch of overly excited kids.

In order to accurately paint the world map, a grid system is used to help transcribe a small version of a world map to an enormous replica. This sounds simple enough, but even just drawing the lines to form the grid was a feat. I wanted the kids to have their hands in every step of the project, which also included them measuring the distance between lines to form a straight grid. You can probably imagine how that went… We finally finished our grid lines hours and hours after beginning and the whole grid looked a little uneven. Personally, I’m more of a “big picture” person, so erasing and redrawing pencil lines on a 12x6 foot map was not my idea of fun. About 10 erasers later, we managed to produce a fairly straight grid that was ready for the replication of our map.

However, I have since been informed that the building where I was hoping to do my map may be knocked down and reconstructed in the upcoming months, so this project is currently on hold.

Community Diagnostic Presentation

The community diagnostic survey is a report that I prepared during the first several months here in Poroto. The information presented in the report is a collaboration of various data and observations gathered through a range of informal and formal activities conducted with the community members of Poroto including interviews, observations, surveys, and other interactions. This analysis provides basic groundwork to expose current issues, needs, and trends within Poroto. The results included in the report are intended to help recognize the dynamics of the community and serve as a guide for the development of a comprehensive work plan. The goal of the Community Diagnostic Survey is to acclimate myself to the community and indicate potential areas for project development. My final document ended up being over 30 pages long with extensive evaluation of the community and ideas for a work plan. One of the most important stages of the community diagnostic process is the community presentation, where you invite community members to hear your results, findings, and ideas for your work and help encourage their active role in your plans for the community.

I decided to present my community diagnostic this past week and I believe it went pretty well. I was concerned that participation and attendance may be lacking, but I had at least 15 important community members in attendance including the members of the health post, the mayor, the school principal, presidents of the mother’s clubs and school parent’s associations. I planned to present after another NGO had a meeting, so I could take advantage of those who were in attendance for this meeting as well as inviting others to participate in my presentation. I began with a brief introduction of Peace Corps, the foundation and goals of the organization, and the role of a volunteer. Some of the main topics revealed in my presentation were teen pregnancy, a lack of future planning, limited opportunities for youth engagement, and alcoholism. Hopefully some of the projects I’m beginning to form will help tackles these issues with the support and interest of community members. Although I’m fairly confident in my Spanish skills, delivering an extensive report in Spanish to a room full of important authorities is a bit overwhelming. I frequently think about how confident I will be delivering reports, forming business relationships, or presenting propositions in English in America after spending 2 years conducting all work-related activities in a foreign environment speaking Spanish. Overall I am looking forward to partnering with various community members and organizations to help engage the youth in meaningful. Surely my contributions will only have a very limited impact on the people here, but hopefully when coupled with the efforts of the community at large we’ll be able to contribute to the continual advancement of Poroto.

Summer is Here!

The sunshine and heat have announced the arrival of summertime here in Poroto, and with the onset of summer comes summer vacation. Since I’ve arrived in Poroto a significant portion of my work has been facilitated through the schools, so now that school has ended for summer I’ve been attempting to start ¨vacaciones utiles” with the youth in my town. Typically there are no summer programs offered for the students here, so trying to organize successful opportunities for youth engagement has been a bit of a challenge. Before the school year ended I advertised within the school, going classroom to classroom explaining the programs I would be offering and why they should be excited. I also attended the school-wide parents meeting to talk up my proposed activities. I followed up with formal registration, personal reminders, and signs. However, single-handedly orchestrating summer programs with teenagers is not the easiest task. I started summer programs immediately following the New Years holiday, so participation was limited the first few days. Disheartened, I literally went door to door announcing my plans for the summer and inviting individual youth to attend my classes. Luckily things have been improving and attendance has definitely increased.

I’m teaching 5 days a week, including English classes, a culture/geography class, an environment class, a manualidades class (which consists of crafts and jewelry making), and various other topics integrated into these programs. We do lots of “hands-on” learning (or non-formal education methods, if you will) including nature walks, interactive games, art projects, etc. For the most part, the youth seem to enjoy the programs and each day I’ve had more and more youth join my classes. Considering its summertime things can be a bit chaotic and disorganized, but overall I think it’s been a productive start to summer vacation.

In addition to my classes and workshops I’ve began, I’ve had time to enjoy summertime activities with my host family and community. Now that the heat of summer is in full effect, I’ve spent various afternoons at the local swimming pool with my host sister and assorted youth. Never before have I felt so confident in my swimming skills before swimming with Peruvians. Not to generalize, but in my limited swimming experience here in Poroto most people can’t swim or if they can, it’s more of a crazy flailing of body parts in an effort to stay afloat. I’m a terrible swimmer, but I’ve found myself giving “swimming lessons” which have evolved into chicken fights and other pool games I remember from childhood.