Little Letters

Dear Dust,
Please do not enter my home.  I find it rather abnoxious to have to mop you up once or twice a day.  I would love it if you stayed outside (and preferably off of my shoes).

Dear Women in Sanborja,
You bring a smile to my face when we get together, laugh, bake and learn hand in hand.  You are extremely resilient and bursting with skills and great qualities.  Please work together to achieve your goals.

Dear Taxis,
Please do not honk your horns.  No, I do not want to take a taxi everytime I step out of my door.  I have two good legs and prefer to walk.  And I certainly won't ride with you if you try to overcharge me.

Dear Chiclayo,
Thank you for welcoming me for this year.  I appreciate the friendly souls you've shared with me, but please learn to keep your garbage off of the streets and not have your sewage systems leak.  The stench and wet streets are unpleasant.

Dear Nebraska,
I miss your lovely sunsets, your varied climate, big sky, peaceful silence, cool breeze, fireflies, my family and friends, your long traffic-free gravel roads for running, your corn and bean fields, flowers and safety.  Keep all of those things waiting for me.

Dear youth in Chosica del Norte,
You are full of creativity, energy and potential.  You brighten my day when I see you cooperating and enjoying yourselves, but you make me suffer when you misbehave.  Please respect one another.

Dear Chiclayanos devoted to Santa Rosa de Lima,
I know today is the day of the patron saint of Peru's police force, that today is a national holiday celebrating one of your own saints.  I also realize that my apartment is over looking Parque Santa Rosa, but is it really necessary to have a huge fiesta for more than 24 hours, to intoxicate yourselves with alcohol, pound on base drums, blare trumpets, sing, set off fireworks (throughout the day and night) to celebrate her?

Dear Schoolchildren,
You fill me with joy when I hear you laughing, see you playing, and make me smile as I watch you struggle along the broken side-walks with your schoolsbags that look like carry-on suitcases, when in reality it would probably be much simpler to use backpacks.  Work hard and help move your country forward.

Dear Rude Englishman,
Sometimes when you ask people to do you a favor, they take time out of their routine to offer you voluntarily, giving you teaching techniques.  Please don't criticize American English.  Also, it would be wise for you not to say rude and offensive things to the director and coordinator of the language center, especially not to tell them to speak English in the meetings for the teachers.  You're in Peru and working on a tourist visa.  Watch out and learn Spanish.

Dear Sarah,
Thank you for all the help and support you give me.  You've taught me a ton about organizing projects, working with people, facilitating workshops and are always a great listener.

Dear Profesors and Students,
Please don't think of a million and one excuses for why you couldn't make it to class.  Also blame others and say their absence prevented you from going to class.  Learn to be honest and efficient.

Dear Kimori,
I miss the green tea plantations, the short daily rains, the banter of Kipsigis and Kiswahili, the way you always wash your shoes, the discipline respect and pure joy of the children, the simplicity of life and your attitude of "Karibu".

Dear World,
You could be beautiful and in some ways you are.  You have so much diversity.   People have so much to learn from one another.  Why do some desire war?  Please teach them peace.

Dear Flowers,
You are lovely.  I don't see enough of you.  You are very tempting to buy in the markets, but I don't think you can survive very long.  Someday I'll purchase you.

Dear Peru,
Thank you for welcoming me back as a Fulbrighter.  You are a country of immense beauty and diversity.  Please reduce corruption and violence.  Please improve your schools so children may have brighter futures.  I enjoy exploring you and look forward to continuing to learn through my experiences with you throughout my final 4 months.

Moments that make you ask yourself, "What is going on here?"

People travel for all sorts of reasons.  Some might say I travelled to Peru because I received a Fulbright grant.  Others might say it was because I've got the travelling bug.  What I can tell you though is I didn't come to Chiclayo to see piles of trash, garbage trucks with men hanging onto the back of it and ringing an obnoxious bell, or ritzy multi-story glass hotels.  But then, that's the point of travelling, isn't it?  To see things you didn't expect to see?

Although I've become accustomed to life here, there are many things that continually take me by surprise.  A few of them in the last week or two are as follows:

Unlike the dirty city with trashlined streets that I call "home" for this year, Chachapoyas is a calm and clean city.  Free of mototaxis, it is also free of the loud dinging sound of bells calling its residents to place their trash in the streets.  Instead, I encountered a smaller truck playing soft, tranquil melodies.  "What's that?" I asked myself.  The answer: The trash truck :)

Upon seeing the horrors of an accident when a drunk driver of a large car crashed into a mototaxi, rather than trying to help or calling the equivelant of 911, many people came out of their homes even venturing a few blocks to stare.

Walking down one of the main streets in Chiclayo, I saw numerous people gathered round something.  When I stepped closer to get a better look, they were fascinated by a furry magnetic toy!

This last week, while returning from a pueblo joven to the city of Chiclayo with my friend Sarah, we had a very awkward ride in a combi.  Some men do not know how to flirt.  Sarah, who had just purchased natural yogurt from one of the women with whom we work there, had her yogurt in a glass pitcher that she had borrowed.  In order to prevent it from spilling or breaking she kept it in her hand.  Shortly after entering the vehicle, the cobrador (money collector) took her yogurt from her and put it underneath of the jacket he was wearing and claimed he was going to drink it.  Thinking he was funny and would get a rise out of us, he kept up his antics throughout the rest of the ride, while we did our best to ignore him.  Finally, grudgingly, he returned the pitcher of yogurt when we alighted from the combi.  Flirtatious or creepy?  I'm sticking with the latter.  

Oh, the crazy things that happen everyday.  That's life.  Wait!  What is going on?

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A History Lost in Ruins

…But a Story Born Exploring Ancient Sites.  Home to many great cultures and civilizations, Perú is full of archeological sites with gems hiding in ruins scattered across the land.  The last week and a half were an opportunity for me to travel to visit a few of the ruins, learn more about the country’s rich history and relax before this next semester gets back into full swing. 

Cajamarca, a city surrounded by mountains and the site where the last Incan king, Atahualpa, lost his life to the Spaniards in 1532, was my first destination.  From a high point on one side of the city, Santa Palonia, the city looks tiny, but when down below, it seems to sprawl throughout the valley and up the mountains that surround its population of 250,000. I was able to see the “Seat of the Inca,” to wake up very early…4:45a.m. to go to the Baños del Inca (natural thermal baths), to see a botanical garden, visit several artisan shops, see the niches known as the Ventanas de Otuzco and to hike a Cumbemayo. 

Although there are a ton of things to see and enjoy in Cajamarca including numerous ornate cathedrals, Cumbemayo was by far my favourite site.   Outside the city and several hundred feet higher in elevation, Cumbemayo is like a real live version of the stone garden out of the Chronicles of Narnia.  The rock formations bear shapes of animals including a fish, elephants and an enormous rat as well as include a giant face and a giant pirate’s face.  Incredible and peaceful!  We saw many women and children spinning wool or weaving in the grass as we hiked along.  Unfortunately, Cajamarca is impoverished and to help some children or women out, I shared some food or gave them a tip for doing a small favor for me. 

Chachapoyas was my other destination.  As a city in the ceja de selva (aka literally translated as the “eyebrow of the jungle”) it has jungle-like conditions at high altitudes.  Tranquil and clean the city seems orderly and unlike the abnoxious bell that is rung when a truck comes to collect garbage in Chiclayo, the trucks of Chachapoyas play calm lovely melodies when they pass by. 

This visit allowed me to see Kuelap (a huge historical site of ruins) that was originally built by the Chachapoya, later conquered by the Inca and eventually destroyed when many refused to bend to the will of the Spanish missionaries. 

The Chachapoya are said to have valued the after life perhaps more than life itself.  They buried their dead in sarcophaguses built high up into stone cliffs where no one would be able to reach them as well as in villages of the dead on rock faces.  It remains a mystery today as to how the sarcophaguses got to where they are.

The following day was filled by a long and gorgeous hike that wound its way up some mountains to one of the world’s 5 tallest waterfalls, Gocta!  The effort to get there was well worth the view and the spray of mist blowing off of the Fall.  Unfortunately it rained terribly on us, but afterwards we were able to see an amazing rainbow. 

Our world is full of mysteries, waiting for us to follow our curiosity and sharing some of its stories with us, while leaving others up to our imaginations that we might create our own stories.  

I hope you dance

I love dancing.  Now, I may or may not be a good dancer.  That's up to you to decide.  But regardless of my skill level, I love it.  Dancing unites people.  It brings generations together.  It ties the past to the present.  It liberates.  It brings smiles to faces.  It calms and relaxes.  It creates a glimmer of hope.  

I am reminded of the following quote from a song made famous by Lee Ann Womack:

"And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.  I hope you dance.  I hope you dance...

Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along.  

Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder where those years have gone."

This past month was a bit stressful.  Dancing made it better for me and I know it was a fun diversion from the normal routine for others as well.  When I get the chance, I like to go out dancing.  Salsa dancing is one of my favorities, but of course there is always music for other types too, like merengue, cumbia and regatón.  Sometimes  I just put on music in my apartment and dance in between my work.  Some say that's crazy, but I believe it's freeing.

As I mentioned in my last post, the youth group in Chosica del Norte had the oportunity to learn some breakdancing (and so did I).  I'm readily willing to admit that I'm not good at it, but I did enjoy it.  One Monday, I went to Monsefu (a nearby town) where I watched a little bit of a Marinera contest.  Marinera is a traditional dance typical to Northern, Peru.  Wearing traditional costumes and performing the dance, links children to their ancestral roots and customs.  The dance is lovely among all ages and is sometimes performed with horses as well.  Below is a photograph of a few children performing Marinera Norteña.

Finally, to leave you with a quote from Voltaire:

"Let us read, and let us dance;

these two amusments will never do any harm to the world."

I hope you dance.  Don't worry about the opinions of others.  

Just dance and be carefree for a short while.  

The month of workshops…

   I’ve done a poor job of blogging lately.  It has seemed as though I’ve had little time to do things for myself and I’ve been wondering what I could even say.  Reflecting upon this last month, I’ve drawn the conclusion that the main theme of the month was workshops.  Facilitating or co-facilitating three or more workshops each week, I feel like I have learned a lot; however, it was quite stressful.

   I planned and facilitated a pronunciation workshop for teachers at the university’s language center and two five-hour long workshops for foreign language university students on speaking skills and on teaching/language learning methodology.  While I enjoy languages and also enjoy teaching and learning from others, I felt overwhelmed and terribly stressed with a day including 10 hours of workshop + 1 hour for lunch.  What a day!  I am continuing to learn about this culture and how to manipulate situations so that I have more control and do not find myself in such stressful situations.  I will continue to do more of these types of activities in my remaining months at the university, but I hope to have more control over how they will play out.

   In addition to the work at the university, I've been working with Sarah, a Canadian friend, and other women from a local NGO, Centro Esperanza, doing workshops for a youth group and a women's group in Chosica del Norte and we are in the process of getting a women's group on it's feet in San Borja, another nearby underdeveloped district.  I love working with these various groups of people as I am constantly learning from them.
   The women in Chosica del Norte have been working with the themes of leadership and violence prevention.  Some are more withdrawn and some are very willing to share their stories with me.  Many of them have developed leadership skills through the program over the last few years and are continuing to grow.  Their go-getter attitudes and resilience inspire me.  A week ago, with the help of Centro Esperanza, a dialogue between local residents (parents as well as teenagers) and community authorities (such as women working for a women's treatment center, a psychologist, a police officer in charge of domestic violence cases and someone with a position similar to that of a mayor) was held.  Ideas were laid out in hopes of being able to improve lives in the community and reduce domestic violence.  I was extremely proud of several of the women from the group that I've been blessed to help with, who stood up with a microphone before the group and addressed the authorities.  For several of them, it was the first time in their lives speaking in front of others in such a setting.  A little bit of faith and trust in others can go a long way!
   The youth have learned about a variety of topics including leadership, happiness, their anscestors and how the past affects them today, and this last week got the chance to learn some breakdancing.  They were thrilled.  Breakdancing was fun for many of the 12-14 year-olds, but especially for some of the more mischievous/ornery boys.
   In San Borja, we are helping to organize a group of women who have worked in or are working in organic gardens which they use for a different purposes, such as providing nutritious meals for their families and selling vegetables and herbs as a source of income.  As we have just recently begun going, we do not have a set location nor do we yet know how many people are likely to arrive.  This last week, Sarah, Marcela and I (3 volunteers from Centro Esperanza) arrived in the community, but did not see any of the women.  We were forced to fall back on a tactic that I came to know well in Kenya of asking a child that happened along our path to lead us to his/her home to speak with the mother and then to take us to other women who work in the gardens.  In this way we gathered a small group and one of them offered to allow us to use her home.  Throughout the next 1.5 hours, nearly all of the women we had been expecting showed up at the home by some unknown form of communication.  It's something I'll probably never fully understand...the networks of communication in such communities.  While Sarah and I gathered information from the women about their pasts and helped them to get to know one another better, Marcela did a wonderful job of playing with their children outside so as to keep them from pestering their mothers.  Sounds of singing and laughing filtered into the adobe home along with rays of afternoon sun on the dirt floor.  Some of these women have had few opportunities to strengthen their skills in relationship to earning an income or being a leader, but a few of them left us surprised, like an older woman who has been able to fly to Lima 4 times as a part of her efforts of delivering food/milk to families in her community.
   I am learning a ton here in Peru and love the opportunities I have been blessed with to participate with Centro Esperanza in several projects demonstrating solidarity and learning mutually alongside other women.  Our semester break at the university has just begun and I look forward to doing a little bit of relaxing, taking a short trip and being able to involve myself more with Centro Esperanza for a few weeks before beginning the next semester.

 Youth Group in Chosica del Norte

¡Viva Perú!

   On this day 192 years ago, Peru was declared an independent nation by General José de San Martín.  Celebrations (mainly in the forms of parades and alcohol consumption) and military parades are taking place throughout the country.  

   This morning, I went to the pueblo joven of Chosica del Norte where I attended mass and then accompanied the youth group with which I help Sarah (my Canadian friend from Centro Esperanza) in a very short parade to be recognized by the community.  Upon leaving the church, we filed out into the dusty street where we stood for quite some time as several short speeches were given by local governmental officials.  I thought the children in traditional clothing were adorable and was proud of those who were representing Centro Esperanza’s groups hoping to bring change to their community through leadership and ending domestic violence.  Besides for the conversations around me, there was not much noise other than the breeze; no honking horns as in Chiclayo, just the hum of traffic on the nearby Pan-American Highway. 

   In Chosica del Norte, as in the Victoria and in my district of the city, Villa Real, Peruvian flags can be seen on nearly every building as it is mandatory by law.  If a flag is not displayed today and tomorrow, the home or business owners will be fined.   

   As a tribute to Peru's independence day, I’m posting some pictures from this day or “typical” Peruvian things as well as creating a list.

Cuy (guinea pig). Marinera.  Papa a la huancaina.  

Huayno.  Peruvian dog.   Inka Kola. 

Loud music.  Ceviche.  

"Youth Group: Agents of Change in Chosica del Norte"

"Promoting good treatment in families of Chosica del Norte"

A Sentiment Is ...

   This last week, I was in the pueblo joven of Chosica del Norte near Chiclayo helping with a youth group.  Our theme of the day was "Happiness."  For adolescents growing up with very few resources in a society becoming ever more capitalistic as Americanization and globalization take their toll on traditional values in many cultures, changing the dynamics of their societies and their lifestyles, it can be tough to think about what makes a person happy.  Through a variety of activities the young people (primarily between the ages of 12-14), were encouraged to think about happiness and what really brings them happiness.  Even though they are not from the upper class, are they happy?  Can money buy happiness? 

   At different stages in their development and maturity, some responded that nice clothes, a car, or a new pet are high on their list of priorities to make them happy.  On the other hand, there were youth who said that getting a good education, having good health, having a supportive family and becoming a professional were important to them. 

   In another exercise, the kids were given one of the following words: Happiness or Sadness.  They were asked to explain what it meant to them.  Many gave responses along the lines that happiness is a feeling you get when you are with your family or when you share, while sadness is a feeling a person has when someone says hurtful things to them.

   Describing an emotion is a rather difficult task.  It’s something so abstract, that it can only be described in relationship to visible or tangible things or events that have transpired.  That activity also led me to think about my own feelings and what they are to me.   

   Happiness is light and colorful, dancing, being with/talking with family and friends, lying on a bed late at night with my best friends talking and laughing so hard that my stomach hurts, accomplishing a goal.

   Sadness is hearing an 8-year old say she wishes she could read like me so she could work buy a pair of boots for herself and her mama, listening to a five-year old say she’s not pretty because she’s morena (has a dark complexion), being treated poorly for being a foreigner, knowing that a loved one is struggling/suffering and I can’t be there, missing my family and friends.

   Anger is strong, ugly, being hit on by the president of the university, witnessing injustices.

   Peace is lovely, relaxing, calming, breathing the fresh air in the countryside, having a moment of silence.

   Frustration is asking my students to do something and hearing them whine or seeing them do nothing, speaking English with someone who wants to and having them understand little of what I say, being told by a student that I don’t know how to speak English.

   Compassion is giving a few coins to a man struggling to scoot himself down the street, lending a hand to an elderly woman struggling to cross a street.

   Forgiveness is continuing to answer questions that I know the asker already knows the answer to even after I’ve been asked offensive questions or offended by his/her statements.

   Thankfulness is being reminded many many times each day just how blessed and fortunate I am.

   Confusion is seeing that my students are confused but refuse to tell me what they don’t understand, the numerous strikes that have shut the university down since I’ve come, responding to the question of what I’m going to do when my scholarship ends.

   Worry is losing my keys and hoping the landlady will be home to open the main door for me so that I can collect the duplicate that I had made and had hidden so I can enter my apartment.

   Relief is a big hug when I’m struggling with something, finishing a workshop that I had to plan and lead for over 10 hours (and having it go smoothly). 

   Joy is splitting ice cream with a friend, seeing that my students have learned something, hearing my students ask me if I can be their teacher again next semester, seeing friends.