tossed into Peru
into training
a house
a family
a culture
a language
and now, we have been tossed onto the field.
FBT Field Based Training took 12 of us to Piura from the 17th-24th. It was a whirlwind of other volunteers' sites, Peruvian schools, and other provinces.
19 Julio 2010
Or first day we ventured out of Piura to a 'pueblo joven' (young city) calls Loma Negra. These communities are sometimes known as the 'invadores' as they we quickly formed by refugees during the terrorist days only 30 years ago. Typically built from brick and straw, this buildings are quick to put up, and quick to flee from as needed. Loma Negra just got electricity last year, and still looks forward to a day with running water.
We had lunch at a local woman's house who honored us by killing three of her chickens for our arrival. They were tasty. This is her stove. Two rows of bricks with burning wood between. There is a lot of auxilary smoke in her kitchen. A huge PC Health project is 'cocinas mejoradas'- better kitchens. These kitchens have a simply designed chimney that pulles the smoke out of the house. A possible project who's bandwagon I may jump on. We prepared the day's 'dinamicas'- activities at her house. You will see some common themes in the activities PC does with the youth. We all have noticed a serious lack in a few sectors that I should probably touch on now
1. Individuality and Creativity are GREATLY lacking.
Public schools are sent the same text books across the country. Teachers are taught to teach what the book says, and this is what the students are tested on. There is a very wrote aspect to a peruvian education. the teacher writes something on the board, you copy it down, she erases it, and you begin the next page. There are "facts". Once right answer, one wrong answer.
2. Critical Thinking barely exists
Memorization is key here. Even with complicated math problems.
3. Heigene in general bares deficiency
Bathrooms never have toilet paper, and you are lucky if there is running water to rinse your hands or flush the toilet (let alone soap). Keeping your body and your planet clean is not a general priority. There is trash everywhere, and small fires along the side of the road where the trash is being disposed of.
That said, these three major themes are something we take for granted as Americans. We are lucky to be able to think about 'the kind of person we want to be' or 'how we should be treating our planet through the course of our life'. Here, it is about living. surviving, more or less. They do not have the luxury of thinking about art or honing in on their self-awareness.
So after dinamicas were prepared we went to the local school to work on self-esteem and leadership. The volunteers were broken into 4 groups and divided by grade. I did an activity with about 8 kids at a time that consisted of pulling funny questions out of a hat and proclaiming answers, such as ,"If I could be any superhero who would I be and why", "If you could be the mayor in your town for a day, what would you do", and the like. We then received a dance lesson from one of the after school clubs. These boys just like to dance. They go into town and give shows on the street to raise money for costumes and dance competitions.
Their traditional dance REALLY resembled Native American Pow-Wow style smooshed together with African dance. I loved every minute. 20 Julio 2010-21 Julio 2010
The next day we traveled via bus 4 hours up a skinny sloped road to a community nestled between two mountains called Pambarumbe. This is where I want to be. A community so small you know everyone, and enough nature to show me something new every day for two years. New sight today: in the image to the left is coffee beans drying in the sun, and , yup, a skin doing the same.
The people rarely see someone new, let alone a gringo, so we were a bit of a phenomena. A previous Peace Corps Volunteer here had implemented a library and the present volunteer installed a computer lab. The stigma in town associating reading with studying has been lifted. The idea of reading for run had been planted, and you can see it blossoming beautifully in quite a few of their grade fivers. We were greeted by the entire town the night prior (yes, and auditorium full of applause), and gave 'charlas' the next day on creativity, and the english language.
Our group of volunteers designed an activity where the kids broke in half; Some staying to learn how to make their choice of an origami animal, and the other group heading to the street to pick up trash. When the reconvened they had to build an piece of art incorporation the origami and the trash together into something that represented keeping Pambarumbe clean. We got everything for gardens of paper and plastic flowers, to rivers with swan filled lagoons. The originality is buried under that uniform, somewhere.
22 Julio 2010
The fourth day we went back to observe Special Ed classrooms. There was a law passed last year requiring mildly disable children to be incorporated into public schools, and not sent to a separate stat institution. This had come with what seems lik 50% joy and 50% pain. All the best special ed teachers have been pulled from the institutions and placed in public schools, and the children are placed by age, not capability. But, they are no longer hidden, and just might have more opportunity before them.
The set of bright eyes that I first sat next to brought me much joy. Joan. Within minutes his cerebral palsy became apparent. Basically mute and unable to walk he sat slumped in his chair. With responses of "da" meaning both no and yes depending on intonation our conversations were slow, but intricate. he understood everything. Happy and otherwise healthy, at eight years old he show me how o fit his tow pegs into wooden holes, and where he needed to wash his hands before snack. With no wheelchair, he has taken to crawling. Because he is unable to use his legs, but had very capable hips he is able to get just about anywhere very quickly on his hands and knees. I did some walking techniques, stretches, and massage that Sarah taught me with him. His teachers watched everything. I didn't say a word, but they watched. Joan demonstrated pleasure and comfort through his screams of pleasure, if not by the walking, at least the touch. We walked all around outside and he followed the other boys soccer ball with his eyes and heart. It was hard to leave him, so much potential for improvement there. He needs a walker, and so many of the other pupils needed wheelchairs as well. 
That afternoon was filled with field games where another volunteer holds art classes in the evenings and weekends. 23 Julio 2010
The following day we traveled to Rinconada to give a couple more presentations on hand washing and Mario and I gave an HIV charla. Nerve racking to say the least, giving a lecture not only on complicated medical subject matter, but also in a HEAVILY Catholic society, but also in a foreign language. Scared the bi-Jesus outa me, but the local volunteer Jessica was very sweet and helped me with terms that I just didn't study in spanish class (white blood cells, antibodies, etc) and chimed in when she thought there might need clearification. It went well!
That afternoon, the beech.T'was a fisherman's beech. But that didn't stop us.
The empty fishing town you see in these photos was abandoned during El Nino in the 80s. They are expecting another El Nino this year, which is something we should be preping for as Peace Corps reps.
During debrief one night before retiring to our hostal I glanced around the room and noticed a room full of Americans, all speaking Spanish to each other, naturally, with no hesitation because there were two Peruvians present.
