June has come and gone so here are some updates from Carata Perú.
June 5th-8th brought four complete days of a fabulous party in my own village. The reason was to celebrate the town’s anniversary, and this meant lots of live music, dancing and the inevitable consumption of alcohol. For months I had been hearing about how great this party would be and that it was one of the best traditions, I obviously couldn’t miss it! And all the talk rang true. I was most impressed with the organization from locals and the amount of money spent. It dawned on me that these people really can get things done and work together if they have a common goal. We do have hope for future projects…maybe.
The first day of the party was complete with the receiving of the first marching band by the ¨mayordomo¨(who was the master of ceremonies and bankroller for most of the events). It continued with a procession of 8 donated cows that were killed to feed people for the week. The killing of the cows was incredible enough to witness. They were brought out to a field where men drove kitchen knives through their skulls until they dropped to the ground. I will never forget it. But wait it gets better…. The party continued with dancing and a youth talent show at night. The next day two more marching bands (of 25+ members) arrived. Rockets were shot off all day as early as 6am. Ann came from her site to visit and we danced, drank and hung out with my host family and the relatives (totaling 30 or more!). We watched a cock fight at an official corral, some local’s house. Cock fighting is a popular sport here, and very competitive and serious. Men raise specific breeds of roosters for fighting and bet on their performance. Ann was horrified, but I thought it was pretty sweet.
The electricity just went out, hours later I’m back retyping what I had written. The lights have been going out a lot lately. It’s so annoying. But I can deal with no electricity, it’s when the water goes. That’s really fun.
In the end the party was enjoyable, especially the ¨Castillos¨ which are large wicker towers they had built around town. At night they were lit and we enjoyed a pyrotechnics show of fireworks. Imagine a life-size erector set 6-8 stores high. Very impressive.
I’ve been working with other volunteers as a traveling theatre group presenting a simple play about a girl and her unhygienic habits. It’s a fun way for us to educate youth, especially the elementary kids and have a good time doing it. I’m eagerly awaiting the date when we reunite in my site to give the play to my school. I play a Peruvian doctor (very convincing, right?)
Another ongoing assignment is doing monthly water reservoir inspections in my town and surrounding villages. I’ve found that two of the four reservoirs have consistently failed code and could really use some help, one of the two being my own village! The water committee never meets, rarely cleans the reservoir, doesn’t treat the tank with chloride, and frequently encounter problems with broken tubes throughout the town. It’s a disaster really. I’m personally making an effort to work more in the area of water management with the ultimate hope of reforming the water committee, training them in how to work together, and how to maintain a healthy reservoir for the village. Our statistics show that the two towns with poorly functioning reservoirs are directly correlated with higher cases of illness and children with cases of diarrhea and parasites. Worse though, without clean water, we’re challenging communicable diseases, and that’s exactly what I’m trying to prevent.
June 17th was my 26th birthday, my first birthday spent out of country. I got some great phone calls cards and emails, thank you to everyone who contacted me! It was truly a wonderful birthday weekend. I traveled north to the coastal city of Chiclayo in the department of Lambayeque. My friends completely spoiled me by taking me to a country club to watch the US vs. Italy game, and eat and drink delicious food. A cake was brought out and moments later my friend Jean shoved my face into it (a Peruvian tradition). That night we went out to a club, and I received free drinks the whole night, complements of the club owner. It helps to know people I guess! Thanks Brent!
More recently, Juan and I have almost finished painting house numbers for the town. We’ve started nailing them to peoples houses and charging S/.1.50 equal to .45 cents. We’ve spent more than S/. 200.00 soles (Peruvian currency) on materials for the project. The idea is that we get reimbursed but sadly many people cannot even afford a .45 cent house number. It’s frustrating because we’ll surely be out money, but a common reality. I miss you all and think of you often from my adobe house in the mountains…Love Matt
PS- Congrats to PERU 7 who arrived at the end of this month, a fresh new group of Business and Youth Development volunteers!
Sunday, July 02, 2006
Doc´s visit- 6/13
6/13--I’m writing to you on a cold Tuesday night from home. I can honestly call Carata my home. I just came upstairs from having dinner in our small adobe kitchen. One of the school teachers and I conversed about the unlikelihood that the neighboring volunteer Ana would marry him so he could gain residency to the U.S. It’s actually a pretty common conversation, that we as volunteers have come accustomed to dealing with.
My room is warming up now, I’ve got the space heater on, but still wear a winter hat, and it’s probably a chilling 45 degrees outside. (Did I ever think I’d be cold in June?) The environmental diversity of this country amazes me. Some of my friends who live far north practically on the boarder of Ecuador, and south of Lima live in desert like conditions. It’s so hot they can’t even sleep. Some are talking anti-malerial meds, which in itself hinders sleep. Although I’m freezing at night it’s beautiful during the day, I really can’t complain. I just hope I get a chance to use my new tent one of these nights. (Thank God for therma-rests, smart wool socks and mummy sleeping bags). I keep on forgetting to buy a thermometer.
My English has gotten so rusty, I just spelled socks with an x. Sounds like box. The spell check is handy for gringos like me who have forgotten their native language…..
Today was Tuesday, a long day. I woke up a couple of times last night thinking I was going to over sleep and miss my 7:20am English class. Nope, still haven’t missed it but getting up at 6am or 6:30 is a struggle when it’s still cold and dark outside. The classes continue to discourage me, because I know that teaching about health will take these students much farther in life. This is how I see it, sure they’ll learn some basic English, but if they don’t understand the general concept of washing their hands they’re going to die from illness! Remember Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs? I do. Freshman year of college, Nursing Health Assessment. The theorist Maslow defined that humans first need the basics before anything else. Food, Water, Shelter. Health came way before “Second Language Classes”. Call me pessimistic, but its true!
I’m pealing paint from my fingers from working on a project today. We’re painting house numbers on blocks of wood for the village. It’s a big project, but simple and necessary. The houses are unnumbered and there are no street names. There are no streets really, just large paths separating neighborhoods. We are going to make over two hundred and continue from there to see if we need more. Eventually we’d like to make street names. I want to name a street after myself. Egocentric right? It still would be funny.
My doctor came to visit me Sunday. We have two Peace Corps doctors, a man and a woman both Peruvian. They are excellent and work extremely hard to monitor the health of the 116 of us. Jorge has won us over with his humor, wit and easy going personality. He was called up to La Libertad the department where I live to visit another volunteer who was sick, and as she became better he decided to take the opportunity to travel to a couple of our sites just to visit. He tries to visit every volunteer once in their site during their two years. Jorge arrived Sunday night, and after realizing the extent of the trip from my capital city, Trujillo, I hope he didn’t have doubts to immediately turn back.
Monday morning I gave him a quick tour of town, it’s so tiny you could miss it if you blinked! I explained some history and facts about my site, and we talked about planned projects I’m working on. He hoped to walk to Ann’s site but than it started raining, and we watched a world cup game instead. Jorge was a great help with the house numbers, taking pictures just like a tourist. He even visited me teaching English. (Jorge speaks English remarkably well!) the rain continued, amd trapped in Carata he made some phone calls and arranged to stay another day. He decided to try and catch a bus back to Trujillo this morning.
I honestly enjoyed the company, and was honored to have our Doc. spend as much time as he did with me. He tells me that when he visits volunteers he usually doesn’t stay overnight, especially two nights! We bonded and I got to know him a little better, since meeting him last year. Even more amazing, is that unlike other staff members Jorge travels like us (volunteers) when he can. He stays in cheap hostels, takes uncomfortable overnight buses, uses public transportation instead of driving and get this…hikes high altitudes! Most of our supervisors fly around the country to meet with us, or local organizations for meetings, or for site development. And when they land at the airport they are picked up in Peace Corps SUV’s. But not Jorge. For this reason and many others he will definitely be a memorable staff member when this Peace Corps adventure of mine comes to an end.
My room is warming up now, I’ve got the space heater on, but still wear a winter hat, and it’s probably a chilling 45 degrees outside. (Did I ever think I’d be cold in June?) The environmental diversity of this country amazes me. Some of my friends who live far north practically on the boarder of Ecuador, and south of Lima live in desert like conditions. It’s so hot they can’t even sleep. Some are talking anti-malerial meds, which in itself hinders sleep. Although I’m freezing at night it’s beautiful during the day, I really can’t complain. I just hope I get a chance to use my new tent one of these nights. (Thank God for therma-rests, smart wool socks and mummy sleeping bags). I keep on forgetting to buy a thermometer.
My English has gotten so rusty, I just spelled socks with an x. Sounds like box. The spell check is handy for gringos like me who have forgotten their native language…..
Today was Tuesday, a long day. I woke up a couple of times last night thinking I was going to over sleep and miss my 7:20am English class. Nope, still haven’t missed it but getting up at 6am or 6:30 is a struggle when it’s still cold and dark outside. The classes continue to discourage me, because I know that teaching about health will take these students much farther in life. This is how I see it, sure they’ll learn some basic English, but if they don’t understand the general concept of washing their hands they’re going to die from illness! Remember Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs? I do. Freshman year of college, Nursing Health Assessment. The theorist Maslow defined that humans first need the basics before anything else. Food, Water, Shelter. Health came way before “Second Language Classes”. Call me pessimistic, but its true!
I’m pealing paint from my fingers from working on a project today. We’re painting house numbers on blocks of wood for the village. It’s a big project, but simple and necessary. The houses are unnumbered and there are no street names. There are no streets really, just large paths separating neighborhoods. We are going to make over two hundred and continue from there to see if we need more. Eventually we’d like to make street names. I want to name a street after myself. Egocentric right? It still would be funny.
My doctor came to visit me Sunday. We have two Peace Corps doctors, a man and a woman both Peruvian. They are excellent and work extremely hard to monitor the health of the 116 of us. Jorge has won us over with his humor, wit and easy going personality. He was called up to La Libertad the department where I live to visit another volunteer who was sick, and as she became better he decided to take the opportunity to travel to a couple of our sites just to visit. He tries to visit every volunteer once in their site during their two years. Jorge arrived Sunday night, and after realizing the extent of the trip from my capital city, Trujillo, I hope he didn’t have doubts to immediately turn back.
Monday morning I gave him a quick tour of town, it’s so tiny you could miss it if you blinked! I explained some history and facts about my site, and we talked about planned projects I’m working on. He hoped to walk to Ann’s site but than it started raining, and we watched a world cup game instead. Jorge was a great help with the house numbers, taking pictures just like a tourist. He even visited me teaching English. (Jorge speaks English remarkably well!) the rain continued, amd trapped in Carata he made some phone calls and arranged to stay another day. He decided to try and catch a bus back to Trujillo this morning.
I honestly enjoyed the company, and was honored to have our Doc. spend as much time as he did with me. He tells me that when he visits volunteers he usually doesn’t stay overnight, especially two nights! We bonded and I got to know him a little better, since meeting him last year. Even more amazing, is that unlike other staff members Jorge travels like us (volunteers) when he can. He stays in cheap hostels, takes uncomfortable overnight buses, uses public transportation instead of driving and get this…hikes high altitudes! Most of our supervisors fly around the country to meet with us, or local organizations for meetings, or for site development. And when they land at the airport they are picked up in Peace Corps SUV’s. But not Jorge. For this reason and many others he will definitely be a memorable staff member when this Peace Corps adventure of mine comes to an end.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
