Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; Give the world the best you've got anyway

More facts about Peru:

-The toilet paper is scented, interesting right? I’m guessing it’s because all the toilet paper goes in the trash

- Most Peruvian’s drink juice with every lunch, if not every meal, but I don’t mean they buy juice, I mean they fresh squeeze fruit everyday to make the most delicious juices ever. Jamba Juice has some competition.

- The main form of transportation in Huánuco is a mototaxi, which is of course is a mix between car, motorcycle, and taxi. Interesting little buggers, but very inexpensive!

“It is difficult not to have plans, not to organize people around an urgent cause, and not to feel that you are working directly for social progress. But I wonder more and more if the first thing shouldn’t be to know people by name, to eat and to drink with them, to listen to their stories and tell your own, and to let them know with words, handshakes, and hugs that you do not simply like them, but truly love them.” –Quote by Henri J.M. Nouwen in his book ¡Gracias!

I found this quote just the other day while reading ¡Gracias! and it just explains my situation so wonderfully that I had to read it over and over just to make sure. I keep feeling like I should be doing more, I should be planning a game, event, anything that could really help, really change lives. But day after day I spend most of my time just conversing with people in the office and the women or keeping up with the news on NPR. The other day I was ecstatically cutting out 300 little sombreros (hats) because it was something to do. Don’t get me wrong, I am constantly asking for things to do, but they keep reminding me that it is only my second week and things will pick up. So when reading this quote I realized that I am doing alright. I may not be creating inspiring lessons, but I am conversing, listening, and learning. And for now, that’s all I need to be doing.

On Friday I had a half-day due to my working Saturday afternoons, so I accompanied my host mom to the hospital to visit a little girl named Anita. Anita was born with some difficulties that have set her back, I am a little confused whether they are physical or mental disabilities, but Anita, like many children with disabilities, was abandoned. She was merely left in a room day after day without food, support, or affection. Paz y Esperanza has been desperately trying to help her, but it’s been difficult because her mother has custody and keeps taking her back to an isolated life, each time returning worse than before. I didn’t quite know what to expect when I saw Anita, but I was shocked to find an 11-year-old girl who looks no more than four. She has a feeding tube, oxygen and is by far the skinniest person I have ever seen. We didn’t have much time to spend with her, but I plan to make an effort to see her semi-regularly because a hospital is no place for an 11 year old to be alone.

On Saturday, my host mom and I went on a two-hour walk around Huánuco, in which people on the street yelled me at constantly. It can be quite annoying, but I found that it’s hard for me to understand the difference between “gringa” (white girl) and “linda” (pretty girl) when people yell. So I have decided to just believe that they are all saying linda. It’s just a small trick to make the walks more enjoyable!

Sunday was by far the most successful day I have had in Huánuco. After church I met Eliana (cousin of Mimi, niece of Dámaris). Eliana lives in Huánuco and was more than willing to spend some time with me. We went all over Huánuco, taking pictures, doing a boat ride around a little lago (lake) and getting ice cream. Eliana paid for everything and wouldn’t allow me to chip in at all. The best part is that I could understand her perfectly; I only had to say ¿Como? (What did you say?) a few times, so for about two hours I had a regular conversation with someone… in Spanish! Then just to make me remember that the world is always smaller than you think, Eliana and I ran into two missionaries that have lived in Huánuco for around 30 years. Eliana knows them through her family, but I was amazed that they were wearing Oregon State shirts!! After talking for a few minutes I found out they were from Corvallis, OR (literally an hour from home), and they were gracious enough to invite me over to their home here in Huánuco whenever I would like.

I guess that means that I can say Go Beavs all the way from Peru! Much love to all!

Gringita (Little Gringa)

Great books I have been reading:

• Heaven is for Real (Super cute, read it in two days)
• Little Bee (Sad but very interesting story about Nigerian villages being killed for oil)
• Gracias (Interesting perspective of missionary work in Latin America)

Every Saturday in Huánuco starting at 5:30 am is a faria (Saturday market) where all the people from the mountain pueblos bring their fresh vegetables, fruits, meats, and bread to sell. The market takes up the entire street, and most of the people who bring their produce are people who speak Quechua (one of the indigenous language of Peru). My host mom Cathy decided we would go to the faria at 6:30 am, yep bright and early for a Saturday, but it was an amazing experience to just listen to the women speak their native language and admire their colorful dress. Cathy told me that sometimes the produce can be more expensive at the faria than at the store, but it’s important to support the people in the mountains because they are the ones that lack the most basic necessities.

Saturday night I went to a service for young adults at one of the churches close to my house with Joana and Ingrid. It was similar to the Wednesday night services we use to have in high school, except this one was two hours long. I didn’t mind that it was so long though because I was so incredibly happy the whole time that I could actually understand the pastor and the lesson he was giving. I also love all the songs that they sing here in church. Most are about (If I understand correctly!) the difficulties in life and how their faith in God is the only thing that gets them through the dark days. It’s so passionate and heartfelt.

On Sunday I went to the church that my host family started. It is basically just an open room that they have made into a church for themselves and a few other people who didn’t enjoy the other churches. It was quite an experience for me because the whole family ran over at around 9:30 to set up chairs, the projector, Sunday school, etc. My whole life I have never ran to help set up church even though my dad is a minister. In fact, my mom and I are usually late! At 10:00 the service started with only about 15 people, but it was wonderful and reminded me of the small group I always went to church with at Allegheny. My host father Luis is the pastor and he gave a great sermon on love and the characteristics that people who know God have. Again it was a two-hour service. I’m going to have to adjust to sitting for long periods of time and not fidgeting the entire time. While sitting for those two hours I did acquire approximately 15 bug bites (picaduras) on my feet. As Trent, one of the other missionaries in Huáunco says, that’s what we call suffering for Jesus!

So all in all it was a great weekend! Roxana and I even decided to start working on English/Spanish together each Sunday after church. This past Sunday she wanted to work on pronunciation, but all we had was our bibles. So for about an hour she would read a passage in English and I would help her, then I would read the same passage in Spanish and she would help me. It turned out to be a good way to practice and we got a few good laughs out of it as well.

On Monday, Medalid and I walked one of the women to her doctor’s appointment because she was having pain in her stomach. She then needed an x-ray and other tests (which can only be found at different parts of town) so we spent the whole day going from place to place in order to get the medical attention she needed. Medalid and I mainly just sat and waited at each location for her, but the women was so grateful just to have someone to go with her that it was worth the time we spent. I’m finding that most of the time all I can give is a smile or hold a hand because I can’t fully express myself yet, but I’ve also found that it seems to be more than enough.

One of the main ideas of the YAV program is “Being, not doing.” A hard concept to follow when you have been going non-stop your whole life. So my goal for this year: Learn to do nothing, but just be

Abrazos a todos (Hugs to everyone)

La Granja

Some more things I have learned about being in Peru:

-It is totally acceptable to take a day off work for your birthday, but if you don’t everyone in the office will sing Happy Birthday songs to you and after the songs each person says something about how special you are to them.

-Keke is a cake without frosting, torta is a cake with frosting (important to know your desserts)

-The women in the park at 6:00 am take their yoga very seriously, sweat suits and all

-In Spanish it is important to have the right accent on words or else you can say weird things like stretch marks (estría) instead of to stretch (estirar), yep I did it

Yesterday (Thursday) I went to the La Granja (farm), which is an organic farm that makes yogurt and cheeses. It also houses Albergue, a safe place for women and children to go to leave their abusive situations. We went to have lunch there because it was the first official anniversary of the Albergue, technically it has been housing women for years unofficially. But it was quite an experience to get off the bus and be welcomed by so many smiling faces, children and women alike.

We had pachamanca for lunch, which is a specialty in Huánuco, I’m told they have it on every special occasion, and they even have a pachamanca festival every year. Traditionally pachamanca is made in the ground in a hole covered with stones. It only takes about an hour in the hole to cook perfectly. Pachamanca is made of carne (meat) in a green sauce, a papa (potato), and camote (sweat potato). It was absolutely delicious. For dessert we had masamorra, which has the tendency to look like snot (something the YAV volunteers and I had fun with constantly in Lima), but this one was actually quite delicious and apparently is really good for digestion! Who knew?

                                                  What pachamanca typically looks like

After lunch everyone went separate ways to play different games. I was fortunate enough to play volleyball with some of the girls who live there. Most of the girls had a volleyball team shirt on so I knew that they really enjoyed it. I did not realize, however, that I got into an Olympic volleyball match! Some of these girls were amazing, and me, well let’s just say I haven’t really played since high school and it was most definitely not my main sport, but the girls didn’t seem to mind. In fact they loved that I just took the time to play with them. What I enjoyed even more than the girls smiling was how confident they looked when they played. It’s essential to understand that these girls were victims of sexual abuse, most had children from that abuse and had to leave their families in order to find safety and peace. Yet they can still smile, love their children, and go to school everyday to make a better life for themselves. What power, hope and faith. It was breathtaking.  

My first days in Huánuco

So far life in Huánuco has been a success, I met my first friend Roxana at church, she is a volunteer also but she is from Huancayo, Peru, which is about a six-hour bus ride away. Roxana lives above my family in an apartment by herself. She went on a walk with Jonathan and I one day to see all that Huánuco has to offer. There are many plazas for people to sit and enjoy and there is also a really nice park that has a track, a playground, and courts for every sport. Roxana and I were talking about how we both like to run and it’s safer if you have someone to go with, so she said she would run with me in the mornings three times a week. We went on Monday at 6:00 am and only ran for about 20 minutes because Roxana has to catch a bus pretty early, but it felt great to get moving and have someone to talk to also.

                                    My family in Peru! Minus Luis the father and Dama the dog

                                                  Cathy, Jonathan, Ingrid, and Joanna

My first day of work was intense, not that I did a lot, but just meeting everyone in the office and learning about Paz y Esperanza took most of my energy. My host mom, Cathy, walked the six blocks or so with me to my office, which is super easy to get to, literally I take one left turn and I’m there. Debbie tells us to take different routes to work each day so that they don’t see the “gringa” walking the same way every time, but my host mom told me to stay on the main street because its safer, with people and light. I will have to switch up my route when Luis, my host father, is with me, but Luis is the driver at Paz y Esperanza and most days he is driving someone to a pueblito (small town) outside of Huánuco, sometimes as far as 4-5 hours.

                           This is my desk at work, doesn't look like much but is more than enough

So when I finally got to work, one of the girls I share and office with, Mirabel, took me around to meet everyone, and I mean everyone. This office may look small, but it houses a lot of people. Paz y Esperanza helps with legal help, pastoral care, psychological problems, and social problems so there are offices for all of those groups and then there are administrators, communication experts, and then other people who oversee everything. It’s quite an organization and they do wonderful things for the community and people in nearby towns. Peru has one of the worst statistics for violence against women and children including sexual abuse. So Paz y Esperanza is crucial for the people who suffer.

After meeting everyone I was given books to read about what Paz y Esperanza does, in Spanish of course. So there I am, reading this book with my Spanish/English dictionary sprawled in my lap. At 1:00 pm, everyone leaves for lunch and we return around 3:00. Perfect amount of time to eat and take a little catnap, I think I’m going to love the pace here J When I returned they gave me a couple projects to start thinking about, including creating an exercise plan for a girl in a wheelchair who lives in a small town about 3 hours away, and making a game for a festival in November to help inform people about sexual abuse and how to prevent it.

My house is still great. Jonathan, my brother is having a lot of fun giving me exams on Spanish words for things. So we go around the house, he points at things, and I have to tell him what it is or he teaches me. It’s fun for him and great practice for me. He and I have also been playing a lot of cards because he loves to play any type of game. My sisters are very nice also, still a little shy around me but I’m hoping I can win them over soon. My mother is still adorable, I’ve been having stomach troubles so she has been buying all sorts of good food for me, giving me advice, and even rubbing and praying of my stomach for me. Adorable.  

Made it to Huánuco!

So the rest of the week in Lima was a lot of fun, we got to see the Museum of Archaeology and the Museum de la Nacion which has a section about the 20 years of violence in Peru. For those that don’t know, Peru had an internal war from the years 1980-2000 which caused the deaths of 69,000 people, most of which where Quechahablantes (people who spoke Quecha in indigenous villages). It was incredibly sad, but it was also incredibly complex so it was good to go through the museum and understand more of why this happened. We also go to go to downtown Lima with Noami (niece of Dámaris) and we got to see the first Catholic church in Lima which was BEAUTIFUL and we also saw the catacombs, which were interesting, but my Anatomy and Physiology background kept me saying, “Oh look a femur,” not exactly the reaction you are suppose to have. One of the nights we also went to the Parque de Agua, which is basically a water show with all these different fountains (pictures are on facebook). All of the fountains were beautiful and as a group we had fun joking around and taking pictures together.

Yesterday morning at 9:00 am I got on a bus to Huánuco, which is about a nine-hour trip. I was excited, thinking I could look at all the scenery and see different parts of Peru. When the bus first got out of Lima I saw the mountains, which I was picturing more as like slight hills, no these are MOUNTAINS, and at first I thought oh how beautiful are those. I was wrong, turns out, not so beautiful especially when your bus makes turns every minute to climb up the mountain, and I mean UP the mountain. My stomach wasn’t feeling so good, but I thought I was fine, I’m a tough girl, no problems. Well the decline off the mountain had something to say about that. I felt like I was in a hammock during a hurricane. I kept saying to myself, “Okay there is a bag there if I need it, but no I don’t need it, I’m fine, just keep breathing.” Well to make a long story short, I needed the bag. Yep, I was the “gringa” on the bus that threw up. This is really only funny because the rest of the Peru YAV’s showered and looked nice before going to see their families. Me, no I puked and rallied. The stewardess on the bus was less than amused with me, so she gave me a few extra bags and when I asked for a garbage she said they didn’t have one (they stop in different towns to collect food and get rid of trash, this was after the removal of trash) so I sat for the last three hours feeling a tiny bit better with my lunch in my lap.

However, the good thing about starting at the bottom is that it can only go up from there.

My host father, Luis picked me up at the bus station. At first I was scared I wouldn’t find him in the crowd, but lets remember that I am the only “gringa” on the bus, let alone in Huánuco so it was actually pretty easy. Luis works at Paz y Ezperanza also so I was excited to learn more about what he does. My Spanish still isn’t great but I’m trying! I have three siblings. Joanna is 19 and studies at the University, Ingrid is 16 and is also studying at the University, and Jonathan is 10. Cathy the mom is wonderful; when she came home she took my hands and told me how happy she was to have me. After a rough day, that was the best thing she could have given me. She also said that I can help her cook, bake, or whatever I like. I am part of the family she says. This morning we went to church, which started at 8 and got over around 10 and then we all had classes; I went with Joanna and Ingrid to the young adult class, which lasted about an hour. Now the rest of the day is for family and resting.

I hope everyone is doing okay on this tough anniversary for the United States. Much love to all from Peru! Besitos (Kisses)

37 Pounds

Things I have learned in Peru so far:

-       Always travel with toilet paper, I have yet to see a public restroom that has it

-       Learn to love rice, they mean it when they say it is a staple

-       Try not to look while the taxi drivers are driving, let’s just say it is a little terrifying, but they hardly ever get in accidents so there is a method to the madness!

-       One of their methods is “he who honks first, has the right away”

-       When crossing the street, look both ways, 20 times, and even while you are crossing. Pedestrians are not a priority

-       Sublime is the best Peruvian chocolate bar

-       Don’t leave your Keens (shoes) outside your room at night, the dogs like to pee on them

Our first weekend in Peru was wonderful! On Saturday we met at Debbie and Harry’s apartment and then took a bus to Pachacámac; ruins south of Lima. It was very interesting to see the ruins, learn about the groups that inhabited the area, and what each group contributed to the area. Most people think that the Incas were the only indigenous group in Peru that offered anything substantial, hence Machu Picchu, but Pachacámac had three other groups that lived in the ruins before the Incas even arrived. After the ruins we went to El Mercado de Bolivar (Market in Bolivar) to have cerviche. Harry swore that this tiny little spot in the middle of this very busy market had the best cerviche, and I think he was right because it was delicious! I even tried a couple new types of seafood such as octopus, which tasted pretty good, probably because everything tasted like lime.

Sunday we woke up bright and early to attend church literally around the corner. It is the church that Dámaris, Debbie, and Harry go to so it was fun to meet their church family. Sean, Kaley, and I decided we would try to dress up considering we had basically been wearing the same clothes for a week, but it was so cold that we ended up just layering jackets and looking silly. It isn’t actually cold here, it’s usually around 50, cloudy skies, and slightly windy, but because we are all coming directly from warm summers, to us, it is cold. We keep reminding ourselves that this is winter here though and it will only get better from here. Apparently Huánuco is warm all year though; basically I’ll be living in Heaven, sounds awful right?

Church was very different than what I am use to, but that made it even more special. Service is suppose to start at 9 and us being the “gringos” showed up on time, only to find that we were the first ones their besides the people setting up music. Peruvian time is wonderful and caused worship to start at 9:15. We finally left the church at around 11:30 to have lunch with Harry and Debbie at their favorite Sunday-after-church-restaurant where I got arroz con pollo (chicken and rice), my favorite thing in the entire world (besides chocolate). Shane decided to try Patitas (tendons), a delicacy in Peru, so I decided to be brave and try a piece. Let’s just say I won’t be ordering it for myself anytime soon, give me a break it had hair on it still (it is suppose to have hair on it by the way). After our big lunch, Harry took us to Miraflores, which is the touristy part of Lima. Apparently it is the spot to go when you need to get out of Peruvian culture and just have a nice hot white chocolate mocha from Starbucks. My favorite thing about Miraflores was a circle in the middle of the main park which everyone gathers around and dances. We also visited Barranco, which is the hippy part of Lima and found a spot near the ocean to stop and have refrescas (sodas). All in all it was a wonderful day and the perfect end to the weekend.

The rest of this week is full of Spanish classes, museum visits, and chances to see the other hotspots in Lima! My Spanish is getting better poco a poco (little by little) but I think it will be better when I am totally immersed. Until Saturday (immersion day) I will continue to enjoy my time with the YAV crew, laughing constantly through each day.

Uniedo Manos en Perú

September 1^st crept up on me; I had no idea the month had changed until I walked out of my room and was greeted by Mary and Sean saying, “Happy September!” I will miss our group enthusiasm when I head off to Huanuco alone. For our second day of orientation in Peru we gathered at la Red. We started our day by singing a few songs and then had a discussion in which everyone talked about their faith journey. It was so interesting to hear about how each of us got to this year; our paths were all so different, yet we are all so similar. Then, Jed a facilitator a la Red gave us an overview of what la Red does. It was very interesting to learn about the main concerns in Peru and what la Red does to help. Also la Red is where Kaley is going to be working, so we got to better understand what she will be doing for the next year!

I’ll give you a brief overview of what we learned because I found it to be incredibly interesting and insightful. Jed first explained that there are 12 organizations that work together in order to help confront problems in Peru, such as poverty and the water crisis. La Red connects and works with all of those organizations. The basic idea behind la Red is the “Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.” But la Red also asks many additional questions because they recognize that the people of Peru have lived for thousands of years on their own, basically, they know how to fish, but their resources for fishing have been taken away. So la Red looks into why their resources have been taken away, and how they can help the people to either regain their resources or find a new trade. The three main campaigns that la Red has been working with are:

a) Agua, or the water crisis that is occurring in Peru. Basically Peru has 70% of the water in all of South America and the rate at which it is being used is causing the water to disappear too quickly. Jed explained that scientists and professionals have agreed that if the rate of water loss is not changed, the water will all by gone by 2030. So la Red is looking into the reasons that water is being used too quickly, including their asparagus crops which require about twice as much water as other vegetables, and trying to educate as many people as possible about the water crisis. That way people begin thinking of ways to conserve water or find alternative ways of maintaining water in the mountains. One idea that I found very interesting is that if they can stop as many trees from being cut down, the roots will help keep some of the water in ground. But in order to do this, the people who use wood on a regular basis need to find alternative methods or resources, or simply not use as much.

b) Fair Trade: La Red works with local Artisans to not only find ways to sell fair trade items but also to teach the artisans how to run their own fair trade business independently. This includes teaching them to set their own prices and manage bank accounts. The problem that they run into with fair trade is that competing prices are always lower, so they struggle to find new products that are unique so they don’t have as much competition.

c) La Oroya: Apparently, the Andes have almost any mineral you could think of and La Oroya has a refinery for the metals. The problem with this is that the contamination is so horrible that it is killing the people who live in the area. Sean was explaining that the women tend to miscarry and just spending a day their can cause your mucous to turn black for a few days. This is just incredibly sad for the people of Peru, especially because the owner has no intention of stopping the mining because he enjoys a comfortable life in the United States. And you wonder why people in other countries don’t necessarily always enjoy people from the United States…

So after our wonderful discussion with Jed, Debbie took us to a restaurant around the corner which has a menú, which is a restaurant where you can choose from two appetizers and three main courses and it also comes with a drink, all for 7 soles (around 2 dollars)! For those curious about Peruvian food some of the options were minestrone soup, alfredo pasta with corn and ham, chicken with rice and potatoes (the most common combination), lamb with fried bananas or beef with vegetables. All of it looked delicious, but those that know me know that I will eat anything!

After lunch, Debbie took us to a school nearby where Rosa, a Spanish teacher and friend of Debbie’s gave us and introduction to Peruvian culture and the mythology of the Inca’s. Everything was incredibly interesting (of what I understood of course) and I was especially interested in the mythology because it seems to be based around the fact that the earth is split into three sections: the earth above with the stars, sun, clouds, the earth here with the people, animals, plants, and the earth below with the insects, roots, and dirt. These three units are separate and different, yet they are all connected and depend on each other. Therefore, the people are not more important than the mountains, nor the sun more important than the moon. Each part has a reason for existing and must be respected because it is all a creacion de Dios (a creation of God).

This pictures is us arriving in Lima with all of our luggage and completely exhausted! Starting on the left there is Sean from Ohio, me, Shane Webb from Texas, Kaley from Mississippi, Mary from Pennsylvania, and Sarah Webb also from Texas. What an incredible bunch!

I apologize for the long blog, it was just such an interesting day and I had to share. I hope everyone is doing well, much love!