“Hay gringos aquí y no les entiendo”

The words of one of my students as I just finished my 10 km run on Tuesday, and walked into town. I thought it was weird that the school was full of people at 5 PM, and the rumor of “gringos” being in my town made me curious. So I walked in, and there were lines of people waiting to get into a classroom, and the quad was sprinkled with kids who had little paintings of hearts and crosses on their arms. So being surprised by this, I had to figure out whether or not they spoke English. It probably was a safe assumption, but I’ve been to Lima many times to find out that Germans, Israelis, and French people like to visit Peru also.

The group of 7 Americans from Ohio was part of a church group who planned an alternative summer break to Peru through an organization called “Child Reach,” which apparently knew someone at my site, and decide to come on down. They donated clothes, toothbrushes, and toys to the people in my community. The group consisted of several nurses in their 40’s and 50’s, a middle school teacher, and one college student who all went to the same church. They came with workers of Child Reach here in Peru and in the states. They were helping a couple down here who came to Peru in September from the states to build an orphanage about 40 km north of my town (Chilca).

Although I was stoked on being a translator for them, and sharing what I was doing here as a PCV, the idea of coming to a developing country, and giving stuff away was in the back of my mind ever since the group left Coayllo. While I was there, people in the community were excited to receive clothing, and whatever gifts the group brought. These “giveaways” lead to a whole bunch of disorder, arguments over who has received stuff, and who hasn’t, and unfortunately makes people ask for more things. The director of the school even insisted on me asking on whether they could come and build a computer center for the kids. He later asked one of the workers, and they told him that they don’t do that kind of work, which led to disappointment.

I write this blog entry almost regretting the fact that I do it because it opens up a whole bunch of mixed/controversial feelings that come with development work. (Making sure I have the disclaimer) As a volunteer living in a rural community for a couple years, you make it a point to the citizens that you’re at site not to give stuff away, but to work with them in finding sustainable solutions to their problems that they may have. Being here for 10 months as a volunteer, made me realize why we are here for 27 months. What we do takes a long time, and more often than not, we probably won’t see the fruits of our labor by the time we are finished with our service. Getting a community to not be dependent on outside resources to survive and find solutions within town is our goal.

Whenever “we” bring up project ideas or just questions in general on what “we” need as a town, the subject of money comes about, and it should, but sometimes I get really frustrated with the answer, “we would, but we need more money.” Everyone has necesidades, and sometimes you have to be creative in getting around these obstacles. I know I’m venting and probably rambling on, but the point I’m trying to make is that I know as Americans or even just being a person blessed to be living with too much clothes, we all think that donating them is a great idea. I do also, but I’m just saying that sometimes “handouts” suck.

K now that I got that out of the way. This week was a busy week for me. Got a couple of co-workers that visited me at site, and they were there to witness a recycling campaign I started with the local colegio. Each class is collecting plastics, aluminum, and paper for this campaign, and there is a competition on who can bring in the most recyclables. Over the next two months of the campaign, I (hopefully along with other volunteers) will be giving workshops on Environmental education (compost, decomposition, worms, etc.) By the end of it, we will hopefully make a club for students which in turn, will develop leadership, and organizational skills that will help them in the future. Who would’ve thought that teaching English classes would’ve led to actual work?

It was nice to get something going, and get over that guilt most volunteers go through when projects don’t pan out. Hopefully other ideas for projects will begin to blossom to reality, and I can have the problem of having too much stuff to do. Anyway besides that, I have a half-marathon to run in two weeks, and I honestly can’t wait. Training for it has been very rigorous, and my last long run of 18 km will finally be done this Sunday. Hopefully I’ll be able to accomplish my goal of running it under two hours, but we will see.

I’m stoked for the fact that the US Men’s soccer team made 180 degree turn in quality of play, and made it to the finals of the Confederation’s Cup. I was asking my host dad what life is like during the Copa Mundial, and he said for that month, all you think and talk about is soccer. It’s a bummer that Peru won’t qualify, but I’m excited that the US is finally doing well in a big tournament. If we win against Brazil on Sunday, this will probably lead to huge expectations for our soccer team.

Lakers won! One more and we’ll catch up to those bastards in the green and white.

Other news, Michael Jackson passed away which sucks. His music has definitely kept me sane these 10 months. I know he has had problems recently, but his legacy as a performer, singer, and dancer will be remembered forever. So as I moonwalk my way out of this long ass entry, I want to thank my friends and family for the letters, and phone calls. If you got this far, God bless you, for your boredom, and your courage of getting through this horrible display of English grammar. Cuidense y muchos abrazitos. Chau!


Oh yeah one more thing...here is a cribs video we shot and edited for my site...enjoy!