So I’ve finished up my 9th day in site and came back to Chiclayo to buy a few things I needed for my room and to pick up the box of books that the Peace Corps sent to us via a bus line. Its kinda weird being in such a fast paced city again, I like campo life’s slow pace. But my last week or so in site have been great. I haven’t “officially” started working yet, the Peace Corps likes us to do a community diagnostic during our first 3 months to figure out what would benefit our communities the most before we start up working. That being said my first few days were really nothing other than getting to know everyone at the Nanchoc Health Center and watching the Parade. No—they didn’t have a parade just for me, I know you’re all disappointed. But they did have their towns 50th political anniversary on my first full day in site, so it was really awesome to see the town all decked out in white and gold balloons. The kids from Nanchoc and the surrounding districts had a competition for the best portion of the parade. Nanchoc won with typical dances and dress of various parts of Peru—Afican dancing from Ica, typical Selva dancing, a dance I’m not sure where it’s from but it’s representative of war and has bells on the dancer’s legs, and the prize of the bunch, the Marinara! The Marinara is a courtship dance that is very popular in Peru in the northern part of Peru. After the parade there were the introductory speeches of all the honored guest, the current and former Mayors of Nanchoc, the surrounding areas, directors of the schools, and so on. I lucked out and didn’t have to give a speech my first day there because my arrival was sort of a surprise. Due to a combination of our cell phones not working right in the first few days, and Nanchoc’s phone having issues, I wasn’t able to call ahead to warn them I was on my way…Supresa!
But also on the Anniversary of Nanchoc (Dec 2) we had a seminar at the Health Center for doctors, nurses, OB/GYNs and heath promoters from surrounding areas about HIV/AIDS testing and methods of teaching prevention to coincide with World AIDS Day. So it was nice to get to meet some of the heath workers from surrounding areas. The day of the Parade was also the first taste of hot truly hot it does get in my site. Now I talked to a few people about the heat and my site and it was a huge surprise to find out that Peru isn’t all mountains and cold. So I’ll give the breakdown. Along the coast is desert, but with a breeze from the ocean usually so the temperatures are a little cooler, but still hot. Then you have the in between coast and mountain regions that can be broken into a few parts: Rain Forests, just like it sounds, green, rainy, and cooler, then the Dry Forest, where I am—and it’s just like it sounds, dry and dusty and hot, until the rainy season, then it gets hotter and rainy and green. The next section is the mountains (the Sierra) and this is the section that most people think of when they think about Peru, but it too has variations. There is Jungle like mountain sections and more “typical” Peru sections. Then on the other side of the mountains is the jungle (the Selva) and its just that, jungle. So at my site “hot” right now is 95 F in the shade with not much of a breeze during the afternoons. But I’m told in a month that I’ll be begging for that temperature back, because it gets up to 115 at my site WHEN it’s raining. Wooo!
So with the hot weather comes the rainy season. And in my site, when it rains, it POURS. So it sounds like starting in January and ending in around March it’s going to get harder and harder to leave my site due to wash outs in the road and mainly due to the height of the river that intersects the only road to and from my town. So I’m not sure how much you all will be hearing from me over the next few months…but this is just a warning that most likely I haven’t died, I’m just on the other side of the river chilling in my site working on some health stuff.
Speaking of health stuff, I’ve had a few meetings with various interested town bodies (the teachers, the doctors/health staff, the mayor, and coming up soon the health promoters) about what changes they would like to see in their community and what has worked well in the past. I am always amazed at how much they have actually already done in my site. My community partner (the person the Peace Corps set me up to work with) is a nurse and she is really into learning the most she can about Community Health Promotion. She has been going to monthly seminars in the capital of Cajamarca, Cajamarca City, to learn more about the problems in our region (well the health concerns). Where I come in is helping think up FUN ways to teach these things. In Peru the education system is rote memorization, so most people don’t know how to do much more than give lectures and hope like hell that they stick…so this is where the Peace Corps Volunteer and their non-formal education techniques come in!! But some ideas we have come up with so far are:
Community Gardens/Home Gardens: Now I know what you’re thinking, “Jenny you live in farm land, how would the need gardens if they’re already growing stuff?” Good question! Turns out they are growing food, it’s just not food that has a very high nutritional value for the most part. There is a lot of Yuca (think a stringy potato…but tasty, at least when my host mom cooks it), potatoes, corn (but more feed corn that eating corn), and Tobacco—and you don’t eat that. There are a few people who grow cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, and other veggies, but they sell most of them. My typical meal might have 5 peas in it and a few slices of tomato, the rest is rice, beans, and potato or yucca—it’s really filling, but lacking a lot of vitamins. So if we can get everyone to grow a few plants that have more nutritional value, then we can add to their diets and benefit everyone—they don’t have to pay for the produce, and they are more healthy.
Cocinas Mejoradas (Improved Stoves): A lot of Peruvians in the campo cook with wood. And usually its an open grate inside the house (or in a enclose space near the house) where they do the cooking, therefore the smoke is EVERYWHERE. The walls are black, the bricks are covered with suit…along with the inside of the lungs of anyone living in the house. So and Improved stove traps the smoke inside a tunnel and sends it outside the house through a chimney—they actually use less wood and burn hotter too, so it saves money and time. Win Win.
Youth Work: Teen pregnancy, lack of self esteem, lack of creativity, and lack of individuality are all issues in my site—I would like to point out that I did notice this in my trips to the school, but it was mentioned as a project from me by the teachers and doctors. So I will most likely be doing self esteem and individuality workshops with students and start up a youth group or as the mayor suggested, a girls soccer league!
Those are just a few ideas that we have come up with, I’m sure there will be more to come. So I’m in Chiclayo for the day to buy things for my room such as sheets, pillow, shampoo, hangy closet organizer thing that will function as my dresser. Just the necessities. I also splurged and bought a new shirt at the Peruvian equivalent of a Walmart, it was cute, and of a really really light fabric so I can survive the hot days of Nanchoc. Speaking of doing the necessary tasks, I really should get going to the post office to pick up the packages that people have sent (thanks Kacie, Mom, and Josh!) and to the grocery store to get some pecans and milk (in a can) so I can make sweet potato casserole for my family and co-corkers. Bye guys!
