Thursday, October 20, 2011

In the past year.

Finally! I decided it’s time I update all of you on what has been going on in my life as a Peace Corps Volunteer. It is hard to decide where to begin but I’ll start off saying this: It has been a roller coaster of emotions and unforgettable experiences.

I will share with you three things: My work, my travels and my birthday this year. Also, I’ll include in the end some interesting Peruvian habits I have picked up.

Work:
If I want to have a meeting at 5 p.m., I need to let everyone know the meeting starts at 3 p.m. I am no exaggerating when I say everyone shows up to meetings hours late. That is how it works and I am finally getting the hang of it. If I want to go make copies before a class I have to teach, I know I need to leave 45 before, even though the copy store is 4 houses from mine. The paper always gets jammed if I want to make more than 3 copies at a time. In order for everyone to show up to my meeting, I need to go stalk their homes and confirm they are coming. This is after I call them consistently until they answer and I tell them it’s me again to remind them about the “meeting.” Finally, when I am at the meeting, I call them again to let them know I am there. THESE are the challenges to getting any work done in my town and yet I have accomplished a good amount in the past year! It has been hard, frustrating and there have been times where I just want to give up. Hanging in makes you that much stronger to facing any challenge, struggles, frustrations, etc.

WORK:
1. Savings and Credit Program (micro-lending): After hosting meetings, promoting it to dozens of community members, and being stood up for months, I finally started the first community bank in my town. The bank is called “Banco S.P.,” and has 12 shares, each valuing at S./5 (about $2.50 each). The idea is that each owner of a share has to invest S./5 weekly in the bank, and as the money builds up, they have easy access to credit with a small interest rate of 2%. They have to repay the money in a month to give the opportunity to others that want to borrow, weather it is to invest in their small business or for a family emergency. In the end, the shares are divided with the interest rate they earned for lending their money. It’s an amazing way to teach them how to save and borrow money wisely.
2. Promoting Literature: The first library building ever in my town is almost done being built! I managed to form a committee and we have accomplished so much these past months. We received a book grant of 2000 books from an NGO in the U.S., this was all thanks to two amazing sponsors. They are at sea right now on their way to Peru! It was not easy but will be totally worth it. Right now our issue is transporting the books from Lima to my town. The costs are an obstacle and we are fundraising to cover them.
3. Artisans: I have been working with a group of Artisans for the past year. I teach them basic concepts on business and how to become a more competitive association. We’ve managed to look for local markets and started weekly meetings where they all learn new ideas on weaving. I will post some pictures of their work on another blog. If you are interested in purchasing, let me know! You wont get the tourist price ☺Their work is beautiful!
4. Youth Entrepreneurship: This has been my most successful project, yet. I taught a business course at the local institute. It lasted three months and 40 students learned how to write their own business plans. In groups, they presented their ideas to a panel of judges. In the end, the winning group had the opportunity to travel to Lima to compete at the U.S. Embassy and my group won 3rd place!! They received more than half of the funding for them to start their business. The local municipality is helping with the rest of the money. Soon two students from the Institute will implement a new business in San Pablo! The business idea and plan they wrote was raising Cuys (guinea pigs) and selling them to local restaurants for profit. Fried “Cuy” is one of the most famous dishes in Peru.

TRAVELS:
I have had the opportunity to visit so many beautiful places in Peru but there is one place that I will never forget: Lake Titicaca. We all learn about it in middle school but what they didn’t teach us is that people live on the enormous lake. They build their own little islands out of hay and roots of a certain plant. They literally live on tiny floating islands. I posted pictures below so you can see.

BIRTHDAY:
It was amazing and unforgettable. My town threw me a surprise birthday celebration. My whole English Class was there, friends from the municipality, the artisans, my family, friends, etc. About 70 people were waiting for me at the restaurant. They had a beautiful band playing Mexican music, it was decorated so nice, the cake was delicious and to top it off they served Mexican Tacos for dinner!! The next morning for breakfast my family made me pancakes, eggs and oatmeal! It was the best birthday I could have ever asked for.

PERUVIAN HABITS I HAVE AQUIRED:
I say “YA” after every sentence (means OK in English)
I drink Inca Kola like water
I call someone on the phone consistently until they pick up
I whine when I ask for things
I take a nap after I eat lunch
I consider my birthday a holiday (which is why I have dedicated time to writing this)

If you are interested in helping or partnering with any of my projects, email me. Thanks for reading!

Lake Titicaca


Teaching business


Milking cows on a Sunday morning