Cumpleanos twice!

Feliz Cumpleanos a ti, Feliz Cumpleanos a mi, Feliz Cumpleanos, Feliz Cumpleanos......

Hugo turned 30 last week and I am leaving 30 this week, so we figured we would celebrate with a big party for the two of us. After everything was said and done, we pulled off a pretty good party. We invited family and friends to a new bar in town that is decorated with Hugo's paintings, where good tunes filled the air and face painting and toasting to good times was the theme. We had the bar all nicely decorated with separate table circles holding candles and balloons. But as Peruvians are an all-inclusive culture, the separate circles became one big circle throughout the night where we passed the Peruvian pisco around one little plastic cup and we "cheers-ed" to the person next to us, who ever it was at that moment. When it was cake time we had a little latin Birthday song extravaganza where we were practically dancing around the Birthday cake. And Hugo beat me to it and put my face in the cake before I could put his in the cake (sorry, only have the pre-cake-face picture, not the post pic).

The Sewing Singer in Action

Our sewing machines were in full force this week. Those of you that are faithful followers read about the whole Sewing Singer purchase fiasco last week. This week all that walking and work paid off in 3 hours of intense artesian bag class. We had 21 women join us in the Hope House to make artesian bags out of local colored woven yarn. Our patient teacher Socorro didn't lose her cool when one of our Singers started to sew backwards. She sat down, with the crowd gathered round, while she fixed the problem. Never a dull moment. It took a littler longer than planned to finish all 21 bags, but they did it. I certainly wasn't any help in that area. Today the same women will come back to put flower designs on their bags.
These past two weeks we have started to offer childcare during our classes. Many of the loan recipients have brought their children to class because they don't have anywhere or anybody that/who can watch their kids. But, when the kids come to class the women often can't concentrate or pay full attention to their own learning. Kids want to learn too and they want as much attention as they can get. Since we have a beautiful patio, filled with plants, toys and roaming cats... the kiddos now have their own place to be.

Feliz Cumpleanos Hugo

This week was Hugo's 30th Birthday, which meant singing Happy Birthday at midnight with a little piece of cake, a candle and lots of alcoholic beverages. We are planning a joint Birthday party this Saturday, of course if you can make it you are invited! There will be live music, more cake and hopefully some dancing too.

Stamping T-shirts

I never would have guessed that offering a T-shirt stamping (estampados) class would generate so much excitement and interest. T-shirt stamping is the best translation I can come up with for estampados, but I think in english we would call it silk screening (although we probably have a machine sophisticated process that requires less manual labor). We had 19 women gather shoulder to shoulder in the small T-shirt stamping workshop for 3 straight days to learn the basics of starting a T-shirt stamping business. They learned everything from the price of start-up materials, how to make their wooden frames, paint mixtures, burning the design on fabric and actually "stamping" a design on a T-shirt. The women were eagerly asking questions throughout the class. Nonstop questions. Alfredo and Jaime, our novice teachers, explained the process in very simple terms and gave suggestions of good material, places to buy materials, and prices to put on their stamping products. The women got to see the whole process and actually went home with a stamped T-shirt. When I asked the women after class who was planning on using this information to start a small business, everyone nodded their head and answered with an enthusiastic YES.

Why didn't we offer this class in the Hope House? Because we weren't quite sure if, on Peruvian time, we would be in the Hope House. Hopefully next time we can have it there and not be so squished. Next time, there will be a next time for T-shirt stamping, so stay tuned.

The Story of a Sewing Singer

This week proven to be a new opportunity for me to learn about sewing machines. Two months ago we priced sewing machines for the Hope House. The problem in pricing sewing machines was we asked someone who didn't know anything about sewing machines to go out and price them. So this week I consulted everyone I knew that knows something about sewing machines to help me. I had a big cheering squad.

This blog entry is about how to buy a Singer sewing machine in Cajamarca, Peru. I will shorten the story as much as possible and stick to the important details.

First of all, there are as many sewing machines as colors in the rainbow. Endless. But, all the sewing experts I know here voted time and time again for the oldest Singer pedal version. Metal. Heavy duty. Doesn't breakdown easily. It works if the electricity goes out, which is key here. So I quickly crossed off the list the newest and priciest sewing machines. With one of our loan recipients we spent all morning on Thursday hunting down old sewing machines. We must have walked through every dirty, busy market street; strategically I followed Charo so that she would ask the price and the vendor wouldn't give us a gringo price. We found a couple of "oldies, but goodies." But, in order to work a little faster these sewing machines need a motor, which is sold separately and in a completely different part of the market. More walking. I arrived home absolutely exhausted with pounding feet that day.

The next day, after motors and machines were priced, I was armed with my money belt ready to make the purchases. My sweetheart Hugo came with Charo and I to make sure we were getting the real Singer deal. First we went to buy the motors. We had to go to three different stores because a) the first store had a motor that smelled awful b) the 2nd store only had one motor in stock that actually worked c) the 3rd store gave us a good deal on the motor after much negotiation.

We then headed to the potato section of the market. Located in a small, dark little workshop is an old man that knows everything about Singer sewing machines. He was our man. He must have showed us how 5 of the machines worked so that we could choose the best one. The first one didn't work so well. The 2nd one worked perfectly. The 3rd one needed a new leather cord for the pedal. He switched it out and made it work. I thought we would be there all morning. The last step in the whole "trying out every Singer machine" was switching our 2nd machine for a newer table, as we bought the Singer machines with tables because then they can work with the pedal when the electricity goes out.

We had our 2 working machines and an old man with a wheelbarrow. That is all you need to get Singers from point A to point B. We made the careful wheelbarrow trek through the market and squeezed our Singers into a taxi. It was smooth sailing. We arrived at the Hope House and installed the two machines. And that is the end of the Singer sewing machine buying adventure.

Stay tuned next week to see these old beauties in action during our first sewing class in the Hope House!

Literacy Launch

I have been in the comfort of my computer screen the past two days, preparing an endless list of things for this week. Last week I spent no time in the comfort of my computer. On Friday and Saturday I went out to visit two different literacy groups. The groups are both in the countryside, at least a half an hour walk from the highway, all mud, and in our case last week, all rain. The two groups that have started literacy classes again are the same two groups that finished with the Ministry of Education last year. They have requested more classes; to review, learn more words, practice making correct change for their purchases (math), learn how to write letters and official documents. Things that will help them in their everyday life; life literacy is what we are doing. Since we aren't working hand-in-hand with the Ministry of Education this year (which in part has it's benefits, like not chasing the Yes Man who always says Yes, but never does anything) our literacy teachers have creatively invented a pre-post test to administer to the groups. We are planning to measure their learning successes through these tests, the first which was just given this weekend. Take a look:

Sweet End Note

This busy week ended on a sweet note. On Thursday and Friday DHF held a bakery classes where 20 women learned how to make 4 different cakes and pies. Everyone agreed that the best part of class was the end when we got to try all 4 cakes and pies. I was really overwhelmed by the interest in this class and really all the classes we have offered so far this year. We had to turn away 10 other women that wanted to join us during class. *Note: Don't despair, another cake and pie class will be offered next month. But this phenomenon of women turning out in high numbers for classes has happened with every class that we have offered this year. For this coming week I have organized a T-shirt stamping class. FULL. I have to start a waiting list already for the next T-shirt stamping class for next month. The good news out of all of this is that we have the space to accomodate the interest. Now, I just have to fill the space.

p.s. we went to the beach last weekend

During this first week in the Hope House I nearly forgot to tell you that Hugo and I went to the beach last weekend. Maybe that is what I get for taking a long weekend in the sun and surf; a week of non-stop problem-solving, missing landlords, demanding women, long work nights, rainy literacy classes, just to name a few of things that happened this week. I only wish that the peace that I found in the Pacific sunset, I could have found in the middle of moving this week. The good thing is that next week is a new week.

Surprisingly for not having a camera, I have been able to capture many pictures to share. Hugo and I visited Huanchaco, Trujillo. The night bus from Cajamarca to the coast normally takes 6 hours; it took us nearly 10 hrs. to get to the coast. Awaiting us was lots of tasty Ceviche, Pre-Incan Moche pyramids and sunburns. Take a look: On a totally unrelated note I will be visiting MN this May for Adel and Mark's wedding. This means I will be a mule. I will be bringing back women's products to Austin, TX so that DiscoverHope Fund can proudly display the hard work of our women. In addition, I am also planning on bringing some of my sweethearts' paintings to display/sell, since the U.S. government won't YET let Hugo come to the states. So if you are interested in original Peruvian artwork I would encourage you to check out my Flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/norabuzz/ (and go to the album Caja Original Art), where I have posted a bunch of Hugo's paintings. Take a look, if you are interested in something specific Hugo would be happy to make it for you and I would be happy to bring it to you.

Hope House is Open!

Believe it or not (I almost can't believe it), but DiscoverHope Fund moved into Hope House, the Development Center for the loan recipients, yesterday. The day we were re-programmed to move in. The handy man was still painting the kitchen and cleaning the floors, (we are in Peru) but we got everything up and running for our first activity today! We held the first of a series of leadership workshops this afternoon and had 17 participants with much space to move around. We weren't squeezed in together like our classes before. The women commented about how lovely, bigger and better this new space is.

After our leadership workshop this afternoon there was a lot of busy chaos; women signing up for classes, asking about our inauguration, returning materials, etc... And Hermila, one of the leadership participants, found her way next to me and asked me in a soft voice, "if you know anyone who needs their clothes washed, I need more money and I can do it." I was frozen. All the excitement of moving forward clashed with the realization that there is so much work to be done. I hope I do justice to make the doors of the Hope House open new doors of possibilities for Hermila and all the other women that are lacking a little bit to reach their needs, aspirations and dreams.

Besides the big work DHF still has ahead of us, there are a number of things to do to make our new space workable, welcoming and fully equipped, but we are in! The keys are in my hand. There is shopping to be done. The Hope House is up and running! Truly, this is momentous and exciting.

The waiting game

I could say I am playing the waiting game. The "test my patience" game. The pull my hair out of my head game. This week there has been no activities or classes planned because the plan was to move into our Community Center space, set things up and make it a welcoming, working space. Alas, I am in Peru. I am at the mercy of Peruvians that work on a different time frame of getting things done. I have gone in circles this week...

I was told Monday.
Monday I was told Wednesday.
Wednesday I was told Thursday.
Today I was told next Monday.

On Monday I will put my faith in Peruvians that they will come through. We will do an inspection of the new space, new keys will be in hand and I will go out that morning and buy tables and chairs. That is the new plan.

I wish I knew the basis of this no hurry attitude. I wish I had the remedy to speed things up. Or if not the remedy, the patience to go at a slower pace. I find that at times I can foster that patience and other times it is no where to be found. Besides running in circles, like a dog chasing his own tail, I have been busy preparing for our first leadership workshop next week, signing women up for bakery class (also next week), and getting our literacy launch under way so that next week we can start literacy classes again with two previous groups from last year.

Now, we only have to wait until Monday.

Finding Paz ~ Nora

Unsha Time

Picture a cross between a Christmas Tree and a Pinata - That is a Unsha Tree. From now until April any neighborhood in Cajamarca that wants to have an excuse for a party will put up an Unsha Tree. Right in the middle of the street. My neighborhoods' Unsha was yesterday and it was in the small park right in front of my house so there was no way I couldn't participate in the party. My neighbor was telling me that when the park was constructed, there was a small hole covered by a removal cement block stratecially placed so that every year around this time the neighborhood could place in Unsha tree right in the middle of the park and have their party.

The Unsha Tree celebration includes food and drink, but mostly drink. And then lots of dancing. The rain roofs went up around mid-day, which was unofficially when the party started. Throughout the early afternoon hours neighbors took turns carefully placing their gifts on the tree. Gifts ranged from bandanas, oranges, plastic jugs, hats, small brooms, t-shirts, etc.....I contributed with a pack of cards. Pictures here you can see the boys taking their "placement" job, with a long piece of cane, very seriously.
When the sunset, the party goers began dancing around the tree. The Hachet came out and neighbors took turns trying to chop down the tree. I took my turn to chop too. The kids chop, the adults chop, the grandparents chop. It is a very inclusive event. And after you take your chop turn you have to say what you will put on the tree next year. This gets recorded in a very official notebook. Well, after all that chopping, eventually the tree breaks, falls, and everyone in sight runs to gather whatever goodies they can from the tree. I ran the other way because I didn't want to get trappeled, so I didn't get any goodies. That's OK, I got a night of dancing under the Unsha tree, which was enough for me.