Farwell to vacation

My 2 week Minnesota vacation has flown by and is now coming to

it's end. There were brats, family picnics, bike rides and even a last minute moving extravaganza with my brother and the famous Bedard trailer. I really felt like I got a good taste of summer and am sad to miss all the summer plans that people are making for the coming months. I will carry the taste of bratwurst in my mouth and the aroma of liliac in my nose and the pictures of family and friends in my mind.

A wonderful wedding weekend

My dear friend Adel is now married and has converted her name and residence to be one with her new hubbie. Adel and Mark had an absolutely lovely wedding this past weekend and I have the photos to prove it. It was outdoors in a park in Minneapolis; they were blessed by the sun and the trees and the presence of their family and friends. I am so happy I got to make this trip to witness and celebrate together with them. There are other weddings that I missed or will miss this year and it does break my heart. Weddings are such a joyous and fun time. This one was no different.

On the topic of weddings, I am preparing a little bit for my own in January. I have to get some paperwork in order to apply for a marriage license in Peru. However, it isn't that easy to just apply and pay the fee. I had to visit the Secretary of State office twice last week. First I had to get a letter than states that I, Nora Bedard, am a single woman. Signed by the Secretary of State to be official. Then I had to get original copies of my birth certificate (no big deal) and get it officialized, again, by the Secretary of State and then sent to the Peruvian Consulate in Chicago with a $30 money order to get a special stamp that double certifies it. Who comes up with this?

Now when I return to Peru I still have to get an HIV test at a specific doctor office in Lima, but pay at my medical visit fee at the national bank ahead of time and get all my documents translated by a specific translator in Lima...and who knows what else?

I think the paperwork work is the true test to see if you are really willing to go the distance for your fiance. Now, keep in mind all this paperwork is just to apply for a marriage license, we haven't even started Hugo's visa application. I am sure I will have more bureacratic stories!

Springtime Arrival

The new Springtime arrival has set foot in Minnesota. I AM HERE! (Is that cheesy?)

I am so happy to be back for my 2 week vacation here in St. Paul, MN. Although I was only just here in January, I couldn't bike, BBQ and get ready for Adel's wedding in the middle of all that freezing cold. Now I can!

First stop was Austin, TX. I emptied nearly all of my suitcase to give Maggie the DiscoverHope Fund goods. DHF had an event the following day and used all those goods to help generate almost $6,000. We also crammed in Tex-Mex and pedicures in our short 6 hours together.

I was then on the "late" (in every way) flight out to Kansas City. Ester graduated. She is an official urban design expert and awaiting news for her new job to start this coming month. The entire family (mom, dad, pete, essie, and I) camped out in Ester and Mike's new apartment with coolers of food and air mattresses for the weekend. It was almost like camping on the North Shore, except we had a roof, clean bathrooms and no mosquitos. I am so proud of Ester's long haul in school and life and wish her and Mike a new start filled with many blessings this year.

Then there was a road trip through Missouri and Iowa before I walked on Minnesota soil. I felt a little like I was back in grade school - Are we there yet? Can we stop for ice cream? Pete is taking up MY space. I just was reminded that there is a whole different way to travel besides the old, rusty "combi" minivans and crazy taxi drivers and two story cross country buses. In my parents car we could stop whenever we wanted to...including a reststops with no bathrooms in Iowa. Is that the new thing now?

So I am home smelling the lilac bushes, taking allergy medicine, shopping for wedding shoes, eating fresh asparagus, biking to the farmer's market and being with family. It is quite lovely, except the shopping for wedding shoes part. I am a bridesmaid in Adel's wedding and what do you wear with a light blue dress? Well if I don't like what I bought yesterday there is still more days before the Saturday celebration.

Hope your spring days are also lovely!

Sustainability

This month of May is going to be a true test of ownership. I am going on vacation for two weeks and leaving the women in our leadership workshop in charge of classes/activities in the HopeHouse. We had our leadership gathering yesterday and 9 very responsible and active women each signed up for a class day where they will be the "Class Assistant" and take care of materials, set-up and class evaluation. They have seen me do it a ton of times so I am not worried. In fact I am excited to see what happens when I return the first week in June. I will have evaluations from 8 classes, already done!

When I think about moving towards sustainability I think about giving more roles and responsibilities to the women. DiscoverHope Fund exists to create opportunities for women, but they have to be active participants for that to happen. I think this is a natural baby step for them to take to move in that direction.

While they are stepping up to the plate I will be re-charging my batteries at home in Minnesota! Weddings, Graduations, Birthdays, BBQ's and sweet reunions here I come! Until next time....

Mother's Day

Mother's Day in Peru. Mother's Day in the U.S.A. There are some things we do share. A tremendous love and respect for our one and only Mother that has an endless and all important job. Mother's that give unconditionally and teach, support and cradle when needed. Mother's really need more than one day of celebration, but we just try and squeeze in all that appreciation that we can in the designated 24 hours we are given this Sunday.

Our Mother's day celebration went smoothly on Friday. We started 45 minutes late. There were not enough chairs. The coffee didn't have enough sugar. One literacy group didn't show up. But, it went just fine. I told myself in the morning yesterday, "we are celebrating with our women on Their Day. And we are inaugurating the HopeHouse. I have no reason to doubt, get angry, stressed out. We are CELEBRATING." And, that is exactly what we did.

It was great. We had a ribbon cutting and toast to the HopeHouse. We recognized the literacy students that had passed their literacy exam. We had T-shirt prizes and Thank You's and dance contests. The women were smiling and laughing and enjoying THEIR celebration. It felt really great to be able to let the worries of the week go and celebrate with them and honor them.

Mom, Happy Mother's Day to you, I love you and we will celebrate next weekend when I am in the U.S. !!!

Good things happen in the middle of it All

I have had a difficult couple of days. Working with a Peruvian counterpart isn't always easy. There are communication problems and cultural differences and a different sense of urgency. We have been jointly planning a HopeHouse Inauguration/Mother's Day celebration for tomorrow. However the details of coffee, music, and even the invitations have been left to the last minute. I do not work like this. Afider does. Tomorrow I will embrace the day knowing that things will work out according to the last minute plan.

We have also been working like crazy with GyC to coordinate interviewing our final 10 families in the health project. To our surprise this week we found out that the last village bank that was invited to participate in the "Improving Homes, Improving Health" project is under the umbrella receiving assistance from another Health project in the area. I wish in Cajamarca there was a network of NGO's that could share their projects and information with one another to prevent double "coverage" of assistance. I am happy for the families, but stressed for us as an institution, as it creates more work to locate needy and willing to work families. The wonderful thing about working with GyC is that they have such a great attitude. "We can find more families. There is a sister of a loan recipient that has 10 kids, all under 12 years old. We'll interview them."

When I feel the stressors of my work I have to remind myself of all the Good. Otherwise, I might just literally stress myself out. The Good stuff includes:

A poncho class that ran itself this week without my constant intervention. And, with a low budget - less than $10 - 11 women were able to learn 3 new stitches to use in creating their future ponchos.
Through teacher and class evaluations this week our literacy students had rave reviews of their teachers. The students vocabulary is increasing and their handwriting is becoming more clear. When one of the students, Maria, couldn't write the number 3, I felt as if my problems were minimal. Speaking of literacy - I have all 10 official Ministry of Education certificates signed and stamped to present to the women tomorrow in our celebration. WOO-HOO! To be quite honest, I wasn't completely sure I would ever receive these certificates.

There is always Good. Just got to keep your eye out for it.

Weekend? No. Painting? Yes.

This weekend doesn't feel like a weekend. It feels like work. It is work. Have you had a weekend like that recently? It has been Prep. Paint. Stamp.

Today we had an all day T-shirt stamping workshop. We turned the 10 women that came to the workshop into working stamping bees. In the morning the women set up all our designs and templates and in the afternoon we set up stations and stamped like crazy. Well, only 50 plus t-shirts. The women by far enjoyed this workshop more than the first t-shirt stamping workshop because they got their hands dirty, literally, and actually did the stamping work. For their first project - we had few mistakes. I am proud of our women, and thankful, as the t-shirts will serve as prizes for our Mother's Day activity this coming week.



Tomorrow is another work day, another paint day. Hugo and I are going bright and early to our soon-to-be apartment (June!) to paint. We painted the walls an almost fluorescent yellow color yesterday, which I hope has tuned down a bit as it dried. I don't know if I want to live in a SUPER SUN room.