Feliz Navidad

Live Light, Spread Light!

I hope you all had a peaceful and wonderful Christmas. My last Christmas (for awhile) in Cajamarca was peaceful and wonderful. I went to an amazing mass on Christmas eve where there were christmas light everywhere and the drama came to life of the birth of Jesus. When the theater came to live and He was born the church burst into screams and hollers, as if we were at a football game. It was pretty cool. I had brought my little baby Jesus, from our manager scene at home, to the mass, to receive the blessing for the long trip back to Minnesota. We had a yummy turkey dinner at midnight and gifts for all the kiddos (Sebastian, Javier and Anita). The next day it was more turkey and fruit cake, turkey and fruit cake, all day long. The kids played with the dogs, we reimienced with photos and had some of Dad's strong strega to wash all the food down.

The day after Christmas we had a nice lunch with Vicky and her family. One of our last despididias. Tomorrow we are on the night bus headed to the jungle. It has been an emotional rollercoaster. Leaving 3 years of work, growth, friendship and family behind is difficult. I know Minnesota awaits us with open arms, but that doesn't make the goobyes any less difficult.


Stay tuned for jungle adventures!

Signing Off from the DiscoverHope Office

I can´t believe it.
December 23, 2010.
More than 3 years ago I landed in Cajamarca, Peru full of ideas, hopes and dreams to do great things for women in poverty.
3 years later I leave Cajamarca with a full heart and still more ideas, hopes and dreams for the women I have come to know and cherish.

My work here was my life and passion. I think forward to the life I will return to in Minnesota, full of comforts (despite the winter snow) and so much access to things, places and dreams right at my fingertips. I am longing to spend time with my dear friends and family. I look forward to hot showers and my own car. But, there is a part of me that is very sad to leave the simple life, this corner of the world that has allowed me to live my dream job. Yes, I am leaving the life where things don't always work, the streets aren't always clean, and the "hora Peruana" ( 1-2 hours later than planned) is the norm. The life where people say thank you and mean it with their whole body, where noboby knows the word materialism, and where the simple smiles of determined, humble women give me energy for the week.

I will miss the chats on wooden benches in the countryside, witnessing our women learn the alphabet, visiting women's businesses on dirt streets, walking into a classroom of students at the Hope House, and the genuine feeling of doing good in the world in a place where there is a lot of good to be done.

I came here with the idea to help women lift themselves up, and I can say with full certainity, I have never done exactly that in any other job more than I have here in Cajamarca. I am so proud to have helped DiscoverHope Fund grow into the organization it is today. I know DHF will continue to grow and do good work, as DHF was born out of the beautiful spirit that Maggie created and instills in the organization still today. I am so excited to continue to witness the growth and energy that DHF spreads into the new year and beyond. My footsteps today go in a different direction, but part of my heart and soul will always be with DiscoverHope.

Thank you DiscoverHope Fund for this wonderful oppportunity and journey! Keep up the Good Work!

Red Jackets

Today was the last coffee and cake evaluation time with the final class this year. For other courses that have already finished, literacy and computer classes, I held a 'coffee talk' where each student reflected about their experiences in the class and talked about - What was new for them? How are they going to use their new knowledge? while we enjoyed some yummy sweet treats. I did the same thing for our sewing class this afternoon. Our sewing class has been meeting twice a week since April. These dedicated students boast making great strides in learning many new styles and models of clothing. In our coffee talk, the women repeated that before sewing classes they were scared to use the electric sewing machine (many have foot pedal machines in their homes), but now they feel confident that they can use those machines. Also, many women expressed that they had a base of sewing knowledge, but mainly creating one style of skirts. Now they know more than 10 styles of skirts, pants, vests, and jackets. Their sewing repertoire has more than doubled.

The women repeated over and over again that they didn't want sewing class to end. If it was up to them they wouldn't take a break and they would keep going strong through the holidays. I encouraged the women to keep practicing at home, not to lose their new knowledge and to come back next year for classes. The last project this year was a red polo jacket, as you can see pictured above. Projects for next year: new styles, models and projects not yet seen!

Year End Evaluation in progress...

This week is purely dedicated to compiling the year end report and reviewing the successes and examining challenges in the Social Program piece of our village banking project. It is a lot of work, but so rewarding to review numbers and stories that tell OUR STORY of changing lives in our loan recipients. Above you can see the Math test results of our basic literacy students. They moved mountains and, in some cases, double their percentage test score. The same is true for their reading skills. I am so, so very proud of this group of determined and dedicate women. Congrats to all!

The HAIRCUT

After our all bank event on Friday, I woke up on Saturday to prepare for another big event. The Haircut. I was asked to be the Godmother of the hair cutting ceremony of the son of one of our loan recipients. It is a strong tradition in the countryside to save the first haircut for the selected 'Godmother,' although do take note the Madrina (Godmother) does not need to have experience cutting hair or even have to be good at it. We went with Hugo and his parents and the kiddos to join my co-padres in their simple adobe house for a guinea pig lunch followed by the hair cutting ceremony. The cuy was actually quite good; I might have enjoyed it more than usual knowing it might be the last time I eat guinea pig for awhile.

The ceremony was simple. I brought scissors and cut a little piece of Christian's hair. Then I put a "tip" on the plate where the cut hair was placed. I passed around the scissors and the "tip" plate so that all the invitees could cut Christian's hair and also put a little bit of money on the plate. Once everyone had a turn with the scissors, I finished the haircut. It wasn't my best work, but it will grow. There was then music, dancing and drinking. Jovita, Christan's mom, gave us 3 whole cuyes to take home and eat for dinner.

It was an honor to be with Jovita's family yesterday and be a part of something so special. It was a wonderful reminder of how in the humblest of homes there can be gratitude and love so wide and full.

Celebrating a year of Success!

Yesterday we celebrated the completion of our successful year working with village banks together with our local partner Multicredit. It was a lot of prep and hard work up until our start time, which of course was 40 minutes later then planned, but worth all the effort. To give you a small re-cap, I will highlight some of my favorite moments, and let the pictures tell the rest.

The idea of our gathering was to invite all the loan recipients from all 12 village banks in the same room, so we could share their successes with everyone and at the same time motivate the women to continue working hard in the coming year. We had outstanding attendance, out of 100 active loan recipients I would estimate that more than 80 women were present. Each village bank was invited to participate in the "Best Table" Competition where the women put on display their works and were then judged by 4 criteria: presentation, creativity, unity, and quality of works. In the morning when the women came to set up their tables I was in complete awe. They were taking the competition very seriously. 3 of our village banks went above and beyond. "United Women" all came in red shirts that had their village bank name on the front and then their individual names on the back of their shirts. That says TEAM to me. "Strength and Blessings" had each crochet purple vests (and also made my purple crochet cape for the occasion) and arrived in complete unison. Finally, the winner, "Start of Belen" put up a starry night backdrop for their table and every loan recipient had a star filled t-shirt. The competition brought out the best out in some of our banks, and was such a joy to see the unity that our banks have come to grow into.

Certificates were given all afternoon. I was especially filled with pride as our literacy students stood in front of the crowd and received recognition for not only for their hard work and dedication, but their personal decision to invest in themselves with a tool as basic (for many of us) as literacy. Near the end of the event I introduced the crowd to our 2011 village banking team: Desiree, Ahidee, Jheny and Oswaldo. It was an emotional moment, symbolically 'passing on the torch' and giving my blessing to our incredible team to continue the good work into next year.

We finished the event with a raffle and prizes; our friends and collaborators at GyC, as well at the head nun Sor Reyna, helped us throw numbers in the air to select our winners. Then the room turned into chaos as the drinking hot chocolate and eating fruit cake time began. All in all, Success. As I compile information for our Year End report next week I will make sure to share it here on the blog, so you all can get a better idea of specific successes, as there are many. But, now it is time for me to relax and regain strength for the coming week. Enjoy the photos!

The Despedida to Top all Despedidas!

I was speechless, still am.

Desi gave me the greatest gift ever yesterday. She brought all our 12 village banks together for a surprise Goodbye (Despidida) party. I knew something was up her sleeve, but I never would have guessed a room filled with so much love and appreciation. She lead me, eye closed, into the auditorium filled with close to 100 women. I opened my eyes and was surrounded by the faces that inspire and motivate me. On top of that, there was the most beautiful buffet table of peruvian delicasses laid out across the table. POTLUCK, every village bank had brought a dish to share!

But, first was the speeches and songs and poems. Desi made me sit in front of everyone on, what felt like, the queens chair (I was just missing a crown). Different women and teachers and coworkers came up to give their heart-felt gratitude words of goodbye. It was incredibly touching. I felt a wave of love and gratitude so big I could have exploded right then and there. Then, the food. Nourish the body and soul.

Although it was my GoodBye party, I was infused with all the energy and power that our women hold. I know Desi will do amazing things with DHF in the coming year, I mean, She brought 100 women together in the same room and organized the most beautiful Peruvian buffet, anything in Peru is a piece of cake after that. Our women are thristy for more knowledge and learning opportunities. Only great things will be created from all this goodness.

Paz ~ Nora

Vision

Last leadership workshop this week. It was bittersweet. I have really enjoyed putting together these workshops as it is the confidence building and real work that opens doors for self-esteem for many women. Yea, I get them playing, laughing, listening to stories...but with the goal of new ideas and thought processing springing up within.

We talked about Vision, both personal and group, for this last session. How do you plan for the future?, a topic that is not a common topic among Peruvians. I had the women evaluate their personal motivations for being in their village banks and then we did TV interviews. What is your life going to be like in 10 years? Think about your life, job, your surroundings. What is different and (hopefully) better? How did you get there? What decisions and steps did you have to make? From these experiences the women had to write down their personal vision on a small sheet of paper. Above you can see that Olga wrote "I want to have all the basic services (electricity and water) in my house so that I can put my small business in my house." Below you can see Laura had written, "I want to be a professional and sell real estate."

Start of Goodbyes

With only 1 month left in Cajamarca, we decided to have our first Despidia (good bye party). We had a BBQ potluck and it was delicious. Dear friends and family came and we squeezed into our apartment for an afternoon of eating, drinking, conversation and music. However, I am sure this was only the beginning of the Goodbyes.

Week in a Nutshell

Taking a break from the office workload yesterday, poolside, and feeling the gratitude to be here, in Cajamarca, doing what we are doing. Our work is so fufilling and, although it has it's challenges, it has endless rewards. Although yesterday we took a little break, there hasn't been many other breaks to speak of. Last Saturday our First Aid students finished their health session with the topic of Diarrhea. Again, another health session filled with questions and addressed doubts. Then, as the week got underway we had a Christmas cake class and Christmas crochet class. Finally, our computer class finished their 3 month Word 2007 Documents course with flying colors. Our students made incredible strides to greatly improve not only their typing speed, but their level of comfort with creating formal documents. According to Damaris, one of our top computer students, "This course has helped me a lot. I can make all kinds of documents and I am not scared to do them on my own. Because I learned so many new things with Word I can also help my younger family members at home with their homework."

Many Thanks!

So a belated Happy Thanksgiving to you all! Desi and I were busy by the thermal pools yesterday and I just couldn´t send out any messages, although I was thinking how deeply grateful I am to be here, to be traveling back home to MN with Hugo, and for all the roads that this life has taken me on and the people that have been there along the way. If you are reading this, you are in my thoughts and I give thanks for you.

'Tis the Season

Yep. That's right. It's not even Thanksgiving and here we are talking about Christmas. For the end of this month we have planned some special classes at the Hope House, preparing the women for next month. Our true entrepreneurs will take advantage of the Christmas season and boost up their businesses. Come December the streets of Cajamarca burst with activity and sales. This week we held a Christmas chocolate class and a snowman class (even though Cajamarcans don't know what snow is, some symbols for the Christmas season are universal). Peru is a very Catholic country and Christmas is one of the most celebrated holidays. With our classes we hope to not only help our entrepreneurs get ahead of their competition, but also enjoy the season with special homemade treats that they themselves make here at classes.

Official News is Out

Some of you may not know that I also contribute to the DiscoverHope Fund blog in addition to my personal ramblings here on this blogspot (although much of it is the same). Yesterday, the annoucement became official to all the DHF followers, about my returning to Minnesota. So, I just wanted to share for those of you that wanted the official memo, you can find it at the following website:

http://cajamarcahope.blogspot.com/

2.5 months now. And counting......

Rain or Shine

It is rainy season. That means, a lot of rain. Everyday. All day. And, sometimes that also means that it is hard for women to come to classes because kids are sick, the rain swells the rivers, and makes it hard to cross, etc... But, this week when Des and I visited our crochet group out in the countryside the rain meant that they bundled up a little bit more and still went to class. Talk about dedication. All the crocheters were under an awning , staying dry, but nonetheless, crocheting in the rain. Rain or shine. We continue to teach, inspire, and work hard. That is what our women reminded us this week.

Photovoice Voices

Juana was the president of her village bank in the first loan cycle. She was desperate to learn First Aid techniques. She attended all of our First Aid class and claims, "now I save money because instead of going for a medical appointment, I take my children's temperature at home. I know when to medicate and when not to self-medicate."

Ester is one of our younger loan recipients, but also very active. She has two little children, both under the age of 5, and is expecting another little one any day now. Even with her little one on the way now, she comes religiously to computer class because,¨I want to teach my children how to use a computer. I want them to be proud of their mother."






Tania is another young loan recipient that is testimony to the success of a micro loan. ¨Before I use to help my dad sell animals and he would give me a small tip ($2), but now I buy and sell my own animals with the capital I receive and I can make more money ($20) on an animal."

Photovoice Evaluation

Being that there is only two months left this year, I decided to start our Photo voice project early. What is our Photo voice project? Two of our most active village banks were chosen to answer general evaluation questions with a disposable camera. Desiree and I went out to the village bank Fuerza y Bendicion yesterday morning to show the women the photos that they had taken. Their was giggling, laughing and some red faces. They weren't especially excited to share their photos with the rest of the group, but when you take photos for the first time in your life, that is what happens. The women explained their photos and shared their positive experiences with us. It was reassuring and provided a dose of hope, our work and efforts have deep and powerful impacts. You will be sure to hear more about Photovoice at the end of the year.

All Saints Day on the Rocky Road

Hugo and I had a unique All Saints Day experience. We decided to go to a town an hour out of Cajamarca and bike back into town on Monday. Chetilla is known for being a Quecha speaking town that holds true to it´s colorful dress and strong town traditions. It turned out that we had come a day too early to witness the towns' tradition. They celebrate Day of the Dead (Nov. 2), not all Saint´s Day (Nov.1). So we had a coffee, bread and egg breakfast and made the random decision to head to the coast, on bike. We had no idea how long it would be, although we were told it would take us a long time.

A long time turned out to be 5 1/2 hours. Mostly downhill on a rocky mountain road, with less than perfect brakes and a hard as can be bike seat. The scenery was spectacular, but our bodies were in pain at the end. We gave thanks to have made the ride safe and sound back to Cajamarca, blistered and burnt. The only sneak peek we got of a All Saints Day celebration was an old man cleaning his sister's grave off the path we were on.

Computer Experts

We are entering into our last month of computer classes this coming month, November. During class yesterday I walked around and watched our loan recipients complete their 2nd exam, the 1st was completed after the 1st month of computer classes. I was amazed. Stuff I don't even know how to do. Maybe I need to attend some of the computer classes?

Berta, our amazing teacher, knows exactly what to do with the class, with each student, to encourage them to learn and grow. She has gone above and beyond to make sure students make up classes on her own time on the weekends and stays late, comes early when needed. She introduced into the curriculum the theme of "personal maps" (as you can see pictured above). In Cajamarca, if you know how to design a personal map, you can get paid s/5, or close to $2, for each map you produce. It is a small business venture if you know what you are doing. And, from what I saw yesterday, our women know what they are doing.

A little walk in San Marcos

This Sunday Hugo, Desy and I took a little day trip to San Marcos, a small town about 1.5 hours from Cajamarca. We went to get out of town, take a little hike, and enjoy the company of friends that live there. The hike proved to be just what our bodies needed, downhill for more than 2.5 hours, and along the way we got to see one of the last of functioning flourmills in the area. The mill, pictured below, works by a large metal gear that works only when there is a strong water flow in the water canal below. Above, the two large stones turn to grind seed into flour. A small, older women watches the turning stones day and night. It was as if we had walked into the past, another world, the simple way of doing things.