Ring, Ring, Ring

Amazing the strength of my telephone the past two days!

I had to travel to Lima these past couple of days to visit the Immigration Office and take care of business with my visa and permission to stay in the country. Lima and Immigration is a whole other world from the rest of Peru, but once you learn the lay of the land, it is navigable. Hugo accompanied me on my immigration journey, just as I will accompany him on his immigration journey. We handed in all the paperwork to change my visa status to resident. Nora Bedard, at the end of this month, will be a resident of Peru! Never would I have imagined. Part of the approval process for this visa is getting a criminal record clearance from the international police department in Lima. They make you wait all morning to take fingerprints, get a teeth check and mug shot. Good thing I still had a Vogue magazine lingering from Maggie's visit. We took a lot of dirty, stinky buses to try and get from point A to B in Lima, which isn't very easy. But, now that I am back in Cajamarca, happy to know my paperwork is in process and the first steps of the process are behind us.

Hope House classes start today and since I wasn't in the office the past two days my phone has been ringing off the hook. I was in the interational police department office and women were calling me about jewelry class. I was in the smelly, dirty public bus and women were calling me about jewelry class. I was in the bus station checking in my backpack and women were calling me about jewelry class. I love that so many women are interested in class this afternoon, I just need a secretary!

As DiscoverHope Fund grows, a secretary may be part of that future. But, for now, the reality of a small international NGO is having few personal on the ground and doing whatever, whenever to make things work. This includes class sign-up on the nightbus from Lima to Cajamarca.