Compras, Compras

Today is registration for BUY DAY (Dia de Compras), right here in the HopeHouse. It is a fun day for me because I get to see the labor of our women's work and select their best work to send to the USA! This morning one of our women, Aurora, who makes really great macrame belts, came to the office with more than 20 belts. We had put a limit on the number of items that each women could enter to make it fair and even for everyone and also respect the space we have. I had put a cap on belts: 6 max. I wasn't going to turn away all her lovely work, so it is in the office on "Exposition" in hopes that tomorrow the belts that DHF doesn't buy (which will be more than 6, by the way) other invited community members might buy. Everyone is hoping for a sale, including me.

P.S. If you like what you see here, let me know and I would be happy to purchase a belt for you and bring it back in May. Aurora made plenty! ($7 each)

January 2, 2010

Folks, planning a wedding in Peru is never done 9 months ahead of time. I am breaking country records here by doing it. I know in previous posts I said I would keep you posted. I am posting.

I never was the type to imagine myself in a big, flowing wedding dress with the details of my wedding all planned out. I always thought it would be simple, small, meaningful and down to earth. That is still in my head and in Hugo's head too.

We've decided to get married outside of Hugo's childhood country home. At the base of a small mountain, surrounded by eucalyptus trees and cornfields. We are going to have a somewhat small wedding, but in Minnesota, a big celebration. On January 2, 2010 will be our Peruvian ceremony. I know it is difficult for folks to make plans to come to this mountain town in Northern Peru, so a reception and party will happen in St. Paul later in 2010. If I can figure out how, I would like to find a way to video and stream our Peruvian wedding online - so you can be with us not only in spirit, but in computer too. But, I am not that tech savvy. Stay tuned for country-breaking-wedding-planning news.

Faces of the Week

Just a brief picture show of the faces of the week. What was Discover Hope Fund up to this week? Ribbon, Fashion rings, Artisan bags, Marmalade!

The shape of the world

Any John Gorka fans out there?

I was listening to Gorka as I sat in prayer last night before resting my eyes. It was a tough afternoon. Sometimes my afternoons are filled with joy. Sometimes sorrow. Sometimes both. The shape of my world changes daily. We held some fun-filled classes this week - Artesan bags, fashion rings, and marmalade still to come. I see women gather, learn, listen, share, grow. But, I also see women in pain, suffering and surviving in violent homes and uphill battles. I seek peace as I enter into these two arenas that consume the women's lives. I take in both and I struggle. I cry. And I pray.

Don't want to waste what I have to give.
In all the time I have left to live....
Don't want to waste what I have to give. In any of the time left.
I can do more than I thought I could.
Work brings more luck than knocking on wood.....
Good luck.

You ask the world and the world says, NO.
It's the world's refrain.
Mine says GO.

May peace enter the shape of your world, as I open my heart for it to enter into mine.

Technology in the Campo

We held our third health presentation in the countryside today. I found it especially striking today that GyC shared their information with the small little laptop that they had brought along. The past two presentations were also held in the countryside, underneath a humble roof and dirt floor, with successful projections from the laptop to projector to wall. Home movie! We had a connection mis-hap that kept us from showing the "movie," which caused some disappointment. As we were setting up the projector and the initial image of birds (that is the set-up image) came up, before we found out the connection wasn't going to happen, the women were so excited and impressed with the projector set-up. Probably something they have never seen in their community. We'll have to get it working for next time.

Any at rate, the presentation was a smashing success as we huddled around the laptop images. Everyone in the group motivated to sign up to....better their homes and ultimately better their health!

Satisfaction

Some things just go right. Some things feel right. Sometimes it goes according to plan. Satisfaction.

Today we held our 2nd leadership workshop. The first workshop in March we had 17 participants, today we had 10. I am happy. I am happy to work with a group, whatever size, that is committed, energized and very participatory. I was especially excited about this workshop because the agenda was to do self-reflection and some internal searching. The women that came today really have big hearts and curious minds. They are thirsty for more information, to grow, share, learn. I love feeling that through their energy.

We did three exercises: 1) Examining leaders in on own life and how they have influenced us. 2) Looking at our own characteristics and what leadership characteristics each one would like to have 3) A meditation/internal journey exercise where the women find their internal voice and light.

After a brief evaluation the women stayed past the hour to chat and drink coffee. It was such a great satisfaction to see the women sharing and being in each others presence long after the set agenda. There was lots of talking throughout our workshop about how women don't have the confidence to do or say the things they wish they could. A result of machismo? Culture? Lack of self-esteem? Whatever is contributing to this, I am arming the women with tools to gather the confidence they need and want. Part of that is homework. Internal and external homework. Their external homework is to go out and find future and new teachers for our classes. Another satisfaction, spreading the work around.

He wasn't going to do it anyway

This is a short little story of Peruvian culture and (mis) communication.

I have been waiting since January for literacy certificates for 2 groups that finished their 1st phase of literacy training back in November 2008. Jose (I will leave out his last name to protect him from humiliation) has been my main man since last year. He signed our institutional agreement with the Ministry of Education, stating his institution would provide our groups with literacy material. Jose would facilitate the gathering of documents. And when all was said and done, send our documents to Lima so that little workers bees could produce an official certificate of literacy success and then send those certificates back to Jose. Jose would then give them to me. And I would then give them to the women. In February. February came and went. March. March came and went. April.

Well Jose is nowhere to be found. He is in the mountains supervising another group. No, he is in Lima receiving training. No, No, no one is quite sure. He told me week after week, the certificates are on there way. I called him weekly, often times only to find an empty dial tone. I visited his office and when I was luck I would find "Panchito" sitting there reading the paper. But his partner-in-crime "Panchito" can't help me. He doesn't have the authority.

Today I put my foot down. I entered the Ministry of Education doors with the mission to talk to the higher up and get an answer, a date, a something! Panchito greeted me at the office door and told me Jose isn't here this afternoon.

"But he told me would we meet at 4pm." - me
"He was here this morning." - Panchito
" But Jose didn't tell me to come this morning. He told me to come at 4pm. Listen, I need to talk to someone who knows about these certificates, I have been waiting for 4 months now." - me

In walks a new face, a new literacy supervisor that works with Jose. He doesn't have any real answers, but he listens to me. He takes down my name, number and explains very clearly and respectfully how the process of receiving certificates works.
"You need to make another document B so we can send it with your document A in order to get the certificates. (Really? - Jose didn't tell me this). I am going to Lima this month so I can help you. " - The new guy

"Yea, why don't you help this woman, since Jose was never going to do it anyways." - Panchito

Stories of the Past Revisited

Some of you may have heard of the Fujimori decision last week: Ex-President convicted of Rights Abuses. Ever since last Wednesday I feel like I have been reliving part of Peru's past. I have been asking people what they think of Fujimoris' 25 yr. prison sentence. Surprisingly many of my Peruvians friends and acquaintances think that 25 yrs. is too much and that Fujimori shouldn't even receive any prison time. Yes, Fujimori killed innocent people. Yes, He took too much of an authoritarian rule. But, He iliminated terrorism in Peru.

The stories from my co-worker, who is from a small town in the jungle, of the acts of terrorism during the 90's is outrageous. Stories of threats to kill children and animals if money wasn't turned over to the terrorists. Hangings, Burnings in the main square. Dead bodies floating down the river. Sociologist students that were pursued for being revoluntionary. Things that were normal during the reign of terror. Just 10 years ago. Fujimori put a stop to it. And many of the Peruvians I know stand behind him in support still.

I don't know what to make of the news; all I have been hearing is awful stories. I would encourage you all to read up on the news as it sounds like the trial isn't completey over. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/08/world/americas/08fujimori.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Fujimori,%20Peru&st=cse

Cajabamba

We are in the midst of a rainy Semana Santa here in Peru. As Peruvians say, "The sky is crying." Most folks take advantage of the 4 day weekend and head to the beach or take part in the elaborate processions to and from the main plaza and church. I did none of the above. With my dear friend Vicky and Hugo we headed to another rainy town, Cajabamba about 3 hours from Cajamarca. We had two main objectives for our trip: 1) Donate boxes of clothes to a very poor and barely reachable community up in the mountains of Cajabamba 2) See these amazing staircase waterfalls.

The first day of our trip we criss-crossed a mountain with the Cajabamba municipality heavy duty 4 wheel truck to arrive at small community reached only by foot by it's inhabitants. Vicky had single-handedly gathered 6 big boxes of donated toys and clothes to donate to the same community where her grandmother grew up. Our heavy duty truck barely made it up the muddy path, but with enough pushing, we arrived in the community just in time to receive a warm welcome by, well everyone. Kids, parents, dogs, everyone came out of their houses that were sprinkled across the mountain to congregate at the school, where the donations took place. There were old toys, dolls with without hair, a pink guitar that was missing strings, stained pants, but all were received with a simple smile of gratitude. I feel incredibly proud to be friends with a woman who has such a big heart and her generosity filled the houses on that mountain top yesterday. After we finished what turned into a chaotic giving campaign we headed up the way to a lunch invitation. This humble family, living in a two room adobe house, invited us to a yummy meal of their homegrown organic lentils and rice lunch while the guinea pigs squealed below our feet.
Coming down the mountain we were exhausted and ready to arrive at Vicky's family house so we could pitch our tent out back and see the town. There wasn't much to see as the cold rain kept us indoors all afternoon and evening. That next morning at 5am, with not a bit of sunlight to be had, we started our trek up to Cochecorral - the famous staircase waterfalls. We were told it would be a 3 hour hike and since we were in the truck most of the day yesterday the three of us thought, "Great! This will be great exercise!" Well, little did we know that the 3 hours would turn into 5 hours, which would turn into 7 hours by the end of the day.

The path up to the falls isn't marked and when we passed houses in the dark that morning, for some reason no one answered our call to direct us the right way. We did eventually find some country folk that directed us. By that point they told only 1 more hour to go, 1 hr. was actually only 3 hours to go. We passed through a lush canyon and saw incredible views of the countryside in our "3 hour hike." Near the end of our journey to find the falls we - luckily - crossed paths with a young man and his donkey. The donkey was our savior and best friend as we placed our (not so heavy) bags on it's back and followed the donkey up stream. When we finally arrived at the waterfalls the sky turned grey and heavy with rain and the air filled with fog. The falls were beautiful, but it was hard to appreciate them as there were other things on our mind. We realized we had to cross the river in order to get to the highway, where we had high hopes that a car would bring us back to town. We surveyed the river - where could we cross? I was the only one that brought big water plastic boots, so I was the one that lead the human chain as we crossed in the lowest spot we could find. Let me tell you, hiking in plastic water boots is so-very-not-comfortable and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. But, they work like magic when you cross a raging river. We crossed, no one fell in, and we all breathed a sign of relief knowing we were only an hour away from the highway (well, an hour and a half, really). We did have luck as we arrived near the highway. A truck of tourists offered us the back of their truck and we climbed in and let our legs rest on the way down. We arrived in Cajabamba wet, dirty, yet satisfied at our feat. That afternoon we left Cajabamba, not knowing that the adventure would still continue. About an hour out of town the river that crossed the highway had swelled and there was a line of cars, truck, buses waiting to see which courageous vehicle would be the first to cross the raging river. Our bus, of course! Hugo and I said a little prayer as our buses got the engine ready and 1,2,3 made a strong go of it. We wobbled and shaked, but we crossed. Soon after, the other vehicles followed. Man, I am so glad and thankful to be dry and home and not having to cross any more rivers the rest of this weekend. I crossed one too many rivers this weekend and it is time to be dry and stay put. Those of you reading this, may you have a peaceful and joyous Easter, with few rivers to cross.

A Better House for Better Health

What a humbling and inspiring afternoon! I went out with GyC, our health project partner, in the absolute worst rain I have seen all year. The streets of Cajamarca turned into dirty rivers as the drainage system unleashed itself upon the city. With the GyC crew we nearly had to swim in the brown river in a little VW bug to escape the city and head out to our first countryside group. We will be working with 5 village banks to help them make improvements on their homes and thus improve their health and today was the first group visit. We arrived to the group and began the set-up of laptop and projector immediately, as the rain kept us from arriving on time (which is all relative in Peru). The group we met with today consisted of 8 women and a bunch of kids and on-lookers. The GyC team did an absolutely fantastic job of explaining what our health project hopes to accomplish this year and that we want to invite families that want to participate in the improvement of their homes to join us in this project.

The main objectives of project: 1) Lower incidences of respiratory infections and 2) lower incidences of diarrhea.
The main idea: By improving the health and cleanliness of the house the objectives (stated above) will naturally occur, this is what studies show.

The health promotoras will help families clean up and organize their kitchen (ex. put plates on the wall in a wooden holder instead of on the ground), educate about animal husbandry (and animals not living in the house with people) and hygiene and sanitation issues. But the big AAAhhh getter was the improved mud stove, or cocina mejorada. The women, as soon as they saw pictures of what the stove looks like - and that they would have one in their own kitchen! - it was like everyone was on a game show and they had just won the grand prize. Ohhh. Ahhh. Ohhh. Seriously. Currently, many of the women cook on the ground with big stones that hold their pots in place over an open fire. The improved mud stove would save cooking wood, decreases smoke (thus decreasing respiratory infections) and saves money too. The next step is for each family to interview with the health promotors to find out if the entire family is committed to working to create a better, healthier home - including the grand prize - improved mud stove! See model stove below, only missing the top metal covering and final touches.

Feel the Love

The happy couple in 'compromiso' (engagement, not compromised)
It is pretty crazy that through all these internet waves I can feel the love and support of family and friends from other corners of the world right here in Cajamarca, Peru. This week I have been floating in the clouds of happiness and I feel like you are right there with me. Which is the opposite I feel when I share our news with Peruvians, "I knew it. When are you taking Hugo to the U.S.?" "YOU! You want to marry a Peruvian?" Anyways, I would prefer to receive the glowing internet love than face the marriage comments of some Peruvians. There is general negative feelings associated with marriage here in this country. You are trapped. The woman is under control of the man. As a wife you ask permission to do anything. You are chained. In the U.S. I know we have some similiar negative connotations, but with machismo alive and well in Peru, the negativity is heighten to another level. I know Hugo and I know Hugo doesn't fit into this macho category. It's just hard, because a lot of other folks I know here do fit into this category. So, thanks for sending your love. It has worked to keep me high in the clouds this week.

Not only that, but my Birthday was extended to be nearly a full week long. Yesterday the loan recipients surprised me with a cake and a CocaCola toast. I used the opportunity to ask for their income sheets that I collect every month, which they thought was funny since we were celebrating my birthday, not working. They gave me a very cheesy jewelry holder that I would never dream of using, but since it came from the women I work with, well I have another place for my earrings now. Today there is no birthday celebration planned. That means I can go to the art show, gym, wash my socks, all that normal stuff that I haven't been able to do all week.

Hugo and I are hoping this month to try and get some more details figured out for those of you who are able and willing to fly the friendly nightly South American skies to join us in January. The only problem I forsee is that in Peru you normally plan big events like this a month ahead of time. We want to plan it 9 months ahead of time. Stay tuned to find out if it is possible!

Included photos in this post: the Laguna Seca bathtub!!!, the heart laced jewelry holder from my women, and the engagement bracelet.

The Good News

I don't know how to start or the best way to put this, but I'll do my best. Last year around this time I started seeing a Peruvian man - Hugo - who asked me to be his girlfriend in Spanish and at the time I didn't quite understand the wording of his question, but I went with it. I understood enough to know he was gentle, kind, patience and loving. That is what I needed to know before jumping into the role of girlfriend. After of year of travels, cultural growth, misunderstandings, trials and triumphs, beautiful moments and a love that has grown immensely, we both realized that this is it. We have found in each other the partner that we want to share our lives with.

So, we engaged each other on our anniversary.

It was lovely and it wasn't at all like the movies. It was a commitment each of us made to each other about our true feelings and intentions. No ring. No down on one knee. Just pure, honest heart to heart embrace and commitment. That is more than I could have ever hoped for. And, although there is no ring, there is a bracelet, which if you think about it is bigger than a ring and asks for that much more commitment!

We celebrated in the Laguna Seca, the fancy smancy hotel outside of Cajamarca. Thermal waters, cable TV, and a bathtub big enough to fit 10 people - what more could you ask for?

We have talked about a wedding in the beginning of January, so if you are reading this, start checking flights to Lima, Peru because you by all means are invited.

I am joyful, happy and feel like life is taking it's natural course. I never would have imagined to be in this place at this moment, but being here just feels so right and so good. So, that is the good news I want to share with you. Sorry it is not a phone call or a face to face conversation. This is the best way I know how to share at this moment. My love to all, as right now my cup runneth over.