Lizeth Update

So a little update on Lizeth. She went to the high school and had little luck. She was able to sell enough for her transportation costs, but didn't hit a jackpot with the students. She wants to try a different high school, but will have to wait until August. Schools in Cajamarca have closed because of the swine flu scare, until August, after Peruvian Independence Day celebrations at the end of the month. But Lizeth's spirits are still high; she came to sewing with ribbon class this week and learned a new skill. Now she has double market duty, as she has to find a market for her ribbon towel design.

Meet Lizeth

Lizeth is part of the village bank San Juanito. She is one of our very active loan recipients; she comes to every class she can and actually puts into practice what she learns. For example last year when we offered a mermelade class she put a sign up on her little store 'tienda' that she sells mermelade, even before she learned how to make it. Lizeth has two little kids, one who always comes and runs around during classes asking me for cookies. Lizeth's husband is a truck driver and any extra income Lizeth can make helps increase the family income. Lizeth has been coming to all of our jewelry classes and yesterday she came to class with her 'Jewelry Cloth' full. After class she is planning on going to the high school near her house to offer her earrings to the girls. Lizeth told me that in her tienda she sells very little jewelry because her neighbors don't have the money or aren't interested in jewelry. So the high school is her new market. When she comes to class again tomorrow I'll ask her how her sales increased at the high school.

Welcome to my World

...come on in!It has been a roller coaster this week, last week. The ups and downs of development work definitely feel like a roller coaster sometimes. DOWN. One of our classes has to be re-scheduled because our teacher's daughter got sick and she couldn't leave her at home or bring her with as she lives more than an hour and a half out of town, up the mountain. UP. We celebrated with one of our literacy groups, for finishing their 3 month classes and improving on their exams, with a very, very big lunch. DOWN. Another class was (not so strategically) planned on the same day there was a transportation strike and we had few participants come and make jewelry. UP. Tula and I found a new, motivated family to replace a family that dropped out of the health project due to lack of motivation and family initiative.

I am ready for a roller coaster break this weekend. Some time to be still and not move in one direction or the other.

P.S. Because I am without internet this is my posting from last week, this week, as I am finally able to use my future mothers-in-law's internet cable for the afternoon.

Pago a La Tierra

I had such an amazing and unique 4th of July, nothing like years past. There were homemade fireworks that I bought on the market street in Cajamarca, that were lit from our small patio from a cigarette - but that is the only (kinda of ) similarity to other 4th of July celebrations.

Hugo and I held an inauguration to our new countryside art pad. We invited all our friends and family (that is in Cajamarca) to come and bring positive energy to our new place. One of our friends, Oscar, brought his band to fill our air with rock Andean tunes. Oscar plays the Clarin (remember from last year's blog? - the long cane traditional instrument that sounds similar to a sax) and had to maneuver cleverly through the dancing crowd so that he could make his music touch our 2nd floor ceiling. And, the dancing crowd was pretty thick - so that gives you an idea of how good the music was.

We had a Peruvian type potluck where friends brought drinks and deserts to share and we ate lots of potatoes and sauces and eggs, in true Peruvian style.

Once the food and music had come to an end we started a ceremony called, "Pago a La Tierra," roughly translated into "Paying/Honoring the Earth." Hugo has a good friend, Nidia, from Cuzco who performs this ceremony every year in her house to bless her space, give thanks to Mother Earth and ask for Protection, Peace and Love to live and reign in her home. It is a traditional ritual that dates back to pre-Inca times. I desperately wanted Nidia to perform this ceremony in our new home so that we may give thanks for being where we are and receive the blessings that the ritual has to offer. She agreed.

The ceremony included forming a star that was outlined by grains (wheat, rice, etc..) and then slowly filling it with different elements that provide specific blessings; salt, sugar, pepper, chocolates, crackers, and finally cocoa leaves. Coca is a powerful element in Peru; besides healing stomach aches and altitude sickness it also holds great spiritual energy. All of our guests received 3 coca leaves. One by one each guest presented their leaves to the "gift'" star and named a street or hill that they would also like to be blessed. By the time everyone presented their coca leaves our star was complete and we had collectively named more than 2 dozen streets, hills, mountains and communities that would also receive our prayer through the ritual.

We lit a bonfire in the grass patio in front of the house. We waited for the fire to die down into bright ashes. We had wrapped our star in giftwrap to present it to Mother Earth as our offering and prayer. The gift was placed on the ashes as wine, champagne and traditional Chicha (a Peruvian drink made from purple corn) were circled around the gift. We then left our gift to sit under the stars until early this morning when Hugo and I buried it in a small hole in front of the house.

Truthfully I didn't understand and many never understand all the details that went into our ceremony last night. But Hugo and I fell asleep in a deep peace and security that we had said our prayers to the Earth, Space, and God we know, to Bless us here and now and in our future together.

Health Steps

The stove bed, ready for the construction of mud stove.
Santos is pictured here with two of her children in front of her humble house - She has made many improvements; including separating her children's bedroom space with a simple curtain and preparing her stove bed.
Tula is motivating one of our families by examinig their house homework list.

Health and Hope do mix. Today I spent the day with Tula, our amazing health promoter with GyC, who took me on an all day tour of 1/2 of our families in the health project to see our progress and some roadblocks. It was a very eye opening experience and at the end of the day, although my shoulders and feet hurt, I was deeply grateful to be surrounded by Tula's positive energy and encouragement and be witness to our families small and big advances.

Our 30 families have been preparing for the big day on Sunday - when they recieve their materials for the mud stoves. Each family had to prepare the "bed" of the stove by placing mud bricks strategically in the appropriate corner of their kitchens. Some of our families have very humble kitchens, made out of wood pieces and covered in plastic, which made the construction of their bed a bit difficult. However, despite the humblest conditions, the families have prepared their kitchen walls for paint, evened-out floors, created new doorways into their kitchens and most importantly prepared their stove bed.

Granted, there are a couple of families that are a little behind on their homework. Some of our families have husbands that can only work on their stoves on Sundays, their one day off. This makes it difficult to advance with the family promise to complete their part of the house homework as part of the project. Some of the men in our families have problems with alcohol and on their day off they aren't present to help. There are economic roadblocks - the money to buy a $1 plastic curtain to separate the parents and children bedroom space isn't readily available; sometimes there isn't even money for the kids to take the bus to school activities. Situations that would pain your heart and put tears in your eyes.

One of the families that is participating in the project is a family of 9 that lives in one very small bedroom and cooks in a small, dark kitchen. But let me tell you this family has already made their "hygiene" corner and cleaned up all their books and clothes that used to be all over the floor and have now found their own clean place in the bedroom they all share. These are topics that Tula hasn't covered yet in her health sessions, but one of the family members that went on our Health field trip earlier this month was inspired to start working on improvements on their house. I saw these type of improvements in the humblest of houses; small houses with wooden walls with spaces in between, but order and cleanliness take top priority.

Situations are difficult. There are excuses. There isn't money. There isn't time. But, there are also improvements. And in the eyes on the little kiddos I saw today I know that this project, our support, and all of Tula's endless work weeks has a grand purpose. We are taking little steps towards better health. Better health doesn't happen overnight, in one month or even in two. In happens through relationships, confidence, learning, and small steps. And I can reassure you that we are on the road to better health.

Paz and Salud ~ Nora

Showcase

Just a little short note that I have proof, not visual proof, but take my word - women have used their new found knowledge of pinateria and balloon decorating this past weekend. I went to a 15th Birthday party for a daughter of one of our loan recipients this past weekend and she had the cement hall lined with balloon arcs. One of the arc wasn't perfectly made, but you got the idea. There was also cake (recipes from our bakery class) and appetizers (from our classes last year). I felt like I was walking into a DiscoverHope Fund showcase of class work.

The Birthday party was more like a wedding celebration - the birthday girl came down the isle in a huge princess dress and received 15 roses as she approached her alter, while simultaneously blowing out 15 candles that her girlfriends were holding. Before approaching the alter the elegant clown on stilts that accompanied her broke a pink bell that showered the poor girl in little plastic pink balls (not sure what that signifies). At the alter she gave away a baby doll to a younger cousin, signifying her goodbye to childhood. Her father changed her shoes and put on these silver delicate high heels, also representing her path into adulthood. She gave a speech, there was a long toast and many important dances that followed. I didn't stay for the midnight dinner, but I imagine the party went to sunrise, as they usually do here.

Long story short - I was able to see the fruits of our labor on Saturday night and it was a pretty good showcase.

Work and Tea

It has been a busy, crazy week with classes, meetings, activities and on top of that headaches with my new apartment that is out in the countryside - one day there was no water, the next my cooking gas ran out and that night I found myself running after the motorcycle gas guy with my flashlight so he would find my house. The little things make for a full week.

But instead of writing about apartment issues, or new classes, I had this cultural exchange this week that was so surprising and funny. Our fourth leadership workshop was held this past Thursday. We talked about Vision. It was a great session - and I thought to make it even more great I will offer the women some fruit tea from Minnesota and crackers while they work on their personal vision homework. We were mid-way through the session when I served the tea and crackers. As soon as cups were on the table, everyone put their pens and pencils down. Instead of motivating the women to do more work (while snacking), their work took a complete stand still. "We can't work and eat at the same time," were Aida's exact words.
As a die hard American I was ready to push them to continue, but thought, you have a point. Let's enjoy our tea.

When we finished our tea, we started again on our vision homework, not multiple tasking by any means. I have learned my lesson - don't mix tea and work in Peru.