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.

Full Crochet

Today was another full crochet class, women starting and women finishing their handmade yarn products. As I mentioned in a previous post, we are filling up our crochet classes and women are selling their ponchos, shawls, baby dresses and sweaters. Our full classes = more income!

I want to share with you a little story about one of our new crochet participants, Maria, who comes from the village bank Fighting Women. I went to Maria's house a couple of weeks ago with Elizabeth, because she had come to one crochet class and then never returned. I wondered if she had such an awful experience that she didn't want to come back. But, I got a different story at her house. It turns out that she is a slower crocheter compared to her other classmates. She came to a poncho class awhile back, but couldn't finish it. So she was invited by the teacher, that also teaches knitting and crochet with the nuns, on the other side of the Hope House complex, to finish her poncho with her. But, since I never saw her again I thought, we lost her! The problem is the crochet teacher that works in collaboration with the nuns charges a monthly fee, whereas in the Hope House we only charge for half of the material costs (and no class fees!) Well, Maria liked the sound of that and now has decided to return to classes with DiscoverHope Fund. Maria lives in a very humble house made out of wood and plastic pieces. She has a small businesses with her husband where she sells an apple quinoa warm breakfast drink from a little cart. She wants to learn more crochet items so that she can have additional income. This month she has learned how to make a shawl and a baby sweater. Her hands are moving faster!

Our little shawl model! Look at that model look!

Subtracting with pencils

Yesterday a visit was in order to our literacy circle, out in the countryside. The women were learning how to subtract and they were using colored pencils as their counting tools. 10-3 = ....Esperanza counted 10 pencils, took away 3, then had her answer = 7! She did that over and over, not letting go of her precious pencils. Lily increased the difficulty with flashcards, but Esperanza just kept counting away with her pencils. It was so rewarding to watch. Esperanza has a little store and usually her son helps her make change when she sells a soda or crackers and the customer doesn't have change. But with a little more practice, I think Esperanza will be able to add and subtract her own change for her customers. While Esperanza and her fellow students were practicing subtracting, Ester, a fellow loan recipient, was in the back of the house prepping her jewelry for Buy Day this Thursday. DHF will hold the last jewelry Buy Day of the year - one more chance for our women to show off and sell their creations to DHF.

Busy October Start

Hello out there! Hello?

It has been a busy start to the month, so I apologize for keep you all out of the loop here. Let's catch up.

On Tuesday we had our first Animal Husbandry class in the Hope House. We have held similar activities this year with a Veterinarian in the countryside, but never in the Hope House. The turnout was fantastic. While witnessing the session develop, my favorite parts were watching the women beam with questions throughout the power point presentation and their innocent and pure joyous reaction of watching different pictures of guinea pigs change on the wall through out "movie" presentation with the projector. There was the "ooohhh" and "awh's" throughout the afternoon. Some of the women that came on Tuesday raise cuyes (guinea pigs) for their own family consumption while others breed cuyes for their small businesses. Regardless of their reasons for breeding cuyes, I think everyone got a new tip or two out of the power point "movie" that our Vet presented. Some of the walk-away tips that our women got were; Give cuyes water (it is common practice to not give water to cuyes here), low-cost sanitation ideas, preferred breeding practices and disease treatment.

In addition to our guinea pig activity, we are continuing with our computer series on Tuesday. Berta, our amazing and motivational computer teacher, has designed a computer curriculum that allows our 7 students to practice and perfect their Word skills while creating various formal documents commonly used by Secretaries and Computer Labs here in Cajamarca. Her success can be noted in our near perfect attendance in the month of September. Our computer students come to class on time (often early!), with completed homework, and ready to engage. Amazing, really. This series will end in November when our students will receive an official certificate for their time and acquired new Word skills.

Then, yesterday one of our countryside village banks started a new knitting class. The village bank Margaritas crocheted baby dresses last month and will continue crocheting a new dress model with their teacher Nelly this month. They want to expand their stitches for future dress orders. We like that!

Finally (although there are still more activities this week), after visiting our dress makers, I got in the fastest combi I could find to rush over to the village bank Mujeres Unidas (United Women) on the other side of the city. This bank started their 2nd loan cycle yesterday. I arrived just in time to witness Desy in action, starting their meeting with a funny icebreaker to get them relaxed and laughing. The Directive was sworn in. Then, the Directive received 5,000 soles, which they then distributed to each loan recipient, and we had a little toast to the new loan cycle, with the words of the new president Socorro, "let's be united this cycle, like our name says!"