Back to the beginning

Today we went back to where it all started. Back to Villa María and our first host family where we spent our first three weeks in Peru. Once again we packed ourselves into the family car and drove the little way we used to love to walk to a church on the side of a hill. Seated surrounded by desert mountains, we attended an Easter church service, second only to the first Spanish church service we attended our first week in Villa María. After staying for only a while, we climbed our cerro, the first desert hill we ever climbed in Peru. By then it was already dark and all we could see was shadows of hill tops in the distance and silhouettes of people climbing towards the cross at the very top. Away from some of the city fog and pollution, the sky was perfectly scattered with blinking stars and the lights from a few visible shacks was all we could see from below.  When I reached the top I sat down on the exact bench I had sat on only days after arriving in Peru, and looked down upon the same scenery which at the time was my only experience of this country.

The church on the side of the hill

Walking towards the cerro with my sister Claudia and mother Filomena

I have been trying to process for the past little while the fact that I am actually leaving soon; in less than a week actually. This has been such a life changing experience for me that it somehow seems somewhat backwards to be going home again. Don’t get me wrong, there are so many things I am looking forward to at home, yet I feel so attached to my new home here that I am dreading leaving it.

Traveling out into the world can be a bit frightening, especially when traveling to a new continent and culture, a new language, a new family and a new job. I remember all of the hour long talks Nora and I had stretched out on a couch long after everyone had gone to bed, wondering how Peru was going to be. Wondering how it would feel, wondering how we would tackle the challenges we would face, wondering if I would ever learn enough Spanish to at all feel useful, wondering if we would ever feel at home so far away. And now we are at the end of it all. We have tackled the challenges, we have learned the language and we don’t feel far away at all but right where we are supposed to be.

I have met some of the strongest and most inspiring people I have ever met here in Peru and it makes me think of all I would be without if it weren’t for this trip. It seems that every time I travel and experience amazing things I always encounter and get to know people more incredible than the time before. Just imagine how many more remarkable people in the world there are to get to know! I am convinced we have had the best two families in all of Peru as host families. Returning to our old family and home today brought back many memories and a strong desire to stay here longer. Peru is home to me now and my host families I consider my family. I will be back as soon as I can and will start off by climbing the hill where for me it all began.    - Emily

Me, Nora and our sister Claudia

Back on the bench where it all began

Quién será presidente del Perú?

What most people are discussing these days is who will to be the next president?

Will the co-founder of Peru’s Nationalist Party, Ollanta Humala, get a chance to govern? Running for the second time, Humala has softened his image, but many wonder if this is just a façade. Would he with his Andean indigenous background be the president the people in the provinces have been waiting for? Would he become a dictator and keep international relations to a minimum? Will he change the constitution or not? We will have to wait and see, as his spoken words and actual government plan don’t always correspond.

Will former president Alejandro Toledo really return? Indigenous and Quechua speaking, but with an education from Harvard and an impressive career, Toledo tries to appeal to all parts of the diverse Peruvian population. Promoting himself as the smartest and most responsible option, having proved to be able to govern, Toledo says “I did it well, I will do it better!” Is he reaching out with his energetic speaches and promise of stability? Or should he spend less time critisizing the others and promote himself more?

Will Toledo lose to the former minister from his own government: Pedro Pablo Kuzcynski? Although PPK’s origin is European and he has been critized for also having an American citizenship, he does his best to show he’s as Peruvian as the rest. He has grown up in the capital and the provinces, but has also obtained a good British and American education as well as work experience in the World Bank. (As I read all about in the cartoon about his life handed to me on the bus the other day.) Is this older and experienced ecomonist what Peru needs for growth and stability? Or does he simply speak too slowly to engage the population?

Will Peru have its first female president by electing 35 year old Keiko, daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori? Alberto being convicted for human rights violations and corruption, currently serving his sentence, doesn’t prevent Keiko from at times leading the polls and defending his old government. She is running for the same party ans believes her father only took the necessaryy measures during the terrorism issues in the 80′s and 90′s. Will she really eradicate the poverty? Or will Peru have another corrupt state leader?

These and a lot more questions will be one step closer to being answered this Sunday when the elections are held. (It’s a close race so a run-off between the two best is expected.) Tomorrow morning the campaign comes to an end, when no more concerts, speeches, parades or publicity stunts are allowed before the votes are in on Sunday.

- Malini

Last days of summer at CJP

Summer passed super fast and the new school year has already started here in Peru. The summer workshops at the youth house ended with a final show in the beginning of March where almost all the kids presented some of what they had learned during the vacation. Here are some pictures from the last workshops and the show.

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We would like to honour the memory of our friend José at CJP. He died last Saturday in a bus accident. José was an important part of the group at the youth house, a talented artist and great friend who will never be forgotten.

------------ José (in the middle), 19.03.1994 - 13.03.2011 ------------ Photo: Jhon Christian Nepo

Siempre te recordaremos y te llevaremos en nuestros corazones. Descansa en paz amigo.

We LOVE our work

We just got back from an amazing trip to Cusco and are now smacking together our new schedule for our remaining time here. It will consist of the two things we love the most; our kids and youth from ACJP and the Healthy Homes project. We will continue to teach English, we will have culture-exchange classes and we will hang out and practice with our friends from the youth house. We are also super excited about becoming more involved with the Healthy Homes project now that it is starting up again after the summer. We will be involved in at least one workshop with a group of mothers per week, we will join Carmen on her family visit rounds  and will continue to visit our family twice a week. So many opportunities are presenting themselves as we approach the last month of our stay, (oh.my.gosh.we don’t want to leave) and we are trying to grab hold of as many as we can and run with them. We are so lucky and even more thankful and blessed to be apart of this amazing life-changing experience. I know we both agree when I say that we have gotten to know some of the strongest, most amazing and inspiring people we have ever met here in Peru, and that without them, we would be without the important knowledge, wisdom and faith they have taught and instilled in us.

- Emily

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A Fancy Bite to Eat

This weekend we had a rather funny experience. On Saturday we intended to start ploughing through a mountain load of school work and although our intentions were good, though perhaps a tad bit unrealistic, we didn’t get very far. After a bus ride through lots of traffic we ended up at a café with horrible internet connections. We stayed a bit, had a coffee, and when our patience had run out, left without having gotten a lot done. After a quick moment at home we left for an appointment at the gym which needless to say lasted longer than anticipated. By the time we got home again and in shape to work it was already quite late. Not only had we hardly worked that day, we hadn’t had time to eat either. Tired and starving we waited at home for our host mother (we needed to ask her something) and discovered that there was nothing to eat in the house. Eventually we decided to leave (getting to the point here…) to grab something to eat. Because we were starving and didn’t want to spend forever in late night traffic, we allowed ourselves the luxury of taking a taxi to an Indian restaurant we had read about. Getting out of the taxi we were immediately greeted by someone who opened the doors for us and guided us to a table. Walking through the doors we instantly realized that this was a fancier restaurant than we had thought. Couples sat and talked quietly at tables for two, the lights where slightly dimmed and bottles of wine where to be found on each table. Nora and I walked quietly to our table, sat down and tried to keep from laughing when our waiter placed our napkins elegantly in our laps. I felt slightly underdressed as I sat in my jean shorts and tank top, and I am sure our waiter was even less impressed when I ordered the cheapest thing on the menu – along with a bottle of water. He eventually came to remove the bottle of wine and kindly came to fill up my glass with water every time it was empty. Luckily the food was good, and to make sure we didn’t make complete fools of ourselves, we left a nice tip before we left laughing. Not quite the quick bite to eat we had in mind (it wasn’t quick at all), but I guess a funny experience richer.

-Emily

The Andes Mountains

Our wonderful host mother and boss, Natalia, gave us the opportunity to come with her on a trip to work in Anchonga for a couple of days. Having experienced both the coast and the jungle of Peru, we were excited to see the highlands for the first time.

We were only staying for one and a half day, but as it takes even longer than that to get to Anchonga and back, it still ended up being quite a trip. It was far to drive on bumpy, narrow mountain roads in the coldest temperatures we’ve experienced in this country. It was still incredibly exciting to be taken to some of the most remote villages and see a side of Peru the regular visitor would never be able to experience. First of all the scenery was amazing. I was not bored one minute looking out on the mighty Andes Mountains towering over us on one side of the road whilst great valleys spread out on the other.

There are two TDN youth houses in Anchonga, started with the same intentions as the CJP and CIJAC, the two youth houses here in Lima. Natalia is the coordinator of the youth house project and travels regularly to work with Juan – the youth house leader in Anchonga. This time she also brought Jose and Ronal who run the two youth houses in Lima. We all visited the two villages where the youth houses CIJA and Wiñay are, and participated in workshops and talked with the kids there.

Anchonga is a district with a population of about 8000 people living in 24 different villages. The majority of the population are indigenous people speaking Quechua and Spanish. All the work Tierra de Niños does there focuses on cultural identity as well as fighting poverty. Most people are dependent on agriculture and work long, hard days in the cold climate – herding animals and attending crops up steep hillsides. Life in these areas is not easy. In addition to the poverty, cultural discrimination is a big problem. The Spanish language has become a symbol of development, a view that even some of the indigenous people themselves have adopted – keeping them from teaching their kids to master their own language properly.

Huk warma. Huk maqta. Huk allin kawsai./Un niño. Un jóven. Un proyecto de vida.

(The TDN slogan in Quechua and Spanish)

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- Malini

Infield

Infield in South America has already come and gone, but we had an amazing five days together here in Lima. We went to the airport to meet Inger Johanne and Øystein on Sunday night and went from there back to the monastery where we were staying. Ironically enough, this monastery is located down the same exact street where we live here in Lima! Although this may sound close, it is actually about 40 blocks farther down, a distance that quickly could take 20 minutes to bus in bad traffic. Nonetheless, it was amazing to retreat to somewhere quiet, to see an actual garden and to all be gathered in Lima at once.

On Wednesday we visited Tierra de Niños and had an amazing time at CJP and visiting families in Pachacutec. We nearly cried when our colectivos (taxi-like bus) rolled up the street and we were greeted by loud drums, costumes and stilts, juggling and dancing. Expecting to simply “hang out” at our youth house, talk to the kids and youth and possibly try some of the activities, we were super surprised when they had prepared a show for us! We had a blast watching them, dancing with two and a half meter tall kids and standing in the middle of juggling acts. After the fun greeting we all got the chance to introduce ourselves and everyone got the chance to talk and to get to know one and other better. Our visit to CJP definitely was a huge highlight of our week and we are so proud of all of the kids and youth that we work with.

During our time together we also got the chance to paraglide in Miraflores and have a waffle party with the double waffle iron Øystein very kindly brought along to our request. We ate waffles, played games and listed and learned from each others experiences here in South America so far. We had a great time together and we look forward to seeing you all again in May!