Today I went to 3 communities in the Valley where we work: Huycho, Huayocari and Huayllabamba. I went alone by bus and I walked I don't know how many kilometers but my legs are hurting like hell (and now I've been sitting for 3 hours). 
I went with 2 things in mind, 1) Maricarmen's advice: talk to people, because if you do they are friendly and if you don't they'll think you're a weird foreigner; and
2) Dr. Hall's drillings on Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) techniques for rural development. They like to make us think "development" is a "discipline", so they come up with names, and of course acronymes 'cos the anglophones can't live without, for things that are quite obvious to any illitterate farmer (but for some reason not to the plurigraduated foreigners trying to "develop them"). But I digress... PRA basically means: go to the rural communities, ask the people (not the local authorities) what they need, and have them do it. Try to figure out if they're telling you what they really want and not what they think you want to hear, and try to hear the voices of the most marginilised (i.e. women, minorities, the poorets, etc).
Maricarmen woke me up at 5:40 am and I still don't have it in me to get up that early, but I'm gonna have to get used to it. She took me to the bus station and I got on a bus to Huycho.
I walked to Simone's future host family talking to everyone on the way to see their house better and tell them more about hosting a volunteer, and to get to know the community a bit. With the excuse to ask for directions I started chatting and introduced myself and the project to lots of people. The woman of the house, Rosita, was in Cusco today so we didn't meet, but her husband let me in an dshowed me the house, and their 2 youngest kids Alexandra and Fernan showed me around the community. We went to their grandma's house--too bad I couldn't communicate with her 'cos we don't have a common language...I really need to learn some Quechua! Simone will be working in the fields there and in construction in the neighbouring community of Huayocari--there's is a ton of work to do. Then I walked to Huayocari and my impression t
his time was much better, I think we can place volunteers there too. Right now there is no school because of vacation in Peru, but as I walked into Huayocari's primary school a class of kids without teacher starte pointing and yelling at me "Profe, profe!"...which quickly changed to "gringuita" as they took a closer look at me! I asked them where the director was and they pointed to another room across the courtyard. I introduced myself to the director and a few teachers, and they are all enthusiastic about receiving volunteers and they'll also help me find host famlies. The kids were incredibly friendly and excited to have me take their picture.
I walked up to Maria's land and there found Freddy and Onorio working, and Onorio's wife Julia
and their 5 kids. Cute, dirty, ragged, shy, sweet, whose growth has been stunned by eating barely potatoes and hiking 1 hour up and down from their house to school every day.
On my way back down to the highway I socialised with a man carrying a huge bag of grass (?) on his back and a woman with two donkeys. I told them I'm going to be working there with volunteers, and my personal version of PRA practiced over and over today: I've only been in Peru for two weeks, so I don't know what projects the volunteers should be doing, you people need to tell me what you want them to do. The woman's name is Lucia, she is 32 and looks 55, lives up the mountain higher than Onorio's house, and wants me to visit her (let me gather my energies...). She has 5 daughers and 1 son between the ages of 15 and 2. How about a volunteer teaching about birth control? Clearly me imposing my western mentality, but probably the idea deserves at least a thought...
I walked to Huayllabamba and was honored to have every single bus and truck driver honk at me. Huayllabamba is definitely richer and bigger than the other communities, paved roads and all. There is the town hall for all 5 communities we work with and others, and the shared priest is ofter there as well. I talked to the mayor's secretary, Miriam, who is about my age and very helpful. She'll help me find host families and set up a meeting with all the community presidents and school directors so I can tell them about the project. Of course as I arrived back in Cusco and told Maricarmen about this she said--no way you'll talk to the community presidents, they'll just try to get money from you and involve you in their dirty politics. She clearly knows PRA without being taught.
The priest is only there from 3 to 5 pm evey day and I didn't want to wait 2 hours for him, so I came back. I took a bus to Urubamba, the distric capital, and on the bus started talking to people again about what they'd want the volunteers to do (with the excuse of askign where the priest lives).
The beginning is easy 'cos as a foreigner I attract people's interest-- but I'm happy I'm not blonde, that would be too much interest! This is the job for me...and it's going really well on the volunteer recruitment side as well: we are forming a partnership with an English org http://www.voluntaryprojectsoverseas.org/ and hopefully with the Italian (now huge and global) org WEP. Also single volunteers are contacting me because they hear about the project through word of mouth...and we are officially an NGO! Our name is Comunidades Unidas / Joint Communities--website coming soon!
his time was much better, I think we can place volunteers there too. Right now there is no school because of vacation in Peru, but as I walked into Huayocari's primary school a class of kids without teacher starte pointing and yelling at me "Profe, profe!"...which quickly changed to "gringuita" as they took a closer look at me! I asked them where the director was and they pointed to another room across the courtyard. I introduced myself to the director and a few teachers, and they are all enthusiastic about receiving volunteers and they'll also help me find host famlies. The kids were incredibly friendly and excited to have me take their picture.I walked up to Maria's land and there found Freddy and Onorio working, and Onorio's wife Julia
and their 5 kids. Cute, dirty, ragged, shy, sweet, whose growth has been stunned by eating barely potatoes and hiking 1 hour up and down from their house to school every day. On my way back down to the highway I socialised with a man carrying a huge bag of grass (?) on his back and a woman with two donkeys. I told them I'm going to be working there with volunteers, and my personal version of PRA practiced over and over today: I've only been in Peru for two weeks, so I don't know what projects the volunteers should be doing, you people need to tell me what you want them to do. The woman's name is Lucia, she is 32 and looks 55, lives up the mountain higher than Onorio's house, and wants me to visit her (let me gather my energies...). She has 5 daughers and 1 son between the ages of 15 and 2. How about a volunteer teaching about birth control? Clearly me imposing my western mentality, but probably the idea deserves at least a thought...
I walked to Huayllabamba and was honored to have every single bus and truck driver honk at me. Huayllabamba is definitely richer and bigger than the other communities, paved roads and all. There is the town hall for all 5 communities we work with and others, and the shared priest is ofter there as well. I talked to the mayor's secretary, Miriam, who is about my age and very helpful. She'll help me find host families and set up a meeting with all the community presidents and school directors so I can tell them about the project. Of course as I arrived back in Cusco and told Maricarmen about this she said--no way you'll talk to the community presidents, they'll just try to get money from you and involve you in their dirty politics. She clearly knows PRA without being taught.
The priest is only there from 3 to 5 pm evey day and I didn't want to wait 2 hours for him, so I came back. I took a bus to Urubamba, the distric capital, and on the bus started talking to people again about what they'd want the volunteers to do (with the excuse of askign where the priest lives).
The beginning is easy 'cos as a foreigner I attract people's interest-- but I'm happy I'm not blonde, that would be too much interest! This is the job for me...and it's going really well on the volunteer recruitment side as well: we are forming a partnership with an English org http://www.voluntaryprojectsoverseas.org/ and hopefully with the Italian (now huge and global) org WEP. Also single volunteers are contacting me because they hear about the project through word of mouth...and we are officially an NGO! Our name is Comunidades Unidas / Joint Communities--website coming soon!
1 comment:
Seems you're doing a great job.. And it's only the beginning. It won't be all roses but it's worth the effort
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