Field-Based Training

Field-Based Training
I just returned to Lima after a week out in the field – experiencing the real Peru. 10 of us Youth Development trainees boarded the cheapest and most luxurious bus you’ve ever imagined – Peruvians do it right – and headed 16 hours north to beautiful Cajamarca. This department is in the Sierra of Peru – beautiful green mountains of all sizes are reminiscent of the Spanish or Italian countryside. During the dry season the weather is perfect – clear and crisp air, hot sunshine, and cool nights. The rainy season, of course, is rainy… but everything gets even greener. It’s pretty dreamy. I visited 4 surrounding pueblos in the campo, from about 300 (tiny!) to 7,000 residents in population and worked with the volunteers in their classrooms and youth groups. I gave a workshop on values and self-esteem, taught an English class and lead some ice-breaking dinamicas with some really cool youth groups. People in the Sierra are very different from those on the coast – more conservative, traditional, and timid… so this made classroom interactions interesting! Most of the time the kids just blink at you – they aren’t used to answering questions or providing their own opinions. And gender roles are accentuated so that if there is participation, the boys talk and talk, and the girls sit quietly whispering among one another and don’t participate. It would be amazing to work with this population and see if they open up a little over the next 2 years. During my visit in San Marcos, this beautiful pueblo of 7000pop with a Plaza and fountain, paved streets, surrounded by gorgeous mountains (I digress), we visited the radio station where one of the PCVs had a monthly radio show discussing themes like self-esteem, sexual abuse, nutrition, etc. This was really effective in her community because most of the population in her town is illiterate. I listened to one of her broadcasts, and it honestly sounded just like NPR… very cool. Visiting the tiny pueblo was amazing – I’ve never seen anything like it. Forget paved roads, forget municipalities, forget health posts… think 1 small school and a couple homes scattered on a lush hillside, think farm animals everywhere, think latrines (actually, think peeing in a salad bowl in your room), think wood burning stoves and semi-roofed homes. The women wear traditional Cajamarcan dress and they are very proud of their hats. We had an amazing picnic at Lindsey’s host sister’s house in her yard overlooking the countryside. We prepared tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers – treated them with bleach – and made good old-fashioned turkey sandwiches. Life in the campo is slow and beautiful. In Cajamarca city, we talked with one PCV and the NGO he works with which aims to eradicate illegal child labor, one kid at a time. They target kids under 14 years old selling candy in the streets or carrying wheelbarrows in the markets. Shockingly, Peruvian NGO’s exist actually encouraging these youth to work, providing them with wheelbarrows and teaching them how to lift them properly. The adversity is great, but this PCV has remarkable accomplishments within this city. Talking and learning from the PCVs this week has made everything so much more real. During my last afternoon we did all the typical Cajamarcan touristy things. I checked out a few museums housing colonial-era Friar-run hospitals and Pre-Incan artifacts dating around 1000 BC, visited beautiful churches made of volcanic rock, tasted and bought some Cajamarcan cheese, and had one last ice cream – it competes with Italian gelato. After this trip to the mountains, I feel reminded of my original intent in joining the Peace Corps. I want to experience a culture totally different from mine, I want to be free of material and modern influences, and I want to live among the traditional people of Peru, and learn and grow from it all. Overall, I feel pumped and ready to go. Be well, and stay in touch!
Sophie