World Map Project

Since the last time I wrote, lots has changed. First, I am so proud to announce to my Peruvian neighbors that I have a new President of the USA… Barack Obama. And they’re pretty excited about that fact as well. Todo es posible. Also, I’ve reconnected with the now 34 members of “Peru 11,” the volunteers I worked, sweat, cried, laughed, dreamed, and played with during training. We’ve lost 4 people since we touched down in Lima, Peru on June 6th… and we poured out a 40 for each one of those lovely people. So 6 months later, 3 months after moving to site, we reconnected to share stories, exchange ideas, and of course to work, sweat, cry, laugh, dream and play together. It was a very wonderful, very intense week, and I was glad to return to my little-piece-of-heaven mountain town in Ancash. Ancash is better, after all.

So post-reconnect, I’ve started my World Map Project. I spent all weekend painting the ocean and drawing the world’s most precise grid with Rabbit, my PCV neighbor. All week from 3-5pm I’ll be at the school with the kids drawing and painting the countries, and today was the first day. At 3:00pm exactly, I sat outside the school in the cold rain (the rainy season has begun…) waiting for the sign of just one small child. Nothing. 3:15pm. Nothing. 3:45pm. UGH… Nothing. But a few long minutes later, as if by miracle of God, out of the mist appeared 3 kids. One 11-year-old cutie pie, and two 17-year-old aspiring artistas. So up we went to the school library, the location of said World Map. (By the way, the library is completely disorganized and stocked with government-provided schoolbooks… not very exciting for the potential reader). We started out practicing drawing to scale by copying a bunny rabbit from a small square to a large square. Almost instantly, the 17 year olds stepped up to the wall and began to sketch Africa and South America. The 11 year old was more timid, though, and very hesitant to approach the daunting blue wall. Not much confianza in herself. But her practice sheets were good, and I really believed that this small child could do it! So I started to draw a small section of Australia, and gently asked her to try to finish the following small section. Next thing you know, this tiny all-star had drawn Australia, New Zealand and all of the surrounding islands…to perfection. The older kids, along with myself, were quite impressed. This is a sweet project.

The kids have two more weeks of school until their summer vacation starts. Rabbit and I are currently in the planning process of creating a summer camp for our kids. Think: basketball camp, yoga class, game hour, healthy lifestyle development workshops, movie nights (popcorn included), field trips, microscope nature club, and lots, lots more. Well maybe not too, too much more.

So yes, nearly 7 months later, I’m still having a great time in Peru.

Lots and lots of love,

Sophia