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At least I can't say I'm bored. As my Peace Corps service winds down, my work and life is busier than ever, and I'm going full-speed. After taking my GRE at the beginning of May, I met my Peru 11 group in Lima for our Close of Service conference. COS is a time for volunteers to get together to reflect on their service and think about the future, about what's next. Many of my friends are off to various graduate programs this fall, others are returning home to their families and leaving options open, and a lucky few are going to backpack through South America and explore the rest of this incredible continent. My "what's next" is still up in the air - there's a Plan A and a Plan B, and I'll be solidifying my plans sometime very, very soon. 
After COS, I returned to Ancash and went on a Site Development trip with the Director of the PC Youth Development program. We visited 4 communities and met with community leaders including mayors, municipality workers, health center staff, school Directors and teachers, and other interested leaders and involved community citizens. We discussed Peace Corps and the potential of sending a PCV to these sites for 2 years - what kind of work would be available to the volunteer? who would be the community partners? where would the volunteer live? It was a really exciting and fun experience to be on the "other side" of the Peace Corps world and see what goes into Site Development before the PCVs get to their sites. I loved meeting new people from new towns, local leaders who are so excited at the prospect of having a gringo live and work in their communities on development projects and programs. It was refreshing, and gives me that extra revitalizing push that I need at the end of my service - knowing that after I leave site, life still continues here... and I digress.
Mother's Day was great - I treated my host mom, sister and baby brother to lunch and a day in Huaraz. We walked around the Plaza de Armas, took pictures, listened to some street huayno music and enjoyed the city. Maria, my 14 year old host sister, hadn't been to Huaraz in 7 years... It was a big day for her... followed up by an even bigger weekend...
CAMP ALMA! Shannon and I co-coordinated this leadership camp for teenage girls and it was a huge success! All of the Ancash PCVs invited 2 girls from their respective sites, and we all reunited in Yungay for the 3 day camp. I brought Maria and one of my student health promoters. We talked about women's rights, volunteerism, feminism, gender roles, sexual health (condom race included!), disabilities and diversity. The girls planned a mini-project on how to take the information they learned at the camp back to their communities and keep the learning process going. We tie-dyed tshirts, put on a Gringos Saludables play on gender roles, roasted smores by the bonfire, and featured a vegetarian menu to share an American custom/lifestyle with the girls. The weekend was months in the making, and ALMA turned out to be one of the best and most fulfilling events of my PC service.
After ALMA, I attended a 3 day HIV/AIDS promotion and prevention workshop. Peace Corps has access to PEPFAR (US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) funds so that PCVs can finance community-based projects to educate the youth on HIV/AIDS. The Department of Ancash is going to receive a large portion of these funds because the incidence of HIV/AIDS here is significant and growing rapidly. Chimbote is Ancash's second largest city and a bustling fishing port and the prevelance of HIV/AIDS is high. Economic migration from the Andes to this costal town and back again is one of the causes of this adverse phenomenon and is spreading the virus around the Department. So Peace Corps will be pushing a strong HIV/AIDS prevention initiative in the Ancashino classrooms and communities. The conservative and shy culture will present its challenges to our effectiveness, but I think the initiative is well worth it and has the potential to keep people healthy and HIV free.
From the HIV/AIDS conference I went back to Lima and ran my second complete Social Theater In-Service Training, this time with Peru 13 Youth Development volunteers and their community partners. The 3 day IST went really smoothly and I got to know the Peru 13ers a lot better. They're doing great work across the country, and now they have more active learning techniques and tools to add to their teaching methodologies in their sites. Alex (my Social Theater partner) and I have almost finished the Manual, and should be sending the final copy to Washington within a couple of weeks. This Social Theater Manual could then be distributed to Peace Corps posts worldwide to assist PCVs in training others on Social Theater in Service to the Communitites.
So during May, I spent time traveling back and forth between Ancash and Lima attending conferences, leading camps, and spending time in the office. I barely spent time in Tumpa with my students or host families, and I'm looking forward to getting back there to spend these last precious moments with my Peruvian friends, family and neighbors. But before that, I'm showing my sister Mary and her husband around Ancash! I haven't seen them in 2 years, and we've been having an incredible family reunion up here in the mountains! Life is good.
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Book Reading: Once Minutos, Paolo Coehlo
Time left in Tumpa: 7 weeks
Up Next: Trip to Florida for Anna-Baine's wedding! First time to the USA in over dos años...
