30 Photos, 30 Peace Corps Moments

If you haven’t seen this on Facebook yet, I am putting up a photo each day until the end of the month that represent some aspect of my Peace Corps experience. This was an idea of a fellow volunteer Douglas McRae, who I work with in Lima, and is in honor of the fact that Peace Corps has very recently celebrated its 50th anniversary worldwide.

Here is the link, and below the list of photos that I will put up

Day 1-Training memory
Day 2-First impression of site
Day 3-Action photo: you at work/play.
Day 4-Favorite food eaten in Peru
Day 5-Best friend in site
Day 6-Favorite holiday in Peru
Day 7-MVP-Most Valued Community Partner
Day 8-Most “Peace Corps Moment”
Day 9- Obligatory picture of a small child
Day 10-Amusing cultural exchange moment
Day 11-A daily activity for you in your site
Day 12-Photo that will always make you laugh
Day 13-Most exotic critter encountered
Day 14-Greatest success
Day 15-Biggest failure
Day 16-Most fulfilling secondary project
Day 17-Vacation highlight
Day 18-Picture of your house or room
Day 19-Favorite day in site
Day 20-Something you never thought you’d do, ever
Day 21-Obligatory picture of Machu Picchu
Day 22- Music that will always remind you of Peru
Day 23-Photo that will always make you reflect
Day 24-Best moment with visitors
Day 25-Most un-“Peace Corps Moment”
Day 26-Your Peruvian pet(s)
Day 27-Regional capital shot
Day 28-Beautiful view or landscape in your site
Day 29-Nostalgic farewell picture
Day 30-One picture that sums up two years

Back to Ancash (Just to Visit)

This week I returned to Ancash for the first time since leaving my site in December. Compared to the chaotic scene I had left a few months before – a general strike against the mining company that shut down everything for close two weeks – the city seemed quiet, and without my friends from my group there anymore, it seemed a little empty as well. I arrived at night and the rain trickled down on me as I tried to wake up the owner of the hotel I always stay at so she would let me in.

The next day the city was brighter and I started to feel comfortable and at home again. I visited Café California where I ran into many old acquaintances, and I even got pulled into a pick-up game of Ultimate Frisbee which was just what I needed. I spent the rest of the day working on a presentation for Peru 16’s Early IST (Training Event) and had dinner with a close friend who I hadn’t seen since leaving.

The next day I visited my host-family in Collón. It was great to see them again, even though I had little time to speak with Ernesto and Fortunato who both had to work while I was there. I walked around with Lindsay and ran into Patrick, my replacement, and Dora from the health post. I also spoke with the mayor of the town who said that they were asking the district municipality to start a trash management system in the community. This on top of the news that thousands of native queñuales had been planted made me wonder if my presence had a positive impact I hadn’t foreseen. In the meantime it is also great to see that my replacement Patrick is integrating very well into the community and already has a lot on his hands. Sometimes I felt that a big chunk of my service was just getting things ready so that someone else could be successful there, and seeing him quickly settling into his life and work makes me think again that my service was more worthwhile than I sometimes give myself credit for.

Meanwhile, my life in Lima has been great so far. I feel much more comfortable living on the coast than I ever did in the mountains, and I continue loving my job and the work that I am doing. I feel incredibly fortunate to have the opportunities that I do in my life, and I hope that I don’t take them for granted, but that I take advantage of them to the best of my ability. This means to me, trying to be more observant and aware of the world around me, journaling to remember the stories I experience and hear, and doing a better job of sharing that experience with others. I really want to feel I deserve the blessings that I have come to have.

As always, thanks to the few of you who read this : )

Brian

Sun-Shine and Traffic Jams

I’m finally in Lima and so far so good. I arrived here about a month ago and have spent this first month adjusting to life in the city, getting used to my new job, and trying to enjoy myself in the free-time that I have.

As a quick refresher, I am now the Peace Corps Volunteer Coordinator for the Environmental Program here in Peru. It is a job based out of Lima, the capital, and it mostly involves working to develop the Environment Program and providing support to volunteers in the field. So far it is great. I think the work is interesting and it’s nice to work in a controlled environment again. I’m also having the opportunity to work with the Peruvian Environmental Ministry which has been very rewarding so far. I’m helping connect Peace Corps volunteers to a national initiative to promote environmental awareness in youth, along with some other projects involving environmental education.

Outside of work everything has been going great, although I often feel pressed for time. My daily routine involves waking up early, going to the gym, and them commuting to work which is a ride on bumpy buses that is a little bit under an hour. I usually bring a book to pass the time. When I get home in the evening I cook and try to relax a little bit, but I am beginning studying for the GMAT and so that takes up the little bit of free time I have before going to bed. Because of this the weekends are the only time that I really get to relax. I’m about 45 minutes away from some nice beaches and it is the middle of summer here right now so I’ve been down that way a couple times. I also go out a fair bit to bars and clubs and try to enjoy myself to break up the work weeks.

Next week I get to take my first site visit to volunteers in Junín, which is a beautiful part of Peru so I’m very excited about getting up there and seeing them. I’ll post pictures shortly.

Brian

The End of the Road

In 20 days I will be home for the first time in over two years. Scary? Yes. Exciting? Even more so. I can”t wait to see my friends and family, eat delicious food, drive, go to concerts, drink micro-brew, celebrate Christmas and the New Year, and just relax. I’ll be home for a month and although I don’t have many concrete plans I’m sure I will find plenty to do.

Nevertheless, I still have 16 days left in my site, and a lot to do. I am wrapping up my projects, saying goodbye to the community, and prepping my replacement volunteer for the life and work to come.

I expected this time to be a whirlwind but it’s actually quite peaceful. All the loose ends of my projects have been coming together one by one and I am starting to have a real feeling of contentment about what I’ve been able to accomplish here. I say this because there were times (many times) in which I strongly doubted the impact that I was having here and wondered if I would have been able to accomplish more in a different location that didn’t have such a reputation for being a difficult place to work. Yet when I look at what I’ve been able to do in these two years, I am happy with my work. I didn’t do a lot of concrete projects, but I feel as though I’ve turned a large ship around, in the sense that I have created a new focus in the community on health issues and people are now much more ready to hear the messages they need to hear. I’m not sure if that sounds like much, but it really is huge and despite the challenges I faced, I’m proud and I think I did well. We’ll see how things go in the next couple of years.

In the meantime, I am ready for a change of pace in my life. I never quite got used to the disconnection and challenges of life in my site, and I never really had a feeling of being at home. I was always moving and I feel like I’ve been living out of a backpack for two years. And although I’ll be traveling a lot next year, I’ll have my own apartment which for me creates a real sense of being in a place. I’m excited to have my own place again, both physically and emotionally.

Moreover, I can’t wait to live in Lima. Aside from the feeling that I will finally be a stable person again, I am so excited about the people and the culture that I will experience. I already have many friends in the city and I can’t wait to meet more. I can’t wait experience life in a Latin American city and I’m already dying to soak up the music, the smells, the vibrancy, the feeling of Lima.

This is getting longish so I will stop writing now. I feel as though I have a lot that I want to say but I am having trouble finding the right words. Maybe I will get my feelings out by summarizing what I am trying to say with this post. I did it. I did it and even though it wasn’t always pretty and even though I didn’t accomplish everything that I wanted to I made it through, I had some accomplishments, I feel good about it, I feel real good. But it’s not over yet, I’ll be in Lima next year and there are a lot of challenges and rewards that await me. Life is good. I’m going home now. And I can’t wait to see what comes next.

Saludos,

Brian

p.s. Here is the draft of my COS Report. This is not due until next year, but it gives a quick and dirty summary of my two years as a volunteer. If you are interested feel free to look through it. Also, here is a draft of my final report to the community.

Winding Down

Everything is a little surreal right now. Last night we had the going away party for my group here in Ancash and today we had one last celebratory lunch together where we watched videos we made about our service and tried to deal with the fact that it’s almost all over. Tonight my site-mate James Tvrdy leaves. Then tomorrow Callie takes the day bus to Lima before a quick trip to Argentina, and Shannon leaves shortly after. These are some of the people that have defined my experience here in Peru and it’s hard to believe that they are actually going to be gone within a week.

 

For myself, I still have more than a year to go, so I don’t at all feel like my time here is over. Yet the changes right now represent a major change in what living in Peru and working in Peace Corps means to me. No longer living in Ancash, but rather in Lima, and developing new friendships and support groups is an intimidating prospect but I am nevertheless excited about the experiences that I will have next year.

 

I am not leaving yet though, I have another month here in site and lots to do before I can leave. My Healthy Schools Project has been100% funded thanks to the incredible support you all have given me, but I still have to get everything under-way and running smoothly so that the new volunteer that is soon coming to replace me will be able to pick it up and help transition the management into the community’s hands. More updates on this project as soon as the funds arrive from Washington and I really am able to start working.

 

I also have to wrap up my Healthy Homes and Families project while finishing up the community library I have been working on, not to mention taking the time to say goodbye to the community that I have called my home for the past two years. All in all, I’m ready for the change, but change is always a difficult process and I am presently in the midst of it. I’ve learned so much over the past two years about who I am and what it means to be a member of a community both locally and globally, and I hope that I can begin applying these lessons and learn to be a better person in the years ahead.

 

So, thank you all again for your support in my project, and I am looking forward to seeing many of you again soon when I come home for a month of vacation over Christmas and New Years.

 

Regards,

Brian

Close of Service

This week, I will be traveling to Lima for the Peru 12 Close of Service (COS) conference. This is a time when all of the volunteers who arrived to Peru with me in September, 2008, come together to reflect on the experiences that they have had over the past two years, and to prepare for re-adjusting to a ‘normal’ life back home. This is a rather surreal experience, if anything, because in two weeks it will have been two years since I set foot on American soil (or set foot anywhere outside of Peru for that matter). At the same time, I don’t believe I feel the same angst about starting over back home as other volunteers do, mostly because I am applying to stay for a third year of service in Lima, and so the next step, assuming I get the job, is a comparatively easy one.

Entering these final months of service in my community has also caused me to spend a significant amount of time reflecting on what exactly it is that I have been doing here in Peru for these past two years. Have I made any impact? Was it worth it for myself personally? These are hard questions to answer. Measuring the impact I’ve had here is difficult if not impossible just because of the nature of development work itself. It’s almost impossible to say with any degree of certainty if any of the work I’ve done is at all worthwhile, a difficult reality to face. And as for myself personally… well, I always have a hard time looking back and evaluating how I have grown and changed. As I develop a person, these developments become internalized and then it’s hard to say when and why I became the person I am. I’ve taken up journaling as a way to try to keep track of this better, but at the present I am just left with a faint optimism that, yes, I have grown from this experience, although the growth might not present itself until I am back home trying to re-adjust to my old life again.
Finally, with just a few months to go, I’ve become mildly anxious about the projects I have been working on. Although from a certain perspective, it seems as though I’ve been a fairly successful volunteer, I still look back and have a hard time pinpointing exactly what I’ve done. My hope is that I’ve done just enough… that is to say just enough to get the projects started and not so much that they are dependent on my presence to continue. I think that is ultimately the goal of good development work, but it’s so hard to know if I’ve done it right. And on top of all of this, the projects I am working on still have so far to go before I feel comfortable leaving them to run alone. These last few months will be quite busy, but hopefully this will bring my service’s end closer, I can’t wait to be home for Christmas.

Support my Healthy Schools Project!

Hi friends,

As I’m finishing up my Peace Corps service I am doing one last “big” project to support my community. Unlike other projects this one needs funding from donations in the states.

The total cost of the project is $2,000 which will be used to buy everything the children in my school need to be clean. This includes soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, trash cans, etc. and it also includes funds to help the school build an efficient wood-burning stove and to build ‘cleaning corners’ in each classroom where the students will be able to practice good hygiene with their professors every single day. The community where I live is actively supporting this project and has agreed to an annual raise in tuition in order to make the project sustainable once I am gone.

Your support is greatly appreciated, and in order to help you do not have to give much! Small donations of $5 – $25 are all this project really needs to be a success!

To give donations just visit this link on the official Peace Corps website and follow the easy instructions.

If you have any questions about the project, feel free to contact me!

If you have any issues with the donation process, contact Peace Corps directly at 202.692.2173 or 1.800.424.8580 x2173.

Finally, if you prefer snail mail, you can always write a check and send it to:

Paul D. Coverdell Peace Corps Headquarters
Peace Corps Partnership Program, OPSI
1111 20th Street NW
Washington DC 20526

Be sure to indicate the project number, 527-025, on the check so it will be applied to the correct project.

Thank you all for your support!

Brian

Repetition Repetition Repetition

Repetition, repetition, repetition. As I sit and ponder why it has seemingly been months since my last update, I realize that every time I try to write I feel as though I have nothing new to say. With every action I take, in the back of my head I think, I’ve done this before. As I lay in bed this morning loathing the Huayno music my host-brother was blaring in the room above mine I thought, how many times will I endure this again before I finish my service? As all the new volunteers get excited about going out once again to our favorite watering hole 13 Buhos, I think to myself, I’ve had this night so many times already, do I really want to do it again?

Repetition, repetition, repetition. And then I realize it’s not all so bad and nor is it uninteresting. Yesterday morning the mayor of my district was looking for me at 7:00 a.m. because a landslide that fell into the glacial lake above my town sent so much water rushing down the river that three bridges collapsed. Being the only tech savy member of the campesino community in Collón, it naturally fell on me to take pictures of what had happened so that the Civil Defense Committee could analyze the situation. So I did. And while I was up near the mountains above my site for the first time, I got to see the infamous wall that was recently built in the Huascaran National Park’s terriotory. This wall is a sore point right now, not because the people built it without good reason (it was to keep animals from eating their crops), but because they didn’t ask permission. The park can’t permit unauthorized land use in any situation or else they will lose their legitimacy. We’re looking for a good compromise but so far no workable solution has been proposed.

Repetition, repetition. Changes surround me. My wall finally has plaster on it! And it’s painted! This is definitely an improvement from just plain dirt, although my floor remains as an earthy reminder that I still need to put shoes on every time I leave my bed. No quick steps to the other side of the room to grab a pack of crackers for me… no wonder I’m always hungry.

Repetition, repetition. Did I mention that I’m finally doing work in my site? After more than a year of trying to deal with the fact that no one in Collón wanted to do projects with me, everything suddenly changed. A fresh group of professors arrived to my school, eager to try new things, and the obstetric of my health post had a miraculous change of heart about us working together (I talked to her boss). Suddenly, I find that I have activities to do almost every single day. The biggest of these my Viviendas Saludables Project. We finally stopped talking about it and started doing something. Now, I have done in-depth surveys in 45 houses and I have 12 educational sessions already programmed throughout the year, plus monitoring and evaluation work. This is good! Plus, in the school I am doing activities with self-esteem, sex ed, trash management, reading promotion, vocational education, lombricultura, and I am building a tree nursery for native species. Finally!

Repetition. So it’s not all the same after all. Did I mention that while the district mayor was here I convinced him to send a trash truck to Collón every month? I also learned to surf a couple weeks ago.

Repetition.

No, change.

In Solidarity with Chile

The power of modern communications to bring people together is something that continually fascinates me. As well, kindness and friendship shown to strangers and foreigners has always been something that I find encouraging and uplifting.

After looking through these pictures I was touched by the outpouring of support from around the world for the people of Chile. I know many of you won’t understand all these comments (there’s a few that I didn’t either before translation), but I wanted to post a few, all pulled from the most recent 100 comments on this site.

The United States

Dear People of Chile:

We live here in Northen California in a city named Healdsburg.
Our prayers to all of you,wishing a fast recovery and our condolences to the relatives of those people who died.
We would like to help.
Luis Fiallos
Nery Perez de Fiallos

Mexico

Chile, estamos con ustedes y compartimos su dolor, pero sé que podrán levantarse en poco tiempo. Un abrazo muy fuerte desde México!
Raúl García

Argentina

Dios bendiga, sostenga y consuele a todos los habitantes del hermano país de Chile que está viviendo esta catástrofe desde su lugar. Tómense de la mano de nuestro Señor y Salvador Jesucristo que aunque vivamos aflicciones tenemos la esperanza de una Tierra Nueva sin terremotos, dolores y muerte, así lo prometió. Él está muy pronto para volver a buscarnos y llevarnos a esa Tierra Perfecta. Estamos orando por cada uno de ustedes como por los hermanos de Haití. Con afecto desde Argentina.

China
智利加油，你们一定能够战胜灾难！

India

We,the world, are a family. In India we feel your pain. You will rise again, as a great people always does. We are praying for you in India, with tears in our eyes and hope in our heart. Long live Chile and her brave people.

Malaysia

A wish from Malaysia. Stay strong!

Puerto Rico

Respeto y solidaridad con el pueblo chileno de parte de Puerto Rico. Que viva Chile cuna del Gran Neruda. No están solos mi gente, Que Dios los Bendiga ahora más que nunca, fuerza para ustedes mis hermanos!

Brazil

Aquí en Brasil, lo sentimos mucho lo que pasó en nuestro país vecino, CHILE.
Amigos chilenos, y sólo encontró la paz cuando me enteré de que eran buenos.

Deseo suerte y que Dios hace que el dolor de la pérdida de menos intenso posible.

Buena suerte para el pueblo chileno.

Venezuela
VAMOS CHILE!!!! ES UN PAIS QUE AME CON LOCURA AL VISITARLO!!! FUERZAS Y MUCHAS BENDICIONES DESDE VENEZUELAA!!!

Uruguay

Un abrazo a todos los hermanos Chilenos desde Uruguay, la verdad q no conozco chile, no conozco ningun chileno pero se me can las lagrimas al ver q el esfuerzo de muchos años de familias estan echos escombros, o personas q perdieron parte de su familia de la noche a la mañana.
Uruguay siempre ha sido un país humilde pero solidario y no me cabe duda que desde aqui se va a enviar pronto toda la ayuda que este a nuestro alcanze como lo hicimos con Haiti le vamos a extender las manos, los brazos y el corazon a todos el pueblo chileno.
Un abrazo fraterno

Peru

Hermanos chilenos:

Los peruanos oramos por ustedes en estos momentos de dolor. Ningún terremoto ha doblegado a una nación. Chile se está levantando y cuenta con el abrazo solidario de sus hermanos latinoamericanos y del mundo entero que hoy decimos presente, estamos contigo Chile.

Que viva Chile!!!

Colombia

Chile, somos una misma nacion. COLOMBIA TE AYUDA.

South Africa

Would that the strength and courage of Cochrane the Dauntless be visited on your nation again in this time. Chin up and come back stronger. from David Michael Cochrane Dodds, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Ukraine

Мы молимся за ВАС.
Украина, Подкарпатье.

Spain

Desde España animo! Es desolador lo que a veces hace la Tierra con nosotros. Animo Chile y Ánimo Haíti.

Israel

Desde Israel les mando mucha fuerza a toda mi familia y amigos que sufren de tan grande tragedia, no es facil pero con la ayuda de dios levantaremos nuevamente este hermoso pais, estoy lejos pero siento muy dentro de mi el dolor de los chilenos….FUERZA CHILE!!

United Kingdom

People of Chile, we are thinking of you in the UK. xxx

Australia

Desde las tierras australianas veo y lamento sin parar lo que esta pasando ,y por lo que estan pasando mis familaires y amigos en mi amado pais. Es tan dificil sacar fuerzas de la nada, pero debemos tratar de sacar el valor que tenemos a dentro y arribar los animos.
Let’s Hope for a brighter tomorrow!

Cuidense, un abrazo fuerte para todos mis amigos en Chile

Into the New Year

The New Year is now well underway, and I am still in a mild state of disbelief that I’ve already been in Peru more than 16 months. Even more astonishing is that come November or December I will be returning home, and although that seems like a lengthy passage of time, I am constantly reminded of how quickly that time will go by. Already, I can see the events that will break up the time I am able to spend in Collón. More Quechua classes this month and next; Carnaval in Cajamarca; Semana Santa in Mancora; my parents visit in June; friends visiting during Fiestas Patrias; Close of Service Conference in August. The end is so close I can taste it, and this simple fact is making me once again evaluate my service, the influence I am having here, and the influence here is having on me.
My biggest preocupation is the normal one, when I leave will I have done anything I am proud of in my site? The fact remains that Collón is a difficult site to work in, especially as an environmental volunteer, and so what I’m really concerned about is simply making an honest effort this year to get something accomplished. This isn’t to say I didn’t try last year, I did, but last year was a time of becoming accustomed and adjustment. Last year also involved a lot of travel, and although this year seems like it will be quite similar, I’m hoping that the time I spend here in site will be more productive.
I do have a lot of reason to hope that this will be the case. Unlike last year, I have counterparts to work with this year which makes an enormous difference. My Healthy Homes project is already in the works, the surveys are ready and the first house visits will be next week, and I am presently working with (not separately from) the teachers during summer school. I even had a meeting recently to design a plan for development in Collón and 32 leaders of the community came and participated. Needless to say I was taken completely by surprise at such attendence and am taking it as a good sign for the year, although I’ve learned enough not to be too optimistic.
Personally, my life continues to be well. The holidays were a little tough as this is my second year away from home, but I spent the New Year’s in Lima with great friends and I continue to feel completely supported and loved by the volunteer ‘family’ here in Ancash. I even got to see an old friend a couple weeks ago. Sarah Terpstra, who sang with me in the Concert Choir at Maryville College, and who is now working here in Peru with the Presbyterian Church, came with some of her friends to Ancash and we had a fantastic couple of days in Huaraz and visiting the beautiful Llaca glacial lake.
Now, I am looking forward to this weekend when I will be going to the baptism of our taxi driver’s daughter, and the following day to the baptism of another volunteer’s younger brother. The following weekend will be more Quechua classes, hopefully helpful this time, and the weekend after that, Tyler (a volunteer who went home last July) will be coming to visit Ancash and we will spend the weekend with him (there is a regional meeting, Ancash prom, and the Super Bowl). After that, it will be off to Cajamarca for Carnaval which I will tell you more about later.
This of course means that I will again be spending time outside of site, which is difficult for me because I am really trying to stay in site as much as possible right now. But I just don’t know what I can do to change that fact. I should be able to stay in site almost the entire month of March though, and most of April excluding Semana Santa.