New Partner: Mujer y Sociedad

Today I met with a few women from Mujer y Sociedad. It is a fantastic organization here that offers local women help--from job training and microloans to internet access and sewing machines. It was an eye-opener and my first real meeting entirely in Spanish! (Phew, a little bit scary!) Not only did they give me advice, but they're actually letting me go to a micro-bank meeting Saturday (the one where the women pay back their loans), and then will take me to a different section of town next Tuesday where I'll see microfinance at work! I couldn't be more suprised or excited!

Suprises in Lima!

I've been suprised by a few things here, some good, some bad.

It is very safe and people are very friendly and accomodating about my lack of Spanish (although it's gotten a lot better in just 3 days with much practice!)--two welcome unexpected things.

A bad suprise, though, is the pollution. I've had a resurgence of asthma problems, and because of it, I will have to stay out of Lima as much as I can. That's very unfortunate, because I really like it here! I think the pollution is something that really should be dealt with because it is costlier not to, but I could be extra biased because it affects me in particular.

I am going to spend all of this week getting ready to go out to San Pedro de Casta and then next week my project will officially begin!

Estoy en Lima!

Hi! I've finally arrive in Lima! I've spent the day exploring Miraflores, my new home, and running errands...I've bought a Peruvian cell phone and my groceries. Can you imagine---only $6.60USD!

I love my room--my landlady is incredibly nice.

By far the hardest part is the Spanish. Reading it is one thing, but hearing people speak is another! Also, Peruvian Spanish is a little bit different than the Mexican Spanish I learned.

The Return of the Shining Path

Yesterday a mass grave of about 60 peasants killed in the 1980s was found in the Peru. The people were horrendeously killed by the military (the ones fighting the terrorist group the Shining Path) for their livestock--under the guise they were looking for rebels. The massacre was generally denied until now.

However, a worse development is the return of the Shining Path. Supported by drug money, they are now starting to recruit poor farmers who have suffered from rising costs. There are two groups of thought as to how to prevent the spread: address the poverty in the Andes (what Garcia is trying to do, and what I will hopefully do this summer) or crack down on the group violently. The latter was used by Fujimori in the 90s and basically destroyed the group. However, since the underlying problem--and thus the draw of the extremist ideology--remains, there has since been a return of the violent Maoists.

I'm actually a bit worried about encountering the group on my trip. It's sort of an irrational fear since they are generally limited to the jungle and the eastern part of the Andes....but somehow I feel someone might sense that I'm a Capitalist and go after me. Plus, as an American, I could possibly be a valuable hostage. Even if this is an overreaction, I am still getting a dog and bringing pepper-spray!

Tick Tock Tick Tock

The clock is ticking! I leave in less than 1 week (Thursday is the big day!), so I have been getting the odds and ends taken care of--alerting the bank (so my card isn't automatically shut off), getting Peruvian Soles, and testing out my sweet camping equiptment.

I've also taken over one room in our basement and turned it into "Fort Philanthropy". It's filled with basically everything I need to bring:

And that's actually only half the room....the shelves are filled with things, too. That big blob on the ground is my tent.

Don't worry, Mom, I cleaned it up. :-)

La Cocaina en Peru

Cocaine is becoming quite a big problem in Peru (the world's no. 2 supplier), and it is closely linked to the Shining Path, so I thought it was relevant to this blog & the project.

Cocaine is bad news for Peru, and for reasons very different from why it's bad news in the United States. In neighboring Colombia, cocaine pays for the violent guerilla wars and that's something El Presidente Alan Garcia doesn't want to see happen in his country (and understandably so). Basically, the Shining Path is making their money off of drug trafficking to other South American countries & Europe. With $50 million from Uncle Sam, Garcia & Co. are attempting to destroy drug labs to prevent funding to the Shining Path, but it's sort of like Sisyphus--as long as there's demand, there will be a supply and the recent disarray in Colombia has given the Shining Path & others a great entre into the drug market.

If you want to learn more, read this article.

I'm approved!

With less than 1 week until I arrive in Peru, the University had still not decided to release my grant money, putting me in quite an awkward position. Until today! Although it will be a few days until a nice fat amount lands in my starving bank account, they have "approved" my project (read: believe I won't be using it to buy a yacht) and just need to wire it to me. Phew. It was getting close there!

I should note that the school is being, ahem, less than reasonable about releasing all of the money. They've only given me 3/4's of it (the amount directly going to the villagers) and will "reimburse" me the rest of it (my personal expenses). That's a bit ridiculous, I think, but I have to work with what I've got.