A touch too heady for my taste.

After reading a few of my piers’ blogs I realized I was doing a bit too much analyzing and not enough explaining of my service. Of course there is a healthy dose of both, but I feel its time I got back to PC Goal #3, which talks about creating a better understanding of the culture we live with. So with that said, I’d like to start rambling if you’ll permit me...

Like I posted before, we successfully transformed 9, 55 gal. drums into public trash cans to try and help the problem of people throwing trash in the river, (incriminating pictures to come.) I think the most interesting part is now that trash management is being discussed more and more, and the towns people are more and more self-conscious of tossing trash into their water source, that many of the towns people are simply going outside what’s considered the village limits of Miraflores and dumping their trash there; there is some thought process going on that I don’t understand that is making those town members think it better to go a few kilometers to dump trash, then right in their own plaza with the trash cans. It’s some sort of “cultural, barrier analysis” thing that the PC office just loves to talk about and is the buzz word in development work, but to me it’s just the slow process of breaking bad habits. But overall there are several people in my town that are really motivated about getting this trash management system off the ground; one of the most important is the town’s mayor. He actually approached me about creating a community landfill, and we’re hoping to have it completed by this month! Score one for the environment and the river! But keep in mind I did just see a newly posted propaganda sign for the mayor as he intends to run again for the next term, and so we can unwittingly assume it’s more of a political move to say he’s completed this project than anything, but in this case I guess I can look past the means to the end.

As I said before there are several other motivated individuals, another one of them being Sra. Orivia. She and I, (her being the invited community partner because she is part of the Municipality Board,) went to a Peace Corps sponsored seminar in Trujillo, Peru about environmental projects and small donations for projects. During the seminar and especially afterwards, she kept pulling me aside to tell me her thoughts and ideas and what projects she wants to start in Miraflores! Score one for more sustainable community development!

My environmental/English class is doing okay, I get about 5-7 kids that come pretty regularly. I’m actually pretty proud with how much about environmental topics they already know, and how easy it makes it to talk about protecting the environment. I’m a firm believer that this information that we give the students sinks in somewhere in their mind grapes, and the hope is that after the hormones level out in their brain a bit they will actually be able to apply some of the stuff we are teaching them; but isn’t that the hope of any teacher of adolescents across the globe!

Miraflores also received a new Agro-Pecuaria teacher, (Agro-pecuraria is pretty much like 4-H), who is full of newcomer’s motivation and has plans to build a green-house in the school. We’ve also developed a tree planting idea where each kid will plant 6-10 trees for points. Pretty much 6 trees are the minimum amount of points to pass and 10 trees is an “A”. After spending as much time with the kids as I have I can only imagine we’ll be seeing a lot of 6er’s, but there are a few kids who I know will step up to the 10 mark. I think the biggest problem with trying to promote environmentally conscious students here in Miraflores is that the majority all know (or hope) that they will just leave after grado sexto, which is their equivalent to high-school, to look for work in the city. The thing is, is that when I first arrived all of the grado sexto students left after promotion, and at least 4 of the 7 have returned already; some with kids! So for now, 6 trees per kid is just fine, the trees should have some good growth on them by the time they come back from the city.

On a personal note, I have to admit I’m growing more and more sad as we march towards November, because in November all of my fellow Yauyos volunteers that were here one year before me will be leaving. Of course I’m excited to get to know a whole new group of volunteers after then, but it kind of sucks to think I couldn’t do the full two years with one group and form some really strong bonds.

We are also approaching the rainy season again, which means more grass for the cows and the start of planting season! I’ve pretty much seen the full circle of the subsistence living here, from planting to harvesting, and its pretty neat to know that this process has pretty much been doing its thang’ since the time of the Incans. Now, if only I can find some tools that are a bit more my size, I might be a bit more inclined to spend more hours in the fields ; )

Once again, I hope you are all safe, happy and healthy, and I’ll check back in soon.