Encouraging Words

Long time no update.  My sincerest apologies.  I don’t know if I haven’t written because I’ve been too busy or because I haven’t been busy enough.  I’ll give you all a quick update on my life here in Peru.

I’m still teaching English classes, but I’m starting to get a little burnt out.  I definitely don’t want to do this the entire two years.  I think I’ll finish out the school year, which ends December 12, and then call it quits for English.  Of course, I may change my mind in the future or decide to have a class for adults, but for now I’m spent on that subject.  I’ve been trying to keep busy working on my community diagnostic.  Ok, that was a blatant lie.  I barely just started working on it and it has to be done in a couple weeks :-/  I’m not too worried about it though; I think I have a good idea about what I want to write and I have the easy introductory stuff done already.  I just met with a group of youth and they’re going to help me with one aspect of it.  I have to hand out at least 70 surveys to the youth in my town and I was dreading completing this task alone- 70 is a daunting number.  But I spoke with my socios and they helped my organize a group to help me, and between all of us we each have to give 5 surveys.  Five is definitely a more doable number for me!  So with the surveys, information I’ve collected from the Health Post and the Municipality, and random conversations I’ve had with townspeople, I think I’ll be able to crank this diagnostic out in no time flat. 

What, you ask, is a community diagnostic?  Well, I’d love to tell you.  Every Peace Corps Volunteer has to complete a diagnostic during their first three months at site.  Each volunteer is to use the first three months to ask questions, gather information, and form a basic understanding of the site in which he or she is living.  The diagnostic includes many topics such as:  an introduction to the Peace Corps and its history in Peru; information about your program and its goals (in my case, Youth Development); the methods used in order to obtain the information (surveys, interviews, different tools); a description of the community (location, demographics, family structure, history, social indicators such as health and economy, youth issues, social activities, local organizations, community leaders, and local government); data that is directly relevant to youth development; and finally an analysis of the information gathered and possible action that can be taken to better the community.  The diagnostic will include charts, graphs, tables, maps, and samples of the surveys given. 

It sounds like a lot of busy work (and, really, it is), but there is also a purpose to the community diagnostic.  With the information collected, each volunteer should have a better understanding of the community and be able to come up with different ideas and projects to assist in his or her program area. 

Besides procrastinating on the community diagnostic, I haven’t been doing too much.  I had a bit of a mental breakdown last week and I took a few personal days in the capital city to recharge my battery and assess the reasons why I’m here.  After that much-needed mini-vacation I’m feeling refreshed and ready to go!  I’ve been talking with my socios a lot and have a couple different ideas for small projects to start.  I decided that I wanted to make myself available in the library a couple nights a week to help the kids with their homework.  I’ve had countless youth knock on my window asking for help with their math homework.  Since math is the same in every language, I’m actually pretty good at tutoring them.  But since it’s a little awkward to help the kids in my room I’ve decided to make a schedule at the library so they can come to me there.  I hope that in time I’ll be able to pass on the role of tutor to some of the older youth so that it becomes a sustainable program.  I spoke to the mayor about my idea and she was beside herself with excitement to get things started!  She asked if I wanted to start that very same day.  It was definitely encouraging to see her enthusiasm and support.  I’ve also been toying with the idea of starting an exercise class for girls and women at the health post.  I was talking with one of my socios and she brought it to my attention that El Arenal has a gym.  Who would have thought that this tiny little town in Peru actually has a gym?  What a nice surprise that was.  So I talked with the mayor about using the gym and new equipment for a class and she also thought this sounded like a good idea.  This next week I’m supposed to go to the gym to see what kind of equipment it has and see if I can figure out how to run a class with the varied machines.  Hopefully I’ll be able to figure something out because the women in this town could use an hour or two to themselves a couple nights a week.  I’m excited to get the ball rolling on these projects and hopefully start making a little bit of a difference in these kids’ lives!

Thanksgiving is coming up and that thought both excites and saddens me.  I’m excited because a bunch of the volunteers are meeting up in La Libertad for a few days to celebrate; but of course I’m sad because I won’t be at home with my family.  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and I know it’s going to be incredibly tough to be away from everyone I love the most in this world.  I’m sad that I won’t be at home, but I’m thankful that I have the opportunity to gather with my new friends and celebrate together.  Bittersweet, ya know?  So our Thanksgiving vacation is Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and then on Sunday all of us youth volunteers pack up again and head to Lambayeque for Early In-Service training for a week.  Everyone is required to be there so it’ll be really nice to have everyone back together again.  The days will be full of different classes and sessions, and we will all give a presentation of our community diagnostics.  I know it’s going to be about “work,” but I can hardly wait to go because I know we’ll still have a good time.

All in all, things here are going pretty well.  I’m definitely learning what it means to experience my highest highs and my lowest lows all at the same time.  Thank you guys for your continued support and encouragement throughout this entire time.  You guys really are the best.  Love, love, love.

“Venturing out of your comfort zone may be dangerous, yet you do it anyway because our ability to grow is directly proportionate to an ability to entertain the uncomfortable.”