2008 has been a rather eventful year for me. I graduated from college and left to live in Peru
for two years of service with the Peace Corps. On the brink of 2009, all of which will most likely be spent in South America, I have some reflections and revelations. First, I must say, that I imagined before coming to Peru that I would lose touch with most of my friends back home. Luckily, that is far from the case. I even received a nice Christmas video from all of my friends in college which was greatly appreciated. Second, I definitely thought that the transition to Peru would be much harder. However, it has been smooth and I wouldn’t say easy but not hard either. Part of this is due to the fact that Peru and its people are quite stellar. Also, all the PC volunteers down here are really amazing people and provide a support network like no other.
Another thought which has come to my mind many times this past year in Peru has to do with development. Although we all believe that coming into impoverished towns to provide aid and assistance should be a good thing, it does have it’s down side as well. Recently, I borrowed a pollera (traditional dress) from a family here in my town so that I could participate in the typical dances for the provincial capital’s big party. When I got back from the party with the pollera, the person which I had borrowed the pollera from came to my house to collect the pollera and asked for 10 soles for the usage. I assumed when I borrowed it that it was out of good faith. Just like if you borrow a pot or pan from a neighbor. Apparently, nowadays people ask for money whenever they do a favor for someone else in my town. However, back in the day this was not the case. I think this partly has to do with the fact that there are now tourists with money that come through the canyon. Also, I think it has to do with the access to the city these people have now. Sometimes, it might even be better for a society to live in ignorance of the things which are out there in the outside world because I believe this area about 70 years ago had a pure sense of happiness which is hard to obtain. Once these people had access to the outside world, thoughts of things they did not have started coming into their mind and now people want money for anything. It’s interesting to think about. I still fully believe in what I’m doing, but it’s nice to think of the other side.
I think my fourth and final revelation which I would like to share with everyone would be in regards to people relationships. Last night, I was reading this book called Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. The protagonist in the story, Greg Mortenson, is a hardcore moutaneer who attempts to climb K2 in 1993. Unfortunately he fails and accidentally ends up in an impoverished Pakistan village in the mountains. This village takes care of him, feeds him the best food they own, treats him like a family member and so on. Regrettably, this remote town in the mountains does not have a school where the kids can study. Therefore, Mortenson promises to come back and build a school. He overcomes many obstacles and eventually gets back to start to build the school. However, at this point, he is a leader of an instution with a large endowment whose mission is to build many schools in the area. So, he tries to boss and push the villagers around as much as he can so the school can get finished as soon as possible. Well, one day, the town chief takes Mortenson aside and taught him a very important lesson about how he was handling the situation. Here is the quote from Mortenson:
” That day, Haji Ali taught me the most important lesson I’ve ever learned in my life. We Americans think you have to accomplish everything quickly. We’re the country of thirty-minute power lunches and two-minute football drills. Our leaders thought their ‘shock and awe’ campaign could end the war in Iraq before it even started. Haji Ali taught me to share three cups of tea, to slow down and make building relationships as important as building projects. He taught me that I had more to learn form the people I was with than I could ever hope to teach them.”
I really love that quote and I think it relates a lot to my Peace Corps service. I’ve learned that we’re all in such a rush to get our work done everyday that we miss out on the most important thing in life, people relationships. Here in Peru, if I’m on my way to the chacra to work, it wouldn’t be uncommon for me to stop and talk to someone for a half an hour. That’s something we’d never do in the U.S. and I think it hurts our country as a society. So, if you don’t have a New Year’s Resolution, try to increase and strengthen your people relationships. The world runs on people relationships. If we can strengthen them, we will make the world a safer and happier place.
we just built a puente colgante to maca...without the help of maca...chris´s fault
carrying the banner
drunkard fighting with the "security"
high school dancing
me singing haha
my dad dancing with the high school..the guy with the green skirt
sweet pic of the castillo...a wooden plethora of fireworks...notice that its wooden haha
cool
more fire!!
cool pic of the church with the full mooon
llamaaasss
