New Site and a Clean SLATE

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Be Prepared. This one is a little long- BUT WORTH IT

As most of you know I recently had a site change after 8 months of being at site.

I’d rather not go into details about the actual move, because I’ve decided it really is time to put that behind me and put the rest of my energy into making my time in my new site of Vice a successful one. I only have a year left a so I need all the energy I can to really hit the ground running.

I first off want you all to breathe a sigh of relief when I say: I LOVE MY NEW SITE. Really, I do. I’m not just saying that. During your first three months at site you hear older volunteers say that the transition from training to site is hard, and escaping to the capital city for regional meetings could not come quick enough. But,  they also say, that you eventually have that moment where you fall in love with your site. I never had that moment with Tamarindo, but three weeks into Vice, and I finally understand what they were saying.

I live in Vice (pronounced VEE SAY). It is located in Northern Piura, and a very large portion of the people living there are farmers and fisherman. In the city center there are churches, a market, a centro de salud, bakeries, several institutcion educativas, several parks. The town also counts among its resources several buildings; the Casa de la Mujer, Casa de los Pescadores which now housesa physical rehabilitation center, Casa de la Cultura which houses the local library. In addition there is a Coliseo municipal and Estadio municipal for sporting events, an tallerde artesanas, grifos, cabinas, a cemetary, restaurantes, hospedaje, bars, emisoras, and two radio stations; natural wonders like the manglares (mangroves), the rivers Sechura and Piura, and open land in the form of chacras.

Also, guess what, I have a site mate from my Peru 17 group in the same TOWN J. She is about a five minute walk down the main street of Vice. Her name is Jessica and she is a Small Business Volunteer. Luckily, small business and youth tend to overlap with projects and we will be doing some together.

I live with a great host family. I live with my host mom Rosa, my host dad Hugo and my host brother Dixon (who attends a university in Piura city). The house is in the heart of Vice. Right across the street is the Municipality (home of the all important mayor), the town panaderia (bakery), and it is located close to the market. My family owns a restaurant that operates on the first floor of our house. Yes, you heard it here, I eat my breakfast, lunch and dinner in a restaurant. People who know me (especially my parents and my grandparents) know that this is basically a dream come true. The food is really great and a huge step up from Tamarindo.

 Another bonus is that the family housed a previous volunteer for 2 years. She finished her service last August. So, for the most part, they understand the life of a volunteer.  Here are some pictures of my house and my room.

My house in the middle

My new room

Hallway down to my room

Living room area of my house

My new bathroom pre shower curtain

My first two weeks at site were extremely busy (another step up from Tamarindo) and successful. I officially start teaching Pasos Adelante (a sexual health class) with the obstetric in the health post to the last grade of high-schoolers in one of the annexes of Vice called Litera. I’m extremely lucky to not have to do this alone and have really active socios (counterparts). The class starts May 8^th and is  2 hours long every Tuesday til the end of July. During this time I will be painting a WORLD MAP and doing talks in the high school on Recycling Day  (May 17^th) with Jessica.

I also will soon be starting the GRANT WRITING process for a very big project I want to start doing in Vice. In Spanish it is called “CAPACITANDO A MADRES ADOLESCENTES: HACIENDO CAMINO AL ANDAR”, but in English it is more or less called Life Skills for TEEN MOMS. Teen pregnancy is a HUGE issue in Piura in general, but also a really big problem in Vice. They are almost like  “the lost population” because once they became pregnant they drop out of school and are tied to the house all day long. They are made to believe they will amount to nothing more. I don’t believe this, and because of a GREAT volunteer named Libby Salerno in San Clemente, Piura I will be able to hopefully start changing this belief.

Libby developed a very extensive and amazing program that I wish to carry on (SUSTAINABILITY AT ITS’ FINEST). It works with the teen mom in three phases: the first phase is as a woman (I will be doing self esteem charlas and charlas about assertive communication) as a mom (teaching them how to discipline their child, being involved in their child’s education, etc) and lastly as a SPOUSE.

The third phase is going to be tough, but I believe it to be one of the greatest parts of this program. It will require the woman to bring their spouses or boyfriends to the program to learn things like good communication and discussing the issues of domestic violence and alcoholism (unfortunately both are really big issues in Peru). It is a 5-month program and during this program I will also take the girls on paseos (trip to an institute to ask about furthering their education and the final one well will go to a gigantic park they can go to with their families). Libby started this program from scratch and it is one of her shining projects as a volunteer, and I can’t wait to continue it.

 As most of you know… I will be home in almost 2 months to celebrate 4^th of July in AMERICA! I’m extremely excited to be able to spend time with my family and friends before I head into the last year of my service (Crazy how time flies).

Here are some random pictures from the last couple of weeks

Opening Ceremony of 2 new classrooms in VICE!

Piura lovelies out for my 23rd birthday!

My LIMA host family and favorite people in Peru! I got to meet up with them during Easter holiday.

Introucing to the world: Brielle Ann Azaña Colonia, my Peruvian namesake :)

Is the world ready for another Brielle? We shall see :) 

I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do. - Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

Until next time,

Brielle

Saying Goodbye

I remember the day I swore into the Peace Corps. I left training with such excitement to really start my service as a volunteer. As a trainee, freshly out of training, you don't really see the bumps in the road that you may end up facing in the future. I certainly didn't expect this 8 months at site. 

On April 10th, 2012 I will be leaving Tamarindo, Piura to move into my new site of Vice, Piura. 

This decision was not easy and I've been wavering for months on what was best. I certainly didn't want to give up on my town and leave people that had so badly wanted a volunteer in the first place. However, through this whole ordeal, I learned that it is extremely important to put myself and my health first. For months I've been struggling to stay healthy. 

Yes, as most of you are probably thinking… why don't you just change host families? I am in love with my host family and the thought of having to change host families again  (it would be my 3rd) in such a small site made me extremely upset.

 During the last month, before I had emailed the Lima office, I had debated ending my service early. Daily, I went back and forth. Changing sites would be hard. I'm already 8 months into site. I have great relationships with people in my site, but being constantly sick was affecting the work that I really wanted to be doing. I wasn't sure if I was prepared to completely start over and reintegrate in a different site almost half way though my service. Of course it would be easier to just give up and go back to America. However, the people who know me best in this world… know I can't quit. And I won't. 

There are a few people I want to thank for talking all the options through with me and for making it clear that no matter the decision I made they would stand by me 100 percent. I owe it to my parents, Lucas Stellar and Kelsey Goering for putting up with my constant back and forth and finally giving me the courage to pack up and start all over again. I can't express my gratefulness to you all more. 

This whole process is bittersweet and I know that in the future there will be moments where I felt like I gave up, but most importantly, I need to care of myself. Tamarindo is a community filled with people with big hearts and open minds. I have formed relationships that I will never, ever forget. I had a host family, especially my host mother Juana, that took me in as their own and never once made me feel like just a paying resident. 

My host mother recently turned 60 years old and during the blowing out of the candles the Torres family has a tradition. They have all the siblings gather around while Juana blows the candles out Right before Juana blew out the candles she waved me up to stand with her 6 children because I'm "the 7th child". I was touched. Leaving them is going to be the hardest part of this process. 

Tamarindo will always be my first, real Peruvian home. 

However, I'm excited to really start doing the work of a Peace Corps volunteer in my site of Vice, Piura with my new site mate Jessica (a Peru 17er in the Small Business Development program). This is where I also need to thank Jessica for putting in the work to get a Youth Volutneer in her site and for going out and finding family options for me. I am also forever grateful to her. Nothing about a site change is easy, but this certainly took away from a lot of the stress.

 Vice is about 40 minutes SOUTH of the capital city of Piura and is a bigger site than Tamarindo. 

Jessica has been in this site since August and has a blog if anyone is curious about Vice 

http://www.themodernword.org/modernword_wordpress/?p=380

I recently just got back from In Service Training in the mountains of Ancash. I got to be reunited with volunteers and enjoy being surrounded by snow capped mountains and now I'm in Lima for Semana Santa (Easter). The next couple of days after I return to Piura from this trip are going to be crazy. I'm nervous and excited for it.

Wish me luck.

There are better things ahead than any we leave behind. -C. S. Lewis

Until next time,

Brielle