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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.
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| My house in the middle |
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| My new room |
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| Hallway down to my room |
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| Living room area of my house |
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| 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 8th 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 17th)
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.
Here are some random pictures from the last couple of weeks
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| Opening Ceremony of 2 new classrooms in VICE! |
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| Piura lovelies out for my 23rd birthday! |
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| My LIMA host family and favorite people in Peru! I got to meet up with them during Easter holiday. |
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| Introucing to the world: Brielle Ann Azaña Colonia, my Peruvian namesake :) |
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| 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
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