Pictures with moms and a video

My final gift to the mothers I work with was a growth chart to put in their homes.  Here are some pictures!

Also, check out THIS VIDEO that I made!

Peace Out

When I first came to Peru, I made a list in the back of my journal titled “Reasons I am here.”  The idea was to have a running list that constantly reminded me to keep my chin up when things got hard.  By the time the pages ran out in my journal, I had 15 items, and I had read and reread that list about a million times. 

When I started my new journal, I thought about making another list for the second half of service titled “Things I will miss.”  Unfortunately, at the time I was feeling too cynical to actually put anything down, and then the idea slipped my mind and it never happened.  One day from leaving site, I’ve decided to actually write that list. 

Really, the things that I will miss about Tantará and about Peru are little.  They are small moments that happen during a passing day that I almost forgot to notice. 

I will miss waking up to church bells and the bustling house.  I will even miss the rooster crows.  I will miss small children calling me Tía and hugging me on the streets.  I will miss knowing everyone I pass and having them greet me with a smile and, “Hola, Señorita Jenny.”  I will miss making my own schedule. 

I will miss the sunset turning the whole town pink, and how amazing the stars look when the electricity goes out.  I will miss walking into the kitchen every night and eating soup with my family.  I will miss sitting next to the stove when I’m cold.  I will miss aguita de hierbas and fresh fruit, especially oranges and avocado. 

I will miss my dog, Oso, protectively following me around, and my cat, Leo, purring in my lap.  I will miss that feeling of drying my hair in the hot sun after a cold shower.  I will miss having a beautiful garden of flowers right outside my door and eating vegetables that were in the ground that morning.  I will miss being able to make everything better by eating popcorn for dinner. 

Most of all, I will miss my host mom asking me, “¿Que novedades?” (What’s new?) and coming into my room to chismosear (gossip).  I will miss her protecting me and bragging about me.  I will miss my host grandfather telling long drawn out stories, and I will miss sitting in the kitchen listening to my host family talk about anything interesting that happened that day (mostly about the cows). 

In the last few weeks leading up to COS, I’ve been torn between overwhelmingly excited and overwhelmingly sad.  Most days, I don’t know if I should jump up and down or break down crying.  Sure, I’m excited for toilet seats and speaking English and high speed internet.  I’m excited for beer and indoor heating and driving my car.  I can hardly express how excited I am to be home with my family.  As the day gets closer, though, the list of things I will miss keeps getting longer, and I keep remembering reasons I am here. 

Last November, I got a letter I had written to myself right before I left for Peru.  One of my wishes for myself was that Peru had stolen a little piece of my heart.  As I get ready to leave, I know that it absolutely has.

Baby, you got SOL

Things here are rapidly coming to a close.  I officially have less than 20 days until I leave site for good, and I won’t even be in site for all of those days.  It suddenly seems like days are slipping through my fingers while I desperately try to squeeze every moment possible out of them.  I can hardly believe that I am writing a blog about my last activities with teens.  But here it is.

I’ve written about Pasos Adelante before.  It is a Peace Corps-Peru program focused on sexual and reproductive health for teens.  It is also one of the most rewarding and fun parts of my job in Peru.  Last year, my Pasos group was only 5 kids or less.  This year, I had an average of 9 youths at each class who were motivated, curious, and enthusiastic.  I also had the help of a wonderful teacher, Prof. Dina Tovar Cullanco, who was at every class, eager to help.  I am proud to say that 7 youths graduated the program, and will hopefully work with my replacement volunteer to train other youths in life skills and sexual health.

In addition to my Pasos class, I also taught a School for Parents once a month in the secondary school.  Again with the help of Prof. Dina (didn’t I say she was great?), we got together with parents and talked about communication, adolescence, teenage pregnancy, alcoholism, and effective parenting.  There is nothing more encouraging than parents taking time out of their evenings to come learn about how to better support their adolescents.  We had some phenomenal, open, and frank conversations and they hopefully have some more tools to communicate with their adolescents moving forward.

Finally, last weekend, the LIcaH region held a youth camp called Camp SOL (Solidaridad, Orgullo, Liderazgo… Solidarity, Pride, Leadership).  We had 22 adolescents come from three departments (Huancavelica, Lima, Ica) for two nights at La Tinguiña, Ica.  From Tantará, I brought two adolescents: Milagros and Guillermo.  They have been the superstars of my Pasos group for the last two years.  At camp we had workshops on personal health (sexual health, anti-violence, etc.) and on leadership (communication, listening, problem solving, etc.).  Then, they created work plans for their communities so that they can go back and begin to confront some of the problems that youths encounter in their lives.  I couldn’t be prouder of Milagros and Guillermo, as well as all of the young leaders who came to camp.  We were lucky to have an enthusiastic and interested group of kids, as well as motivated and helpful Volunteers and Peruvian counterparts.

To the people who donated to our grant to make Camp SOL possible, I can’t thank you enough times.  I am also incredibly grateful to Prof. Dina for always coming to classes and helping me no matter what, and to Taylor Warren for being the other half of the youth camp planning committee (arguably the much more important half).

Coming next week to a blog near you: pictures on this post and another post about working with mothers.