WORLD AIDS DAY

December 1st is World AIDS Day. Here is how it was observed in Ascope. 

Thursday, November 22nd- 25 quick tests were given to junior and senior high school students to test for HIV. 

Tuesday, November 27th- Town parade took place observing World AIDS Day. 

Wednesday, November 28th- An attempt was made for a class for parents of teens to learn about HIV/ AIDS and how to communicate with their teen children about this topic + sex, teen stuff, etc.   Unfortunately, only 4 mothers showed up. It turned out being pretty cool though, because we had sort of a round table discussion between the mothers, 3 teen health promoters, and a nurse who came to teach the mothers with me. Even though it wasn't what we had in mind, it was a positive experience. 

Thursday, November 29th- A door-to-door campaign took place between the teen health promoters, the adult volunteer health promoters who work with the municipality, and myself. I was so proud of the teen girls that day. They would walk up to anyone and talk to them about STDs, HIV/ AIDS, condoms, etc. without showing the slightest sign of embarrassment. They argued with stubborn old men about the difference between HIV and AIDS and talked to a group of a dozen or so male cab drivers who even intimidated me. Neat. We handed out red ribbons with informative fliers and made pretty good ground between the dozen or so of us in the hour that we had. Definitely not a waste of time. 

Friday, November 30th- We tried to have a movie night, and it worked, but wasn't what I would call awesome. It eventually worked out and we watched a movie (though not one with any message or relation to the theme at hand) in the theater with a small showing of about 25 teenagers. We stopped the movie about 20 minutes in for one of the teen health promoters to talk to those in attendance about HIV/AIDS and do a little informative group quiz with them. 

Monday, December 3rd- Presentation for sophomore, junior, and senior students given by the local psychologist, one of Ascope's nurses, and a man from Trujillo living with HIV. An interesting and hopefully eye-opening event for the students. It was great to have participation from the health post, the municipality's volunteer health promoters, and the school. This was a good one. 

Friday, December 7th- A nurse from the private clinic with the help of some of the science classes of the high school had an informative exhibit in the Plaza de Armas which included a competition among students to create bulletin boards explaining HIV/ AIDS and concluded with a human ribbon photo op. I didn't have anything to do with this one other than slight support during the event. I work with these teenagers. I know how it goes tying to manage them solo. No bueno. I saw what was happening and popped over to help the nurse. Which I was glad to do because I was starting to get bored waiting for someone from Trujillo to come present at the high school with me who never ended up showing up. But I'm glad I popped over, because this was fun and I like that nurse. I give her a lot of credit for doing stuff like this all by herself. 

All of these activities were great because I didn't do any of the important stuff. I got everything going a few weeks in advance and started the process, which is usually the hardest part. Then I helped organize people/ plans, came up with the schedule for the week along with the principal and a teacher, got permissions, coordinated, wrote some documents to request stuff, and generally did the boring behind the scenes stuff. But I had the help of 2 teachers, the principal, a bunch of nurses, and the volunteer health promoters on that stuff. Plus, all of the presentations and interactions were taken care of by the teen health promoters and nurses. So really, anything that was done this year can be repeated next year. Awesome :) Overall, it was a great week and I'm really proud of the teen health promoters for all of the work they put into it. 

More Than a Meat Dress

Say what you will about Lady Gaga, this is awesome. Please take a moment to watch this. The article is in Spanish but the video is in English. 

http://peru21.pe/espectaculos/lady-gaga-pichangueo-ninos-ventanilla-2106590?href=cat0pos2

Recently, one of my Peruvian friends was asking me about Thanksgiving. They don't celebrate it here, so questions about that holiday are fairly common. She asked if it is part of American tradition to do volunteer work on Thanksgiving or something like what Lady Gaga did while she was here for Thanksgiving weekend. What a great example she is setting. That's representation that should make us all happy, regardless of opinions on her artistic expressions or public persona. 

Also, this video makes me think that my job is so awesome, even Lady Gaga wants to do it for a day :) I have so many experiences much like the one shared in the video, and on any given day I do pretty much what she did there, minus that little mini-concert she gave them. 

Maybe I'm biased, but I love this. In addition to her visit to Ventanillas (shown in the video), she also visited a center for victims of sexual abuse on Thanksgiving day. The following night at her concert she said that this was her favorite Thanksgiving yet because it was the first time she felt truly thankful. It sounds cheesy, but I agree with her on that one 100%. A shared experience for Gaga and me. Never have I been more thankful of what I have in life until I moved to Peru. 

So thank you Peru for humbling me every day and thank you Gaga for being wonderful. 

November Recap

Ah, sweet November. The quiet and still before the holiday madness. The nice weather, whether it be fall's warm chill in the States, or early summer's promising sun here in Peru. November has a lot to appreciate. Here is what I appreciate about November this year. 

-It's officially summer in Peru. I returned to Ascope from my trip home on November 2nd to find beautiful sunny skies and that gorgeous climate I left, only warmer and with the feeling of summer in the air. 

-I was asked in September to give a presentation on the ozone layer to a group of elementary students at a small school (2 room school house) in a rural area surrounding a neighboring town. Due to the teacher strike and my trip home, it was postponed to November. When it finally happened, though, it was fantastic. True to local fashion, those who have the least seem to give the most. The people who hosted the event were so generous that they not only gave me a free shirt for doing this, but also gave me some pottery that was found in neighboring fields years earlier. I spotted it in the school and was admiring it before the presentation because I love ceramics. This region of Peru has a long and rich history from pre-Incan civilizations all the way to European presence and Agrarian reform. Because of that, there are little treasures sprinkled all over the valley we live in. The school principal noticed my interest in the ceramics and gave me two of the pieces. SO generous. Aside from that, the presentation was a lot of fun and the kids were great. 'Twas an excellent Peace Corps day, that one. 

-Following up our evaluation meeting for the Red Ambiental (health and environmental education club) that we did with student leaders, my counterpart and I held a meeting for the adult coordinators of the club to discuss successes and challenges. I got to give some feedback and suggestions and we had an open discussion about what's working and what's not. This was a good experience and a positive experience. I am continually overwhelmed and appreciative of the way the people I work with here trust and respect me and my opinion in matters such as this one. It was a nice feeling of professionalism and trust to be given the opportunity to lead this meeting and share ideas with the people who are affecting change and working towards improvements within the province. Little by little, things will happen. I love being a part of it here in Ascope and I'm really proud of the work done this school year, despite its challenges and negative aspects. 

-In this meeting, I also got to share the vests that were purchased for the coordinators of this club with funds that I helped obtained by teaching English. It was nice to reward them for all of their hard work this year. As I said, I'm proud to be a part of all of this and watch this club develop and move forward. 

-The same week that all of that happened, I wrapped up my work with the English teachers of the province for this school year. With one last workshop and a little party, with concluded our work for the year. I will miss them over the summer break, but we should be able to pick up where we left off next March. It was a great year with them and a pleasure getting to know them all. I love that project. 

-The following week, a group of volunteers from my region in the Peru 16 group that came before my group finished their service and left Peru. It's always bittersweet when that happens. Even though it's super sad to see close friends leave, you can't help but be proud of them for all that you have watched them go through and achieve. Love you 16! Good luck with all you do and enjoy your travels! 

-The plus side of having to say goodbye to your Peace Corps friends is inheriting their things :) Special thanks to Kerrilynn Macarrone for all the treats. I have plans to be pantsless for the rest of my service. No you perverts, I'm no going to not wear any bottoms, I mean I am going to wear skirts for the rest of my time here. Kerri left me tons of beautiful skirts and other sweet stuff that she couldn't fit in her bags to take back with her. 

-Speaking of Kerri, before she left she finished up a course of cultural classes she was teaching. I went to the closing exhibit she put on with photos that the kids had taken of their town in order to share their own culture. This was really cool and an awesome way for the students to share their perspectives, activities, and what they value and appreciate with their peers, parents, teachers, and our group of Peace Corps volunteers who came to the event. It was a nice way for Kerri to go out and wrap up her time in Chicama. 

-As the month wound down, I spent some time in Lima to help with the newsletter of the youth development program. Because I was there I was fortunate enough to spend Thanksgiving with a bunch of volunteers at a Peace Corps staff member's home. then the following day I got to see Lady Gaga live in Lima. Excellent way to spend the holiday. More on that in a previous post. 

-The last week of the month was spent with the group of teen health promoters in Ascope carrying out events leading up to December 1st, World AIDS Day. Even though our events didn't quite turn out as planned, the girls did a great job with the activities and it all worked out alright in the end. 

-I also started a vocational orientation project with the seniors of the high school in my town at the end of the month. Teenagers. Blegh. At best, this project will encourage at least a few of them to go to university. At the least, I can hope to get a couple of them to think about what they will do after high school. 

-In between all of that stuff, I was able to hang out with the host fam and enjoy their company after being away for nearly 3 weeks. Farid, Piere, and I made cookies. But this time they were good. They weren't terrible last time, but this time they were way better. That is to be credited entirely to my wonderful sister Bridget who got me measuring spoons and cups along with chocolate chips to bake with the host brothers as a birthday gift. What a great idea that I never would have thought of. 

So that's November. Certainly can't whine about it. Doing well. Hope all of you can say the same. On to December we go... 

October Recap

I know I'm a little late with this one, but with going home and coming back and generally being busy, I never gave you an October recap. As usual, a lot of what happened in October I've already added here in a few other post, but here is what was missing-

-On October 2nd, Piere turned 7, with much fanfare and celebration- see previous post on this one. We had a nice week of parties and cake. So much cake.

-On October 3rd, a dental health campaign was held with 120 pre-school students in Ascope with the participation of a local volunteer group, 3 pre-schools, the pre-school specialist of the school district, and the local dentists. Again, I already posted about this. But still, I loved this project and am so happy it was a success.

-On October 8th, I turned 27 with much fanfare and celebration. I had a great birthday and was able to spend the 8th and the weekend leading up to it with special people whose company I thoroughly enjoy. 

-On October 9th the national teacher's strike was lifted after a month without classes. Hooray! Unfortunately, there were more repercussions than resolutions of the strike, but it is what it is. The school year was extended into January with additional classes on Saturdays for the high school in Ascope. Other schools are recuperating lost time with afternoon classes. This affects projects I had planned and will affect my work through the end of the school year. But at least the kids are back in school, that's what matters most.

-On October 12th, I helped two of my counterparts (a teacher and a nurse) put on an event for principals to focus on health and improving the health focus in their schools. The nurse talked about serving healthy snack options in the school kiosks, the teacher talked about encouraging parents to prepare healthy lunch boxes for their kids, and I got to cover exercise. What does this mean? That's right, it means doing a "Brazilian Butt Lift" aerobic exercise routine with about 50 principals. This was way more fun than I thought it would be and even a success. Who knew?

-Later on that same day, I had my last class for the school year with the English teachers of the province. We still had another 2-day workshop left, but as far as classes, this was our last one. To thank me and to celebrate my birthday, they surprised me with a little cake and a beautiful hand-made bag that they all chipped in to buy me. So sweet! They are such great people and I love working with all of them.

-As a result of classes resuming on the 9th and me leaving Ascope on the 16th for a visit to Wisconsin, I had a week to make up for a month of postponed activities that I had planned and prepared and wasn't able to do. It was a busy week, but before I left for my trip, I was able to reschedule some stuff and still squeezed in classes, meetings, and the science fair.

-The Red Ambiental (Health/ Environmental Education Club) held an evaluation meeting in which the student leaders reported on the work they've done so far this school year. It was pretty cool watching them share their stories and seeing a mix of pride and nerves among the students. It was sadly clear, however, that we really need to improve our methods of monitoring and evaluation. It's easy for schools to show pictures and report what they are doing, but it is hard to know how many people they are reaching and if their/ our work is effective. A nice learning experience for my counterparts and me I suppose.

-October 15th was world hand washing day, which we observed with the student leaders of the Red Ambiental and one of our local nurses. Crazy what happens as a result of dirty hands.

-On October 16th the science fair finally happened. After having been postponed twice on account of the strike, it happened for real on the 16th. It was a nice event and it all came together well with some pretty nice projects and pretty smart kids. Neat. Some of the projects were impressive. My favorite was a composting project carried out completely by the students with little adult supervision. The way they executed the project and marketed/ sold their compost was all very well done. I love seeing enthusiastic nerds passionate about what they do. I use the word 'nerds' in the best way possible.

-And here it is folks, my favorite part of October... I WENT HOME!!! What a wonderful visit I had in the quick 12 days I was there. Love you all so much. Thanks again for an unforgettable trip. Can't believe it happened and has passed already. Surreal. The United States is a magical place that I appreciate now more than ever before.

-I got to celebrate Halloween twice! Once in Wisconsin and once in Lima. Not a bad gig. Halloween is great.

October was a blur of awesomeness and the best month of the year, as it always is. Thanks again for everyone who made it that way- either through birthday love, or a visit while I was home, or just being your fantastic supportive selves. LOVE to all.



Birthday cake!

Yes, you can totally have a Hello Kitty Piñata at 27 :)

Host fam and friends who are so great they came over for my birthday!

Of course.

English teachers!

Student leader exposition.

Me with the student leaders of the Red Ambiental.

Science fair all stars.