Not until we are lost do we begin to find ourselves- H. D. Thoreau

Well I have been lost for the past month. I lost someone close to me recently who was a huge part of my support system. A support system is very important during a volunteer’s service, because we often are critical of our work, doubtful of our skills and struggling with the various obstacles that come with living in a foreign country.

Losing this person has been a challenge I did not foresee and I very nearly decided to end my service. Luckily, I took the time to talk to my fellow volunteers in Piura and throughout the past month I realized that there are many people who care about me HERE in Perú.

Unfortunately, I allowed my projects to stall while I dealt with my personal issues. I took a much-needed vacation with a group of volunteers to Huancabamba, a city 4 hours further into the mountains. After we arrived in the city, we traveled another 2 hours by car to a small town (around 3000 meters above sea level). 

On the trip up the mountain. Very skinny roads...

The clouds were swirling around us as we drove up.

Our destination was a large lake. But what was so special about this lake? Well it is known for its properties to cleanse the soul of its woes and maladies. Brujos/shaman (witches) perform a spiritual ritual, after which one must dunk themselves into the freezing waters 7 times, purging their soul of the bad within. It was a very serious affair and as ridiculous as I looked and felt, I kept a solemn demeanor to respect the shaman’s beliefs. It was a very cool (pun intended) experience, and definitely worth the 5 hours of hiking. 

A friendly farmer we met on the way up

They told us it takes 8 days to weave the fabric. Very vibrant colors

This woman showed us a short cut. Very beautiful photo (credit to Brice)

A rest and a view

Almost there!

Laguna Shimbe

The brujos at work

Video of Ritual

SUPER cold. And I did it without clothes (better spiritual cleansing)

  
I also recently went to the beach. The mud baths were a lot of fun! We floated like corks, so much fun.

Mudbath: Video

But it hasnt been only vacation, I promise. At the end of June, I participated in a Improved Cookstove training exercise. 10 volunteers brought people from their community and together we were taught how to build the stoves ourselves. The two Peruvians who ran the workshop did an excellent job and I now feel confident with my adobe stove building skills. We built 9 stoves in 2 days. Its very simple once you have all the materials at hand. Now my trouble is finding the funding to pay for the supplies!

Making the concrete top

Adding some rebar support

Adding a little flair to the top

Lunchtime!

The old stove. No ventilation tube. The black walls show how bad their lungs are. 

The kids wanted to help too!

Adobe base

Combustion chamber 

The completed stove! 

A little model I made to show the families in my community

The times they are a-changing. May update

Water & Sanitation vest, looking professional 

My room: Organized Chaos 

Where am I? Hope this map helps

Luis Lee- Coordinator and all around awesome guy

Well, it has been some time since I have written! For those of you in a rush, I will give a brief look at what I have been up to in May:


- Project Design and Management workshop with Peace Corps:

 We talked about how to formulate clear objectives, goals, and create activities that allow us to accomplish those goals. We also created a project time-line and budget. 

Peace Corps Volunteers with their Community Partners

   




 This workshop was a HUGE help because it made the idea of implementing a project seem very simple and provided tools on how to get the job done. My counterpart (Victor) was from the Health Post and did a great job. We have been working hard on your project.

Tasty Cake

May was also Mothers Day and my host mom's (Sra. Lucha) and host sister's (Daniella) birthdays! So the whole extended family came over for a big dinner and cake.









I bought my sister a hat from Ayacucho and my host mother a small piece of pottery that is covered with different types of seeds. It is meant to bring good luck and prosperity to the household.

I bought baby Lucas a hat too

15 Kilos of 65% powdered Chlorine. Don't breath in! 

I convinced our Mayor that we needed to clean out the town reservoir. Normally, a reservoir is cleaned twice a year, but ours had not been disinfected for over 4 years! There is sediment in the water that slowly sinks to the bottom of the water tank and over the years has built up into quite a large amount of sludge. 

So we calculated the amount of Chlorine we would need to use for the disinfection, and the Municipality paid for it and told us to be careful, because the roof could collapse at any minute... 

Interior of Tank

It turns out they haven't been cleaning it because it was built in 1959 and it may or may not be structurally safe to clean. 

Once we emptied out the tank (which is 135 cubic meters, so that took some time), we discovered a large amount of brick that has fallen from the ceiling into the towns drinking water. But the most gross and time consuming part was emptying out the sludge that accumulated in the tank.

We emptied this stuff, bucket by bucket for about 3 hours. It was pretty smelly work. I stayed on the roof and helped haul up the muck, but there were three other guys who were in the tank shoveling the stuff up for quite some time.

I took a video of the process and have shown the mayor what happens if you do not clean out the reservoir regularly. I hope it will lead to a discussion about building a new tank, which they are in much need of.  

The dream team at the end of the days disinfection

That was the month of May in a nutshell. June has been just as busy, but I will write about that in the next post. 

¡Hasta Luego!