late peruvians

i love peru. the people are great (most of the time), the food is great, and things are always interesting. but i don't like lateness and i guess tonight i get a taste of my own medicine. i know that i haven't always been the most on-time of people and tonight i have to admit that it sucks. and the even more suckier thing is that there is probably a lot more of it to come.

basically, i was supposed to have a training session with two artisans that i am going to bring to lima for the peace corps artisan fair (this group makes some really cool chairs, mirrors, couch-type set-ups, etc.). they are 24- and 20-years-old and i guess the positive is that they are young enough that i can teach them to not keep me waiting!

the session was supposed to start at 6pm in the comedor. at 6.30pm i walked over to their taller and one of them was in the house and the other was in the taller or workshop. i asked them what the deal was, and they asked me if just alex (yes, one of their names is alex) could attend. i said no, that they should both come. we then settled to meet up at 9.00pm at the comedor.

i was at the comedor at 9pm en punto y nada... at 9.30pm i left the comedor to come back to my house. i'll deal with them tomorrow.

update: setbacks

just got back from the house of the artisans that i want to take to lima for the peace corps fair and i've somehow convinced them to come. crossing my fingers that everything works out!

setbacks

just got back from the house of a family of artisans i was working with. i was going to take them to the peace corps artisan fair in lima at the beginning of november. we were going to begin preparation for the feria on wednesday. i arrived and they told me that they couldn't go -- that they had just received an order that they had to have ready in 5 weeks and that they wouldn't have time. based on my calculations, they will be making 1.350 soles which is not a small sum. but the sad thing is that they are going to be working extremely hard for a month just to give the product to someone else who will be re-selling the product for two times the price she will have bought it for. i tried explaining to them that they have to be the ones selling their product to the final consumer but they are older and have little formal education and just don't get it. it's unfortunate and i am not giving up just yet, but it was hard news to hear. i was really excited about working with them but a little bit nervous about their lack of education. looks like i've got to look for some other artisans to take to the fair!

ngo slackers

was walking around town earlier today with my ngo coleague when she mentioned to me how one of the guys she works with wasn't really pulling his weight. i.e. pushing his own responsibilities onto her, facebooking the day away, not giving her credit for work she did, etc. sound familiar? interesting to note that this kind of stuff doesn't just happen in investment banks.

its so interesting to me. never have i been so motivated to get things done in my life. earlier today, walking to the taller or workshop of some artisans i am working with, i realized that 2 years is not a lot of time. i've already been here for a month! 2 years is going to go by like that. i see the work i've done so far and i think there is a lot of potential to get things done. the only thing left to do is get the people i'm working with to be as excited as i am to get stuff done.

on that note, yesterday walking home from the medical post, i stopped by the taller of another artisan i'm working with. the last volunteer here in grocio prado got an artisan fair project going with some of the artisans on the block I live on. she left and the project died more or less. i talked to one of the artisans yesterday and he sounded like he wanted to get it going again. so i told him to talk to some of the arisans that were involved in the project. looks like he did! they ended up forming (or mejor dicho are in the process of forming) a new association. i'm going to try to get them ready for an artisan fair that will be going on for a little more than a week for the fiestas de Chincha in october. wish me luck!

buen fin de semana a todos!

reality check

it is becoming increasingly clear that here in grocio prado/chincha "social conscience" doesn't translate so well...

a full

it's amazing. i remember sitting in an office on the 35th floor of 181 w. madison in chicago basically dreaming about what it would be like. and i'm here! thanks to so many people (they know who they are) who helped me. and every day i am learning un montón about what it's like to live in a developing country. from walking into a home furnished with a laptop and flat screen tv with a floor made of tierra to learning about why the artisans here don't like working with each other. from what i gather so far, most things come down to confianza or trust.

got some cool things in the works, including a pen pal program involving a bilingual school in dc and the local colegio here in grocio prado, an artisan fair project, an artisan association project, and seemingly an endless array of other opportunities. every day i am learning something new about myself, about the people of grocio prado, and about the world. sometimes things seem like they are lost as in when on a survey i gave today to about 200 high school students here almost all responded SÍ when asked whether they like reading when some couldn't even spell simple Spanish words. and then i remember i have two years here.

so much to do...

knock on every door

you really never know what you'll find behind the next door you knock on. on several occasions i've gone out walking with some business cards, my notebook, pen, and some surveys in an effort to introduce myself to my community. i can't tell you how many times i've really not wanted to knock on a door. maybe there is a dog barking on a roof, maybe the place looks deserted, or really dirty. whatever. sometimes i just don't want to. and then i think about whether i have a good reason not to knock on the door. and most of the time, i don't. so i knock.

here in grocio prado, women for the most part have been marginalized in that they are the designated amas de casa. they take care of the kids, cook, and knit artesanías when they have some spare time. few have more than a high school education. however, most of the artesans are women. and so it occurred to me as a bit strange that their artisan association, and basically everyone in control of the artisan community, is headed by men.

i've been looking for a female artisan with an education to serve as an example. to be the face of the female artisans. something like that. today i was walking, hungry for lunch when i passed by what looked like a kindergarden or pre-school. i'm a business volunteer, but i am in the process of getting to know my community and so i decided to introduce myself. it turns out that the teacher of the kindergarden is a young 20 something female with knowledge of how to use the computer. not counting my chickens before they hatch but she could be someone good to work with.

one month

i've been here in grocio prado for a month now -- i can't believe how quickly it has passed by. basically getting to know the community. every day waking up, going out and just chatting with people. trying to get the lay of the land before i start my projects. i've got to say that back when i applied, i thought it was going to be easier. i had this vision that i was going to come into my site and change things right away. here in grocio i'm confronted with behaviors that have been passed on generation to generation and a way of life people are used to. as a gringo, the first thing people assume about me is that i have money. i'm here to give people things. peace corps is about giving people the tools they need to provide for themselves, without having to rely on hand-outs on others. and so i say no -- that i have no money to give but that i'm willing to give my time and do the best i can to teach people everything i know that can be of use to them.

one of the first things i realized upon arriving to grocio prado is that it is a town of artisans. very very talented artisans who have learned their craft from their parents who learned from their parents and so on and so forth. tremendous talent. but a lack of business know-how. that is where i come in. my job is to teach people with little formal education how they can make more money and salir de la pobreza.

grocio prado, just like any other area in the world is complex. and so getting to know it takes time, it takes sitting down and talking to people, having conversations, asking questions, taking chances, and looking in all nooks and corners. if you asked me tonight what i'm going to do tomorrow, i'd be hard-pressed to tell you exactly what i'm going to do. that is pretty much the story day-to-day. generally, i have a loose plan as to what i am going to do -- but that plan quickly changes.