Que Estoy?

September 09, 2010

All right, big breath- the last 72 hours have been difficult, emotionally exhausting, physically draining and a whole lot of tears have been spilled. Jumping into Peru is more difficult than I thought, actually a whole lot more & naively so. Three days ago I was sitting down to a nice hot breakfast with three very important people saying my goodbyes & now I am smack dab in the middle of the Peruvian desert, having a very limited ability of the language, an abundance of emotional breakdowns, no internet, a finicky phone connection and of course many wonderful Peruvian people.

I have already had so many experiences here and on the way I don’t know where to start! I wish I could record them all because at times the lost in translation moments would have you all falling off your chairs in hysterics. Well firstly, Wednesday afternoon I made my way to Pearson International because I have been lucky enough to receive a grant from CIDA for the Student’s for Development Program. (You might have to remind me in a bit that I am LUCKY okay?) This grant allows students in University all over Ontario to spend a minimum of 90 days in a developing country where there are current projects happening. I am here in Pueblo Nuevo, Chincha Alta Peru.

Pueblo Nuevo was hit very badly in a 2007 earthquake and is still suffering from the aftermath. I have never seen such poverty in my life- I have never experienced this kind of poverty first hand & I think getting used to this way of life is one of the most difficult things. While away in Nicaragua I saw poverty, but I didn’t live it & honestly I only saw it on a few occasions that were really like excursions. This is different. This is now my temporary home with my temporary family. While here I will be working at a local school that the parish looks after called Fe y Alegria (faith & joy) I will start work here on Monday, allowing myself a few days to get used to my surroundings & flush out all of the sudden bursts of emotion- and I will tell you, Brother Blaise has given me a few handkerchiefs to assist in this quest.