Thursday, January 29, 2009

Jan 29 El Augustino

Encuentros is located in the district of Lima called El Agustino. Lima, the capital of Peru, has been facing a rapid increase in population in the past seventy years, as millions of people from the provinces migrate to the capital in search of work and education. Lima has a population of 7, 800,00. El Agustino is one of the most impoverished districts of Lima, with a population of 167, 000. Only 59% of the inhabitants have running water, and 89% have electricity.

I have been doing a lot of home visits with the social workers and psychologists. El Agustino is very similar to the colonias of Cd.Juarez, where I lived for a while. Lima doesn´t get much rain, and so there is dirt and dust everywhere. At one of the homes yesterday I tried juice of maracuya-the national fruit of Peru.

I have discovered that the international language of adolescent boys is ¨Mumbish". Adding that to my still limited Spanish, I have many moments of misunderstanding.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Jan 25-Earrings

I am in love with Peruvian earrings. Danglies, jewels, seeds, silver, gold-everyone wears these wonderful thingies is their ears. I went to the Incan Market today. I bought a few pairs, athough there were thousands and thousands. They are all in Incan style. Some are so huge that they look painful, but still very pretty.

Friday, January 23, 2009

January 23 Catacombs, Cajones, and Baile









Today was the cultural day at Nexos, so I didn't go to work. In the morning we went to the Convento de San Francisco to see the famous catacombs. There were piles of bones everywhere. Back in the 1600's, no one took records of who the dead were, so they are not identified. It is forbidden to take photos inside, so I took a photo of a postcard.




The church also has a famous Peruvian version of the Last Supper painting. Although you can't really see it here, they are eating cuyi -Peruvian guinea pig.




In the afternoon we had lessons in the cajon-a box percussion instrument. That, I can handle. Afro-Peruvian dance? Beyond my abilities!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

January 19-20 First Day at Work

I finally have something more to report other than being a tourist. I have officially started my internship with Encuentros, the juvenile restorative justice project,which is a project of Terre des Hommes, a Swiss based NGO. This position was arranged through Nexos Voluntarios, the Peruvian volunteer connecting agency that also arranges my housing and support system.

I live in Miraflores, one fo the most upscale parts of Lima. Encuentros is in another district of Lima, about 1 hr away by bus.

Encuentros has a goal to reduce juvenile crime and rehabilitate juvenile offenders through its restorative justice program, an alternative to the existing Peruvian juvenile justice process. Encuentros has three teams: the victim's advocates, the immediate defense of the adolescent offender, and the accompaniement and education of the adolescent offender. Whenever a juvenile 14-17 is arrested, the police contact Encuentros and the Immediate Defense team hops into action. A lawyer and a psycologist and/or social worker go the holding cell to interview the teen to see what happened and ensure he or she is not being abused. The team will follow the case for about two weeks to see if the teen wants to go to the traditional route or be involved with Encuentros. If he does,then the second team becomes involved to formulate a plan for him. It will involve some sort of community service and mediation with the victim, if desired, as well as social services, education, and counseling.

I will be spending a week with each team to understand their work before deciding with which team I will be most involved. Today I toured the holding cells for juveniles, and while they are nothing fancy are certainly better than the adult cells, which are horrible. Then I went to the Victim's Services department of the police. Later I went on a home visit with a social worker.

Encuentros has 12 staff: lawyers, psychologists, counseloers, social workers and admin. I understand 95% of everything that is said except when they are all talking at once. I like all of them. The immediate defense team spent the last half hour of work today explaining all the differnet fruits that I will get to eat here.

In other news, I have tried coca leaf tea, and was disappointed not to feel the "energy" it is supposed to give. I saw cerviche for the first time day, and even if I ate fish, it did not look appetizing. Ceviche, the raw fish dish, is the most famous dish of Peru, but it looked....pasty.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Park of love


January 17-18 Miraflores

I spent most of the weekend walking around Miraflores. I ate lunch both days at a chifa, which is Peruvian Chinese food. The fried rice with mushrooms was quite tasty.

Sundays in Miraflores, most folks stroll around the central park, eating ice cream. There are many friendly police dogs and even friendly police officers, one of whom volunteered to take a picture of me with his Rottweiler, Junior. The police officer assured me that it was burning hot, but I was slightly chilled from the breeze.

I went to the Park of Love, overlooking the beach. The visitors to the park do its name justice. Even though I had been warned that the beach here is polluted, many locals did not seem to mind. I think next time I will join them, as soon as I learn how to get to the beach. I could only get to the high cliffs.

Friday, January 16, 2009

January 15-16-Arriving in Miraflores, Lima,Peru

I arrived late last night in Lima. I feel a bit like a refugee-arriving late at night, being picked up by a stranger( although of course i was carrying more than the usual IOM bag), taken to an apartment and being shown how to turn on the water and which keys were which. My host family consists of Sra. Clara and her daughter Roxana, a med student. There is also another student living here, Duan from China. I think I shocked him when I spoke to him in Mandarin.

Apparently the instructions on how to work the hot water didn't sink in, because I had a cold, quick shower this morning before Billi, the admin assistant from Nexos Voluntarios, picked me up and showed me how to get to the Nevo house. She gave me a walking tour of Miraflores, the pretty area in Lima in which I now reside. Later my Spanish teacher Veronica took me on a bus tour to Mt. San Cristobal, the highest point in Lima. Nevos is the volunteer matching agency that placed me with my internship site, Terre des Hommes. I will start with them on Monday in their juvenile restorative justice program.

I met the only other current volunteer, Sofia from Germany. She is half-Peruvian, as well. Apparently next week she and I will take lessons on playing the cajon, a big wooden box that I image is similar to a drum. Every week I will have a cultural activity along with Spanish classes.

Sra. Clara cooked me a lovely dinner of various vegetables that I can't identify, rice, and sopa de semolina. She has decided that the whole family will now be vegetarian. I am not sure how Duan will fell about that!

I don't know what I will do this weekend, other than walk around. I didn't have my camera with me today, so no pictures yet.