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.