My two year site!!

Today we found out where we will be living for the next two years!! My site is a small town called Huallanca in the state of Ancash!!! (the pronunciation of Huallanca is "¨why-an-ca") I am so excited that I will be living in beautiful, mountainous, picturesque, Ancash!!! BUT I am even more excited for the type of challenging work that awaits me in my future town according to my boss and the information about my town that I have been given. After being assigned our sites today, my boss came up to me and said "There is A LOT of work to be done with the youth in your site. We definitely gave you this site for a reason." Let me explain a little bit about what I have been told regarding the situation and needs of Huallanca and why they have decided to place a Peace Corps volunteer there to do youth development.  Huallanca has a population of about 4,000 people and 8,000 people including the surrounding communities. It is a town that has four near-by mines. There are many men who come from all over Peru to work in these mines which has caused some problems for Huallanca. When the men in the mines have time off, they often go down to spend a few days in Huallanca. While there, many men sleep with young girls who they've met for the first time, causing unwanted pregnancies for these young women who end up not even knowing who their baby daddy is. The teen pregnancy rate in Huallanca is extremely high.

There is another major problem in Huallanca for the youth: There are many families who work in farms surrounding Huallanca that send their children to live in Huallanca and rent rooms by themselves so that they can go to school. Instead of actually going to school like they are suppose to, many of the kids end up just fooling around and getting into drugs and alcohol since they are living on their own without any parents around. Even though the need is great, the Peace Corps has never placed a volunteer in this site partly because it is in an area bordering where the terrorist group "The shining path" use to be. They have wanted to put a volunteer in this area for years and are finally able to. Needless to say...I will have my work cut out for me! I will most likely be focusing my projects on working with young, single moms, pregnancy prevention and sexual education, women´s empowerment and self-esteem for young women, decreasing malnutrition rates for babies and young children, and so much more! Because there is so much work to be done in the site where I will be living, there will be a male volunteer going to my site as well. The town asked for a male and female volunteer to be able to work with and have a big influence and be a positive role model on both the boys and girls in Huallanta. 


I had asked my boss for a site that was very small, very rural, and very indigenous. Being a town of 4,000 people (8,000 people with the surrounding communities), Huallanca is not as small and rural as I initially wanted but I am truly SO EXCITED for the type of challenging work that awaits me and for the opportunity to try to make a difference in the young women´s lives who live in this town. Working with young, single mother´s and pregnant teens through women´s empowerment and trying to increase self-esteem for young girls is something that I am truly thrilled about doing! I know that Huallanca is where I am meant to be. Because of my personality and past experiences with at-risk youth, the Peace Corps staff placed me in the town of Huallanca for a reason. If I ever doubt myself or have hard days, I just need to remember that! When I move to Huallanca, I will be starting from scratch, especially since there has never been a Peace Corps volunteer in the area. I will be taking nothing and turning it into something. That is one of the many beauties of being a Peace Corps volunteer!

I get to visit my site in about two weeks! I can´t wait!!!

Here is the location of the state of Ancash (it is right above the state of Lima):