"The Forgotten Neighborhood"

I recently started working in a neighborhood that´s about a 20 minute walk outside of the downtown area of Huallanca. It is the most poverty stricken neighborhood in Huallanca yet for some reason I just figured that out. Since I´ve started working there I have talked to many families and teachers and they all say that their neighborhood is “el barrio olvidado” (the forgotten neighborhood) which may be why I just discovered this neighborhood.  It seems like even though this is the poorest neighborhood, they get the least attention from the government and local social programs as though people want to ignore the problems and act like the poverty there doesn´t exsist.

Separating the town of Huallanca from this neighborhood is where one of the mines stores all its electrical power and there is a quarter of a mile squared fenced off area that is full of electrical wires and machines that produce electricity that gets sent to the mine (I am sure there is a name for this in English but I can´t remember). It almost seems that this big electrical area was placed there to separate the poorest neighborhood from the rest of the town…Huallanca is an interesting little pueblo: Because of all the mines there is a huge wealth disparity gap. The families that work for the mines all have a ton of money and the families that don´t work for the mines have very little.

I wanted to started working in the school (they only have an elementary school) in this “forgotten neighborhood” because I eventually want to start an after school program for the students there where they can receive help with their homework, get  the attention that they need, spend some time improving their reading,  and eat a healthy snack. I see a need for this type of program there because in this area most of the parents are illiterate and therefore cannot help their children with their homework. 

What does a child do when they need help on their homework but their parents are illiterate and are not able to help them? The children suffer and have low literacy levels themselves.  Many of these children are not getting the attention they need at home because their parents have to spend long days working in their potato farms or caring for the farm animals. When the time comes to pick the potatoes the kids also often have to miss school to help their parents work long days in the fields. A lot of the students at this school have to walk at least an hour to get to class because they live way out of town on farms. Some of them don´t even end up going to high school due to many barriers such as living so far away, having lower literacy levels, and having to work to help support their families. 

I love working with these adorable at the school in the “forgotten neighborhood” :) Since they live more in the country side, most of them are pretty shy but so precious and adorable. Right now I am teaching some classes there to gain confidence of the children, teachers, and families so that eventually I can hopefully start a big project such as an after school program there. 

The school.

Another part of the school.

A snapshot in the neighborhood.

My adorable students!

I think this school might have the cutest kids in Huallanca :)

Playing games outside :)

Camp Alma: Girl’s Empowerment Camp

As a child growing up something that I always really enjoyed and looked forward to were summer camps. Going to camp was always a fun time to stay somewhere new, make new friends, learn new things, and do lots of fun activities. I know a lot of American kids who are privileged to go to some kind of camp and have a blast. For Peruvian kids, going to camp is something that most kids have never heard of. Because of the cost, camp is not something that really happens here in Peru. A Peace Corps tradition for volunteers in Peru is to put on a youth leadership/self-esteem camp once a year for the youth in our communities. This past weekend the PC volunteers in Ancash put on a girl’s empowerment camp in which we each got to bring two girls from our schools. I was fortunate enough to get to bring three girls because there was an extra spot open :)

The theme of this year’s camp was “Super Women” and for three days and two nights we taught the girls how to be strong and powerful women. About thirty girls in total from our different communities came and had an amazing and fun time while learned many valuables things that they will hopefully all take to heart.

A few highlights: We did art projects, brought in a panel of professions to tell the girls about their careers, we taught the girls sexual education and condom use, we tie-dyed pillow cases, played team building games with them, had smores by the campfire at night (which is a total American tradition so it was their first time having smores!), and most importantly we built relationships with them and they formed strong bonds between one another. It was a beautiful weekend and it was amazing to see so many girls get a chance at this kind of experience.

Here are a few photos of highlights from the weekend :)

Arriving to Huaraz after the 4 hour bus ride from our small town.

One of the first things we did at camp was play team building games so that the girls could get to know each other.

I loved seeing them having so much fun together :)

The "trust fall" game.

A art & self-esteem project.

Leading a yoga session :)

We taught the girl's how to correctly use condoms and then we had a race where they had to put the condoms on the bananas! There is a huge lack of sex ed in Peru which is one of the reasons why there is such a high teen pregnancy rate. 

During the scavenger hunt!

Tie-dying pillow cases

Me with my beautiful girls of Huallanca. I brought three girls and my site mate brought two.

First time ever eating smores!

Another art and self esteem project

Our panel of female professions. They talked to the girl's about their career  and field of study.

As always thanks to the beautiful area where we live the views were stunning :)

Handing out certificates for completing camp. My girls rocked and I am so proud of them!

My girls and I with their certificates.

The theme of the camp was "super women" because we taught them how to be strong and powerful women.

When we first arrived to the camp, the girls from my town barley knew each other so they arrived basically as strangers and left as close friends because of all the bonding time they had together during camp :)

Easter break in Ayacucho!

Since Peru is a big Catholic country, pretty much everyone gets a 4 day long break leading up to Easter week, including Peace Corps Volunteers :) The week leading up to Easter is called semana santa (holy week).There is a city in the mountains of Peru called Ayacucho where they have the second biggest holy week celebration in the world (the first biggest celebration is in Sevilla, Spain). So for holy week, I headed to Ayacucho with a bunch of Peace Corps friends to see what the excitement was all about :) We were not disappointed! 

Ayacucho is a city of about 150,000 people located in the Southern Andes of Peru. Apart from the week leading up to Easter, Ayacucho sees very few tourist which gives it a true Sierra feel that is much more pure and un-westernized. 

The main plaza. 

The main plaza. 

The first tourist thing we did was go visit the memorial at the Pampa de Ayacucho where a battle was fought in 1824 in which 5,400 Peruvian patriots overcame 8,200 Spanish to end Spanish colonial rule and lead Peru to their independence. Qué viva Perú!!!

The memorial for the battle that was fought and won leading to Peru's independence from Spain. 

We also visited some beautiful ruins of the ancient Incan Wari tribe:

We visited a small town outside of Ayacucho called "Quinua". This town has a tradition of putting small ceramic churches or animals on their roofs to bring them blessings and good fortune. Literally every house in this small town has a small ceramic house on their roof! It was adorable! :)

The ceramic houses on the roof, a tradition of the small town of Quinua!

We got to eat some of the traditional food of Ayacucho. This is a photo of a dish called "Puca Picante"which is basically fried pork, rice, and potatoes in some kind of sauce. Peru takes a lot of pride in it's food and the traditional dishes of each area of Peru is a very important part of the culture!

Puca Picante, the traditional dish of Ayacucho.

We walked to the top of a hill to get a beautiful view of Ayacucho and to eat some more traditional food:

Since holy week is a catholic celebration, their were a lot of religious processions. There were countless procession but one I thought was particularly interesting was when they marched around carrying a coffin with a statue of Jesus' dead body inside. Before the main processions began, it is a tradition to paint the streets with beautiful artwork:

Street art in preparation for the processions. 

They worked on the street painting almost all day.

One of the many processions. 

Peruvians LOVE to dance and parade around.

And now for my favorite part of the trip...running with the bulls! Or running from the bulls depending on how you want to look at it. Basically thousands upon thousand of people wait in the street during this day for 7 bulls to be released into the streets and then people "run" with the bulls and try not to die. This is an old tradition that comes from Spain and the Peruvians just love it. Almost everyone buys a red "pascua toro" (easter bull) shirt to wear during this day.

Needless to say it was a very intersting cultural experience as we waited in the streets for them to release the bulls and to run with the bulls. There was a ton of things going on that day as thousands of people were hanging out in the streets. It was a very fun day and even though some of us got robbed because there were so many people in the streets, we all survived the wild bulls.

Ready for the bulls with our red!

Releasing the first bull!

So many people in the streets!!

Meeting them in the plaza :)

My friends who know me all know that I am a huge Latina at heart and that I love the music down here, especially reggaeton. For a white girl, my obsession with Latin music is pretty intense so naturally I would run into one of my favorite reggaeton bands "Nene Plaza" in the plaza :) I hung out with them for a while and then they invited me and some friends to get in free to their concert that night! We even got to hang out with them before and after the show which included leaving in their tour van together as we were mobbed by screaming teenage fans. They were really fun guys and it was definitely quite an experience for us to get to hang out with Latin American celebrities all night and get in free (front row!!) to their concert!

At their concert! 

Getting pizza together afterwards :)

The famous "Yay Jesus has risen from the dead pyramid".

Leaving the church at 5 am for all to see. 

The end of all the holy week celebrations is the big "paseo de Jesús resucitado" aka a big pyramid made of wax which is suppose to represent Jesus rising from the dead. The work on the pyramid all day and then "release" it at 5am to take it for a little stroll around the plaza for all to see. Yes, thousands of people really stay up all night until 5am to see this and so did we. We were exhausted after a day of running with the bulls int the strong sierra sun but it's tradition to stay up until 5am to see this so we did it. They had fireworks going off all night and tons of people were waiting around outside of the plaza.

On our last day in Ayacucho before heading back we visited some of the Artisans markets. My favorite thing was a textile market that had a little museum showing how people weave things like blankets, bags, rugs, etc. The museum even showed what plants they grow to dye the materials for weaving and how they dye it. It was beautiful and felt great to support a local business that actually makes their own products by hand with all organic materials. 

How they dye the materials for weaving.

A weaving machine.

They create beautiful works of art like this! 

My favorite Quechua saying which means "Don't steal, don't lie, don't be lazy". They are the "3 Quechua laws". 

And that concludes my amazing and culturally insightful vacation for "semana santa"! Come visit me in Peru and let's go to Ayacucho!! :)