SJ Notes from Perú: August 2011

(written approximately 5 days after the departure of Rebekah)

Bachelordom in a foreign land hit me pretty hard.

When I was a bachelor back in MN in, having my own home gave me sort of a homemaker´s instinct, and gave me a basis for an established, routine, well kept life. And here in Peru, despite the lack of a fully-ours home, Rebekah was with me. Each of us cared for each other, and in doing so also cared for ourselves. If I made her food, I made me food. I fussed over her eating vegetables and fruit, and then I ate even more than she did. She would suggest that I go to sleep, and then she would also.

But in the first days of her absence, the combination of the absence of those caring mechanisms, when combined with the general newlywed loneliness shock, did a real number on me. I found myself staying up till 3:30 and 4:30 in the morning, consuming nothing but soda crackers, cake, water and Inca Kola. Yesterday I even bought and drank an entire liter of whole chocolate milk, which was bad because I´m somewhat lactose intolerant. I think the only healthy habits I maintained were brushing my teeth and taking my vitamins.

I have to admit that I think part of the reason for my behavior was not merely the shock and loneliness, but also me being amused by all the bachelordom, amused by my terrible self-care, and by my obviously deluded imaginations of nutritional invulnerability. But when last night I started to feel myself getting sick, (foreboding pangs in ear, nose, and throat) I decided it was time to shape up. I made myself ramen with vegetables and an egg (hey, it´s at least 2 steps improved…) and called Rebekah. Still rather amused by myself, I confessed my behavior through a series of chuckles, but then sincerely asked her to tell me to take care of myself.

She of course was very worried. She reminded me that if this is what happens when we´re apart, it will make her worry about me terribly any time I go on a business/fundraising/family visiting trip or anything of that sort in the future. She told me to “eat the food pyramid!”, as I have told her (and my Anselmo cousins) on various occasions. I remembered that I actually do believe that my body is a temple, not an amusing “see-how-mush-trashing-it-can-take” toy, and felt kind of sad, not so amused anymore.

So although I still stayed up pretty late last night (we forgot to call and check in like we said we would), I had another veggie and protein filled brunch, so I´d say things are on the mend.

Cool times at Wiñarisum!

Jeffrey

Crazy bachelor lifestyle did little to diminish the coolness of working down here with the forming Wiñarisum crew. The visit of Jeffrey Rathlef, who is Director of Community-Based Service and Learning at Gustavus, and my good friend mentor in the area of international collaboration, proved to be very rich and fruitful. Jeffrey is interested in placing Gustavus students in health-related volunteer/shadowing internships in Cusco, and is very committed to partnering with Wiñarisum as one of the sites and co-educators for these internships. In fact, when he brought us to meet with Jean-Jacques, an anthropologist and the director of the volunteer agency Gustavus will be working with, Jean-Jacques said he was impressed with Wiñarisum and wanted to meet with us separately to plan a wider partnership between our organizations.

But apart from the Gustavus volunteer connection, Jeffrey is very interested in the organization itself. After talking with Adolfo and I (not to mention after two years of talking with me about Friends of Belenpampa and then Wiñarisum), Jeffrey officially agreed to be a board member, and was the first to sign and stamp his thumbprint in the Padron de Asociados(Book of Associates/Members). The stamping of the thumb is very fun, and feels so official and serious! Just before his flight, the three of us went out to lunch, and he and Adolfo totally hit it off, blazing in Spanish (Jeffrey´s wife is an Argentinian and they only speak Spanish) about Latin American politics, culture, militaries, nonprofits, you name it. As I sat there nearly as a bystander, I realized that I am definitely looking forward to the years to come of these two fellows sharing work and space.

Ricardo and Rosmery

Two nights ago we had a first meeting with two other potential board members to talk about the organization and how they saw themselves fitting in. Both are longtime friends and colleagues of Adolfo. By the end of the night, we had four more signatures (myself and Adolfo included) in the Padron de Asociados, and many special moments shared. Ricardo Guillén, a systems engineer who has worked with a number of nonprofits (and whose brother, I believe, is a nonprofit lawyer), agreed to be Presidente (in U.S. terms, the board chair) and Rosmery Solaligue, who has worked with a nonprofit with activities similar to our own, agreed to be Secretary. I will be vice president, and Adolfo, who will be executive director of the organization, will be a normal voting member of the board. (as will Jeffrey)

A gathering that had at first seemed dry and formal became much more powerful when the Peruvians at the table started talking about why they want to be involved. Each voiced their frustration with how after years of trying to improve from the inside the government health system they´re working in, they have seen so little change. They are all truly chomping at the bit to start working “lo mas rapido posible" – as soon as possible – on improving the health system from the outside, through the work of Wiñarisum. Adolfo said, (and later helped me transcribe) “El día de hoy se inicia el término de nuestros años de frustraciones en salud, trabajando sin mejoramiento…” (Today begins the end of our years of frustrations in health, working without seeing improvements…)

2 months earlier, just before I left for Peru, Adolfo had cried some (“me emocioné”) when we finally put together a tentative spreadsheet of the core team who would be working together. “It´s finally going to be real…” he had said. Part of what makes driving change from within the ministry of health so hard is the red tape, another part is disorganization, another is lack of funds, and another is corruption. Organizing outside of the ministry of health but alongside it allows us the freedom to do what needs to be done, but we are committed to work not to replace or fill in for government services but instead to improve them.

The important thing is that there is now team of highly invested Peruvians ready to embark on this work. 2 years ago today, Friends of Belenpampa was a team of highly well-intentioned foreigners, excited for what was to come, unaware that our distance and business was about to make us largely useless. Highly invested Peruvians MUST be the core of this kind of work. Highly well intentioned foreigners can at best support them.

In general here, things have not advanced at the pace I would have liked. But if you think about it, that´s a good thing. Because if they had, it would have meant either that I was doing everything myself (BAD) or that Peruvians were forsaking their existing lives and responsibilities to work at a pace I demand (WORSE). So although I occasionally go crazy wanting things to go faster, I would say that I am very happy with progress here at Wiñarisum.

I don´t have Rebekah´s list of useful Spanish phrases, but I do have a couple of my own favorites, specifically Perú flavored.

~Daniel

HIGHLY PERUVIAN TRANSIT-RELATED PHRASES

Prevent a taxi driver from charging too much:

¿Me ves con cara de gringo? -- (literally: You see me with the face of a gringo?) What, do you think I’m a gringo or something?

Yo soy más peruano(a) que la papa a la huancaína! -- I am more Peruvian than potatoes with huancaína! (a typical pepper and cheese sauce).

Yo soy más peruano(a) que pisco sour. – I am more Peruvian than pisco sour. (a typical beverage of white wine, citrus, rum, and egg whites. Very yummy. Like a Margarita with some richness to it. This expression is actually an affront to Chile, which also claims to be the inventor of pisco sour)

Indicate that you are experiencing difficulty navigating:

Yo estoy más perdido(a) que huevo en ceviche. – I am more lost than an egg in ceviche (a dish of raw fish chemically cooked in cold citrus juice… quite delicious, and definitely does not include eggs.)