As promised, a substantive post

As I was walking back from a three-course, $2 dinner, I noticed - as I have many times in this city - that the streets were clean and there were no beggars, no homeless people, mostly just people bustling around and greeting each other. The town I live in, in Peru, is quite small and people really do seem to all know each other. In any case, what I find interesting is the begging situation. How is it that in one of Peru's poorest regions, on a typical weekday walking through the streets, I don't have anyone ask me for money? It does happen on occasion, but it's the exception, not the rule. I am an incredibly obvious "gringa" (foreigner) as a 6'1" female with dirty-blonde hair amongst an ocean of 5'0" Peruvians, which usually leads me to be targeted by every type of vendor, beggar, and vagabond I cross paths with. But not here.

Since that struck me as very strange, I mentioned it in passing to my landlord. He said that, and I don't know how this began to be arranged in the first place, people here only beg on Saturdays! The citizens all know this, and in preparation bring extra bread to their bakeries and coins in their pockets to provide to the extremely elderly or disabled people who are the only ones that do not work in these parts. More incredible still is that people work here until they literally cannot do so anymore. I have seen 70-year-old women carrying huge sacks of [insert staple carbohydrate here] all over the city, uphill in 9,000 foot altitude like it was nothing. And in Cuzco I saw porters carrying 150 pound bags on their backs up tremendous mountains [14,000 feet] that I could hardly handle as a healthy 25-year-old carrying no extra weight at all. All this while they were wearing flip flops and sporting any number of toe fungi on their sparsely covered feet.

My point in relaying all this is that many of the people I observe here have an incredible, admirable will to survive. I assume most of them have never been handed anything easily in their whole lives. You'll seldom hear that the government isn't providing them enough or that their parents are to blame ... they just grin and bear their crosses. They make it happen for themselves, and I think Americans have a lot to learn from that attitude (and I'm no exception). There also seems to be quite a sense of camaraderie here, at least in the wider community sense. Though there are massive problems at the household level in terms of domestic violence, but that's another tale for another day.

For now, I welcome your comments. I'm off to prepare for tomorrow - we'll be pleading with the local university to allow its psychology, social work, and childhood education students to volunteer their time at the prison where I volunteer. Wish us luck!

Besos,

Jamie

Life in Prison i.e. Why did I start this blog?

Hi Readers,

I've never been terribly keen on taking part in the digital 'revolution' that my generation is undergoing. I waited years to start a facebook account (granted, I now use this several times a day), a gmail account, and I'm still not on board with twitter. However, as I have recently started updating the blog for the organization I'm volunteering with, I have had my eyes opened to the value of sharing thoughts and experiences with one's peers - in both a professional and personal sense.

I believe we can (and should) learn from each others' opinions and experiences. If there is anything that nearly 20 years of formal education has taught me, it's that there is always someone who knows more than me. Therefore I will be leaving this blog open to comments, though I ask that those of you who wish to comment remain level-headed in agreeing or disagreeing with myself or others who might comment. I don't want this to turn ugly.

In terms of content - I intend to write both about my personal life, my periodic [hopefully interesting] experiences, and often how that all ties in to my professional life - mostly involving the study of poverty, policies (foreign and domestic), and reality on-the-ground. Right now my professional life happens to be taking place inside a prison in a small town in Peru, where I've been working with women and children to help lead them to better futures. I hope my experiences shared through this blog will enrich someone's life, make someone think twice, or at the very least provide some mild entertainment.

So, when I get back from the lovely Peruvian meal I'm about to enjoy, I will write some actual content.

Besos!