UNIR Peru!

Things are well under way here in Peru; we are working hard to get a youth mentoring program in full swing before we leave. The name we have chosen for the project in UNIR, which means "to unite" in Spanish, with the play on "uni" for "universidad" since we will be partnering with the university. This is the proposal for our program so far:

UNIR
Soñar en Grande

(PS this is just the English version of the project proposals we are giving out)

Problem:
There is a low percentage of students in the Sechura area that persue higher education. This is partly due to a lack of exposure to the idea that university education is available and attainable. Education empowers individuals to improve their quality of life and can lead to stronger families and communities.

Goals:
Short Term- Provide mentors or role models for young students to inspire in them the desire to earn a higher education and to introduce children to the reality of receiving a university education.
Long Term- Empower individuals and families to change their station in life, improving the standard of living in the community.

Strategy:
Organize university students to commute to Vice once a week to mentor students for 1-2 hours. University students will be paried with 1-3 children in the fifth or sixth grade of primary school. University students will help with homework, encourage education, instill values, and build relationships with the children.

Sustainability Plan:
In order to make a difference, the program will need to continue through the years. To do this, we hope to work with a small group of dedicated university professors that can keep the project going. To encourage university student involvement, we are working to set up a program where the participating university students will receive a certificate from the university and a resolution from the Municipality for their service.


So this is the proposal for the project. We have begun to work with the National University of Piura, and have met several times with students there. The student we are in closest contact with helped to organize an engineering career fair in that area last year, so it gives me hope that we will be able to find students willing and able to participate in the program. We also heard from him that the university is trying to set up a service office to help the students become more involved in the community, kind of like the Y-Serve office at BYU. Things seem to be falling into place! We are holding a meeting with univrsity students next Wednesday- with the students we have already talked to and their friends, and we will be working to publicize the meeting on Monday and Tuesday by handing out flyers, so hopefully we will get a decent turnout!

I am still waiting to hear back from the NGO´s we are trying to work with for the Soilets. Unfortunately, this is just the culture in Peru. Most things take a lot of time to get accomplished because people here are often late, and tend to cancel meetings at the last second. Things just always seem to hinder quick progress here. For example, yesterday and today there has been a huge strike by the farmers, so all of the public transportation out of Piura has been closed down because roads are being blockaded. We have kind of been stranded here, so progress on this particular project has been slow.

Another project that some girls have been working on involves soccer. Girls soccer in Piura has been somewhat shut down in recent years because of a falling out with the national league, but the girls team at the National University of Piura is extremely talented. Because of the conflict,  girls soccer is often overlooked here despite their talent. Since many of the girls here volunteering from the U.S. have played soccer their whole lives, they have decided to start a project to make the people more aware of the Peruvian girls´ talent. As white people, we are celebrities here in Piura. Wolf whistles and curious gazes follow us wherever we go. So, we with the encouragement of local soccer coaches here, we have set up a day when we will play the university team at the stadium. The plan is to advertise a ton, and to raise money and increase awareness. It will be really cool.

Unfortunately, soccer needs five players, and there are only four girls here who played soccer in highschool, so I will be the fifth player! Don´t get me wrong, I would love to improve at soccer, and I have been playing a lot since I got here, but I am nowhere close to the skill level of the other girls! Haha I guess what I lack in skill, I slightly make up for with hard work, though, because they tell me I´m actually not bad. Its really humbling, though, because I know I will be the worst player out there, playing in front of a large group of people, so I will definitely have to practice and work my heart out!!!! I´m absolutely terrified, but at least it will be exciting!

In other news, here are some classic Peruvian experiences that I have had:

-Everyone really does yell "hello" and stare, and choruses of "gringas, gringas, gringas!" follow us everywhere, as well as wolf whistles galore. Its funny, because people try to yell at us in English, but since we are all trying to work on our Spanish, we answer in Spanish. Its an interesting role reversal.

-One morning when we woke up, things were floating away on a couple inches of water that flooded the top level of our house where me and three other girls sleep. We scooped bowls- yes, it was deep enough to use BOWLS- full of water off the floor for over an hour. Luckily, though, the water had overflowed from our water tank, not the toilet!

-We went to an institute dance here (not everyone is LDS in our group, but 11 out of 13 are, and everyone decided to go). Literally EVERYONE was staring at us and FILMING us with their phones!! Don´t be surprised if I am now a star on youtube. I guess they thought we looked insane- a huge group of gringos dancing way too energetically to their strange mix of American pop, 70s, and 80s music, and Latino music. (Why they randomly listen to our 70s and 80s music, I have no idea, but I often hear "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" in random places.)

-I can never get used to cold showers- it just seems unnatural!

-Why in the world do we have to throw toilet paper in the garbage instead of the toilet??

-Everyone is about a foot shorter than me, I think.

-I ate goat my first day here.

-I am having withdrawals from the shocking lack of peanut butter here. I could also really use some pizza. The food here is great, though! Lots and lots of rice. And if you aren´t sure what something is before you eat it, its most likely going to be potatoes. They seem to pop up out of nowhere at every meal!

-Transportation is crazy! There are no lanes, no speed limits, and no seat belts unless you are in the front. One time, in a three wheeled mototaxi, a huge bus suddenly swerved into our lane and came straight at us! Our driver swerved off the road and started muttering what were probably Spanish swear words. It was exciting!

-I didn´t know it was possible to be both dustier AND more humid than Utah, but somehow Piura combines those two lovely qualities.

-I accidentally told some guys I love myself when I was trying to tell them I love basketball. ("Me encanto basquetbol.") It took me a second to realize what they were laughing at, but when I did, I was pretty embarrased. That is one of my greatest frustrations here- the language barrier. I just want to be able to talk to people, but I can´t! I am learning a ton, though, so hopefully by the end of my time here I will be able to say things that don´t make people start to laugh.

-The amount of littered trash everywhere shocks me, and the army of stray dogs that use it for food makes my heart hurt.

-We live in the top two stories of a little yellow house. The bottom floor is a little tienda owned by a family of 5. The parents, Mary Carmen and Pedro (I now know about 7,000 Pedros), and their three children Moises, Marcos, and Ismael, are the cutest little Peruvian family! We play soccer together in the dirt street in front of our house, Mary attempts to teach us how to Latin Dance and is extremely patient and great at speaking Spanish in a way that is more understandable to us, we help Mary with cleaning and with her kids when we have spare time, and a couple weekends ago we all went to the beach together. They are fantastic!

In closing, I just want to share the theme I chose for myself this summer to help me stay focused on what is really important. Its Mosiah 2:15-17:

"Yet my brethren, I have not done these things that I might boast, neither do I tell these things that thereby I might accuse you, but I tell you these things that ye may know that I can answer a clear conscience before God this day. Behold, I say unto you that because I said unto you that I have spent my days in your service, I do not desire to brag, for I have only been in the service of God. And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."

As long as I am humble and remain focused on the people here, and how I can serve them with the Lord´s help, I know that at least I will be a better person because of it. Even if I don´t really make a difference in anyone´s life, I know that they can make a difference in mine, and that by giving everything I have, I will improve as a child of God. An unknown person said "Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn." I have taken that to heart this summer, and I am going to do everything within my power to serve, or at least establish a habit of charity in my own life.

I hope everyone is doing well, and I would love to hear from you all via email at melaeaster@msn.com.

Have a great week!

Melanie

PS Sorry I am having a bit of trouble uploading pictures because of the poor computer quality here. I will try my best to post some as soon as possible!