Venturing out on my own...

Today I decided to take a little trip on my own. I don't feel comfortable with my Spanish yet, but there's only one way to improve it, practice. I've found that it's acutally easier to speak to strangers in Spanish then it is to the people that see my on a more regular basis. Maybe it's just my pride.

So I walked down the street passed the church and took a little walk down the beach. I've never seen so many couples holding hands, and many of the women had roses that the men had purchased them.

I walked around for a couple of hours, ordered some lunch, and checked out some new stores.

It's amazing how tired I get here. Probably because I'm trying to learn a new language, and my little brain just doesn't handle it well. On the bright side, in four days, I can already tell that my vocabulary is expanding. Hopefully, the next time we speak, I'll be able to do more than just speak simple sentences!

Warning: Non-Peruvian Post "Lies, damn lies, and population control..."

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=14730

I thought this article was fascinating. I bought a book a few months ago entitled, The End of Poverty. This book was purchased because I thought I could learn a few things about erradicating poverty before coming to Peru. One of the main theses of the book was that by reducing the birthrate in developing countries, we can increase their economic prosperity. This could only be accomplished through the use of artificial birth control and abortion on demand.

The book went on to describe how families with fewer children could spend more time working and educating themselves to become more "productive" in the workforce.

While families with fewer commitments do have more time to educate themselves, there are serious consequences to this approach, many of which were predicted by Pope Paul VI in his Encyclical Humanae Vitae (On Human Life).
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html

1. Higher divorce rates
2. Increased domestic abuse
3. Lowerr birth rates
4. Increased unwanted pregnancies
5. Earlier sex and with more partners
6. Increased abortions

A prophetic excerpt from 1968:

Consequences of Artificial Methods
17. Responsible men can become more
deeply convinced of the truth of the doctrine laid down by the Church on this
issue if they reflect on the consequences of methods and plans for artificial
birth control. Let them first consider how easily this course of action could
open wide the way for marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral
standards. Not much experience is needed to be fully aware of human weakness and
to understand that human beings—and especially the young, who are so exposed to
temptation—need incentives to keep the moral law, and it is an evil thing to
make it easy for them to break that law. Another effect that gives cause for
alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may
forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and
emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the
satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom
he should surround with care and affection.

Finally, careful consideration should be given to the danger of this
power passing into the hands of those public authorities who care little for the
precepts of the moral law. Who will blame a government which in its attempt to
resolve the problems affecting an entire country resorts to the same measures as
are regarded as lawful by married people in the solution of a particular family
difficulty? Who will prevent public authorities from favoring those
contraceptive methods which they consider more effective? Should they regard
this as necessary, they may even impose their use on everyone. It could well
happen, therefore, that when people, either individually or in family or social
life, experience the inherent difficulties of the divine law and are determined
to avoid them, they may give into the hands of public authorities the power to
intervene in the most personal and intimate responsibility of husband and wife.

It seems counter-intuitive to think that something created to eliminate unwanted pregnancies and give more "control" over our bodies, has actually given us less control. What was the rationale of the Supreme Court for legalizing abortion? Since we have legalized birth control, we must offer a "safety net" when "the pill" fails.

Some may read this and note that we have almost 7 billion people in this world, and well, we need population control because we don't have the natural rescources to take care of all these people. Well, that is a real concern, but it's not entirely true! If you have read the book, Made to Stick, you are aware that certain urban legends somehow become viral and spread, regardless of their validity. For instance, humans actually use more than 10% of our brains. If we used only 10%, then brain damage wouldn't be as difficult to overcome.

I encourage those of you who would like to learn more about population control, and the objective approach to figuring out how we can value human life AND live sustainably, to check out this website: http://www.pop.org/

Peru Bus Accident

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/01/10/peru.bus.crash/index.html

The stories of me in this bus are grossly exaggerated. It's deffinitely a sad story, but based off of my experience with Peruvian drivers, I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often.

Many of the people here do not learn how to drive like we do when we have a learner's permit. Instead, they buy a car and essentially just start driving. They have to pass a "test" to get a license, but I doubt it's anything like we take.

The most concerning manuever I've seen so far occured when we were at stop light, and when the light turned green, everybody that wanted to turn left, just started going, even down the wrong side of the street. This continued until oncoming traffic decided it was their turn!

The Shanty Towns

So I got my first look at what real poverty is today. The people that live in paloma have no where else to live. They have built their homes on mounds of sand, have basically no education, little food, and no health care. These are not lazy people, in fact, they are extremely hard working and creative with their work. They are very good handicraftsmen!





Water is a huge problem here. They actually don't ever get rain. Don't believe me? Look at the expensive equipment that was donated that they leave outside. There's no threat of rain. They will even leave stacks of paper outside!



I was also able to visit the CLM's clinics. They were incredibly impressive. Unlike in the US, they treat the entire person. All doctors and nurses must be trained to understand the human person as God sees them. What this means is that they don't just treat symptoms, but they treat the person, nurture their soul, and help them to see themself in the big picture of God's creation.

One of the most impactful places in the clinic was the pregnancy crises center. While Peru is a very Catholic country, there are so many people that have no Catholic formation. There just aren't enough workers in the field here to teach and form them. As a result, there's a good of women that get pregnant out of wedlock, and because they're poor they can't afford to have medical care. In response, the CLM set up this pregnancy center.

The pregnancy center teaches the mother at a very early stage about the sanctity of life, explains what's going on, and helps them to understand what an amazing gift this is. Legally, they must inform the women of all their options, and while abortion is illegal here, it is not very difficult to find a private doctor who will perform one illegally. Some women even come to the clinic after a private doctor has recommended an abortion. I'll share one story that I heard today about such an instance:

A woman two years ago went to the state hospital after discovering her pregnancy. She was examined and informed that her baby would not survive birth and encouraged her to abort the child. She was very uncertain as to what to do and by a recommendation from a friend, came to the CLM clinic. They took her in, provided a medical exam, and confirmed that the child would have a complicated birth, but also lovingly taught the mother about the beauty of every life, even a life they may not survive long.

After 7 months, the mother decided to have the child. She had a daughter that survived 3 days, was baptised and named Guadelupe. She asked the doctor and the nurse to be the God-parents and absolutey fell in love with her little girl. Even though the child only lived for 3 days, she praised God for the opportunity to have this child and 2 years later explained that if she had the abortion and later discovered all she knows now, she would have never been able to live with herself. She's now a huge advocate of the clinic!

Other services provided by the clinic is a daycare facility. The purpose is twofold. First, to provide the children with early Catechesis. Second, to give the parents a safe and productive place to leave their children to attend work. I asked if the children begin exclipsing their parents knoweldge, and sure enough they do, but the CLM also provides classes for parents so they can support their children during their development.

Finally, the clinic also provides psychological support for children and their parents. This is a place where parents can bring their children (or vis versa) and have sessions with a psychologist to find out why a child is acting up. They also teach children how to appropriate communicate and express themselves, again with the understanding of what the human person is in God's Creation.

The children I met were extremely well behaved and happy. It was amazing as to how simple this operation was, yet creative and effective! My first thought was: Boy, we could use this in the United States!!

Day 3

Which one of these families is more successful? The one with 3 stories...

You can tell how successful a family is based on how many stories the house has. In this neighborhood, a house is built with one story, and as time goes on and the family acquires more money, they build up.

The shanty town that I may be working at on Saturday's. The people that live here essentially have built their community on sand. The poorer you are, the higher up the mountain you live. The CLM build stairs for them so they could walk up more easily. Also, the CLM provides an amazing array of services to take care of these people. I will document more about these services later.

I hope I don't have to drive in this place. This is not an accident, it's a normal "merge." Shortly after I took this picture, we zoomed by these cars and headed straight.

A few things I miss...

So at my going away party, I was asked what I thought I would miss most. I had no idea at the time, but after a few days, let me give you a quick top 5 list:

1) Stop Lights
First, I miss the fact that people actually use them in the U.S. Second, I miss that they actually exist there. There are almost 9 million people in Lima, it's a huge city, but there are very few lights! Instead of lights, people make "U Turns" all over the place. There are sections of the median that open up and cars fight there way into traffic and make a "U Turn" and then a right to get where they are going. Doesn't seem to safe.

2) Warm/hot showers
It's summer here and people are very hot, but the temperature is only in the high 70s or low 80s. So of course they're not going to have the hot water heater on. Which means showers with very, very cold water. I didn't realize how much I enjoyed hot showers!

3) Taller People
It seems strange, but it's true. Think about it for a moment: my spanish stinks, I'm still wearing American clothes, and I'm the tallest person around. So much for trying to fit in!

4) Confidence in what I'm saying
I don't claim to have the best english vocabulary, but I'd say it's above average. It's very humbling to go from having a lot of confidence in what you're saying to absolutely none. Is something "facil" or "defacil"? No se!

5) Cell phone
This is a mixed bag. I absolutely love the fact that I haven't had a functioning cell phone for the last few days, but I am totally screwed if I get lost or something happens to me, but don't worry Mom, I'll have a local cell phone on Monday!

5.5) My family/friends
This goes without saying, but if I don't put it in here nobody will ever read this blog again! I miss you guys!

Day 2

Me at dinner...Gringo Grande!

I stand about 8-12" above these people!

The Cathedral of Lima

Yes, that's 4 people in the back of a cab!

My apartment/work

The courtyard

Sr. Thomas' neighborhood.

Today was a very interesting day. I worked on some more fundraising activities for CNA and went to lunch down the street with some of my colleagues. We ate at this very quaint little cafe. I ordered an absolutely delicious club like sandwich. What made this sandwich so good was actually kind of strage. Instead of putting normal fresh spinach on it, they put cooked spinach and it was amazing! I also ordered an orange/strawberry juice. It took a while for it to show up, but when it did, I realized why: they made their own juices there! It was delicious! I finished up lunch with freshly made cheesecake with real strawberry sauce.

I finally had the opportunity to change my American dollars into Nuevo Sols today. A Peruvian who didn't speak any english took me to the bank. We had an interesting time trying to communicate, but we got through it. We took a tiny bus to the bank.

So let me first say, I'm a GIANT here! I have yet to see someone 6' tall, let alone taller than me. I am on average 8-12" taller than people on the street! So imagine me in a tiny bus, in rush hour, standing up. Needless-to-say my neck really hurts! Too bad I didn't get a picture of it, because it must have been a sight to see!

Tonight we went to El Centro (aka downtown). At some good ole' American type roasted chicken, and we had to have our Coca Cola as well. I continue to struggle with my intake of desserts (I had 2!). The first was before dinner, it's a Peruvian dessert that was made with some type of custard and rice, doesn't sound so great but it was. I also finished dinner with some gelato.

I'm beat, it's almost mid-night and I need to be up tomorrow to visit one of the poorest parts of Lima....Buenos Noche

Some Pictures from Day 1

All this food ended up costing us less than $30 with drinks...also our 20 minute cab ride was $4...

Checking out my new Apartment

I've arrived in Peru! It is very similar to what I thought it would be. The people are very nice. The city is very densly populated, you can tell they've had economic prosperity in the last few years because there are some very new, upper class apartments/condos near where I am staying, but also some cold war era type buildings. I'm sharing an apartment above ACI Prensa (The Catholic News Agency of South America). The building is guarded by a 10 ft wall that has an electrified wire at the top. There is a guard that protects the building during the day, and all the doors lock with a key behind you. It seems just a building the "A Team" would be breaking into! The building is a maze of narrow hallways and stairways. There are random doors and little rooms all over the place. Traveling up to the second floor, you will find my room, but first, you walk through a small 8x10 living room, then into my roommates room, then a door off to the left is where you enter my room. It's larger than I expected, maybe 12x14. I have a desk, a small closet and a single sized bed. To get to the bathroom, you must exit my room and walk through my roommate's room to enter it. Inside you will see 2 showers on the right, and 2 toilets on the left. The toilets are right next to each other with no divider. Hmmmmm....That's not going to happen! This afternoon in went with my roommate to lunch. We took a 20 minute cab ride that cost only $4. After that ride, there's no way I would want to drive my own car in this country. Just think about those movies where utter chaos is happening on the streets. Cars running red lights, people selling things on the street walking all around with no fear of cars, congested traffic, and huge buses trying to manuever like a Mini!

We met some of Jose's friends in Chinatown. There we ate a huge meal! I'm talking like 3 course with enough food to feed 8 people. I thought there's no way 4 of us are going to eat this! They also introduced me to "Inca Kola." They told me it tastes like bubble gum, and sure enough it did. It wasn't something I would volunteer to drink again with Chinese food, but it was interesting! They also ordered me some type of margarita like drink that was made from grapes. It was delicious! The entire meal, 4 big plates, drinks for all four of us, and appetizers only costed us about $28 with tip!

I've set up shop in the office downstairs and my first assignment is to do some research for the agency!

The Plane Ride to Peru

On the plane, I had some very interesting thoughts as I was filling out my customs paperwork. Simple questions became very complex:

What is your occupation?
-Good question. Am I unemployed? Does missionary count? Is that what I am? Hmmm...Supervisor feels safe...

What is your nationality?
-American?

Why are you traveling to Peru?
-Tourist? Business? Health? Visiting friends/family? All of the above and none of the above?

What is your Peruvian address?
-Another good question. Not sure?

How long will you be staying?
-So simple, but really complex. One year sounds good.

So, something simple that should have taken 5 minutes to fill out took me about 30 minutes. I went from a super safe, comfortable world to a world where simple questions became super challenging. Luckily the Peruvian woman on the plane next to me decided to ask me what time it was.

Simple question with a simple answer. Yet, I froze and just showed her my watch. It was my first chance to speak Spanish, and all I could do was point to my watch. After about 5 minutes, I got up the courage to begin speaking to her in Spanish to redeem myself. We talked for about in hour in broken Spanish/English. Interestingly enough, her English was worse than my Spanish so neither of us felt uncomfortable fumbling through our dialogue.

Surprisingly, we learned quite a bit about each other, our families, our jobs, why we were traveling. It certainly gave me a boost of confidence to begin speaking with a little more courage. She ended up asking me for my email address so that we could be in contact in Peru. I affectionately called her mi madre de Peru.

She also assisted me through customs and finally through the baggage claim area. I gave her a kiss goodbye and met Alejandro outside customs.