I Can Identify Elephants

I have never seen an elephant before in my life. Well, I’ve never seen an elephant  in person before (but I have been to the zoo), but I’ve seen pictures in biology text books, read articles in National Geographic, and seen TV shows involving elephants in some way.  So much, that I dare say I can identify one in a picture or in real life if the opportunity so arose.

In fact, I bet that if you’re reading this you are easily imagining an elephant right now; with long ears, the big nose, thick grey leathery skin (or pink if you’ve been drinking), possibly rolling on top of some kind of circus ball.  

But not everyone can readily identify an elephant. 

And to be fair, it’s odd that I know a lot about elephants even though I’ve never really studied them, and that none live or roam anywhere I’ve ever been in the world.  But I realized today that identifying elephants is not the easiest task in the world, especially if you’ve never seen an elephant.

imadouche

I was a douche to a Peruvian the other day.  Not that I’m not a douche on other days (gringo, Peruvian or other), but this time it was under no fault of the Peruvian.  You see Hugo was at the health post the same time I was. It was late on a Friday afternoon:  I was at the health post for the health promoter meeting, and he was there for reasons unknown to me.  I had never seen him before and didn’t know who he was or why he was at the post.  And Hugo didn’t do a single thing wrong.  In fact, he was nice to me.  He asked me where I was from, what I was doing at the health post and  if I liked Peru and the food, etc.  And that’s why I was a douche….

     
But let me explain myself….

Buying Wood

I remember a while ago, during a presentation on his field work in Nicaragua, a certain professor mentioned that you shouldn’t expect to get more than two things done during the day while in Managua. 

I thought about that as I rode the bus home today around 4pm, after a long and drawn out journey to buy wood and tin sheets for bathrooms.

You see, buying wood (or anything) isn’t as easy as walking into Home Depot, loading it into a cart and then packing it up into the SUV (although Sodimac, a South American hardware store, bears an eerie resemblance to Home Depot right down to the signage).  Nope.  First off, in small towns it’s hard impossible to get wood.  Long pieces of 2x4s are coveted more than precious metals.  And you just can’t go to a carpintero (carpenter). Why?  They only work with wood, not sell it. Duh!  So instead, I had to journey out to the regional capital just to get wood for some simple door frames.

I'll give you a play by play of my day, the journey to get wood (heh)….

Your Best Resource

About this time two years ago, I (yes, I, faithful readers) was scouring the interwebs for blogs from current volunteers about what it was like living in Peru, living in rural areas, and what volunteers DID.   In the process, I remember stumbling over one blog that gave me a little fright.  It was a WATSAN volunteer’s blog, and he wrote about doing survey work to improve a waterlines (or something along the theme) in the community. Survey work? Sounds like engineering!  Fuck.  I look on the dude’s profile, and he’s a Master’s International Student in Engineering and has a giant beard. I qualified for WATSAN with skills as a carpenter in a college theatre and mediocre Spanish grades. I am neither an engineer nor a facial hair grower.  How am I going to survive in Peru (a fear reverberated by most other volunteers, especially sans beard)?

(First off) Well, two years later I gotta say – it didn’t matter that I wasn’t an engineer. My job (and most Peace Corps jobs) didn’t require being engineer but rather just being a leader.  Being a leader in the community and knowing how to talk to people.  So when I didn’t know something and I hit a wall.  I did have some good resources.

I’ll let you in on a little hint: your best resource is….

Donate for PCWiki & PCJournals + Blog Roll

So Peace Corps Journals and Peace Corps Wiki is going slow due to budgetary problems (no such thing as a free lunch).  If you can, I highly suggest donating to them. They’re run by a group of RPCVs and not supported by Peace Corps nor the National Peace Corps Association, so they count on donor support. I’ve chatted with Will Dickinson (RPCV Armenia 2004-2006) a few times via email, and he’s a pretty solid dude.

If Peace Corps Wikis eased your fears during the application process or PC Journals helped you figure out a bit more about the life of a PCV, then consider a donation.  Hell, I donated $10 and I’m a current PCV.  I’m sure you can spare some change as well.

So in the mean time, here’s a quick blog role of a few key posts, by current Peru PCVs:

• Alex writes about the strain of Peruvian public meetings and mixed priorities
• Win talks about the how difficult the 3s’s, a cherished American male tradition, are to accomplish in-country
• Kelsey writes about encountering subtly and unsubtle sexism in-site, even alongside her PCV husband
• Luke writes about the powers of facial hair
• Annie writes about the ups and downs of a volunteer

So What’s Been Going on with the Bathroom Project

When people would ask me in January about my project, I would go on and on about the wonders of dry bathrooms and how they're a great solution to rural sanitation projects (which they are), and about how we had the support of the local government and it was going to be great! My old high school raised about $3000 to contribute to the project, families were all progressing on their hygiene practices, it was great! I was on the fast track and looking  to complete the construction of 22 bathroom units by late June, and possibly run another bathroom campaign. 

That was then.

Now when my host family asks me 'Que tal el proyecto?', I tell them I really don't want to talk about it.   What's happened?

How do you pack for two years of your life?

This is the wrong question to ask yourself when packing for Peace Corps - whatever country. Although you’re going away for two years, you don’t need to pack for it.  You could walk onto the plane with a carry-on and be set. Seriously.

Why?  Well, people live where you’re going.  You’re not going to live out in the middle of nowhere, and this is not a camping trip.  You may be living in rough conditions, maybe without light or running water, but never the less people live there and have for generations, and will continue to after you leave. People buy and make clothes, wash themselves, wash their homes, sleep, wash their clothes, make their own food, and do pretty much everything else that you do. It might be a little different but that’s why you signed up, right?