The First Week

Our first week working with the women was short but sweet. We arrived at,what I think, was the best possible time; a week before the two old (and first ever) volunteers left. We would have had a week to work with them and the women, see how they worked and what techniques they used but, Peruvian strikes did not work in our favor.

Monday we helped the old volunteers give out English assessment tests to see what the women had learned and what they needed more work on. Because the women are so used to working in a group (not necesarily in our group, but in life in Peru in general) we had to phyisiscally separate them and do a one-on-one administration of the tests to make sure that we really knew what each woman knew, as opposed to what the women and their neighbors knew together. What we discovered was that there was a wide range of comprehension but that, in general, numbers and colors were easire than clothing items (and forget about congugating verbs). Wefound out later that the old volunteers had worked extensively on numbers and colors, so there is no surprise there. We then spent some time chatting with the women as they knitted their wares.

Tuesday and Wednesday were national strikes protesting the rising cost of living through oil and food. Thousands of people marched in the streets, made rock barricades in the roads so that transoprtation couldnt pass and burnt tires, and thats in the sleepy little town of Urubamba. People from all surrounding parts of the Sacred Valley filtered into Urubamba and ended up in the tiny town square, outside of the church, where giant speekers were set up. And then the best part happened: leaders of all communities, including a large ammount of women, gave speeches. They sounded very moving, whith rounds of applauseand dramatic pauses, but I couldnt tell because...they were all in Quecha! It was so moving to hear these people speak their grievences in their first language and take power into there own hands. Of course, because I´m a protest junkey, I stuck around and did catch a few of the chants, some of which were really quite clever:

Theres the clasic: El pueblo, unido, jamas sera vencido
(The people, united, will never lose)

And then some new ones for me: El pueblo, escucha, uno cada lucha
(People, listen, all for one)

El pueblo en las calles por culpa del gobierno
(The people in the street by fault of the government)

Aqui, alla, el paro es total
(Here, there, the strikeis everywhere)

La costa, la selva, la teirra, el paro es total
(The coast, the jungle, the plains, the strike is everywhere)

I especially like the last one because it highlights Peru´s vast array of climates, peoples and regions. And that was really what there was in the strike: People dressed in Western clothes mingled with men and women in traditional outfits from all over. And what united them was a desire for change expressed through a language that, years ago, a colonial government had decided wasn´t up to standards.

Which brings me to something else (although by no means a chronological something else). I´m working on switching the daily classes I take from Spanish to Quecha. Some of you might think this is hasty, but I really want to be able to communicate with these women in their own language and, if I do say so myself, my Spanish is pretty good (although no where near perfict).

So, the strike left Thursday and Friday for work. Thursday we worked with the women on their views for their organization, Durazno Ti´kay. When we fianlly hammered the goals out, we had the basis of a mission statement, a huge acomplishment. We then took the ideas home and made them sound nice. So (drumroll please) here´s the recently created mission statement of Durazno Ti´kay:

´The Durazno Ti´kay mission is to improve the economic situation of the women in the group while providing friendship and support to one another and facilitating the exploration of new cultures and ideas.´

I really think this mission hits on the true purpose of the group. Namely that it´s not just a business but a place women can go to meet other women, socialize and share problems and joys. Also, through it´s connection to ProPeru, it brings in volunteers from far away lands. Given that these women have never left Peru, have often never left the Sacred Valley, this cultural exchange is extremely valuable.

Friday was the last day of the first volunteers time. They had both been there for a month, since the inception of the group, so it was a very emotional departure. The women made a delicious stew, chiche (traditional beer mythically, although not actually, fermented by saliva) and a tradition juice. There was dancing and singing , in English, Quiche and Spanish, and general merriment. It was a great fiesta.

And that wrapped up my week. A generally good end, with premoniotions of even better things to come.

Next installment, my past weekend

And, a promised, a little Quecha for you all at home (phonetically written because,as we all know, spelling in any language is not a strong point for me and the computer does not have Quecha spellcheck):

No´qu muna tikki: I love you