Hello Everyone!

Sorry it’s taken so long to update you, but things have been moving at a generally Peruvian pace.  On Monday, I took Leonel back to the clinic and we bought his hearing aid! On the doctor’s recommendation, he’s only using one at the moment, and only at school, where the teachers can keep an eye on him as he gets used to wearing it.

Last night, I went for dinner (roast guinea pig) at his house, which is about a 20 minute walk from the nearest town. With his whole family, we went through how to use and care for the hearing aids, and different activities they can to with him to help develop his speech.

This week, we also found out that due to a new government policy starting in March 2012, all children with hearing difficulties must be enrolled in regular schools, meaning that we supported him just in time. I’m sure it will still be somewhat overwhelming for him at the beginning, but without these hearing aids he would really have been completely lost, entering a first grade classroom still unable to speak, hear or sign. 

Leonel has been amazing about having the hearing aid in. He’s taking good care of it, taking the batteries out and storing it everyday after school. He gives me a huge smile and points to his ear every time I come visit, so proud that he’s keeping it safe. His mom says that he’s become more vocal, even when he’s at home. Over the Christmas holidays he’s going to take the hearing aid home for the first time and his whole family has committed to making sure he uses it and stores it properly.  They’re all very curious about you, this faraway group of people who have come together to provide something so important to their family. I always tell them how lucky I am, to know so many amazing people in so many places, and they of course agree.

To keep this email to a manageable size, I’ve included here just one photo, of Leonel and I at the clinic. He’s holding up the accessories and batteries that go with the hearing aid.  

I’m still working on finding him a qualified speech therapist for January. Thanks to your generosity, there is money to pay for this and a year’s worth of hearing aid batteries! I’ve worked out a system with his mom, where she will buy them and we will subsidize half the cost, because I want her and the family to be involved, as they are ultimately responsible for their son. In any case, this means that the money will be used over the next 2 years. 

I’ll keep sending updates as he progresses. As always, muchas, muchas gracias y Feliz Navidad!

- Julia

Our lovely doctor fitting the hearing aid.

All ready to go.

Leonel

A huge thank you to all who have supported Leonel! We went today to test the hearing aids, and I heard him make words for the first time. Even better, his mom got to hear her son say "mama" for the first time.   We now have enough money to pay for the hearing aids and a few months of batteries, and they should be ready to pick up next week. Otra vez gracias! I feel so lucky to know people to willing to help. Love to you all, and more updates to come shortly.  

usted no tiene salda suficiente....

The last month of work has been a hectic mix of phone calls, trips, meetings, excel spreadsheets and more meetings. At times I've been exhausted and frustrated, but the mere fact that I can make phone calls, set up and attend meetings and just sort of generally deal with things, independently and in Spanish, makes me happy beyond reason. Recharging my cell every 3 days is a pain, but having my days full of conversations and meetings is amazing. I go to the municipality. I go to schools. I go to community assemblies. I go to chicherias to talk to community presidents about their switch to organic agriculture. I like it.

The project that I was previously doing surveys for in Yanahuara has hit a major block, in that we lost the donation that was going to supplement the crops grown by the school with other food needed to constitute healthy school lunches. On a personal level, this broke my heart a little bit, as I had been spending so much time in the community and wanted to badly to be able to build with them something concrete.To maintain good relations and also because we love working there, Yasmine and I offered to run a little camp for the kids at the end of school, something fun for them and for us. The school loved the idea, and also asked us to teach some English, so all this week Yasmine and I spent full days at the school playing english Bingo and Simon Says. I have friends from Korea to thank for a slightly less gruesome modification of Hangman (where a poor guy falls off a cliff, slowly descending into the jaws of a waiting alligator) which was the week's hit. 

As to the issue of school lunches, I had been trying for a week to contact the manager at one of Urubamba's most expensive hotels, to follow up on a co-worker's meetings and see if the hotel could help us out with monthly donations of food. On Thursday I finally just went to the hotel, and after fifteen minutes of discussion with the security officer, was led towards her office. Our meeting was brief, but she agreed that the hotel could help and told me to come back in January, after consulting our nutritionist, with a list of the foods needed and she would supply them. Success! 

Lady troubles.

Today, November 9th, is the official Day of Urubamba. The central plaza was taken over by children who marched around the square, school by school, over the long and hot midday hours. The side streets were filled by benches and women selling food and chicha (a fermented corn alcohol) from tinny pots. Yasmine and I were determined to get through a cup each but opted for the variety fermented with strawberries, hoping it would cut the almost starchy taste. We sat down on a bench and had a chat with one of the many adorable senior men I have met in Peru. He opened the conversation by asking me for the time, but 3 beers and some conversation later, admitted it was just a ploy to open up the conversation. Aww.

Unfortunately, the amiable grandfather demographic was soon dwarfed by the drunken and middle-aged. We quite literally got swarmed by men, offering us more beer and letting the odd hand fall on a thigh or knee, or move to brush hair away from our eyes. One of them, not the most but also not the least aggressive, was someone we work with frequently. Typical women, Yasmine and I both tend to get angrier in defence of each other than in defence of ourselves, but eventually we agreed we had to ditch.

Later we discussed where we had gone wrong, and agreed that in the future we would have to be more assertive. For me its hard, especially as a foreigner, to be mean to people, and the line between returning a polite hello and seeming open to advances sometimes doesn't exist. I love random conversations, I love being outside, and I hate the idea that we can only stop for a drink if Dave is with us. I'm sure that in Canada my gender mediates my behaviour in all sorts of ways, but here I have to continuosly and consciously remind myself of my status as a señorita, and a foreign (and therefore easy) one at that.

In some ways it makes my job easier, like when we do surveys our gender may encourage women to feel more comfortable inviting us into their homes. Mostly, though, its a hassle, and one that my Canadian upbringing and education hasn't really equipped me to deal with.... a fact I'm grateful for, when I stop to consider.

Swing.

Our intention this morning was, like yesterday, to wake up at 6 am and be in the community around 7 to catch people before they left for the fields. Unfortunately (or very fortunately?) Wednesday night is the most happening party night in Urubamba (mostly because everyone leaves for Cusco on the weekends) so we decided we owed it to ourselves to hit Club Tequila. 


We didn't end up leaving the house until 8 this morning, and had a frustrating time trying to track down the people we needed for our surveys. The sun was boiling, and the faint red undertone I've been sporting recently upgraded to a light burn. We trudged from house to house, Yasmine taking charge of brandishing rocks at dogs, with little success. Just when we were ready to give up we found a house with a beautiful front garden, and stopped to tell the owner how lovely it was even though he wasn't eligible for our survey (no kids in the elementary school). He invited us in and before I knew it I was being pushed on a home made rope swing beside a duck pond. We laughed like kids, partly because swinging is an awesome activity and partly because we couldn't believe the whimsical turn our day had taken. 

Doing these surveys with Yasmine has really been a gift. We go when we think we can find the most people, we make our own schedule based on our flimsy understanding of the village layout, and we get to do things like play with babies and help women strip down thin branches for basket weaving. We get offered food, and always have a beautifully woven blanket spread out over rocks or stools before we sit down. Now when we arrive in the morning we exchange greetings and kisses and waves with the people who allowed us (strangers) into their homes just the day before. When we say goodbye we promise to see them at this Saturday's general assembly, and when they tell us how delicious the peaches will be in January, I can say I'll be around to taste them.

gameface.

I had an off day on Thursday. It was my job to buy entrance tickets for Machu Picchu, and instead of strolling 10 minutes from the Plaza to the station I got lost and ended up scrambling along rocks between the river and the train tracks for almost an hour. I finally emerged at the back of the station through a thicket of brambles, much to the surprise of both passengers and crew. Tickets purchased, I got back on the bus to Urubamba, met Yasmine for coffee and was finished with lunch before I realized that somewhere after buying the tickets my wallet had disappeared, taking with it my rent money, the cash for Machu Picchu and my reserve fund of US dollars, not to mention my driver's licence, SIN card, 2 debit cards, 3 credit cards and Canadian citizenship card. Plus, I really liked that wallet. I bought it in Hong Kong, for full price while Aaron wasn't looking.

I spent friday morning alternating between crying on the phone with my mom and calling to cancel cards. Luckily Ana arrived that night, and we put our gamefaces on and left for Aguas Calientes. Machu Picchu is probably the only thing that could have successfully taken my mind off how screwed I am, and I'm grateful for it. There's something comforting about ruins, especially when they look like this:

Sound the alarm.

I looked over at Yasmine and seriously considered making a medium funny joke about how she should, in true Yasmine style, be taking pictures of us looking exhausted and frazzled in the early hours of the morning. The atmosphere in the car was tense, though, and I figured that if the mudslides did turn into a tragedy I would regret saying anything, so I kept quiet along with everyone else as we drove towards Ollantaytambo and away from the overflowing lagoon. In the front seat were Yovana, her son Joel and her partner Luis. When we arrived in Ollantay Maricarmen, our director, begged them to stay with us in the hotel but Yovis just laughed, said goodnight and drove back to Urubamba.

We stayed in a nice hotel and at around 3am, as we were listlessly sitting around the room wondering if we should go to bed, Yasmine snapped a couple of photos and we all laughed. Everything is really fine in Urubamba, though the river is gushing with unusually brown and silty water and a few streets have traces of mud and small debris. Although she is staying here, Mari is worried about more rain and more mud, and the legal issues associated with injured foreigners. She was so upset last night that I buckled to social pressure and said yes when she asked us to please stay in Cusco for couple of days, even though I think it's unnecessary.  In a few hours, then, we will head to higher ground and spend a few days eating tourist homefoods and lazing around coffee shops while every other Urubambian goes about their daily lives with slightly damp feet.