Potable Water Project Moving Right Along

Cool kids learned thumbs up from a Jackie Chan movie.



The chief mason Senor Juan and his brother break ground for the cistern.



Principal Niko, Profesora Betty, and Student Body President Kike roll the rooftop water tank into the school yard.



The cement and rebar truck came and everyone helped unload. It was so heavy that the truck got in the door of the school okay, but after it was unloaded it was like 10 inches taller so it couldn't get back out under the low entry way. So all the adult neighbors and the folks walking by climbed up into the bed to weigh it down so they could drive the truck back out!



Before! Professora Betty and Principal Niko collect water in trash cans and big aluminum pots.


We're making good progress on installing the potable water in Rinconada Elementary. We have the cement tank and we're working on attaching all of the pipes and electrical stuff once the cement hardens. It needs to sit for a week or so.

Nuptuials a la Peruana

Last night my dear friends Tessa and Manuel got married! Tessa came to Peace Corps with me and in October, a mere 8 months ago, met Manuel at her town's anniversary celebration. She lives in this teeny tiny town in the mountains and Manuel was there doing his year of rural service as a doctor, required of all Peruvian medical grads. It was a privilege to be there to celebrate with them.

Condors in Colca Canyon

Check out this link to a video that I took of the condors in Colca Canyon! This image has really stayed with me. These birds are so beautiful. It's weird they're basically just enormous buzzards that float around on updrafts all day, but they're also majestic dinosaurs. It was a breathtaking experience. Today I'm planning my classes for the jail. The goal of the administration is really to develop self esteem and leadership skills and I have great materials for that. However, the guy in charge to the technical programs told me that the inmates learn all these carpentry and artisan skills but lack business management skills, so he asked if could I teach some business stuff. I of course said sure. I'm now supposed to combine the two, which in theory is really a good idea... In theory. Now I'm just freaking out that business is not something that I actually know anything about. In the words of Homer Simpson, "Doh." I think I'm going to do a class on double entry bookkeeping, which is easy enough to figure out from a book and two more sessions on writing a business plan, which I'm hoping is also easy enough to figure out from a book. Hopefully, my limited business skills can still be helpful. Eeek.

I can't feel my face! Or why Aaron Groth should be your babysitter.

Here's an article that I wrote with my buddy Aaron for our volunteer newsletter, Pasa la Voz.


3,700 meters is ridiculously high and frankly, just existing up there will really set you back, much less hiking around and climbing rocks. But, we’re hardcore. We hike, we camp, and we do so while living better through chemistry. So, when a troupe of Peru 8ers (those of us who arrived together in Sept. 2006) decided to do up Peruvian independence day 2007 at the Way Inn Lodge above Huaraz and the truly hardcore decided to don crampons and hammer their ice picks into the top of Ishinca, we called up the Peace Corps docs, Jorge and Suni to usurp the soroche (altitude sickness) with those magical altitude pills everyone talks about. After all, Ishinca is at 5,550 m, definitely up in a space where the air is thin enough that us costal folk are sloshed on one Cuzqueña beer and even the mountain dwellers among us are breathing extra hard.

The Peru 8 contingent has since learned that the magic pills, packaged by the Peace Corps office in the ubiquitous brown paper bag with Your Name in magic marker, in fact have a proper name, acetomephaline. We’re hardcore. We’re not fine print people. What directions? We get a pill, we take it and we call it a day. Sitting around the Way Inn at dinner no one noticed Aaron watching the storm clouds cover the glaciers of the Cordillera Blanca while carefully cutting his pill in two with his pocket knife. We just assumed he was sitting over there sipping scotch and spacing out. We chowed down on an approximation of gringo granola natural foods store fare, hung out on the front porch telling lies, and then with a budding headache bid all good night and turned in.

Most of us slept down in a charming room often referred to as “the cave” that night. The two gringo friends of Melissa whimpered from their down comforters, “Can anyone hear me? I can’t feel my legs.” “Anybody? I cannot feel the area between my shins and thighs.” Meanwhile I was just hoping that they would shut up because my ears were ringing so loudly that I thought my alarm clock was going off. Every word just made the ringing louder and the pain behind my eyeballs more excruciating. Not being able to feel my legs or hands was the least of my problems.

Meanwhile, in a tent outside snug in his zero degree sleeping bag, Aaron prepared for hibernation. Kevin and Brian soon followed and commented on their general state of wellbeing.

Brian: I cannot feel my face. No really, my face, I can’t feel it.
Kevin: S#@! I can’t feel my face either!
Brian: I can’t take it any more.

Aaron’s not sure what Brian did when he couldn’t take it anymore, because he fell right to sleep. Aaron awoke at 5:30 a.m. and saw freshly fallen snow blanketing the Cordillera Negra and tumbled into breakfast ranting about the beauty of nature, blah, blah, blah.

Breakfast was coffee and the dull roar of complaints as we commiserated over the questionable presence of various seemingly essential body parts. Promises to never again take the altitude pills followed shortly. At this point Aaron asked, “How much of that stuff were you guys taking?” We all retorted, “Just one freaking pill!” Aaron suggested label reading and kindly offered to lend us his pocket knife to cut those pesky 500 mg pills in half.

Shopping for construction materials Saturday!

We got the money to Peru! It took a small miracle and cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $60 and for some reason the bank here is very secretive about the actual fees. They can't actually tell me how much it cost me to wire money into my account or they'll have to kill me or something, but whatever. We got the cash!
The Project Committee is made up on the school principal, Prof. Niko, the second grade teacher, Prof. Betty, the student body president a fifth grader named Kike, and the PTA president Sebastian. We met on Friday and discussed some price changes for materials as inflation is pretty crazy here right now. (The prices of rebar and cement have gone up about 10%!) We also planned our trip to price out all the construction materials. On Monday we drove into Piura after school and went around to a few different construction material stores and got price lists. So now that we know where to buy what we're off to make the purchases on Saturday. The construction should start next week!

Peruvian Jail on the Side

I just got back from inscribing 15 incarcerated guys into a class at the Piura jail. A lawyer friend and I put together a 4 session class on business planning including lots of activities on developing leaderships skills and self esteem. I had been putting off writing about this on the blog entirely because my mom is going to flip out. But, I'm so excited to be starting. We have class every Tuesday morning in the month of June. The director of the Piura jail is a psychologist and she's creating all of these progressive therapies for the prisoners. I have been surprised at how progressive it is.

The facilities are decidedly sub par. The place smells like a sewer and I haven't been allowed into the older cell blocks so I'm sure that the living conditions are frightening. It's overcrowded too. It was built for 1,700 and houses more than 2,000. But, there are two new buildings with living quarters and those are surprisingly good. There are several workshops for carpentry, mechanics, and arts and crafts. There is even an education program for literacy, including a small library.

It's also much more tranquil feeling than Rikers was. I worked for the NYC Health Dept at Rikers for a short while in 2006. There was always an under current of violence and there were frequently ¨lock downs¨ in which all of the guards came rushing out in riot gear and you were just supposed to smash yourself against a wall and not move, potentially for hours until they got the fight or lost inmate sorted out. Rio Seco is more like a small town. Everyone says good morning and good afternoon. The guys cook together and do their laundry in the courtyard together. It seems like the inmate on inmate violence is less there than in Rikers.

This is going to be a really busy few months. I've finally been here long enough and know enough people that I can really get into the projects that I've been wanting to do. Five months to go! The question is: how much can I get done in the time remaining?

Good things are running

I'm still high on the 24 hour a day running water that's going into the elementary school. I just transferred all of the money from Paypal $1325.39 into my home bank account. I'm waiting for all the checks to clear and then I'm probably going to need to wire it to myself. I'm looking into just transferring it into my Peruvian bank account, but I'm not sure that's going to fly. My best bet might be to Western Union it to myself. Professor Niko and I have a materials shopping date set for the morning of the first Saturday in June!

We spent the weekend celebrating my dear friend Tessa's pending nuptials to Manuel, a kind doctor who she met on top of her mountain. She lives literally at the end of the highway. Peruvian doctors do a 1 year internship working in rural Peru after they finish medical school and Manuel was placed in a tiny town about a three hour walk up the mountain from where she lives. They met at her town's anniversary dance.

We threw them a little vegetarian soiree at a ceviche restaurant Saturday night. Then we went out dancing in true Peruvian style and rolled into our hostal at sunrise with reggaton beats pounding in our ears.

Happy Memorial Day in the US!

Running Water Coming Soon!!! $2015.12

We are so grateful for all of your help. I told Principal Niko or more formally, Prof. Manuel Nicolas Chully Chunga today and he did a happy dance. He's a serious principal parody, not a "happy dance" kind of guy, so I know he was thrilled. Then we went and took "before" photos of the aluminum pots and plastic garbage cans that they now use to save water. The goal is to start construction by June 1 and finish by July 1. We shall see how Peru's fates like that schedule, but I have high hopes. At the suggestion of a trusted teacher friend I'm going to form a committee to execute the project. It will be compried of the principal, the PTA president, a teacher, and myself to execute the project and update parents on the progress. So, hopefully parents and teachers will feel like all money matters are transparent.

More sincere thanks go to:

Joe Hudgens
Rebecca Widom

Our Current Total:

$2015.12

Wahoooo!!!

Wahoo! We're Gettin' Runnin' Water! $1894.62

We officially have enough money to put in running water at Rinconada Elementary!! Between money promised and what we've got actually in hand there's $1894.62

Thank you!

I'm telling the principal tomorrow! He will be so excited. I'm totally bringing my camera. (I didn't tell him much about how fundraising was progressing because I didn't want him to be very disappointed if it didn't work out.) Keep checking for photo updates :)

Thank you so very much to everyone who donated. There really are 300 families in Rinconada who are much better off for your generous help. We may even have $100 or so left over; if so, I'll be checking with the principal and PTA to see how they want to use the funds. I think it's likely that we can fix some broken desks and chairs, get uniforms for a couple of kids who don't have them, buy school supplies like copy paper, chalk, and markers, and maybe even get some computer accessories.

Special thanks to our most recent donors:

Philip Sansone
Ed Menghi
Robin Lazara
Wendy Bach
Jessica Hickok

The Inca Trail

Llama and vicuna crossing.


The beginning of the Inca Trail, KM 82.


Our hiking group at Dead Woman's Pass, 4,200 meters high. The name really says it all.


Fun times in Cuzco.


Love for Atari, even in Cuzco.


Condors in Colca Canyon.

I made it! 4,200 meters high and 45 kilometers long, ending up at the Sun Gate at Machu Picchu.

Pragati my rock star college buddy came down recently and we went traveling around with her very cool cousin Dipesh aka Dr. Peace Monkey and we made a trip to Arequipa and Cuzco. We were going to hit Lake Titicaca in Puno too, but were deterred by some strikes due to the APEC meetings.

So in Arequipa we stayed in the city and in a town in Colca Canyon called Chivay, which is a name seriously close to my favorite fancy beer brand. There we saw the CONDORS! It was gorgeous.

Then we went on to Cuzco and hug out in the city dancing and playing, went to the Sacred Valley and hiked the Inca Trail. I made 2 major life decisions on the Inca Trail. 1. I'm never smoking again (not that I ever have Mom) and 2. I'm marrying someone who likes hiking, trekking, going to the beach, and generally being outside and getting dirty. It's such a fundamental part of what makes me tick and what makes the universe in general go round.

In short, the Andes are shockingly beautiful. Come. See.

Project Budget and Latest Donations

We're about half way there with the fund raising for a water system in the elementary school. So far we have raised $1150, minus the Paypal costs that comes to: $1117.94.

Some folks have expressed interest in donating, but haven't actually sent anything in yet, so there may be more in the pipeline. I really want to start construction in June, so I need some tips of fund raising. Ideas anyone?

Many, many thanks to the following generous donors:

Andrew Walters
Barb and Jim Hudgens
Daniel Bauerkemper
David Carey
Denzil and Betty Bush
Ed Menghi
Grace Carey
Jennifer Parish
Kelli Crawford
Ken and Sue Davies
Megan Bartlett
Ned Ewart
Pamela Lovelace
Robert Schley
Shaina Steinberg
Sharon Brown
Spire Press c/o Shelly Reed
Stephen Lesche
Tanya Stanger
Tina Trinh
Tom and Stacey Bush
William Wuertz

Also, the detailed budget is linked to the title of this article, if you're interested.

Criticisim of Peace Corps

from Atlantic Monthly

$915 for water at Rinconada Elementary!

Good News! We have $915 collected from PayPal from Rinconada Elementary. There is more promised in paper check form that is not included in this balance! So, we are well on our way to meeting the goal.

Tomorrow I set out on the Inca Trail. 4 days, 4,200 meters into Macchu Picchu. I have been training but I think that this will be a humbling experience!

I will update again next week when I get back.

Please keep passing the word about our project!

Already $324.92 for Water at Rinconada Elementary!

CLICK THAT BIG YELLOW BUTTON TO MAKE A DONATION!

I'm raising $2000 to get 24 hour running water installed in the elementary school in Rinconada. This project will provide a rooftop water tank, a subterranean cement tank, a pump to get the water from the ground to the roof, and pipes to connect all of these.

We started fundraising Sunday April 27, 2008 and as of today we have raised $335. I'm using Paypal, which charges me 2.9% + $.30 on each transaction, so we actually have $324.92 available to date. Only $1675 to go!

In this area of the Sechuran Desert the folks who can afford it store water in tanks on their roves and underground. We want to install such a system at Rinconada Elementary. With 200 kids in grades 1 to 6, the school has bathrooms with flush toilets connected to a modern municipal waste water system but, they cannot save enough water in their plastic trash cans and large aluminum cooking pots to flush the toilets and wash all the little hands for the 2 days in between their turns on the water schedule. (We do A LOT of work on teaching kids to wash their hands. It's huge for reducing diarrhea.)

The principal, PTA and local government have all made significant investments to improve the bathrooms in the past year. They replumbed all 10 stalls in the boys and girls bathrooms, a badly needed improvement. (Last year the "flushings" were running all over the floor.) Local government also bought one rooftop tank but, the school needs another one and the school does not have the pump that they need to move the water to the roof. These investments of about S/.1,200 or $430 were hard won and now both school and government are just out of money for the project. That's where we can help.

So that big yellow button is for donations. Please be generous and tell your friends and family.

Thank you for your kindness and generosity.

Somebody at the NYTimes and I Have Good Timing

Somebody at the NY Times is thinking about the US prisons and how they compare to others around the world too.

Me and Jail

I've been spending a lot of time in Peruvian jail lately. Happily, I have not run afoul of the law but I'm working on starting a class for inmates at the local penitentiary in Piura. The class is supposed to outline basic business skills and work on self-esteem. "But, Ella," you say, "are you sure that you want to impart your um... business sense on anyone else?" Don't worry. I'm just going to use a curriculum that Peace Corps Volunteers working with small businesses designed. It outlines basic accounting, writing a business plan, and such. I'm not telling anyone how to spend their money. The self-esteem work comes in the form of group work and presentations. It's just 4 class days in June and afterwards the director and I will reassess, both what is being taught and who is teaching it. (I have a secret plot to try to get a small business volunteer placed there, working with my friend a who used to be the lawyer at Town Hall in Rinconada.)

I was shaken by how incredibly humane the conditions are in the jail/prison.(The two do not seem differentiated here. Inmates are imprisoned close to their families without much regard for the severity of their crime of the length of the sentence.) Rio Seco makes Riker's Island in New York look like Abu Gharib, not to put to fine a point on the matter. Inmates in Rio Seco cook together, eat together, and work together. Inmates speak to each other and the guards without any obvious cowering in fear. It's a small town, for better or worse. Every inmate that you pass tells you "Good afternoon," just as folks on the street in Rinconada do, and not just to me but to the janitors and the secretaries and guards. There are workshops for carpentry, artisanry, and even guitar making. On Sundays the powers that be open the jail up and visitors as well as shoppers from the surrounding community come to buy the inmates' products in a kind of jail-house-market, so inmates make a little money.

Rio Seco is like anyplace in Peru. Rules are much more about social morays than about regulations. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of rules and problems. As a visitor, I can't bring in my camera or cell phone and a myriad of other random and inexplicable things. Today when I went they wanted to keep my sunglasses, but I acted like I didn't understand the officer and said "No thank you ma'am," so she let me keep them. The day it started pouring down rain while I was there, I was wearing a white button down shirt with black stripes and a bright pink bra. I was trying to leave though the exercise yard at the moment of the downpour. It was like God got a giant bucket and wanted to play Peruvian Carnival. This caused quite a stir, I assure you, but quite frankly not any more of a stir than it would have caused on the street in Piura. In fact, it was a much more controlled stir because I felt like the guards were keeping an eye on me. Also, in the inmate population of about 2,500 men there are about 5 HIV positive inmates and 12 active tuberculosis cases. (Most Peruvians test positive for TB on the skin test and I probably will too after Peace Corps.) The jail/prison is badly over crowded; it was meant to hold 1,500, but currently holds 2,500 and this causes health and safety problems of all stripes. I'm sure that I'll find out more about the negative side of things as I work more closely with inmates, but as far as first impressions go, after about 5 visits now, I'm fairly impressed.

The current director has only been there for about 3 years and I'm told, has changed things dramatically. She is a psychologist and sees all the workshops, worship activities, and groups like AA as therapy. They talk the therapy talk at Rikers too, and there are a lot of good people at Riker's working hard to make life a little safer and easier for the 15,000 inmates, but it certainly feels like an uphill battle and it's much scarier to physically be there. In Rio Seco there are no lock downs requiring tens of officers to run into the dormitory areas in full riot gear. And there are certainly more cases of both HIV and TB in New York than in Piura. (Although as a percentage I think it might be comparable. I'm not sure. Riker's is so much bigger that it's hard to say.)

I got interested in working in the jails after I testified in a murder trial. My best friend/sister's husband was convicted of killing her about 5 years ago now. In Texas, the law lets victims put witnesses on the stand to attest to what great people the crime victims are so that the defendants look really bad and get worse sentences; they're called character witnesses. They're very controversial. When her dad and the DA asked me to testify it didn't even occur to me to think about saying no. It was the first thing that I could do for her mom and dad after her death that actually felt like it made any difference. I'm still glad that I did it. It was important for me too, as I was so angry and hurt and alone. But, after that I got really interested in what happens to inmates. I know it sounds like some kind of not all that subconscious guilt thing. But, I don't actually feel guilty. He got the maximum sentence possible for his crime, which was life in prison. In Texas that means the possibility of parole after 35 years. I think it's a just sentence, to be totally honest. On the other hand, I knew this asshole and sat across from him at Thanksgiving dinner more than once and whatever I think of him my sister loved him and he's the father of her son. Jailed guys get kind of forgotten and get talked about as scary monsters safely hidden behind big locks and chains. Some of them scare me. He should scare me and he does. On the other hand, I think that men like him need care and with it can maybe get better. I hope so anyway. I love his son with all my heart.

Turning 30 in Peru!

All cumbia all the time. So, I'm journeying on through the usual music scene here in Peru. The Mayor of my town, Don Walter invited my host family and I over to his house in the evening on my birthday. There was chicken, rice, cumbia, and Crystal beer and chicha (fermented corn beer type stuff) for the crowd of people that magically appeared. People in Rinconada are so generous all the time and it really continues to astound me. I know us ex-pats always say stuff like that, but it's ridiculously true. I went to 3 birthday parties for myself, all thrown by friends who just decided that it needed to happen. It was so kind. I hope that I can follow their example.

I'm not sure that I'm getting much work done lately. My Solid Waste Management project has stalled because the local government (i.e. the mayor who threw the party) doesn't really want to spend the money on the project, even though legally they're supposed to. I'm working in the elementary schools and love my kids, and I had all kinds of big plans for what I was going to get done here, but I think if I just have as much fun with people as I've been having I'll be happy with my time here in Peru. I'm talking myself into that anyway. I still wrestle with an overachiever streak left over from Catholic school conditioning.

I'm also still furious that they painted over the world map mural that my kids painted at the high school. I bawled like a baby when I saw it. So, I've decided to get funding from the mayor to paint 2 more, one at each elementary school, hopefully in time for the anniversary celebrations at each school.

I'm also thinking of taking up a collection for all of those I know to put in some decent bathrooms at the Rinconada Elementary School. They're so gross. They have flush toilets that 1. are not connected to a 24 hour water supply and 2. are not properly attached to the floor so when there is water to flush them "it" goes all over the floor. I wish I were exaggerating. AND I just found out about 3 cases of cholera in Llicuar so we have to be super careful of the water now. It's so contagious. So, I'm trying to make the improvement project happen. I've asked the principal for a budget breakdown with the materials and work costs. I'll keep you posted and hope for your support when the time comes.

More on the Peruvian Amazon

Guides Ricardo and Carlos and their dugout canoes took us on a three day canoe trip though Pacaya Samiria, the 2nd largest National Reserve Park in Peru.




Fun times in Pacaya Samiria.




Our guides thout it was hilarous that I wanted to play Tarzan in thigh high water.




Gamaniel caught a pirannah one morning and we ate it for breakfast.




Base camp. It's flooded with more than a meter of water for half of the year and the other half you can play soccer in front of it. We went in wet season. No soccer was played.




These crazy palm trees look like dinosaurs. It's not hard to imagine an earth a meter deep in water and filled with the animals that I've only seen at the American Museum of Natural History when you're paddlng around there.




Peace Corps Peru Team Chaco makes it out of Pacaya Samiria in one piece.




The Giant Anteater who lives at the Butterfly Farm in Iquitos likes oatmeal.






Sunset on Rio Marañon in between Lagunas and Iquitos is one of the most beautiful things that I've seen in my life... and the Texas sunsets that I grew up on are pretty damn impressive.

What to do next...

It's starting to hit home that I'm finishing Peace Corps in 6 months and I need to decide what to do next. There's sort of a panorama of future options, but they generally all involve getting a job, having a family and being a responsible adult at some point in the foreseeable future. (So stop worrying mom.) The questions that remain are where to live and what job to do there - so not small questions. Lately, I waffle between Austin, Texas, the DC area, and the Peruvian Amazon, my new favorite place on earth. For jobs, one of the ideas that I'm toying with is opening an alternative therapy and healing center, of course this is after I go to school to get another master's in some kind of counseling profession. I feel like the fates might be aligning in that direction. (This plan of changes weekly of course, but for now this is interesting.) Then, today on CNN's list of the best places to open a business Georgetown, Texas, a small town just north of Austin where I went to college, is number 2 and Bethesda, Maryland, a suburb of DC is number 5. I have sort of always known in the back of my head that I want to own my own business, or at least somehow be my own boss. It gave my dad such great opportunities to spend time with us and be able to support us well, which is part of what I aspire to.

Okay, so that is post is not just me waxing poetic about my future and boring to death everyone who doesn't live inside my head. Wanna see some composting toilets? These were from the program that CARE was executing down south in the earthquake zone. I was down there helping them with some hygiene education and training folks on how to care for their latrines. It was interesting and I really think that CARE is a great organization. Despite the usual management and logistical problems that come from trying to pull of projects in distressed areas for a reasonable cost they can really can get some stuff done.

These are the before toilets - located over the irrigation canal:


This is the inside of the composting latrine. These cement toilet and urinal things are designed to sepearate the... liquid from the solid. Wet poop doesn't compost.


Proud proprietor of a composting toilet:


They may not have bathrooms but the sand boarding is AWESOME in Huancachina:


My entire explanation of why I want to live in the Peruvian jungle: (This is no where near Ica or the earthquake zone, but it's where I went following working with CARE)

Tarapoto to Yurimaguas to Lagunas to Pacaya Samiria to Iquitos

Iquiteña, indigenous jungle cerveza, delicious... or at least the best beer in Peru


Howler Monkeys at Pilpintuwasi (The Butterfly House) in Iquitos


The view from the 3rd deck of Eduardo IV, our boat from Yurimaguas to Lagunas down Rio Huayalla


The Watermelon Slayer at Laguna Azul, near Tarapoto


Aaron and I mototaxi it around Iquitos