Getting into a Rhythm, Mas o Menos

The Peace Corps schedule can be both a breath of fresh air and a source a frustration. I say this because it is really up to each individual what schedule, what projects, which people they choose to work with so on, but sometimes it hard to schedule meetings, and to find punctuality in general. Some days I’ll find myself busy from sun up to sun down and others I’ll spend most of my time trying to find things to do. So essentially we have a lot of freedom to pursue what we see fit so long as that we can articulate what we are doing in either conversations with our coordinators or monthly reports to our directors. The volunteer’s goal for the first three months is to get to know the community they have been placed in and to write a community diagnostic. The community diagnostic is a holistic report where we are told to write about the social, health, economic, etc. factors of our site and then draw from this some conclusions and some directions we would like to pursue. Every report is undoubtedly different and the focus depends on what program you are in (business development in my case). I have certainly started this process, trying to meet as many people I can, trying to build some relationships with organizations in my town, conducting formal interviews, and just hanging out.

I find it difficult to express what a typical day is at site as I’m sure many of my other peers are experiencing, but after about a month and half I have at least a general outline. As of the now the organization I’ve been working most with is an artisan group in my town that makes ceramics. It was the result of an initiative by the municipality to create some work opportunities in the town, by supplying a decent sized local to house their workshop. Currently the municipality has also contracted a professor from a neighboring town to teach them new techniques Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I’ll generally go in on these days to observe, actually learn myself, and to try to figure out ways to help build their business. In about a month we have an artisan fair at the U.S. embassy where volunteer’s can bring two representatives from their group to sell their products and to also have a full day of workshops. I attempted to have a workshop about product design and strategy of my own this past Monday but arrived only to realize that half the group was there… However, I did have it on Wednesday and it went fairly well. I think they got the concepts I was trying to teach but the test will be if they will actually use them in the future.

Also there is also a group of young and adolescent workers (affiliated with a larger national group) that were formed a number of years ago. Since one of my goals here is to promote youth entrepreneurship this group seemed to be a perfect fit; however there appears to be some improvements needed. It seems as they are pretty loosely organized and could use a little more motivation and some more ideas as far as revenue generating activities. I have been going to their meetings and also a workshop put on my some NGO’s in a neighboring town where they were invited to learn about some broader social issues and how they affect Peru. Apart from those two groups I have been trying to interview some various organizations in my town and trying to find other ways to obtain material for my report including a survey I made and will proctor next week to try to find out some beliefs attitudes toward small business opportunities in the area. Another thing that I know I will work on is trying to get more tourism to my town. My town really has a lot to offer with its nice climate, fertile valley, and some great archeological sites dating back to a pre-Incan civilization called the Moches. The only problem is that there aren’t any established guides offering neither tours nor a museum to showcase the artifacts that have been found here.

So while it may be a little while before I get busy, my work seems to be taking shape at least. I’ve found myself getting a little more comfortable with my Spanish day by day and think that I’m getting closer to my host family as well. I’m looking forward to the upcoming artisan fair in Lima and will keep my eyes open for more opportunities to take form.