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While on service, each student chose a research topic and conducted a series of interviews to learn more.  During the retreat they presented what they learned.  The titles of the presentations will give some insight into the breadth of their learning:

• Dancing in Peru
• Refrescos  vs. Chicha (two types of juice drinks)
• The Church of San Miguel
• Folk Tales of Chanchamayo
• Ashaninka Traditional Dress
• Practices of the Evangelical Pentecostal Church
• Tourism and its Purpose in San Francisco
• Cheese Preference: A Reflection of Culture
• NGOs and Reforestation in San Francisco
• Sugars, Sweets and Postres: Do Peruvians Even Like Desserts?
• Ashaninka Law
• Impressions of Outsiders
• Yanesha Stories
• Children’s Songs and Games
• The Cycle of Ponaphnora (First Menstruation)
• Children’s Games
• Deaf People in Peru
• Clinic or Hospital?
• From Start to Finish:  Peruvian Coffee
• Artisans in Tarma
• C-Sections and Super-Sized Medicine

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Kaitlyn volunteers at the Compassion International child sponsorship program recently opened at Iglesia Alianza Cristiana y Misionera (Christian and Missionary Alliance Church).  The facility where she works is situated on a steep hillside overlooking the city; the neighborhood is accessible by a windy dirt road or a series of hundreds of stairs.   The families that live here are recent migrants from other parts of the region who have come here in search of work and better schools for their children.  Kaitlyn works in the kitchen, helping the main cook and her staff feed 300 children each day.  She assists however she can – cutting, chopping, mixing, serving, washing, but mostly drying – and helps to lighten the load for the kitchen team.  After everything is cleaned up she enjoys playing with the children who linger at the center, sharing games, laughter and trading words:  How do you say this in English?

Emily and Daisy volunteer at the Colegio Fe y Alegria (Faith and Happiness School) built next door just five years ago.  The school is operated with funding from the state, which makes it public, but with staffing from the Jesuit Order of the Catholic Church, which gives it the feel of a private academy.   The director, Patricia, is a nun from Australia who has devoted her life to education and it shows.  As you enter the grounds you immediately sense order, peace and respect.  The students are calm, happy and eager to learn.  Emily assists in the fourth grade classroom, giving individual attention to students and helping them work on projects, in particular crafts.  She has brought her love of music to the school and has formed a choir that practices during the first half of recess each morning.

Daisy assists in the first grade classroom, working with children who are unaccustomed to school and helping bring order to the class.  She assists with assignments and projects, lending a hand wherever she can.  She is attentive and eager to help out and the children adore the chance to interact with her.  Daisy, along with Emily and Kaitlyn, have made new friends for life and will be remembered by the staff for their excellent examples of servant leadership, willing spirits to do whatever needed to be done.

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Chanchamayo

Hans volunteers at Chanchamayo Highland Products, a fair trade company that supports local farmers who grow coffee and fruit throughout the province.  Highland has branched out in recent years to non-coffee products, including dried fruits, juices and preserves.  The company prides itself in paying above-market prices to farmers who grow using organic or biodynamic methods, i.e. without chemical pesticides or fertilizers.  The hope is that farmers will generate enough income so that they will not be tempted to grow coca, the cash crop used to produce cocaine, which is common in other parts of the Peruvian rain forest .  Its products are exported to Europe and were recently introduced to the US market.  Hans has an interest in the natural food industry and has been working on a new website to better tell the company’s story.  Hans has accompanied the owner and members of the staff on visits to several agricultural areas to learn more about the farms and explain the benefits of organic production.

Kelly and Ellie volunteer at San Manuelito School, a special education center in the city of San Ramon.  The school, funded by the Peruvian Department of Education, serves the needs of disabled children in the province of Chanchamayo.  Class sizes are small and the staff is devoted to offering educational opportunities to children with Down syndrome, cerebral palsy and other developmental disabilities.  Kelly works with children in the 5-7 age group, assisting teachers and staff with games, puzzles and other learning activities, as well as hygiene and meals.  The work requires tremendous patience and tireless attention, work for which Kelly is well-suited.

Ellie works with older children in a classroom environment, assisting the teacher and helping the students complete their assignments.  She has taken a particular interest in several deaf students who are in the class, learning basic signs so that she can communicate with and encourage them – few people take the time to learn sign language and the children, though very intelligent, feel isolated from their peers and parents.   All the children appreciate the attention they receive from Kelly and Ellie, in the classroom as well as during recess, and the love that is demonstrated to them each day.

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Emily is volunteering at Clinica Elera (Elera Clinic), a private medical center with modern facilities and a well-trained staff.  Dr. Gustavo Elera, originally from Lima, came to the rain forest as an intern.  He soon fell in love with San Ramon and decided to begin his practice here.  The clinic continues to grow due to the need in the community and the high quality of care it offers; there are plans to expand the facility and hire new staff.  Patients come from all over the rainforest for treatment of a wide variety of injuries and illnesses.  Emily is eager to learn and helps out any way she can — she is making the most of this opportunity to gain experience as she assists the friendly, professional staff.  She has sat in on consultations, assisted with treatments and witnessed surgeries.  She supports the staff and encourages patients with her positive, can-do attitude, putting in long hours that typically keep her at the clinic from morning until dark.

Eliza and Austin volunteer at the Programa Integral Nacional para el Bienestar Familiar (“National Integrated Program for the Wellbeing of the Family”).  The center where they work, known by its acronym INABIF, serves disadvantaged children from San Ramon whose parents are not home during the day due to work or other reasons.  Children with school in the afternoon spend their mornings here; those with school in the morning spend their afternoons here.  They enjoy a hot meal, get help with their homework, participate in learning activities related to school and social development and enjoy the companionship of peers in a safe, protected environment.

Eliza helps one of the teachers put together learning materials in the mornings and tutors children in the afternoons.  Her artistic ability is appreciated by the teachers and the attention she devotes to the children is a blessing to each of them. Austin helps out in the classroom each morning, teaching games and assisting a teacher who recently arrived at the center.  The children enjoy her fun personality and positive presence in the classroom.  Austin and Eliza both eat lunch at the center each day and offer themselves as positive role models to children who are often neglected, and sometimes mistreated, at home.

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In 1857 the first group of 300 settlers – representing all the trades necessary to start a new village – arrived in Peru.  They traveled over the Andes and, despite numerous hardships and tropical diseases, established a village they called Pozuzo.  In 1891 many of these families moved to a higher-altitude location with a cooler, dryer climate and named the place Oxapampa.  The influence of these European founders is still evident today in its people, its architecture and its cuisine.  Oxapampa is particularly known for its chalet-style houses and its dairy products — milk, yoghurt and cheeses.  And in 2010 the region was designated as the “Oxapampa-Ashaninka-Yanesha Biosphere Reserve” by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), seeking to conserve biological and cultural diversity while promoting economic and social development.

Lavonne, who goes by her middle name Rosa while in Peru, is volunteering at an after-school program sponsored by Compassion International.  The project is operated by the Iglesia Alianza Cristiana y Misionera (Christian and Missionary Alliance Church).  The children are sponsored by North American and European donors and come to the church each day for a healthy meal and activities meant to complement what they are learning in school and provide a basis for spiritual formation.  Lavonne helps out in the office in the mornings and assists with the 8 and 9-year-old class.  Afterwards she spends time in the library prepping for her English classes – she teaches her native tongue to a different age group each day of the week.

Rebekah is volunteering at Oxapampa General Hospital.  Patients come from all over the province to be treated for a variety of injuries and illnesses.  Rebekah works with nurses, doctors and interns, helping out wherever she is needed.  Each day she accompanies staff as they make their rounds, checking vital signs and updating charts.  She has assisted in the emergency room, prepared bandages, helped out with baths and, through her cheerful presence, brought hope and encouragement to patients as they recover in the hospitalization ward.  She has also witnessed her first birth.  And several afternoons a week she accompanies a nurse on her visit to the Compassion International project at Alliance Church, assisting with the nutrition and health program.

Rebekah and Lavonne make quite a team!  We had a chance to observe their work with the Compassion International children on a field trip to nearby Tsachopen.  Demonstrating God’s love, offering their undivided attention and providing a positive role model to these disadvantaged girls and boys is rewarding work.

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Boca Ipoki was established in the 1980s by native Ashaninka people fleeing the Sendero Luminoso guerrillas during their conflict with the government.  The village school and medical post were built close to the river and fifteen years ago were washed away after an unusually wet winter.  The village has been slow to recover.  Several years ago its president, Roberto Boliviano, donated land passed down to him by his father as a site for a new primary school.  Electricity and internet service have arrived and earlier this year a nonprofit organization, Servicios Educativos de Promocion y Apoyo Rural (SEPAR) — loosely translated as Educational Services for Rural Promotion and Assistance — donated a computer.  Parents are anxious for their children to begin developing computer literacy.

Lucas and Sophia are working with the nonprofit organization Ecomundo to teach children as well as adults the basics of computer operation in this native village.  In the mornings they teach a group of 8-10 school children how to use programs such as Word and Excel.  In the afternoons they teach similar skills to adults and young people.  Keyboarding, using all ten fingers, is new to their students and it is rewarding to see how development of this skill can speed up their typing.

In the past the village has been handicapped by its inability to produce written documentation for legal, business, governmental and other affairs.  Village leaders hope that the training offered by Lucas and Sophia can enable them to generate the letters, reports and contracts they need for successful interaction with the outside world.

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Michael and Jared are volunteering at the region’s main hospital.  Michael assists the staff in the pediatric section, helping with wellness checks, immunizations and the nutrition program.  He has great rapport with the children treated here, putting them at ease as they are measured and receive vaccinations.  He also helps the staff with recordkeeping, showing them how to optimize their use of Excel workbooks to calculate public health statistics and generate useful graphs.  Most recently, Michael has been invited to assist physicians in the Emergency Room.

Jared works in the hospital admissions area, helping staff locate and update patient histories when they arrive.  He sets up records for new patients and, at the end of their visit, puts their paperwork back in order.  Jared also accompanies Michael and the staff from the wellness office on public health campaigns in the local schools.  They typically put on a skit where a staff member dressed as bacteria, Nena, “attacks” both students.  Michael, playing the part of a child who washes his hands regularly, is unaffected by the bacteria.  Jared, who plays the part of a child who forgets to wash, soon becomes ill and needs to see a doctor.  According to the hospital staff, children are unaccustomed to having North Americans in their school and the skit captures their attention 100%!

Jared and Michael are very active after work as well.  Jared lives with the pastor of the Villa Rica Pentecostal Evangelical Church; Michael lives with the pastor’s son.  They attend services several evenings each week and spend time with youth from the congregation on the weekends — sharing common interests, playing music and enjoying a new sport introduced by the students soon after they arrived:  Ultimate Frisbee.

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Before leaving for service, Will learned that the objective of his volunteer work would be to promote human health by providing basic medical services.  Will’s specific assignment is to assist a Yanesha health promoter trained in nursing who works at a newly-created medical post in the community.  Native leaders can leverage Will’s presence as a North American to promote awareness of the importance of medical services in the community, encouraging the regional government to dedicate more resources to the village.  As one of the first foreign visitors to live in this community, Will is expected to honor their traditional values, integrity and use of medicinal plants while improving access to modern medicine available at the medical post.  He spends each morning at the post, keeping track of the medicines and assisting patients when they visit.

The objective of Darin’s work is to help community members embrace traditional practices and customs while also developing modern skills to enable them to protect their cultural identity and the biodiversity of the surrounding forests.   Darin’s assignment is to teach English to children in a bilingual (Spanish-Yanesha) primary school and assist the main teacher with other activities.  During recess Darin plays soccer with a loyal following of boys and girls.  And after classes he works with students and teachers in the garden behind the school.  Lacking resources, the teachers are hoping to sell coffee and vegetables from the school garden to pay for educational materials and needed supplies.

Both Will and Darin are taking well to village life.  The pace is slow, people are relaxed, relationships are more important than efficiency or productivity.  Each day they spend time with their families, conversing with their parents, uncles and aunts and playing with their brothers, sisters and neighborhood children.  They might fish or help out in their family’s chacra (farm) to provide food for the dinner table.  Worship services are held in a mix of Yanesha and Spanish at the tiny church at the edge of town.  And at the end of each day each of them walks down to the river with their brothers, cousins or uncles to bathe in the pristine water and take in the beauty all around them.

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Today many families living in the community attend the Iglesia Biblica Evangelica Yanesha (Yanesha Evangelical Bible Church), an independent body of believers that seeks to follow Christ while maintaining their unique cultural identity.  Every family has at least one chacra (farm) where they grow yuca (manioc), pituca (a root with the texture of a potato) and, sometimes, corn, coffee and other crops.  The river is teeming with fish and it is common to serve a whole, boiled carachama for breakfast.

Two students, Rebecca and Lewis, are serving in Azulis this term.  The objective of their service, as described to them before departing for the rain forest, is to help improve the quality of life in the community, embracing ancestral practices while also developing modern skills to enable community members to protect their culture and natural resources in an era of rapid change.

Rebecca’s assignment is to engage in social projects dedicated to holistic human health, including initiating conversations with women, cataloguing the varieties of medicinal plants used traditionally and advocating for the rights of women and children in the community.

Lewis’ assignment is to teach English to children in a bilingual (Spanish-Yanesha) primary school and assist the teacher with other activities, such as sports.  In addition, both Lewis and Rececca help promote awareness of the importance of responsible trash disposal (e.g. tossing wrappers into trash cans).  And, significantly, each has discovered their role as a “learner, observer and exhibitor of curiosity”.

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