Janne in Perú

Homecoming

2009-05-15T13:38:00.000-07:00

So, I am officially back home again. I've been here for a while now (I got back on May 1st), but there have just been a lot of things to process and do and see after getting home.

Some initial reactions after coming home were:

- Norway is FREEZING cold!! Sometimes I feel a little lost here, like I really belong in the jungle, which makes me wish I could just snap my fingers three times and be back there...

- I own way too many clothes.

- I never knew how much I loved Norwegian bread until I tasted it again! I'm back to eating bread 2-3 times again, and it's sooooo good!

- I love my family!! I didn't realize how much I had missed them until I saw them.

- There are waaay more ecological/organic and fairprade products in the stores now than before. I guess some things have changed for the better while I was gone.

- Arriving at my house felt like arriving at a castle -- I haven't been in a house that nice in seven months. It felt really comfortable and familiar to be home again .Yet, at the same time, I was kind of confused and saddened by also feeling like my home is really decadent and excessive.

For the last six months, I've been living in a one-room apartment with just a few pieces of clothing to my name. There, I learned that life without too many things or clothes or electronics is actually a good life. Maybe a better life. There's such liberation in living simply, and though our apartment was still nicer than the houses of most of our friends, I still learned so much from living more simply.

Now that I'm home, though, I'm scared by how quickly the western lifestyle is starting to seem "normal" again. How quickly I fall into old habits; how quickly I start taking my blessings for granted. So if there's one thing I've been left with since I came back, it's a feeling of urgency. A feeling of needing to identify the ways in which I've changed, so I can make a concious decision to maintain those changes. I wish I could tell you what that means, but I'm not really able to articulate it yet. All I know is that it has to do with generosity, simplicity, and faitfulness.

If we're not mindful of how we want to live, the culture around us will dictate our lives. So in fear of falling into a rushed, comercialized, self-centered, and isolated lifestyle, I'm trying to make intentional choices about how I want to live. I'm failing already, but I'm counting on God and the people closest to me to help me up when I'm falling...

Ancient mysteries in the Andes mountains

2009-05-02T06:28:00.000-07:00

After we left Iquitos, Elin and I met up with Vegard (another Act Now student from Norway) to spend a few days in Cusco. Cusco was once the capital for the great Inca empire, which ruled throughout the Andes mountains for about a century before the Spanish colonizers came. Needless to say, the city is full of interesting history and monuments. But the best part is that it's really close to Macchu Picchu, the mysterious ancient Inca ruins, which was really our main destination.

I have to admit, I was a little afraid that because of the excess of tourists, the whole thing would feel a little comercialized and disappointing. Thankfully, though, we were able to find a much cheaper and MUCH more exciting route to get to Macchu Picchu. (If you're planning on a trip to Macchu Picchu, ask me, and I'll tell you how to spend $25 instead of $130 to get there). A friend had told us about the route, but we weren't actually sure if it was feasable. But it turned out to be great!

Instead of taking the tourist train from Cusco to Aguas Calientes (a small town at the foot of the mountains surrounding Macchu Picchu), we spent the day driving through the rugged mountains, passing through small towns, and looking out over coca leaf and banana plantations. Late in the afternoon, we ended up at a train station, and from here we walked along the railways, that we hoped would lead us to Aguas Calientes. Along the way, we met a friendly traveler from New Zealand, Olivia (with scary resemblance to Olivia Newton John), who joined us for the rest of the trip. We were told that the walk would take anywhere from 1 to 3 hours (depending on who we asked), but we got to be a little nervous when we had walked for about 2 hours and it started getting dark. But just then, we saw light radiate from around the bend, and not long after we were in Aguas Calientes.

Walking along the rails to Aguas Calientes

After just a few hours of sleep, we got up at 4 in the morining to start the hike up to Macchu Picchu. The sky was clear and covered in stars, and I almost fell to the ground as I made out the shadows of the overpowering and majestic mountains rising up on all sides of us. I felt so tiny in the face of all this mystery and beauty, and if the trip would have ended right there, it would have been worth it. But we kept walking and after a steep climb for a little over an hour, we made it to Macchu Picchu! Along with some other hikers, we got there before the first buses came up, so we had the privilege of enjoying the sight of the ruins before it was overcrowded by people. SO tired, and SO excited to have made it to the top!

It was INCREDIBLE. So quiet and mysterious (there are several competing theories as to what Macchu Picchu was built for, though most likely it was a religious ceremonial center), and just amazingly beautiful. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

A llama (or alpacca...? I still can't tell the difference) at the ruins. Pretty sure they are brought up here just for cheesy photo ops, but it works, doesn't it? All four gathered at the top. (And all four dissappointed when we saw that the other tourist that took our photo had cut our legs off. Big photo no-no!)

The big mountain right behind the ruins is Wayna Picchu, which also made for a good climb. Here looking down on the ruins from another perspective.

Such a beautiful place.
Elin and I celebrating our arranged marrige, which turned out incredibly well. It'll be so strange not to be around each other next year, after having lived together, studied together, and worked together every single day for the last seven months.

In awe...

Saying goodbye

2009-05-02T05:51:00.001-07:00

Oh my goodness, time flyes by way too fast... After six months in Iquitos, the time inevitably arrived for Elin and I to say goodbye. Goodbye to the kids in Belen, our friends at La Restinga, and Iquitos.
I don't really have words to describe the process of leaving. All I can say is that despite of the sadness of leaving people I have come to love, I also left with a good feeling of having no regrets, just lots of learning lessons and good memories.
For lack of more words, I will simply put up some pictures and a video of the goodbyes.

Me and my little heartbreakers...

...and Elin with hers.

Few things makes me feel more loved than having a child wrapped around my neck, in this case Carolay (8).

Siara enjoying her cake at the goodbye party.

The Belen team gathered for the last time.

Goodbye party at La Restinga with 50-some friends.

Our boys! Willy, Jose Andres, and Jose followed us to the airport early Sunday morning.

I took a little video as we were leaving the goodbye party. The quality isn't the greatest, but it's something. The House with the blue door is where we work with the kids, and the balcony also serves as a diving board since the kids usually throw themselves into the river (which fills the streets during the rainy season). On the other side, you'll see Niro (8) scream my name (I went by my second name Kristine in Iquitos), and lastly my little heartbreaker Glidian (10).

Good news to the poor

2009-04-10T07:17:00.000-07:00

Been visiting lots of affluent churches recently, and it got me thinking.. The new testament is often referred to as the "good news." Yet, in many affluent church communities, religion seems to be more of a tool for maintaining power and control than a radical new Way of service and humility. Is it really good news if it's only good news to those who already have everything they need, and not to the poor?
I like what Gustavo Gutirrez, Peruvian theologan and priest, active during the liberation theology movement has to say:

But the poor person does not exist as an inescapable fact of destiny. His or her existence is not politically neutral, and it is not ethically innocent. The poor are a by-product of the system in which we live and for which we are responsible. They are marginalized by our social and cultural world. They are the oppressed, exploited proletariat, robbed of the fruit of their labor and despoiled of their humanity. Hence the poverty of the poor is not a call to generous relief action, but a demand that we go and build a different social order.

Before hitting us, try talking to us!

2009-04-02T13:14:00.000-07:00

That was the message the group of adolescents we work with wanted to communicate to their parents and to their community in general during an art exhibition they put on a few weeks ago. Using only recycled materials, they constructed an interactive exhibition based on the three main themes of the group: environmental protection, sexual and reproductive health, and violence prevention.

The teenager's messages to their parents included: "Before hitting us, try talking to us!" "When you say to your kids: 'You are an idiot and no good', that is violence!" "When you leave your children without giving them anything to eat, that is violence!"

I was especially struck by the work they did related to violence, which is a social problem deeply entrenched in the culture. Here, most everyone see violence as a completely natural response to anger, “bad” behavior, sadness, and a host of other feelings and behaviors. Moreover, the Latin-America machismo culture prescribes a strict gender-role, purporting that “real men” are physically strong, don’t cry, exercise their power over others through domination and control, and don’t show emotions. This gender-role (combined with the submissive gender role of women) creates a climate in which violence (and especially violence towards women) is accepted as a natural.

Sometimes I scare myself when I realize how desensitized even I have become to the violence during my time here. The kids I work with have shown me bruises where their parents have beaten them, teenagers have told me stories about their alcoholic dads that abuse them and their mothers, and even those I somehow thought lived in families free of violence turn out to have bruises (either emotional or physical). I wish I could say that I was equally outraged each time I heard one of these stories. But the truth is that, though each story stings, there are too many to fully let the impact of each story sink in over you. And, honestly, what disturbs me most of all is the thought of all the stories that are not being told… The silently suffering, day in and day out, year in and year out.

Let’s not forget that these stories exist close to home too. In America, 1 in 4 women will experience violence in their lifetimes. In Norway too, supposedly one of the countries in the world with the greatest gender equality, women still bear the larger burden of violence in the home. And again, there are undoubtedly countless stories that are not being told here either…

If you are interested in learning more, click on the following links:
Amnesty International's campaign Stop Violence Against Women
UNIFEM - Violence Against Women

Fight for your right....to party!

2009-03-31T18:04:00.000-07:00

Recipe for teaching kids about children's rights:
4 weeks of previous workshops around the theme of children's rights
72 hats with the different rights written on them
Enough balloons to decorate the whole room
1 clown
1 gigantic piñata
20 liters of refresco (lemonade)
72 hyper 7 to 11 year olds

Let it all come to a boil in a two hour gathering of games and fun, and... voila!

Carmen (in pink) overwhelmed (in a good way) by the high energy level!

The rights of the children in Belén are ignored and violated on a daily basis. Abuse, lack of access to healthcare, long hours of work from a young age, discrimination based on skincolor or socioeconomic status, and lack of access to education are just some of the problems they face on a regular basis. Teaching them that they indeed have rights, and the power to claim them was therefore quite the challenge. But I think it got through to them eventually, and we ended the topic with gathering the three groups that we work with, throwing one big party!

The kids screaming, practicing their right to use their voice!

F.L.: Rosa, Damaris, Alexandra, Marcos (a canadian volunteer dressed up as a clown), and Linda.

Confession: I want to bring these girls home with me! Deborah and Linda are the cutest..

It was a beautiful sight seeing canoes full of confident, colorful, and content kids, returning home after the party.

One of the boys was picked up by his mom who normally runs a small corner store. During the rainy season, as the water rises, she packs her canoe full with all her merchandise and paddles from door to door!

Tired and happy after a long afternoon..

Where is Julia?

2009-03-24T20:52:00.000-07:00

A few years ago I went on a mission trip to Juárez, the industrial Mexican city right across the border from El Paso, Texas. There I met Julia (see picture below), a young girl with the most beautifully curious expression on her face. Tonight her face was brought back to my memory as I saw the film Bordertown, based on the real story of the countless raped and murdered women of Juárez. Though conservative numbers affairm the deaths of 600 women, some estimate that up to 5000 women have been brutally killed, mutilated, tortured, or raped. The majority of the victims are workers in the maquiladoras, the massive factories that produce cheap electronics with the help of minimally paid Mexican labourers. Neither the factories, nor the companies buying their products have taken responsibility for the safety of their workers in this lawless town. Click on the picture of the movie to see a trailer, or click HERE to read more about the female homocides in Juárez.

Recalling the face of Julia and other memories from Juárez, I remembered that one of the momements that made the biggest impression on me during that trip was a visit with a catholic priest and a nun who had been living and working together in Latin America all of their lives. Reflecting the horrifying truths portrayed in the film, they told us about the frequent kidnapping, raping, and murdering of women, sometimes even during bright daylight. The nun told us that not long ago, she had been walking down the street in the afternoon, when a young girl came up from behind her, grabbed her arm, and said: "Walk with me, I'm being followed". In their neighborhood there was frequent instances of violence, and though they didn't emphasize it themselves it was clear that they were and had been putting their lives at risk protecting those most vulnerable.

Take a look at Julia's face again. She must be around 15 years old right now. Where is she? Maybe she too is working long hours for little pay in one the maquiladoras supplying Americans with cheap electronics. Maybe she too is putting her life at risk as she returns home late at night without protection. I pray she will not be another one of the women whose disappearance or death will silently be swept under the rug.

As long as we consumers care more about the bottom line than the conditions of the workers who have produced the products we buy, the owners of the maquliadoras will continue to neglect the safety of their workers. We have the power to change that.
Of course, the factories alone are not to blame for this violence. This article from June 2008 highlights the connections between the warlords of the cocain industry and the ongoing merciless violence in Juárez. Yet, by placing international pressure on the factories neglecting to provide for the safety of their workers, the local government, the factories and those who demand their products, as well as the perpetrators will be forced to confront this brutal reality.

Though there are many ways to confront this issue, one of the first steps can be using our consumer power to choose to be part of the solution. One suggestion is taking a few minutes to look at the Ethical Consumer website, a UK based organization with lots of great guidance for those of us on the path to becoming more informed consumers.
From there, the rest is up to you. Think critically. Shop wisely.

The Lice Lesson

2009-03-20T11:36:00.000-07:00

So I was visiting a family in Belen the other day, talking with the parents to get the information neccessary to register one of their daughters (and a participant in our workshop) in the national registary. As of this moment, she does not have a birthcertificate, and thus in the eyes of the government, she does not exist. It's a little scary to see how many of these kids do not have birtcertificates, and almost equally disturbing how many parents have no idea when their children (or themselves) were born!

Anyway, as we were making one of these visits, one of my girls from the workshop started playing with my hair. I was just enjoying the feeleing, when suddenly I started noticing that she was pulling something out of my hair and then eating it! What IS that? I asked her. She just smiled, pulled out a small little insect (also known as lice), and put it in her mouth.

That day I learned two important things:
1. Children eat lice. I guess that's normal here.
2. Lice love me. This is the third time I've gotten them. (Either that, or the lice cures are not very effective.. Maybe I'll just chose to believe the latter explanation).

Carnaval!!

2009-03-07T11:15:00.000-08:00

The originally Brazilian festival of carnaval has taken in a life of its own here in Iquitos. After about a month of water balloon fights in the streets on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, the time finally came for the big celebration two weeks ago. On Saturday, lots and lots of neighbors got together to dance, throw water at each other, and put up their humisha (a palm tree that they decorate with food, balloons, and gifts, and then place in the middle of the street). The day after, Sunday, is the biggest celebration. It basically consists of dancing, getting dirty (covering each other in mud, paint, and natural tints), and getting clean again (with water balloons and buckets of water being thrown over you ever other minute or so). It is definitely one of the best parties I have been to in my life -- children and adults all playing together, everyone dancing, and everybody (and especially adults) getting to act like children. Here's some photos from the two days.

Elin and I, and our friend Carmen, covered in mud.

A radio station was hosting a party in the street, and that is where we spent most of the day Sunday. Incredibly liberating and fun having mud/water-fights with strangers, while dancing and enjoying the live music.

I was up on the stage for a little bit for a dance contest..

A girl covered in blue, ready to attack with her water-balloon.

Pretty dirty by the end of the day... From the left: Willy, Elin, Carmen, I, and Chichi.

Putting up the humisha was a beautifully chaotic sight. The palm tree was huge, so it took lots of people and ladders and screams to get it to stand upright and secured in the street.

After the humisha was up, the some of the women grabben us by the hand and got us to dance with them around the pole.

Elin attacking me color..

What will you suffer for?

2009-03-04T12:25:00.000-08:00

Since we are in a time of lent and sacrifice, I thought this beautiful Parker Palmer quote would be appropriate to share:

I believe that the God who gave me life wants me to live life fully and well. Now, is that going to take me to places where I suffer because I am standing for something or I am committed to something or I am passionate about something that gets resisted and rejected by the society? Absolutely. But anyone who's ever suffered that way knows that it's a life-giving way to suffer — that if it's your truth, you can't not do it. And that knowledge carries you through.

What are you willing to suffer for?

How to keep 30 3-13year olds in line...

2009-02-19T13:23:00.000-08:00

When we returned to Iquitos after Christmas vacation and infield, I was itching to get back to work, take on new responsibilities, and get some real challenges. After asking one of the leaders in if there was anything we can help with, we were told that, sure, we can plan a six week program for the youngest kids that meet every morning from 9-12. I guess you should be careful what you wish for. :)

Since the majority of the kids at La Restinga are adolescents, it didn’t seem like too difficult of a task at first. Yet when we got started, it turned out to be quite the challenge. We went from having 3-5 regular kids everyday to a high of 30 kids a few days later! Though technically only 8-13 year olds should enter the group, many of the kids aren’t allowed to leave the house unless they bring their younger siblings... leaving us with an age span from 3-13 years old! Though Elin and I know enough Spanish to survive, keeping between 15-30 kids under control is quite a cross-cultural challenge. Especially because many of them have been raised on the street, and have barely had to follow a single rule in their lives. Thankfully, a traveling Argentinan woman has been with us this last week, which has been such a God-send. Plus, we've spent part every day at a workshop at a children's center last week, and we're hoping to develop a lasting collaboration with them.

Though the challenge was a little larger than I expected, this is exactly what I wanted. I feel exhausted and inspired and I'm looking forward too see how things go the next few weeks. And if you want to send some advice on how to establish group-rules for street kids (or some prayers!) my way, it would be greatly appreciated.. :)

Food for thought

2009-02-09T11:48:00.000-08:00

I recently listened to a Speaking of Faith program about theologian and social activist Reinhold Niebuhr. I was really struck by some of his often-quoted words, and I simply wanted to share them with you:

"Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore, we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true, or beautiful, or good, makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore, we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, could be accomplished alone; therefore, we must be saved by love. No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our own standpoint; therefore, we must be saved by the final form of love, which is forgiveness."

Click HERE to hear the radio program on the rediscovery of Niebuhr's reflections for yourself.

Peruvian cooking and apartment photos

2009-02-02T13:06:00.000-08:00

During our time here, we've had a few opportunities to learn to cook different Peruvian dishes. Oil and rice are essentials to all meals, so everything that can be fried, is fried, and there's almost not a single meal that doesn't include rice (even pasta and soups are served with big portion of rice). There's always a ton of spices, and many people will use several large spoonfuls of salt, sugar, cumin, pepper, and MSG (a questionable "flavor enhancer," most popularly used in chinese restaurants) even in small batches of food.

Our good friend Carmen, see photo below, came over to our apartment the other day to teach us how to make ceviche, a Peruvian specialty made of raw fish in lime sauce, served with onion, potato, rice, yuka (a white root), fried corn (not to be confused with popcorn), and more. Peruvians usually make food from scratch, so it was about a 4 hour adventure (including the trip to the market). But it was definitely worth the wait -- so delicious!

Cutting up the fish.

Taking a bite (or at least pretending to) of the raw fish.

I've been asked to put out pictures of the apartment where Elin and I live, so here they are! It's small and nice -- a little kitchen with a cooking plate, a table and four chairs, a small fridge, a fan (the most important piece of furniture we own), a bathroom, and two beds. The apartment is really nice by Peruvian standards, and to be honest, it would have been nice to be in a bit of a simpler place, but I won't complain. It's great to have a quiet place to come home to, and a place to bring over friends, and to host English classes on nights and weekends. Plus, its only about a 15 min walk from La Restinga, so it's easy to go back and forth several times each day.

The beds and the door leading out to the hallway.

PS: Go to this website (http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/000225ceviche.php) or just google "ceviche recipe" to find out how to make it yourself!

Tamshiackuy

2009-02-02T12:43:00.000-08:00

This sunday, Elin and I went to Tamshiackuy, a village about an hour in boat away from Iquitos, to visit our friend, Javier. Going away to these smaller times sometimes makes me think I'm on a different planet, where everything is beautiful and quiet, and the only thing that matters is the people and nature around you. Two of the highlights was spending the afternoon at Javier's friends house and hanging out with his kids, and a walk to a nearby town, where we visited a medicine plant garden.

Brian, the second oldest son in the house, staring out the window.

Brian and his little brother, Marcos.

One of the best smelling flowers I have ever encountered.

Marcos sending a shy smile to his brother.

Elin and I in the medicinal plant garden. Notice the war-paint in our faces -- this is natural tints from one of the plants, which people still use for body paint during holidays.

On our way to the village, we stopped and observed some of the community members frying crushed yuka. It doesn't have much taste, but is a popular snack, or it's cooked with milk and sugar.

Piranhas in the pool

2009-01-21T11:36:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, after the morning-program finished at La Restinga, some of the kids asked me to come with them and play on the boulevard (the street along the river, where the people congregate to wander at night). The summer vacation program has now officially started, and there are lots of new kids, so I had such a fantastic time getting to know and running around with this group of five heartbreakesrs. As the day got hotter, we went over to the big fountain with a small pool around it, and the kids screamed of joy as they threw off their shirts and jumped in. (I don't think it's normally allowed to play in the water, but the kids said that because there's a gringa (white woman) with them, the police wouldn't say anything. They were right. Sad, but true.)

Anyway, midway through a role game of tourists and sharks, one of the boys stopped in his tracks, and, a little paler than before, he turned to me and said: "Oh no.... Here comes the piranhas." I turned and looked, and recognized them immediately. Piranhas is the common way of referring to the rougher streetkids that live off of shining shoes, getting money from tourists, and stealing (not all streetkids steel, but those who do, or a suspected of doing so, are often referred to by this name). The leader of the gang, let's call him Jose, has been coming to La Restinga off and on for a long time, but is still living on the streets. His life could be so entirely different if he could choose La Restinga over the streets, but for an adrenaline-seeking group of young boys, leaving your friends on the streets in favor of a life of safety and rules is not always an easy thing.. Jose, especially, is really rough around the edges, and as he and his friends jumped into the pool, the dynamics changed instantaneously. The "piranhas" shoved the other kids away, grabbed the ball they had been playing with, and started their own game.

Photo on the right: Imagine if the first thing people associated with you when they met you on the street was this meat-eating fish....

Observing the ways in which the kids and the "piranhas" treated each other broke my heart. Having the sub-human identity of a piranha, these streetkids are met with suspicion, fear, and sometimes disgust from other children and adults. Being met by such expectations, it is a natural progression to come to see yourself this way, to think of yourself as less than human. Also, it makes it extremely difficult for them to make new friends, or to be accepted into a protective community of kids who are not living on the streets. Hoping and praying that they will start coming to La Restinga more so that we can get to know them better and recognize and treat them as the human beings and children that they are.

Infield - Chilean and Bolivian adventures

2009-01-20T12:16:00.000-08:00

Infield, a one-week course mid-way through the abroad stay, was a wonderful oppertunity to see the other norwegians again, share and process our experiences thus far, and have time to dream about what we would still like to contribute with and get out of the rest of our stay. Wheche, our professor from Hald (and my personal hero) flew in with the intern Tor Haakon, and from La Paz, Bolivia, we went together to Coroico, a beautiful small town three hours north of La Paz.

Since Infield was in the beginning of January, a group of us Norwegians decided to meet up and celebrate New Year's together in Arica -- a small Chilean beach town right accross the border from Peru. From there, we took an overnight bus to Puno, on lake Titicaca (at 3821meters, it is the highest navigable lake in the world). Our bodies were in a little bit of a shock, going from beachlife one day, to freezing weather and altitude sickness the next, but we took it easy and stocked up on some traditional alpacca gear to keep warm! Lots of pictures below, including our visit to the floating islands, man-made by layers upon layers of straw, and inhabited by the Uro peoples.

New Years Eve in Chile: (from the left) Guro, Thea, Elin, me, Vegard, and Kristine (Kristin was there too, but was taking the picture).

A miniature representation of life on the floating islands

An older man making handicrafts to sell on the island. Tourism has becoming one of the main sources of income for these people.

Strong colors and indigenous patterns is common.

On our way from Puno to La Paz, we had an hour stop in the small town Copacabana, also on the shores of Lake Titicaca.

From the famous cathedral of Copacabana.

Crossing the border: Thea, Kristin, Kristine, Elin, and Vegard

Busy markets

A saleswoman protecting herself from the hot mid-day sun in La Paz.

A small boy looking lost on the streets.

Two older women on the streets of La Paz.

Celebrating Elin's 23rd birthday while visiting Alalay right outside of La Paz, where Vegard ad Guro work. Marius and Svenn, who work at Alalay, Santa Cruz, had also joined us at this point.

Monkey business: Jungle adventure to the Yarapa River

2009-01-20T10:47:00.000-08:00

Right before Christmas, two of our friends, Leo and Adrian, brought Elin and I on a jungle adventure on the Yarapa river, about five hours from Iquitos. Our friend Adrian spent a good deal of his childhood here, so he was able to show us around. Highlights included feeding wild monkeys (video below); a hike through the forest, with lots of medical plants and beautiful flowers; our friend called Mr. Tarantula; and learning Peruvian cooking over open fire.

Arriving at the Yarapa River.

Elin and I with Miguel, who is in charge of "the dophins's corner," the lodge where we stayed.

In the living room, there was a large collection of tropical snakes and skulls. I had a little mediation session in front of one of the bottles with a snake in it to cure my fear..

Lush jungle.. Leo, our other friend, peaking back from the tip of the boat.

One afternoon, we brought with us bananas, peanuts, and crackers, and took the boat down the river in search of monkeys. Though the monkeys are wild, there are a few hotels along the river, so when we found a pack of monkeys and started holding out bananas, they were not shy.. Crawling all over us and into the boat, they did not leave until all the food was gone. So much fun!

Elin holding out a handful of peanuts. They disappeared pretty quickly...

I have not laughed so much in a long time, with monkeys crawling all over me, and reaching into my pockets to get their hands on the crackers.

Adrian, another one of our friends, who spent a few years of his childhood in this area, showed us around.

I walked into the bathroom one morning, and to my surprise found a decently sized tarantula spider hanging out by the mirror (see right above Elin´s forehead). I asked the boys if they thought he was dangerous, but they shrugged it off and said it only attacks when it feels threatned. He was a quiet little guy (he stayed by the mirror the whole time we were there, moving only a few centimeters from day to day), so we learned to love him! :)

Belated Christmas Wish..

2009-01-07T12:06:00.000-08:00

The Christmas season always seems to fly by, but this one came and went more quickly than ever. Might have something to do with the fact that we celebrated Christmas in hot, tropical weather -- this was definitely the furthest thing from a white Christmas that I've ever experienced.
In a way, though, being away from all the stereotypical markers of Christmas (snow, lefse, chocolate, apple-cider, gifts, etc) helped bring the true meaning of Christmas in to focus. I just wanted to share with you some words from my favorite radio program and podcast, NPR's Speaking of Faith with Krista Tippet. In the following link, you'll find a short interview with Joan Chittister, who shares her thougts on Christmas in a time of economic crisis, and the virtues of generosity, serenity, and spirit:
http://blog.speakingoffaith.org/post/65786501/repossessing-virtue-joan-chittister-on-christmas

And finally, a belated wish of ¡Feliz Navidad!

Foto Story: A day in Belén

2008-12-16T12:57:00.000-08:00

To give you a bit more of a visual understaning of my life and work in Iquitos, I’ve put together the following story of pictures from an afternoon workshop in Belen. Though I spend most of my time at La Restinga, I go here twice a week in the afternoons to do workshops with the kids, mostly around issues of child abuse and exploitation. As I hope I’m able to portray through the pictures, Belen is an area of great poverty, but it’s also so much more than that. Working this kids gives me so much hope and joy, and I wish you could all get to know them. But for now, the pictures will have to do... By the way, you should be able to see most of the pictures in larger size by clicking on them. This is also true for all the other pictures on this blog.

Above: Arriving in Belén in the afternoons, we are always met by a drastically different sight than what we see downtown Iquitos. Belén is both its own city as well as part of the larger Iquitos. The whole area lies much lower than the rest of the city, so the houses are built on stilts. When the river rises, which it will in a few months, the streets are filled with water and the only way of getting around is in caoes and boats. Here's a boat in construction.

As we walk through the neighboorhood, on the way to the community house where we work, we usually see lots of the kids on our way. Here is one of the educators, an Italian volunteer, Alessandro, greeted by Wellixer, Justin, and Franklin - three of our most rambunctious but wonderful boys.

Some of the kids, and Carmen (another educator) and I laying down to pose for the camera.

Katty (12) flashing her beautiful smile.

Carmen and Wellixer goofing around..

Victoria taking a break and smiling to the camera. This day's lesson was about stragtegies for coping with sexual abuse, and here the kids are drawing their ideas for how to respond to different types of abuse.

As I've described before, several of the houses in Belén don't have a fourth wall. This is the house accross from where we work.

On this particular day, we decided to go visit Giler, one of the participants in a young leaders program in Belén. He lives right down the street from the house where we work to the kids, and this is us sitting outside, getting to know his family and some of his neighboors while we waited.

Giler´s little sister looking curiously at us...

Carmen doesn't know how to swim, so she was smiling with fear and joy as we set out.

Turns out Carmen had reason to be scared. There were so many times we thought the boat was about to tip over, including in the moment when this picture was taken (not incidentally while I was trying to steer...).

The sun setting down as Giler steered us (including his two younger sisters in the picture above) safely back to the shore.

As we headed home our day was made, if possible, even better by the sight of a beautiful rainbow rising out of the dirt roads.

The day Liz Tánia found lice in my hair..

2008-12-10T17:10:00.000-08:00

As 12 year old girls so often do, Liz Tánia, one of the girls at La Restinga, loves playing with hair. This particular morning she was braiding and poofing my hair when she suddenly let out a small scream at the discovery of a small insect crawling out of my hair right above my ear. She called another girl to come over and take a look, and before long they found another one...and another one...and another one. Yup, you guessed it. I have head lice.
I have been having itches in my scalp for a long time, but when I asked Elin (my roommate) to check my head about a week ago, and she didn't find anything, I figured my scalps was just irritated by the perfume from the shampoo or something like that. Oops.
"MIRA, la muchachona tiene piojos," Liz Tánia shouted after the discovery, and soon I had a small team of people picking lice out of my head (loosely translated: "LOOK, the tall girl (which btw is one of my more popular nicknames) has lice!). Hoping that a lice shampoo and a serious round of cleaning of the apartment and our clothes will do the trick, and that my tiny friends will long gone in a few days... :)

Last minute Christmas present? Make it a good one..

2008-12-06T11:48:00.000-08:00

To those of you out of ideas or still looking for Christmas presents, here are some suggestions for sustainable and life-giving gifts. Just click on the text in blue (note that some of the websites are in Norwegian):

www.levebrod.no -- Gi en gave av haap og framtid for de som trenger det ved aa stotte Strommestiftelsens arbeid
www.mittklima.no -- kjop klimakvoter for aa veie opp for aarets flyturer, bilturer, etc.
ELCA Good Gifts -- ELCA's Christmas gifts
Lutheran World Federation -- consider supporting this important ministry
Gaver Som Forandrer Hverdan -- gi en biodiselplante, en gitar, eller en gjeit gjennom kirkens nodhjelps kreative arbeid
Econation's ideas for sustainable christmas presents
Gronn Hverdags julegavetips

From HIV to HOPE

2008-12-06T10:48:00.000-08:00

December 1st, as many of you know, was the World AIDS day. Though everyone, regardless of age, religion, sexual orientation, gender, and lifestyle can be affected by HIV/AIDS, the fact is that persons in the sex industry (and in particular younger women) are much more vulnerable to becoming infected. Here in Iquitos, there are exceptionally high levels of child exploitation and prostitution, which contributes to the fact that Iquitos is the city with the second highest cases of HIV infections in Peru.

La Restinga's approach to this issue is broad and includes everything from education, to workshops, to theatre, to visual arts projects. This year, one of the highlights was taking part in a campaign against discrimination towards people living with HIV. All the kids got t-shirts that said VIH (HIV in spanish), and were given the chance to change that word into something like VIVO (I live), VIVIR (live), or VIDA (life). This was to send the message that getting HIV is not neccesarily a death sentence, and those who are infected are not just sick people, or case studies, but living human beings. After everyone had made their Above: Having a blast at the hospital with Luis and Julio

own shirt, we went to the regional hospital, where we split into groups and asked the medical personal if they wanted to be part of the campaign. If they accepted, we put the VIH shirt on them and painted symbols and words on it while talking to them about how they could work to stop discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS.
This was super interesting, because there is still a lot of fear within the medical community (some medical personell still insist on putting on gloves before examining a HIV patient, which is of course ludacris, since HIV cannot be spread through physical touch). The campaign turned out to be a huge success, and we had a ton of people coming up to us asking how they could get involved. When we ran out of t-shirts, some people (including patients at the hospital) came up to us insisting that we paint directly onto whatever clothes they were wearing (see picture below).

Above: After we ran out of t-shirts this man asked if we could paint onto the t-shirt he was wearing that day.

Aside from this event, La Restinga has been working all throughout the month of November, dealing with issues of sexuality, gender roles and gender identity, abuse, trafficking, and STIs (sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS). I got the exciting challenge of co-teaching a weeklong workshop with an overview of all of these issues with some of the younger kids (10-13yrs), which was really interesting and but also daunting. The average age of first sexual intercourse in Iquitos is 14yrs (and in some isolated parts of the city it's as low as 12yrs), which is scary and heartbreaking (especially because sexual abuse definitely lowers the average). Given all the health risk associated with this, it's extremely important to start talking to the kids about these issues at an early age.

Picture above: As part of one of the art works promoting the use of condoms to protect against HIV/AIDS, one creative teenager made a copy of Munch's infamous scream-face. If you look closely, you´ll see the same face happily trapped inside a condom.

So what am I actually doing here?

2008-11-27T11:56:00.000-08:00

I realize that I have yet to tell you anything about my job description and what I actually do at La Restinga on a daily basis. This is partly due to the fact that my job description changes all the time depending on how many other volunteers are here and what the greatest needs are. But I will do my best to give you a basic idea of my schedule and what the everyday life is like here.

Pascual helping Betman, who has just learned how to read.

Elin and I usually get up around 7.30 and arrive at La Restinga around 8.30 each morning to help out at Aula Movil. This is a homework help program (most of the kids go to school in the afternoon), but there are always other workshops and projects going on. Each month they choose a new theme to work with, and for the last month we have been working up towards the World AIDS Day on December 1st with the theme Sexuality and HIV-AIDS. I'll write more about this, and our celebration of December 1st in a later post. The homework help and workshops usually lasts up until 11.30 or noon, when we all have lunch. There's a strict rule that everyone has to finish their food, which could seem odd because the portions are huge and there are kids and youth in all different sizes and ages, but this is usually not a problem since this is the only meal some of the kids get consistently every day.

After lunch, we slowly disperse (the kids go to school and I go back to the apartment). Two days a week, I return in the middle of the day to go with the team to Belen (a poverty stricken part of the city) where we have a separate project with at-risk kids and youth. Here we work as health promoters, and our workshops are centered around the prevention of sexual abuse and explotation, HIV-AIDS, and STIs, and promotion of healthy behavior, self-esteem, and personal hygiene. Taking part of the planning and execution of this project is definitely some of the most demanding, but also the most rewarding work here. It is so fun to plan and be part of the planning process and figure out how we can best reach the kids, but really hard to put it into practice, because of countless challenges, including lack of attention (keeping a group of hyperactive kids interested for a full 2 hours is like a mission impossible), lack of attendance, lack of place to work (when we arrived on site last week, we were surprised to find that the roof of the building had been removed, which, in 100 degree heat made it impossible to work, so we had to cancel the next two sessions until we had a roof over our heads). Needless to say, I'm learning to be flexible.

Good friends: Angela and Lucero are always together when they're at La Restinga.

After returning from Belen, we make dinner in the apartment, which is always an adventure. Elin and I love trying new things, and with a market full of unfamiliar vegetables, fishes, and fruits, we've had lots of exotic (though not always that tasty) dinners. Then, at around 7pm we return to La Restinga to help out or particitpate in different workshops (including juggleing classes, making t-shirts, capoeira, moviemaking, danceclasses, theatre, and much much more). The workshops usually last till around 9pm, but sometimes people keep hanging around late into the night telling stories and talking. These late night talks have made for some of my best memories so far. I especially remember one of the first nights when a group of about 10 of us, including Puchin (who is one of the founders and basically the second father to all the kids) were gathered around the table eating a late night meal. Everyone was laughing and making fun of each other in such an intimate way. In that moment I realized that La Restinga is not charity, not a project, not a center, but simply family. And I am so thankful to feel part of it.

La Restinga as seen from the outside. The banner across the heart says "Creo en ti", which means "I believe in you."

Belen baptism

2008-11-11T13:45:00.000-08:00

The seasons here in la selva (the jungle) are pretty much non-existent, as the climate usually stays around 95 degrees farenheit or 35 degrees celcius all the time. Unlike in Norway, where you always need to bring extra clothes and be prepared for a sudden change in wheather, a pair of shorts and a t-shirt is usually always all you need here. However, we are now entering into the rainy season, which means that within just a few seconds, the weather can change from completely dry to torrential downpur.

We got our first taste of what this looked like when we first came with to a workshop with 3-5th graders in Belen, an area of the city where the majority live in poverty or extreme poverty. On this particular day, we had just spent hours making paper kites with the kids, and just as we were wrapping up, the rain started pouring down. As is the case with most of the houses in the area, the roof of the house where we were gathered is made of straw. It’s really fragile and must be replaced every few years, but most people don’t have enough money saved up to invest in a more sturdy and safe roof (even though this would of course be much cheaper and safer in the long run)**. Anyway, this particular roof was pretty old, and had large holes all over the place. So when the rain came down, large parts of the room (including many of the childrens’ kites) became soaking wet. Seeing the dissapointment in the kids eyes as they ventured out into the torrential downpour outside, I wondered if even a single one of them would be able to bring their kite home safely. But when we left the building a few minutes later, the kids had apparently already forgotten about the kites, and were running around laughing, playing football, and enjoying the coolness of the rain. Thank God for children's ability to just move on and find something positive in every situation...

Above: A typical example of what the straw roofs look like

**This makes me think of the eternal problem of the poor: the lack of capital. Because most banks don’t want the business of poor people (the cost of handeling their business is greater than the gain), many poor people have to accept loans with APR as high as 200% because it’s their only viable option. In other words, the life of a poor person may be far more expencive than the life of middle class. Many microfinance institutions, however, are giving many poor people new opportunities by providing collateral free loans, both for building private businesses, but also for other needs, such as housing. Learn more about how Stromme Foundation uses microfinance to eradicate poverty by clicking HERE.

Floating down the Amazon

2008-11-11T12:51:00.000-08:00

After having spent less than a week in Iquitos, Elin and I were invited to come with Pascual and Willy (two young leaders at La Restinga) on a weekend trip to Requena. Since Iquitos is technically an island, surrounded by jungle on all sides, the only way to get to Requena is through a 15 hour long boatride on the Amazon. Impressed by the incredible warmth and hospitality of the people here, and intrigued by spending the night on the river, we accepted right away, and a few hours later were streched out in our hammocks on the top deck of the lancha (boat).
We had an absolutely incredible weekend, but rather than giving you a long list of what we did, I just want to describe one of my favorite snapshot moments from the trip for you:

The view from the hammock

It is 6pm, and I’m stretched out in my hammock, admiring the lush, green lanscape as we slowly float down the Amazon. The sun is slowly setting behind the majestic clouds, and the fresh breeze from the river alliviates the humidity of the air. Though the deck is crammed with people and their belongings (including a small cage with live chickens right behind me), I’m filled with a sense of awe for the vastness around me, knowing that I am surrounded by miles and miles and miles of largely untouched jungle. In the hammock next the me, Elin is sitting upright, smiling and chatting with the young girl that’s brading her hair. Behind her, is another group of other curious kids surrounding us, one of them slowly tracing her fingers up and down my bare calfs (not sure if she is fascinated by my leghair or just wants to cuddle). The kids listen intently, and laugh from time to time, as they observe the spanish lesson playing out before them. Jenni, the 40-something woman in the hammoc next to me has made it her mission to teach me spanish in the course of the next few hours, and we move systematically through my notebook of vocabulary words.

Jenni and I in the middle of our session

”Re-co-no-cer,” she says slowly. Reconcer. ”To admit or aknowledge” according to my vocab list. Next she gives me an example of how to use it in a sentence: ”Tengo que reconocer que hice algo...” I quickly write it down. We continue with the next word: tacacho – the name of a typical Peruvian dish made of grilled platano (a non-sweet banana) mushed in pork grease. Sounds strange but is actually delicious. Jenni tells me that if I ever come back to Requena, she wants to show me how to make it. She even writes her phone number in my notebook, and says she means it seriously. I believe her. The sincerety and geniune warmth of the people here makes me feel at home, and as we curl up in our hammocks go to sleep a few hours later, it feels like I’m curling up to family.

Elin looking out over the bustling bay as we arrived in Requena at 7am

Floating houses outside the bay in Iquitos

2008-10-28T13:00:00.000-07:00

A little FYI to all my loved ones: If you should feel inclined to send Norwegian chocolate, a postcard, an update from home, or anything else that's transportable by mail, you can do so at the following address:

Janne Kristine Dale (Please remember to include my middle name - that's the name I go by here)
La Restinga
Jr. Raymondi 254
Iquitos
PERU

48 hours in heaven (a.k.a. I LOOOOOVE IQUITOS!!)

2008-10-26T19:45:00.000-07:00

Since Iquitos is famous for being the largest city in the world that cannot by reached by road, Elin and I had to leave Lima in a plane. After a short flight over the Amazonian jungle, we dove down to the small airport in Iquitos. I knew that the different regions in Peru (coast, highland, and jungle) were fairly distinct, both in landscape and culture, but I was still taken aback by how totally different it is up here.

Picture above: View from the seaside restaurant, where we had our first taste of the local fish.

For starters, I can (FINALLY!) put away the woolen undershirt I wore religiously in Lima, along with the three longsleeved sweaters I usually wore on top of each other every day. The weather has been just perfect so far – hot, but not in a suffocating way. The second most obvious difference from Lima is the air and the evironment. Iquitos is completely surrounded by beautiful lush forests and though the river is pretty badly contaminated, the air is fresh. The landscape with the small straw huts along the roads, the houses built on stilts in the Belen neighboorhoos (more about that later), the small motocarros filling the streets (there are almost no cars here), and the bountiful open air markets is incredibly charming, and I feel almost giddy with excitement that I get to live and work here for the next six months.

Food picture: Unlike Lima, where fish is usually served with rice, the fish here is usually served with platano, a less sweet type of banana.

Above: Puri and me at the restaurant.

Our first day was made extra special by Puri—a previous Hald student who works at La Restinga—who spent all of Saturday with us, showing us around town, helping us by some essentials for our apartmant (a fan, water, toilet paper, and other little things), and introduced us to some culinary specialties from la selva (the jungle). She also brought us to this beautiful getaway place, with a small pool, lots of hammocks, and small huts with views over the Belen neighborhood (see picture below). What she didn't tell us, however, was that in one of the small tree huts, there is a cage with a big snake. Having inherited my dad's fear of snakes, I was not exactly thrilled about this. The picture on the right was incidentially taken in the exact moment I discovered the snake... Yes, that is what fear looks like in its purest form. :) Thankfully, I now have half a year to learn to love these creatures...

Snapshots from Lima

2008-10-22T15:40:00.001-07:00

It's crazy how fast time passes by! Our first month in Lima is nearly over, and on Saturday morning Elin and I get on the plane to Iquitos, where we will be working for the next six months.
I am so grateful to have had these first few weeks in Lima, though, and I feel so much more confident in my language abilities, and much more acquainted with the culture.

Here are a few of the highlights from the last month, including some pictures:

Getting to know our host family! For our goodbye dinner with our wonderful host family, Elin and I wanted to make some typical norwegian food. We decided to make fiskegrateng (a dish with fish, macaroni, and white sauce) and lapper (almost like pancakes, except made with yogurt), and the video below shows Elin, grandma, and Diego (our little host brother) in the kitchen. (You may notice that grandma is the one cooking the lapper, because after Elin and I failed repeatedly and grandma knows best).

Nightly family gatherings in the livingroom to watch Victoria, a ridiculously wonderful soapopera I've developed a small obsession with. Watching this show has definitely helped me learn the language better, because I have to REALLY listen to catch the meaning of everything.

Our last night in Lima, we also had one final hurrah with the other Norwegians before parting. It’s been really great being with them this month – looking forward to seeing them during infield (a 1 week group corse, probably in Bolivia, in January)! (see picture below)
Seeing Oles and my good friend Karin! Many of you know Jared Brandell and Frieda von Qualen, who are both in Lima right now with the peace corps, and we had a wonderful little luncheon together to catch up. I also got a visit from my good friend from high school, Karin, whose sister is studying in Lima. So good to see them all again!

Visiting different Stromme Foundation projects. In addition to the center for teenage mothers (see previous post), we've also visited Tierra de Niños (which has lots of different projects with kids and teenagers), and Ágape (which works with issues of family violence). The picture below is of a girl from one of the Tierra de Niños projects, where they (for lack of other materials) used sawdust and sand to make art.

Going to the water park in Lima with Kristine, Thea, and Thea's host sister, Claudia.

Sssssalsa!

2008-10-11T13:08:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to include a few pictures from our "Pizza and Salsa" night. Thea, one of the girls from the program, has a host sister, Claudia, who is a national champion in marinera, a tradidtional Peruvian dance. She has won over 40 championship, danced for the Norwegian princess and the Peruvian national soccer team, and is basically one of the best marinera dancers in the country. Naturally, her mom, Filomena, (who is in charge of the Center for adolescent mothers described in the last post) was super proud and brought out all of her trophes and prizes (see pictures).

Originally, were invited over to their house to bake pizza and learn to dance salsa, but after getting down the basic salsa steps (enough so that we can survive our first trip to the salsa club tonight!), we got to learn marinera, which was much more memorable. The dance is supposed to be a romantic courting dance, and everyone has handkerchiefs as props! The pictures below show Claudia instructing us, and us failing misorably...

12 years old and pregnant

2008-10-11T12:08:00.000-07:00

Do you remember what you were worried about as a 6th grader? I seem to remember just moving out of my Barbie phase (a little late, I know) around that age. For the mamasitas (little mothers) we visited a few days ago, reality looks pretty different. Meet Gloria: a 13 year old girl from the local community who already has a 10 month old daughter, Cielo (the picture on the right). Most of the girls come from communities plagued by poverty, family violence, sexual violence, and drug abuse, and several of them have become pregnant through cases of incest of rape. Luckily, the Centro para Madres Adolescentes (Center for Adolescent Mothers) is giving these young women a chance to deliver their baby safely and break out of the cycle of poverty and abuse.

Our visit to the center was moving and disheartening, but also left me with the sense that these girls have hope for the future. The leader, Filomena, and the psychologist on staff gave us a presentation about the project, and afterwards we were shown around the center, got to see the Anacoda dance and a Peruvian polka performed by the girls, and got a few minutes to talk to them in the end.

The project currently has 15 adolescent girls (and 15 babies) living at the center, but every day kids from the community come there to take part of the vocational trainings and other types of education. The center offers vocational training in beautycare (see picture frm the classroom on the left), textiles, and bakery, so that the girls will be able to support themselves when they leave the center (usually after about a one year long stay). While there, the girls are given holistic support (including psychological care, counseling with their families, legal advice, health care, social services, etc). The goal is that the girls will have safe pregnancies, learn how to take care of themselves and their children, and be able to reintegrate into their families and communities with a new perspective and ambitions for their future.

Since the Center receives support from the Stromme Foundation, two of the girls from our programs will be working there for the next six months. In the textile training, they were making adorable sweatsuits for the babies reflecting this partnership in their logos (see picture on right).

One of the things that struck me the most as we walked around the center was the writing on the wall above the soccerfield in the back of the center. In bright yellow letters it proclaimed Jesus' words that "los úlitimos seran los primeros" -- "the last shall be the first." These words take on new meaning when found in this setting where "the last" desperately need to know that they are not forgotten.

Raw octopus, guinea pig, and other Peruvian specialties

2008-10-11T08:40:00.000-07:00

Living with a host family, we've gotten to eat a lot of traditional foods. The different regions in Peru, la costa (the coast), la sierra (the highlands), and la selva (the jungle) all have very distinct cultures and foods, but here in Lima you get to have a taste of it all. Luci, our housekeeper, is from the highlands, and the other day she prepared a specialty from her region: cuy -- also known as guinea pig. It tasted pretty good, but the legs were still intact, with claws and everything, which definitely startled me a bit at first. We've been served lots of other delicious (and less scary) foods, including papa a la Huancaina (sliced boiled potatoes covered in a cheesy, slightly spicy sauce served on top of lettuce) and chicha morada (a sweet beverage made from purple corn).

Yesterday, our group went out to a Cevicheria, a seafood restaurant where they serve the traditional Peruvian dish ceviche: raw seafood in a lime and onion sauce. I would be lying if said I didn't cringe a little bit at the sight of raw octupus tentacles in front of me, but after a few deep breaths I was ready to try it out. To my great surprise, it actually tasted really good! Granted, I think I'll still need to take a few more deep breath the next time I take on a plate of raw slabs of octupus, shrimp, and squid, but at least I'll know what to expect... :)

The picture above shows fried seafood (octopus rings, shrimps, etc), and the pictures below show seafood in a rice and beans mix, and Svenn (another Norwegian from the program) taking a big bite of raw fish.

I'm Here!!

2008-10-06T13:51:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to write a quick note and say that I have safely arrived in Peru, and have had five wonderfully confusing days here so far. Elin (the girl I'm going to Iquitos with) and I live together with a super nice host family in Salamanca, which is only about a half hour in bus away from downtown Lima and from ESAN, the university where we'll be taking spanish classes every day, from monday to saturday. The spanish classes are absolutely fantastic -- it's really challenging, but not so much that it feels impossible. I'm determined to really work hard at the language these first three weeks, so that I'll be able to communicate more with my host family and feel more prepared before going to Iquitos in November.

After five days here, I'm starting to feel like I've got the hang of the basics: we know how to take the bus (though it's quite the adventure every time you climb into a little "combi" -- a 13 seat car with about 25 people crammed into it), we know the basic schedule of the host family and how to communicate basic things with them. I have to admit, much of the time, I have no idea what's going on, and I spend much of my time wondering if I've understood correctly, or not understanding anything at all. But that's all part of the fun and adventure, and I feel a lot more secure already. I'm excited to keep learning and keep exploring the city and the culture -- I think I'll have a great stay here!Picture: From the famous Plaza de Armas downtown Lima.

Changing seasons

2008-09-27T23:06:00.000-07:00

I've been home in Gjøvik for a few days now to pack and get ready to start the journey. As I arrived home, I was awestruck by the beautiful fall colors, bright and burning, draping the forests. At first, it made me think back to the majestic trees at St. Olaf in the fall and for a second I wanted nothing more than to go back there to the safety and comfort of my home on the hill. But then I was reminded by one of my favorite Donald Miller quotes:

"Everybody, every person has to leave, has to change like seasons, have to or they die. The seasons remind me that I must keep changing, and I want to change because it is God's way. I want to keep my sould fertile for the changes, so things keep getting born in me, so things keep dying when it's time for things to die. I want to keep walking away from the person I was a moment ago, because a mind was made to figure things out, not to read the same pages recurrently."

In a few hours I leave to go to Oslo, and before the sun rises tomorrow, I will be on my way to Peru. I have no idea what to expect -- all I know is that I'm leaving the comfortable and allowing myself to be changed by new surroundings and new challenges. Here we go...

Bono and Bush and a tsunami every month

2008-09-23T12:53:00.000-07:00

If you click on the picture below, it will take you to a video of musician/artist Bono's visit to the White House a few months back, addressing the global food crisis and representing the ONE campaign to reach the UN Millennium Development Goals. Believe what you will about Bono, but I think he has some pretty thought provoking things to say on the state of our world. About two minutes into the video, Bono talks about the difference between charity and justice. Please spare 3 minutes of your day to hear what he has to say.

If this stirred your curiosity, you can see the whole speech by clicking here.

One school + three organizations + one govt. branch = one fantatic (yet confusing) year

2008-09-20T04:39:00.000-07:00

You're going to Peru? But you're also going to school? And you're also doing the peace corps? AND you're representing Stromme Foundation? These are questions I've gotten a lot. And the answer to all of them is YES. Here are a few words of clarification..

Hald Internasjonale Senter is the name of the school I'm going to. Through this school, three organizations organize exchanges with their respective partner organizations in different countries. Young Norwegians are sent out to work with the partner organizations, and the partner organizations send young adults to Norway to work here. For six weeks at the beginning and the end of the 6-7 month exchange, we are all gathered at Hald Internasjonale Senter. The three organizations working through Hald are the Norwegian Mission Society (or NMS), International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (or Norges Kristelige Skole og Laget), and Stromme Foundation (or Strømmestiftelsen). I will be representing the Stromme Foundation while I work with their partner organization, La Restinga, in Iquitos, Peru.

All of the programs are sponsored by the Norwegian equivalent of the peacecorps, FK (short for Fredskorpset), which receives it funding from the government. FK provides financial support and guidelines for Hald Internasjonale Senter and many other exchange programs like it. In 2000, FK changed their approach from just sending Norwegians abroad to requiring that all their programs included an exchange. Far too often, international service programs implicity or explicity sends the message that the Westerners have all the answers and the competancy, which pacifies and disempowers the recipients of their help. FK's vision is that developed countries (including Norway) need the perspective and help of people from developing countries just as much as the other way around.

Snapshots from Hald so far

2008-09-16T23:38:00.000-07:00

As part of the year at Hald, there is a 6 weeks course both before and after our stay abroad. This takes place in the small city of Mandal in southern Norway. Here, all 70 students (30 internationals and 40 Norwegians) are gathered to prepare and learn from each other before heading off to our respective work sites all over the world. You can see where my fellow Norwegian students' are going by clicking on the links to their blogs on the right. The internationals are from the organizations that we're going to, and getting to know them has been a great way for us to learn more about their respective languages and cultures. When the Norwegians leave October 1st, the internationals will go to their placement sites all around Norway to work in kindergardens, churches, youthgroups, etc.

We have been at Hald for about 4 weeks now, and it has been a fantastic experience so far. We've had classes from 9am to 4pm pretty much every day, learning about everything from microfinance, to leadership, to gender and climate change perspectives on development, to cross cultural communication, and personal growth, just to name a few. Outside of class, we've had lots of fun adventures including:

- trips to the beautiful nearby beaches, where many of our African students corageously learned to swim in freezing Norwegian sea water.
- fun danceparties, where our Brazilian friends have introduced us stiff Norwegians to a whole new world of ways to use our hips!

- a weekend trip to the mountains, including some trusting activities, like being blindfolded while walking through muddy paths, rocky hills, and crossing small rivers -- which was not made any easier by the language barrier!

Included below are some pictures my fellow student Helge Lauvsnes (who is going to Tanzania) has taken so far. Enjoy!

Copyrights

2008-09-16T13:47:00.000-07:00

For those of you wondering how I learned to make such sweet blog headings, I'm sorry to dissapoint you that no crash course in photoshop could teach me how to do that. This is completely and entirely the work of the multitalented Tyler Hauger (aka my fantastic boyfriend).

PS: Tyler is in Jerusalem working for the Lutheran World Federation this year and you can follow his blog at www.tylerinjerusalem.blogspot.com

Welcome!

2008-09-07T11:28:00.000-07:00

Let me start by saying hello and THANK YOU for all of you interested in following my blog! I'm really excited to share my experiences and thoughts with you! I hope to write freely and honestly about everything that this experience entails: making friends, getting to know a new culture and language, learning about development and poverty, learning about myself, practicing what it means to "love your neighbor as yourself"--and probably failing over and over again!

A word on language:
Since there are both Americans, Norwegians, and people from other countries reading this blog, I thought it would be easiest to write in English. Not only because this is the language that most people understand, but also because after six years in Minnesota, I speak better English than Norwegian! So I apologize to all of you for whom reading English might be more of a challenge -- I will do my best not to use too many difficult words. Also, if it's any consolation, I will be severely language confused this year, trying to juggle Norwegian, English, and Spanish, so I'm guessing there will be a little bit of all three languages on my blog! :)

Thank you again for being interested - I'm looking forward to keeping in touch with you through letting you know what I'm doing and feeling. My hope is that my reflections will inspire you, provoke you, make you laugh, make you think, and make you appreciate the small things that gives life meaning!