Don’t JUST volunteer: A PSA from Peru

"JUST" ISN'T ENOUGH

Every service experience differs from the one before.  The state of your heart and mind determines what you pull from the new experience, even if it is the 15^th time you have tutored the same frustrated child on the same fraction problems he still doesn't get, the 10^th time you have pulled weeds for the aging neighbor who never really uses his garden, or the 4^th humanitarian program you have joined and taught the same village about hygiene essentials that they –just– don’t seem to understand or appreciate.

Don’t –just– “volunteer again”.

Don’t –just– “serve again”.

Don’t –just– go on “another humanitarian trip”. 

Rather, collectively let’s take our service a step up and allow ourselves to both reach and be reached.  This was a continual thought of mine while on the SHE (Singular Humanitarian Expeditions) tour with ASCEND Alliance in Peru.

¿Allillanchu?  It means “how are you?” in Quechua, the language of the Incans. Learning the basics goes a long way when forming relationships with people who speak other languages.  Similarly, learning a little about a person with who you associate at school or work goes a long way.  Learning about the cultural, extracurricular, and linguistic preferences of another person then showing our interest and willingness to learn about that person’s preferences not only opens lines of communication, it opens hearts.

Solpayki.  It means “thank you”.  It’s one of the phrases I learned early on and used often.   The simple phrase opened dialogue in Spanish and provided opportunities for me to learn more Quechua, like when one of my new local friends taught me the work Koshiani, which means “I’m sick”.  I used that a few times after I pushed myself too hard and spent time vomiting and fighting nausea with coca leaf tea.  Having support from the cooks and the ladies there, though, I felt loved and cared for when I was sick.  For that, it was certainly worth the experience to be sick.

Sallare. It means “stop”.  I had to use that often when the younger kids would get a little too excited about the foreign volunteers and would switch to their inquisitive mode poking, prodding, and pinching.

Munaycha. One of my favorite phrases meaning “how pretty”.  It was helpful when the girls showed off their colorful skirts, ornate bonnets, or fancy braids.

WORKING IN THE SCHOOLS

I loved being with the children of Chauipmayp-Lamay Peru’s school number 501225.  We conversed in Spanish and exchanged teaching each other phrases in Quechua for English. 

Translating in Hilda’s 5^th & 6^th grade class for US teacher Erin Braithwaite we observed how classes are run in this small village, how the school system runs, and how children perform.  Erin came to Peru to help teachers employ creative and interactive teaching methods to keep their students more engaged.  The teachers in this area have expressed such a need due to the low student engagement levels.

As part of a health education program I was able to teach the importance of oral care including eating habits and proper tooth-brushing technique.  Teaching alongside my best friend and fellow humanitarian Alisa Davis and a new friend Caroline, we explained how diet and nutrition affects one’s teeth and gums and the ladies demonstrated HOW to properly brush one’s teeth (circular motions on the both front and rear faces of the teeth and back and forth ONLY on the tops of the teeth.

For me, the neatest part was sharing the song “No mas vichitos de azucar”, or “No more sugar bugs”.  This is a song my mother and I put together to the tune of “itsy bitsy spider” to reinforce when to brush and the importance of it.  The teachers loved it, wrote down the lyrics, and practiced it with the kids.

PERCEPTION OF EDUCATION

The government covers teaching expenses, selecting instructors from the major cities and sending them out to schools around the country.  As these teachers live 3-6 hours from the village, they stay at the school on weeknights to return home on the weekends.  It is the general consensus that there are not qualified teachers from the area where few have even made it past 6^th grade.  It is said that many of the parents don’t understand the need for education.  A voiced opinion came through:

What’s wrong with living life the way we do?  Are we to tell our children they can have a better life when we have never objected to the life we live?  Should our children really be smarter than us? If so, when will they stop listening to us because they think they know everything from the books and the teachers at school?

These questions are made far more difficult when they are posed with a mind filled with preconceived notions of many downfalls of acculturation. 

Going back into Incan history, the Spaniards invaded, forced their religion and societal practices upon the Incans, stole their women, and corrupted the Incan cultural rites and norms. 

In recent history, electricity only arrived to this village 1.5 years ago. Cars, 7 years ago. Secondary school, 4 years ago.

This information is VITAL to know because it provides an insight into WHY many of the villagers feel so hesitant to change.  With change comes uncertainty.  Uncertainty can be exhilarating, enabling some to embrace change and to venture boldly into the unknown, OR, it can be debilitating others who shrink at the daunting world of the unknown, closing themselves off and distancing themselves from the embracers who were once their homogenous associates.  Most of the leaders embraced the prospect of change as it pertained to education, health, hygiene.  Some feared the change and do not support the teachers or encourage their children to learn or study once at home. 

If a student is to truly learn, he or she must be self-motivated.  She must feel empowered. This is true in ANY culture.  In many third world countries, many parents don’t feel as though they have the TIME to empower their children.  Many feel they don’t have the MEANS to empower their youth. 

         >insert need for people to be a light< 

     >insert need for people to share their skills< 

>insert need for people to show that in every person there is something to believe in<

LANGUAGE UNLOCKS

Those who know me know that my physical strength has waned a bit from my kickboxing days and my greatest contribution in a group that already has 20+ physically ready-to-rip volunteers is my ability to speak Spanish.  

My ability to speak Spanish soothed a brilliant, beautiful four year old girl with rotten teeth while she had Jeff, the volunteer dentist, remove the teeth that were so bad they could lead to disease or death.

Speaking a mix of Quechua and Spanish I helped as an optometrist examined a woman who complained of not having clear vision for nearly 40 years of life and never has had an opportunity to learn to read, hindered by sight.  Now she has glasses and feels like the world has finally opened its doors for her.

This brings me so much joy because it’s as though I’m taking the place of a critical missing link to communication-that-changes-lives.  Yes, it’s possible to communicate non-verbally.  In fact, music and body language speak volumes.  Still, when there is someone available to translate, words speed communication and remedy the “awkwards”.  (You know what I mean.  When you think someone speaks another language do you greet them the same way you greet someone you KNOW speaks your language?  Do you greet them at all with even a smile, or do you avoid making eye contact?)

If you have a chance to learn another language, why don’t you?  If you say you’ll never use it, why won’t you? If you say you’ll never have the time, why don’t you make it?

Language is a key that unlocks conversation.  Conversation can impact lives.  Language is the means to share, to teach, to learn.  Use your language to create words. Use your words to unlock hearts.  Use your words to learn the words and ways of others.

THE HISTORY BEHIND US

If we are taking time to learn how to speak to someone, how to connect with them, how to understand their mindset and mode of living, what more is it to learn their history.  After all, has not our history played a major role in shaping us individually? 

My history includes my mother being born and raised in Chile as a professional singer preparing to become a nun just before the rise of communist regime under Pinochet.  She immigrated to the US and left her family behind.  Her history includes Spaniard and French immigrants arriving in Chile, conquering the indigenous people and spreading Catholicism.  

My history includes my father being raised riding horses and herding in the mountains of Utah for the cattle association, relocating to southern California and experiencing life on the coast with a progressive thinking Mormon family and serving a two-year mission in Bolivia and Peru (in the very same Sacred Valley of Cusco I first visited where he learned Quechua).  His history includes immigrants from England and Denmark who came to the states for religious freedom.

This shaped me: nomadic, loving, trusting, infatuated with music, travel, horses and service.

The history of the Incans shaped their perceptions, their traditions, their beliefs.

What better way to learn their history than to spend time with them individually and to visit their historic sites?

While in Cusco a small group of us took a horse-back site seeing tour to see Saqsaywaman, a former defense fort built in the 1400s to protect from the Spaniards and later as a rock quarry to build the many cathedrals dotting the cityscape of Cusco.  We also visited caves and natural rock formations used as intense battle grounds and visited sites formerly used for sacrificial purposes.

At the culmination of the trip we visited Machu Picchu and the great lesser heard of Huayna Picchu (also written as Wayna Picchu), a lesser spoken of gem BEHIND and ABOVE Machu Picchu’s famous ruins. After ascending the hour and a half or two hour hike referred to as the stairs of death (my body screamed and ached) as the trail was literally all stairs for nearly two hours, we made it to the Temple of the Moon, located on the far side of Huayna Picchu. Here, a ceremonial shrine of sorts has been built into a cave lined with exquisite stonework and niches.  Reaching the top we found the stone at this elevation made everyone’s hair stand on end. It was as though every person had inserted their finger into a light socket.  The atmosphere was naturally electrically charged.  I felt revitalized and ready to conquer the world at 8,924 ft above sea level.  There, on top of the world, I felt deeply connected to the Inca who once inhabited these walls. 

Sitting in the same spot my late sister sat over 20 years ago!

UNTIL NEXT TIME

There are many deep, personal experiences I had in Peru, including painting murals as requested by the teachers and certain bonds with other volunteers and residents, which I will not go into here.  There is too much to share, and I vowed my blog posts would be more concise moving forward.

Peru has a piece of my heart.  Andrew was right.  There is something about Peru that takes you in.