Ayacucho

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January 23rd 2010

Published: January 24th 2010

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mlschmitz

plaza

One week into volunteering in Ayacucho

I know that I have 7 more weeks left of volunteering, but so far I absolutely love it! I get to interview women who have received FINCA loans and write about how their lives have been affected and their businesses improved from these loans. I think that Microfinancing is definitely something I want to learn more about and possibly do long-term someday.

Another aspect about volunteering that I know I would never get sick of is living here in Ayacucho. I love the mountains and the culture here. The people are so nice, the men don’t harass us gringas, and the quechua/Andean culture is fascinating. I love the cute little quechua women walking around carrying their kids on their backs with their blankets. Yesterday at work, a woman brought her 8 day old baby alpaca to her village bank meeting…..only in Peru (it was sooo cute).

Last night we played soccer with some of Erika’s friends and it was a lot of fun. We were playing on this cement soccer field at night while it was raining that anywhere else would have been sketchy, but here it was totally safe. And

1 sol to get your weight

we were with some of the other volunteer's guy friends. I forgot how much fun it is playing sports.

This morning we went to visit the jail. It was crazy. There are 1500 men and 160 women there, making the jail at over double its capacity. There are only 3 bathrooms and 2 showers for the 160 women who live there. And they pack 8 women in each tiny cell. Another shocking fact is that there are 12 kids also living in the jail (until they are 4 years old they can stay there with their moms).

The women were really excited to have us visiting them. We were told that most of them are in jail for drug trafficking. Some of the women talking to Erika told her that since they can’t read or write, limiting the jobs they can get, drug trafficking becomes one of the last (and easiest) options for them. A lot of the women were asking us to teach them how to read and write in Spanish, and to speak English. What was sad was that most of them are from the jungle or far away and almost never have visitors or get

Ayacucho 027

to see their families. What’s worse is that they all have to pay to be there, and if they don’t have the money, they are stuck there.

They all seemed so “normal,” except for the fact that they are all serving 7-15 year sentences for drug trafficking. One lady I met was trying to sell her single brothers to me for quite some time, which was entertaining. She kept asking "you don’t want an ayacuchan boyfriend? Tell me, tell me." I kept telling her no, no, no, but thanks for the offer, but she didn’t seem to register that. Haha. I guess I should have just told her I was a lesbian, and that’s why I’m single (that’s about the only excuse a Peruvian will take for why a girl doesn’t have a boyfriend “to protect and take care of her”). Anyway, visiting the jail was a really cool experience and I think we are going to start going every Saturday.

Other exciting news—I just moved into my apartment! Staying at the loud and far away hostal was getting old. I have a nice and big room, my own bathroom, am next door to the other volunteers, close