Day 2

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I´m afraid to say that I don´t think I will be able to down load pictures, at least not from this cafe. I will try another one tomorrow or wednesday. Hopefully they won´t block their USB ports like this one does, but I think it might be pretty common. If all else fails I will ask a room mate if I can borrow her computer to upload my pictures. Some how I will get them on here.

Today was crazy but amazing. After breakfast (which by the way is wonderful consititing of hot rolls, fresh jam and tea) we headed out for a tour of some of the work sites. The first site we went to was a wawawasi, they are governmental programs set up to care for children up until age four. Think very small preschools, where the kids get basic food during the day. There are over 150 in the city of ayacucho and is one of the more successful programs of the government. To imagine the neighborhoods for those of you who went to the Dominican Republic, think barrio blanco only for miles and mile with thousands of inhabitants. The school we visited was very similar as well. There are one story buildings surrounding a dirt square, dirt floor classrooms and lean-to outhouses. Its crazy the number of people who live below the poverty line here and how the government doesn´t seem to do anything about it. Most of the taxes payed by large corporations go to lima because they have an office in the city instead of to the region where the labor comes from.

We also drove by the prison which was set up during the time of the shining path. It has the capacity to hold 500 inmates but currently holds over 1000, 100 of which are women. Some of the workers here care for the children of the women inmates. Unfortunately there is some bad things happening in the city at the moment.

For the past 2 weeks all of the teachers and doctors have been on strike so the clinics and schools have been closed. The president is actually here now to try to compromise but nothing looks promising for the people. So far everything has been peaceful and we are told it will stay that way. Strikes are very common here. Apart from the schools closed the only way to tell there is a strike going on is by entering the main plaza where the teachers have set up camp. There are worker flags surrounding the square and rallies of people. On saturday the other health volunteers and I are going to the medical rally where the ministry of health is meeting with the local doctors to talk about the issues. It will be a good chance for us to learn about health care here in peru. Besides the strike the prison is on lock down. There was a riot yesterday when the director was suddenly replaced. The inmates are holding 5 guards hostage so needless to say we aren´t allowed to work there at the moment. Basically we are sitting around waiting for things to settle down and working at the wawawasi and orphanages in the mean time. Not to worry though, everything is perfectly safe.

This is getting long so I will wait until later to finish our adventures and hopefully post pictures. I will work on it I promise.

side note: my spanish is coming along nicely. I can understand more than I thought I would and the people are helpful and love when we try to use what little knowledge we have. Quechua on the other hand is impossible.

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Comments

[Meg]

Hi Em! So glad to hear you made it and are having a great time so far! I tried sending you a couple emails but I'm not sure they made it...let me know if they did or didn't. Love you! Miss you! Talk to you soon! Have fun!