Jenny Chapman, Peace Corp Volunteer in Peru

Sent: April 9, 2003
Subject: Up in thin air...

Hola everyone. Hope this email finds everyone doing well. Life here in Peru is finally starting to settle down and become more routine. Of course I still have crazy adventures like the time I hiked an hour up my mountain to another village (Churap) in the middle of the night and in the rain just to go to one of my neighbor's niece's birthday parties. After spending the night sitting in a small adobe room and dancing with a drunk woman (better her than the men) on a mud floor I finally convinced my neighbors to hike back down the mountain with me at 5am! Funny, I was ready to go at 1am, but oh well. Apparently I was the hit of the party, only because they had never had a "gringa" in their house before.

Just this past Saturday I spent the whole morning with the bee-keepers of Santa Rosa. I actually got to participate with the checking of the bee-hives. I had to wear a mask and gloves. There was a man from another town who apparently has been working with bees for a really long time. He taught me a lot. I found it all so interesting. We have about 19 bee-hives but they aren't producing enough honey yet to sell. The bees are producing just enough honey to feed their larvae and babies. I actually did get stung by a bee. I had on hiking boots but only with little ankle socks because I hadn't washed clothes in awhile. Anyway, the bee got down in my boot. I only felt something moving down there and then saw the bee. I actually didn't feel him sting me but after we removed the stinger it started to sting just a little. Luckily I've never been afraid of bees or had adverse reactions to their stings. The man said I would make a great bee-keeper.

Then the next day I visited Churap again (this time during the day). I went with the President of Potable Water (he is from my town). We went to check and add chlorine to all of the water tanks. This time I had to hike way past Churap and farther up into the mountains. I went with a group of men from Churap and an employee from the Ministry of Health who mostly works with water. We hiked all the way to where Santa Rosa and Churap captures/retains our water from a lake. I couldn't see the lake because there were too many bushes but as I stood there I heard a plane. I tried looking up to find it but couldn't seem to locate it. When I finally gave up I dropped my sight and all of the sudden saw the darn plane. It was flying right at my eye level, very far off, but right at my eye level. Talk about thin air!!! I only regretted not having brought my camera. It was amazingly beautiful, quite a work out and another learning lesson. I got to see our whole water system! Luckily as we are close to some snow caps we really never have to worry about water shortages.

Well, of late I have been working my butt off. I have started an Art Club (We are all knitters so far. I am now crocheting). We all meet in my house on Thursdays at 6pm. Then I have also started a Youth Club. Ages 13 and older meet in my house on Mondays from 7:30pm - 9:30pm. Ages 9 - 12 meet in my house on Tuesdays from 3:00pm - 4:00pm. Ages 5 - 8 meet in my house on Wednesdays from 3:00pm - 4:00pm. I cover topics such as health, hygiene, nutrition, self-esteem, English and we might even do some projects. I put this on my Quarterly report. I didn't think it was such a big deal but my boss's boss (the director of Peace Corps Peru) must have been impressed because she sent a message to Peace Corps Washington. Here is what she wrote:

" We are getting all of the monthly reports from the Volunteers who went
to their sites in Feb. There is so much good' "stuff" to share with you...i will do some picking and choosing and send something more extensive along...but this is a part of the report Jennifer Chapman send along. She is a health volunteer who in addition to her work with the health promoters is working with the local kids. she really has done quite a job and organizing this over such a short period of time. enjoy....."

My jaw dropped as I read the email. Needless to say it made me feel good. I didn't realize I was doing anything out of the ordinary. I really just think I have been blessed with a community who has been so nice and accepting of me. They really take care of me. And I am amazed at the human spirit and how we can adapt to so many different situations.

Anyway, staying busy... tomorrow I am going to my town's Pre-school from 9am - 12. The teacher wants me to teach the kids a song so I am going to do head, shoulders, knees and toes. Remember singing that when you were a kid?

I have also helped form a Health and Development Committee. We now have monthly meetings in my house. I have proposed a few projects for Santa Rosa that went over well with the other committee members and are now part of our Project Plan for 2003. They are as follows: create a map of the community marking the high and medium risk families (I have actually already done this for the Health Center in Monterrey), create an emergency action plan when someone is sick or hurt (in the States we have 911, yeah, that doesn't exist in Peru), create a stretcher (this is needed because if someone couldn't hike down the mountain because they were sick, hurt or had alcohol poisoning from drinking too much rubbing alcohol this is how we would have to transport the person to the highway in order to get in a taxi to go to the hospital. This is especially important for pregnant women as they tend to opt for childbearing in their homes instead of in the hospital), a community garden with seeds from Peace Corp (this helps promote nutrition as most families only eat simple pasta and potatoes), soliciting and hopefully installation of public telephone (obviously self-explanatory), and a latrine project (This will be the most challenging but it is also the most needed. There is a need for 26 latrines in my town. I didn't even realize it. That means that there are about 26 families who just do their business out in the field or where ever. I don't think they have to use the bathroom with normal frequency due to their low intake of water. Imagine eating dinner, lunch or whatever without anything to drink. Yep that's normal here. Imagine hiking in the Andes mountains with no water. Yep, done that too. Normal....)

Well, I have probably bored you all to death so I will head out. I have to go to the post office and pick up my Claritin for my flea allergy. Isn't life GRAND?

Love and miss you all,

Jenny