Bienvenidos a Chimbote!

Los Amigos is a faith-based organization dedicated to supporting programs that improve and transform the lives of the poor of Chimbote, Peru.

I’ve been in Peru just over a week now and it has been a week of adjustment and orientation.  The difference between life here and in the United States is extreme to say the least.  The average family here lives on less than $2.00 a day- could you imagine??  Take a second to put it in perspective- how much can you purchase with $2.00- not much.  Now try and picture a day living off that much while supporting a family.  Needless to say the life I’m accustomed to is very different than the everyday life here.

Here is a little glimpse into my day-to-day life here.  I have been placed with a host family- la familia Escalante, consisting of 2 older host brothers Jose (29) and Marco (27), host mom Bertha, and host dad Walter.  They are overwhelmingly kind and hospitable.  I will walk you through their house- one might say it’s a bit different than 2116 Juno Ave.  The outside is bright blue-, which is great because so many of the houses here look the same I always know which one is mine.  I have been given 4 different house keys- ay ay ay its like a game of chance every time I get to the door.  The front door leads into a long dark hallway that brings you to the family broom factory.  The bottom floor of the house is indeed a broom factory- it’s like walking through a maze of hay getting to the staircase upstairs.  Not to mention that there are animals everywhere turkeys, chickens, and guinea pigs…aka dinner.  There is a pen of guinea pigs right by the stair case- I count them everyday to make sure I’m not going to see one on my plate… Noooo thanks (there are 5).  Once you’re upstairs there is the bathroom- which gets about an hour of running water very early in the morning- so I am given two buckets of water daily to shower- soooo I’ve only showered once and can’t even imagine how ridiculous I looked doing it.  There isn’t even a shower head and as for the toilet, the phrase “if its yellow let it mellow, if its brown flush is down” is applied- except for that the flush doesn’t exactly “flush it down- I’m sure that’s TMI but woah is that different- also all the TP is thrown in the trash not flushed… Ha I’m sure I’ll get it down to a system soon enough.  Once past the bathroom there is my host brothers a room they share and Leah (another volunteer here) and me share another room- it’s very cozy!   Not like my bed- which I think is maybe a plank of wood covered with a comforter…  any who, it is very nice having Leah with me she is super nice (a recent college grad as well – from MN too)!  We laugh at all of the absurdities here like the dogs barking and roosters crowing as we try to sleep.  The other areas of the house include a nice dining room/living space, host mom and dad’s room and a kitchen that really only consists of an oven/stove and a table.  Then in the lower level of the house lives another host brother Wilman and his wife and 2 kids- it’s a very family friendly house.  There is actually a huge gaping hole on the floor in the hallway that they converse through- a hole that I always worry my foot will fall through!  The housing experience thus far has been good…

When not at the house I am typically at la parroquia (the parish).  This morning we (the long term volunteers) had a meeting with Sister Peggy and Father Jack (they are the people in charge- they run the show, Fr. Jack is like a celebrity here).  It was probably one of the first informative parts of the trip.  Fr. Jack ran through everything that the program offers and concluded with a quote that really captures life here. 

“It’s Not God’s Will that Poverty Exists,

Preferential Option For the Poor The Only Way The Poor Can Get Out Of Their Poverty is Through Education.”

The poverty here is hard to grasp.  I walk down a dusty dirt road littered with garbage, stray dogs, dog feces, houses with dirt floors and straw roofs.  There are small children everywhere without shoes and clean clothes, relieving themselves on the street and lacking any sort of structure in their upbringing.  There is a constant flow of pregnant women coming in and out of la parroquia looking for help, the community in uneducated in many areas especially family planning and birth control.  It is so hard to see all of these people who lack such basic necessities.  After hearing what all of the different volunteers will be working on Fr. Jack emphasized how everything that we are doing is providing the population here with education which will empower them with knowledge to make the changes that they can for themselves and will prevent them from continuing this horrible cycle of extreme poverty.  We are truly serving the poorest of the poor.