Un desafío de internet

Today I went to mass for the first time since I think Christmas.  It was at 8:00 pm and was the second mass of the day.  It was packed- the pews overflowed with Peruvians and most of the volunteers.  While I don’t consider myself very religious- spiritual I suppose, I found myself leaving mass actually thinking about the homily.  I don’t know what is was exactly about this mass that got my attention maybe it was because it was in Spanish and in order to understand the message I had to pay that much more attention.  Regardless I found myself really hearing what Fr. Jack had to say.  First he read the story of Adam and Eve and followed with a homily about temptation.  He then challenged us to take a full 24 hours and commit to not using the Internet.  Do you think you could do it?  I was thinking how frequently I check email, facebook, and just dink around online… he said bye bye Internet see ya Tuesday- A test of both temptation and disconnection.  He spoke of how connected we are these days.  How communication has moved from snail mail where it would take two weeks to receive a letter in the states from Peru and another two weeks for a response, and today we are communicating instantaneously via Internet. 

So I committed the promise.  How I see it is- if people here live without running water, electricity, and lack many other necessities of life, I can for 24 steer clear of Internet.  I can focus on being here rather than being here and at home.  There have already been immediate effects of this promise.  Rather than stopping in the office after mass to check email and make a skype date with my mama I stopped to talk with my host brother Jose who is a guardiana (guard) at the parish.  As we were chatting a few volunteers invited me to a baptism reception I accepted and away we went.  Let me tell you- this was no ordinary baptism reception we walked into the house welcomed by about 20 people dancing and drinking…  everyone was having a great time and I was wonder why we don’t celebrate this way in the U.S??  It was way better than your typical brunch and cake.  One of the volunteers looked at me and said, “if you think this is fun you should go to a baby shower”- I can only hope!  But moral of the story is I already gained a new experience because I stepped away from mass communication and lived in the here and now. 

So I am back on the web and I must say taking a 24-hour hiatus was great I think that it is something that I will try and do every week.  It is refreshing and gives ya a great opportunity to really focus on what you have to do and what is going on around you. 

So you may wonder what exactly I am doing here and sometimes I wonder the same thing… But I am currently working as a Volunteer Program Assistant.  What is that?  Good question- I’m still sorta figuring it out.  The Los Amigos program is growing and the demand for help and volunteers is continuous.  While is it easy to say I will be teaching English or building houses or working in a prevention center the person who organizes all of that is sort of like the great wizard of OZ.  Rather than giving courage, heart, or brains the coordinator here provides opportunities for education and gives hope- yet all the while is sort of behind the scenes.  Well the great OZ down here keeps getting busier and busier so I am stepping in and will be in charge of prepping short term groups, host families, orientations, keeping things running with the long term volunteers and prioritizing/delegating projects.  With my time that I spend aside from this part of the job I have decided to take on the task of the Jardines (gardens).  The gardens here are in horrible condition.  This past fall they were lush and provided fresh produce for the 6 soup kitchens here.  Now you would walk by and think that you are passing an area of gated weeds…  No one really wants to work on them because it is going to be a ton of work.  Chimbote is an incredibly dry climate; they say it rains here about once every 2 years… so gardening will indeed be a big task.  My goal is to get the gardens going- (hopefully I’ll have the same knack for it as mom and nana) then get the community involved.  That will be huge.  The lack of respect the community has for the very few green spaces here is shocking.  I figure if people are putting in their own hard work and time they will respect the space, profit from the space, and it will be a more sustainable project.