We're back!! I'm happy to say I made it back to Tacna last Sunday happy, healthy, and very grateful for my first Mes de Mision experience. This will probably be a long post because I have lots to tell, but if you're interested and have time read on! (this first pic is me with my small group and our favorite baby goats at one of the farms where we worked)We spent the last month living and working in Ite, a beautiful coastal town about an hour and a half from Tacna. We were surrounded by farmland and Ite also has these really cool marshes (called humedales) so it was a really nice change to see ocean and green everyday. We stayed at a school up at the top of a huge hill, so we had a beautiful view of the ocean and incredible sunsets every night.
Ite has been given a lot of money in recent years as compensation from the mining companies for all the contamination they caused, so fortunately for us the municipality was able to take really good care of us. We had a wonderful woman named Sra Olga who cooked all 3 meals for us everyday, and we ate so well! I had heard many a horror story from JVs past about getting sick and losing tons of weight from the horrible/scarce food on MdM, but that was absolutely not the case for us. Her food was delicious and served in huge portions, and we almost always had enough for seconds. We also always had plenty of water, which was not the case last year.
In terms of the kids, I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised by how respectful and well behaved they were. Sure they whined a lot (especially to me since I was team nurse), and we dealt with all kinds of teenage drama (including a Mean Girls-esque intervention that Cara and I staged with all the girls to talk about their feelings and how they were treating each other) but never anything too serious and overall this was a really good group of kids. I shared a lot of laughs, songs, a few tears, and really good conversations with a lot of them, especially those in my small group, and that was really important to me. The best part about Mes de Mision for us as teachers is that it allows us to really get to know these kids on personal levels, interact with them outside the classroom, and gain a better understanding of why they are the way they are so that we can serve them even better once we get back to school. I was not expecting to build up so much confianza (trust) with these kids as a newbie volunteer, but within days I had lovesick teenage boys pouring out their hearts to me, girls reflecting on changing friendships, and found myself willingly sharing my life with curious 15 year olds I had just met. It was pretty cool, and I have to admit I kind of miss working and chatting with them everyday. Unfortunately I don't think I'll be teaching any of these kids next year, but I hope to remain in their lives at least as a mentor and friend through the upcoming year.
Besides all the talking and playing we were actually there to work, so I'll try to sum up what we did all month. None of the projects we thought we'd be working on at the beginning ever ended up materializing, but we did help out at a number of different farms and I think the kids learned a lot about all the different kinds of labor involved in maintaining those chacras. Jobs ranged from pulling weeds to planting or harvesting corn, picking up garbage at the beach, catequesis sessions with local kids, to everyone's favorite site...the muni. That's short for municipalidad, a project of the municipality that raises goats and cows, and also grows corn and onions. Basically they run different experiments involving what the animals eat, mixing different types of corn, etc. We sent groups there everyday and got into a nice rhythm feeding the animals, cleaning their corrals, working in the greenhouse, and helping out with different projects. We got to know Alejandrina, the woman in charge of the goats, really well which was important for the kids because we didn't have a lot of contact with the people of Ite otherwise. She was a very sweet lady and always made us really delicious cheese! My favorite part of the muni though was playing with the baby goats. 3 were born during our 2nd week there (all named after our students) and they were pretty darn cute.
Girls watching Alejandrina make cheese
So that's Mes de Mision 2010 in a nutshell. The work was pretty light which disappointed some kids, but I think they still learned a lot, got to try out different jobs, and at the very least grew from the experience of living in community with their peers, away from home/parents/Internet/familiar comforts, and sharing in responsibilities they often don't have at home (kind of like a month of JVC!). Once a week the kids exchanged letters with their families (we delivered letters home on Thursdays then brought responses/packages back on Fridays) which was always exciting for them, and I think they all learned to value their parents and homes a little bit more. Overall a huge success, for both students and profes alike.
Well that's it for now friends. The Tacna JVs will be home until Sunday, at which point we'll be heading to Arequipa for a 5 day silent retreat with the Cristo Rey teachers. After that the 5 of us are going to aprovechar the rest of our month off to do some traveling in the north of Peru! Possible destinations include Trujillo, Cajamarca, Piura, Lima...wherever the wind takes us. I'm excited to see more of the country and also spend some time all together as a community, since Nate was on a different Mes de Mision all month with the Cristo Rey boys (the other school Fred started, where Nate teaches) I'll keep you updated the best I can, but for now I'm signing off until classes start up again in March. Cuidense mucho and enjoy the fotos!
Kids and profes goofing off in the kitchen
Profe Gabe and 2 boys from my group at the muni
JVI Tacna 2010, visiting Nate at his Mes de Mision in Sama
Much love,
Miss Maureen
