Well, tomorrow is my last day before I leave for Staging in D.C...I'll be there until Friday morning when my group (Peace Corps 14, it seems) will fly down to Lima via Miami...the last week has been a blur but I have had some great times. First, I had a three day trip out to see Joe and loved Pennsylvania, seeing where the med school will be, and enjoyed the cooler weather. Then Laura came in from San Diego and we had a great time catching up, going to 80's night, and hiking. Friday night my family threw a nice goodbye party for me, and it was really wonderful, I was so happy to see people I hadn't seen in awhile and share this moment with good friends who had some good advice for me as I head off...There have been some tough goodbyes over the course of the last week, but I haven't really been able to get very worked up about it...I feel like I'm just going full steam ahead into this adventure and I feel at ease with my decision to go. Doesn't mean I'm not going to miss some people like mad though, but maybe two years won't be such a long time in hindsight...
I've thought a lot about how in Utah, people sometimes make the assumption that I can't be contacted for the next two years because thats what its like for the LDS missionaries on their church missions...as I've been preparing and packing I've been thinking of what it would be like to know I was facing something that isolating...wow. I'm glad I will be able to keep in touch, complain, share elation, send love, skype (don't want to push my luck :-)) over the next two years...and still hopefully come away with fluency and a renewed passion for religion...my recent stunt as a Christmas and Easter (Italian hahah) Catholic will probably be left behind if I start going back to mass every week with my Peruvian family which is likely!
Another fun thing from the last week was having Laura burn me copies of old CD's we used to listen to the summer before we started college....we had a road trip down to Panama City Beach, Florida and for the last few days I've been renewing my love for Fall Out Boys original album, Something Corporates 'Leaving Through the Window,' and I've been listening to Plain White Tee's song 'A lonely September' on repeat so thanks Laura for the blast from the past!
I've also been remembering my short time in Peru back in 2006....just the part about how I met these volunteers who were down there for a month working in youth development, we had a great chat and I remember wishing I was actually doing something useful while there instead of just sightseeing....and I do remember clearly wishing I could come back again...so here we go!!!
Some facts from my health program introduction:
45% of the population lives under the poverty level (under $58 per month), and 14% lives in extreme poverty (under $32 per month).
There is a chronic malnourishment rate for children of 24%, an under-5 mortality rate of 28/1,000, and limited access to basic health services.
Less than 50% of the rural population has access to latrines or other sanitary facilities.
Love, K.
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