***Warning...this is a complain-ey blog, lots of awesome things have been happening, but I'll blog on those later.***
Or so they say of Peace Corps service. What they don't tell you is how hard it can be orientating yourself to just what that job will be. You're in the middle of so much need, meandering aroundtrying to get to a respectable level with the language, trying to retain a modicum of respectability everytime you walk out your door and slip up with grammar or forget to kiss someone on the cheek, hearing about meetings that are completely relevant to health promotion and feeling like you belong in the community after they happen, getting told one thing and having the exact opposite occur, and this can lead to a lot of shall we say....frustration with both oneself and those around you.
Some examples of how this has played out lately:
The electrification engineers who offered to take me to some far out communities because they have transport told me I should coordinate with local authorities to arrange a date and time and that then they would take me in their truck. So I did that, with the community of Limache a tiny pueblo about an hour from Paccha by truck. This place is far from a health post and the size of the tumor I saw growing from the side of a mans neck up there the first time I went made me put it high up on my list of places where I should try and do health promotion. I arranged with the professor of the high school for the date and time (no easy feat without cell service or transport...we coordinated the whole thing through his son who lives in Lima and who then passed the voice via an email 2 weeks ago to his father (the professor) who managed to come down to the internet cafe an hour away to check it.) Anyway, my point is it wasnt easy to coordinate. What WAS supposed to be easy is that when I told the engineers that I had a date and time they would give me transport. So I told them a week ago about this, and again this last weekend, and then I left for Bambamarca to make a cocina mejorada at Annies site for 2 days. I came back because, unlike some people, when I say I'll be somewhere and have coordinated something...barring a crisis or near death situation or peruvian road conditions...I'll be there. Anyway, night before the day when I'm supposed to go give this session and I casually tell the engineer I'll be waiting at one thirty the following day to go to the community when he gets a blank look on his face and says.....oh, but you disappeared for two days. I didn't know it was still going to happen....what do you expect when you aren't around? I guess I'll check things out in the morning and see if we can still make it happen.
Um what?
To make matters worse, the next day he told me that they could (in fact!) take me and would pass by the house at 2 that afternoon to pick me and my materials up. 2 30 no sign of them. 2 35 they show up for lunch. I confront them, they say oh, we just arrived from such and such community, no REAL explanation. I told them it was too late and we would have to coordinate for another day. I asked if they would be passing by the community any time soon they said yes and I asked them to pass the voice that I wouldn't be coming and since thats in their hands and they can explain it their way I'm sure I'll look like a complete ass until the professor checks his email again in 2 weeks and sees my explanation.
It's like you have to tell people every single day that a plan you have made is still in effect or still going to happen or isnt just going to fall into mid air. I realize that there are barriers here, theres the long distances, the lack of roads/infrastructure, la hora peruana that creates a chain effect, the lack of money, the all too common lack of vision, the rainy season and the muck. But some days I just abhor the lack of followthrough and sometimes it exhausts me thinking of the amount of effort it takes just to get a meeting off the ground. Whats that going to mean for the larger projects I want to do like building improved stoves (cocinas mejoradas) in this crazy poor, crazy steep community? I suppose one could liken it to the way in the US we say "how are you, we should hang out some time" but we don't actually mean it. I used to hate this about the US and tried not to do it because when I was working with some international students I remember how much it would irritate them that people seemed like they wanted to be friends when they were just overcompensating with polite courtesy. Thing is though, at least we don't make ACTUAL plans...whereas here people seem to make the plans and then it just doesnt happen and the result is a cumulative effect of complete and utter inefficiency.....
Example 2:
After a week of discussing the charla I wanted to do on biohuertos in Unigan a community 3 hours away by truck with the ministry of agriculture engineer, we arranged to take the early truck at 4 30 one morning so we could be back by lunch. I said I'd pass by his office at 4:15 so we could find a truck and be on our way. Being the cognizant of time gringa that I am, I was at his office at 4:15 (in the morning!) ready to go with my breakfast in hand. I knocked and knocked to no avail and there was no sign of him, The streets where silent and since I never sleep well when I have to get up early I was wide awake so I sat on the step outside his office and waited occasionally knocking, occasionally fuming at how stupid it was to actually think this would happen as we had planned. I waited an hour, thinking maybe he had overslept, maybe he had gone to look for a truck, maybe he had left earlier and thought I said 4:00 instead of 4:15. Who knows. I sort of just sat there contemplating the point of a lot of things for about an hour when a lady came walking down the road unable to breath well, almost completely keeled over wheezing with an asthma attack so I helped her knock on the door of the pharmacy and the doctors door to see if we could get help...finally her husband found someone to help her (there are some private little boticas here) and she got the injection she needed. So I guess it was lucky that I was sitting outside doing nothing but waiting and pining in the early hours of the morning...but my point is....I was stood up at FOUR AM! Who does that?!!??! Later, I confronted the engineer and found out that last minute the night before he had changed the plans with the other engineers and was sorry he hadn't passed la voz (the voice) to me. He hasn't stood me up since though, and I chose to let it go because it was the first time and because I have a lot of respect for this man and how hes helped me get to know communities, but I hope he never does this again because my patience will be walking a tight rope!
Things is here, it just seems like you have to babysit everything from start to finish. You make a plan for next week, sturdy as can be, but if you don't see those people again during the week you can be fairly sure the meeting wont happen. There are these documents here called oficios that you draft up when you want to have a meeting with all the particulars about where it will be and when and what will be discussed and give them to those who you want to attend the meeting....Annie and I have a theory that these function so that people can't claim they 'didn't know' or that you 'never told them' throwing you into unnecessary fits of doubt. Three times now people have tried to convince me that I never told them something when I know for a fact I had....I know theres the language barrier, but that makes me especially persistent and repetitive when I'm planning something specific. So the moral of this story is I'm going to start making oficios for all sorts of meetings or events I coordinate, so that people can't back out or say we didn't agree to something when I know its the contrary.
So theres a lot to be said for punctuality and expectations. I have a whole new perspective on that now but as for what I'm going to do here to deal with this thats to be determined. This must be some form of culture shock, but I thought culture shock was the kind of thing you get over...I'm not going to get over this because that will turn me into an inefficient bad example. I just can't wait until my Spanish gets good enough and I can express how I really feel the next time I get a blank 'I forgot but I'm going to pretend its your fault because its easy to confuse you' face. Peru (or anywhere) is never going to get where it needs to be if people don't follow through on what they say they are going to do. And sometime soon. It would be a pity to have the lack of efficiency of the majority of people frustrate the hell out of those who actually want to get things done in a timely manner and see things improve....but I can see how its infectious.
In other news, there was a great parade in Bambamarca for International Womans Day. So I'm including some pictures!!!
And honestly, overall things are hard but going well I wouldnt be giving you a true picture if I left out the annoying stuff...poco a poco.
Parade for International Womans Day, in Bambamarca.
Me with Annie and health promotors from Paccha.
