Team Peru

Reality Check

January 25, 2012

Sitting in the rural Peruvian community of Choquecancha in the center of the women’s weaving group, a sudden awareness strikes.  We are surrounded by buildings made primarily of mud and stone that seemingly could crumble with one good earth tremor, the bathroom is a small outdoor shack with a hole in the ground, our meals are made on a hardened mud stove on a mud floor, the dishes are washed in basins that may or may not contain soap, the beds prepared for our night stay routinely loose boards with a loud crash causing people to fall through the cracks, and there’s a good chance one may incur flea or other insect bites overnight.

The awareness that strikes me is not the difference in our living circumstances; but as I look around at the faces of the women who surround me, it dawns on me that when we leave, they remain.  When I look forward to returning to a warm shower in Calca or even my sterilely-clean environment in Monterey, these women remain.  They live, day in and day out, on dirt floors in what most of us would consider dirty, cold, damp structures.  They raise their children here.  They celebrate here.  They mourn here.  Their lives are comprised of all the same major events, they enjoy all the same major life milestones; but their perceived norms are so drastically different that I can’t help but wonder as I look into the eyes of a tan, wrinkly, eighty-something year old face what happiness, sadness or challenges her life has seen.

As the day goes on, we share laughs, conversations through a Spanish-Quechua interpreter, a simple yet truly satisfying meal, and plans for the future.  A couple of the women jokingly decide some of us will become their daughters-in-law, some begin teaching us to weave, and others cautiously observe our interaction in the group.  Despite our differences in perceived realities, these women harbor a shared passion for life and determined goals for improving their standard of living through our help.  As we leave our second and final January visit to this community, we are met with messages of hope for our return and requests for photos.  As I walk away toward my life’s norms ready to begin a new semester at MIIS, I leave with a better understanding of these women, their wants and needs, and my position in the developing world. ~Katie Holmberg

Entry Filed under: Community Health Team,Immersive Education. Posted in  Community Health Team ,Immersive Education Tags: Choquecancha, immersive education, Team Peru, weaving, women's weaving.