roof-dog!

I am really liking my posting with CARE Peru’s Climate Change division, and find the work interesting. The first few weeks of my time in Lima were nothing short of disastrous, with my housing falling through in a very strange, and suspicious way (I believe there was corruption involved), so lost a significant chunk of money that can’t be claimed (unless there is a corruption expense considered legit by SFD, lol). I was fortunate to find a good spot with short notice, only to come down with an atrocious case of food poisoning, that saw me clinging onto the toilet bowl for 3 days.

I have been back to Cusco once already, to stay in my case study community, conduct interviews, and do participant observation, and made a lot of headway. As I was in the field having some chicha and very strong clear alcoholic liquid with the campesinos, a tourist bus drove by, slowing down, and from the side you could see all of the (expensive) camera lens extend outside of the window, as they snap away at those same campesinos, and then take off again. It feels strange to be identified with those people by the locals time and time again. The community has come to recognize me from my repeated visits, and are very hospitable and helpful. It’s such a different society and world from the Lima I live in. I constantly think of the way the face of this country will change in the coming decade or two, as water sources dry up and become increasingly divided by wealth.

The work we are doing is to try and influence policy to consider funding parcel-level irrigation projects for smallholder farmers in the Andes through a public inversion program called SNIP (Sistema Nacional de Inversion Publica). One of our biggest challenges has been to secure a consultant willing to embark on this project, and we suspect in part the problem has been the attitude towards women, as he looks at the three people involved in the project who are not men with mocking disdain, and the other problem, perhaps, is his preference for working with the government. I am very fortunate to get to research on water security, water availability, and climate change with this work, as it is interesting, but also it overlaps with my own research. I find making contacts is really easy here, but contacting people, and having people keep meetings, show up to meetings, and be on time, is quite a task. I’ve decided to set a half hour limit for the amount of time I wait for someone to show up, as in the past I have waited hours… and people showing up to meetings tends to be about 60/40 on average, in my experience here since June. Another pretty significant challenge is the intense machismo ubiquitously encountered here. Often it can be ignored, sometimes it’s degrading, sometimes it’s frustrating, and sometimes it’s enraging. I have had strangers try and grope and grab at me, every single day there is a sexist encounter of some sort, but usually it doesn’t develop into anything uncomfortable… usually. The worst I have had is be followed 10 blocks and have someone continue touching me, grabbing my hand, and not leaving me be. Saying you have a boyfriend, a husband, etc, is completely ineffectual here. I have friends here that have had enough, and have slapped or punched men who have crossed the line. Sometimes it’s one big act that makes people reach their breaking point, and other times it’s a question of progressive accumulation. I try my best to not stand out, but being white-skinned here, I may as well be glowing neon for all of my efforts of not being noticed.

A debate going on in Lima right now is over the right for women to have abortions in cases where the fetus is a product of rape, or if the woman’s life is in danger. It is shocking to me to see that it even is a debate (especially considering the high prevalence of rape and low use of condoms that tend to be difficult to access and brands rejected on basis of poor quality by North American markets), but it is a raging debate here, as I believe a bill has been put forth to congress. A Peruvian acquaintance of mine had to procure an illegal abortion due to the fact the fetus would have been deformed, and just these small glimpses into the lives of women here foster a lot of reflection. There is so much for them to overcome…. children as well, as I have heard of my friend’s experiences working in the highlands and the prevalence of sexual abuse apparently neared 60-70% in children These stories break the heart and enrage you… especially when you hear the awful, intricate details of it. Even though my work is focused centrally on water and climate change, I increasingly want to incorporate gender considerations and make it at the heart of my research. I can just imagine the ways in which climate changes and increased water stress will impact women differentially in the coming years!!

Hmm what else. Well, I have really gotten used to the Lima swing of things. I confess that I was first very nervous about having to do my internship in Lima rather than the sleepy little town I was supposed to do it in, because Lima is certainly much more dangerous. And when you hear the stories of things happening to your roommates’ friends, and your friends, time and time again, it doesn’t appease concerns too much. Taxis here sometimes collaborate with robbers and will drive you to an alley where another car filled with robbers await you, to strip you of everything you have, and if you’re lucky, leave you intact. Break-ins are pretty regular too, despite the crushed glass, spikes, electric fences, lining the tops of locked down properties. For a long time I couldn’t feel like I could just… relax. But now, I have gotten in the swing of things, and while I notice that I literally have « les oeux tout le tour de la tete » and I am on very high alert, on the other hand I do it without thinking.

I will be making one more visit to Cusco, for a couple of weeks to implement our pilot project for interviews and focus groups at the district level, with a CARE coworker, and then wrapping up my internship in Lima. I have had to cut it a couple of weeks short due to a family issue at home, so unfortunately will be just shy of the 3 month mark. Nonetheless, I am able to wrap up any lingering reports, if any, from home, while being with my family. While my initial and short period of ‘homelessness’, sickness, and harassment have been hard, it is nothing compared to being so far away from family when a member falls sick like that and needs you.

Top thing I miss about Canada:
-clean air and blue skies (I get ‘smog’ headaches here, as the diesel-heavy traffic congestion and geographic features that trap the air pollution + high humidity make for some pretty rough smog, and constant grey skies… lending a touch of the S.A.D.)

Top thing I’ll miss about Peru:
-my research!!! + coworkers… + a random Chinese restaurant I’m addicted to

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