It's Been 10 Years and Counting...

A sign of things to come

Why does life always feel like it’s in fast-forward? I thought I’d come to live and work in Peru in order to slow down and disconnect, but I fear the speed of events reaches even the remotest regions of the Amazon rain forest. This year is no exception.  The Peruvian government has focused on education and poured resources into most aspects of educational needs for teachers, students, schools-- and they've created elevated expectations along the way. When Adopt A School started 22 years ago, one of its biggest challenges was convincing parents to send their kids to school everyday--instead of staying at home caring for babies, fishing or toiling in the family farm. Now, no one questions that children go to school and that life in river communities is more closely gauged by the school year than anything regularly occurring in nature. During this past year, most communities that have a high school received internet towers with solar panels and batteries. The goal is to connect all schools as soon as possible.  This was unimaginable just 2-3 years ago. We expect this change to bring both opportunities and challenges.  Stay tuned for how internet connectivity will change the schools, students, teachers within our Adopt A School program.

Salvia Huanari

New CONAPAC boat!

CONAPAC has hired a new, full time employee--education specialist Salvia Huanari. and we've bought a new larger boat and motor. This will be the third boat in our “fleet”. These two additions to our program will provide much needed support for teachers in our communities with the added ability to make more regular visits with two boats. Our Sawyer clean water program will be a primary focus of continuing education and Salvia will work closely with teachers and students, raising awareness and reinforcing the importance of always drinking treated water. With our smallest third boat, the Evan Summers, we have plans to turn it over to the library staff and create a program of loaning books to surrounding communities that are unable to regularly travel to either of our library locations. The library is always looking for outreach opportunities. A "book boat" can help expand knowledge to anyone interested in learning more about the world around them. 

Carmen Ruiz

On a personal note, James and I spent December in Perth, Western Australia and January in the US.  We traveled through California for a few weeks by car along the Pacific Coast Highway, visiting my daughter, Samantha, along the way in San Francisco. This was followed by a few weeks in Michigan to see family and friends, as well as celebrating my father’s 80^th birthday.  We arrived back to Iquitos just before the first winter blizzard and since then we’ve been building a new home for a local street vendor, Carmen Ruiz.  Carmen is 65 years old, with little to show for her life in the way of material goods--but she has this incredible spirit, marvelous smile and enthusiasm for life that comes through even as she lost everything in a street fire that burned out her small stall, along with about 50 other vendors, right after Christmas.  She has worked to recover her inventory, making everything by hand to recuperate her stock as soon as possible. Her tumble down home—a rental that wouldn't house a dog or a horse in the US--is all she has.  James and I decided to reach out to our family and friends and created our own "crowd-sourced, Habitat for Humanity" project to contribute to the cost of a new home.  Work started in the middle of February and the house should be completed by the end of this month.  Many family and friends have made one lovely old woman a very happy lady!

Tammy, Me, Dan, Tina, Karen & James

At the beginning of March, we hosted dear friends for a week in the jungle. Karen Nolte (whom I’ve know since Kindergarten) and her wife Tina, came to Peru for the first time.  Joining them was Tina’s sister and brother-in-law. The six of us had a great time doing jungle excursions, playing cards, eating unusual food and just sharing perceptions of the Amazon. I have so few friends from my past life who come to visit me that it’s always a thrill to share my new life with those who "knew me when".  These old friends also had an opportunity to get better acquainted with James and needless to say, like most Aussies, he was very well-received.  Thanks, Karen, Tina, Tammy and Dan for coming our way in South America!

And some final good news.  It appears the river is going to cooperate this year and not go any higher than average.  This is great news for our Adopt A School deliveries (Week #1) and our AAS community service project (Week#2). We’ll have a lot of new faces this year so I’m excited to share this part of world with them for the first time. And several of the new volunteers include friends from my Rotary club in Brighton, Michigan. (More on our Adopt School volunteers and experiences on my next blog). Finally, guess what I got?? Netflix!  There’s a South American version that is very affordable and I’m in my glory watching movies, documentaries and getting caught up on Breaking Bad and House of Cards. Now that we have relatively higher speed internet most days, James and I can sit around watching movies on my little 13" computer screen but, hey, it works! 

...a lot has happened since I first came to Peru in 2005 to volunteer for CONAPAC and the Adopt-A-School program.  I never imagined a one week vacation would so utterly change my life, but then again, that's the point of going down a road less traveled.