Procrastinator is as Procrastinator Does

So since my last post I keep telling myself that I will get around to blogging. I swear I will and then when another day passes me by and I still haven't- I just swear. I got my explicitives out of the way today and now I am going to share what I have been up to these past few weeks.                                                          

One of my responsibilities here in Peru is to complete a community diagnostic. I developed a survey and with the help of some of the local nursing students I administered it to over 100 families. People were very welcoming and eager to let me into their homes. I was surprised. Honestly, I expected resistance and hesitation especially since most of the questions are of the "I don't talk about these things to strangers" kind. But people talked, and I listened. The next step will be to take all of the data, create a statistical analysis with it and write out a diagnostic report as well as work proposal. This will help serve as a guide for the next two years.

                                                            The Nurses That Help Me!

                                  One of the lovely ladies in my town  that let me interview her

When I was not busy doing surveys I was teaching an English summer school class at the elementary school across the street. I am by no means an elementary school teacher or a language so naturally I volunteered to teach both for about two months this summer. It was cah-ray-zee! I am pretty sure the kids learned not a lick of Ingles but we did get to color, play games, get to know each other and just have fun.

                                                   Some of the work my class has done

Summer School English Classes just ended and so we had a big end of class party. Here are some shots of us partying it up!

       And yes I taught all of these kids in one classroom, at the same time, by myself. Ridiculous!

I've also decided to host an Art Making Class every other week. The kids and I just had unstructured time to color and create. We listened to music and used scrap paper, string, crayons and whatever else we could find and just made stuff.

As I mentioned before in one of my posts what people eat here is a big deal. Really it is what they don't eat that is a big deal. Fruits and Vegetables are not a staple in the Peruvian starch filled diet. I had a chance to collaborate with the nursing students and put together a workshop where we taught mothers who had children under 5 years old as well as expectant mothers some nutrition basics and guidelines. At the end we had a contest to see who could re-create a perfect meal for a child in their assigned age group with all of the fresh food we brought. The moms had a fun time creating meals for babies, learning what should go into a healthy meal and how much food should be served. We served and then we ate. It was a great activity I hope to soon do again.

                                              Practicing Correct Handwashing Techniques

Last but not least on February 22nd 2011 the city of Tumbes celebrated the upcoming Peace Corps 50th Anniversary. We had a celebration where we invited the people we collaborate with, people from our towns, our families and government officials. It was a good time and totally made me proud to be a part of such a wonderful and amazing organization. I snapped a few pics of me and my fellow volunteers at the event.