The Final Project

Next week, the group of PCVs I arrived to Peru with, Peru 20, just two years ago will be heading down to Lima for our Close of Service (COS) training. Our lovely training staff will be schooling us on closing out our grants, wrapping up projects, writing final reports and preparing us for re-assimilation into good old American culture. This will be the first time we'll all be together since we left training in November 2012. The reunion is sure to get wild so I'll update you all on that when I get back.

As the final couple months are coming to a close, I have a few basic projects I'll be finishing up including my English class in Casa Blanca where we're also working to install two biosand filters to treat their well water before they drink it and my leadership and hygiene practices (yes, it sounds odd but I'll explain more later) group, Mano a Mano, in the local girls' high school; however, on top of these smaller in-site projects, I got roped into one last project: a young girls' camp organized by the volunteers in my region, La Libertad. Peru 20 may be on its way out but as the group with the most camp experience we'll be passing the torch on to the newer groups so they can take the lead on the next one.
Our boys' camp, Camp VALOR, was a huge success. We are so grateful to everyone who donated and helped make it happen. Many of the boys went home from camp motivated to make a change in their communities. Some decided to start their own youth groups to promote volunteerism and others encouraged their classmates to help end machismo behavior and advocate respect for their female peers. Attached are some photos of the camp this past May.


Promoting respect of all during a parade in the park
It was great to be able to bring my host brother to this camp and see him meet new people and take on a leadership role within his team
Representing the province of Pacasmayo

Leaders and campers of Camp VALOR
This year's girls' camp, Camp ALMA, will be held in mid-October and offers an opportunity for teen girls to express and explore their opinions about themselves, their world, and their future. They will participate in a variety of activities including sports, art, college tours and other activities based on future planning. As a female volunteer, it is always wonderful to have the chance to work with the girls within my community and help motivate them to provide new opportunities, set goals for themselves or think in a way their society does not always encourage them to try.

For the first time, we will be working with a local scouts association and professionals and volunteers from the a local English institute to help organize and direct the camp. The hope is that our collaboration with these local organizations will make these camps more sustainable and allow them to eventual continue without the need of Peace Corps guidance.

Camp ALMA 2013
To reach our goal we need to raise about $2,400 in the next month. Please follow this link if you would like to donate or forward this message to anyone you think would be interested in donating, as well. Every little bit counts, and here in Peru, the dollar goes a long way!
 
Thank you for all of your support these past two years. I could not have made it this far without the love and friendship, the care packages and cards and all the words of encouragement you've provided me in this ridiculous but amazing adventure. I look forward to catching up with each of you once I get home. With your support, we can make this camp a reality and you can help me finish my service with a BANG!

Comments

  1. Emilio FernandezSeptember 7, 2014 at 2:54 PM

    Good morning, how are you?

    My name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.

    I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because through them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately, it is impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are very small countries with very few population, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.

    For all this, I would ask you one small favor:
    Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Peru? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Peru in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:

    Emilio Fernandez Esteban
    Calle Valencia, 39
    28903 Getafe (Madrid)
    Spain

    If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.

    Finally, I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.

    Yours Sincerely

    Emilio Fernandez

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownNovember 3, 2014 at 3:06 PM

    Jamie,
    Very proud of you and all the great work you have done during your service. Looking forward to you coming home.
    love,
    Daddy

    ReplyDelete

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