For a year application process and 10 weeks of training in Lima, I have prepared for and dreamed of the community I will live in and work with as a Peace Corps volunteer - my site. The first week of August, I traveled to Ucupe, Mocupe in the department of Lambayeque for the first of many times and the community immediately stole my heart.
Over the next 2 years, I will share lots of information about my new Peruvian family and the community of Ucupe (and of Mocupe).
***So to clarify - my new home is in the pueblo of Ucupe - a small caserio of Mocupe. The main community is Mocupe and includes the caserios of Lagunas, Nuevo Mocupe and Ucupe. This is all in the District of Lagunas. To give an idea of the size: The entire district has around 10,000 people with under 4,000 residing in the main community of Mocupe and the remaining 6,000 split between the 3 caserios. So my home is in Ucupe and I will be working with schools and health posts in both Ucupe and Mocupe***
So, as I was saying, I will share lots of information about my family and site over the next 2 years but for now, after just a few days, I can already tell you I am thrilled to be a member of the rural coastal pueblo of Ucupe and think, or optimistically hope rather, that with current community leaders, patience, and hard work I can see some cool things happen in my community over the next 2 years and I'm looking forward to finishing training and returning not as a trainee but as a volunteer.
-————————--–—————————————————————————-——————-–——
Following site visits, we returned to Chaclacayo as trainees and 7 days later we once again packed our bags and headed to the bus station as volunteers.
The final week of training was a blur of finishing up trainings, language interviews, preparing to move, and soaking up the last days in Chaclacayo - including time with my host family, other trainees, and the hot water and wi-fi I was spoiled to have in Lima.
It is hard to imagine I was telling my family, friends, and life stateside good-bye only 10 weeks ago.
Within 10 weeks, I have gone from a bajo-bajo (low-low) Spanish level to intermedio-alto (intermediate-high) Spanish level.
I have traveled to 3 different departments in Peru - including coastal areas to the north and the south.
I have become a member of a big Peruvian family to whom I was a stranger a few short months ago.
And all of this I have done with friendship and support from amazing training staff and other trainees who are on this wild ride with me.
Now it is equally as strange to say yet another goodbye to that new Peruvian family, those supportive staff members, and many of those fellow trainees and friends to venture to the real experience of Peace Corps - our sites. The 10 weeks of training are an extreme learning curve and certainly an adventure in their own right, but they are but a blip of time and only the surface of the real task of serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in site. I was sad to leave my first Peruvian home of Chaclacayo but overjoyed with anticipation, nerves, and excitement to take my first steps as a volunteer.
Mil gracias to the host families, training team, Peace Corps staff, friends on the journey with me, and, as always, my family and friends supporting me from home for making training a great experience. Now let's take some pasos adelante (steps forward) to the meat and potatoes of this adventure - my service in Ucupe Lambayeque Peru!
Celebrating Swearing In as Peace Corps Volunteers with the close friends of my language group and one of our wonderful language facilitators Pablo
*as usual, there are a few more pics posted on Facebook so enjoy :)
No comments:
Post a Comment