The Month of May

I can't believe the month has flown by so fast. The first weekend in May I attended the Rotary District Conference where they presented the group study exchanges, exchange student, and myself and the other Ambassadorial Scholar, Allison Garret. Allison Garret and I both spoke in front of the entire conference. I really enjoyed the moment because I had the opportunity to share what I've learned from my experiences the past two months (now almost three!) and to express my gratitude to all of the members in the District for the chance to work with them and learn from them. I am excited that I still have months ahead to help in their projects and build stronger relationships. It's only a year that I have in Peru, but I see it as a pivotal time in my life where I have the chance to not only further my studies in the university, but to also learn from the Rotarians by working with them in their communities and growing as a leader from that experience.

The following weekend after the conference we celebrated Mother's Day in both my Rotary host club and Rotaract club. For Mother's Day, the men in my host Rotary club organized a special celebration with dinner, games and Karaoke. I shared M&Ms from home in honor of the mothers in the club, and the members gave me a gift for my mother. The following day I spent the entire afternoon preparing food for our Mother's Day celebration with a fellow Rotaractor. We made traditional Peruvian refreshments and I also shared another treat from home, chocolate cupcakes. It was an eventful evening. The families of all the Rotaractors were invited, past and present. There was a group of about ten past Rotaractors that are now mothers and we honored them with the mothers of the Rotaractors. We sang a song for the mothers that we had prepared and our sponsor Rotarian shared a poem he had written. The whole group then gathered together to videotape a greeting for my mother because she could not be there. That evening I was also formally initiated as a member of the Rotaract club of Pueblo Libre.

I also had the opportunity this month to escape for a weekend to Huacho, just two hours outside of Lima. We visited the ruin site of Bandurria that dates to pre-ceramic time between 3,500-1,800 BC. It was fascinating to see the stone pyramids and ceremonial plazas they're uncovering which are located next to a lagoon that is visited by hundreds of different species of birds during the year. Huacho has several different lagoons located nearby. We had the chance to visit one other lagoon, the Enchanted. On the trip over to the lagoon passing by fields of corn, sugar and grazing cows, my friend was describing to me how crystal clear the water is, but when we arrived, we found polluted waters with stations for pumping chemicals and collecting fish in the center of the lagoon.

Half of the lagoon is owned by the municipality and the other by an association of mothers in Huacho who plan to use the territory as a reserve for conservation, tourism and to establish a shelter for victims of domestic violence (I am continuing to work with members from the community and a Rotary club in the district to do the same in Lima). The business did not ask permission from either party, nor are they paying taxes. The case is being disputed in the courts and I hope the members of the community have a resolution in their favor soon.

On June 8th the Rotary clubs of Lima organized a parade to promote the environment and awareness for Global Warming. Global Warming is a big concern on many of the political and nonpolitical agendas in Peru and around the world today. It was definitely brought to light during the summits last week between the European Union and Latin American Nations especially with Tomas Mueller's photographic exposition of the effects of global warming on Peruvian communities. The exposition is still up in Miraflores and I plan on visiting it this week.

Other than that, I've been super busy with writing papers and exams for classes. I am happy to share that the Spanish is definitely getting easier, but I still make really funny mistakes that give everyone a good laugh when I'm speaking. If you write to me, I'll share the stories, but most are not appropriate for publishing on my blog :p.

Lots of love,
Katie