Who will you vote for?

Tomorrow is Super Tuesday, which means that many of you will be voting. Who will you vote for?

The question I'm posing will, for US Americans, bring to mind the faces of a bunch of rich people who are running to be president of the United States. Many people all have their minds pretty much made up about their candidate, and while an alarming number of people continue vote for Donald Trump, I think it's pretty likely that if you're reading this blog, you're not one of them.

But the question I'm posing is not about any of the people in this image 

(Many of whom are already out of the race)

The question I'm posing is about everybody else.

  

Ocongate Summer Camp Video

Here's the video we played at the clausura (closing ceremony) of the Ocongate Summer Camp. It was a great four weeks and I think we did right by the students. Enjoy the video.

PS-the part with the dancing and the tree will be explained in a post some time next week. 

PPS-this also serves as today's Sunday Song. The song in the background is Peponi by the Piano Guys, their cover of Coldplay's song Paradise. Every moment of the camp wasn't paradise, but every moment was working to build the paradise of the Kingdom. So the song is appropriate.

Noted with Translation: Environmentalism Edition

Let's live in harmony with nature.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

There was a serious lack of a "chicken crossing" sign on this part of the highway.

"This is why you have to be a good teacher"

There's a photo I took on Saturday that wasn't included in the post. The picture shows the landscape of a rocky and grassy hill. There's a bright pink spot on the hill. It's a girl, a student of mine, making her way up and over the hill to where her home lies hidden from view of the camera.

You won't see that photo on this blog. I took the picture for me, to remind me why I have to be a good teacher. But I'll tell you the story of the picture. I don't tell you this story so that you can feel bad for my student. I don't tell you this story so that you'll be impressed with me. I tell you this story because it's true.

Belleza por Todos Lados - Cross above the clouds

This is from just above Ocongate. The town is hidden bellow the fog.

Click the panorama to see a larger size image.

Photos: A trip to the hot springs

If you do some basic guidebook reading about the Cusco region, you'll learn that there are various hot springs that you can bathe in. Despite having lived in Peru for 31 months, I had never been to one. Last Saturday I finally got to check that box off.

A group of the staff at the Ocongate summer program went to the hot springs at Pacchanta. The group the included:

•  Rachel, the 1^st year JV teaching the English calss with me.
• Lauren, the other 1^st year JV. She doesn't work at the Ocongate program but she came up to visit for the weekend. 
• Iban, a French volunteer based in Ocongate. He is the director of the summer program.
• Karen, a teacher at the PERFAL school in the community of Cuyuni. She's teaching math at the summer program. 
• Saldívar, a 20 year old native of Ocongate who is teaching the Communications class (like ELA but with more focus on writing). 
• Me.

We went to the Pacchanta hot springs. Pacchanta is a very small community near the foot of Ausangate, the tallest peak in Southern Peru and one of the most important Apus (mountain gods) for the Incas.

Rather than write a lot about it, here's a series of photos to show you my day. Click on the image to see it larger. Enjoy.

PLEASE GIVE

Remember last week when we talked about almsgiving?

Here's a chance to do some almsgiving right now. Not only that, here's a chance to do some almsgiving that will help someone achieve their own empowerment. Not only that, here's a chance to do some almsgiving that will support an Andean girl who I have worked with, and who I know will be in good hands as long as the money comes through to support her.

Fund Lucía's scholarship for college

Laura (who I know as Lali) is the director of the IFSA-Butler Study Abroad program in Peru. But she also runs ADENAR foundation* which seeks to aid children from vulnerable Peruvian populations in facilitating their own opportunities for development. Lucía, the student in question, is from the shelter in the small town of Pampamarca where I did my volunteering during my study abroad semester.

When I was in Lima this January, I stayed at Laura's house. She told me about Lucía's situation. Her pain and hope - her empathy - for Lucía were obvious as we talked. "No la vamos a soltar" she told me again and again. "We won't let her go."

Girls like Lucía don't usually have such a committed support person. You can help Lucía get a good education and radically expand her options in life by donating. I ask you to do this, not because it is for a general cause that I believe in, but because it will support the work of someone I love and respect deeply.

I'll be putting my money where my mouth is as soon as my new credit card arrives from the US.*

If Lali says Lucía is worth our donations, then she is.

Please follow the link and give generously. A college education in Peru is MUCH easier to fund than a college education in the US.

*My old card got eaten by an ATM in Lima last month.

Sunday Song: Sumaq

Rachel and I just came back to Andahuaylillas after a month in Ocongate. Ocongate is farther up in the mountains, and therefore the Quechua language is much more in use. Most of the mass parts were sung in Quechua, and the sermon was given in Spanish and Quechua. This is the Sumaq, the "Holy, Holy" that was sung at mass last night.

Noted with Translation - Mindfulness Edition

Open your eyes, you
are the present

JV Lent: Almsgiving

Almsgiving is the final, and least remembered, Lenten value. Lent isn't just a personal spiritual journey. It's also about service.

Catholic Relief Service's Operation Rice Bowl is a great Lenten guide that links all three value together. It especially brings the focus of almsgiving on your personal wealth. There are days where you have to give based on how many water faucets you have in your house, or how much you spent on snacks in a day. Such focus highlights the difference between extreme poverty and comfortable middle class life in the States. At home my family follows Operation Rice Bowl each Lent.

But I'm not at home, and I'm not following Operation Rice Bowl. My Lenten almsgiving focus isn't on how many water faucets are in the Mountain House,* it's on time. Having a small stipend means I don't have a lot of extra money for charitable donations. But no matter how much or little money I make in life, I'll always have just as much time as anyone else. This Lent I'm trying to be generous with my time – to sit and chat even when I'm ready to go home and read my book, to play catch with a kid even when I'm tired from a whole day of working with her classmates, to come out of the house and visit even when I'm warm and comfortable at home.

This kind of almsgiving doesn't go to help the millions of nameless poor in the world;** it's scope is limited to the small number of people in my weekly life. It won't solve any problems or save any lives, but it will create bonds of love. I hope that is enough for now.

What are you giving as alms for these 40 days?

PS – If you're looking to make a charitable donation to a worthy NGO, allow me to suggest the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. I've heard good things about them. Such good things that I decided to give them 2 years of my life! I'd put my money where my mouth is, except that my money is $60 a month. But trust that I'll be giving to JVC once I'm back in the States and making a wage that exceeds an average of $2/day. Go to http://jesuitvolunteers.org/supportjvc/

*In case you're wondering it's 6. And only 2 of them leak.

**Don't get it twisted. I'm not suggesting that charitable donation isn't a Christian thing to do. 

JV Lent: Fasting

“Is this the manner of fasting I would choose, a day to afflict oneself? To bow one's head like a reed and lie upon sackcloth and ashes? Is this what you calla  fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? Is this not, rather, the fast that I choose: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Setting free the oppressed, breaking off every yoke? Is it not sharing your bread with the hungry, bringing the afflicted and the homeless into your house; Clothing the naked when you see them and not turning your back on your own flesh?” Isaiah 58:5-7

American Catholic fasting is the easiest fasting. Give up something for the 40 days of Lent, and don't eat meat on Fridays. Also on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday you eat very little (or nothing if you're hardcore). Even people who do juice cleanses do a more intense fast.

I can't tell you about Peruvian Catholic fasting. I can tell you about Andean fasting – it's not a thing. It might seem scandalous to American Catholics who have haddock instead of steak on Lenten Fridays to hear that Peruvian Catholics will all manner of dishes that involve meat. But the real scandal is that what Andean people eat for lunch most days of the year is what American Catholics eat for Fridays in Lent. Operation Rice Bowl encourages American Catholics to make a recipe from a different poor area of the world each Lenten Friday. Andean people don't fast, and the church doesn't encourage them to, because by American standards they are fasting every day.

So, Benjamin, American Catholic trying to live in solidarity with Peruvian Catholics, are you fasting this Lent?

JV Lent: Prayer

Prayer is the first value of Lent. Prayer comes first because prayer is encounter with God. We've heard that all things are possible with God. No good things are possible without God. So, from a Christian perspective, fasting and almsgiving without prayer lose their full meaning and value.

Prayer is an aspect of Lent we tend to ignore. Perhaps that's because it seems so simple. For the Catholic who prays every night, the Lenten practice of prayer may seem unnecessary (“I already talk to G on the daily. I'm all set.”). For the Catholic who only goes to mass on Sundays (or the CAPE Catholics*) prayer may seem foreign (“I don't know how to pray”). To everyone, prayer can easily seem like a box to check – a Hail Mary here, and Our Father there, and maybe a petition for your grandmother's health.

But prayer isn't a box to check. Prayer isn't a chore. God wants us to pray because that's how we build our relationship with God. A Peruvian friend told me years ago: “Jesús y yo, wasupeamos” (“Jesus and me, we what's up”). That sense of confident friendship with God only comes through prayer.

Noted with Translation - Ice Cream Wisdom Edition

(the blue text in the middle)

Life is like an ICE CREAM,
if you enjoy it it ends...
if you don't it ends anyways.

JV Lent

To me the start of Lent always feels kind of like the start of a New Year – it's a time to feel excited about your new faith-based resultions you're going to definitely implement for the next 40 days. You'll say the rosary every day, give up all the chocolate, and donate money to a different charity every week. By the end of Lent you and Jesus will be so close that you won't even have to knock for the door to be opened, he'll just tell Peter to make a spare key for you.

And then by the third Sunday of Lent you realize that you failed to say your daily rosary at least 6 times already, have eaten 4 Snickers, and only donated money the Friday after Ash Wednesday. So just like the gym membership you signed up for in January, you let the Lenten resolutions slide away and you go back to the usual. No big, Jesus taught that God is forgiving, He'll understand!

Repost: A Letter to My White Ignatian Family

This post is a repost. I first read this letter in a shorter form in In the Field, the newsletter for JVs both domestic and international. Then I saw it again in full yesterday on the Ignatian Solidarity Network Website. The author is current a JV in St. Louis, Missouri.

This letter is raw. This letter is powerful. The theme of fire connects with yesterday's theme of ashes (yesterday was Ash Wednesday). Not to mention that the author is on point - JVC is an incredibly white organization. It's one of its big weaknesses.

As a White person who has thought a lot about how to be an ally, I know there's different ways to burn. One way is to burn with guilt and beat yourself up and curl into a little ball of self-pity. That's useless. The other way to burn is what Kristen describes in her closing. That's the burn that makes you better.

There's a difference between the uncaring and punishing flames of Hell and the (admittedly painful) cleansing flames of the Spirit. The fires of Hell consume. The fires of the Spirit, as Moses witnessed, burn you without burning you up. Burn with the right fire.

A Letter to My White Ignatian Family 

Lenten Suggestion

Happy Lent to all the Catholic readers out there! And Lent should be happy, but prayer is a key part
of Lent, and prayer is encounter with God, and if God doesn't make you happy you don't Him very well.

Remember Sunday's song and the post where I suggested you follow a certain blog? I'm reminding you again to follow the Ignatian Solidarity Network's "Lift Every Voice" blog. Here's the description in their words.

Racial injustice is a gospel issue.

LIFT EVERY VOICE is a Lenten blog addressing America’s original sin of racism through the lens of Ignatian spirituality and the daily readings. From Ash Wednesday through Easter Sunday, voices from throughout the Ignatian network will lament racial injustice in our communities and reflect on how the Gospel calls us to repent, pray, and act in solidarity with those affected by an enduring legacy of systemic and personal racial discrimination.

So take yourself over to their webpage and sign up now for daily emails. If you're practicing Catholicism and not practicing justice, you're not doing it right.

Noted with Translation - Bathroom emergency edition

In case of emergency,
break glass.*

*It's a corn cob.

Housekeeping: New community-mate blogs

As you know two new community mates, Rachel and Lauren, moved into the Mountain House at the end of November. They're in the first few months of JV life and they both have blogs. Reading other JV blogs is always interesting to me. Obviously it helps that I know the people personally and am living a similar experience. But it's worth checking out their blogs even if you don't know them because they are bright young women, and because they'll probably highlight aspects of Andahuaylillas JV life that I won't. So go ahead and explore their musings.

Lauren - A Full Moon in Each Eye
Rachel - Una Taza de Café

PS-If, months from now, you find yourself struck by the urge to read their latest post but have forgotten the link, you can always find it on the Other JVC Blogs tab right here on peruben.blogspot.com.

Sunday Song - Lift Every Voice

At my parish we sing this song every Sunday of Black History Month. So that's reason enough to make it today's Sunday Song. But Lent starts this Wednesday, and this Lent I'll be following the Ignatian Solidarity Network's "Life Every Voice" blog which will be covering "addressing America’s original sin of racism through the lens of Ignatian spirituality and the daily readings." I suggest you follow it too. I know one of the 3 contributors personally, and she's a person who speaks with the kind of intelligence and authority that gives you no choice but to listen up. 

Lyrics are in the video, and in English. 

Mountain House 2016

Noted with Translation - Guests Edition

From the Jesuit residence in Urcos

Guests
give happiness
but when they go
even more. 

The Many Spellings of Benjamin

The last extra credit question on last week's test was to name all the adults who work at this little summer camp. Spelling isn't a strong suit of any of the students that I've taught. My name comes out spelled a lot of different ways. (All these kids received the extra credit point).

On the Road

Too far back to remember the specifics of whose talk it was, I listened to a TEDtalk given by a school teacher. She told a story about giving a test at the beginning of the year. One student had earned an abysmally low grade (like 3/20). She wrote his grade on the top of the page and put a big smiley face next to it. When she handed back the tests, the student came up to her after class

Student: Teacher, is this a F?

Teacher: Yes it is.

Student: So why did you put a smiley face?

Teacher: Because you're on the road.

What a great attitude for a teacher. What a great attitude for a student. I'm sure Carol Dweck (LINK) would be smiling if she listened to that talk.

Inspired by this unknown teacher, Rachel and I decided to put smiley faces on the quizzes of all of our English students. We give them a weekly quiz to see how much they've learned. Before giving the test, and again before returning the test today, we repeated that the test wasn't for a grade, it was just to measure their learning. Then today, instead of learning new material, the students had to correct their own tests* until everyone had full everything right.

I think grades are important. They offer a measurement of how much a student has learned. But I know grades aren't everything. More important than the grades the students are earning is the sense, in both the students' and the teacher's minds, that they're on the road. The only way for a student to improve is to get on the road with a teacher giving clear directions for how to continue. I hope we're accomplishing that in our English class in Ocongate. At the very least, we're putting smiley faces on the tests.

*or, if they had done very well, help other students correct their tests.

Noted with Translation - Anti political graffiti edition

This graffiti is an official political advertisement from Keiko Fujimori's presidential campaign. Apparently they forgot to get permission first. 

DON'T

PAINT

THE WALL
FUCK!!

Death Announcement

Pd. Chema, a Jesuit who worked in Quispicanchi since 1974, died yesterday. He had been sick for the last year with cancer. Although I did not know him well (only by sight), I am grateful to him specifically for founding FyA 44, the school where I am honored to work, and PERFAL, the network of rural schools that serves children, especially girls, all across Quispicanchi. He was an inspiring man and a reminder to this Jesuit Volunteer of why so many lay people, including myself, feel called to support the Jesuits in their mission.

Here's the link to his obituary if you're interested. It's in Spanish, but google translate does an OK job.

The wall of mail

Thanks to everyone who has sent me mail in the last year. It's the first thing I see when I wake up each day. :)

Visitors

I'm back! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. I certainly did. As I mentioned in my last post, I had visitors.

JVC doesn't want us to have visitors during our first year. It may sound cruel, but it makes good sense. Visitors from home take you out of the JV experience, and waiting a year before receiving visitors allows JVs to fully engage with their first year and build relationships with the local community.

My family came for our first international Christmas. We spent a week in Andahuaylillas where they got to meet all the key people in my life here, then a week in the Cusco area on our own where we got to have some quality family time. I feel very lucky that my family had already seen Machu Picchu and most of the tourist sites in Cusco because it gave us a more relaxed trip. They left on January 1^st.

My favorite family in Andahuaylillas with my real blood family.

After ringing in the new year on the main plaza in Cusco with my sister, I flew to Lima and spent a few days with some dear people from my study abroad experience in 2013. On January 3 my friend Kevin arrived. We spent a few days in Lima (including an all-important trip to the movies to see Star Wars VII), then flew to Cusco for some time in the city and Andahuaylillas. The second week of Kevin's trip with did a 5 day hike to Machu Picchu, following the Salkantay trek route. If you want to hike to Machu Picchu, but don't want to spend Inca Trail levels of money, look into the Salkantay trek. Kevin left on the 16^th.

Me and Kevin at Peru's most famous site.

Now it's just the four of us JVs in the house. It was wonderful to have visitors, but it's nice to be back in a more recognizable rhythm. My mother likes to say “Nice to go, and nice to come home” when we get back from trips. I think it's the same with hosting.

Thank you Mom, Dad, Nora, and Kevin for crossing so many miles and spending so many dollars to come see me. How blessed I am to have people who think I am worth such a journey!