New JVs

The new JVs have arrived!

For 2 weeks we'll be a 3 generation house, and then Erin and I will be gone and the 2017 community will be on its own. 

I think that the constant rotation of volunteers is a great strength of JVC's. The program is sustainable, volunteers don't start from scratch each year because they have 2nd years to show them how things work, and the outgoing JVs can leave knowing that the work they did will continue.

Busy

I have been very busy lately. I've got big things going on in 3 different areas of my life.

First of all I have my JVC commitments. ReO/DisO, the annual retreat with all South America JVs and JVC staff, is the second week of October. The last week of October is the JVC staff site visit. Both those events involve some significant preparation. Some of the preparation is logistical (scheduling meetings with the bosses, buying bus tickets to get to ReO/DisO, requesting time off), but most of the preparation is reflectional. There is a 22 question document to be filled out as a community that gives the JVC staff a sense of how we're living out the commitment. Then there's the 52 question personal reflection journal. It takes many hours to complete (if you put serious thought into it) and helps you reflect on your entire experience. Both require a lot of work, but the work is definitely worth it. When we talk about being “contemplatives in action,” this is the contemplative side. The last JVC task is communicating with the office about departure dates, travel home, and travel reimbursements.

Secondly, I have my FyA 44 commitments. Being away for a week means finding a movie to leave for my students to watch. That's not too difficult, but the interruption in the normal flow of work means I should do some more preparation than I usually do at the start of the month to make sure things go well. On top of the usual responsibilities, I have one last big Pastoral Coordinator duty to perform. On the last weekend in October, I'll be chaperoning 4 FyA 44 high school students to the Jesuit Colloquium, a 3 day event that brings together young people involved in the pastoral side of Jesuit projects across the South of Peru and the North of Chile and Bolivia. Getting everything in order for the Mini-Congreso (LINK) was plenty of work. Because the travel will take us farther, there's more work involved. We'll need special notarized permission forms for all 4 students. We need to fundraise so that the costs aren't too heavy. We need to coordinate with other Cusco based youth to make sure we come prepared. I'm talking to Hermana Rosario, 3 different Jesuits, and 4 families to try to get this all to come out well. Say some prayers for us!

Finally, I have applications to work on. Remember when I talked about pivoting LINK? Well a big part of that is getting my grad school applications in. I'm applying to 4 Master's of Teaching programs in the Boston area. Each program has its own due date and its own specific application. Oh how I miss the Common App! But of course, me living and working in Peru makes applying to school in the US more complicated. One of my supervisors at FyA 44 is giving me a recommendation. The problem is that they don't speak English. It would be unethical for me to do the translation myself (for obvious reasons), so I have to pay an official translator in Cusco to get the letter in English. I'm explaining this to each program ahead of time so that there won't be any problems when they receive the original Spanish document with the English translation attached. Any calls with admissions departments has to be carefully scheduled across 2 time zones (imagine missing a meeting because you thought it was at 3 when it was actually at 2) and are sustainable only when the internet signal is strong (which, mercifully, it has been). I'm working hard to get all applications in before December (though the first deadline is November 9^th) so that I can have that last month to live into my goodbyes. So far I'm on track.

As you can see, there's a lot going on. But that's to be expected. It's the fourth quarter, and you have to leave it all out on the field.

Preparing the Mini-congreso

This weekend I'll be leading a group of 20 high school students to the Mini-congreso (literally "mini-congress") of the the three Fe y Alegría schools in the region of Cusco. It's basically a weekend retreat with the chance for students to develop their leadership skills, reflect on life and their faith, and have fun with other young people. 

As sub co-ordinator of FyA 44's pastoral office, I've been very involved in preparing this. There've been meetings here and meetings at FyA 20 (which is hosting the Mini-congreso). Most of my time at work this week has been devoted to getting things in order so the event will go smoothly. There's been lots of time searching out the 20 invited students reminding them to get their permission slips signed and handed in. 

I'm very excited for the event. I played a minor support role in realizing the mini-congreso last year, and it was fun. It was where I met some of the students who form the core of the youth group. The students are excited too, which is good. 

But I'm also nervous. I'm nervous mainly because I'll be the senior staff member from FyA 44 for most of the weekend. I'll be supported by Karla and Mafer, two of the student teachers from Lima with whom I work. But Hermana Rosario was called away to teach a class in Lima. And Padre Eddy has too much on his plate to be there for more than Saturday evening/Sunday morning. The JV experience is full of the unexpected - and being the point person for an event like this in a different culture and my second language certainly wasn't among the list of things I was expecting. For the first time, I'm starting to understand the Mother Theresa quote my grandmother has on (if I remember correctly) a paperweight on her desk

I know God wouldn't give me anything I couldn't handle, I just wish he didn't trust me so much.

Wish me luck!

Mountain House Bookshelves

Nonfiction

I always like to look at someone's bookshelf when I visit their home. It's a way to learn more about them and their interests.

Fiction

The Mountain House has been home to 13 JVs in the past 6 years, and to an unknown number of Spanish volunteers before that. The bookshelf reflects the various personalities who have called this house home. I thought it might be interesting to show you the various titles we have on the shelves.

Major Issues, but Far Away

I make it a point to keep up to date on what's going on back home. So I've watched the police shooting videos. I've heard about the sniper that killed cops in Dallas. I've heard about protests on the interstates.

But I haven't done anything.

Living far from home is difficult for a host of reasons. One reason you don't anticipate before departure is how separate you can feel from current events in your city, state, and country. I'm an observer, not a participant.

We were talking about this last night. About the desire to dive into the issues at home. But that would mean diverting attention and energy from the world in front of us, from the place we came to live and work in.

I think my energies belong here in Andahuaylillas. I think I should live here for the remaining few months. Agree with me or not, that's my position. I can march next year.

Visiting Groups: Dallas Jesuit

It summer vacation in the United States, which means the parish is hosting lots of different groups. Last week, one of our favorite groups came. It's an all boys high school from Texas called Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas. We refer to them as Dallas Jesuit.

Dallas Jesuit is such a great group because they come prepared. The chaperones meet with the students multiple times during the school year. This year they also had readings they had to do before the trip. The idea behind the Dallas Jesuit trip to Andahuaylillas isn't direct service (like building homes, painting walls, etc.) or language acquisition (I'm actually surprised at the fact that there's no groups that come purely to improve their Spanish). Instead, the boys come to connect with local people, to learn about a different reality. It's about the students' growth as individuals, as boys becoming men.

Here's an overview of their visit:

Señor de Qoyllurritti - A Pilgrim's Journal

The test of this post is a (slightly edited) transcription of  my journal entries for the pilgrimage to Señor de Qoyllurritti. I don't think I'll ever be able to fully explain the pilgrimage, at least not without making it many more times. But I hope this will give you a sense of the whole thing in all its music and dancing.

The image of Señor de Qoyllurritti

The Camp

Quarterly Review 5 - Video

It helps, now and then, to step back

and take the long view.

-Prayer Honoring Pd. Oscar Romero

Yesterday was the first Quarterly Review of my second year. I'm sure you were all quivering with anticipation, and have reread my wise reflection many times, memorizing the most eloquent passages.*

But on the off chance that you aren't into reading reflections upon a life experience you've never had, I've got something else for you. Something new and multi-media.**

It's a video! And by video I mean fancy slideshow of pictures with 11 seconds of a video of people dancing that you saw already. Many of the pictures you'll recognize from old posts (or from my sister's facebook), but there's some new things as well. Here's my step back, my long view of the last three months.

The idea is to give a visual overview of significant moments of the past three months. I picked “On Top of the World” by Imagine Dragons for two reasons. 

1. In the last three months I climbed Salkantay pass with Kevin, putting us both as high above sea level as we'd ever been.***  
2. Receiving visits from Mom, Dad, Nora, and Kevin had me feeling like I was on top of the world.

Photo credits to Nora Hill, Rachel Krofcheck, a Spanish tourist at Macchu Picchu, the waitress at the fish farm restaurant, and me.

Events shown in this video:

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.

Mountain House 2016

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. :)

Letter Home

Is it weird to reblog your own content? Yes. But since this first was published online at the blog commonweal (where my father is a regular contributor), it just seemed easier to copy-paste it from there. Plus, his "notes by way of orientation" are useful for anyone who isn't familiar with my home parish.

Anyways, here's the letter I wrote to St. Katharine Drexel parish after one year of service.

A couple of notes by way of orientation:  
1) "God is good...all them time....And all the time...God is good" is almost as familiar a call-and-response prayer of greeting in the Black church across the US as "The Lord be with you...and with your spirit" is for Catholics. 
2) "Sr. Mary" ran the afterschool program and summer camp at our parish for 33 years and mentored a generation of young people in and around Roxbury. 

Dear Parish Family,

God is good all the time, and all the time God is good. When we see each other, we rejoice.

God is good here in the mountain town of Andahuaylillas, Peru.

God is good at Fe y Alegría 44, the Jesuit-run school I teach religion at. I see His goodness reflected in the faces of my 400 elementary school students as they sing songs like “Padre Abraham” (shout out to Summer Camp for giving me a fun song to translate and teach), as they draw their image of heaven, as they pray for their classmates' ill family members. I feel God being good when the teachers help me with the difficult students, and when the student who I had pegged as the worst behaved student at the school proved Sr. Mary right that there are no bad children, and by the end of the year was the most helpful student in his classroom.

God is good at Parroquia San Pedro Apostol (St. Peter the Apostle Parish), the 345 year old parish in this town that is dubbed the “Sistine Chapel of the Andes.” I hear Her goodness in hymns sung in Quechua (the most spoken indigenous language in the world) that give praise to Apu Tatayku (Dear Father God). I dance Big G's goodness out in traditional dances on the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, only after carrying God's goodness as part of the procession that saw all 72 saint statues carried out of the church and paraded around town.

God is good in the rural community of Secsencaya, where I go every Tuesday to help the pastoral assistant out with catechism. You can't expect everyone to come to the church to hear the gospel; sometimes the church has to bring the gospel out to everyone. As the pastoral assistant reminds the kids, we praise God in everything we do if we do it with joy. When we play soccer, when we watch movies, when we sing songs, when we listen to the Bible reading, when we pray – we praise God in our rural catechism class.

God is good on Thursday evenings, when all the foreign volunteers (from the US, from Spain, and from Lima) come together with the Jesuits and a Sister of the Sacred Heart to share a Mass and meal of reflection and sharing of our experiences. I taste God's goodness whenever we host Mass and I bake the communion bread that St. Katharine's offers up on Holy Thursday.

God is good in this Catholic – this universal – Church. That universality is so striking here. But universality doesn't mean uniformity. Mass parts are so easily recognizable and the feast days are so dazzling different. Just as some people might look at our parish and doubt our claim to be Catholic, it would be easy to look at Andean Catholicism and doubt that the people here are even monotheistic. But we know that God makes himself known to each people through culturally relevant means. We know that God speaks every language, and is a native of every culture.

What I've learned here is what I've always known. The more I live, the more I learn just how true it is. As I reach the halfway point of my two years of striving to live out the four JVC* values of Spirituality, Simple Living, Community, and Social Justice in this small town in the Andes, I learn and re-learn every day that God is good all the time...and all the time God is good.
I am so blessed to have grown up in such a profoundly spiritual parish community. Please keep me in your prayers in 2016 and know that I will do the same. God bless. And when we see each other again, we will rejoice.

-Benjamin Hill

*Jesuit Volunteer Corps. That's the name of my program.

Despedida 2015

This afternoon our 2nd years, Victoria and Jacqueline board a plane to Lima, and then a plane to Miami, and then separate planes to their families. It seems an appropriate day to post about the despedida.

The verb despedir means “to say goodbye.”

From despedir comes the noun despedida, which means the act of saying goodbye. But despedida can also mean a good-bye party.

The Mountain House JVs throw one house party per year. That house party is the despedida. It's the chance to say goodbye to and celebrate friends from all parts of the experience. It means a big pot of chaufa (the Peruvian version of chicken-fried rice) and a whole lot of guests. It means loud music and dancing, and eventually booze. It's the bitter-sweetness that pervades all goodbye parties. This year we were despidiendo (saying goodbye to) 4 women – Theresa, Victoria, Jacqueline, and Lucía.  Theresa leaves near the end of the month. But for Vic, Jacq, and Lu, who all leave this week, the despedida was their last hurrah.

Here's a few pictures from the evening. Somehow things never got organized for a group photo. We wish all four ladies nothing but the best as they transition back into their home countries, figure out next steps, and make their way in this wonderfully difficult world.

Pics after the jump.

New JVs!

JVC runs its international like a bakery runs its poolish – there's always some new and some old. In JVC that means that every year old volunteers leave and new volunteers arrive. It keeps the community constantly refreshed, but maintains a connection between generations of JVs. It's a great system for all sorts of reasons, but I'm not going to go on about them here because I'm really just excited about the latest result of that poolish-like system – the new JVs arrived!

Rachel and Lauren* arrived to the Cusco airport around 6 on Saturday morning. Erin and I got up at 4:30 to make sure we'd arrive on time to receive them. We had a funny time talking with our taxi driver while we waited. He clearly felt awkward and nervous about picking people up from the airport. We did feel bad that he felt awkward, but it was very early in the morning and therefore difficult to provide engaging conversation. He filled some of the awkward silence with random observations.

JV Life - The Chancho bucket

JVs tend to be save-the-world types, trying to do everything they can to make the world better and not mess anything else up. So naturally, many of them feel an urge to compost.

But here in the Mountain House, composting would be a bad idea. A compost heap in our tiny patio would smell, and that smell would climb up through my bedroom window and make my nightly time to ignore the world a less pleasant experience. Plus, we wouldn't have anything to do with the dirt anyways. We have flower bed, but they get almost no sunlight so we don't actually grow anything in them.

The solution is to look to local culture and see what people here do with vegetable scraps. They feed them to livestock. Some people have guinea pigs, some people have chickens. The school has dogs that  eat my lunch when it's got things like tripe* in it. We don't have livestock, but we live in a farming town so there's plenty of animals around. We give our scraps to our friend's chancho. Chancho is Quechua for pig. Somehow it's a word that survived the arrival of the Spanish (the Spanish for pig is cerdo).** As far as I know, it's only a Peruvian word. So don't go to your Mexican restaurant and ask for chancho tacos.

The WHO and the JV diet

WHO Meat guidelines

The WHO freaked a lot of people out last week. I'm not one of them.

That's partly because I understand how percentages work. But it's also because I eat so little meat. I've mentioned before how little meat we eat. Without really trying, we're following Michael Pollan's 3 basic guidelines for people who want to eat healthy.

1. Eat food
2. Mostly plants
3. Not too much

DISCLAIMER: The following discussion of how Mountain House JVs' diets relates to Michael Pollan's diet guidelines is not based on my having read his book, In Defense of Food. My father read the book. But, as anyone who has had dinner with him knows, he's an excellent explainer. He's like a human cliff notes. So I feel like I got the key points down.

My quinua eating habits

Having discussed the ethics of consuming quinua in the US/UK yesterday, I thought it would make

sense to talk about the reality of eating quinua in Andahuaylillas.

Quinua is a fantastically cheap protein here. It costs 7 soles a kilo. In Tacna (the other JVC site which is on the coast) it costs 16 soles. It's so much cheaper here because quinua is produced here. I don't mean it's produced here the way that people in Massachusetts can say “cranberries are produced here.” I mean quinua is grown right here in this valley. The picture of quinoa to the right was taken less than a mile from our house. So quinua is cheap because people here in Andahuaylillas grow it.

JV Life - Replacing ink in the printer

Even dealing with the simple problem of the printer needing ink is different here. Instead of a new cartridge,  we refill this thing on the side from ink bottles. It can be very messy.