Manejo de Residuos Solidos

A while back, I posted a number of pictures about work and cultural events but have been delayed about writing blog entries to explain all of it. My main focus and most successful project has been working with waste management. Thinking about waste management is more than just telling people to stop throwing trash on the streets or burning it. First, you consider the three Rs – reduce, reuse and recycle to minimize the quantity. And thinking about recycling you realize the importance of separating trash and looking at alternative uses for different categories of trash. Separating the organic trash and recyclables gives people the opportunity to use many types of trash in a productive way. Many people already save the extra food scraps to give to animals – their dogs, pigs and guinea pigs for examples. But other materials can be used for composting to use natural fertilizer for their farms or even to sell to other people. Then you consider the recyclables as another source of income generation. Although prices are low, you will gain something. Taking out the organics and recyclables you realize you have very little remaining that you need to send to bury in a landfill, isn’t that great and easy?!

In Peru, there is a lack of environmental and health consciousness when it comes to garbage. Walking through most towns you will see an abundance of trash, in some areas the accumulation of littering and in other areas informal garbage dumps “botaderos” especially in small towns/villages where there is no infrastructure for healthier landfills. That being said I have recognized that one of the biggest problems isn’t necessarily lack of awareness but due to bad habits, lack of basic infrastructure to make it easier and no enforcement of laws prohibiting littering and throwing trash in the river. Imagine walking through streets that don’t have any trash cans. Will you choose to hold onto your candy wrapper or plastic bottle all day until you return to your house to throw it into your garbage bag, or would you just make the easier decision to just drop it in the streets so you don’t have to carry it all day? That takes a person with strong convictions to make the environmentally friendly decision. Considering this, I realized quickly that it is unfair for authorities to demand and criticize if they don’t take the small step to install trash cans giving people the alternative. In many areas there has been a push to separate trash and in many cities the governments have installed a series of trash cans labeled with different types of recycling or at least between organics and inorganic. But when you look into the trash cans, you realize no one actually pays attention to the labels! I have yet to see any labeled trash can used correctly. You can blame it on lack of education but you can also blame it on leaving out an important trash can – one for the garbage that isn’t organic or recyclable. I remember the first time I encountered this situation: I stared at the garbage cans for a while embarrassed that as an Environmental Volunteer and “expert” on waste management, I couldn’t even figure out where to throw out my wrapper! Realizing that it wasn’t my fault and not wanting to litter I had to give in and randomly choose one of the cans.

So long story short trash management has been a focus of my work at site. I started with promotion of recycling. In preparation of my community diagnostic, I surveyed a number of households on various environmental issues and was surprised to see a large number of people knew about recycling and could even list examples of materials that could be recycled even though my town did not provide an opportunity to recycle.

Although I had the idea to work with the town’s municipality, my first year at site I faced an apathetic mayor and administration that in their last year in office before election year were not eager to start any new projects. Instead I decided to start working with the kids and the schools a population much more receptive and easier to work with, starting a recycling contest between the 11 grades of the middle and high school. It surprised me by how successful it was, playing into Peruvian competitiveness. The students learned to separate paper, plastic bottles and cans (mostly from the evaporated milk that pregnant women and mothers with young children receive as part of the government program “Vaso de Leche”). They collected an incredible amount: over 500 kg of cans, 300 kg of plastic bottles and about 50 kg of paper! And as the dream of any Environment Peace Corps Volunteer, I had the most rewarding experience hearing from numerous people that they observed less trash in the streets and almost no plastic bottles and cans, giving evidence that many of the kids were so enthusiastic that they were cleaning the town by collecting recyclables on the streets. I will admit that there is still trash which I can’t help but focus on, but there is something to be said that the community has not just noticed the difference but are actually attributed it to my work with promoting recycling. Very exciting!

When I first arrived the town did not have a place to process recycling, (in fact the country’s only recycling centers are located in Lima) nor were there any small businesses involved in buying and collecting to bring large quantities to Lima (the only practical way of transporting recycling without losing money as transportation costs are high and earnings on recycling are relatively low). Inspired by the idea of a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer, I found a solution. Why not get my town’s municipality involved as a collection center where all the individuals in my community can feasibly sell their small quantity of recyclables, earn money while reducing the contamination of garbage. And we lucked out with our location off a main highway between Cerro de Pasco (the capital of Pasco - the department north of Junín and only an hour and half hour away driving with recycling collection centers) and Lima (with recycling processing centers). Starting the end of last year (when the municipality saw how successful the school recycling contest was), I convinced the municipality to borrow a relatively small sum of money 100 soles to start a recycling system and have the recycling buyer in Cerro de Pasco buy and pick up larger quantities of recyclables on his frequent trips between Cerro de Pasco and Junín. The basic idea is the municipality first buys recyclables monthly from community members at slightly lower prices (to ensure not losing money if the prices in Cerro de Pasco change or the combined weight ends up being a little less), waiting until a large quantity is gathered and then selling it to the buyer when he passes by, avoiding the cost of transportation and logistics coordinating using the truck from the community’s cooperative. The community members are more than thrilled. In a particularly poor town in a developing country, the desire to make money will always be more appealing than actions just for the passion for saving the environment. Even though it’s clear they are more interested in the money, in my mind what really matters is they are participating and either way it will be contributing to minimizing contamination.

Apart from recycling, I started working with the new municipality on an integrated waste management project to address solve the problems of lacking infrastructure and consciousness. Since the opportunity to apply for a SPA grant was closed for the soonest cycle, I developed a project plan with my counterpart in the municipality and we presented an application to the Peace Corps Partnership Program (PCPP). PCPP enables Peace Corps Volunteers to fund small development projects requesting donations from friends, families and any other philanthropic donators in the US. The following is a description of the project that was posted on the website. As of this date the $2320 we solicited has already been filled up through this fundraising and I would like to thank all of the people who choose to donate and support the project on behalf of myself and my community. We really appreciate your help to make it a reality!

“The proposed project will provide an opportunity for the town’s municipality to develop the infrastructure and improve their solid waste management practices. The municipality will contribute the majority of human labor costs and a portion of the materials, but as a small town it receives a small budget which is not sufficient to carry out a fully integrated solid waste management project. With the support of the Peace Corps Partnership Program, the project will allow for the construction of a new community landfill, a storage space for recyclables, installation of garbage cans, safety equipment for sanitation workers, and publicity through signs and radio spots. The project plan includes a series of educational talks and recycling campaigns to promote sustainable behavior change in the population. The development of recycling will serve as a source of income generation. The project will create a cleaner environment which will improve the community’s health (whose top two health complaints are respiratory and diarrheic illness attributed to poor trash management and hygiene), the health of the ecosystem (which is part of a nationally protected area “Reserva Nacional de Junín”) and the image of the town to promote eco-tourism.”

Now in the remaining three months of service, I am looking forward to carrying out this project!

Hasta luego,
Lauren

¡Aniversario de Cuerpo de Paz – 50 años!

After leaving my blog for some months, I have a series of old blog posts from the last 6 months or so that have passed. The following two are ones I wrote in March but didn´t have a chance to post.

As some of you may already know, March 1 2011 marked the 50th anniversary of Peace Corps (translated to Cuerpo de Paz in Spanish). It was very exciting to be serving as a Peace Corps volunteer during this historic event. As VAC (Volunteer Advisory Committee) member, I was able to attend the big celebrations February 28th in the Peruvian foreign ministry’s house (an absolutely gorgeous historical building) and March 1st in the U.S. ambassador’s house. It was touching to hear how much the Peruvian guests appreciated our work here. The Peace Corps Peru staff put together a beautiful video displaying volunteers’ work over the years and highlighted a few current volunteer’s stories. It is posted on YouTube (a version in English as well http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CigNMT-Sgwo), so check it out!

March 1st before the party, Stacy Rhodes, Peace Corps´ Chief of Staff, spoke to us in the US embassy. I learned a lot more interesting Peru specific Peace Corps information. Turns out we are the largest Peace Corps program in all of Latin America and one of the most successful programs in the world, thus confirming I won the “Peace Corps jackpot” being placed in Peru!

Exciting guests at the celebration: 1) First Lady Pilar Nores de Garcia, wife of the current president Alan Garcia. 2) Alejandro Toledo. Toledo is former president of Peru (and current candidate in this year’s elections) who has a touching connection to Peace Corps. Story has it that when he was 18 years old, a Peace Corps volunteer lived in his house and he took advantage of the opportunity to learn English. Inspired, he went on to study in the United States and returned to become the president of Peru in 2001! The Peace Corps Peru program started in the very beginning of the history of Peace Corps, volunteers arriving 1962, but there was a period of time when the program was shut down (political tensions). Peace Corps was invited to return in 2001 from Toledo and to this day working smoothly.

Hasta luego,
Lauren

¡Feliz Cumpleaños Abuelita!

Monday March 14 was my “host grandmother’s” 85th birthday. Now to back up, I have witnessed all sorts of birthday celebrations here in Peru, from barely acknowledging the day, to “torta” (cake) and “Pachamanca” or “cuy” as traditional food for celebrations. But this was something else!

Apparently important birthday milestones such as turning 85 years old, merits a much larger celebration. The whole family came together last Saturday (all of her children and grandchildren, including those living in Lima) and made it a very special day. Days in anticipation, my host family was busy buying decorations, preparing an enormous Pachamanca including slaughtering and skinning 2 alpacas (which unexpectedly took place in the middle of our patio one morning) and de-kernelling “choclo” (a type of corn), organizing for the Church mass and contracting a band (yes a band!).

First, the family got together at my host grandmother’s house to socialize and eat “patasca” soup (basically, intestines and corn – not my favorite but it seems to be breakfast at every party so they must enjoy it!) and then went to the church for a special church mass ceremony. The band waited outside to start the festive dancing in front of the church and marched with us back to the house. Incredibly my host grandmother, who doesn’t walk well, managed to dance just fine with her children. Next Pachamanca lunch was served – alpaca, potatoes, sweet potato and “humitas” (corn treat) – and to this I agree it is delicious!

Later, we listened to toasts from the immediate family, presentation of gifts, cake and other treats and… a piñata! The rest of the afternoon was more dancing and drinking with the 50 or so people that attended. Quite a celebration!

I apologize to my real grandparents. Shall we celebrate this way for your next birthday?

Hasta luego,
Lauren

Cruz de Mayo: Más Fotos

One of the two competing neighborhoods parading into the plaza with their band.


The other neighborhood entering the plaza.


One of the costumes worn for "Danza de los Negritos."


Presentation of the dance in front of the community.


Even some children participated!

Cruz de Mayo: Fotos

Men taking down the cross to start the celebration the first week in May.


Lowering the cross down the steep, rocky hill to the center of town.


To finish the celebration, the community brought the cross back up to the top of the hill. Members of the band were excited to get into a picture before their tiring climb carrying their heavy instruments.


At the top of the hill, we took a break to listen to the band, dance and finish the traditional celebration.


View of everyone returning down from the top of the hill.

Campamentos Ecologicos: Fotos

In the spirit of the eco-camp, we braved the cold weather to sleep outside in tents.


Participating campers having fun after an intense water collecting competition.


Campers enjoying their first time experience entering the lake in a boat.


Campers learning and practicing methods of bird monitoring.


The participants of the girls' eco-camp after triumphantly climbing to the top of the hill near the campsite.

Fotos de la Canela

My Peruvian dog "Canela" (Spanish word for cinnamon) thoroughly enjoying our long walk through the scenic countryside of my town.


Canela loves playing in the lake!

Kids-to-Kids: Join and Vote!

One of my current projects is looking to built a greenhouse at the high school to promote hands-on-experience with growing vegetables, trees and flowers - something that is very difficult given the climate without the use of a greenhouse. The principal of the high school tried to get funding unsuccessfully in previous years, so I looked for a grant opportunity. I came across a really interesting organization called Kids-to-Kids, which is a World Connect Program that connects children in the US to enable them to support projects for children in developing countries. Members of Kids-to-Kids fundraise and donate money to be complete proposed projects of various Peace Corps Volunteers in a number of different countries, deciding which project to support by a bi-annual voting process.

I decided to apply and my project is in the running for the voting process in December. If you would like to support me and my community, become a Kids-to-Kids member by visiting their website www.kidstokids.org and vote for my project "The Green Thumb Project" by searching the list. This voting cycle ends December 31st. Thank you! The children and members of my community would be very appreciate of your help!

Hasta luego,
Lauren

Project: The Green Thumb Project
Grant Request: $494
Country: Peru

Status: Vote Now
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Our community is located above the tree-line in the Andes Mountains at 4100 meters (14,000 feet) above sea-level, meaning it is extremely challenging to grow trees and vegetables without a green-house. As a result, the nearly tree-less grassland leaves no escape from the strong solar rays in the high elevation site near the equator and there are problems with malnutrition in a community that solely grows and consumes a large amount of potatoes.

The "Green-Thumb Project" aims to build a greenhouse in the high school in my community to provide the students an fun, educational opportunity to work on forestation projects and to promote health by growing a vegetable garden for a more nutritious diet.

Forestacion en el Colegio: Fotos

100 pine trees were donated from the Junin Municipality to plant as a small forestation project in my town's high school.


Students digging holes to transplant the trees.


Removing the bag to transplant the tree.


View of the trees planted within the property of the high school.

Elaboracion de Compost: Fotos

Giving a demonstration of how to turn over the compost pile.


Explaining the concept of composting to some of the high school students.


Covering the compost with plastic (to keep warmth in and protect from heavy rains).


High school students leading the middle school students in preparing another pile of compost.


Adding layers of different organic material.

Concurso de Reciclaje: Fotos

I became an expert tricycle rider to carry the recyclables to storage.


Weighing recyclables with students in the middle school.


Weighing recyclables with high school students.


Students sorting and getting creative in ways to condense recyclables to fill their bags.


Students carrying bags full of recyclables down the street.


3rd graders from the middle school won first place with 18.72 kilograms per student!

Rally Vicco

The end of June celebrated the “world-renowned” event, the 2nd annual Rally Vicco, highest Rally car race in the world! (Peruvians from the department of Pasco will take any opportunity to brag that it has an event that is the highest in the world…highest city, highest marathon, highest Rally car race…you get the idea). From day one at site (actually day zero? during our field based training/site visit before the end of pre-service training), I heard people from the town of a fellow PCV, enthusiastically advertise their version of Rally car racing. As with any Peruvian celebration, it was a multiple day event with variations on car racing, including a extreme off-road race track. When I attended the event with the other PCVs, we staked out a location for prime-viewing of the long distance race through town and onto the nearby highway. We held our breath every time a car approached because we had a view of the ridiculously dangerous section of the race where the drivers speeding down a straight highway had to skillfully make a 90 degree turn onto a narrow bridge. It was honestly a disaster waiting to happen. Fortunately as far as I know, there were no deaths. I never in my life expected to see this during my Peace Corps service, in a small rural town where a fellow PCV was placed, but hey, there are always surprises.

Hasta luego,
Lauren

Cosecha de Maca: Fotos!

1. Me with the maca (I will admit while I harvested some maca, that large pile of maca was not my work…), 2. Harvesting maca is more time consuming then harvesting potatoes (instead of digging up the hole soil and then searching for potatoes, with maca you can see the small stem/leaves and pick them out little by little), 3. MACA (you can see the diversity just in one small plot of land in my town, yellow, purple…) 4. Difference between fresh and sun-dried maca

Maca: Cosecha y Festival

The weekend of June 19-20 my community harvested maca. You are probably wondering, what is maca? Only the most incredibly nutritious tubular plant in the world, native to the highlands of the Andes (aka Junín, Peru at 4100 meters)!

According to an information sheet I received at the Maca Festival in Junín:

Maca, Lepidium meyenii, originated from Junín, is a vegetable cultivated at over 3,800 meters above sea level, mainly in the central Andean region. It has the following benefits:

1) Raises energy levels, and combats physical and mental fatigue and stress.
2) Strength the immune system because of the specially proline, lysine and vietamin C synergic action.
3) Balances the diet avoiding malnutrition with its high and varied content of carbohydrates, aminoacids, minerals, vitamins and fatty acids. (Thank goodness, something to combat the diet heavy in white potatoes and rice!)
4) Increases endurance in athletes promoting mental clarity.
5) Slows the aging process, reduces unpleasant side-effects of menopause.
6) Helps to control osteoporosis.
7) Stimulates the endocrine system in both men and women.
8) Stimulates a balanced hormonal climate.
9) Helps with menstrual irregularities
And most important!...
10) Increases fertility and sexual functioning.

Maca in other words is the miracle “Viagra” vegetable, something that Peruvians are not uncomfortable mentioning ALL of the time. In fact, I have been explained on more than one awkward occasion (including by a teacher in front of the high school students) the significance of our plaza’s maca monument and other structures (mushroom inside of a pool structure…use your imagination).

Harvesting maca is tedious, but in my opinion more interesting and rewarding, than harvesting potatoes. To harvest potatoes, you basically blindly tear apart the soil and then scope out whatever treasured potatoes you can find. With maca, you can clearly see the little patches of leaves and carefully pick at the soil to find the small vegetable. I quickly learned, harvesting a small plot of maca is a lot more time consuming than a plot of potatoes.

July 9-11, the city of Junín had a festival celebrating the Maca. It was basically a fair displaying various maca products and some organizations had information describing and advising visitors on the process of maca production (see photos). There is a surprisingly large variety of maca, mostly named by colors (white, yellow, gray, black, pink, purple, mixed). Most of the maca products use maca in the dried state; so after harvesting, the people leave the fresh maca outside to dry (often times under a white plastic covering). Examples of the creativity of maca products at the fair: tea, juice, yogurt, ice cream, hard candy, liquor, cake, hot chocolate with maca, etc.

Hasta luego,
Lauren

Photos:
1. My town invested a large amount of money into rebuilding the plaza with a lovely statue “homenaje a la maca,” while attention grabbing, it takes a prompting to realize it is a maca, not a beet, 2 and 3. Display of the large variety of maca at the Maca Festival in Junin, 4. The collection of maca seeds, 5. Poster explaining the complete process of maca production from collecting seeds, planting, harvesting and drying.

Inseminación – Ovinos Mejorados

One of the major institutions in my town is the “Unidad de Producción Comunal,” which is basically a livestock farming cooperative. Early June, I watched the insemination process firsthand as they inseminated a total of 17 sheep. One lady who has studied the process in university is in charge of the procedure working with other young university students to genetically breed better quality community sheep. Starting 5 or so years ago, they have selected the best community sheep (various traits signifying health and the quantity/quality of wool production) and isolate these male and female sheep to prevent mating. They collect semen of the high quality male sheep and then using microscope determine which samples will have a high success rate (choosing healthy sperm by their movement speed). Starting May 24 this year, the insemination lasted for 20 days; the timing is important as the birth of the offspring will be the end of the year during rainy season when the pasture is the healthiest (green and rapidly growing with the abundance of rain). This community of shepherds is quite advanced!

Hasta luego,
Lauren

Photos:
1. Equipment for genetic insemination, 2. Cleaning the light probe, 3. Extracting semen with the pipet, 4. Sheep lined up for genetic insemination

La Cosecha de Papas

The end of May/early June is when my community harvests potatoes, the main substance farming crop. Although some nearby towns sell their potatoes, almost all of the people in my community grow potatoes for themselves, to eat ALL year in the variety of potato based dishes!

My host family has two small plots of land (technically community land but they bought the use of it to grow potatoes for this year), one on each of the small valley’s surrounding the central hill. We spent the weekend harvesting, one day on one side, the next day on the other side.

We spend the whole day (8:30am until 5:30pm close to when the sunsets) harvesting potatoes. Using a small hatchet, some people were in charge of loosening the soil and sifting out potatoes. Others were left in charge of collecting them. As you can see in the picture, I am now a professional having learned the proper technique to collect potatoes in a cloth tied around the waist. Since we were out in the field all day, we prepared Pachamanca lunch using the freshly harvesting potatoes and meat that we brought with us. Pachamanca utilizes natural resources (stones, hay, and soil) in a process cook the meat in heated pile of stones covered by paper and soil (see picture).

The majority of potato farm land is on the hill, making it a little tricky climbing, harvesting and bringing down the potatoes. We had a great time figuring out how to slide the heavy sacks of potatoes down the hill and carrying them across a small stream to a place where the truck could pick it up. Two men in my host family showed off their strength by individually carrying sacks that the rest of us lifted onto their shoulders. Apparently those sacks hold 100 kilos of potatoes (or 220 pounds!), pretty incredible. My claim of strength is being one of four carrying and lifting it onto their shoulders…not quite as impressive but I did my part.

Finally, having harvested 20 sacks from the farm (14 from the first day and 6 more the next day in the other side), my host mother and sisters have been spending days sorting the potatoes (those fit to store for the year, those that broke a little during harvest and that need to be eaten sooner than later, those for next year´s cultivation and the rest that are only fit to give the pigs). Now I can sleep well be assured that we have an abundance of potatoes to eat during the course of this year.

Pictures for next time since they didn´t upload...

Hasta luego,
Lauren

Día de la Tierra

Earth Day (aka “Día de la Tierra”) is the 22nd of April. All of the Environmental PCVs were required to organize some activity for community awareness. I decided to show a viewing of part of the movie “Earth” (the new Disney movie that came out for last year’s Earth day) and prepared a small talk about the significance of Día de la Tierra for the students of the middle and high schools, but also wanted to have some sort of hands on activity. Taking the lead from the Peruvians, we decided to have a parade in honor of Día de la Tierra – a generalization of course but Peruvians LOVE their parades and have plenty experience with organizing them!

It went smoothly, all the students from the two schools participated with signs they had made, and then lined up in the plaza for some animated speeches by the teachers. Knowing that I had prepared a speech and knowing that my voice does not carry (anyone who knows me understands that my “loud, speaking voice” is appropriate for everyone else’s quieter “inside voice”), they decide that I should speak from the loudspeaker microphone on top of the Municipality building in front of all the students lined up in the plaza. A little unexpected and intimidating, given that I had expected a mellow little presentation inside before watching the video…but you have to go with the flow in Peace Corps, right?

Afterwards, we all entered the Municipality building to view the first 30 minutes of the movie. The kids really enjoyed it – when I got up to cut it short as the high school principal had recommended, everyone was very disappointed that we weren’t going to watch the full video, but more for the next occasion

Hasta luego,
Lauren



Middle school students and teachers participating in the community parade for Earth Day.

The view of me presenting from top of the Municipality building in the Plaza.

The high school students, with their beautiful signs, listening to my speech.

The middle school students, also with their signs, sitting in the other side of the Plaza to listen to my speech.