Fear Factor

I just walked in the door from my first trip back to Lima and I am sitting here in my living room watching women's high jump at the world track and field championships. I am getting a little homesick as I talk to my host mom about my own connection to the sport and explain that my mom in the U.S. has an Olympic medal in this sport. I have very rarely watched high jump in the U.S. so I am surprised to find myself glued to a track meet in rural Peru. After being on a bus all night, it is nice to zone out on something that reminds me so much of home.
At the beginning of this week, I felt like I was training to be a competitor on Fear Factor. It all started when I smelled something rancid coming from the kitchen and when I opened the pot where lunch was being prepared I saw an entire sheep stomach and liver being boiled. I politely chewed my way through as much of this as I could and then claimed to be full after the texture and bizarre taste of intestines became too much for me. My second training session was much more shocking. I was invited to my fellow Peace Corps volunteer's birthday lunch. He had bought a goat for his family to slaughter for the party (a tradition for any party in Peru). Before the main course, Tyler thought it would be funny to serve me up some of the goat testicle that his host mother had prepared. He set it in front of me so that everyone at the party saw I had been served. I had no option but to politely eat it as the entire neighborhood looked on. The spongy texture and mental image of what I was eating made it difficult but I forced a smile, chewed a couple of times, and swallowed as quickly as possible. I am still grossed out when I think about it but I am proud of myself for not offending anyone by vomiting.
My meeting in Lima this week was with the Women in Development/Gender Awareness in Development (WID/GAD) committee. WID/GAD is a worldwide initiative that helps volunteers in many countries to involve women in their development projects. I was recently accepted onto this committee and I am incredibly excited to get going on projects. This meeting was essentially a brainstorming session. We decided that this year we will do a staff training, a training for new volunteers, a calendar of strong female figures nominated by volunteers, and a project in conjunction with the HIV/AIDS committee. I have found from experience that no project can work without the support and involvement of women in the community and I have been looking for ways to inspire the women in my community to set goals for themselves beyond what is expected of them. I think that getting women to take more control in everything from education to money to sex will be a crucial step in sustainable development. I have seen so many women who are not allowed by their families and/or their partners to work outside the home or use birth control thus leaving them with no control over their own life. I am looking forward to working with this committee to help improve this situation.
Now that I am back from Lima, I need to get back to work on my trash projects and coordinate my environmental education in the schools. For today, I intend to watch some more track and take a serious nap. I just have to make sure that I get up in time for my radio interview in a few hours. I never pass up an opportunity to let people know what I am working on here in Pacora, otherwise they might think I just walk around eating popsicles all day.