I need to be on Peruvian Time

This past Sunday I went with Ruben and a friend of his to visit his friends mom in a women's jail. I was kind of nervous only about getting in because I was separated from Ruben to be searched and asked questions, and I need to use my Spanish to get in. But after they stripped me of all my IDs, keys to my room, my pocket dictionary, and my tights that I was wearing under my skirt (it's a requirement for women to wear skirts in the jail), I was allowed in! Now I know that the jail isn't usually like this, but while I was there, it was a Fiesta. Twice a week for two hours the jail has visiting hours and everyone comes out of their cells, and there's all sorts of food, music, little shops with things that the women have made, and kids running in every direction. Not what I would typically think a jail would look like. It was a lot of fun, everyone is in a great mood for those two hours.

I met a women there is from Amsterdam and she spoke english, so we talked for most of the time. When I her how she ended up in Peru, she told me that she had no idea, she smoked her way there. She was in jail for possession. She explained everything about the jail to me. The most interesting thing was that if a women is arrested for three years or less and she has children, the children go to jail with her if they have no other place to go. She said that the kids really don't have any kind of school though, but it's better than having them out on the streets. She told me that she thinks there's a few people that get arrested on purpose because they know that their kids will be fed in jail. When we were done talking, I promised her that I would come back at least one more time. She's really lonely because her family lives so far away and no one ever comes to visit her. Next time I go I'm going to bring her some things to read and some food. All the other prisoners get those things every week, but she never does.

I went back to the streets another night recently with Ruben to talk to the girls. It was a really cold night, so we brought them hot chocolate and some bread. When we get there Ruben always tells all of them that I work with Lucy and then they are cool with me being there. One of the girls pulled me aside, she was 14 years old, and she told me, if you work with Lucy you're a good person. Than she handed me two pieces of candy. I tried to give them back but she refused. I can tell that she appreciates me being here. I didn't stay very long that night because the girls started to disperse to go to work about a half hour I arrived. But it was still a good visit. I think they are getting used to me.

So these last few days have been a little, un pocoito, frustrating. Pero, esta bien. But I am getting used to the culture, letting the little things go, and going with the flow. I have time here, I am here for over a month so I don't need to save the world in one day right? Okay anyways, I've been trying to meet with organizations and had a lot of miscommunication, a no show, and one person in the hospital! But I've stayed positive and from this day forward it looks better. Tomorrow I have two meetings with two different people at CHS Capital Humano y Social (wwww.chs-peru.com) and hopefully I'll be able to get some numbers and some testimonials of the problem from the meetings. And right after the meetings I am off to the airport to fly to Arequipa because Friday there is a day long conference/debate there about the state of trafficking in Peru (http://translate.google.com/translate?prev=hp&hl=en&js=y&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.denuncialatrata.com%2F&sl=es&tl=en&history_state0=). I am really excited!!

Next week is also going to be much better because there is another volunteer, Yarra, coming from the states who has worked with Lucy and Genericion before. so she knows the kids and she also knows some of the girls on the streets. Also she is supposed to be an amazing translator. So next week will be very productive because Ruben, Yarra, and I will be going to the streets a lot more and getting testimonials, real field work data! I'm excited for this coming week!

p.s. Thanks to everyone for all of their support, I really appreciate it and I think about all the people that I have behind me everyday.