Peru and the Training Center

Right now it is winter here, but it feels like summer during the day, and probably gets down to the high 50s at night. Peru, South Africa, Southern parts of China, and the islands around Indonesia and New Guinea have the most varieties of plant species in the world. The high amount of sun, with the tropical rains these places experience, especially Peru, where in one region alone, Ancash, has nine mountain peaks bigger than any mountain in the continental US, only one peak in Canada, and one in Alaska compete. In Ancash, they will have about 100 inches of rain a year, you couple that with being closer to the sun and more time in the sun then most other places of the world, it is a biological extravaganza. Peru has the coast, the sierra, and an unparalleled mountain range. The culture is rich here, but I’ve been to Jockey Plaza, a top of the line mall that has the feel, and prices of any upscale mall in the states, and then traveled a few minutes away from there and seen poverty, dirt covered babies, a naked woman walking down the street with just her purse, and crumbling buildings.
I compare the economical problems here with those of South Africa, where there are plentiful natural resources and yet the people of these countries are being exploited. What used to be Great Britain exploiting India and Africa for their resources has been replaced by corporations enabled by globalization. How is it possible for such a resource rich place like Peru to have extreme poverty in certain areas? The farmers can’t compete with companies like Dole who buy out chunks of land, undersell the competition, and have direct links to the market eliminating their need for a middle man. Peru is also a large producer of textiles, and yet cannot compete with the cheap synthetics of China where things are produced at such low quality, high quantities, and done so with no environmental regulation, that it impossible for any country to compete unless they do so with no ethical responsibility. Is there any hope? I believe so, one thing that can be done is the implementation of ICT in Peru, Information Communication Technology. As part of my job here, I could make a difference if I could help the artisans, farmers, beekeepers, and any other small business with international potential connect directly to the market. This would raise their potential earning per unit, and eliminate them being exploited by a middle man company who uses the leverage of having direct connections to the market. Peru in terms of ICT is first world right now, only about 10% of the people have internet access. The owners of these quality businesses here do not know how to use computers, let alone the internet, to their advantage. There is no guarantee that helping implement ICT is what I’m going to be doing, but this is one of the potential developmental projects that I might be doing to help the people of Peru.
The training center I take my classes in looks like a vacation getaway, complete with pool, and the biggest species of palm trees I have seen. We have secured entry, and barbwire on the walls. We all feel spoiled by our training site. It is here I spend most of my time, in a mix of Spanish, business, health, personal security, politics, and culture classes. We got a cat, and newfound stray puppy which I’m not sure is going to stay there after training is over, it might go with one of the married couple/volunteers. Half of the volunteers are Micro Business, and the other half is Youth Development. We are split up into 7, or 8 separate levels of Spanish classes taught by all native Peruvians. I have about 15 hours a week of Spanish with only 3 other people in my group, and is by far the best teaching of Spanish I have ever experienced. I have about 3 to 5 projects of business or community projects going at a time. Even though it seems like a lot, I feel lucky to have learning new things as my job. I have no complaints whatsoever. Here are some pics of the training site now, and the one we temporarily lived in for 2 nights and 3 days before we got sent to our host families.