Workshops in Ica and Peruvian singers

Dear all,

From now on I will write my diary in English, so it will be accessible to more people.

My first week in Lima has already passed, and I can say I am happily settled already.

I live in La Casa Roja, an international student house, run by a Peruvian lady. Here 14 students and her family live, almost all students are like, doing internships, working at embassies etc. There is a nice atmosphere, a lot of space (some 20 square meters big room, my own bathroom, a garden, a couple of living rooms and... a piano!) What is also really nice is that it is on walking distance (40`) to my work.

The contents of my work in Save the Children finally was concreted today. I will work principally on the preparation plan of a possible earthquake in Lima. For this I will coordinate with different partners of Save the Children and mainly with different organizations of working children.

I am really excited about this task, I think I will learn a lot and have a very rich experience working together with my supervisor, who has a lot of experience.

The atmosphere at the office of Save the Children is really good, they took really good care of me, made sure I was picked up from the airport, helped me looking for a room etc. Besides me there are some 10 other people working in the office and one other intern. All but three are from Peru, the others are Spanish.

This weekend I was invited by my supervisor to accompany her on a trip to Ica. There she had organized, together with the judicial power a workshop on how to prevent revictimization of children who are in the judicial-medical-institutional circuit because of having been victims of physical or mental abuse. I assisted the (very interesting workshops) and had thereby the chance to talk with people from Save the Children´s partnerorganization Codeh Ica. This was of special interest to me since CODEH Ica had been the main implementer of the humanitarian response of Save the Children to the terrible earthquake in 2007 which left 90 percent of the buildings of Ica, Chincha and Pisco destroyed. Many people are still living in temporary shelters. The government has the funds but does not prioritize the most vulnerable people, and instead invests in recovering the economical infrastructure.

On Saturday, when my supervisor returned to Lima, I stayed in Ica. In the afternoon I saw a precious sunset, sitting on a high sanddune,looking over a lagoon surrounded by palmtrees down in the valley, kids sliding down the sand, I became a bit melancolic, especially seeing couples having a most romantic ambience I felt a bit alone, but happy.

The next day, one of the employees of CODEH Ica, took me to a vinyard, Tacama, a 500 years old bodega, there built upon arrival of the Spanish who imported grapes and started the first wine production. The wine is exported to the US. I have never seen any Peruvian wine in Dutch stores, which is a pity since, after trying it, I must admit it is quit good! Ofcourse they also produce their national liquor made of grapes, the Pisco.
During the tour our guide informed us about the presence of a local star! A young singer of folclorical music from Ayacucho was filming her new video. And guess what, she asked us to dance carnaval in her songs... hahahahahaha

So there we were dancing and jumping while she was playbacking in the middle. Her name is Shadia (you can find her looking for Shadia del Perú on youtube..)

Fortunately she is not (yet) well known, but maybe her videos will appear on youtube.. haha but I better not tell you!

OK, that was about it for this week. Going with some girls to a Jazzclub in Barranco now!

Best wishes!