Peru: the final chapter

The last leg of Project WET’s Bolivian and Peruvian adventure took Julia to the central region of Junín, Peru. At the airport in Jauja she was warmly welcomed by a group of people from the municipal government of Junín, members of the UNDP and the Agua Saludable program (a program focused on providing safe drinking water to communities in Peru). They immediately took her for a traditional central Peruvian breakfast of mata (sweetened hot milk with local grain) with a choice of an egg or cheese sandwich at a street corner stand. It was a perfect welcome to central Peru!

The crew then continued up into the Andes Mountains to visit the town of Jaujailla and see a successful healthy community development project. The community welcomed Julia into their homes, schools, and community center. The morning was one of the most rewarding experiences for Julia during the entire trip. As a farewell and thank you to the Project WET, the UNDP, and the Junín government visitors, the community provided a traditional lunch of potatoes, meat, large local legumes, guinea pig, and fresh local salsa. Guinea pigs are source of protein for the community, especially for the school children, and Julia was honored to share in their well balanced traditional lunch.

With full bellies and inspiration from the successful healthy habits program in Jaujailla, the visiting group headed back down the mountains to the city of Huancayo, the capital of the Junín region. After a brief meeting and warm welcome to Project WET by the president of the Junín region, Julia facilitated a three hour Writing Development Workshop with approximately 15 participants from the UNDP, the education department of Junín, teachers and representatives from Agua Saludable. Julia led the participants through several Project WET activities then divided them into groups in order to collect suggestions for the adaptation of the Healthy Habits, Healthy Water, Healthy People educators’ guide in Peru. The workshop was a success; participants are very excited to have Project WET materials introduced into the Junín region and Julia collected insightful and helpful suggestions for customizing Project WET’s materials to Peru. Julia returned to the US on June 19, and will begin the customization process on the Bolivian and Peruvian educators’ guides as soon as possible.

WET Peru

With Bolivia under their belt, Linda and Julia moved on to tackle water education in Peru. Before getting their feet wet (excuse the pun) with water education and policy in Peru, the two headed up to Machu Picchu for the weekend to explore the remains of the ancient Incan civilization. Machu Picchu lived up to its hype. There are no words to explain the grandeur of the site. The visit fulfilled a lifelong dream for both Linda and Julia.

With sore legs and high spirits, the Project WET duo toured a school on Monday June 14, started and developed by Peru’s Challenge, a local non-governmental organization (NGO) based out of Cuzco, Peru. The school was located in a town 20 minutes outside of Cuzco. Peru’s Challenge has done amazing and sustainable work, building infrastructure, teaching capacity building to the local teachers, and absorbing salary costs for the teachers until the region’s Ministry of Education can take over. Project WET plans to supply the school with its educational materials about water, sanitation and hygiene once the materials are developed and ready for distribution. On Tuesday, June 15, Julia and Linda continued on to Lima, Peru and met with a representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and various NGOs. Project WET and its materials on sanitation and hygiene were warmly accepted. Meetings with the UNDP and representatives of water related NGOs in Peru were both productive and positive.

Linda headed back to Bozeman early on Wednesday night, June 16, while Julia stayed behind to attend school visits and a workshop in the central district of Junín in the city of Huancayo. The meetings and school visits are to take place on June 17. Stay tuned for the results of the Peru workshop in Huancayo and Julia’s return to the US…

Bolivia and the HIGH life

Despite all the best laid out plans, something inevitably will go wrong in a business trip to three countries with countless pre-arranged meetings. Julia Nelson and Linda Hveem were set to depart on a three week adventure to Mexico, Bolivia and Peru on June 1 but were delayed due to a hold up with their Bolivian visas. The Bolivian consulate in Houston ran out of visa stickers! This frustrating news also shed some light on potential differences in business efficiency between the U.S. and business conducted in Latino America. The delay caused them to miss the Mexican Writing Workshop in the city of Xalapa in the state of Veracruz on June 3, 2010. The workshop was organized jointly by Project WET, United Nations (UN) Human Settlements Program (also known as UN-Habitat), UNESCO, and the World Health Organization (WHO). Fortunately, Project WET’s Mexican partners at UN Habitat were able to conduct the workshop in their absence. The workshop gathered suggestions from local teachers and government officials in the ministries of education, health and environment in order to customize educational materials on the topic of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) for the state of Veracruz, Mexico.

Despite delays in obtaining their Bolivian visas, Linda and Julia left on time from Mexico City for Santa Cruz, Bolivia on Saturday, June 5, 2010. They were greeted on Sunday by their partner from UN-Habitat Bolivia, Claudia Vargas, who took them for a traditional Bolivian lunch and a tour of the city center and plaza with her family. It was a wonderful welcome to Bolivia!

After numerous meetings with government officials and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on Monday, Julia, Linda and Claudia flew to La Paz, Bolivia. The airport for La Paz is in the city of El Alto at approximately 14,000 feet. The city of La Paz sits down the “hill” at a mere 12,000 feet. However, as mountain women from Bozeman, MT, Julia and Linda had no problem adapting to the high altitude (except for the 3rd flight of stairs at their hotel where both have arrived at their rooms wheezing daily). La Paz is a beautiful city located in the Andes Mountains with streets that climb from 12,000 feet in elevation to 14,000 feet.

Project WET’s meetings with government officials and NGOs in La Paz were both productive and informative. The municipal government of La Paz took Julia, Linda, and Claudia on tours of several schools in poor neighborhoods to see new sanitation facilities built by the government to and get a feel of the school units in La Paz. Some schools have as many as 3000 children throughout the day, divided into morning, afternoon, and evening sessions.

On June 9, 2010 Project WET conducted a Writing Workshop with 25 participants from various organizations including the government sectors of water and heath, NGOs, teachers, and education specialists. The workshop demonstrated Project WET’s pedagogy through participation in Project WET activities from the Healthy Habits, Healthy Water, Healthy People guide, and gathered suggestions from local participants to adapt guide for use in Bolivia. The workshop was successful with a high demand for Project WET materials (Linda and Julia did not have enough materials to meet the demands of the participants!).

On Thursday, June 10, Linda and Julia will visit schools and projects implemented by UN Habitat and Plan International in Patacamaya, a town in the Altiplano of Bolivia. Friday, they depart for Peru and will continue their journey, spreading Project WET’s educational materials about the importance of water, sanitation and hygiene to more countries in South America.