Most of you all reading this now know that I am working for a nongovernment organization over here called Paz y Esperanza. With offices in Lima, Ayacucho, Andahuaylas, and San Martin, P&E brings together psychologist, pastors, lawyers, journalist, and other professionals to be a force in the community that fights injustices and lives out a call of Christian social responsibility. Huanuco is one of the poorest regions in Peru and is also one with the highest intances of domestic violence and particularly sexual abuse against children. At the P&E office in Huanuco the focus is not just on human rights in general but on those of women in particular.
P&E offers many different kinds of services for the community; including counseling, both psychological and spiritual, legal help for those who wish to press charges or legally separate from their abusers, shelters, for those who have no where else to go, social services to help meet the basic needs of those who come to them for help, and many different classes and discussion panels aimed at educating the community on everything from human rights issues to safe sex practices. They are not only trying to respond to the problems of the community but also trying to build a better future through education.
I work in the Area Rehabilitacion Integral. Which is basically the Pscyhological counseling area. There are 4 full time staff in the department - Doris, who is basically the head psychologist, Cathy, Becky, and David, who are all either psychologists or have bachelor's degrees and are pursuing full accredidation. Apart from being very talented at what they do in helping heal the victims of abuse, they are all very kind and welcoming people and I'm glad that I'm getting the opportunity to know them and share with them in the work that they are doing.
One of the programs that I am working with is called the Tamar group. It's a group of girls, most of them around 13 or 14 years old, who have been victims of abuse. Every Saturday I get together with these girls and we do art projects and it is a part of their recovery therapy. Right now we are making these amazing Christmas cards using a traditional Peruvian design called filligree. 
The process of integrating myself with these girls is slow with the language barrier but I'm finding little things in common with them, like American pop music, which they all seem to know and like. I spend much of my time during the week preparing the materials for the Tamar girls and right now I'm just glad that I have something I can contribute to the work being done here. But I do cut a lot of paper, so it's a little humbling and a lesson in "being" when mostly all I do all day is sit and cut paper. That's not entirely true though, I do get to do some other things. This week I got to travel to a small town just outside of Huanuco to a school there with two of my co-workers. They were there to teach the kids about sexual abuse and what do if the find themselves in unsafe situations. It was very much like the "stranger danger" talks we used to get in elementary school. But I really liked the message they were teaching the kids. Besides the typical "always tell an adult" kind of advice they also demonstrated that a human life is invaluable and that we are precious creations of God. And as such we are to take ownership of our bodies and protect them and treat them with respect. I hope that by the second half of my year here I will be proficient enough in my Spanish to be able to teach these kinds of classes myself.
The process of integrating myself with these girls is slow with the language barrier but I'm finding little things in common with them, like American pop music, which they all seem to know and like. I spend much of my time during the week preparing the materials for the Tamar girls and right now I'm just glad that I have something I can contribute to the work being done here. But I do cut a lot of paper, so it's a little humbling and a lesson in "being" when mostly all I do all day is sit and cut paper. That's not entirely true though, I do get to do some other things. This week I got to travel to a small town just outside of Huanuco to a school there with two of my co-workers. They were there to teach the kids about sexual abuse and what do if the find themselves in unsafe situations. It was very much like the "stranger danger" talks we used to get in elementary school. But I really liked the message they were teaching the kids. Besides the typical "always tell an adult" kind of advice they also demonstrated that a human life is invaluable and that we are precious creations of God. And as such we are to take ownership of our bodies and protect them and treat them with respect. I hope that by the second half of my year here I will be proficient enough in my Spanish to be able to teach these kinds of classes myself.Alright well I think I will wrap for this post. Next time: Tingo Maria (the jungle), and YAV retreat! I've got pics up on Facebook, if you haven't already seen them, they provide a good visual context for all the things I talk about.
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