Sparklers INside the House - Christmas in Ayacucho

So Christmas came to Ayacucho. It went pretty much as predicated., more fiesta than religion. We had our cultural exchange and all shared in the reading of the Christmas story around the table before dinner. Stomachs growling, candles were lit!!! Good times. Mama Julia (Habacuc, my host dad´s mom) even lead us in some spontaneous Quechua hymns. The kids Penuel, Miguel, and Eunice who were so excited to participate in the advent ritual and reading of the Christmas story the day before, BAILED on me though. Sheridad stuck with me.
The other kids just wanted to light the candles so they could play with the fire. Not happening on my watch. They got their opp later around midnight when the fireworks went off all around the city. It was a spectacle and deafening. Then all of a sudden I realize I am no longer in the front yard but standing next to the kitchen table with 6 children AND adults waving sparklers around INside the house. I feel like I should have something to say here...oh wait!! That was said the next day when Rosa (my host mom) realized the geniuses burned her table cloth in multiple spots. She asked me if I was involved. UH, no...incindiary devices indoors IS NOT my calling I explained, I then referred her to said photos of the night before which demonstrate my innocence. Culpable parties, please stand at this time....(oh no takers).
No turkey though. My family does not have a refrigerator (by choice because we live 50 yds from the market) and so like many people in Ayacucho they headed out the morning of Dec 24th to buy a turkey and other carne to prepare. I am a planner with flexibility. Just an outline please, something to go by. Planning has been one of my struggles in living here, basically it happens at the last minute or ultima hora and life goes on. All the turkeys were frozen and in order to get it to the big community roasting ovens (the ones that are usually for baking bread are turned to turkey roasters on this day, no chapla sorry) it needed to be bought and prepped in the morning. So to go with our INCA (remember the lamb BAHHHH!!) we had ¨Lechon¨or roast pig. Succulent, none the less. Rosa asked me if that was okay? I was a little taken aback by the Spanish Inquisition. I mean I explained that we could eat my shoe and I wouldn´t know the difference becasue this was my first Peruvian Christmas. It sort of gave them license to stick in what ever they wanted and this oblivous (well maybe not) American wouldn´t know the difference.
Rosa wanted everything to be perfect for this Christmas, I KNOW!!! and it was. It was great. Loads of family and friends feeding and spending time together. That I think was my favorite part. The house was loaded to the gills and so was the kitchen table, but no matter what there always seemed to be room for one more. Rosa made sure of that, and she always makes room for one more at the table whether it is Christmas or not. Again, not to drive this point home too many times but, it was a time to remember - complete with fireworks (those incendiary devices) INdoors.

Christmas in Ayacucho, Peru (a preview)

So I have been patiently listening and trying to grasp what will or will not happen in Ayacucho, Peru around Christmas. I will let you know later what comes to pass. A lot of it has been peeking my curiostiy. This morning at breakfast Rosa, my host mom, enlightened me a little more.
Rosa first said, that Christmas here is more like a party or fiesta here. The evangelical church does not typically observe advent or preach or talk about the birth of Christ. They have chocolatatas and parties where kids and adults recieve gifts. I heard in church on Sunday that there would be a program on Friday the 24th during the afternoon evening, a 4 hour affair not the usual two hour service, according to Pastor Miqueas. I have not heard if we are going or not. I wonder what it will be like? Maybe I could pop in. On the 24th of Diciembre there will be a gathering at the Sulca-Tucno house. It will be at 12 midnight leading us into Diciembre 25th. We have decided to have a sorteo or gift exchange by drawing names, instead of buying something for everyone. I drew Miguel Gomez´s name (he is a cousin). He is a drummer and young man so I got him some new drum sticks and a watch.
Rosa also told me this morning that she needs to season the meat tommorrow, and I said ¨the turkey?¨ She said yes, but ¨Also the carne.¨ Huh? Isn´t turkey meat?!! You know what I am just not going to ask in a house of vegetarians that eat meat. Rosa explained we would have the traditional turkey, but also this year lamb. I said what gives. She said that Papa Victor (Habacuc´s dad) had given Sheridad a newborn lamb as a present sometime back, and they had been raising it there at the house in the city. About ten days before I arrived they shipped it off to Papa Victor and Mama Julia´s house in Chacra so that when I arrived a crazy sheep wouldn´t be galavanting about. As if that would the craziest thing I experienced here?(I felt bad for Sheridad). Is anyone else getting this Charlotte´s Web sort of feel in their bones? The lamb´s name was Inca. Èach week the Sulca-Tucnos would give mama Julia a little money or propina to help take care of Inca. Well apparently last week Inca the attitudinal sheep head butted Papa Victor and knocked him down. One of Habacuc´s brothers saw what happened and well needless to say Inca has now become Inca Kola and will be joining us for Christmas dinner. Sheridad was sad, she hopes to get another lamb. That is what I know for now about Christmas dinner.
I have talked a little bit with the Sulca-Tucnos about our Christmas traditions, as they ask. They mainly want to know what we eat and do. Rosa invited me to share the meaning of advent and the wreath and to read the Christmas story with their family on Christmas eve when I mentioned that was something we did at church. She thinks it will be fun to have an intercultural exchange this year, me too. I think I am going to enlist the kids...Eunice, Penuel, Sheridad, and Miguel to help me. We will see how it goes.

Dios Taytallay - Psalm 23 in Quechua, a hymn

**This is my favorite Quechua hymn. It is Dios Taytallay or the 23rd Psalm. The Quechua words are in bold and the spanish are in regular font.**

//Dios Taytallay qamllam kanki ñuqallaypa Michiqnillaypa manam impas pisiwanqañachu. //

Dios Padre solo tú eres para mí, mi pastor nada me faltará

Sumaqllaña ikllirmuq pastokunapim

En hermosos pastos verdes

ñuqallaytaqa samaykachiwanki

me hace descansar

ñuqataqa pusawanki yakukunapa

a mi lleva a lugares

sumaq hawkalla samananmanraqmi

donde puedo descansar.

Qanqariki pasaypaqña

Tú, cuando yo estoy

Kallachkaptiypas

sin fuerzas

ñuqallaytaqa kallpanchaykuwankim

cuando yo estoy sin fuerzas

prometellawasqaykiman hinaraqmiki

conforme a tus promesas

allin ñanninta pusakullawanki.

mellevas por buenos caminos.

Santa Fe Kids Graduate

I recently received a photo and acknowledgement that the children that I worked with in Santa Fe, Guatemala in 2004-2005 as a Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) graduated from Primera or the 6th grade in October. They have several choices now. They can try to enroll in middle school or there is a special program in the city of Retahuleu about 30 minutes down the road that meets once a week for half a day and is an intensive program. The latter option would allow the young people to work in the fields or where ever they can earn money, but also continue their education.
I team taught this class their first year. It was first grade and my partner teacher was Mercedes Lorenzo-Castro. I am so proud and I know she was. They are so smart and gifted.
I am privileged to have worked with them and learned from both them and Mercedes. Congratulations to Hector, Brenda, Elma, Dulce, Eber, Raul, and especially Maestra Mercedes (who balanced teaching and completing her own middle and high school educations alongside of the students she taught, and graduated last year).

Advent in Peru, Maybe?

Advent is a time of active waiting, we wait for what we know will happen, because it already has, the birth of our savior. Each year for the four weeks before Christmas Christians in a variety of contexts around the world ¨wait¨together for the innocence of the Christ child who would come to suffer for many to be born in their hearts. The innocence of the manger that would grow to challenge the established order and powers and prinicipalities who denied access and guard justice as something to be distributed at their own whim.
The evangelical churches here in Peru do not usually follow the liturgical calendar and therefore do not typically celebrate or observe advent. I have found though that many Peruvians do know what advent or adventamiento is, they just do not use a wreath or really talk or preach about it. The Catholic Churches here do observe it, though they seem to use different color candles, but with similar meanings and themes.
Most of the sermons in the evangelical churches that I visit have just been going on with whatever the pastor wants or needs to preach on. Advent is one of the things that I miss while being here in Peru. The waiting, hoping, introspection, and reflecting while we observe the four weeks before Christmas. (and the hymns and music OHH!!)
I missed it so much in fact that I collaborated with the Director of PyE Ayacucho (an ecumenical organization) and the secretary to get 5 bellas or candles for a wreath. There was no greenery unless we used alfalfa which would rot too quickly or coca leaves which are sort of dry and might ignite (no mas fuego por favor). So we had five candles on a tray. That is okay though. It still went on, and by the way I love Peruvian candles, they burn slowly and seem to last forever, and you do not get that drippy wax all over you.

It is not a perfect wreath, but it was ritualistically there. Each Monday at our staff meeting we open with a biblical reflection and singing. For the past four weeks we have reflected together on advent. I lead the reflection and while one of the team members came forward and lit the candles. We talked about the meanings of each one (hope, peace, joy, and love), read some bibilical reflections to prepare us during this time of waiting and even managed to work in a little talk of access, peace, solidarity, and justice along the way. The PyE Ayacucho folks are always good for a theological discussion or unhashing of some kind. Some of the folks at Paz Y Esperanza are or were raised Catholic so they know what Advent or Adventamiento is. It was great to share a part of my culture with them, and to hear some of them reflect on advent and waiting for Navidad and the noche bueno as well.

I remember from living in Guatemala in 2004-2005 talking a lot about two types of waiting, fatalistic and hopeful. The first, waiting on something we knew would happen or was coming, and the other just as it sounds, waiting on something that we hope or want to come. As I travel to the different barrios of Ayacucho and the countryside to sit with victims who are step by step transitioning, through difficult proceses and work, to becoming survivors of the internal violence of Peru (1980-2000). I am reminded by their stories of horror, becasue of the violence and abuse at the hands of the military and the Sendero Luminoso, that many of them know a different reality than I, while at the same time many of us seem to anonymously walk in solidarity because we share threads of the same reality. The more powerful and tranforming thing though is I can also hear and recognize the hope resonating in their words and songs. Hope that is just as contagious and infectious as the Quehcua women´s laughter, timely advice and wisdom, and our mutual curiosity. I hear their hope that manifest itself in listening to one another and entering into a sacred space with my Peruvian compañeras and I. A sacred space (sometimes an adobe house and other times a grassy field) where the ¨Emanuel¨ on which we wait to be born in our hearts is already present and doing amazing things with people of Ayacucho, Peru.

Que Sera, Que Sera - Jose Feliciano

One of my favorite artists that I have discovered, okay well rediscovered (he is the one who sings Feliz Navidad - the version they are playing right now on your American Radio station), is Jose Feliciano. He has been around a while singing with the likes of Gloria Estefan and having a solo career in his own right. Below is a link to his song ¨Que Sera, Que Sera¨which is basically what will be, will be. I rediscovered him riding in the 4x4 toyota to Putis on one of Raul´s top 10 mix tapes we found in the glove box.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNXeAceK7Yg

Who Needs Hands When you Have a Skirt?

Today we had our final GAM (Grupo por Ayudando Mujeres) of the year in Callqui, the small pueblo just above the city of Huanta, about an hour from Ayacucho Proper. Remember Callqui (the Presbyterian Church specifically) was the sight of the grizzly slaying of 6 or 7 men, including several youth, during a prayer service in December 1984 at the hands of the Peruvian military.

So Ruth, Milagros, and I set out with Raul our driver. This was going to be a chocolatata and afternoon of games. We brought each mama a paneton of their very own to take back and share with their families on Christmas, and also some to share right there. We also brought the women a lunch of Pollo a la Brasa (Rotissere Chicken) which is one of my favorite things to eat here in Peru. The women brought the chocolate minus the milk for the chocolatata, potatoes, and a salad to add to lunch. That is something that I have really liked about my visits to Callqui. Our bi-monthly gatherings, from our workshops to a snack have been collaborative rather than us always bringing and giving something/evverything, thereby creating dependency. The women have really taken ownership over their GAM and it is delightful. They often suggest or have issues they want to work on and demonstrate an innate ability to take care of one another. I know this because I witness it. My understanding of Quechua has gotten profoundly better now I just need to work on responding back in Quechua.

This day we took our chocolatata and pollo a la brasa out to the local park for a picnic. The women spread out thier manatas which are their brightly colored, multi-purpose blanket/backpacks and WALAH!! instant picnic. The verb in spanish for ¨to picnic¨ is picnicar. Okay no really it isn´t I just made that word up along with Carol from the office, there really is no such word. Before we ate we played soccer and other games, as well as sang some hymns. One of my favorite Quechua hymns is Dios Tatayllay or the 23rd Psalm. Yes, I want to repeat, women played soccer together in Peru, CALL THE PRESS!!! They suggested it. Piluta qaitayta yachunkichu? I asked. Do you want to play soccer? (in Quechua) Everytime I asked, Mama Concepcion Quispe would stick her foot out from under her skirt, kick, and laugh like she was playing. Classic. Imagine four Quechua mamas in their 70´s playing soccer with a gringa, and her two Peruvian office mates. Concepcion played goalie or archero for my team. She is good. Mama Paulina was the goalie for the other team. When the ball would come near her Concepcion would sort of squat down and instead of using her hands she WOOSHED it up by scooping the ball into her skirt. How resourceful. She saved a lot of goals that way.

We also played a game where you race to see who can wrap the other teamate in toilet paper the fastest, then another round to see who can return the paper to the roll the fastest. It was called moomi or mummy. Before lunch we had a brief hymn sing and time of prayer. All of these women are evangelical Chrisitans, Presbyterian infact. It was truly a great day. So in this blog entry is in honor of my friends in Callqui. Concepcion, Amyra, Sabina, Junana, Paulina the mamas of Callqui who continue to care for one another and each other while trying to walk in soldarity down a path of grief that had been suspended for some thirty years. For what I offered them, but most of all for the lessons they taught me through laughter, fumbling, humilty, cross cultural pastoral care and love for the stranger.

This is Mama Concepcion Quispe and I celebrating a GOOAALL-AH!!

Putis, 26 Year Later

In December of 1984 a military detachment or ejercito entered the high Andean pueblo of Putis. The military unit came under the guise that they were going to work with the villagers of Putis to contruct a ¨piscigranja¨or fish (trout) breeding pool as an act of conciliation and development. The military was actully there becasue they suspected some of the villagers to be involved with the revolutionary movement Sendero Luminoso or the Shining Path. On a hillside near the local school the military and the locals set to work digging a shallow (about a foot and half deep) squared off hole. When the locals had reached the desired depth, the military detachment opened fire on the men, women, and children of Putis who had innocently worked to dig the poso or well for the pool. They (123 people) lay dead in the shallow pool (to become grave) they had dug themselves. The soldiers had removed the ¨simpatica¨(beautiful) women to a nearby building and violated them before they to were killed. The military then filled in the poso to cover the act and the evidence.

In anti-terrorism maneuvers all over the Andean Mountains the military acted in this way. Dec of 1984 was a busy month for them. The military was unsure of who was SL or Sendero Luminoso or not (because the SL did not wear uniforms) so they wiped out whole villages of people, just to be sure and with out fact, only hearsay and suspicion. Suscpicion which they typically communicated in castellano (spanish) to people who only spoke Quechua. Two of every three people killed were Quechua speaking.

For 25 years the bodies lay beneath the soil in Putis, and the story of what happened in Putis in December of 1984 was silenced. There were witnesses, but they lived in fear of military and government retalliation so the facts of that day were buried just like a majority of the population of this Andean pueblo. About two years ago they testified under anonymity as part of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and in 2009 government forensic scientists (like CSI Peru), Paz Y Esperanza lawyers, development specialists, and mental health professionals traveled to Putis and began the arduous task of accompanying those who were left in Putis in the exhummation process. Upon arrival the forensic specialists realized that remains were protruding up from beneath the earth. They unearthed 92 bodies even though there were said to have been 123 victims.

Putis is one of the most prolific and at the same time most devestating examples of the tragic ¨dirty war¨used by the Republic to combat the counter insurgency the Sendero Luminoso had created to unite the campesinoes and destory the Republic of Peru. Abimel Guzman (a Ayacuchano univ professor of philosophy) or "President Gonzolo" as his followers called him sought to replace with a revolutionary socialist- Maoist-communist regime bent on turning Peru upside down (destroying the form of government and replacing it with their own. The SL was not just interested in bringing Peru to its knees like other revolutionary movements (i.e. - MRTA).

The Sendero Luminoso sought to combat the violence of poverty and lack of access gripping the Andean countryside with a unifying revolution by taking out government leaders one by one. When a majority of the local people refused to cooperate or follow the revolution the Path turned violent, and the consequence for being uncooperative was typically death usually involving a public display of torture to threaten others. When the military entered the armed conflict it became a wave of threefold violence. I have learned that combating violence with violence doesn´t seem to be effective, especially for the innocent people involved or the bystanders who seem to become collateral damage. Here in Peru, and from my experience in Guatemala the citizenry were no longer people, but objects to be dealt with along the way. Objects that were dispensable. In violence and war human rights seem to be the first thing that goes out the window or suffers. Peru, is only an example with Putis as a shining star.

After the exhummations, the Paz Y Esperanza team worked to secure recognition of what happened in Dec. 1984 with a ¨Dignified Internment.¨ They held three separate public funerals in which the 92 conffins traveled the department of Ayacucho to the Plaza de Armas in Ayacucho Proper, the Parque Central of Huanta, and then onto Rodeo (the population center of Putis) where a cemetery was constructed to interr the bodies, appropriately this time.

Putis was and still remains an agricultural area of subsitance farmers (potatoes, sheep, and cattle) lacking electricity and potable water, but it is not lacking in a lively, colorful, and spiritual people who long for basic necessities (like water, a health clinic, and electricity), but also seek to maintain the foundations of their intriguing Andean way of life. Today approximately 6 or so families still remain in Putis. More have moved away and others have settled up the road (about 30 miunutes) in Rodeo, Putis.

On Sunday December 12, 2010 Felimon, Omar, Roxanna, and I traveled the long, winding, dirt, and sometimes ¨harry¨road (or path) to Putis in the ever trusty gray 4x4 toyota truck. We went through Huanta, then two and a half hours more to Santillana through rock formations that would blow your mind and scenic valley that take your breath away. We were literally driving in

the clouds at some points.

Then another hour and half to Putis with no rest areas along the way, only mother nature. On Sunday afternoon we hosted games with the children of Putis and Rodeo, as well as a chocolatada or festivus of hot chocolate made with clove, cream, and cinnamon, and panteton (fruit bread). It is a traditional Peruvian Christmas celebration. We broke bread and drank from a common cup, literally as the styrofoam hot/cold cups began to run out. Felimon makes the perfect clown, it seems natural. We wore clown noses and hats to make game time extra special. They call games here dynamicas. The kids (big and small), as well as Omar, Roxanna, Felimon, and I had a great time. It was extremely cold for us and the kids. After the games and before the chocolatada we got soaking wet by a freak shower that came up. Cold + Wet = not fun on the one andd half hour trip back to Santillana. Each time my traveling companions laughed and sneered at me for bringing a bag on an overnight trip I gently reminided them of who was wearing dry clothes and who was shivering, hmmm?

I did catch onto a bit of tension when we drove through Rodeo Sunday and stopped to chat and then onto Putis, proper where we met Fidel the President and the mayor of the region. Felimon wanted us to see the poso and former burial site, and to meet some of the people that we would meet again the next day (Monday) at some of the remeberances. Fidel was welcoming and jovial, as was the regional mayor, but that regional mayor was on a mission and had some things to say. That is where I noticed the tension. He wanted to know why ALL of the activities were not taking place right here in Putis. "This is where it happened!" he said. "This is where it happened, but the graves are up there? You are playing games and having a chocolatada with the kids up there (he pointed). What about our kids, the ones here? They are out there in the fields with their parents tending animals and cultivating potatoes. It is their life. They do not know there is paneton and chocolate here. What about them?" He was clearly upset, and Felimon made space for him to air his grievences. Obviously there was some miscomunication or someone missed some of the phonecalls and messages. Unfortunately Felimon did not really offer much in terms of a respsonse except that any of the kids and parents who were here and wanted to go "up there" to Rodeo were welcome to get in the back of the truck and ride with us, and we would bring them home afterward. That was somewhat appeasing as the youth and several kids gladly piled into the back of the truck. I was not a part of the planning of these two days of remembrances so I am not sure who dropped the ball or was allowing personal feelings to get in the way. I do know that over the course of two days we met 3 to maybe 5 mayors and presidents from Rodeo, Putis, and Huanta. All men of course. That seems to me to be a whole lot of leadership for a very small place. I think it might help them to sit down with each other when it comes to events like this if they didn't already. The tension is still there though and I have a feeling it will come up again.

On Monday, a caravan of political leaders and the rest of the Paz y Esperanza folks came to Putis. A team from Apollyo de Paz also came. Martin from Germany lead their delegation. Father Chamberlain, a Catholic priest from Lima (a gringo) who had accompanied the people of Putis during the exhumation process also came, and offered prayers at the poso site as well as at the cemetery. That is what Monday was. It was two brief services of rememberance, and a reminder that justice for those now interred at Rodeo's new cemetery had not yet been served.

Before we went to Putis my host family said here take some bread becasue there is nothing to eat in Putis. Felimon said the same thing as we ate breakfast and lunch within ten minutes of each other in Santillana. Strikingly enough, on Monday I felt like all I did was eat when we got to Putis. I was offered Mondongo (a local Andean pork skin soup with beans and corn like hominy)twice, and after that a big bowl of roasted sheep ribs and potatoes that were prepared in a panchamanca. The eating thing has now become a running joke with Felimon and I.

I can tell that alot of delicate work has been done over the past several years in Putis, but also that alot more community awareness and building needs to take place. The question is who will do that? Political leaders, doubt it. The church...I think the Christians in Putis are a majority Catholic. Paz y Esperanza or other NGO's who work in the area, who knows. It is a region that continues to cry out for justice, access, and healing...26 years later.

Huamanquiquia - What Paz y Esperanza was doing over Thanksgiving

While I and other Americans celebrated Thanksgiving the Paz y Esperanza Team in Ayacucho was using a divide and conquer strategy to (my team) accompany the families and friends of victims of the internal violence in Peru from 1980-2000. I was unable to join them because I was traveling to Lima for YAV retreat and cars in and out of Huamanquiquia only happen twce a week. It was interesting to hear about the prepwork and the report after they got back.
Our team divided into two groups. The first group left the week before Thanksgiving and traveled to a very rural Huamanquiquia with sleeping bags and water. Showers were a small mountain stream. Their role was to accompany the families and friends of the victims. 20 bodies had been discovered in Huamanquiquia using local testimony and witness, along with forensic science. The bodies were not all together like many of our accompaniament projects so this ehumation process would be more detailed. The nationaly certified forensic scientists do the digging and identifying (the exhumation), my team acts as witnesses, and supports those families and friends who are near by.
The Paz y Esperanza Team - Ayacucho is interdisciplinary. We have lawyers working in access and justice, social workers and a lawyer/psychologist in mental health, a reporter and I in communications, and pastors and community organizers in care and development.
So week one, was Omar (com), Ruth (mental health), Karina (lawyer), Felimon (care and dev), and Raul (driver of the illustrious and ubiquitous 4x4 toyota truck). They recovered 2 bodies that week so their families could give a proper burial and begin grieving in new ways, 30 years later.
Week two was the week of Thanksgiving. Edgar (driver), Milagros (mental health/law), I was supposed to go but schedule conflicted, Henry (access).
In the second week five bodies were uncovered, including one in the pueblo graveyard. In total 8 bodies were exhumed of the twenty. More work might be done in March in this area. The two week operation was slowed by high vegetation and difficult terrain.
This seems on the surface like a grizzly task, but it is part of the human rights work that Paz y Esperanza - Team Ayacucho (my team) engages in. Ayacucho was a region that was greatly impacted by the insurgency and the counterinsugency of the years of internal violence in Peru 1980-2000. It is the right of the people to grieve their losses and allow their loved ones to receive a dignified burial, and justice for the crimes purpotrated against them and their communities by the Shining Path and the military. At Paz y Esperanza Ayacucho we walk alongside of these individuals and communities, as long as it takes, and for that the victims of torture and injustice can give thanks.