As one of the many interesting people I’ve met in my travels told me, the reason why working in development cooperation is so fascinating is that it puts you in contact with the most dynamic sectors of society. There is something exciting about collaborating with the people who are working a double shift to improve their local and global community. The three months I spent working with the Peruvian Children’s Rights NGO Acción por los Niños and their allies has confirmed that community development practitioners and social entrepreneurs are some of the most creative, innovative and inspiring problem solvers you’ll ever meet!

While my classes in international development provided me with the base necessary to understand what’s going on around me, I don’t know that this dynamism has been, and can be, communicated without the practical experience an international internship like this one provides.  I arrived here an infant taking my first steps on uneven ground and am leaving an empowered young adult, still learning with every step I take, but now confident in having some understanding of the inner workings of this city and of this culture, which once felt so alien to me.

As I count down the days to my graduation ceremony, I reflect on the evolution of my approach to international cooperation; from charity to desperation, from capacity building to a focus on human rights. My internship with APN in Lima has brought up a lot of questions but has also confirmed the pivotal role of a human rights approach in the alleviation of poverty and other forms of human suffering.

Furthermore, the importance of human rights education has really been evidenced by my work here. The existence of laws and internationally agreed upon principles is not sufficient to put an end to social problems; it is only once people are aware of them and understand their implications that significant changes will take place.

Let’s take child sexual abuse as an example. As long as victims and their families are not aware that society deems what is happening to them to be a crime perpetrated against them  (and not by them), a violation of their right to determine who engages in intimate relationships with them, they will be more vulnerable to manipulation and intimidation and will not denounce their abusers. As long as prospective abusers are not aware of the penalties for abusing a minor they will more readily take advantage of their potential victims. As long as popular culture as a whole does not promote the intrinsic qualities of women and children as valuable, equal, multifaceted human beings, the machismo-inspired vision of women and children as sexual objects will prevail.

Sizable challenges are clearly set out before us but, I assure you, they are not insurmountable.

Before signing off this last time, I’d like to thank everyone who has made my internship possible, from the various institutional and individual donors, to the University of Ottawa and WUSC (in Ottawa and Lima), who have truly prepared us and supported us well. Of course a big thank you goes out to APN for hosting me. Finally, thank you to all of you who are reading my thoughts and sharing my reflections on important issues.

To pile on the clichés, this has been an unforgettable experience that has shaped the person I am personally and professionally. I can only hope that I’ve left behind a positive imprint, no matter how small or superficial, on this remarkable country of both arduous challenges and impressive ingenuity. I invite you to do the same.

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Please click on the following link to find out how you can fight the sexual exploitation of women and children. A strong and urgent response is needed: https://secure.avaaz.org/en/fight_rape_trade/?vl

Hola!

I cannot believe I’m more than half way through my internship. The time I’ve spent in Lima so far has been a challenging and valuable learning experience, not to mention loads of fun!

My work:

The hours and the pace of work definitely don’t line up with the laid back stereotype I had of Latin America! My first week, I already was given a report to hand in the following week (in spanish no less). Yesterday I travelled two hours south of Lima, where I presented the social implications of child sexual abuse infront of an audience of 60 people, comprised of representatives of the national police, various government ministries, and civil society organizations. Despite the nerve wracking nature of presenting in my third language, I feel extremely lucky to have been given the chance to push myself further. And while it’s an immense challenge to be working full time in spanish (no one in my office speaks english), I’m glad I’m doing it. My brain is in constant overdrive and online translators have become my closest allies.

What I am working on is also extremely motivating. I’ve assisted in the preparation of a report on the state of child sexual abuse in Lima, to join to a funding proposal for a project that will seek to strengthen locally based responses (legal, psychological, medical) to child sexual abuse in the greater Lima area. The report I wrote is a synthesis of the findings of a survey of over 600 people (youth, parents and teachers) on the topic. As I learn more about them, I am very impressed with the local structures in place to promote and protect children’s rights. It’s definitely a bottom-up approach. They are relatively new though, and their capacities vary from district to district. Accion Por los Ninos basically works to build the capacities of local actors and to act as a bridge between them, to avoid the necessary duplication of efforts…etc. APN has also been a catalyst in the formation of local organizations.

In every meeting or professional gathering I attend, I note how well-regarded APN is in the children’s rights community in Lima and Peru. That’s one of the reasons why I’m so glad to have been entrusted with reviewing the organization’s previous strategic plan and accompanying the organization’s employees in the design of a new one. It’s empowering to think big and to facilitate the creation of the map that will guide this accomplished organization towards it’s goals in the next few years.

Another type of organization working for children’s rights in Peru is the DEMUNA (Defensoria Municipal de Ninos y Adolescentes). A DEMUNA is a local institution staffed by social workers, a psychologists, lawyers, counsellors, and other staff, where they receive complaints about children’s rights violations, mediate cases between parents or other parties who’s dealings affect children and generally promote children’s rights in the community.

A few weeks ago we made arrangements for me to continue my internship in Lima working 2 days a week in the APN office in Lince, and 3 days a week in the DEMUNA of the district of San Juan de Miraflores. I will be helping them in their work of supporting and guiding the COMUDENA of SJM, which is a network of local organizations working together for the promotion of children’s rights. Working directly in the DEMUNA I got  a first hand look at the problems facing children and their families in this poorer district of town. I had already begun to get an idea of these challenges through my office work, reading and through a visit I made to San Juan de L’Urigancho earlier on.

San Juan de l’Urigancho, another world all together:

In January I visited a district of Lima called San Juan de l’Urigancho. It is the largest and most populated district (~1million), home to many people who had fled from terrorism in the moutains (both state sponsored and non) over the years. It is also one of the poorer, more dangerous places in Lima. The dirt floors, thatch roofs, mangy dogs and high risk of TB stand in stark contrast to Miraflores’ beautiful parks, haute cuisine and shiny new condos on the ocean. I was left pondering how fellow citizens can move so far forward, in terms of the luxuries they afford themselves, without stopping to help their neighbors bring themselves up to a point where they too have running water, or will have a roof that doesn’t leak dirty rain onto the dirt floor in the middle of their houses. A friend of my family’s is a nun working in this area of town.

She gave Courtney (another canadian volunteer) and I a tour of her church and explained all the (non-denominational) services they are providing to the community, including, after school programs, literacy training, leadership training, a sewing circle, Alcoholics Anonymous and AlAnon sessions, personal counseling, a school for the handicapped, sponsoring emergency medical treatment… and the list goes on.

Sadly all their good deeds reflect a horrible situation, especially for women. She told us stories of women having to obtain their son’s permission to leave the house. We were told of children born deformed due to lead poisoning (from the air from a nearby port where they transfer minerals) and to the sexually transmitted infections women get from their husbands who are engaging in sexual activities outside the marriage. Then, once a handicapped child is born, some men abandon the family.
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This all sounds dark, until you see the hope inherent in this community. Our friend explained that the reason you see metal beams sticking out of almost every roof is because when they build  their houses, people set up these extra beams in the hopes of having enough money to eventually add another story. Recently, the municipality put in some green spaces and she told us how amazed she was that people were actually keeping them clean. You see, prior to their makeover, people were dumping their garbage there, on piles of dirt. A little change can go a long way in changing how people perceive their community and what it can become.

Our friend also shared with us the joy of seeing a women begin to smile, begin to assert herself, begin to stand her ground a little more in her marriage, in things as simple as not doing the man’s laundry for him (not serving a meal however, would be inconceivable). It was inspiring to hear about, and we will surely be back before our time in Peru is over to see these programs in action and help out if we can.

What an eye opener it has been! I love how traveling sparks the “why” in me. Why is that house built that way? Why do they use that expression? Sometimes you’ll never get the answer, but sometimes you do. For example why do many Peruvians have a broad chest and a nose of a certain shape? Most people in Lima have ancestors from higher altitudes. The barrel chests and eagle noses are designed for better oxygen intake at high altitudes.

Peru is a land of contrasts, and while I am constantly confronted by some of it’s ugliest realities, I’m also captivated by it’s beauty and the kindness, ingenuity and energy of it’s people.

I hope this post has brought up enough questions to prompt you to get to know more about the ways of this fascinating country.

Chau for now!

Marika

9 de Enero, 2010—la Casa Roja

Me voici, au début d’une troisième journée à Lima. Isabelle, une autre stagiaire, l’a bien dit : après avoir passé deux jours dans la capitale péruvienne, on se sent comme si on y avait passé une semaine ! Pourquoi ?

Permettez-moi d’abord de me présenter. Je me nomme Marika, et j’en suis au dernier semestre d’un bac en développement international et mondialisation avec mineure en psychologie. Grâce au programme de stages internationaux de ma faculté, j’ai la chance d’obtenir des crédits en travaillant à temps plein pour une ONG péruvienne. Heureusement, tout au long de mon bac j’ai acquis des connaissances en ce qui a trait aux ONGs canadiennes grâce à du bénévolat et du travail (à temps complet et à temps partiel) chez SOS Villages d’Enfants Canada, TransFair Canada, Youth Challenge International et Ingénieurs Sans Frontières.

L’ONG pour laquelle je travaille à Lima se nomme Acción por los Niños. Cet organisme travaille pour la protection et la promotion des droits des enfants et des adolescent(e)s au Pérou. Ses programmes principaux concernent l’exploitation et l’abus sexuel des enfants, le trafic humain, et la collaboration avec les institutions municipales de protection de l’enfance. Dans les mois à venir, j’aurai certainement plus à vous raconter là-dessus.

Sans aucun décalage horaire, mes quelques premiers jours ici m’ont laissé épuisée ! Réussir à aller d’un point à une autre dans cette ville est toute une aventure ! Dieu merci pour Juan, notre contact chez SUM Canada (le bureau de l’ONG EUMC à Lima) qui nous a grandement faciliter la tâche. Je vous expliquerai pourquoi.

Lima, une ville de plus de huit millions d’habitants a, selon moi, peu de ressemblance à Ottawa. Ceci rend les choses intéressantes ! Bien que le quartier où j’habite soit très tranquille, le centre-ville de Lima, que nous avons visité, déborde de touristes autant que de « Limeños » (habitants de Lima).

Le plus grand défi auquel j’aurai à faire face, est de maîtriser le transport. Vous pensiez que la grève d’OC Transpo a causé un désordre l’hiver dernier ? À Lima, il n’y a pas qu’une seule compagnie qui gère ou régule le transport en commun, mais plusieurs! Il n’y a même pas une seule sorte de véhicule, mais plusieurs ! Les gens se promènent en grands nombres en taxi, microbus, ou dans une des plusieurs « combis asesinas ».  Les « combis » sont des fourgonnettes  blanches bourrées de passagers, qui arrêtent n’importe où et qui se faufilent dangereusement entre les autres véhicules. Avec ma taille de 5’9, mes jambes ne font pas entre les petits bancs et je dois protéger ma tête en raison du plafond. « Asi es la vida! » (telle est la vie).  Les Péruviens n’ont aucun problème.

La circulation à Lima ressemble à un jeu de Tetris dans lequel le mouvement des pièces n’est pas limité aux angles droits ou aux lignes droites. La signalisation est une suggestion et le fait qu’une auto, un bus, une moto ou un piéton occupe déjà une place n’empêche aucunement un autre véhicule de tenter de l’occuper. Ce chaos reflète bien le fait que Lima est une ville vivante, vibrante et colorée où il vaut mieux rester aux aguets pour se protéger et pour mieux profiter de ses diverses activités. Comme je l’ai mentionné plus tôt, c’est tout un contraste avec l’ordre, le calme et la sécurité de notre chère capitale canadienne ! Cela dit, j’adore. Je me sens comme un jeune enfant qui découvre son monde pour la première fois, qui connaît si peu sur le fonctionnement des choses. Quelle façon merveilleuse de terminer un bac : avec un rappel que « tout que je sais c’est que je ne sais rien ».
Mari