Returning from a life changing experience…

Posted by Chiara on January 18th, 2010

I am presently in Lima’s airport waiting for my flight to Toronto, and I am very saddened at the idea of leaving this beautiful country and all the wonderful people I met.

The last few weeks have definitely been overwhelming, as many deadlines approached at work, and most days we worked very long hours. However, I believe that these last weeks have brought us together, as my team has been working very closely. The report for the Ministry of Women and Development has finally been completed and I cannot express how happy I am to have participated in a project who’s long term goal is to protect Women from Violence in households. This experience has been eye-opening.

Furthermore, I have researched for a report on the global phenomenon of E-Government and how it applies in Peru. This report truly helped me understand Peru’s position in development, and how it truly still has a long way to go before achieving the top 50 United Nations index of E-Government. Unfortunately, due to Peru’s geography, most people living in the mountains (which is the majority of Peru’s landscape), are not ‘connected’ with the realities of the country. Consequently, they are unable to truly be involved in the national politics of their country, not to mention understanding their country as a whole, simply due to a lack of communication. This project truly helped me value communication within development.

In addition, with my spare time, I went with my WUSC supervisor Juan Escate to visit another NGO named TACIF, specialized in Micro-finance, located in a chantey-town named San Juan de Lurigancho. TACIF has created a network of micro-enterprises named RED MYPE. La Red has put up many different projects, including many related to microfinance. I was able to visit various shops where people had started their own business, whether working with wood to make furniture or toys, or manufacturing clothes. What is amazing is to see that la Red reaches out to many, women and men, but also children with activities such as cooking classes. I was truly impressed to see how wonderfully these projects have been going, not to mention the enthusiasm of these people who were so proud. This experience was truly inspiring, I encourage you to consult their website: http://www.redmype.org/

I believe that these three months were very enriching and rewarding, and I will definitely be back to Peru to further my experiences. Now I need to focus on graduating, but who knows what the future has in store!

Chiara

Posted in SWB