If you don't succeed at first...

 

This is really more of a photo blog. But a few words to my faithful public (friends and family).

If I've learned one thing in Peace Corps it's to keep going. Your document hasn't gotten accepted yet? Go check in with the secretary. They wanna change the date again? Ok, what date works better? I'll be there, will you? Kids don't show up? Bring a book (currently Gulag - thanks Matthew!). People don't wanna work with you? Find other people.

Peace Corps is not for those with fear of commitment. Here I've been here well over 23 months and there's still 2 left! It's like the two minute drill – still a very important part of the game. We've gotta wrap up our projects – try to get a tomato or two to grow from an organic garden, try to get the health promoters to understand they can meet themselves every saturday, get the kids in Sueña to see how great of a team they make with or without us, and of course find myself a job...

Sustainability doesn't happen over night and in some cases it may not even happen after two years. It does however requires a daily effort, even if on some of those days all you do is get out of bed, read a few pages in the plaza and battle a Peruvian bug inside your stomach. Like Matthew said, some days you're going to make/eat three meals (or in my case 110 potatoes) in a day, and that's going to be a success.

This was wisdom Matthew had after two years, and I think I now know what he meant: Keep going, and maybe you'll leave behind something you're proud of. On that note, I give you the latest World, Perú, and Ancash Maps in the Jangas Municipal Library. Don't worry, this time, it's inside, you don't make that mistake twice :).

 

"Reading opens up the doors to the world that you dare to imagine"

~FromWith Love~