Roofing Day

If ever I asked myself "What good can I do here, really?", I have been answered loud and clear by Shocorco, my poorest and furthest community. On November 10th, I hiked up to the community to be a part of the roofing of the school kitchen (they did it all in one day - framing and tiling). I spent the whole day hanging out with the community and the teachers - joking, eating, talking politics ans swapping cultural stories. They were so excited to have me there! Even though I arrived at my usual time, everyone told me they were worried I wasn´t going to come. The first thing they all did upon my arrival was to show me the tiles - neatly stacked in an unused classroom. Next I was proudly shown the new (and huge) cooking pots & utensils they had purchased (I insisted the women cooking that day pose for a photo with said pots - it took a lot of cajoling and caused one woman to hide behind the school but they finally agreed and tried their best to hide their giggles while I took the picture). At lunch (cooked in the old pots - they were saving the new ones for the 6th grade graduation in December), these same women proudly yet shyly presented me with the boiled chicken from the soup. A big thanks from a community that has precious little to begin with. But by far the best thanks came at the end of the day when Don Claudio abandoned the usual stoic Peruvian picture-pose to jump into a picture with me, holding a roofing tile and yelling "You have to have a tile in the picture! Wait for a tile!" The whole group disolved into laughter and the resulting picture is fantastic. As I hiked back to Jocos, the echoes ofhammers and laughter followed me - long after I was out of ear-shot.
There are some days that simple scream "You´re in the Peace Corps", so Peace Corps brochure they are. We call them Peace Corps Days. But no matter how brochure perfect Roofing Day was, Peace Corps can have only a small part of it. The bulk belongs to me and to Shocorco.
I hope everyone who received the pictures enjoyed them!

I hope everyone has a great Holiday Season. I will be spending it in Jocos, drinking hot chocolate and eating fruit cake at the Health Post with Miriam. Doña Paulina and family are heading to Lima for Christmas to visit their family there. I might also spend a day or so in Lluchubamba with Meredith celebrating a joint Christmas and Hannukah.