After getting back from Peru I jumped right back into work with a workshop on Gender Equality with my seniors in high school. Luckily, I had help from my regional coordinator Doug, and although the presentation was a bit long for the kids a few of them told me today that they learned a lot and thought it was an interesting and important topic.

The HeforShe campaign is a solidarity movement for gender equality spearheaded my UN Women. The idea is that, while historically the feminist movement has relied on women working for women, gender inequality affects all of us, male or female.

The HeForShe Commitment says:

Gender equality is not only a women’s issue, it is a human rights issue that requires my participation. I commit to take action against all forms of violence and discrimination faced by women and girls.

Because these issues are not commonly discussed here in Paraguay, we kept things simple and talked about how gender is a social construct, and how many parts of the macho culture can be as damaging to men and boys as it is to women and girls. We talked about equality as it relates to the ability of each individual to live a healthy life, find peace and contentment, and chose their own path. At the end of the workshop, the participants earned certificates and were able to elect to take the pledge.

Me, my counterpart teacher, and my students.

While it's really hard to gauge how much of the information was really resonating with these kids, especially the young boys, I'm glad that they at least had exposure to this important issue and hopefully we can keep building on this foundation throughout the rest of the school year.

This month I was lucky enough to go on vacation with my Nana and my sister to Peru. I met them in Lima, where we spend two days before flying to Cusco to spend time exploring the sacred valley and Machu Picchu!

Some highlights:

The Lima Coastline

Bike tour of the city

Cathedral

A park full of water fountains

Touring the sacred valley

Salt mines

Another Inca site

They think this was used as a sort of agricultural lab

Machu Picchu

The residential part of the city

Main courtyard

And all of us!

Visiting Peru was a good break in my normal routine and I think we all learned a lot about Peru and the country's interesting history. Another one of my favorite things we did was visit a planetarium and observatory outside of Cusco! We learned about the southern hemisphere constellations as they are known today, as well as how the Inca civilization interpreted them.

Until next time. Ciao.

I didn't like Zumba in the states. I think I took one class at UNC and maybe the teacher wasn't great  but I was underwhelmed. Had you told me that Zumba would turn into my biggest project in Paraguay, that it would spin off a women's soccer team, that we would participate and lead community events, and that we're even getting uniforms I would have never believed it.

There are a ton of reasons that this project has been so successful. One of the biggest reasons is that I've worked closely with a super guapa (hardworking) community contact. She is a nutritionist and helps me give charlas and every month the participants that want to weigh in have that opportunity through her. She also has lived in my pueblo her entire life and knew right off the bat who would be interested in coming and made sure they knew about it. Even so, I remember the look on her face when we had our first class with more that 70 women!

That was in Ocober of last year. Now, 8 months later our group meets three times a week for an hour, owns their own sound system, and we are well known in the pueblo. We've formed a more stable group of 30-40 "regulars," and many of them have lost weight and tell me that they look forward to Zumba not only because of the health benefits/free class, but because of the community that we have created. We're also slowly changing the way my site looks at exercise. My class is not only for young women, or for people that are already "in shape," and that speaks volumes. It's also great that these women have a space to call their own.

When I started my Peace Corps service I had some expectations in the back of my mind about the kinds of things I would do in my site, and this project just goes to show that sometimes the things you never could have predicted end up meaning the most.

My community contact Luz Marina and I in our soccer jerseys.

The rest of the Zumba team before a game!

I don't have a picture of my class because that is one of the rules that the group came up with from the beginning to avoid people being to embarrassed to come. However we will hopefully be taking a group photo once we have our tshirts!

Next week I'll be in Peru (Lina, Cuzco, Machu Pichu) with my sister Ashley and my Nana, so I'll update about that trip at the end of the month!