Culture

Recommendation: Jonathan Sacks's The Dignity of Difference

Recommendation: Jonathan Sacks's The Dignity of Difference

A few years ago, I listened to an interview that Krista Tippett did with Rabbi Sacks for On Being. Sacks’s questions about “making room for difference” and “seeing the image of God in one who is not our image” became guiding questions for my life in Peru, for thinking about dignity and difference in a world where George Floyd is murdered by police while the world watches, for the process of learning through travel. I began a doctorate program a few years ago and I chose to research the impact of studying abroad in Arequipa (with Harding University Latin America) in terms of intercultural spiritual formation. That is, spiritual formation in God’s diverse world is intercultural—and travel heightens the opportunity for that. It was only after I finished my research, writing the dissertation, and defending it that I had time to actually read the whole book. 

Living in Arequipa - April 2021

Living in Arequipa - April 2021

Life in Arequipa is much more pleasant than it was in last year’s lockdown. Sadly, it has opened up more because of economic necessity and less because of improvement in health. Hospitals across the country are full, deaths because of COVID-19 are higher than any other point in the pandemic, and vaccines are only trickling in, so we’re not seeing much of the “light at the end of the tunnel.” Thankfully a big part of Peru’s health and policing personnel have been able to get vaccinated, and they’re currently working on the 80+ years population, but it is slow going. Slow. At one point they were just focusing on those 100 years old or older, so there’s progress I guess. But we constantly have friends and neighbors who know of family members and friends who are suffering. Peru has one of the highest excess death rates in the world and we feel it.

We’re Home

We’re Home

After 6 months of living at the hotel we have finally moved home! We are beyond thankful for the refuge that El Castillo was for us for those 6 months of quarantine. It was such a huge blessing having the yard and gardens at the hotel so the kids could play outside all day every day and also the community we had there within the hotel with the owners and their family.

Quarantine in Peru - an Update from Day 144 of Lockdown

Quarantine in Peru - an Update from Day 144 of Lockdown

We are on day 144 (that's almost 5 months!!) of lockdown quarantine here in Arequipa. What this means is that you are only allowed to go out to buy essential items. This is supposed to cut down on the number of people out, the amount of time people spend out, all to decrease the amount of contact between people. However, because of the way of life here, it hasn’t worked exactly as the government hoped.

When a group of soccer-playing dudes throws a baby shower

When a group of soccer-playing dudes throws a baby shower

On any given week, it’s likely that there will be a baby shower listed in the Sunday announcement sheet for your churches in the US. A quick search of my gmail and all I saw was a whole bunch of emails from Central and Cedar Lane. Peruvians also have baby showers, but here baby showers are both men and women, with ample food and drink (usually alcoholic beverages), and a clown who is hired as the emcee of the party, to direct the drinking games, and to make sure everyone has a good time. It’s a far cry from a Sunday afternoon gathering for tea and crumpets and chocolate fountains and sweet gift opening in the US.

Advent and a Proud Dad

Advent and a Proud Dad

This was our 5th Christmas to celebrate in Peru and over the years we have had to adjust to the different ways it is celebrated here. For one thing, it never FEELS like Christmas because summer vacation begins in December which also means December is usually one of the warmer months of the year. So, no white Christmases here. Christmas is celebrated here the 24th. A late dinner (beginning anywhere between 10PM-midnight) is served and fireworks across the city are shot off at midnight. Also, the Santa decorations that you see decorating houses either have Santa climbing a ladder or with a parachute. I guess since there aren't chimneys or snow there is no need for a sleigh.

A Forced Sabbath

A Forced Sabbath

Sunday October 22 was Peru's national census day. What this meant was that it was forbidden for anyone to be outside of their home on this day starting at 8am until 5pm because an army of over 1 million volunteers was walking around the country filling out the census reports by hand. A country of more than 30 million people was put on hold for a day. It was forced to rest.

Cultural Learning: Celebrate Good Times, Come On!

Cultural Learning: Celebrate Good Times, Come On!

Kool & the Gang would have loved Arequipa. Almost every week of the year here we could sing: “There’s a party going on right here, a celebration, to last throughout the year”. There are tons of celebrations here. Some are characterized by traditional rituals, but many share common features: music (religious, local, traditional, mariachi-type, and pop), cohetes (what my husband calls “fire crackers on steroids”), cakes, sodas, and beer, and the hora loca, the ‘crazy hour’, a time to dance, make noise and wear funny hats, masks and ties that signals the ‘nearing’ of the end of the party.

Cultural Learning: Trust and Mistrust in Arequipa

Cultural Learning: Trust and Mistrust in Arequipa

Since moving here two years ago I have begun to understand a piece of the culture that I had no idea existed. Trust and mistrust are two sides of a coin that are very significant here in Arequipa. Getting to know people and building a level of trust with them is no easy task. Once you do build trust with a Peruvian you have made a real friend and it’s a beautiful thing