Ingrid
This text is only in english.
Sunday 5th
of October, the election of mayors took place in Peru. In Lima they were electing one mayor for
the whole city, and one for each district of the metropolis. One of the
daughters of the family Siri, who is going to Bolivia, and I live in, have been
part of the political team of one of the candidates of our district, Villa
Maria del Triunfo (a place with about 400.000 citizens). We have therefore got
to witness some political happenings:
The day
after arriving Peru our host mom asked if we wanted to join a political gathering
in a location in Villa Maria. There would be dancing and cheering. We thought:
“Yes! Dancing! Culture!” We got t-shirts, and felt exited. We cut up a whole
bunch of bread that we later found out would be given out to people lacking things as electricity and solid floor, who were invited to the event. When we
got there, there were kids, youth, grown ups and elders. In front there was a band, the
candidate himself, and his team. Someone lead singing and cheering, there was a
presentation of everyone in the team, and the candidate held a long speech.
Every now and then, there would be a jingle from the kea board that made people
clap along. Behind the scene, there was a power point on the wall, with
information about the candidate and the campaign. This was read aloud. When I
asked Siri, half joking, if this was because of the blind in the crowd, she
wisely replied that it probably was for the illiterate. I felt stupid, and
realized I had come to another reality (good for me). Then, after an
enthusiastic show, the chairs were removed to make place for traditional
dancing. We were invited in (meaning, we didn't have much choise), and enjoyed the Peruvian dance culture.
Then people
wanted to take photos.
That was
when we remembered. In the contract we have signed with Hald and Strømme
foundation, it says that we can’t join in political or commercial things that
can affect the image of the organization in a bad way. We didn’t have a clue
about what this candidate stood for. And then, of course, there were someone
who wanted a picture of the blond, strange girls with the candidate himself. We
had to approve, anything else would have been a great insult against the
candidate. I couldn’t cover the t-shirt I painfully realized I was wearing,
either. Well, now we have learned to think twice before joining anything.
The
candidate didn’t win, and our beloved host sister has told us how there is an
invisible hand controlling the politics of Peru. Illiterate, marginalized
people, who have a hard time finding information by themselves, are being
manipulated, and corruption is part of the reality. It’s interesting and uplifting to see the
politically engaged people in Villa Maria fighting against an unjust, and
sometimes undemocratic system.
I am adding some pictures of the inhabitants of our house:
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| Our beloved host mother, Filomena, and some of the bread we cut up. |
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| We have been stupid enough to give the new baby guinea pig a name, Chino (because he is an only child). Siri has fallen in love. |
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| Three of the beautifully coloured birds in our garden |
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