Office Woes

A day in the field can yield Masato-drinking with the tribes.

I don't teach children. I don't collect hand-me-downs from church families. I don't work in a soup kitchen. I don't spend my days collecting the medical history of homeless people. Some of my days are in the office. Some of my days are in the field. Those days offer the quickest insight. I can meet the people I'm serving. That's meaningful and gratifying. Still, the ratio is inconsistent. I don't confront the marginalized as thoroughly as I expected, and that frustrated me.

One of the reasons I initially felt this frustration was the adjustment period.

Jenny and Jed described the first phase of my time here in Peru as finding how I fit in. Three full months to learn. It seemed appropriate at the time that three months would help me fit in. Now, living it, I have the urge to say three months is too long; I'm ready for the next phase.

Often people ask to take a goofy pic

Part of this adjusting is understanding the context I'm walking into. To fully understand exactly the kind of world I inhabit now would require living here for much longer than a year. I've read countless pamphlets, brochures, and web articles describing the struggle the indigenous people face with major corporations and the role the regional government plays. I honestly thought I understood the gist of it and the nuances would just come to me as I worked. But that's not enough. Pretty quickly my understanding unspools in front of me and my frustration starts to mount.

Part of it is I don't often believe what I'm hearing. Corruption, nepotism, riots, and even murder pop up in my studies of this topic. Conspiracy abounds and when you've grown up with a healthy amount of skepticism you have a hard time stomaching some of the wilder accusations. I've had to ask people to repeat themselves multiple times not because I couldn't translate, but because I didn't believe them the first time.

To sum what I've learned: the government will employ literally every manner possible to prevent indigenous recognition at the national level.

Another part of it is the nature of my work. My job isn't directly hand-to-mouth feeding the homeless. Which is good. I would prefer the work I do address root causes. Cure the disease, so to speak, not the symptoms.

But it's the best way I can help. I don't know human rights law or environmental engineering. I know how to use a camera, microphone, and recorder. I can edit on three different platforms. I can patch up bad audio from interviews. I can write, shoot, and edit a short documentary. These are the things I'm better than anyone in the office at.

Not only that but I'm beyond blessed to have all the tools I need at my disposal. It is an incredibly rare circumstance to have an entire editing suite in my office. Based on these two things I'd call my site placement a perfect match.

Moyobamba is known as the City of Orchids! Exhibit A.

I've been blessed. In more ways than I fully understand. I'm still unpacking the meaning of what I do here. I can't quantify the impact I have as well as I would like. I trust in God that I am doing the right thing and that every action I take has meaning. Currently that means I need to study more. Brush up on my international labor conventions a little more. I'm okay with that. 

I may not know how far my influence really reaches, but if studying a little more can guide that influence then you will find me with my nose in a book, and a hand on my camera (just in case! :)

From the top of Moro de Calzado! A mountain my host family and I hiked last weekend!