la comunidad

A big difference I have always noticed between the States and the few places I have visited in Latin America (few, but a growing list!) is the difference in our sense of community. Neighborhoods here have plazas where families congregate on Sundays, couples walk around together in evenings, and dogs (in rich neighborhoods) are walked. The plazas in the poor neighborhoods are also filled with families, dogs, and couples. Although the dogs aren't leashed, nor are they nicely groomed Shnauzers.

Last week I went to a meeting for Inydmedia Peru and met this really inspiration kid. He's probably 18, but looked 13 or 14. Anyway, he lives up near Carabayllo and has started this education program for the children of his community with some of his friends. They just had their first summer program. The young people that run the group are all anti-machismo and make sure that the boys play volley ball (a very popular sport amongst girls here) and the girls play soccer (obviously you know how popular that is amongst boys.) The group leaders are also all vegetarian (not common in the Peru) and work with other community groups to better possibilities for young people and generate awareness of social issues. It was really incredible to listen to his stories and ideas. I was very impressed, especially because he looked 14. Eric (my brother) has told me impressive stories about what the youth he works with do, so I shouldn't be so surprised.

But going back to the community issue, it just feels like caring about the good of the community is just such an obvious value here that is absent from most communities in the U.S. When I first heard about the Virginia Tech killings I was thinking about Ricardo (the young impressive kid.) He and his community struggle with other kinds of life or death issues (lack of water, lack of toilets, piles of rotting trash, unemployment, gangs.) In communities here, groups like his might not be that uncommon. Look at Socios for example. Ten years ago a few doctors came in and asked community members if they could help out with sick people, and those community members are still working for Socios. People who live near other people who are sick or extremely poor, bring them food and medicine weekly without any compensation. But in the U.S., where we value individualism so much, not only are we making it easy to be anonymous, isolated, and lonely; but we are also not encouraging people to look out and notice their fellow community members. It seems the Virginia Tech shooter is the sad victim of how individualistic our society has become, and his peers and adult society have not been trained adequately to reach out, include him, or feel responsable for him. As the young man's English teacher said on BBC this morning, I mourn for him, for the other students, and for their parents. Included in the victims was a Peruvian student.

I remember when I was in Bolivia dating Juan Pablo and he said to me accusingly, "Chloe, you're so individualistic. You're always looking out for your own needs." I said, "Oh thank you!" Thinking that I was maturing and becoming able to take care of myself finally. I am learning that there are obviously drawbacks to the strong sense of community and drawbacks to the strong sense of individualism. For some reason I feel like I can't ask for sympathy when telling Ricardo about the Virginia Tech shootings because it seems like the kind of tragedy that would only happen in a country as wealthy and, well, I can't think of the word that I'm looking for. But it almost seems like an ironic and tragic luxury that this could happen, and that this is the biggest thing that young people are dealing with in the States this week. Students in Lima recently held a huge march defending their public education. They are seriously fighting for their right to learn. Anyway, thanks for listening to my rant and commentary on what's going on.