Round Two!!

A large portion of our time this week was focused on finding out why our registration numbers for classes were so low in Huancaquito. We discovered that people were interested, but our presentations to large groups we're very effective at persuading workers to sign up. By talking about the program with smaller groups, we were able to find enough interested workers to fill our Huancaquito class! We're especially excited to work with these people as the SEED program has never been offered to workers in this area before.

Another exciting part of our week was Dalton finally getting effective treatment for his bug bites! After dealing with them for over a week, and the medicine he had purchased not working, Elena took him to a clinic here in Trujillo. He was prescribed stronger medicine and cream, and he'll go back in this coming week to make sure they are clearing up. We also Dalton's room in the apartment fumigated and he was banished to sleep on the couch for a few nights. It's all cleared out now, and we are hoping we are bug free!

We also spent time prepping for classes and arranging the course schedules. Classes will be starting late this year according to DanPer's staff count. Sembrando Futuro is to help the workers of DanPer, and they can most effectively do this when the plants and fields are fully staffed. Reaching full production started a little late this year, and so we will be working hard to fit all the important material into a smaller amount of time. With a little planning and focused classes, we're confident we can effectively teach all the material.

A highlight of our week was a visit to Rudth's home to see the area she is going to convert into her sewing business. We reviewed her costs in detail to see how they compared to the portion of her loan allocated to construction expenses. The room needs to be more secure and will be getting doors and a new window, as it is currently just open to the outside. There will also be new electrical wiring and outlets for her sewing machines, and a concrete floor. We're really excited to see construction begin and to help her get up and running.

This weekend we explored the famous Huacas de la Luna y del Sol, and we were impressed! These were sacred buildings from the Moche people, built from mud bricks and decorated with colorful murals and carvings. The Moche people were also impressive potters and they have recovered quite a few interesting pieces. There is so much history here in Trujillo!

Preperations

  This week you could say was not one of our most adventurous ones. But just because it wasn't adventurous doesn't mean it wasn't necessary and beneficial. We received the lists of all of the people who wanted to sign up for our program and were fairly pleased with the results in all but one area. In our main plant here in Trujillo we had over 60 people sign up for the program, which we all though was quite impressive. It was most likely due to our diligence in waking up early each morning and getting to Danper and talking personally with the workers from the plant. We were able to also talk to them during their lunch breaks and sign them up on the spot for those that were interested.

  One thing that really surprised us and caught us off guard is that after all the time we spent in Huancaquito and out in the fields with the workers, we got a call saying that only one person had signed up for the program, one person! So this threw us through a loop and we really doubted weather or not to even do the program out in Huancaquito or if we should just focus all our efforts on teaching here in the plant. We have decided that we will give it another shot and be more hands on with our approach and we are going back to Huancaquito this week to see if we cant sign a few people up ourselves instead of trusting other people to do it for us.

  We are very behind schedule as far as starting our classes and everything goes, but it has been due to things that are really our of our control. We spent this week preparing a few presentations for our classes and it has really got us excited to start and get our plan into motion. With any luck we will finally be teaching by the end of this week or early next week.

  Tuesday this week was a holiday and we took advantage and went to a movie at one of the malls here, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2, and we loved it! Katrina and I despite all the time we spend in the office still find time to have fun and see neat things. We were able to go once again to Huanchaco this weekend and enjoy a little bit of the beach. The only negative thing in our experience so far is I (Dalton) seem to have a small bug problem in my bed and have been waking up with new bug bites every morning that are super itchy and annoying. I have been to the doctor at Danper and I have bought a cream and some pills but so far they aren't proving to be very affective, but that is just the way it goes! Over all its a great experience!

Spread The Word!!

  This week was full of waking up early and taking busses to different parts of Trujillo. We focused 100% this week on spreading the word about our program  to the largest amount of workers possible, not only at the main plant here in Trujillo, but also out in the fields hours away in Mochik, and Huancaquito. It was tiring but very rewarding when we got to explain the program and watch people gain interest in involving themselves.

  Much of our time was spent at the main plant here in Trujillo. Because most workers enter the plant before 7:00am, we had to wake up super early and get to the plant so we could address them before the entered to work. Elena really did most of the speaking, but we often times were pulled aside to further explain and answers questions to people who were truly interested.

  We got to participate in what would be considered a work party in the fields with all the workers. They had finished their work on a part of the field for this season and were celebrating with music, food, soccer and gifts. We only took a few minutes of their time to announce the program and then let them get back to their festivities.

  Because so much of our time was spent on the diffusion of the program, we didn't get to make a lot of personal business visits, but we did make time for a few that we saw were very necessary. We focused on two that have yet to make their payments for this past month so that we could find out what was happening and for the most part it was just everyday things that kept them from paying and we were able to solve the problems.

  It was a busy week, but a week full of necessary work. We are happy to have the program announces, and now this week will go through the filtering process and will choose those who will take part in the classes!

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  As for fun this week.. We went to the largest mud-built city in the entire world called Chan Chan. It was cool to see and very interesting to learn about the culture and history of the Chimú.

Waiting on Paper!

  Our second full week of work here in Peru has come to an end and like always it has its news and stories to tell. Although most everything is going rather well for us, we have had just one minor setback. We got the chance to visit with most of the remaining businesses that we didn't get to meet with last week, and they all seem to be doing well. Rudth, the lady who wants to start her own sewing business signed her contract and was able to go to the notary with us and get everything signed off and we are ready to start the financing process!
  Our setback this week is frustrating because it is something out of our control. In order to recruit people for our classes and to involve them in the program we have created a small pamphlet that we created on Word and sent to be printed off so that we could pass them out and try to get people interested in the program. Well the pamphlet has been finished for over a week now and still has yet to be printed! I guess the company that was supposed to print them was unsure of what we expected of them and long story short we had to take our business elsewhere and we should have the pamphlets done and ready to hand out early in this week.

  Due to the fact that Jaquelin is no longer working with us, Danper Sembrando Futuro has decided to hire on a part time worker to help out with the communications part of what we do. So this week we got to go to Danper and take part in the process of interviewing two candidates for the job and help in the decision making. We have decided to hire on a girl named Milagros who seemed very ready and qualified for the job.
  A lot of our time this week was spent here in the office getting things organized and put into order. Its hard to keep everything organized and neat when you are in charge of several businesses financing and papers, but after a lot of work we got it somewhat figured out!
  This weekend we took a trip to the beach at Huanchaco to watch the longboard world championships! The weather was awesome and the beach was lush! We only got slightly lost on the way home after taking the wrong bus, but thanks to a few nice Peruvians we were able to make it home! Also this week there was a huge parade on the main street by our house signifying the end of the spring celebrations here in Trujillo. It was really neat to see all the traditional clothing and dances displayed as they walked down the streets.

  This upcoming week will be spent spreading the word about our program and finding people for our classes. We wish for the best and hopefully can find people who are sincerely interested in taking the steps to start their own business!