Today I went with Sally and her sister Milagros to an event with the Ministry of the Environment and the Red Interquorum because a famous actress from the US, Monique Coleman from High School Musical, was coming to visit and didn't speak Spanish. Although she had a translator, my friends Sally and Ivan told me my presence would be helpful. Here is the Ministry of the Environment, beautiful architecture!
Before we left, we made two posters with photos of activities the Red Interquorum had done. This is a youth organization that focuses on involving young people in volunteer work for the environment, sexual and reproductive rights, political activism, and anti-corruption work with the government. It's pretty awesome! (Besides what they have done, I read a statistic from Inppares recently that the vast majority of teen mothers had no involvement in afterschool programs or youth groups. So not only is the work of a youth group important, it gives teens something fun to do and a support system so they don't compromise their sexual health or seek support through sex.)
Here are the posters in their finished form. We traveled all the way to Villa El Salvador, about an hour away in the outskirts of Lima. I had been there before, for the masculinity conference. It was way more difficult to travel this day because there was a strike by the bus drivers, so basically no buses were on the road and the taxis cost double the price. The roads were a lot quieter but way more expensive and inconvenient. I think the bus drivers got their point across.
Here we are with Monique Coleman. She seemed really happy to be there but also a little overwhelmed by all the people. I think she appreciated that I was from NC, because she's from South Carolina. I was really surprised to learn that she is 30 years old, she seems so young! I got a few chances to speak with her in English, and that was nice. I told her that 40% of Peru's population is youth, and a lot of them have not been taught the importance of political involvement nor activism, and therefore are not represented in political affairs. Also, the adults in charge don't pay them proper attention nor give them the representation they need.
Monique giving us a brief intro and speech about youth rights, teen pregnancy, and youth involvement. She was named Youth Ambassador by the United Nations, so she has been traveling the world for 6 months seeing firsthand what kinds of problems youth are facing. She said Bangladesh was the most striking, because there was no "upper half" to the poverty problem, the kids had no one to look up to nor opportunities to strive for.
Then a group called Dance 4 Life taught Monique and everyone else a dance about preventing HIV/AIDS, in English. It was really neat!
At the end of the event, we presented Monique with some Peruvian gifts, two of which I helped pick out the previous day! I was kind of jealous, because her bag and chullo (earflap hat) were so awesome. :D I think I will buy one of those bags!
My amazing dinner for 5 soles! Avocado salad...
and lomito/adobo de pollo, I do not remember what its exact name was but it was incredible. YUM.
After I got back, really late, at Inppares I attended a showing of Translatina. This film consisted of interviews of trans women from Latin America, including many countries and many types of trans women (transvestites, transexuals, and transgender people in general). This community is probably the most discriminated against of any community I can think of, and they suffer from serious health problems as a result of the discrimination and marginalization. Unsafe sex change surgeries without proper medical attention, prostitution without condoms, beatings and violence, families disowning them and lovers hurting them, it was incredibly eye-opening and sad to watch this film. After the film, panel of a transwoman and a doctor discussed these issues further with us. I wish people could just let each other live their lives in peace, however they want to do that. If someone with a man's body wants to dress, act, or get surgery to be like a woman because that's how they are the most comfortable, why the hell do other people get up in their business?
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