I've been struggling the past few months to find a way to transition from last year's updates about my illness and recovery from GBS back to stories of life and work here in Peru, and in the busy first two months back in Arequipa I have found the task a little too overwhelming to take on. But today, March 8th, is International Women's Day, and what better way to begin again than by celebrating and giving thanks for the incredible women I spend my days working with here in Peru?
When I first landed in Arequipa in 2006, I came with the idea that I was here to do something for someone, to give back through service. With that mindset, what I saw when I met the women of the Ñaña knitting cooperative were people to be helped. And I was, I decided, the one to do the helping.
Life, thank goodness, is a little more complicated than that.
My simplistic view of the way things were was soon turned on its head as I got to know the knitters and learned more about their lives. It is true that the Ñañas struggle with great adversity every day. Some experience life in a constant state of uncertainty, and all deal with inadequate resources, limited options and a good deal of heartache. However, I quickly learned that they do not exist simply as victims, but are instead complex, resourceful, generous women with seemingly boundless reserves of strength and humor.
Pulling each other to their feet to dance the wititi; speaking sincere words of consolation and encouragement to a recently widowed member of the group; laughing, gossiping or giving advice over their knitting;
patiently providing knitting lessons to a visitor (in this case, John);
watching out for each others' children so younger mothers can concentrate on learning a new stitch; proudly introducing me to their traditions and homelands;
piling plates high with potatoes, chuño, cuy, and fava beans and passing a shared bottle of Inca Kola after christening a new roof — these are just a few of the images that come to mind now when I think of the Ñañas.
Over the years, these women have continued to challenge me and my assumptions of how we relate to one another in a world based in deep inequalities. I have, as often as not, been the one cared for, the one shared with, the one taught by the very women I came to serve.
I have come to them in need of consolation or encouragement as often as they have unloaded their worries on me. They have shown me patience, and demanded patience from me in return. When I became ill and could no longer stand on my own, they lifted me to my feet and carried my weight on their shoulders. They've taught me the importance of laughter and forgiveness and, perhaps more than anything, that we must always pull each other back up when we fall and keep fighting. Fighting and laughing.
I have been blessed over and over again in my life with amazing women — the mother, sister, grandmothers, and aunts who were mine from the moment I was born, and the friends, tías, abuelas, mamás and ñañas I have found in the years since — and I am grateful every day for their examples of strength, humor, love and chispa.
Feliz Día de la Mujer!
