GEWE

Yet another week gone by, and yet another set of adventures to share. This past week took me back to Lima for my first meeting of the Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment (GEWE) committee. GEWE is a worldwide Peace Corps initiative aimed at making both the organization itself, and the work that volunteers do, gender-equitable. Since this was our first meeting since myself and KG, the other new committee member, joined the group, the first order of business was to get to know everybody and take some photos. From left to right there's Brittany, Richard, me, Hayden, KG, staff liaison Kathrin, and Dan:

The committee's volunteers come from different regions and different programs within PC Peru, so as to bring a variety of perspectives to the issue of women's empowerment. Our main activities as a committee include:

• Providing resources to volunteers looking to do projects related to women's empowerment and gender equity
• Training staff and new volunteers on gender equity-related topics
• Producing the annual "Peruanas Poderosas" (Powerful Peruvian Women) calendars, which highlight women who are leaders in their communities, and organizing the accompanying regional conferences and workshops on women's issues

With the 2013 calendars newly hanging on our walls, we're starting to plan the 2014 version, as well as our annual training session for staff and the new Peru 21 volunteers who'll arrive in June. I'm excited to be part of this committee, as it lets me be more involved in promoting women's empowerment during my time as a volunteer. And of course the trips to Lima for meetings are an added perk :) 

Since it's the height of summer on the Peruvian coast right now, it was a beautiful time to be in Lima. I got in a couple wonderful runs along the coast, some Starbucks and Pinkberry, and, in GEWE committee tradition, a pedicure - we were definitely living the "posh Corps" lifestyle. It was also nice to be able to spend some time visiting with the Lima staff. Suni, one of our awesome PC doctors, was so pleased that she, KG and I all happened to wear pink one day that she made us take a picture:

The final highlight of the Lima trip was a visit to Burrito Bar for dinner our last night. I'd been hearing about this gem of a restaurant for months as the only place in Peru to get a legitimate, Chipotle-style burrito, so I was extremely excited to finally get to go, and my expectations of deliciousness were not disappointed. Plus, the restaurant sells beers from Peru's only real brewery (located far away in the mountains of Huaraz), so it was a first-burrito-and-first-good-beer-in-eight-months type of night - a very big deal.