INTERcultural

First let me say how exhausted I am right now! I'm two days behind on the blog but I'm committed to the account.

Thursday, November 15- CEDET

On Thursday, our focus was on the afroperuvian population in Peru. Up until this day, the afroperuvians seemed like a mystery. We rarely saw them in the city, I think we counted 5. What we know is that African slaves were brought to Peru by the Spanish and they live in communities in the southern regions of Peru, although many work in Lima.  The CEDET is the afroperuvian agency that advocates for afroperuvians in Peru through education (teaching pride in one's race), human rights, publishing books on the topic and a focus on women. The CEDET has been in place for 13 years. The books and marketing material they publish are well written and published, high quality.

The first conflicting information we heard had to deal with the percentage of Peru's population that is afroperuvian. We had heard and read 2%, the number is closer to 6-10%. We met before with INDEPA, the government agency working through the Minister of Culture to advocate for indigenous and afroperuvian populations. CEDET is saying that the group has done little to resolve the issues that afroperuvians face. CEDET is working to change the textbooks that are used to teach so that they portray a positive image of afroperuvians as well as change the images on tv.

We asked: Is it hard to get an afroperuvian to identify as such? The executive director, Osfaldo, answered yes; explaining that the government structure makes it hard. The thing he said that struck accord with us was that there are no whites in Peru.  He said there is my identity and the one I want to portray. He says, there should be a national identity; he's Peruvian first but he has African feelings, emotions and physical features. He talked about the concept of Intercultural education, I learn about you and you learn about me since we are all connected.

I could relate to this concept, this idea that we are all interconnected. Especially since I'm studying Genesis and learning where we came from and how we spread out. I agree with Osfaldo, it starts with teaching the youth to take pride in their identity and the identity of others appreciating our differences but realizing how much can be learned from one another. Susana Baca always called every afroperuvian she met Primo/Prima, which means cousin. Osfaldo called us that, kind of like brother or sister in the black community in the States, when he said it, I felt at home and warm. The afroperuvians are my primos/primas and we've had similar struggles. I'm definitely bringing back this concept to my life and my job. Thank you primo Osfaldo!