On and Off the Field

So all you faithful blog followers know about the Sunday soccer game .... After a long week of working hard morning, noon and night we were due for some serious physical activity yesterday. A fun filled sunny day in the countryside was just what the weekend ordered for us. Walking today was a little painful, but the joy of coming together as a team, both on the soccer field and in the office, makes all the pain and work worth it.


Maggie is heading back to DHF headquarters tomorrow and leaving the field workers with the enormous task of changing the lives of poor women in and around Cajamarca. I can say with full confidence that our team is ready to do just that. We had a full and powerful week of prep for our work ahead of us. Our time together with Maggie was spent not only mapping out the work plan for village banking and development classes, but also getting to know our fellow "teammates" and their strengths and ideas. It is an uplifting and powerful thing to connect with co-workers in a deep and personal space. It creates a work path that is so much more meaningful and supportive, thus allowing amazing changes and ideas to take shape.

Our last activity together before Maggie finds her way to the early bird flight out of Cajamarca tomorrow was a village banking repayment meeting this afternoon. It was so amazing for the 2nd time in a row this past week to watch a completely successful, women-run bank meeting. Women leaders gathered round with soft, yet firm, instruction from Elizabeth (our awesome bank officer) running their own repayment. Dirt floor, sunlight streaming in, little dirty faces running in and out.... There was a missing .40 cents that was somehow recovered, saving accounts that were misunderstood, and group decision being made....it was all figured out.
Pride, Joy, Team.
On and Off the Field.

Paz ~ Nora