Lima; Baja, baja

Finally, some words from Lima from me as well. We´ve been here one and a half week now. So far it´s been great! It took a coupple of days to et used to this enormeus city, but I allready start to feel a bit like home. Christina and I live with la Familia Atencio, a family consisting of mom, dad, three daugthers and two sons and a grandson, a cat and three dogs on the roof. They are the best, really making us feel welcome. We live in a part of Lima called San Martin de Porres, and from here its a one to one and a half hour busride in to the more central parts, where we go for spanish classes. The traffic and buses here in Lima are something for itself, at least for someone like myself being more used to the norwegian countryside... But I enjoy the daily busrides, one sees a lot and gets a lot of impressiones from the bus. Baja, baja is what people say when tey want to get off the bus, and what the "ticketman" shouts to the driver as the passenger gets off.

So far we've visited the office of Stromme Foundation here in Lima, and met the nice people working there. This week we also visited the Centre para madres adolescentes, where Silje and Stine will be working in their practiseperiod. I got a really good impresson of the centre and the work they do there. Both the young mothers and their kids melted my heart, and I wouldn't mind working there myself.

The people we see and meet, wheter on the projects or walking down the street, make an impression on us. And I do feel that after spending 7 months here, I will defenatly have widened my horiazont and gotten a better understanding of the people here, the lives they live and the problems they face. You just get reminded every day that "the poor", or "the streetchildren", are individuals that deserve the same posibilities as you and me.