On Sunday I went with the crew from Los Pantanos de Villa wildlife reserve into central Lima, where they had a stall at the FestiFeria. The FestiFeria is a moving fair of government services that visits the poorer districts of the city and I was interested to see the sorts of things they do. As well as providing information about educational and recreational services, the fair also provides front-line services that people… Read More
Category: Economics, Environmental economics, Ethics, Institutions & infrastructure, Natural history, Politics & society, Volunteering & activism Tags: a year in Peru, behavioural ecology, creating change, expat life, history, human ecology, living in Lima, Peruvian history, pollution, poverty, resource shortages, social equality, social services, society, sustainability, traditional societies, urban slums, war
Last week I passed the half-way point of my project here in Lima, so it seems a good time to reflect on the six months that have been and to consider what the rest of my year here may bring. It hasn’t been easy. Really: under-statement. As some of my posts have documented, I’m struggling with the day-to-day reality of life here, as well as with the bigger issues of environmental management… Read More
Category: Economics, Education, Ethics, Institutions & infrastructure, Politics & society, Popular culture, Rants & raves, Volunteering & activism Tags: a year in Peru, activism, aid, building community, change, corruption, creating a better future, dependency, development, education, enabling change, environmental management, government, Lima, living abroad, peru, policy, pollution, social inequality, sustainability, volunteering
When is a holiday not a holiday? When it involves working and studying and throwing yourself head-first into a foreign culture and totally different economic reality. People keep asking me how my ‘holiday’ in Peru went, and look confused when I answer that it was difficult, challenging and one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. ‘But surely it was amazing?’ they ask, and it was but it was also very confronting and exhausting and… Read More
Category: Adventures, Anecdotes, Education, Ethics, Institutions & infrastructure, Politics & society, Travel Tags: agriculture, developing world, entitlement culture, environmental awareness, environmentalism, food and nutrition, learning, personal growth, peru, political systems, pollution, poverty, social justice, south america, sustainability, sustainable development, trying to change the world, volunteering, working in other cultures
The shape of things to come