DukeEngage Wrap-Up

Hey hey to all interested in DukeEngage Santiago.

Our stay in Chile ended on a cold, rainy Sunday. It was actually pretty similar to the day when we arrived in Chile. Prior to that day, we had to wrap-up everything at work. That meant finishing up our individual projects. For example, Eduardo and Callie completed their work with the directory, while I finished the business diagnostics that I was conducting over the phone. It was actually an interesting experience for me to do the diagnostics because, for the most part, my questions, ranging from whether their businesses we legally registered to how many sales they had in a particular month, were answered without hesitation.

On the last full day of work, we received a great surprise when the Accion Emprendedora office at Puente Alto was robbed. The people who robbed the office actually did it quite professionally. They went over the roof and cut off the burglar alarm and motion-sensing lights. Then, they opened every room with a crowbar and successfully walked out the front door. It was a tough blow for Accion Emprendedora and especially for the staff at Puente Alto.

It was an exciting yet sad last weekend for me. I was happy because I was going back home to see my family and hang out with high school friends, and at the same time, I was leaving friend that who knows when I'll be able to see again. Either way, I took the last weekend the same way I took most of my weekends: just hung out with close friends and truly enjoyed my time.

I enjoyed my visit to Chile. If you're considering DE in Chile, you should definitely do it. In Chile, I met a very passionate people in a country with a dark past but an up-and-coming world economy. It'll be interesting to see where Chile will be in 10-20 years. I believe it's a country with a lot of potential.

La reunión

The purpose of organizing the reunion was to bring back alumni interest to Accion Emprendedora. AE has been successful at getting the public’s attention to sign up for classes, but it has been difficult for them to retain members after they graduate. After weeks of calling potential speakers, AE alumni, and a lot of organizing, la reunion finally came to life on Thursday, July 8th. Early on that day, we were busy getting CEPA ready for the event and getting enough food as possible.

In the end, we received about 70 confirmations that people were going to come, but we knew that if you get that number only about half would actually show up. We decided that we would be content if 30 people showed up since the room was just big enough to hold 40. People began showing up around 6 p.m. and we had several tables to keep them entertained until the event began at 6:30. As soon as the clock struck 6:30, I was surprised to see that room was already packed with people and that there were more people flocking in. Our idea of calling them and emailing them really worked. It gave them the feeling that they were wanted and since we were foreign, they were interested in seeing what we had to offer. It’s actually a lot of fun to play the foreign card (not that you need to say much to show it anyway) because people instantly become more curious about you and pay you a lot of attention.

All in all, we had about 50 people show up to listen to three speakers. They varied from a recent alum, whose business was fairing well, to a graduate of Syracuse University who has been a director and manager at multiple multinationals in Chile and South America. Needless to say, the AE alumni appeared interested and asked many questions when it came to Q & A. Even our director Alvaro Bronstein and the old director of CEPA, Daniel Rojas, were surprised over the turnout and applauded us on a great alumni reunion.

Living with Pato and Isa

Living with a host family is a huge part of the Duke Engage Santiago experience. For sure, it was an aspect of the program I was apprehensive about. Are they nice? Will they like me? How will I live with strangers? Will there be WiFi?

I was fortunate enough to have Pato and Isa as my family. Pato and Isa are pololos (that's girlfriend and boyfriend, for those of you who do not speak Chilean). From day 1, they treated me like their younger sister. Home was not just a place to sleep. The first week, I had once (a Chilean meal kind of like tea time) at Pato's mom's house, cheered from the sidelines at Isa's soccer game, and helped cook. With my hosts, I have cooked lomo a lo pobre, shared my favorite youtube videos, hiked in Cajón de Maipo, eaten the best empanadas in Santiago, attempted to dance cueca.

Pato and Isa were also people I could talk to about my work at Acción Emprendedora. I showed them both the video I was editing and the directory we were working on and listened to their suggestions.

My hosts have plans to come visit the US and stay with me --- they have skyped with my (real) family several times already. I can't wait. And I have plans to return to Chile and visit Isa's family in the Osorno. I just have to tell my parents.

And yes, they had WiFi.

Who let the dogs out?

Dogs in Chile are like squirrels in North Carolina. They are everywhere, don't typically bother people and every now and then you see them do something absolutely ridiculous. I'm pretty sure that my former fear of dogs came from my first visit to Chile when I was about 3 years old. It doesn't help that sometimes they are my size or bigger are definitely capable of knocking me down. Now that I am older, however, I have learned to appreciate the hundreds of stray dogs that are such an important feature of every town.

The dogs are especially important for young females on those occasional nights when you have to walk down a dark street alone. At first it may seem weird that a dog you've never seen before in your life will walk by your side, but then you realize this dog is not only your friend - he is your protector. Dogs are extremely smart in the city and they can immediately tell a person minding their own business from one with bad intentions. My host sister told me that sometimes when she's walking alone and someone is coming towards her, a group of dogs of 3 or 4 will surround her acting like her security guards. It's been nice having these companions by my side at night and it's going to be weird having to walk completely alone sometimes back in the states.

Yesterday when I was walking home I noticed something else that is common among all the city dogs: they all hate the cops. Two police officers were standing near my bus stop and all the dogs in sight came over to bark at them. At one point, one of the officers tried to get one of the dogs away by kicking in the air. This whole situation made me wonder, do the dogs know something that we don't?

Aside from being able to read personalities and thus serving as guardians at times, I've also observed that the dogs from different communities/cities have distinct personalities. The dogs around where I live and closer to the city center seem to be very alert, but calm. The dogs in Puente Alto, where our office is located, always seem to be asleep and sometimes it even looks as if they aren't even alive. It's not uncommon to see a dog knocked out right at the top of the escalator getting out of the metro, causing a bit of mess when people try to walk out of the station. Our visit to Valparaiso was the first time I remember being afraid of dogs during this trip to Chile. The dogs in the beautiful port city are the most aggressive I have seen and during our tour of the city they even scared us away from going down a particular alley. They become especially aggravated when they see a car and I was always afraid that the dogs were going to cause some sort of accident before my eyes.

A picture of the dogs that scared us away from the alley in Valparaiso.

Some people around the world think that stray dogs are a problem, but without them Chile definitely would not be the same. They add character to every city and town and it's always nice to know you can a friend by your side.

~Christy

The Two Sides of Chile

The Political Division inside of Chile

In the United States we often fret about Democratic policies if we’re Republican, or ponder why Republicans think the way they do if we’re Democratic. However, most of the time, you can sit a Democrat next to a Republican, and even have them debate about politics, without them going at each other’s throats. In Chile, I have found a different political environment, one where many people actually despise the other side just because they belong to the other side.

First of all, people refer themselves to either la izquierda (the left) or la derecha (the right). La izquierda’s party in power was la concertacion and it held office for the years following Pinochet’s right-wing regime until this year’s elections. In these elections, Sebastian Piñera, a right-wing candidate, came out victorious and those belonging to la izquierda were left disappointed, confused, and even with a sense of scorn. La izquierda was disappointed at the fact that they had lost after 20 years of power. However, after talking to those from la derecha, they affirm that la izquierda had it coming. The legistlative branch already had a right-wing majority and the presidential elections had gone to a run-off for the last couple of elections.

La izquierda was also confused at the fact that they had lost the election. For years, it was believed that la izquierda was the majority, and that it was going to be hard for them to lose since it was too soon after Pinochet. However, people were growing weary of la concertacion because they weren’t living up to what the people expected from them and the economy of Chile was in gloom due to the World Economic Crisis. Piñera offered CHANGE to Chile and that made him an attractive candidate.

Christine describes it as “chile is definitely more of a ying yang in terms of political opinion than a marble pattern...very extreme.” However, this ying doesn’t complement the yang so it leads to much political turmoil in the country.

I met a girl over the weekend that goes to school in UC Santa Cruz and is doing a home stay for the first month of her stay. She told me that her mom is very conservative and that she would get her out of jail for anything except if she took part in student protests or political demonstrations. To them, being involved in protests is what la izquierda does and they deeply shun that.

I can say that at the moment, la izquierda is definitely more angry than la derecha. They feel that the people who voted for Piñera were looking for an easy way out and that they are going to pay for that. They feel that Piñera is going to implement government policies similar to Pinochet and his humanitarian policies were actually brought into question before the election. Not because he has a bad history, but more because for many people it’s still too soon.

Nonetheless, the majority of Chileans wanted change. Piñera has been in power for 100 days and nothing significant has happened yet to cause a huge uproar. Some say the earthquake gave him a sense a freedom in his policies and that’s good to some and bad for others. Also, Chile’s frenzy in the World Cup gave him a sense of transparency because the country was too intertwined with the Cup to care of much else.

PDA-OKAY

One of the first things that a visitor of Santiago may notice is that couples are definitely afraid of showing their affection for one another in public. In the U.S., this is usually only seen at clubs or at parties, but here it's a normal part of life. For me, it's always been normal for people to kiss in public since showing affection is a part of our Chilean culture. I have noticed that it is a lot more taboo in the states to do these sorts of things, and I really have no idea why. One of the things that I think surprised some of the DukeEngagers is the fact that couples make out everywhere and every time of day; it's almost impossible to go on a metro ride without seeing a couple and their PDA (public displays of affection). A lot of people who aren't used to this feel uncomfortable being around these individuals, but why?

I think that being in love (or thinking you are in love) is one of the most beautiful things a person can experience and as long as they aren't going too crazy, we should learn to accept the romantic ways of Latin America. Back in the states I always grew up hearing about "personal space," but I never quite understood this concept of getting too close to a person. Being back in Chile has definitely made me realize that my comfort level being close to strangers on public transportation and my perhaps romantic mindset may just be a result of my Chilean/Latin culture.

After all, we do always sign our letters and messages with:

Besitos - Kisses,

Christy

Una Charla with Ominami

Sorry for the delay. Our upcoming alumni reunion has me swamped with work. On Wednesday, June 23, we went to an elegant part of the city by the name of Vitacura to have a short session with ex-presidential candidate Marco Antonio Enríquez-Ominami. During the election, he ran for presidency with the socialist party. He received 20% of the vote, which was a new high for the socialist party. Ominami has now left the socialist party and is in the process of starting a new party by the name of Partido Progresista (Progressive Party).

We expected our conversation with Ominami to be skewed to favor him since he is a politician. Regardless, we learned about the various social issues that trouble Chile and how he plans to tackle them. For instance, he told us how LGBTs have more problems in Latin America and how he wants to make Chile a more receptive society towards them. In addition, Ominami mentioned Chile’s growing drug problem and how he plans to attack the problem by eliminating the source that is coming from the outside and enforcing the Chilean/Bolivian border.

Just like with any politician, some people are impressed with his policies, others see him as a threat, and others just laugh and don’t take him seriously. Whatever your opinion is about him, you can tell he’s a great speaker and also very bright, and It’s evident why he was able to run for presidency and reach new highs for the socialist party.

The Down Side of Soccer

Chile had to face the its’ long-time nemesis Brazil in the Round of 16. The previous Friday, it was paired up with eventual group winners Spain, in a game that they lost 2 to 1. They were able to qualify, but now had to face the top seed of another group, which in this case was Brazil. Brazil has a habit of eliminating Chile in the Round of 16, as it did in 1998 and in other World Cups. This time it was no different. The star-studded Brazilian team quickly dismantled the Chilean defense and cruised its’ way to an easy 3-0 victory.

To prepare for the match, Eduardo and I organized a cookout at our host mom’s house. You could tell the agony on the Chilean faces at the sight of seeing their national team get trampled by a superior Brazilian squad. Their pain was very similar to what I had felt a day before when my Mexican squad had lost 3-1 in a controversial game with Argentina. The first goal was easily off-sides but the linesman fell asleep and didn’t call it. That changed the mentality of the Mexican squad because they got jittery and basically handed the ball to Argentina for their second goal.

I guess the reason soccer is more intense in soccer-crazed countries is that the World Cup is only once every four years. It’s easy for us in the United States to say, “oh well, there’s always next year.” Could you imagine having to wait for the Celtics to play for another championship in four years? That’s crazy! In addition, I can somewhat predict what I’ll be doing in a year. I’ll be working as an intern and getting ready for my last year at Duke. However, I can’t even imagine what I’ll be doing in four years. All I know is that the United States, Mexican, and Chilean squads will be even better in 2014 because they have a nice batch of young and explosive players that will be even better for that World Cup in Brazil.

In the meantime, kick back, relax, and watch Brazil win this tournament…

Soccer at its Glory

The vuvuzuelas sound off. The stands and stadium in South Africa are engulfed with their bee-like mmmmmmmmmmmmm. They are so loud that the FIFA Committee had to buffer them so the players can hear the whistle during a match.

All this is just during a regular World Cup game that you see on tv. When the Chilean national team is on, the intensity escalates many notches. The streets are taken over by enlightened fans waving their flags and shouting, "Chi Chi Chi Le Le Le, Viva Chile!" You also hear the sound of horns and vuvuzuelas invading the city streets.

When the game begins, the streets turn quiet. You can walk outside and it'll be just like a ghost town. It is quite similar to when Duke plays in the NCAA tournament. Everyone is next to a television set because they do not want to miss a single second of the game. It is actually quite funny because yesterday we watched the Chilean 1-0 victory over the surprise of the tournament Switzerland in downtown Santiago. The funny part is that you would hear people yelling after close plays at different times because they would get the telecast at different times. Eduardo actually heard the Chilean goal outside before we even saw it on it.

Watching the World Cup in a soccer-crazed country is special for me because you get a passion for the sport that I grew up playing that you do not get to experience in the United States. This World Cup is especial for Chile because they are in it for the first time since France '98 and they are a legitimate contender to go deep into the World Cup.

I root for Chile to join the rest of country during their time of celebration. The Chilean team is exciting to watch as well. They have a style of play which is everyone attacks and everyone defends and that has been the direct cause of their two victories with no goals allowed. However, whenever the Mexican national team is on, I'm a nervous wreck. I can't sit down and be calm, and I'm jittery throughout the whole match. The Mexican team has a chance to do something special too with their team full of many young, speedy stars and their experienced veterans.

It has been a great World Cup experience and I'm glad that I'm in Chile to watch it.

Stay tuned for more soccer info...

The Dichotomy of Santiago

I can excuse this summer in any way, shape, or form: selfless civic engagement, a roundabout way of being with my family, a trial into a profession in economics, etc. But at the end of the day there is only one expression that truly represents the truth: my biggest adventure yet. There exists a dichotomy in every aspect of Santiago that intrigues me. Everything is at once old and new, colonial and modern, dangerous and secure, vibrant and somber, and for the life of me I can’t figure it out. This complexity reminds me of something my previous English teacher used to say: I am complex. I am a woman. Maybe Santiago is a woman. Maybe the founders mistakenly gave it a male name in shallow hopes of strength and greatness. Yet Santiago is not that. The city that has adopted me for the next two months is sophisticated and svelte, much like the thin nation in which is resides. But within the sophistication lies an intangible tension. The city struggles to maintain its civilized image while shoving the vulgarity and roughness it has been restraining for the past four centuries in the garden shed. Luckily, for those of us fascinated with observing , the roughness still surfaces, be it in the graffiti on the streets calling for anarchy or the warzone that is the metro during the “horas peak.”

This perplexing dichotomy of the city is also present in my relationship with Santiago. Every corner is uncharted territory (every dark nook raising my hairs on end) and I still feel like I have known this city for ages. The days are long, simultaneously lethargic and exhausting. I am beginning to understand Tristam Shandy’s dilemma (and am immediately grateful that the program is only 63 days long.

I have now had time to move around the city a bit after my third day here. I have not explored yet. To be honest I have only moved from point A to point B to point C to point Z, and although public transportation is an adventure in itself, the best is yet to come. Stay tuned.

A Walk Around Puente Alto

The comuna of Puente Alto, an hour’s metro from the heart of Santiago, feels likes its own little city, a whole other world compared with the skyscrapers downtown. The ride to the Accion Emprendedora office every morning is tranquil, with most commuters traveling in the opposite direction. Last night it rained, clearing the heavy smog that normally hides the snow-capped cordillera.

Puente Alto maintains a strong, bustling vitality against the imposing mountainous backdrop. Seamlessly connected one-story buildings, roofed in corrugated metal, line the streets. Stalls open onto the on to calle clavero, filled with everything from plug adapters to slippers, bathing suits to bananas. Walking around Puente Alto has helped me truly realize the importance of what Accion Emprendedora is doing. More striking than the mountains is the fact that everyone here is a micro-entrepreneur. Unlike other comunas of Santiago, which have their fair share of department stores and fast food restaurants, Puente Alto is almost devoid of large commercial chains (although a McDonalds is opening in the metro station). We eat lunch everyday at a picada down the street, run by a few friendly and hardworking women. We visited a center filled only with small hair salons, each employing 4-5 workers, and each searching for a way to make their salon standout. Alumni of AE that we have interviewed often work out of their own homes, and run their business by themselves. Walking around Puente Alto puts a face to the statistics about micro-entrepreneurship in Chile, and adds meaning to our work here.

An encounter with the other half.

While most of the group is working at AccionEmprendadora, Laura Hart and Jonathan Salzman are working at another NGO, called La Comunidad de Organizaciones Solidarias that represents over 90 other community-based organizations that work all over Chile. Their projects include promotion and web-site design for two of the represented organizations.

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On Thursday, around noon, Maria Jose, one of Laura and my direct bosses, took me and Laura to one of the organizations for which we will have to make a web page and video for promotion. It is in La Legua, one of the comunas of Santiago. These Comunas are independent municipalities that take care of their own affairs while giving up a small amount of tax revenue to disperse among all of Greater Santiago.

La Legua, however, it is the poorest and most feared part of the city, being the site of the most newsworthy events in the city especially drug trade and gang warfare. Where Laura and I live, Las Condes (which is Spanish for the royal title of count), the population has not even visited La Legua. My ‘adoptive mother’ (Marcela, whom I will refer to as madre, even though its not my real madre ) reminds me over and over again how dangerous it is and how I should remove all personal items like my watch and any branded clothes to avoid attention. Of course I ask her if something bad had happened to her there, she tells me that she’s never been.

Las Condes, at sunset

Maria Jose, Magdalena, Laura and I piled into a car and made the 20 minute drive to La Legua. The area there was obviously different than Las Condes. La Lagua was originally developed to house the workers for the countries burgeoning potassium nitrate industry. These nitrates were heavily mined earlier in Chile's history. Since the development of cheaper synthetic nitrates, and the exploitation of Chile’s massive copper reserves, the nitrate industry flopped or moved elsewhere, leaving the lower-working class people of La Legua without work. Over the years of Chile’s systemic class-ist disposition and the fact that each comuna is an autonomous municipality that operates independent of those around it, La Legua fell to the wayside and is now a notorious den of crime, drugs, and poverty. If you live in Las Condes, La Legua is a world away. But after 20 minutes in a car, we were parking in the most dangerous part of the city.

We parked outside the organization Cristo Especial, run by an aged but benevolent Anita, who originally came from Belgium. The organization offers care for mentally and physically handicapped people in the local community. Anita, who is a lively and lighthearted woman, tells us that were it not for her organization and the work done there, most of these individuals, who have concerns that range from autism to Downs syndrome and physical deformity, would be left in the house for days at a time without care or company while their parents, provided they did not abandon their child on neighbors and family first, and provided they are still alive, and provided they are even known, are attending to their own concerns. Maria Jose used to volunteer there for years before getting involved with La Comunidad. She now serves on the directors board for Cristo Especial; it would become apparent why later that day.

Anita toured us around the facility for 30 minutes while I took pictures of the brightly colored walls and the smiling beneficiaries of Anita’s work. When we first entered, there were two older women, clearly with mental disabilities were playing on a stationary bike. Anita walked us right into the atrium where they were, and introduced us to them. I think the pictures below relate Anita’s tenderness to these people better than my words do.

We entered into the other part of the building, which is one of two that Cristo Especial operates, to meet the rest of the people there. As I had my camera out, many of the ‘students’ or beneficiaries there wanted me to take pictures of them. I gladly did; and have put some of the photos below (thank you, mom and dad–this camera is incredible).

The ‘students’ were about to sit down for lunch, so Anita escorted us outside and into the streets which my madre had inculcated me to fear. She told us how some of the beneficiaries of Cristo Especial couldn’t go home at night, so they used to use the social and work spaces as bed spaces at night. and the ‘students’ would sleep on the floor. She has since obtained a house across the street which now operates as a dormitory. We walked past that building and many beautifully painted murals on the street.

On the next street, we passed through a market that was going on, we bought some grapes, and obviously they were very cheap. We passed through swaths of people to a small church where we saw a mural done that was very indicative of Chile, with images of mothers who wore pictures of their missing children around their necks. Their children, like so many during the military dictator ship in Chile, were abducted and disappeared. Outside were some women going through donated and used clothes, they smiled eagerly for the camera.

After that we got into a van with Anita while Josa (Maria Josefa’s nickname) and Magdalena drove behind us. We drove down one street that was particularly dilapidated, Anita told us this was called La Emergencia (lit. “emergency” in Spanish), the most notorious section of La Legua known for being the center of drug trafficking and gun warfare. We entered a small house, that had a gated front to it. It had an exposed but covered outside section where some foodstuffs laid around a stove. In side there was one single room, about the size of my bedroom, that we separated by a curtain. On the far side of the curtain lay an old woman, very old with shriveled features and emaciated, thin legs that clearly hadn’t been used in many months. Attending to her was an old woman, with darker skin who was administering an inhaler (with a spacer!). However, she gave the old woman, with all the good intention in the world and in a meek and quiet manner, 10 puffs of the inhaler, mistaking the doctor’s order for 1 puff being held in for 10 seconds. In this room of dilapidated metal and ragged blankets, the inhaler seemed out of place among the woman’s relics. Anita later explained to us that these houses, on the street that would later become La Emergencia, was built to be temporary housing during a crisis. However, like Duke’s Central Campus, the construction that was intended to be temporary became permanent. After that Anita escorted us to a gas station where we left La Legua. It struck me as strange that we, a group of 5 didn’t take one car from the organization head quarters. It turned out that Josa couldn’t leave her reasonably nice car outside the office without it being in danger of being stolen. However, the more striking is that Anita escorted us in her obvious-looking van around the neighborhood because she, as a conspicuous worker for good, wouldn’t be shot at by the people on the street, all of whom carry a gun. We, in the car following it closely, would fall under the auspices of Anita’s exemption from violence.

It was a truly wild experience, but, to me, the difference from the life I lead didn’t set in until later that night.

In the car ride home, Josa asked me if I would tutor her son in English since he had a test the next day. I told her of course, and she picked me up at a grocery store near my house after Laura and I had returned from work. A woman who works at an NGO and drove a little VW Golf picked me up in a Volvo XC90, the exact same car my mother used to drive. In a country where gas costs $8 a gallon, anything bigger than a Corolla is striking, let alone a mid-size SUV, and that is her car too (she uses the other as an easier car to navigate Santiago). I should have clued into where we were going by the car she drove, but I was surprised to drive up the hill more and more, further away from Santiago Centro (downtown) and wind our way up a hill that feels increasingly like Beverly Hills. Josa explained to me that she lives in Los Dominicos Antiguos, a village in Las Condes where the president lives. We pull up to a beautiful gate of stucco and stained wood with a little sheltered bench at the head of what turned out to be a winding driveway that went down and down towards a house that looked like it had been pulled off a Mediterranean coast somewhere. Sweeping views of the city of Santiago were seen through massive sheet-glass windows, arranged in arches made of wood. The hardwood floors adorned rooms that were as big as any house I know. The house itself wasn’t massive by my standard, but it was considerably bigger than anything I had seen in Chile, by a lot. She introduced me to two fo the her kids, Alfonso, 14, whom I would be tutoring, and the younger son who was 12. There was a third, that I didnt get to meet, who Josa told me has Downs syndrome. The tutoring was fun, and Maria Jose paid for a cab to take me home. He kids were nice and seemed just like the kids on my street. But the stiking difference between La Legua and Los Dominicos Antiguos made me consider the great disparity in class structure in Chile a little bit more.

Enjoy the pictures.

Bip! ! !

Our commute to work at Acción Emprendedora in Puente Alto can be simply described as complicated, but that makes it all the more exciting. It has taken me some time to perfect my “micro” skills. Getting off the bus is quite simple and safe, but getting on during peak hours can be a struggle. In 2002 the government came up with a new transportation program dubbed Trans-Santiago. It consisted of new bus routes and new equipment (like Bip! Cards). The new design centralized bus routes by focusing on using major avenues to transport people to and from the metro. Therefore, the metro was envisioned for longer commutes, while the bus system was effective at short distances. In my opinion, the system functions effectively and most Chileans I have met agree that there has been some drastic improvements in respect to cleanliness, safety, and frequency. However, one thing we can all agree on is that the metro is overwhelmed during peak hours, which forces some stations to temporally close until the crowds subside. The train platforms are packed with people trying to get on a train that is already filled with people. It’s best just to wait for the next train, which is frequently only one minute away… specially if you are a little claustrophobic.

Who am I?

My DukeEngage experience is a unique case because unlike the other Santiago participants, I consider myself to be a Chilena. I was born and raised in Virginia, but my entire family is Chilean, which has meant that I have been given the opportunity to learn and live by the Chilean culture at home and with my family, but also experience the "American Dream" through living in the states and attending school. If someone asks me where I'm from, I never know how to respond. Although I have always lived in the states, in my heart I have always been Chilean and I only feel true to myself when identifying with my Chilean heritage.

Having this in mind, I was really excited to finally get the opportunity to live and work in Santiago as opposed to just going for a couple of months to visit my family. Now when my family back in the states tells me that I don't know what it's like to actually be Chilean since I've never lived there, I'll be able to defend myself.

My trip to Chile signified something so much more to me than any other DukeEngage program would have: I was going home.

After having been in Santiago for a couple of weeks I have been faced with the reality of my situation - I have no identity. In the states, I am Chilean or simply a Latina. No one would ever consider me to be a "gringa" in the U.S. - all you have to do is take one look at me and you know that I don't belong. In Chile, however, I am the gringa. How is this possible? I had a discussion with my host sister and her friends last night in which we were all arguing about where I was from and what my nationality really was. Because of U.S.-Chile relations, I do have dual citizenship, but my host sister insisted that my nationality was based on my place of birth. Her friend came to my rescue and argued that nationality is in the heart and soul; nationality and identity can't be determined by a piece of paper.

The question of my nationality and my identity is one that I will have to face forever. I could be upset that many of my fellow Chileans consider me to be an outsider, but only I am capable of knowing the culture that has truly shaped me into the person I am today. There are many times in the states that I feel unwanted and feel like an outsider, and although I am sometimes called a gringa here in Chile, I never feel so complete and at home as I do in this country. Who am I? Yo soy Chilena.

~Christine

p.s. Last night it was determined that if I could answer a very important question, then I was truly Chilean. The question: Who is the forward who is going to star in Chile's world cup game on Wednesday who has been suffering from injuries? With a smile on my face, I calmly responded: Chupete. Everyone laughed and the discussion was finally settled. If I had been asked the same question about the U.S. team, I wouldn't have been able to answer. There is only one team for me - Chi - Chi - Chi - Le - Le - Le...VIVA CHILE!

Angel Parra and the Chilean Division

Angel Parra is one of the band members of the group Los Tres. Los Tres was created in the 1980´s and they have appeared on 90´s shows like MTV, when music on the channel was actually good, and released several albums over the years. Angel is part of the famous Parra family in Chile. The Parra family, over the years, has raised some of the most famous Chilean artists in its history. The family leans toward the political left and is loved by many Chileans because it actively opposed Pinochet´s right-wing dictatorship.

On Friday, June 11th, we had our almuerzo at a sushi place with Angel Parra. Angel, like many in his family, believes that a country´s fair social policies towards all its citizens is just as important as having a great economy. He is a strong critic of the right and he, along with many other people, was shocked when Piñera won the last election because there was a strong belief that the left was the majority. His opinion about the United States is that it´s similar to a coin with a shiny, clean side, while the other half is marred with an ugly rust. I, along with the group, agreed to this point that he was making. He mentioned that the United States is stained with its gruesome and unjust social policies over the years towards minorities. However, he is in love with the United State´s culture in terms of its music. Angel believes that the United States has a rich music scene and history and that the country pays homage to those who have contributed to it. He mentioned this because he later talked about how Chile does not respect those former Chilean artists that are now long past their fame. Specifically, he told us about his great-aunt, Violeta Parra, and how it took an eternity for her famous paintings to be given a location in downtown Santiago to be displayed.

Another interesting comment that he said that later gave birth to a semi-heated debate within the group after he left was his belief that Chile was too divided to be one right now. He didn´t mention that it was to the point of civil war but rather that Chile´s political left and right suffer from many scuffles and disagreements with the other. The right fears the left while the left distrusts of the right.

Afer Angel Parra left the room we discussed how much we enjoyed having Angel and the intellectual topics we discussed. However, some members of the group compared Chile´s divisions with the United State´s divisions and there was an argument that Chile is more closely tied than the US. Some talked about how the United States is not only separated by class and politics, but by race as well, and how Chile doesn´t suffer from the race issue because it´s more homogeneous. However, others in the group mentioned the Native Indian struggle and how they have been mistreated because their indigenous. This added another dimension to the Chilean unity argument because in Santiago you don´t hear much about Indians since they either live to the north or south, or if they live here they change their names to Spanish in fear of persecution.

Another subject that dissolves the country´s unity is the concept of immigration. Argentinians that emigrate to Chile receive better treatment because they are seen as equals by Chileans. It is similar to Western and Northern Europeans in the U.S. Because they are perceived as equals, Argentinians usually live in the nicer areas of Santiago. In contrast, Peruvians and Bolivians are looked down upon because of their native looks and because they are countries that are economically-inferior to Chile.

This opened my eyes to see that we still don´t know enough about Chile. If we spent all our time in Santiago and never went anywhere else, then we would have an erronous perception of Chile. I´m excited for our trip to Talca, which is about 5 hours south, so we can get a larger feeling about how Chile actually is.

The Fresh Air of Valparaiso

On Saturday, June 5th, we boarded a bus headed towards the port city of Valparaiso. I was surprised at how in-expensive the 1.5 hour-long trip was because it only took 3,800 pesos, or about 6 dollars, for the ride. Marlen, her husband, and her four-year-old son Piero rode along with us. Piero is an energetic toddler and all the girls flocked after him because they thought he was adorable.

As soon as we arrived, we had a short desayuno and took a quick ride to el hostal Verde Limon, where we were going to spend our next couple of days. Verde Limon was bigger and nicer than the previous hostel and also painted in many colors to match the beautiful city of Valparaiso. The bottom section had a long swing attached to the thirty-foot-high ceiling and Sofi took the pleasure of climbing onto it and swinging on it several times during our stay.

Shortly afterwards, we met up with Antonio, his polola Karen, and his friend Roger, who were going to show us around Valparaiso. The city of Valparaiso is more artsy and liberal than Santiago and the city is decorated with well-painted murals. You quickly notice the difference in the air quality from Santiago because you can get suffocated in the Santiago smog while there is a breeze of fresh air that blows into Valpo from the Pacific that gives the city a fresh aroma.

After walking around and touring the city, we went to eat at a seafood place by the name of Los Portenios. Seafood is popular in Valpo since it is a port city and it is easy and relatively cheap to attain. I ate a dish of fresh shrimp mixed with mayo and a salad. I decided that I preferred my shrimp fried because the fresh shrimp wasn´t too tasty for me.



In the afternoon, we toured the city more and went to Pablo Neruda´s old home. There is a section of the house that faces the Pacific and you can see the naval and cargo ships out in the bay. We were told that the construction of the Panama Canal severely affected Valparaiso because it was a popular choice for ships rounding the bottom tip of south america prior to the canal. However, the city appears to have rebounded and is doing well with tourism. We saw a variety of Neruda´s paintings but couldn´t take pictures because the museum wouldn´t allow it. The museum did allow us to take photographs of the view outside and I managed to take pictures of the awesome view of the town from the fourth and fifth floors.


Later that evening, we took a forty-minute bus ride for the equivalent of USD $.50 to visit Karen´s parents and had la once (bread, cheese, butter, and tea/coffee before dinner. I was surprised at how cheap transportation was in Chile because the ride back was only about USD $8.00. In the U.S. you would easily spend at least fifty dollars for a similar ride.

Further on that night, we took an excursion around Valpo to get a glimpse of the city´s nightlife. We enjoyed a great meal at Valparaiso Eterno where a lady sat in the middle of a stage in front of a microphone and played music from her guitar. The experience was pretty awesome because she managed to get Eduardo to go up and sing in the stage and even asked us to recommend songs for her to play so we could feel more welcome.

Valparaiso was a fun, relaxing time for all of us. I´m sure we are going to miss the fresh air of the city.

Jon and Laura with la Comunidad

We are working with la Comunidad de Organizaciones Solidarias, which works toward solidarity in Chile. It's an umbrella organization that works with over 90 different NGOs, that do everything from working with children, to shelters, etc. On our first day, we went to Providencia, an area of Santiago, to see a "show" that an organization was doing. This organization, called Abrazarte, works with youth who live under the bridges and in the canal that runs through Santiago. The woman who runs the organization, Pia, who was an actress and founded the organization, hired a group called Auch! to teach classes to the kids (I use this term loosely, because some were maybe 13, and others in their 20s) to "play" white buckets flipped upside down like drums. It's similar to the group Stomp. They met twice a week for 2 months and finally they were playing on the street in front of the old train station. They were asking for donations for their performance. Afterwards, the group met up to split up the money, etc, we it was really great to hear the kids thank Pia, and tell her how much this meant to them. A lot of them have drug problems, come from abusive backgrounds, etc. It was amazing to see the sense of support and community that Pia had been able to give them.

Today we went to la Lengua, the poorest area of Santiago. We were able to visit a house, and honestly it was so difficult to see the extremely poor living conditions. Some don't have even hot water. We went to Cristo Especial, a center for handicapped people that live in la Lengua. Jon and I are going to be making a website for them, and to get a better idea of who they are and their motivation, etc, we will be going to the center a few more times in the upcoming weeks. It's made up of 2 houses that are connected. Four days a week, about 15 or so people with disabilities come to the center. They have a weekly schedule, that includes activities such as making mosaic tiles, theater, singing, and dancing. Actually, when we arrived they had a welcome song that they sang for us, which was amazing. Also, when we took out our cameras everyone got so excited and we had a grand photo shoot. We had a good time. Anita is the woman who runs the center daily. She's an older woman from Belgium, but she's been living in Chile for almost 50 years. She's an inspiring woman. As you can infer by the organization's name, their goal is to make every person feel special and that they matter to someone. The sense of community and friendship is evident the minute you arrive to the door of the center. The walls outside are painted with bright and colorful images with sayings such as "todo sueño es posible" or 'every dream is possible" and "lo esencial es invisible a los ojos, solo se ve bien con el corazon' or 'the most important things are invisible to your eyes, you can only see them well with your heart."

All in all, it's been a great start to our time here in Chile. We definitely have had our eyes open, and we're excited to delve into our work and get more involved!

Our first week with Accíon Emprendedora

Our first interaction with Accíon Emprendedora was on Monday, and it was the day when we were going to get the rundown of the administrative part of AE and what we´re going to do for the following two months. Eduardo and I started off on the wrong foot because a little miscommunication took us to AE headquarters, which was in downtown, when we were supposed to be in the southeast side of the city. We had to quickly take the metro and switch trains twice to get to Puente Alto. Puente Alto is where the AE interns from Duke are going to be doing most of our work. After showing up thirty minutes late, Eduardo and I joined Callie, Christine, and Sofi in the powerpoint presentation about Accíon Emprendedora.

At the presentation we met Nick, who is going to be our intern director, Alvaro, the AE director at Puente Alto, and the rest of the Puente Alto staff. Accíon Emprendedora is an organization that works with prospective entrepreneurs and current entrepreneurs and conducts classes about how to kick-start and run the business and gives guidance and consulting to those who already have a business and want it to improve. There´s a main office in Santiago Centro that carries out all the administrative business of AE and four offices around Santiago and Chile that deal with their respective constituencies. Puente Alto itself is a mid-to-low income community in Santiago and the majority of students that come to AE classes in Puente Alto are middle-aged adults that only finished the Chilean equivalent of high school.

Alvaro and Nick informed us that our main goals during the two months at AE were going to be to organize the AE alumni party and to conduct surveys about why alumni retention was so low and how to make the alumni party better for next year. Having the alumni come back is important for AE and Alvaro explained to us how only a few return after graduation. Alvaro put us in charge of gathering information about how the alumni feel about the post-graduation info sessions that Puente Alto conducts. We even came up with an idea to stimulate alumni interests by contacting alumni and asking them if they´re willing to give out discounts to their businesses to other AE alumni. The purpose of this is to establish networks so that AE alumni are more willing to come back to post-graduation info sessions.

Tuesday, was the day we met the AE staff in Santiago Centro office as well the staff at the Oficina Central. We met Daniel Rojas, who works at the Oficina Central, and learned that it was his birthday. For his birthday, the staff at the Oficina Central and our group went out to eat pizza at a restaurant downtown. We enjoyed a two-hour long lunch that began around 1:30 since Chilean lunches (or almuerzos) are much later than American ones.

On Wednesday we began our actual work. We´ve been planning the reuninon party which is tentatively scheduled for July 8th and finished writing the surveys that we´re going to give to people in the following weeks. In addition, when we give the people the surveys, we´re going to tell them to come to the alumni reunion.

What felt like a very short, but fun week is winding down and the group is excited for our weekend trip to Valparaiso.

Our Introduction to Chile

The big day finally arrived on Friday, May 28th. We all boarded a plane in our home cities and we flew to Miami before taking a direct flight to Santiago, Chile. We had a little scare when we couldn´t find Sofi and it was time to board for Santiago, but she showed up just in time to catch the flight. After we calmed down from our little scare, excitement quickly surrouned us because we were going to be in Chile in 9 hours.

The flight to Santiago was relaxing and our group either slept or watched the wide variety of movies that LAN Airlines offered. We arrived to a rainy Santiago around 730 am, and since it was late fall in Santiago, the sun was barely rising. Marlen and Antonio met us at the airport and they had a van ready for us to take to el hostal (the hostel) that was located in Santiago Centro. We were going to be staying there for the next two days. All of us were exhausted from the trip so we slept at until 2 p.m.

Ater we awoke, Antonio and Marlen took us around Santiago Centro. We went to eat at a restaurant by the name of El Hazadero, and the restaurant brought us four small grills of already cooked meat to eat. The food was delicious, but it was too much
for the nine of us so we had to get a large quantity in a to-go plate. Afterwards, we began our first excursions around the metros and that´s how we learned that the metros are the popular choice of travel since they are inexpensive and transport people to further stretches of the city. We walked around cafés and tried some chilean drinks and quickly learned that we needed to change our dollars to pesos because some restaurants over-valued the peso. We walked to the Mall del Centro and found the mall American-like fit to Chilean tastes. We figured that downtown Santiago would have more American and European stores.

Later that night, we had dinner at a restaurant called El Cosmopolitano
and that´s where we met a group of Chilean university students that will be our buddies during the trip and show us around Santiago. After getting acquainted with our Chilean buddies, Joseph Repp, a Duke student who lived a year in Chile working for an NGO, was in Santiago for the weekend and he took us to a friend´s get-together. We enjoyed a good time with the Chilean locals and our Chilean buddies. We were slowly becoming acquainted with the Chilean norms and slang. It was difficult at first for those of us who haven´t been to Chile before because Chilean spanish is spoken differently than most other versions of Spanish and takes time to get used to.

Our second day, Sunday, was the day we were finally going to meet our host parents. We started the day by going to downtown Santiago because it was Patrimonío Nacíonal.
It is the one day, other than Día de la Independencía, when the city opens important sections in government buildings that aren´t usually open to the public. Antonio and Marlen took us around the city to visit the buildings, but we couldn´t get into many of the buildings because there was at least an hour-long wait, and we preferred to walk rather than wait. However, we did manage to get into La Bolsa de Valores, which
is where Santiago conducts its stock trading. It was also evident that the earthquake had affected the government buildings because there were cracks on the walls and parts of buildings were closed off because the earthquake had affected the building so much that it was unsafe.

It was finally time to meet our host parents. We were a little jittery before meeting them because we had talked to them through email before but had not seen them in person yet. However, once we got to introducing ourselves to them we were completely fine. We all happened to get along very well with our host families and we asked them how life was in Santiago and they asked us a about our lives in the U.S. Eduardo and I are both living with our host Yanina in Santiago Centro. She is a 55-year-old single mother who is a social worker. She is very nice and we constantly conversate about politics in Chile and around the world. The other 5 Duke students have families ranging from sixy-year-old retired grandparents to a 25-year-old couple and we are all spread out around different communities in Santiago. Our first couple of days have been great and we can only wait to see what more Chile has in store for us.

Events leading up to Chile

We began our official Duke Engage program with the unenviable task of taking our required shots for visiting Chile. For a lot of us, it was the first time we had to take multiple shots in one day. We came out victorious in the end, but that’s not to say that more than a couple of us had tears in our eyes when we felt the sharp tip of the syringe pierce through our skin.

Over the next couple of months, we began meeting as a group and having powerpoint presentations, family dinners, and workshops to get better acquainted with the environment that we’ll be working with in Chile. It was evident, at first, that we weren’t a cohesive group because we were shy around each other and still not trusting of one another. As the meetings progressed, however, our chatty and energetic sides quickly emerged. We were beginning to mold ourselves into a group of high-character individuals with a lot of interesting and unique ideas.

Duke Engage Academy was the culminating point of our pre-Chile experience. The program facilitators led discussions such as the ethics of service and we also participated in workshops varying from getting tax-exempt status if one is establishing a non-profit to how to use our cameras correctly while abroad. What was most memorable for our group about Duke Engage Academy was how we well we were clicking as a group. It was visible when we had a discussion with all the international groups that we were the most motivated because we were chanting loudly and involving ourselves in every talk. We even had a couple more easy-going moments like when Laura Hart was frightened by a squirrel during our video blogs. After making sure that she was ok, the whole group joined her in laughter over the humor of the situation. Our group is very excited about getting to Chile and contributing in every way possible to help out others. Chile is so close!

¡Hola a todos!

Hello to everyone! First of all, thank you for taking the time to read about our experiences in Chile. Our posts will vary from our work with our respective NGO's, to our travels around Santiago and Chile, and even touch upon our personal thoughts and feelings about the trip.

First of all, my name is Julio C Ramirez and I am a rising junior at Duke. I’m an Economics and Spanish double-major and this summer I’ll be working with Accion Emprendedora. I’m excited about the trip because I plan to do business one day and I know I’ll be learning useful tactics to help me out in the future. I’m also intrigued to learn from the alumni of AE and to see how they’ve progressed with their businesses and to meet the new micro entrepreneurs that we will be teaching. I enjoy traveling and that makes me excited about traversing Santiago and Chile and getting to know the country better. I’m also curious to see how Chilean (in terms of clothing and language) I’ll become and how I’ll be able to adapt to a new country. I’m Latino but I’ve never traveled to South America so I can’t wait to expand my knowledge about my people. In addition, Duke Engage participants will be doing a home stay in different areas around Santiago. There are a total of 7 participants going on this trip. The other six are Christine Contreras (senior), Laura Hart (senior), Eduardo Leal (junior), Jon Salzman (Junior), Callie Berkowitz (junior), and Sofi Becerra (sophomore). We will also meet Antonio Arce, our director, and Marlen Joquera, our on-ground coordinator. Jon and Laura will be working with La Comunidad while the rest of us will be with Accíon Emprendedora. I'm excited about living in Santiago Centro, which is essentially downtown Santiago.

Stay tuned to learn about our upcoming work and experiences!

Leaving for Chile

Hello everyone! I will be leaving for Santiago on Friday, May 21. Who can tell me why this is such an important day in Chile? :) Un abrazo,

Antonio