Kristin

Today we visited a community situated at 3500 metres above sealevel, called Moran Alto. Each community in the Andean mountains has it´s circle of "Rondas", which is like a rural police. About 20 years ago the farmers had to sleep besides their animals to make sure they were not stolen by robbers. The police didn´t engage in these problems, and this forced the farmers to take care of their security themselves. Nowadays each man has to spend 15 years in the local Ronda. This means that he, every 14 days, spends a night walking around in his community with his fellow men in the Ronda, making sure the robbers stay away from the caddle. Besides taking care of local security, the Ronda is a forum for communication and exchange of knowledge and ideas in the community. CODE (and thereby Stroemme) now supports several Rondas with material and lectures on general knowledge, conflict management, how should a family function, rights as a human being etc. The men in the highland meet once a month and receive lecturing and also get the chance to create friendship and reflect upon problems they might have. It´s important to organize to strengthen your confidence and be able to achieve more power and authority. Together it´s easier for the farmers to stand for their rights. And also they are encouraged to develop as humans, and work for their country´s  development as well. 

Inger Marie and I told them a little about Norway and what it is like there. It´s really strange to represent such a developed and rich country. How can we answer the question why we ended up this way? Is it because of our system of welfare and taxes? Petroleum? I would love to have comments on this- so please post your opinion underneath!!

A huge problem with Peru is their high level of corruption. The country has plenty of resources- all kinds of nature and great condicions to grow things. The sad part is that the presidents have sold the ownership of their resources to foreign countries, probably to gain immediate benefits themselves.  For instance, foreign companies bought the gold mines in this area and now get 90 % of the profits... the receeding 10% end up as 5% in corruption and 5% eventually to the local community.... In additon, the local drinking water is polluted and not drinkable for all the people living in nearby villages. Why??