Gordito, Chinita & other names you can't get away with in the US

One thing I've come to love and appreciate about Peru is what does and does not offend people here. They will be offended if you don't greet them with a "Buenos Dias" and a kiss on the cheek, or if you don't want to hang out and spend time getting to know one another. (Isn't it great that that's considered the norm?) However they will NOT be offended by the un-PC labels which Latin Americans affectionately give one another, such as "gordito" (chubby), "flaquito" (skinny), "chato" (shorty), or in my case, "chino" or "chinita" (technically that means Chinese, but here it's used loosely as meaning any Asian, or Peruvian with Asiatic features, or for that matter anyone you feel like giving that nickname to. It's surprisingly common).

Now I realize that sounds offensive or insensitive, but think for a second about why you think that is. I too had the initial knee-jerk reaction of, "How mean! How racist! How inappropriate!" But the terminology above is not seen as derogatory or negative at all, and in fact a typical Peruvian would be surprised if any of it were taken as an insult.

I've come to believe that this is a good thing. People can call each other "gordita" here because it's not a bad thing to have some meat on your bones, it's just a distinguishing characteristic, like calling someone a brunette or an athlete. Without unrealistic standards of beauty being shoved in your face here to the same extent it is in the States, it's not such a big deal to be short or chubby or of a certain generalized racial category. In fact it's kind of cute. Hence the frequent use of the affectionate diminutive "-ito"; to call someone "gordo" (fat) might be a bit blunt, but a "gordito" (fatty or chubby) is more likely to be used teasingly with someone you love.

Bizarre? Maybe to most Americans, ingrained as we are to want to be tall and skinny and beautiful, but to this Korean-American chinita living in Peru, it's kind of refreshing...


*PS - My fellow Asians will probably also be shocked and offended that I constantly get asked if I'm related to Bruce Lee - but after all, they LOVE martial arts movies here, and he's the only Lee they've heard of, so it would be akin to telling someone your last name is DiCaprio and them thinking that's rare enough that you might be related to Leo.

I am also frequently asked what ethnicity I am, and when I say I'm Korean, they ask if I'm from the North or South, and if I've been there or speak the language, and extol the virtues of Korean cars and electronics... in other words they have more knowledge of it than the average American. This may be partly because there have been substantial Chinese and Japanese minorities here for generations, and many Peruvians are a mix of indigenous, European, African and Asian blood themselves...







My friend Lenin, far left, is frequently referred to as a "chino", and Jack, far right, as "chato"...

Another Report from the Earthquake Zone

See email copied below, with more candid observations from the earthquake zone, about 40 days after the earthquake hit. This is from Brad Ball, former missionary and recent MBA grad who is returning here very soon to start a carpentry & wood construction training facility.

By the way, if you donated to the Peru Mission Earthquake Relief fund, you can find the latest on our efforts here.

*****

----- Original Message -----

From: Brad Ball

Sent: Saturday, September 29, 2007 5:46 PM

Subject: Re: Viaje con Brad Ball

Thank you all for your patience. We had a very informative trip and learned a good bit about the situation in Pisco and Chincha. It is difficult to put solid numbers together but both Chincha and Pisco have well over 100,000 residents each. Of the two, it appeared that the damage in Pisco was more severe with much of it in the center of town. However, both towns were severely damaged. My guess is that over half of the buildings in both cities are either completely destroyed or damaged beyond repair and in need of demolition.

The entire region is an extremely dry and dusty desert. Add in all of the debris from the earthquake and you have dangerously polluted air. I can still feel the dust and dirt in my lungs and nasal passages. I have never seen anything quite like it.

Most of the local residents that we visited with were appreciative of the international help they have received in the form of tents and community soup kitchens. At the same time, they all complained of the Peruvian government's lack of attention, particularly in the area of clean-up. According to the police chief in Chincha, the federal government agency in charge of relief, INDESI, has financial resources to invest but the local and regional authorities are fighting over who will lead the efforts. We have no way to verify this but it does seem like very little has been done to remove the massive amounts of debris. Also, the news in Lima said that two INDESI officials had resigned. Sounds very similar to what happened in MS and New Orleans after Katrina.

We visited one of the many tent camps. The one we visited, Canchamaná, was not an official camp and consisted of about 50 displaced families that were squatting on private land. They had running water, porta-johns, and received food supplies from different charitable groups. The owner of the land has offered to sell them the land for something like $40,000. Again, this was impossible to confirm. Most of the men were very small time dairy farmers.

Just outside Chincha, we visited the coastal town of Tambo de Mora. This is a town of fishermen and is located right on the ocean. I am not sure of the population but I would guess it includes about 200 families. During the earthquake, water came up through the earth and forced its way through the foundations, sidewalks, and the town square. As a result, there are probably fewer than a dozen inhabitable houses. To make matters worse, the sewage and water lines were destroyed. In order to make this town inhabitable, basically the whole place must be removed down to the sand and reconstructed from zero. Currently, folks are living in tents in the dirt street in front of their houses, using portable toilets in the town square, and bathing at temporary public facilities. I asked a few of the men why they didn't just pack up and take their families elsewhere. They told me that they owned the land, made their living from fishing the coastline, and had no other place to live or source of income. If they move to a new place they would have to pay rent and would be without a job. Sounds crazy in the US but they are probably right. Lima surely doesn't need more unemployed homeless folks and would be a much more difficult place for these families to survive. Could they relocate to another coastal city south of Lima? I don't really know.

We met with the mayor of the town Sunampe located in Chincha. His office was overwhelmed with close to 100 people seeking assistance and it felt pretty strange to walk through the whole crowd and walk into the mayor's office. The mayor said that in his town, people had food, still needed tents, and needed help with clean-up. He also mentioned the possibility of donating city land to be used by Julio Rosas for some charitable purpose. The largest lot he mentioned was about 10,000 sq meters (about 30,000 sq feet). He agreed to help Julio confirm families that were in need of tents. Apparently, the city has a register of families whose homes were destroyed. On a table in front of the mayor's office, there were probably 200 signed forms waiting to be picked-up. These forms certified that the person listed lost his/her home and that the city had personally visited the site.

We also visited a small shop where a young man was making prefab houses from wood. The houses were designed to last a couple of years and made from 2x4's and a thin tongue and groove paneling. I can not find the price in my notes but I am pretty sure that the cost was about $2,000 dollars. This includes everything but the foundation.

In Lima, I met with Luis Haro from LP Peru and Alvaro Rojas from LP Chile. Both men were very professional and helpful. Alvaro is a technical director in Chile with a background in homebuilding. He was in Peru to oversee the building of a display house at an upcoming homebuilding fair in Lima. The display house is made from metal framing material made in Peru by another company and OSB and Smartside (OSB treated and primed) made by LP in Chile. Alvaro is working on a "house kit" using these products and estimates that it will be around $7,000 without foundation (he says it might be cheaper but he doesn't know yet). LP has distributorships established throughout Peru. They hope to promote their products through fairs, visiting with architects and engineers, and helping to train carpenters. They are interested in helping us (in some undefined way) and us helping to promote their products through using them in our training of carpenters. At the end of our meeting, Alvaro said "you have not yet told us how we can help you." My response was that we needed think through our approach and we would get back to them.

Concluding Thoughts

In looking at the current situation in Chincha and Pisco, I think it is impossible to design a complete solution. Julio spoke of the possibility of building an entirely new neighborhood/town from scratch. While this is theoretically possible, the financial and personnel commitment would be enormous. Also, I can not figure out how to do it without creating serious dependency. Would you sell the houses and finance them? If so, would you be willing to evict people that don't pay? Would you build a school, health clinic, sewage system, etc? All possible but incredibly difficult.

The only thing I can recommend with certainty is the investment in clean-up efforts. Beyond that, I am unclear. My approach would be to locate a trusted and capable person to administer and a number of capable men to work as site supervisors. Each supervisor would hire a team of 10-12 people from the local area and would direct their efforts. The workers would receive daily wages and possibly breakfast/lunch at a central facility run by the project. In this way, local people would earn a wage for a period of time and the city would progress in the clean-up efforts.

Again, the situation is incredibly bleak. Consider our efforts in the areas devastated by Katrina. We are still cleaning up and we have an incredible amount of resources. I have no idea how long it will take to clean up and rebuild in the Chincha/Pisco areas nor do I know how people with little income and few stable jobs can rebuild their houses. All I know is that they need to get busy cleaning.

See attached photos.

Grace and Peace,

Brad