I did promise to talk about my upcoming trip to Peru in a future post, and the future is now.
On May 7 I will be flying down to Lima, Peru for a week-long conference on confined masonry construction. I became involved in this back in 2005 after the Great Sumatra Earthquake and Tsunami left hundreds of thousands of people homeless, especially in the Aceh region of Indonesia. I felt like I had to do something more than just write a check, and I was fortunate enough to get in contact with the small NGO Build Change, who was just starting a reconstruction project in Banda Aceh, Indonesia and was looking for volunteer engineers to help with the design and construction of the new homes. I was one of many who answered the call.
In the summer of 2006, on my 40th birthday no less, I went to Banda Aceh to see the reconstruction in person and to assist Build Change in the projects that they were active in at the time. My chronicles of that trip are on my Aceh reconstruction blog, which I have kept up as an archive of the trip. One of the things that I learned while in Aceh was that I knew very little about the confined masonry construction that was being used to rebuild the homes there. I also learned that there were few others who knew much about it either.
Since then a group of engineers, researchers, architects, and other interested parties formed a network to learn more about confined masonry construction and eventually to try and promote it as a less expensive but more resilient form of construction than what is currently the practice in third world countries, especially countries that are susceptible to earthquakes like Indonesia and China. It is this network that is meeting in Lima and have invited me to participate. I have set up a new blog for this trip (assuming that my laptop will survive the trip) that I will also use to document other items of interest related to confined masonry construction as well as my possible future trip to China to assist Build Change's reconstruction efforts there following last year's large earthquake.
I must admit that I am as nervous about this trip as I was when I went to Indonesia. I must admit that I am not a third world kind of guy. I remember when I was at the airport waiting for the plane to Indonesia I considered turning around and leaving, and no doubt the same thoughts will cross my mind when I am at the airport waiting to go to Peru. However, this is a cause that I strongly believe in, which is what led me to board that plane in 2006 and will push me on board the plan to Lima in a couple of weeks. At least I can take comfort in that my Spanish is a little better than my Bahasa Indonesian and that I will be meeting with fellow dedicated people while I am in Lima so there is less of a chance that I will get lost or abandoned in a far away land. It is going to be interesting.
It reminds me of a conversation that I had with a couple of friends back in college. We were talking one night about the three of us taking over a small South American country, and after a number of alcoholic beverages we settled on Peru. One guy was going to be the figurehead leader with no responsibility but with big mansion privileges. Another guy was going to be the interior minister in charge of the intelligence service because he wanted to be able to spy on everyone. I was going to be in charge of the armed forces because in small third world countries that is where the real power is, since with just one order I could stage a coup and overthrow the other two. I have long since lost contact with those other two guys but I would imagine that they would find it amusing that I am traveling to the country that we once planned on taking over, assuming that they still remember the initial conversation after all these years and all those beers...
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