El lunes fui a un pueblo cercano que se llama Monsefú para celebrar las Fiestas Patrias Peruanas con mi mamá anfitriona y algunas compañeras del Centro Esperanza. Fue un muy bonito día que comenzó en la plaza central del pueblo. Lo más hermoso del día fue ver a los chicos y a las chicas que bailaron la Marinera Tradicional y la Marinera Norteña en un concurso nacional. 

Aunque aquell@s bailarines no pueden ver estas fotos, las subo aquí para que vean Uds. qué talentuos@s son est@s niñ@s. Y por cierto, aquí en Chiclayo, Perú, suelen usar la “@” para representar ambos la “o” y la “a” al mismo tiempo, para incluir a ambos géneros usando una sola letra y así, promover a través del lenguaje, la equidad de género. 

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On Monday I went to a nearby town called Monsefu to celebrate the Peruvian patriotic celebrations with my host mother and some co-workers from Centro Esperanza. It was a really great day that started in the central plaza of the town. The most beautiful part of the day was watching boys and girls dance traditional Peruvian dances (from this northern coastal region), the traditional Marinera and the Northern Marinera, in a national competition.

Although those dancers can’t see these photos, I am putting them here so that you can see how talented these boys and girls are. And by the way, here in Chiclayo, Peru, people often use the “@” to represent both the letter “o” and the letter “a” at the same time; this is to include both genders using only one letter, and as such, promote through language, gender equality. For example, “children” in Spanish is “niños”, but “niños” also means “boys” while “niñas” means girls. “They” or “Them” is “Ellos”, but “ellos” also means “they” or “them” in terms of a group of only men or boys, wheras “ellas” refers to a group of only women and girls. Just like in French or Portuguese, even if there is only one male in a group of a thousand females, the masculine “ellos” is used. Thus, through language, people are trying to be more conscious of the language they use to make sure it is inclusive of girls and women.

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¡Qué orgullo tengo de tod@s ustedes! Espero que nunca dejen de bailar.

How proud I am of all of you! I hope you never stop dancing.