Images of Peru/Imágenes del Perú

Through black-and-white photographs, "Images of Peru" tells a photojournalistic story of a young man's first journeys into Peru, journeys fueled with passion for community, with spirit of building, with admiration for human endurance that he later manifests in other developing countries around the world. His narrative weaves sensitive, humorous, elucidating observations around the photos as he first experiences Peru's highlands with the newly formed Peace Corps from 1965 to 1967 then countrywide with a home improvement loan program from 1978 to 1982. From the author, "This bilingual (English and Spanish) photography book of black-and-white photos is primarily from my Peace Corps experience in Peru from 1965 to 1967 helping small indigenous communities in the Peruvian highlands (sierra) to build improved schools using local materials and donated materials from a government program known as Cooperación Popular. It was one of the flagship projects of the president at the time, Fernando Belaunde Terry. The program was designed to reestablish the Inca practice of communal labor ("minka") in developing community projects, many of which were schools built of local materials. The pictures show typical daily "campesino" life. Because I was working with the community members on a daily basis, they always saw me with a camera and so it was easy to get very natural and candid pictures. Each picture is accompanied by a descriptive narrative in both English and Spanish. The descriptions intend to convey the ambiance and the situation shown in the photos. Each photo represents a personal experience so in a sense each one also has a story to go with it. I was humbled by the hard-working nature and dedication to community spirit of the community members in spite of the hardships they faced daily. They were very hard workers; they struggled against many difficulties and sufferings and were very poor. In spite of all this, they had such dignity and pride. I always had great respect and admiration for them." Mahlon Barash, Peace Corps volunteer, Peru, 1965-1967