Amartya Sen, a previous winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, has written an interesting article proposing the international regulation of SMALL arms trade. I´ve never thought about that before, but it´s an interesting idea.

From one of my college friends ("Roommate For Life") who is a Peace Corps volunteer in Mauritania:

Do people do the whole birthday thing in Peru? There are no birthdays in Mauritania. Most often, people don't know when they were born, so all kinds of official documentation reads JAN 1st for everyone. They do know the word "birthday" thanks to 50 cent who apparently blew up world wide.

While the situation seems more prevalent in Mauritania, there are indeed a lot of Peruvians who don´t know their birthdays. It´s pretty sad to me, as an American, since the main cause is parents having too many children to remember the dates for every single one of them. They don´t need documentation until the age of 18, so they just plain forget. And so the birth of a person may never be celebrated...they will never have their special day or feel that excitement of a birthday present, birthday party, birthday greetings, birthday cake or birthday hugs. And they wonder why self-esteem is such a problem around here. Similarly, some parents don´t even name their children, especially if it´s an illegitimate child. There is a national government campaign for the children´s "right to an identity."

As for me, I ate my cake a day early and partied three days early...and since my parents have thrown me enough pool parties in my life, I will be fine without much fanfare. Anyway, I´m used to not being home for my birthday. :o)

In other news, I´ve found my ideal Peace Corps site. It´s La Tortuga, a fishing village of 3,500 people that is an hour away from my town, although it´s considered part of the same municipality. I also have to go through Piura and then catch a car in Paita to get there, so it takes me about 2 hours since I can´t go directly. It´s a village of artisinal (small-scale) fishermen right on the beach. I could smell the ocean walking out of the school. Extreme poverty is rampant there and they get water delivered to them by truck. One of their big dreams is to develop their village into a tourist destination because they claim their beachers are wonderful. However, I haven´t checked out the beach yet, so I´ll have to do some business research...It´s just so ripe with Peace Corps projects. I want to stay there for 2 weeks one time to do an environmental camp. And more!