Tag Archives: Lima

Las Palmas: Shanty Town

Las Palmas is a shanty town on the outskirts of Lima that is a stark reminder of the harsh reality of Peru’s extremities of socio-economic disparity. The community has over 300 families but does not have a water or electricity supply.  Water is bought in on trucks, and electricity wired in from neighbouring communities, resulting in the actual cost of water and electricity being much higher than in wealthy areas such as Miraflores. Continue reading

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RSIS: Round Square International Service: Day 1

Day 1: Chorrillos

21 students and 5 teachers from 11 different countries and 18 different schools arrived in Lima on Tuesday July 17th.  On the following morning we all headed off to the Chorrillos day care centre in Lima to paint the playground wall.  It was a good activity to help us get to know each other, as well as provide a service to the centre.

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Chincha house building

Chincha is a large town about 200 km south of Lima in the Ica region. It was greatly affected by the 2007 earthquake and the devastation is still very much visible today.  Many families are still living in the temporary US Aid shelters and the town is still littered with destroyed, half-standing buildings. I visited the Sunampe region, where students from Markham College of Lima have been building houses since soon after the earthquake.  After the earthquake Markham College initially  organised donations and collections of food and making survival packs, which were sent down to Chincha by the truckload.

The next major project was to rebuild the school in Sunampe, the poorest area affected. Students raised over a 1/4 million solés and physically built the school from the ground up, solid structures of brick and mortar with several classrooms. They also provided many resources.  Later they built homes for the families of the children who attend the school.  Over time they also built 30 community centres and I saw two of these.  The mayor’s wife pointed out one that is used in the mornings as a kindergarten and the afternoons and evenings for a range of activities and meetings.

The biggest problem thereafter was how to decide who needed houses the most.

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This is where the mayor’s wife became actively involved in setting up a society that helped select those most needy. Yesterday I saw students in ranging in age from 11-20 in 5 groups in their second day of house building. The mayor organises the laying of the concrete slab and the students do all the rest from raw materials bought and delivered from Lima.  One of the DT teachers made the design and the students construct the panels, erect the walls, make windows and doors, put on the roof and paint the inside and outside. There is some flexibility in the design, depending on what the family need.

Students from ages 11 to 20 were busily involved in the various tasks when I arrived on the second day. Alumni who have had been involved at a younger age, had returned to assist and lead the groups. The three boys who won the Kurt Hahn award in 2010 for their leadership in this whole initiative were in their university holidays. One is now studying engineering at UCL had arrived 3 weeks earlier with 2 friends in the same course to build 3 eco toilets they had designed (see photos). Once finished they will run workshops with the families on how to use them.  They also built 4 eco stoves.  Here is their website with more details on this wonderful initiative. https://sites.google.com/site/peruproject2012/home-1

For the duration of the house building the students camped in tents in the mayor’s back yard, who also provided them with breakfast each morning.  The families of the new houses made lunch for each group (with some financial aid).  It was a wonderful atmosphere with much hard work. The local children also got involved in the painting and also tried their best to have a say in the colour choices. Tomorrow a new group of Markham students arrive to begin another 5 houses.

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Daycare centre in Chirrollos

This week I spent some time at a day care centre for needy kids. It was difficult, but also a great experience.  I went every afternoon for 2 hours. The centre is for 1 – 5 year olds and they are there all day from 7:45 to 5pm.  I was first introduced to the centre  by Mr Alan Tin-Win of Markham College and a group of girls on their service work. This particular day they were painting one of the classrooms.

The centre is divided into 4 sections: one section for 1-2 year olds, and a classroom each for 3, 4 & 5 year olds. The centre has its own kitchen and the children are given morning tea, lunch and an afternoon yoghurt type drink. Social workers determine whether families need this support. Health care workers visit regularly to monitor children’s health and growth.  There is also a psychologist who visits to meet work with some of the children with behavioural issues, plus gives support to the teachers. A dance teacher who has his own classroom, takes the classes on rotation, teaching them traditional Peruvian dances.  After lunch all the children have a half hour nap and this you will see in the photos.  They are very cute when they are asleep, but when awake, they are a handful. Several of the boys are quite aggressive – certainly more aggressive than I have ever experienced in children this age.  I was pretty shocked at some of the behaviour and one boy I had to keep a hold of all the time during activities as he would lash out at other kids, completely unprovoked. In one of my sessions, two 4 year old boys had a full on fight and had to be pried apart.

Due to my limited Spanish, I took short sessions in English: numbers, colours, greetings and simple songs plus I did some music activities. I only worked with the 4 & 5 year olds. On the whole the kids were very sweet and loved affection. On my  last afternoon they had a “fiesta” which involved all ages dancing and a visit from Barney. I really enjoyed my time there and will go back when I return from the project in Cusco.

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Lenses

Today was a great day!

I finally managed to put in contact lenses for the first time, by myself!

I bought lenses thinking they would be handy for traveling. Well I almost gave up ever being able to wear them, having wasted 7 right ones and 4 left ones without getting a single one in!

 I woke up today and thought it was time for a run. Being a public holiday (no Español classes), I was determined not to leave the bathroom until they were in! I succeeded! It was great running without glasses – plus it was beautiful weather!

(The fact that I look like I’ve been swimming in pure chlorine for 6 hours doesn’t matter.)

*Note to self – if intending to wear contacts in public, get up 3 hours earlier. ————————————————————————————————————————————–

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Miraflores flash mob

My first walk around town, I came across a flash mob……. check out the little Peruvian – he totally steals the show with his little solo near the end !

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The local police were  non to happy about this……… and neither was I when I found out that they were actually from a church in Florida, here on a “mission”.  When I asked what their “mission” entailed (expecting perhaps something like working with street kids or the elderly) I was proudly informed that they were doing street ministering (????)

Well at least the little fella is definitely Peruvian and not part of the “mob”….. it was worth stopping to see him.

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Change of plans…

Slight detour on my way to Africa.  Going to court in Canada was an uncertainty up until 1 week before, which made planning a bit tricky.  The Round Square International Service project in Peru needed a female teacher due to a late drop out.  I was interested if I was going to be in North America, but could not confirm. There was a good chance someone else would become available before my plans were finalised.   It all fell into place at the nth hour, so here I am in Lima.

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