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APRIL NEWSLETTER

April has been a very busy month with the volunteers:

Completing a lot of renovation and construction work,
Starting classes in English and taking some very creative art classes
Helping local dentists from Cusco check all of the kids
Teaching the Grade 5 and 6's how to play tennis
Helping the Easter Bunny hide Chocolate Easter Eggs
Developing the Peru's Challenge sponsorship strategy
Enjoying one of the most beautiful train rides from Lake Titicaca and a trip to the Sacred Valley

Non-stop work at Pumamarca

All month the volunteers have been busy with renovation and construction work up at the school. With help from the local fathers, we have completely finished the renovation work on the inside of the last classroom, including a wood floor. This was the last classroom to be completed which is desperately needed for Grade 5 & 6. Previously there was no classroom for them so they had their lessons in the Directors office.

With the increase from 14 kids last year attending school to nearly 100 kids this year, Peru's Challenge organised for three more teachers to be provided by the Department of Education. Thanks to some of our supporters, we are also providing the salaries for two additional teachers meaning that each classroom has no more than 30 kids and for the first time ever, there is a teacher for Grade 5 & 6. Now the Director can have his office back!

Because we have done so much work on the school and it is looking so good, we are finding that people are starting to peer through the classroom windows from outside to see what is going on. This is becoming very distracting to the kids in their classes so the volunteers have built a fenced-off fruit and flower garden in the front of the school as well as extending the perimeter fence.

The volunteers also let their artist talents shine by starting the welcome sign at the front gate of the school. They painted the sign in Spanish, Quechua (the indigenous language) and English. The Quechua version proved to be a little difficult to determine how to write correctly as Quechua is a language that traditionally has never been written down.

Our task for the next month is to build a functional kitchen at the school. The volunteers started by clearing out our old storeroom and workshop which will be converted into a bright, airy and hygienic space.

All in the name of creativity

Ingredients for a great time at Pumamarca: flour, water, paper, balloons and lots of messy hands! This was the recipe for the recent Grade 5/6 paper maché art class, held in the playground on a sunny Wednesday afternoon in April.

The kids started by plastering their balloons with a very sticky paper maché mixture and then, very patiently, allowed them to dry over the week. The younger children almost ended the project prematurely when they mistook the drying balloons for piñatas but the week passed without incident and the Grade 5/6ers were ready and waiting, very excitedly, for the following week's class: painting!

After cutting the balloons in half to make masks, the kids painted their creations. Eyes, noses and mouths were cut, faces were painted and decorated and clothes got very messy. But the finished products were worth all the effort; extremely artistic with plenty of flair! Muy bien chicos!

Since Peru's Challenge started its volunteer program, we have learnt that the volunteers cannot be in the classrooms all of the time. They are too distracting for the kids as they are seen as a friend to play with. The teachers start to loose respect from the kids and do not have enough time to teach them the standard curriculum.

Therefore, we have decided that the volunteers should only take lessons in art & craft, physical education and English. Each week the volunteers are given a class timetable so they know when they are on lessons and can plan accordingly.

Every month the volunteers have been getting more creative with their lessons up at Pumamarca and are involving themselves 100 per cent no matter what! Take this photo of Professor Kate as an example...

Better hygiene and dental care

This month the volunteers have been focusing on developing a hygiene program for the Pumamarca kids.

Each morning before the kids are given fruit or bread and milk, the volunteers and the teachers organise for each class to line up and wash and dry their hands and face.

It has not taken long for the kids to pick up the habit with some already doing it without being told. Our volunteers have even had to tell to some of the kids to stop washing as they are fanatical about getting every little spec of dirt off their hands.

After eating, the kids then come back to wash their cups and bowls and then clean their teeth. Some kids have toothpaste all over their faces but still come back to the volunteers saying they haven't cleaned their teeth yet wanting to do them again.

Every week or so, we also organise to wash their hair. This is proving a hit especially with the girls as they have fun doing hairstyles for each other (and our volunteers) afterwards.

Over the last month, Peru's Challenge organised dental professionals from Cusco to volunteer their time to visit the Pumamarca community. Each class was given a demonstration on how to brush their teeth correctly and the dentists examined each of their teeth.

There is a lot of follow-up and preventative work to do so next month we will be liaising with the local professionals to assist us and aim to ensure the program becomes a regular event in the school timetable. We will also start hygiene classes with the parents to ensure that the same standards of hygiene are being practiced at home.

Next stop Wimbledon!

Written by Ben, 24 years old from Australia.

This month the Grade 5 & 6´s from Pumamarca adventured down the hill to Cusco for their introduction to the game of tennis. The day started as part of the kids' physical educational program however it turned into far more than just that.

Never have there been seven kids more excited to get in a van as what the 5/6´s where when Benjamin arrived to take us down the windy road to the city of Cusco.

Once we arrived at the courts the kids I'm sure were still not quite sure what they were in for, however as soon as we got down to the fundamentals of the game they really got into it.

As we started with the main strokes forehand and backhand, I was amazed at how quickly they picked up the technique. In particular a couple of the kids really looked like they had been playing for a couple of years.

I then took them through the volley and serving motions and again they were very impressive. We were having so much fun that the teacher and the bus driver Benjamin even got involved and after about half an hour we even had a small crowd watching!

We finished with a game of Packman, running along the lines of the court trying not to be caught, which was a lot of fun.

On the way back to Pumamarca we stop to show the kids the plaza of Cusco. Even though the Pumamarca community is just over the mountain this was the first visit into Cusco for most of the kids. It was amazing to see the look on their faces when we drove into the main square. To top it off Selvy provided ice creams on the way home.

It was truly an amazing experience and I was so happy to have been involved. I know that Mark will agree with me when I say it really did show how something so simple can make such a big difference to the life of these kids.

Thanks must go to Mark and Selvy for helping out so much on the day.

The Easter Bunny visits Pumamarca

Hot on the heals of Papa Noel (Santa Claus), the Easter Bunny did not want to disappoint. One of our previous volunteers Tanya, provided enough funds for the Easter Bunny to "make" and hide more than 600 chocolate Easter Eggs around the Pumamarca school grounds.

The volunteers helped by hiding them in different locations so the big kids did not find them all at once and leave the little four-year-olds with nothing.

Everything was nearly ruined when an old lady shepherding her sheep in the area thought all her Easters had come at once and started picking up and eating the eggs. Thanks to Easter Bunny's trusty helper Kath, the old lady only got away with only a handful.

The Easter Bunny also provided two piñatas each for the boys and the girls to knock down while blind-folded. They boys ripped their to shreds and nearly broke all the toy trucks inside while the girls delicately tapped away until the dolls and hair bands fell to the ground.

All ended well with the kids walking home with chocolate all over their faces.

Looking for more support

Over the last eight months, Peru's Challenge volunteers have been developing our Sponsorship Strategy. Work continued on the plan this month with ideas to develop sponsorship deals internationally.

Currently our volunteer travel program pays for all the work we do within the communities. Our aim is to build up an international support network through corporate, school, group and individual donors to increase the work we do and take the pressure off the volunteer program.

Often we are contacted by past volunteers wishing to donate funds to help with certain projects or organise fundraising ideas back home. We are currently putting together a simple donation process which will operate through our website. More information will be available on this in future newsletters.

Next month, we are looking forward to a visit from the television travel program 'Getaway' on Nine Network Australia. They are going to be filming a number of stories on the work of Peru's Challenge which will air over the next couple of months.

We would also like to thank Southern Crossings, a travel company that visits Peru. We have been chosen as their local project to support. Each passenger gives three percent of the cost of their tour directly to Peru's Challenge when they visit our project. They also decide on how that money should be spent. So far, they have been helping to provide fresh fruit to the kids every second day.

Taking the train option from Lake Titicaca

As part of our volunteer program, all volunteers that stay with us for two months or more enjoy a four-day tour to Lake Titicaca. One-month volunteers can pay for this trip in addition to their program as long as they can find the time to go in between Spanish lessons, other tours and the project work!

This month, our one-month volunteers decided to make the trip in three days over a weekend and return by train to Cusco from Puno.

Although the train option is more expensive it is definitely worth it. It is about a eight-hour journey but it passes very quickly.

Here is what Gab, one of our volunteers wrote about the trip:

An easy bus ride from Cusco, Puno, on the shores of the beautiful Lake Titicaca, makes a great weekend trip and one that many volunteers have undertaken in the past.

Thanks to Mily's wonderful trip planning skills, the Nancarrow family from Australia visited the majestic Lake this month, with many positive reports of the weekend coming home.

With only one day to visit as much as they could, the volunteers booked an all day boat trip, which took them to the fairytale floating islands, where they shopped in the local markets and listened to the fascinating history of the local people.

Following the floating islands, the boat took the group to Taquili, a beautiful island about two and a half hours from shore, where they enjoyed a traditional Peruvian lunch complete with quinua soup and lots of Inca Cola!

The highlight of the trip for most was the Peru Rail train ride home. One of the most spectacular train trips in the world, the ride from Puno back to Cusco winds its way through small villages, past huge snowcapped mountains and stops at local markets. No one wanted the eight hour journey to end and all decided that the train was a much better option than the bus!

Many thanks to Peru's Challenge for organising such a great weekend!"

Another trip highlight that every one of our volunteers gets to enjoy is the the famous Sacred Valley tour. Although this month there was a bit of rain, it didn't stop the volunteers from walking through all the ruins and even seeing the "magic water" at Ollantaytambo.

Hello and goodbye

This month, Lucy in our Australia office finished up with us. We would like to thank Lucy for all the dedication she put into the role of Volunteer Manager and the work she did to organise our volunteer recruitment process.

Lucy will be replaced by Ginny who volunteered with us for six months last year. Ginny is based in Cusco, Peru and will manage the recruitment of volunteers from there. She will also be on-site to help our volunteers directly at the projects.

Thank you to Lucy and welcome to Ginny.

This month we say goodbye to the Nancarrow family of six. It was a pleasure to get to know you all and thank you for all your assistance.