JULY 2006 NEWSLETTER
This month our volunteers have:
- mixed with our third volunteer from Guide, Sweden
- planned some great English and sports classes
- helped Ciaran with his mural
- helped make adobe bricks
- witnessed and assisted with emergency health issues
- treated kids and parents for parasites
- travelled to some amazing places in Peru, and
- celebrated Peruvian Independence Day.
Another volunteer from Guide, Sweden 
Every three months, Guide - an IT company from Sweden, has been sending us a volunteer that chooses to stay for one, two or three months to work on our projects.
The CEO of Guide, wants to give his employees the opportunity apply for volunteer work with Peru's Challenge while still paying them their normal monthly salary.
Nik was the third volunteer from the company and he has been with us for the last three months. Using his IT skills, we put Nik to work in designing a website for Ultimate Tours Peru – a travel agency run by Selvy and myself that also puts together the volunteer travel programs.
Nik did a fantastic job in such a short time on the website which has received many positive comments. Thanks Nik for all your work – the website looks fantastic.
English classes progressing well
 With the help of our volunteers, the Grade 5/6 students are really progressing with their English classes. The kids have already covered the basics in numbers, colours, days of the week and months of the year.
This month they focused on animals. The volunteers showed their artistic flare with some great drawings of pigs, cows, butterflies, chickens and snakes.
The object of this particular lesson was to match the name of the animal with its drawing.
The hardest thing for the kids when learning English is pronunciation and spelling. Because Spanish is a phonetic language the kids are spelling English words as they sound, for example purple - to them is would be written as it sounds “perpel”.
This is really hard for our volunteers to change – I guess it just takes practice.
 Another great sports class was designed by our volunteers this month which the Grade 3/4 kids loved. The idea was to transfer water from one bucket to the other as quick as you could via a sponge.
The boys went up against the girls in a fierce competition. At the beginning the girls has it all over the boys as they were much more careful in cupping the full sponge in their hands as they ran to the other bucket and making sure that all water was squeezed out, where as the boys just raced and spilt water everywhere.
But it didn’t take them long to spy on the girls and realise their careful technique was the winning formula. They adopted the more careful approach and beat the girls by an inch.
Following is an article written by one of our July volunteers, Aliza from Montreal, Canada. She did a fantastic job with the kids and their lessons.
In Canada I am an elementary school teacher at St. Brendan School where I teach Grades four through to six special education as well as moral education to the Grade five students.
Before coming to Peru, I explained to my students where I would be going and what I would be doing. We had already done work on the countries of the world and the children were very interested in helping.
With the support of parents and teachers we were able to collect several bags of school supplies including copybooks, pencils, pens, rulers, glue and much more.
A special thanks to one family who were low on school supplies and so donated money which has been used for books and art supplies.
St. Brendan School hopes to keep working with Pumamarca school and Peru's Challenge in the future.
Aliza Dowskin, July 2006.
Construction
 Each month we promised to give an update on Ciaran’s famous mural. We work this month really progressed as you can see from the photos.
Ciaran has great vision when designing the mural. All the volunteers are happy to pitch in but are often puzzled at his instructions on what shapes to paint and which colours to use.
But every time, Ciaran proves his artistic talents as the colours and shapes end up forming an amazing part of the Pumamarca landscape.
Parents Group still getting more members
Although said we could not accept any more members into the afternoon skills classes for Parents Group as we reached over 100 participants, we are not strong enough to say no when new community members come to ask to participate.
 Therefore, the one room we have available at the school for the group is overflowing. We are currently using the grade 3/4 classroom but we are finding that materials and products are going missing and are being destroyed as the kids play with them during their morning classes.
The parents are getting very upset as they know how much effort they have put into the products and that Peru’s Challenge have been very generous in purchasing all materials.
We cannot continue to lose materials or finished products and with incredible turnout, the need for a new workshop continues to present itself.
We are in the process of building a new workshop at the school which will include room the weaving and sewing machines, space for all members to work on their designated task, a display area and cabinets for completed work and a storeroom to hold all materials securely.
Selvy asked the President of the Pumamarca community if it was possible for us to build the workshop. He thought it was such a good idea that the next Sunday he called a community meeting and instructed every family to build 300 adobe bricks for the construction of the workshop.
We had no idea that this was going on but over a period of four weeks, 12,000 adobes were produced – more than enough to build the workshop and help finish the perimeter fence of the school.
 The process of making adobe bricks is just like making mud-pies! First you dig a wide hole in the ground and loosen up the dirt. Then add water and thin straw and stir until you have nice muddy slush (just like chocolate).
Once all mixed together, put into a wood mould using all parts of your body – hands, fists, feet, elbows … lift off the mould and there you have your first adobe brick. This then needs to be sun-dried for two weeks and turned every so often. Once dried this 15kg brick is ready to be used in any type of construction.
Emergency health issues in the Pumamarca community
This month we have been overrun with emergency health issues within the community. Sometimes they are with the kids but more often than not they are with parents and older members in the community.
The first was with a father of one of the kids in Grade 3/4 who for the last six months goes through phases of dizzy spells, being disorientated or confused when asked questions and occasionally loses muscle strength. Some days he is good and can work and other days he is terrible.
Our social worker has been trying to organise for him to go down to Cusco to see a specialist but every time she organises an appointment he never turns up. How many times should we try to help him …?
The next issue was one that most of you already know about – the grandmother left to rot and die following the amputation of her leg. Below is the letter I wrote that was sent around to everyone.
DATE: 29 July, 2006
I have been out of the office a lot over the last three weeks due to some emergency health issues up at Pumamarca. Below is a story on the latest one. It is pretty awful so only read it you want to.
Two weeks ago, our Social Worker found an 85 year old lady that was near dying. Two months ago, she had her leg amputated due to diabetes and was then in hospital for a month.
After a month, the kids brought her home (all around 60 years old) and did not know how to care for her. They had spent all of their money on hospital bills so pretty much left her to die (understandably when they had no money left at all).
Over the last month she developed horrific bed-sores (to the bone) as her children were not turning her - ever (they didn't know they had to).
The stupid clinic that she was in gave her medicines for a heart condition and nothing for what she needed. As a result of the lack of movement and incorrect medication she now has a serious blood infection and gang-green.
We organised for an American owned hospital here in Cuzco to bring up the ambulance and two doctors to see what they could do for her at home, but they insisted that she be brought down to the hospital - with the family's permission.
At the hospital, they turned her over and then found (among other problems) a hole the size of fist going from her upper bottom right through to her front stomach wall with dead black skin all around it - the smell was terrible. The doctors nor our social worker (and obviously myself) had never seen anything like it.
Our social worker was so upset and furious that she wanted to press charges on the family. But Selvy calmed her down and talked her through it, explaining that the family was not to blame due to lack of knowledge and lack of funds.
Peru's Challenge is now paying for all her medical treatment: operations every day if she can handle it to cut away dead skin, reconstruct her insides, and clean all her wounds.
It is going to cost us over US$2,000. We don't have the funds for this (our emergency fund is only US$500 a month and we have already used most of it this month on other health problems), but we are going to email all of our volunteers to see if they can each donate US$10.
The problem is that we are really in two-minds about what we should do. Should we go ahead with what every treatment necessary to see if she will recover (which could very well kill her in her current state and is going to take at least a month) or should we just try and make her as comfortable as possible before she passes away?
Of course this decision is up to the family - they are insistent that the doctors do whatever they can for her to help her survive.
We are going to monitor her progress over the next week and then we will talk with the family and the doctors to see what is best.
An update of her progress will be given in the next newsletter.
As a result, most of our funds this month have gone towards these emergency health issues. But Peru’s Challenge is not just a health organisation. We work on all types of projects within communities. Therefore we cannot give all of our funding to these issues but they can also not be ignored. And who do we choose to help with our limited funding?
We really need to set up an Emergency Health Fund to cover problems like this and so are thinking of some fundraising ideas. One that we are working on at the moment is a calendar with photos taken by Michaela, one of our volunteers this month. They look great and will be ready for sale soon for US$10 each.
Examples of some of the photos used are here in the newsletter to the right of this story.
If you think you can sell a bunch or would like to buy a couple, please send me an email jane@peruschallenge.com.
We are also going to set up a health clinic in Pumamarca and have it staffed by medical students and volunteers. We will also organise doctors visit once a week if possible. This will then hopefully find problems like the one above much earlier.
Parasite problems and treatment
 Every couple of months our social worker organises free medicines for the children and their parents to rid parasites from their bodies. The medicine tastes revolting but we always give our sweets afterwards to get rid of the taste.
Mothers often comment a week later how much better their children are feeling and that they have their appetite back and are not complaining of stomach aches or diarrhea.
It is very important that we continue with this program on a regular basis. But what we also need to concentrate on is general hygiene practices.
At the school we ensure that the mothers who are cooking lunch have washed their hands with soap and that they are cooking with clean utensils. We also ensure that the kids wash their hands and faces before eating and then again afterwards.
During our house visits in the community we need to ensure that the mothers are using the same hygiene principals in their homes and have sufficient cooking utensils.
 The biggest problem the community faces is the quality of drinking water they have access to. We tested the water supply at Pumamarca and it is 200 times over the safe drinking level.
One way to make this water safe to drink is to boil it for six minutes. The problem with this solution is that boiling water for that amount of time takes a lot of wood which become too expensive for the families.
But we are going to draw on the experience we had in our first project, Picol. Thanks to Liz and Karen from Australia, they designed a water purifying solution that is cheap and easy to organise so that each family can purify their water.
More details to come.
Our volunteer travel program
Every month our volunteers enjoy some great tours in Peru as part of our volunteer travel program. And every month we feature a destination in our newsletters.
This month it is the trekking route to Machu Picchu. Following are some beautiful photos from our June and July volunteers.
 
Some of the group were even brave enough to take on the four-day trek to Choquequirao – an amazing trek to the “real lost city of the Incas”.
The group had a great time other than the blisters, sand flies and an un-named guide! Have a look at the photos which tell the amazing story.
This trekking route also continues on to Machu Picchu over eight days and is well worth it if you are fit and have the time.
 
Partying at Paucartambo
 Some of our volunteers headed off to dance in the streets with the locals who were celebrating the fiesta for the Virgen Del Carmen.
For four days, the small town of Paucartambo and its streets are transformed into circus of costumes, masks, parades and of course lots of cervezas (beer)!
But that is not the only reason for making the three-hour combi ride from Cusco.
Leaving Paucartambo in the early hours, the volunteers headed a further two hours in the combi to a place where the Andes mountains meet the Amazon Jungle.
Here at Tres Cruces visitors have the chance to see the famous eclipse when the sun appears to rise three times over the Jungle.
By the time the sun began to show, the volunteers sleeping bags were covered in a thin layer of ice, but it was worth braving the early morning.
This year the group wasn’t lucky enough to see the three suns (very rare to see) but they did get to view an amazing sunrise over the Amazon Jungle.
Independence Day
 July 27 marks the Day of Independence for Peru. Therefore, every year, students in all schools march through the plazas of their town.
For weeks, before the big day, our kids at Pumamarca practiced every day on their marching and singing.
On the day, the Pumamarca school was invited to march and attend the celebrations in a community up the mountain named Misqi-Uno.
The volunteers came along to watch the procession. All felt very proud of the Pumamarca kids as they proudly marched, sung and waved the Peruvian flag.
This month, it is time to say goodbye to all those that left in July:
Thank you Emma for all of your support during your time with us and offering to help when you get back home.
 Michaela, thanks for your wonderful work with the photos for the calendar and postcards.
Aliza, you were fantastic with the kids. Your true teaching skills really shined.
Lindsey and Ashley, I am thanking you together as everything you did together with the kids was wonderful.
Thanks for all of your help Laura and your kind words during your month with us.
Becca, thank you for all of your enthusiasm and helping keep the team together. Hopefully we can work together in the future.
 Thanks Aly for your month with us and your great class ideas. I hope you are still learning the guitar!
Gypsy thank you for joining us for two months. At times it was hard for you but your assistance was invaluable within the Mothers Group and I hope you enjoyed the rest of your trip.
A finally, Nik thanks for your three months with us. Your help with website, the English classes and construction was fantastic.
Jane Gavel
President & Co-Founder
Peru’s Challenge
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