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NOVEMBER 2006 NEWSLETTER

Volunteers find jungle jaguar

Volunteering with Peru's Challenge is not only work, but can also include time off to experience some of the magic of Peru. This is an account of a week-long jungle tour undertaken by Dutch volunteers Paula and Co, during which they experienced a rare close-up sighting of a jaguar in the wild.

After two months working with the school kids of Pumamarca we needed a week’s rest and a jungle tour seemed the ideal opportunity.

After a 10 hour bus ride - including an unintended transfer to a goods bus when our bus broke down in the middle of nowhere - our first overnight was at Orchids Lodge.

The first days of our stay in the jungle included activities such as mountain biking, rafting and a rainforest canopy tour. Then the real jungle tour began! By boat down the Alto Madre de Dios River and the Manu River, a six-hour ride with magnificent views of the surrounding rainforest and the many different species of birds including macaws, herons, kingfishers and cormorants.

During early morning or late afternoon walks we also saw many different species of monkeys, jumping from branch to branch, yelling and even throwing branches.

There is so much to see and to experience, you sometimes do not know where to look, but two experiences really stand out.

One of our early morning outings was a magnificent lake in the middle of the jungle called Salvador Lake. Sitting on a catamaran we were watching the caimans, otters and other animals in and around the lake when suddenly a group of 5 to 6 otters started to attack a caiman. Making loud noises they swam in formation at the caiman which defended himself bravely. After each attack the otters swam back and regrouped. After six or seven attacks they gave up and swam quietly away.

During one of our walks there was much excitement when we saw a fresh jaguar footprint. The next day during a boat ride between drop off points our guide nearly fell out of our boat with excitement, when we saw sitting on the bank enjoying the sun a jaguar. The boatman quickly turned the boat to get closer and nearly capsized, but we had a magnificent view and after a few moments it got up and slowly walked back into the forest.

These and the many other experiences made it an unforgettable week. A better break during our three months with Peru’s Challenge is hard to imagine. An absolute must!

Pumamarca community comes together to build new residence for mothers’ group

This month Peru’s Challenge received a major endorsement from the whole community of Pumamarca when almost every family in the village participated in a working bee to create a new home for the mothers’ group.

The mothers’ group meets twice a week as an opportunity for mothers to socialise and also produce saleable traditional handicrafts. When Peru’s Challenge started working with the community it had eight members, but has since risen to over 100, well and truly outgrowing its home in the 3/4 classroom.

Earlier this year a community meeting organised by Peru’s Challenge decided to create a new building for the group and involve the whole community in a working bee to complete the project.

Every family of the school would have to produce 300 adobe bricks in four weeks leading up to the construction day, but as it was over 15,000 bricks were created as families outside the school became involved.

On the first Sunday workshop over 120 men showed up and completed the foundations and the first three rows of the walls in one day. Two weeks later the walls were completed and the roof went on a week after that.

To celebrate the completion of the roof, Peru’s Challenge hosted a community BBQ.

A fantastic turnout and the involvement of almost everyone in Pumamarca in this project is a ringing endorsement to the work Peru’s Challenge volunteers have put in over the last 12 months and how we have engaged the community.

Pumamarca talleres group gets creative

Pumamarca’s Talleres (meaning workshops) is a twice weekly event. Essentially Talleres is an afternoon craft gathering, where members of the community – mostly mothers - come together to weave, sew, bead, braid, cut, paste and paint. The aim of the classes is to create products that can be sold to volunteers and visitors at monthly exhibitions, and eventually to sell at markets in Cusco.

While some trades such as ceramics and weaving are coming along tremendously, with beautiful results, other areas such as jewellery and card making are in need of some assistance and fresh ideas.

Some of the volunteers come up to Pumamarca on Mondays and Tuesday afternoons to help provide new inspiration to their work by doing some research into the particular area and discovering what sells well in the main markets in Cusco.

This month there has been a rapid advancement in the production of jewellery, and improvements in designs.

Last month there was a sense that the young women didn’t feel there was much value placed on their skill.

To help redress this, we bought a new bead storage system and sorted through bags of old broken jewelry to reuse the beads and pendants. Recycling like this created new design ideas and a fresh start.

Jewellery making is a difficult craft and not all of the necklaces and bracelets produced so far have sold well. This month we taught the group some aesthetic rules about pattern, repetition and colours, as well as emphasising the importance of experimenting with new designs.

The expectation is that Talleres will become a self-sufficient community project, allowing the mothers to supplement their incomes as well as enjoy some time together. Self-sufficiency is still a way off, so in the meantime all donations of jewellery making materials, plus any other craft materials are greatly appreciated by all involved.
Written by Briony from Australia

Teaching at Pumamarca a rewarding challenge

Teaching the kids of Pumamarca is not easy and hardly comparable with teaching in a developed country. Few materials, primitive furniture and no syllabus mean volunteer teachers have to work hard to make the lessons interesting to keep the attention of the kids.

Most of the volunteers do a fantastic job, bringing their own skills, talents and personality to what is a difficult, but highly rewarding achievement.

However, volunteers soon discover that teaching is more than keeping children busy. To do a good job you must be well prepared, not only with day-to-day lessons, but also a long term plan.

This can be undertaken in teams, with a handover occurring as each volunteer gets towards the end of their stay to help provide continuity.

This system makes your stay in the volunteer project of Peru’s Challenge enjoyable and challenging. And the kids love you still more. Is that not great? Written by Co from Holland

Creative Kindergarten

Kindy arts and crafts lessons this month have been greatly enjoyed by children, teachers and volunteers alike.

In one lesson the children were introduced to the action and counting rhyme of 5 Cheeky Monkeys with cut outs and crepe paper.

The children immediately took to the activity pasting, colouring and cutting.

It was an extensive activity for the little ones and the results were impressive. The teacher made the crocodile.

Five children were then selected to come out the front as the teacher sang the song in Spanish and Dianne took the position of crocodile, gobbling up a monkey at the end of each verse.

All the cheeky monkeys were last spotted running and ohh, ohh, ohing all the way down the road.
Written by Dianne from Australia

Un Poco Loco

Grade two theatre and dance classes in November proved a great hit, with Nic, Dianne, Paula, Briony and Ginny introducing a whole new range of dances.

One lesson introduced several new dances including the Macarena.

The large group had warm up sessions and were shown several new moves before being broken up into smaller groups to learn a new dance.

They then had ten minutes to learn and then present to the other groups.

Dances included the Hokey Pokey, The Macarena, a revised version of line dancing and many others.

After each presentation the children bowed and were given a rousing applause.
Written by Dianne from Australia

Wedding Crashers

In November we were lucky enough to be invited to the wedding of a couple from Pumamarca held in the San Sebastian Church.

We ventured in from the cool wind that afternoon into the Chapel and sat quietly as the ceremony took place.

The service was a serious affair and after the wedding vows - including wishes of peace and wellbeing on the congregation - we whispered amongst ourselves in the giant Roman Catholic Church.

None of us recognised any of the other guests. Even the children running around were not from the school.

Then it was announced that the Pumamarca wedding was next up ... we looked at each other and could hardly help laughing. We had just witnessed a different couple’s wedding.

Not long after our first Peruvian wedding experience, we saw our couple exchange vows. They were then showered with rice and confetti on the steps of the church.

Then it was up to Pumamarca for the reception festivities. A couple of mini vans drove the guests up the mountain. When we arrived the rest of the community who had been unable to make the service were there at the flower covered adobe house. There was a band playing and children dancing in the falling flower petals.

The whole community had contributed to the celebrations and sat on long planks of wood around the dance floor all rugged up to keep warm. All the kids from the school made us feel very welcome, by dancing and sitting with us. While the married couple took their first dance as husband and wife the guests were served pisco sours, champagne, pork and bread.

It was a wonderful occasion and we felt privileged to be welcomed by the whole community.
Written by Briony from Australia

Saving teeth in Pumamarca

Thanks to the efforts of Sheila (volunteered in August), Peru’s Challenge has received a supply of a special tooth mousse which helps strengthen teeth and prevent decay. As part of our commitment to health and hygiene in Pumamarca we are encouraging the application of the mousse amongst the adults every four to six weeks.

Working with its social worker, Peru’s Challenge has instituted a program of mousse application clinics.

The first clinic was held in November with an encouraging turnout. Despite some initial reluctance about 25 mothers had their teeth cleaned and we were also thrilled when one of the men came forward to have the mousse applied.

We had hoped to apply the mousse to men in the community at a recent working bee but unfortunately this didn’t work out. We are currently having discussions with the social worker about how best to reach the men of the community since during the week the men are generally working.

We have made a start, and Peru’s Challenge is committed to continuing its efforts in dental hygiene in Pumamarca.
Written by Ali from Australia

Pumamarca supplies volunteers with fruit and veg

With the success of the first fruit and veg sales at the mothers’ group exhibitions in Pumamarca it was decided to make the most of this resource by organising to purchase fruit and veg from the community once a week.

With the help of the social worker, and after talking with the mothers, a list of available fruit and veg was written up. It was decided to place the order Thursdays with collections at mothers’ group on Monday nights.

The first list was rather small as that week many of the volunteers were on tours. This didn’t impress the social worker who pushed one of the volunteers into buying almost everything available.

The following Monday it was all counted and organised with the amount coming to two big bags overflowing with fresh produce. That week the top house ate very well indeed.

The social worker promised the mothers’ a bigger list the following week and the next week it grew and even included two guinea pigs. They were already cooked much to the disgust of Santusa (our devoted housekeeper, who insists on feeding volunteers with her fabulous cooking at every opportunity) who felt that was her job – although she happily helped eat them.

It’s a great opportunity for the volunteers to eat fresh fruit and veg and a chance for the mothers in Pumamarca to supplement their incomes. Several more cuy have been purchased since the first time – all wonderfully cooked by Santusa.
Written by Ali from Australia

Thanks-giving celebrations international style

Nick, one of our american volunteers had his family come to visit for Thanks-giving this month.

Santusa and Kirsten (Nick's mum) worked together all day on the big feast.

Although Santusa cannot speak English and Kirsten cannot speak Spanish they still managed to communicate very well together all day.

When everything was ready Kirsten said to Santusa in English "should we get everyone to start serving themselves?" and Santusa replied in Spanish "si, un buen idea" (yes a great idea), and off they went together to get everyone organised.

There was so much great food to eat that we all enjoyed. The only thing was that we had to substitute the turkey for a hen as there was not one turkey available in all of Cuzco. It still tasted great!

Thanks to Santusa and Kirsten for a wonderful meal.

Nude Pumamarca Calendars

Actually not, but got your attention. The long awaited Pumamarca calendars are printed and available for purchase and feature photos taken by volunteer Michaela truly representing the heart of the children and community of Pumamarca.

To reduce printing costs and maximise fundraising the calendars aren’t year specific, but as beautiful as they are they will still make a fantastic addition to any wall, or gift.

All the money raised through sales of the calendars will go to the emergency health fund set up to support the community.

If you are interested in purchasing one – or one hundred – please email us at newsletter@peruschallenge.com and let us know how many.

The calendars cost US$10, or US$12 with postage.

We would also like a contact in each country to help us with postage and payments so if you are interested please let us know.

I can’t say enough how beautiful they are!! A big thank you to Michaela for all her time and effort in taking photos.

Thank you to the volunteers of November …

Meagan, thank you for your laugh and you continuous positive attitude.

Carl, the fourth volunteer from Guide, thank you for all of your help and advice with lessons and our project work.

Thank you to Briony for returning as a volunteer and for all the work you did with the Talleres Groups. Hopefully we see you back here in 2007.

Thank you to Dianne for all your help with starting up the Kindy classes, stocktake of the storeroom and help with the cards. Thank you also for your donation of a cupboard for kindy.