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AUGUST 2007 NEWSLETTER

Peru's Challenge responds to earthquake appeal

The heart of Peru’s Challenge is always to make a difference for the good in the lives of the people of Peru, and so it was no different when a 8.0 earthquake struck the coast south of Lima on the 15th of August.

Led by Jane and Selvy, those volunteers who were available contributed time, effort and resources to help provide urgently needed supplies for the earthquake victims.

Items such as wheelbarrows, picks, shovels, water, blankets, toilet paper, etc, were delivered to a staging point at the stadium.

When finished, the team assisted unloading many trucks bringing in additional supplies of water and food ready for transportation to the areas of need.

Peru's Challenge would like to thank the Lonely Planet Foundation, Elly and your Golf Club, Lauren and DB and your Wagga Wagga friends and family, the Wark's, Nora, Phyllis, and all others who provided funds to help Peru's Challenge provide assistance so quickly to the affected areas.

A big thank you also to Inez from Holland who has set up her own charity to source funding for Earthquake victims and other projects in Peru. Peru's Challenge will administer all funds on behalf of art4peru.nl.

Arriving to Pumamarca on our first day

The real life of Pumamarca was on display as we drove along the only bumpy and windy dusty road. Cattle pulling wooden ploughs ploughing the fields, townspeople carrying their tools and harvest along the road, or driving sheep or donkeys.

School is still on holidays so the children were either helping in the fields or just being "kids". The bus bumped and ground its way, loaded with 14 new volunteers, towards the Pumamarca school.

The kids saw the bus and faces lit up, and the mothers smiled as we waved. Kids, being "kids", decided it was fun to race the bus to the school. We watched out of the back window with anxiety as they chased the bus in the dust. Of course they don’t battle with "altitude" like we do.

First impressions of the school... it looks so much like my own primary school. It was bright. There is a playground, an assembly area and flag-posts.

My heart swells at the simple beauty that can be created by some boldly painted murals on classroom buildings.

We have now been joined by those racing children who are now playing in the distance. We listen to Jane Gavel tell her story and the founding of Peru's Challenge.

I cannot help but allow my tears to fall while others fight them back. I can see that no matter how long we are here for we are all in this together, and all with the same aim that Jane had just explained.

We split up into groups of construction, gardening, painting etc. Day one and our project has begun.

Exeter school boys provide safe drinking water to Pumamarca

This month we worked with a group of 19 boys from the Exeter School Canoe Club in England. They spent five days up at the Pumamarca school building a water reservoir.

Here is an exert from their blog which explains the project.

Just got back from three days in the village of Pumamarca.

Over the last few days we have started building a large water tank to store water to be used for drinking. It will be a large plastic tank on four tall feet so supporting it three meters off the ground.

The reasoning behind this being that atmospheric pressure will force the water through the taps (meaning that an expensive pump doesn't have to be used).

Currently the water supply is nearly 100 times over the safety limit for water quality, so you can see why this is necessary. On top of this, global warming is causing there to be less snow in the mountains and so even less water anyway!

Our project should mean that water can be stored for times of drought AND be safe.
(Oh and the money we raised is actually enough for three of these massive structures, its just that we only have time to build one!)

So far we have dug four one metre squared pits (removing approx 8tons of earth with picks and shovels!), dug the foundations for a twenty metre long protective wall (the water tank would be stolen otherwise!) AND refilled our holes with cement and steel reinforcements that we built by hand!

So yeah, done a bit lately and consequently we are ALL completely whacked, achy and muddy.

Thanks ESCC for your fantastic work and for all of your support. We had a great time working together and we hope to see some of you back here as volunteers in the future.

Thanks Pete for leading the boys and getting them well-prepared for the job. We also hope you see you and your wife back here to volunteer next year.

A big thanks also must go to Amazonas Explorer for promoting our work and for organising groups to assist us.

A family in need

In the second week of our time here four team members came with the Peru's Challenge social worker, to visit a particular house in Pumamarca.

What confronted us was not in the script..! It was raw. It was heartbreaking, and it was hard to believe.

We struggled to understand that this situation was real day to day existing for a family in this village. We saw how a family of eight lived in a mud brick house, some 9m by 3m.

One kitchen and one bedroom, dirt floor, galvanised iron sheet for a front door, guinea pigs in the kitchen, rocks for a cooking appliance, sheep and their droppings at the door, and rubbish piled up everywhere. It was an environment beyond the family's ability to fix.

After some tears we decided that this situation had to change and why we came to Peru came to mind... to help make a difference for good.

Over the next three Wednesday's we galvanised assistance from other team members and sometimes with masks over our noses and mouths we set to, with direction and guidance from our Social Worker and Ginny, to change a small part for good.

We completed drainage, installed a new front door, made a sheep pen, put gauze on windows, supplied mattresses, blankets, kitchen table, made shelving for cooking gear, built a ladder, built platform in rafters in the bedroom to create storage, and put together a bookcase for school books.

It does not take a huge amount of effort and expense to make a major difference. It was hard work, but the rewards were great and we saw this in the faces of the family. It was good.

Friday climbing with grades 5 & 6

Ok. Some rock climbing with grades 5 & 6 how hard can it be! Well when you don't speak any Spanish and the kids have likely never laid eyes on such an activity you wonder what is going through their minds i.e. 'What is this crazy gringo doing' or 'what put this thing on and climb up there'.

'She'll be right' comes the words from a thick Australian accent, followed by ‘vamos & arriba’......practically the only two words he knows!

In the process a few kids are running around the top of the rock face where the anchor is set and others are climbing in and out of surrounding trees (yes safety first Mick!), so loud bellows of ‘baja’ are yelled. And now I fully recognise the stress some teachers must go through on a day to day school basis.

Anyways Janie, the grade 5 & 6 teacher Ofelia and Wilfredo the friendly rapido driver soon whipped them into line and things start to take the form of a well managed PE class.

Right who's first up?..... Silence a few shy looks and a bit of back peddling. Well what do you expect when something looks so foreign and some guy you don't understand seems to think he's running the show and he's pointing you up a rock face! Gutsy kids when you think about it!

Well what do you know? Up rocks Silvia with a bundle of smiles! Love to see a girl out do the boys! On a side note the ‘chicas’ have been giving the boys a run for their money in tug-of-war!

Silvia is strapped in and once all the checks are made away she goes. Great the rest of the class catch on with the aid of a little further coaching from Janie and Wilfredro.

Excitement, confidence and laughs build to make the class a most enjoyable experience for all involved.

From then on it's a rush to the harness, teachers and rapido drivers included!

Any volunteers for next Friday?

Given a challenge on our first day of work

Day one of our program issued us with a challenge. A perimeter wall had to be completed behind buildings at the school at Pumamarca.

We were "sent" to work with little hesitation. We used wheelbarrows to move adobe mud-bricks.

Some of us took up the challenge to load these high in our wheelbarrows... how about five at a time..!

This quickly changed to two or three bricks when we found out that each weighed nearly 20kg and that we were working at just below 4000 metres above sea level.

The bricks were being expertly placed by Jesus (a local dad and skilled in this art). Of course it was school holidays and some boys were around, so they amused themselves by getting into the wheelbarrows on the return trip back to the brick piles.

The favourite word was ‘rapido, rapido’......faster, faster they yelled.

Our first day at work was tough, due to the altitude, but rewarding, and left us (some of us) eager for more. The wall is now finished.

First trip out of the community for the kindergarten kids

This month, Peru's Challenge organised an excursion for the Pumamarca school kids to the archaeological site of Sacsayhuaman.

We had more than 100 kids attends with teachers and some parents in toe to make sure we didn't lose anyone.

For the kindergarten kids, this was their first trip out of the community.

First stop was a slide down the natural slippery-slide near Sacsayhuaman. The kids would have been happy to stay there all day but we had lots more to see.

Next they enjoyed a guided tour of the Inca site of Sacsayhuaman above Cuzco. Selvy acted as tour guide and had the kids eagerly answering lots of history questions.

We then stopped for a well-deserved lunch prepared by our volunteers which included a sandwich, fruits, a juice and some sweets.

After a recharge of the batteries, the kids then had free time to fly their home-made kites.

As August is the windy month, we had some kites more than 100 metres up in the air.

By the end of the day, our volunteers were more exhausted than the kids, but everyone had a great time.

Up Mount Picol - an epic journey

This 'hill' is right behind the top volunteer house. Those of us who were left behind by other team members living the high life at Arequipa or Lake Titicaca thought we would take on this 'hill'

So the wake up call was at an unheard of hour of 0630am.

We were met by the smiling faces of 10 year old Dani and 16 year old Raul, and Memo, our guides for the day. The boys were Memos god sons. Memo is the maintenance guru for the volunteer houses. All local, they were not restricted by altitude problems like us.

So off we went. We left a tour group behind in the dust, but after 600 metres up and 1.5 hours later we re-assessed.

Our 10 year old guide got bored and left us in the dust. Raul and Memo chilled out with us and talked football.

The four of us were puffing and panting and the peak seemed miles away. Every time we would reach what we thought was the peak, another would appear above us. And it was all up... Some hill!

A couple of us, competitive types, thought we could not let a 10 year old. beat us. We got to the top in just under three hours and not long after the rest caught up. The view was worth all the effort, but take warm clothes if you want to do the trek... with a guide of course.

Peregrine brings Australian travel agent group to Pumamarca

Peregrine Adventures has been supporting the work of Peru's Challenge since we started more than five years ago.

Every one to two weeks, we have a Peregrine group come to visit the school. I show them around and explain the history of our project and then they give out fresh fruit to each of the kids and sometimes education and hygiene supplies.

Then the Pumamarca mothers put on an exhibition where they average around US$200 per visit - a fantastic amount considering the mothers make no more than US$5 a week from selling their farm produce down in the markets.

The feedback from Peregrine passengers about the school visit has been so positive - some saying it was the highlight of their whole trip - that Peregrine decided to organise for a group of Australian travel agents to visit the Pumamarca School, so they could experience first hand what passengers have been raving about. It also allows them to promote the visit better to future passengers.

It was a great morning with the kids receiving lots of fruit followed by a game of football.

The mothers were extremely proud of themselves as they ended up making just over US$500 from the travel agents.

Thanks Peregrine Adventures for all of your support over the years and the Pumamarca mothers group look forward to receiving more groups and being supported by your new Community Trust Fund.

Volunteer returns to Pumamarca two years later

The following letter was written by Emma who volunteered with us in September 2005. She returned this month, two years later, to see how Pumamarca has progressed.

My friends of Peru’s Challenge,

Returning to Pumamarca was one of the highlights of my trip!

Being at the school two years ago when we first commenced the project, and having the opportunity to go back and see the progress, see the difference in the children and most of all, see the happiness on their faces fulfilled every happiness in my heart!

Jane and Selvy have achieved an incredible amount, I am so very, very proud of them. Some of the children remembered me, as did the Headmaster of the school, and we had a great day playing in the new playground!

Everyone sends their love and regards to all the volunteers!

Congratulations Emma for starting your own company - e3unlimited.com and for also helping us with our micro-financing project to develop long-term sustainability for the Pumamarca community.

Selvy's birthday

This month, Selvy celebrated his birthday in style up at the Pumamarca School.

Without him knowing, the kids had been practicing for a week to make sure the day was extra special.

Each grade performed with songs, poems and dances. They also designed some pretty clever birthday cards.

Selvy received beautiful fresh flowers from the community and a hug from every single Pumamarca kids and all over our volunteers - over 140 in total!

He also got to have the big first bite of his delicious birthday cake.

Overview of the month

As you can see from how long this newsletter is, we have achieved a great deal this month. Rather than write a newsletter article about project we have been working on this month, I thought it best to give you a quick update instead.

We have given out more than 100 blankets to the Pumamarca community families following extreme winter conditions.
We have also given kids a pair of covered shoes rather than the rubber thongs that they all wear.
Our hygiene program at the school is now starting to see results. The kids have less skin infections and are receiving moisturiser for their faces and hands every day.
Camp Puma is going strong with more than 20 kids attending in the afternoons while their mothers attend workshop classes.
Plans are well under-way for a medical clinic in the Pumamarca community.
We are currently developing plans to increase sponsorship support for our projects and also marketing to ensure that we continue to receive volunteers.
Two of our volunteers are putting together a DVD of Peru's Challenge that we can use to promote our program in the hope of raising awareness and receiving support.
We have finalised our "How to help from home" kit which we give out to each of our volunteers so that when they return home that can continue to spread the work about our work.
Thanks to our television story on Getaway, our volunteer programs in 2008 are nearly full.

We are looking for a new Volunteer Manager

You may have heard that Ginny, our Volunteer Manager will be leaving us at the end of January 2008 to travel back to Australia with her husband Felix. We are going to miss her very much.

It is not time to say goodbye just yet, but it is time for Peru's Challenge to start looking for a replacement.

If you are interested in becoming our new Volunteer Manager or know someone that would be great for the job, please click on the following link to read the position description.

For more information, you can contact me directly on jane@peruschallenge.com.

Thanks to our volunteers leaving us in August...

Sara, thanks for joining us for two months and for helping with our Internal Communications plan. I look forward to reviewing it.

Thanks Rach for your two months with us and for all of your help at Volunteer Manager while Ginny was away. We look forward to working together when you get back in October.

Thanks Meg for joining us for six weeks through Antipodeans and thanks for all your help with mothers group and the website.

Joe, thanks for spending a month with us. You are one of our youngest volunteers to join us alone and we appreciate all of your help at the school. You are just as strong as the local fathers!

Alex, thanks for joining us for a month and for helping with lessons. It was a pity that Katie could not join you but hopefully she can come next year.

Thanks Yen for all of your hard work with the plans for the community medical clinic. Things will get well under-way next month.

Alison, thanks for all of your hard work at the school. Your picture says it all!

Thanks Steph for spending a month with us and for helping out with all aspects of our program.

Thanks Janelle for your smile! We had a great month with you and maybe we will see you back here again soon. Thanks also for your help setting up the computer lesson plans.

Mike and Jody, thanks for taking time out to volunteer with us for four weeks. Your help with Hilda's family will be crucial and thanks also for putting together the DVD. Thanks also to The Post Lounge.