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JUNE 2007 NEWSLETTER

Returning to Peru’s Challenge a year later

This is my second time volunteering for Peru’s Challenge and it is exactly one year and one month since my first time volunteering. This time is different than my first but still just as special. Of course the children are still just as adorable and the experience of working at Pumamarca is still just as rewarding.

The first day back at the school was so exciting and fun. The most moving part about being back at the school was the changes I saw. It is absolutely amazing how much Peru’s Challenge accomplished in one year. The school now really feels like a proper school.

Now of course I did see some changes while I was there in May 2006. Such as when I was there Peru’s Challenge built a kitchen. But seeing the changes that were accomplished in one year was just absolutely amazing.

When I first came to Peru’s Challenge there were basically two proper classrooms. Now all seven classrooms have wood floors and are painted cheery colors. The teachers have decorated the walls with the children’s art work.

There is a beautiful mural painted on the wall to the school. The school is now enclosed with a wall and they have built the exterior to a room for the Mother’s group. There is a very large play area for the children with jungle gyms and swings.

What was most amazing how organized and well run the school has become. When I first arrived in 2006, the kids just kind of seemed to be always running around and I wasn’t really sure who had to be in class and who didn’t.

Now there are 120 students that all attend class and spend their days learning. There are enough teachers to make sure that each child gets a fulfilling learning experience.

Pumamarca has become a great school that has extremely benefited the community. One can only imagine the changes that will happen within this year.

Written by Caroline from the USA.

Thanks Caroline also for designing our volunteer recruitment poster. It is proving to be very affective.

Planting flowers at the school

This month, our volunteers worked with the Grade 5 & 6 class to plant a flower garden at the front of the school.

They worked together, preparing the soil, planting the flowers and then watering them.

Every couple of days, the Grade 5 & 6 students will take turns in watering the plants and also weeding the garden to ensure they stay healthy.

Celebrating Father's Day at Pumamarca

This month, we celebrated Father's Day at the Pumamarca School.

The mothers worked all morning cooking a very impressive BBQ of meat and potatoes, while the fathers competed in a very serious football match.

Fathers were meant to join teams as per the school grade of their kids but as soon as Selvy brought out the prizes - professional yellow football shirts, fantastic wrist watches and handy head torches - teams were quickly shuffled around.

The best players all seems to be on the same team. Before the start of the competition, they were the clear favourites. But as football, goes the favourites were beaten in the first round by three goals to one.

The fathers of Grade 3 ended up taking the honours of first prize and were very pleased with their new shirts.

Each grade all presented a show. Some read poems and sang while others dressed in traditional clothes and danced.

A great day was had by all.

Second prize in the annual Cuzco traditional dance competition

Thanks to the assistance of Peru's Challenge, for the first time ever, the kids of Pumamarca School competed in a traditional dance competition down in Cuzco.

Practicing every day for a full week before the big day, the kids were encouraged by our volunteers and teachers who formed the music band to accompany the dance.

Peru's Challenge organised the hiring of the traditional dance costumes and also covered the costs of transport and lunch on the day.

All the kids were very nervous on the trip down to Cuzco and were very quiet when we arrived at the competition site. A hand full of parents also came down to cheer on the kids and offer support.

Our Pumamarca kids danced their hearts out in front of thousands of people - we were so proud.

They competed against more than 30 schools, some with an impressive record of awards and huge cheer squads supporting them.

Our kids of Pumamarca ended up getting second prize!

Before the places were announced, we asked the kids what they thought of their dancing and they came back with firm answers that they were definitely going to win a prize - they were pretty happy with themselves.

Afterwards, we treated them all to chicken and chips at a local restaurant. They will be talking about it for weeks to come.

Experiencing what goes on behind closed doors

Jane, the Peru's Challenge social worker and I made a visit to the house to meet with the family. The house was typical of houses in Pumamarca, made of mud brick Adobe with an open fire inside, and no tables, chairs or beds.

There was a line strung across the room upon which were some clothes. The stable was right in front of the house and both were on the bottom of a steep hill.

I cannot imagine what it would be like in the rainy season because the idea of dry dirt and water mixing with the stable manure running into the house seems unbearable.

On my first day at the school, I found that child abuse is a problem here as much as other parts of the world. A boy had come to school with multiple abrasions on his face and his eye had an especially deep cut. Upon questioning by his teacher, the boy said his father had thrown a rock and hit him in the face.

It seems that this was the second time this had happened and the father had been warned that the next time it would be reported to the authorities. Both the mother and father were known to be drunk most of the time.

Our social worker came to the school and questioned the mother, neighbors and friends. It seemed that both parents had quit drinking, the father had found a job and they were trying to get their lives back together. The father stated that the boy had been abusive to the neighbor's sheep and the father told him to stop. The boy continued to be mean to the animal and call his father names. The father lost his temper and threw a rock, hitting the boy in the face.

In this situation it is hard to say who was right and who was wrong. The boy had lost respect for his parents due to the drinking and home conditions. The parents had lost control of the family due to the drinking.

When we went to the house to talk with the family, the father was not at home. The mother said they had enough money to take the boy to the doctor for his abrasions on his face. The boy apologized to the mother and promised to respect her, and the mother apologized to the boy, promising to be a better mother to him.

We can hope this situation will improve in the future, with our social worker continuing to check up on this family. It will take time and hard work to pull this family together.

Talleres success continues to grow

June has been an exciting month for the members of Talleres - the Mothers' Workshop Group in Pumamarca.

The Talleres group, made of 30 or so women from Pumamarca and nearby communities, have been meeting twice a week for the last year and a half. During these afternoons, the women have been able to learn new skills such as weaving, knitting, crocheting, jewellery and gift card making.

While the women practice their crafts and make items to sell at exhibitions, they've grown to enjoy building friendships and most Talleres meetings are full of chatting and laughter.

The Talleres group had two very successful exhibitions in June thanks to visiting tour groups, not to mention certain volunteers who can't seem to stop buying
bracelets at every opportunity.

One male member of Talleres is a very talented weaver and recently sold an intricate and very beautiful rug to a visiting member of a tour group. The rug was so popular in fact, that four other people in the tour group also wanted to buy it! We're not entirely sure how the visitors decided who would get the rug, but we're happy that it was settled peacefully and that no one got hurt.

Now that Talleres is well established and successful without question, the members have begun receiving a portion of the profit from the items that they sell, which helps to supplement their often times inconsistent income.

Our social worker comes to Talleres as well, and after the recent success of this month's exhibitions she made an important statement:

"Talleres is no longer just a workshop, but a real job. You must now consider this your work. When you leave home to come to Talleres, you can now tell your husbands 'I am going to work now'."

This, without a doubt, gives the members of Talleres pride in what they do.

Giving the mums a little peace and quiet

Last month one of our volunteers, Morgan, came up with the concept of Camp Puma. Two days a week Peru's Challenge runs a mothers group Talleres, where Mothers have the ability to work on crafts in a social environment.

We noticed that the mothers were being distracted from their craft, tasks because the children were around. Therefore we decided to create Camp Puma. This is an afternoon program designed for children between the ages of three and 12.

After a slow start last month, Camp Puma is now beginning to flourish. Last week there were approximately 12 children who attended Camp Puma and we are now implementing an incentive program where children will receive a special reward when they attend five lessons.

We organise activities such as drawing, puppetry, dance and provide help with homework.

I feel like a local

There were many reasons why I chose to come to Peru, but I chose Peru's Challenge for two reasons – because I wanted to work with the children of Peru, and because I wanted to experience life as part of a local community, rather than merely passing through, looking at Peruvian life through a tour bus window.

I am going to miss the people I have met here, especially the children of Grade 5 and 6 at Pumamarca, whom I have taught English on a regular basis. I am going to find it hard to leave because after two months here in Cusco, and lots of Spanish lessons, I do in a sense feel like a local.

I frequent the local corner shops, to buy bread, milk, soap and chocolate, and at my favourite shop, the owner talks to me about the weather. At another store, where I have bought several clothing items, the girl remembers me and what I have bought on a previous visit.

One day, while walking home from the bus stop, carrying a heavy bag of shopping, a girl in high school uniform stopped to offer her help. I told her that I lived right up the top. "Oh", she said, "I know where you live." And so we each took one handle of the bag and walked up the hill, chatting about her school.

My initial attraction to Peru stemmed from my interest in music – I play clarinet in my local town band. In Cusco, I found a shop which makes and sells traditional musical instruments. I bought a quena and chatted to the owner about music. He agreed to teach me to play, so at regular intervals I return – he praises me for my progress, shows me how to improve and exhorts me to keep practising. We shake hands and I leave, each time inspired because a mutual love of music has transcended any language difficulties.

Finally, there are the amazing parades and festivals in Cusco. I enjoyed marching with the other volunteers, behind the children of Pumamarca, as they danced in the Plaza de Armas.

I was also fortunate to secure a ringside seat for the Inti Raymi ceremony at Sacsaywuman. I walked up with a throng of locals, many of whom engaged me in conversation. I loved the spectacle of the ceremony – the music, singing, dancing and the link to old traditions.

Then the tour groups started to depart, leaving their lunch boxes behind them, before the ceremony had even finished, right in the middle of the Incan version of Holy Communion. I watched the tourists climb into their buses, then walked back to town with all the locals.

Written by Phyllis from Australia.

Trekking to Machu Picchu the non-tourist way

A few weeks ago, myself and a fellow volunteer, Allison, decided to take on the five-day trek called Salkantay.

The trek passes via the mountain Apu Salkantay (over 6000m) at an altitude of 4600m high and then continues all the way down to the small town of Aguas Calientes, at the base of Machu Picchu.

The reasons for undertaking the trek, besides the Inca trail being totally booked, was because you get a spectacular view of glaciers on Apu Salktantay in addition to others on neighbouring mountains.

Also you experience two entirely different climates, the -5 degrees on the first night (damn freezing!), to +20 degrees in the jungle for the last two nights. The scenery also changes dramatically as you continue down from edge of the Andes into the Jungle. From desolate and barren landscapes to lush tropical forests complete with mosquitoes and all!

Our group consisted of only six people which was good because we got to know everyone well. There were two Frenchmen, an English Lady, an Irish Lady and
both Allison and myself (the Aussies).

By day three we were all very tired, but fortunately close by were some new hot springs. We all caught a car down and stayed for many hours whilst all our muscles soaked up all the warmth from the springs.

The next day we were all a lot more relaxed and even a little clean! The last night was spent at Aguas Calientes in a proper bed and we all slept like babies.

On the fifth and final day we accented to Machu Picchu for the entire day and looked around all the ruins and climbed Wayna Picchu too, but that’s another story)…

Written by Joel from Australia.

Thanks to our June volunteers...

Thanks Phyllis for joining us for two months. We appreciate all the work you did on the lesson plans and your great sense of humour.

Emily, thanks for coming with your sister and spending four weeks with Peru's Challenge. Thanks for all your help with lessons at Pumamarca.

Thanks again Garry for returning again and bringing your mum to see the project. Thanks for your help with the walkways throughout the school. They look great and are very functional.

Caroline, thanks for coming back to see our progress and for bringing you sister. We look forward to meeting your mum when she volunteers next year. Thanks for all your help with the media kit and volunteer recruitment ideas - especially the poster.

Gillian, thanks for your month with us. We enjoyed spending time with you and for all of your assistance with our project work.

Thanks Larisa for volunteering with us for just under four weeks. Your help was greatly appreciated.

Sukkwan, thanks for all your help over the four weeks you were with us. I am sure you enjoyed not only the school but all the tours around Cuzco.

Jillian, thanks also to you for your time with us and help at the school.

Thanks Maddy for your three months with us. You helped a great deal with lessons, particularly in art.

Freya thanks for your time with us and we hope you enjoy your time in Cuzco.

And to Mary Ann, thank you for joining us for four weeks. Your help with all elements of our project was very much appreciated. The kids will really miss you.

Jane Gavel
President & Co-Founder
Peru's Challenge

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