Peru Luz de Esperanza....

Well I have to start this one telling you about the place Im in now and the organisation Im with....

http://www.peruluzdeesperanza.com/

Its in a place called Chupaca about 30mins outside Huancayo (which is a big enough city of about 500,000 people) The organisation is called "Peru Luz de Esparanza" (Peru light of hope) and the name might sound a bit cheesy but its actually really true for the people that they work with. The organisation is run by Elizabeth and Neilton (a couple, 28) and Elizabeths mother Eva. Elizabeth and Neilton have a son, Andre whoes 3, who is really a part of it all because he has to put up with different volunteers comming in and living in his house all the time. (Everyone works and lives together in this big house, theres space for about 10 volunteers, but it was just me for the first few days and then another guy from England came for my last week and a bit...) There are other people who come and teach too, Jovana and Antonio, but they dont live in the house. Well, Peru Luz de Esperanza works with the people from the villages in the surrounding mountains. There is really no rural development here with some people not having water or electricity. There is no running water in the town that Im in (Chupaca, 100,000 pple) but luckily the house were in has a pumped water tank and hot showers (very rare). They work with children teaching the basics, children who in some cases dont get to go to any other school. The teacg english and basic primary things and also dynamic games and values, to teach the kids a sense of right and wrong etc. These kids parents, if theyre lucky enough to have both or one of them work in the fields for like 14 hours a day. and if the kids are not big enough to walk they just go with the mothers on their backs and if they can walk they either just play with the other kids or help their parents in the fields... theres no childminding or any of that sort of thing here.... This place is really poor, like mud brick houses and hole in the ground toilets... but still the kids are so enthuastic and want to learn and love that theyre getting the attention. Peru Luz de Esperanza also works with some of the mothers in the area, to try and teach them new skills and english and they set up a mini company, to give the women independance, from the failure of crops (the super cold this year killed off loads of the corn) and also to give them their own form of income. But its also an excuse for the mothers to meet up and discuss problems, a womens life in rural peru is very different to mine, they are expected to lead the life of a slave in some cases and basicially what ever the man says goes.... so this is really important to some of them because its theirs and its for themselves and their children. Theres also projects where we visited houses to teach basic hygine and first aid and how to look after your baby for new mothers.

All the work they do is compleatly free to all the people they offer the services to. What little money they do make from the volunteers goes straight into paying the rent for the schools or buying some materials for the mothers minicompany. They even have a christmas appeal, where they get people to donate presents so that they can give each one of the kids something at christmas. Some of the stories they have to tell of the peoples lives that they help are unbelieveable and some of the places that they plan to work in. Im only here for two weeks, but this is their lives and theyre doing it out of a sense of just trying to help some of the people of their own coutnry because no body else is....



So well Ive been here for 3 days and its all just been so compleatly packed in that I feel like Iv been here for 3 weeks already. The poverty here is absolute. In quito it wasent so apparent, there was no favellas and it was a lot more unuasual than I thought it would be to see street children. But then besides the remar homes I wasnt really in the places where there was extreme poverty. But since I arrived in Peru its a lot more apparent and I knew this existed but to actually see how hard the lives of some of these people are uo close, its a concious effort not to let it get to you... but then if you did you wouldnt be of any use to anyone and youre just getting upset for yourself, its not going to help anyone... But I think that above all its important to show people in general respect and not pity. I dont want to sound like I think Im great or anything, believe me I did enough going out in Quito and Im sure I will again in Brasil, but Im only here for two weeks ans I hope that I can help them a bit while Im here....
Next week were going to try and turn what can only be described as a "full of crap" stable/storage room in someones house into a school.... so that should be good fun....

Otherwise it was straight into work on Friday, I went to one of their schools in a town called Ahuac, when I say school, its actually a roof with 1 table and 1 bench and some planks of wood for the kida to sit on. But the kids were great and of course I was a compleate novelty....
Its also 3500m high here, the cant keep my eyes open after 10 is kicking in again... its much higher then Quito, but with a much more regular climate. Freezing at night and roasting during the day. But this cold is the type that you cant remember what its like to be warm and the het is like you never think youre going to be cold again. Needless to say this is definatly not my favourite part (next to climbing the mountains) and I will definatly not miss the freezing nights.... (literally it was ment to be -2 the other night) and theres no heating anywhere. The air is also really dry and my hair is gone straight and your skin goes really dry too, some of the kids have such bad skin, their cheeks are cracked from the change in temperatures and the no cream....(its not high on the list after food etc)
But all these things just remind me of how the other people must survive while Im here with my four fleece blankets and my fancy clothes and my hot running water....
But not to make it all sound terrible all the time, the people are really nice and everyones curious about me and Im called the gringita around the town by the old people. But I really dont think that there are much tourists here so white skin and green eyes are enough for people to stop and stare. I even got asked could someone have their picture taken with me in a shop, which was pretty embarassing....

Well, to all the people that gave me money again, you have no idea how far ir went here, with the help of lots of people some fancy bargining, lots and lots of looking, some fancy bargining, and some shear blood sweat and tears Peru Luz de Esperanza managed to get and deliver the following:
Enough wool for 60 scarves/hats (all in cool colours of course)
24 sets of knitting needles and chrochet hooks
(all for the mothers minicompany for them to sell in the market)
80 rubbers
200 pensils
40 pearers
750 sheets of coloured paper
50 sheets of card
12 sets of crayons, colouring pensils and markers
2 sets of "12 in 1 games" of BINGO!
4 abacus and clocks and wooden number sets
Huge pot of glue
100 copies
6 tables (some huge, some not so huge)
12 big benches for the kids to sit on
200 baloons
paint and brushes for the school
four flourescent lights and cables
nails etc.
plastic sheets for the roof
jigsaw puzzles games, dominos, jenga, chess etc.
scissors
books - encyclopedia, english books, art books
etc, and probably loads more other things that I cant remember....!

So, considering there was nothing before, all these things make such a huge difference. So thank you for your support and everyone here is ridicously greatful and keeps saying thank you about a million times a day and thank you to everyone for supporting me too!

Its funny, this travelling thing, I thought that the volunteering would be a nice cushion before i started my real travelling, but after this the idea of just traipsing around all these cool places in South America and picking which hostel I should stay in for the best party dosent really sound that scary at all!!!!