Lima, Peru: St. Andrew's Team - First Day on the Worksite

We started off with an early morning (6am) and another wonderful breakfast. After a quick tutorial on what we would be doing today and the days that followed, we climbed into two vans that would be taking us to the work site. As we approached the outskirts of Lima, we got a very eye-opening experience of what the poverty stricken areas of Peru were like. We both remarked on how incredibly resourceful the Peruvian people were when faced with a challenging environment. It was truly amazing to witness how a diverse culture could thrive on such a barren landscape.

As we were getting out of the vehicles we were welcomed by the children of the Nassae school with banners, Canadian flags, and many greetings. It was quite heartwarming to see the appreciation in the eyes of the children and the teachers whom we were about to build a school for.

The work was difficult and strenuous- packing bags of gravel, sawing wires, and scrubbing rust off of re-bar got us sweaty and fatigued. But at the end of the day, we could not help but feel exceedingly fortunate for what we have at home, and utterly rewarded for our helpful contributions to the school.

Jocelyn and Ania
St. Andrew's Participants
Lima, Peru; March 2014