Peru, Lima - U30 Team: First Day at Work Site

From the jungle of towering buildings, to the dusty hill of Pueblos Jóvenes, Lima is living city home to over nine million people, heavy traffic, and a rich culture almost as old as time itself. 

The day started through the jumbled mess of traffic, maneuvering through a labyrinth of streets, and passing cars where you swear will crash into you.  It’s an adventure itself. But we soon arrived in San Jose Obrero, the site we would spend the next thirty days at. 

The view and landscape is filled with arrangements of colourful buildings built by the people themselves. They scattered the hills like children blocks, small little one roomed houses that would be considered shacks in Canada. And dust, dust, and more dust than we could ever imagine. At the school, we were greeted by a few parents, teachers, and the principle himself. He welcomed us with open arms and started to show us around the small school they had built for the children of the community. 

In every classroom we went into to meet a few of the children, we could see from the bright smiles on their faces they were excited to meet us. 

We were told we were going to constructing a concrete wall and finish up a brick building already 40% done. So we started the first day to our one month volunteer experience. 

Aly Hughes
DWC Team Member
Peru, May 2015

Lima - Bodwell Team: Final Day at Work Site and Goodbyes

 A week of hard work later and we have 3 mostly completed projects. Miguel is going to put the final coat of red paint on the school and take the retaining boards off the wall once our freshly poured concrete dries.

We had a lovely goodbye ceremony by the students in 6th grade and then distributed books we brought for the classroom libraries (thanks Jana White and Jenny Gallant!). We also donated a large KitchenAid mixer to the kitchen. Every day they have after school sessions teaching kids how to prepare healthier meals.

 

 

Lima - Bodwell Team: Work progressing

Sometimes we feel like big moose going up and down the school staircase, while we watch nimble children navigate the angles (with no railings all week). Today, Jerrmy in particular can feel some success because he was determined to see that project through to the end. The railings are up!

 

 
We put on a fresh coat (or 3) of paint on the school, in Peru colours!

 First thing this morning we removed the retainers from our concrete wall. A proud moment. We reused those pieces to frame the next half of the wall since we didn’t have enough money to buy enough wood to build the whole frame.

So, proud moments through the day as we mixed and poured and filled the second half of the wall.

 

 

 

 

 

Lima - Bodwell Team: Working, Walls, Posts and Paths

It took us almost a whole day to erect the structure that will be used to hold the concrete for half the wall. It constantly amazes us how hard we work and how slow the visible progress. Miguel, our foreman, never takes a break and constantly teaches us new skills.

 

 

Jeremy has been laboring to dig holes for fence posts. The only problem is he is digging into pure rock that is filled with iron. This of course raises questions for students who know a little about economics and wonder why the rock isn’t being crushed to extract the metal. But that’s a story for another day. Nevertheless, Jeremy has persevered and due to this diligence, succeeded. Jeremy is pictured with his nemesis, and his young protégé.

Brenda finally conquered the pathway, using crushed rock from Jeremy’s iron-rock holes to fill a pathway about 30 cm higher. That’s a lot of fill! Topped it off with many layers of dirt and dust and voila! A safer walking path to get the kids between class to the kitchen and bathrooms.



Lima - Bodwell Team: Water

When you live in a country like Canada, whether permanently or temporarily, you can easily take water for granted. It’s everywhere. It’s clean. It’s safe.

So when you come to a place like Lima, where on the news this morning was the information that 700,000 Limans don’t have access to water (and that’s not counting the millions who live in the outskirts like San Jose Obrero where we are working), it’s hard to fathom. It’s hard to empathize. Until you see the rock and the dust swirling and encircling everyone and everything. And you see a truck hauling water up a mountain and piping it into tubs because if it didn’t there wouldn’t be any. Just more dust. 

And then, when you feel and taste the dust, you can know, and you can appreciate. And you can be grateful for the luxury of cleanliness.

Lima - Bodwell Team: at the Market and the Beach

This morning’s excursion was to the market, that age-old location of economic enterprise and communication. We had a small communication gap where one of the students thought we were going to a mall, but today we wanted to explore local economic activity. Even though it was a short journey, we learned a lot about the chocolate industry (and got samples!) as well as the negotiation system (less than in other countries) and the history of goods (for example, silver and the Columbian Exchange). One of the memorable things about markets are the sensory overloads. In today’s case, colour and flavor.

 

 

 

Lima is always foggy in the morning and then the sun burns the fog and we are left in perfect 25 degree weather. It was sunny everywhere today. Except the beach. But we managed to squeeze some fun from the waves in the Pacific (still warmer than any Vancouver beaches) this afternoon. Playa Makaha. 

Lima - Bodwell Team: Wall Foundations!

We built a wall! (Well, the foundation for a wall) 

The hole was dug.

We mixed cement: powder with sand, then built a sand castle with a spiral moat and poured water in it to let the cement slowly making a mix.
Nikita and Dominik poured the cement in the trench while Jax,Jeremy and Allan laid the foundation rock. Mayeli continued to mix the cement with water. Bill sawed rebar, Anthony collected more rock and poured fresh cement.
And after a long day’s work, we have a smooth foundation on which to build a wall.

 

Lima, Peru - Bodwell Team: Day 1 building at San Jose Obrero

 Lima is a city built for a million currently housing 9 million people. This has multiple effects of course. After a long journey in Lima’s rush hour traffic, we arrived in San Jose Obrero, our worksite. This community has been built by the hands of its inhabitants, many of whine have come from the provinces searching for work and a better life near the city. Rock. Dust. Epic colors and beauty nestled in the hills. This is what foreign eyes notice upon arrival in SJO. We had a beautiful introduction to the school by the Director, and lots of interaction with the students. And then we got down to work. Pick axes, shovels, and our hands were the tools. We dug and we moved rocks and earth to create a path and make a foundation for a wall.

Here are a few pictures of us still looking fresh before the sun and the dust and the ache of muscles wore us down before dusk.

 

 

 

 

San Jose Obrero

 



 

Lima, Peru - Bodwell Team arrives!

After an adventure in taxis to get to the Malecon beach path, we finally hopped on our red bikes and enjoyed the most amazing views.

Huaca Pucllana is the seven layered pyramid that is amazingly preserved because of the desert climate here in Peru. It is 200 meters from our hostal! Its literal translation means “the place for ritual games”. It was used by the Lima and Wari cultures starting in 200 CE. Since Mayeli and I got up early, we wandered around the ruins and joined a Spanish speaking tour group. Our first mini adventure.