Category Archives: Service Projects

Reports on service projects that I have visited. These include Round Square Service projects, school run service projects and NGOs.

August 21, 2012

RSIS: Arriving in Quishuarani

July 22-27th:  First part of the Quishuarani Project…..

How do you cure a phobia of riding in a bus on windy mountain roads?

Well – you just simply do it over and over and get higher and higher on ever narrowing and steeper gravelly roads. Those of you who know me well will appreciate that this was a pretty tough aspect of the trip.  I had not actually anticipated it and was it took me unawares.  However the scenery was so incredibly breathtaking that after some intial annoying mini panic attacks, I soon settled into the experience and did my best to ignore the adrenaline cursing through my veins…..

Quishuarani is in the Lares area and is nestled in a valley at about 4200 metres above sea level. It is a place where time has stood still. The people speak Quechua and only the men speak some Spanish. Houses are made out of adobe (mud bricks), rocks and wood. People have sheep, llamas and alpacas and grow potatoes and corn. The weather was sunny and clear, but cold. At night the temperature dropped down between -5 to -10 degrees.

Please enjoy this slide show of our drive up the mountain to Quishuarani and our arrival and walk to the greenhouse built by Markham College in 2008.  Mr Rafael Solomon, the project leader, was delighted to see the greenhouse still in good use. We were greeted by the ladies of the village selling their handicrafts.  Children always came out to see us, some to stare, some to smile and some in hope of a game of football. Their beautiful faces belied their varying degrees of malnutrition and bellies full of parasites, as pointed out to us by Dr David, our accompanying physician from Cusco.

Please watch in full screen.  Music: Tu Fotografía by Gian Marco……..[wpvideo dtYji7VB]

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August 20, 2012

RSIS: The Apulaya Centre for Music & Art

We were very fortunate to visit The Apulaya Art & Music Center in Calca, where we enjoyed workshops with Emerita and Valerio who were inspirational in their passion for Andean art and music.

Emerita is a talented artist and sculptor originally from Switzerland who specialises in pre-Incan and pre-Colombian art.  Our session with her involved first drawing a bean that we selected from a dish.  After completing our own drawing, Emerita introduced us to art pieces that centred on beans and lead us to the conclusion that we were only drawing the bean as it is in its current state and not seeing its potential.  We were then encouraged to expand our drawings to include the “potential” of the bean.  “Not only did the pre-Colombian artists “thematize” the physical appearance of a human, vegetable or divine being, but they also manifested it in its totality, with its full potential in which creation, fertility and development are fundamental” (Emerita). This was a unique insight into the meaning and interpretation of cosmo-vision in the Andean art and work Emerita shared with us.

Valerio is a classically trained flautist from Cusco who also studied jazz flute in Switzerland. Valerio gave us an excellent workshop on two instruments that are played during different seasons.  The tarkha is a wooden aerophone with 6 holes and is  played in the humid (or rainy) season.  It has a very raspy distinctive sound and we played two different sized tarkhas which had rather interesting tunings!

The other flute we learnt was the Siku or traditional pan flute, which is composed of two rows of tubes: Arka (Male) and Ira (Female). “To produce the melody, these two rows must interact by means of two players (Each one plays one row). This action is called the “braid” or “braiding”, and serves as a melodic development pillar. The music produced with these flutes is called Sikureada, and its practice comes from the high plains´ region”. We also learnt two Quechan songs.

Below are some pictures and short videos of our two workshops.[wpvideo zaBeCxzC]The most amazing outcome of this wonderful workshop was achieved on the final night of the service project in Quishuarani  2 weeks later.  Emerita & Valerio drove up to join us, bringing a car load of surprises – traditional dress for us to wear for our performance to the villagers.  We spent an hour reviewing and practicing the pieces  then later in the evening we had much fun putting on the magnificent traditional garments.

We then had a quick rehearsal in the dining room (that was of varying musical success!), before heading outside to perform around the campfire for the entertainment of the villagers who gathered around.

[wpvideo NSepph1H]I am pretty sure we all enjoyed it more than the folk from Quishuarani!

[slideshow]

The Apulaya Centre for Music & Art

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August 9, 2012

RSIS: Day 2+: CUSCO & Lamas & ¡Potatoes!

Thursday July 19th we all flew to Cusco where we had a lunch and heard our first of many versions of the song “Pacha Mama”  (Earth Mother).

[wpvideo mQvSyhO1]

After lunch we headed off in the bus and stopped off to learn about llamas…….  (pronounced yamas!)

I knew nothing about them and had no idea how fascinating they are!  Firstly, despite their lack of a hump or two, they are related to camels and are in fact in the same family (Camildae). Just like camels, they are even-toed ungulates which means they have bumps on the soles of their feet.

Before you start telling me I have mispelt the title on the video below by leaving out an “L”, let me explain that the llama and the alpaca are two different species that have been in and out of the same genus.  Firstly they were classified in the Camelus genus, then later the genus called “Lama”  – so one may be forgiven for calling them all llamas! However consensus in South America is that there are 4 species under two genera:

Genus Lama = species llama & guanaco

Genus Vicugna = species alpaca & vicuña

Vicuñas and guanacos are timid and not usually domesticated.

Llamas and alpacas have been domesticated for over 1000 years, llamas being used for meat and as pack animals and alpacas more for their wool, which is lanolin free.  All of them come in a range of colours, as you will note in the photos. Llamas range from 5 – 6ft and can weigh up to 200kg, whereas alpacas are smaller. Llamas are social creatures that live in herds and can reach a ripe old age of 30.
¡One rather interesting fact about llamas is that they mate lying down and for an extended period of time, ranging from 20 – 45 minutes! Females mature much earlier than males (not so unusual) and ovulation is stimulated by mating (very unusual!).  Baby llamas are born weighing between 9 – 14 kg and their gestation period is 11 1/2 months!  Babies are born in the mornings so as to avoid both predators and the cold.

Enjoy the photos………. (and the silly Llama song)

[wpvideo FNxMpL3w]

Peruvians love their potatoes and corn!  I have never seen so many different varieties of corn and potatoes!  There are over 55 different varieties of corn – different sizes and colours!

Potatoes are even more interesting!  There are apparently over 5ooo different varieties of potatoes in the world and 3ooo of these can be found in Peru!  The potato, as part of the human diet, can be traced back to over 8ooo years ago in the high Andes of Peru. The humble spud fed the Incan armies, and the Spanish conquistadors introducted them to Europe.

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August 9, 2012

RSIS: Round Square International Service: Day 1

Day 1: Chorrillos

21 students and 5 teachers from 11 different countries and 18 different schools arrived in Lima on Tuesday July 17th.  On the following morning we all headed off to the Chorrillos day care centre in Lima to paint the playground wall.  It was a good activity to help us get to know each other, as well as provide a service to the centre.

[wpvideo eN1yz7Y3]

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July 17, 2012

Chincha house building

Chincha is a large town about 200 km south of Lima in the Ica region. It was greatly affected by the 2007 earthquake and the devastation is still very much visible today.  Many families are still living in the temporary US Aid shelters and the town is still littered with destroyed, half-standing buildings. I visited the Sunampe region, where students from Markham College of Lima have been building houses since soon after the earthquake.  After the earthquake Markham College initially  organised donations and collections of food and making survival packs, which were sent down to Chincha by the truckload.

The next major project was to rebuild the school in Sunampe, the poorest area affected. Students raised over a 1/4 million solés and physically built the school from the ground up, solid structures of brick and mortar with several classrooms. They also provided many resources.  Later they built homes for the families of the children who attend the school.  Over time they also built 30 community centres and I saw two of these.  The mayor’s wife pointed out one that is used in the mornings as a kindergarten and the afternoons and evenings for a range of activities and meetings.

The biggest problem thereafter was how to decide who needed houses the most.

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This is where the mayor’s wife became actively involved in setting up a society that helped select those most needy. Yesterday I saw students in ranging in age from 11-20 in 5 groups in their second day of house building. The mayor organises the laying of the concrete slab and the students do all the rest from raw materials bought and delivered from Lima.  One of the DT teachers made the design and the students construct the panels, erect the walls, make windows and doors, put on the roof and paint the inside and outside. There is some flexibility in the design, depending on what the family need.

Students from ages 11 to 20 were busily involved in the various tasks when I arrived on the second day. Alumni who have had been involved at a younger age, had returned to assist and lead the groups. The three boys who won the Kurt Hahn award in 2010 for their leadership in this whole initiative were in their university holidays. One is now studying engineering at UCL had arrived 3 weeks earlier with 2 friends in the same course to build 3 eco toilets they had designed (see photos). Once finished they will run workshops with the families on how to use them.  They also built 4 eco stoves.  Here is their website with more details on this wonderful initiative. https://sites.google.com/site/peruproject2012/home-1

For the duration of the house building the students camped in tents in the mayor’s back yard, who also provided them with breakfast each morning.  The families of the new houses made lunch for each group (with some financial aid).  It was a wonderful atmosphere with much hard work. The local children also got involved in the painting and also tried their best to have a say in the colour choices. Tomorrow a new group of Markham students arrive to begin another 5 houses.

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July 11, 2012

Daycare centre in Chirrollos

This week I spent some time at a day care centre for needy kids. It was difficult, but also a great experience.  I went every afternoon for 2 hours. The centre is for 1 – 5 year olds and they are there all day from 7:45 to 5pm.  I was first introduced to the centre  by Mr Alan Tin-Win of Markham College and a group of girls on their service work. This particular day they were painting one of the classrooms.

The centre is divided into 4 sections: one section for 1-2 year olds, and a classroom each for 3, 4 & 5 year olds. The centre has its own kitchen and the children are given morning tea, lunch and an afternoon yoghurt type drink. Social workers determine whether families need this support. Health care workers visit regularly to monitor children’s health and growth.  There is also a psychologist who visits to meet work with some of the children with behavioural issues, plus gives support to the teachers. A dance teacher who has his own classroom, takes the classes on rotation, teaching them traditional Peruvian dances.  After lunch all the children have a half hour nap and this you will see in the photos.  They are very cute when they are asleep, but when awake, they are a handful. Several of the boys are quite aggressive – certainly more aggressive than I have ever experienced in children this age.  I was pretty shocked at some of the behaviour and one boy I had to keep a hold of all the time during activities as he would lash out at other kids, completely unprovoked. In one of my sessions, two 4 year old boys had a full on fight and had to be pried apart.

Due to my limited Spanish, I took short sessions in English: numbers, colours, greetings and simple songs plus I did some music activities. I only worked with the 4 & 5 year olds. On the whole the kids were very sweet and loved affection. On my  last afternoon they had a “fiesta” which involved all ages dancing and a visit from Barney. I really enjoyed my time there and will go back when I return from the project in Cusco.

[slideshow]

[wpvideo 8uaSfoEr]

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