The blogs are kindly sponsored by The Energy Brokers

We could never have imagined the welcome we got at Lima Airport. As Ed and I stepped through arrivals, there in front of us were a group of school children from Padre Pio de Pietrelcina School run by Maria Sylva, all of whom held banners and welcoming cards with our names on. There were also four representatives from Project Peru and one of the volunteers, Anna, who added to the massive welcome. Ed and I were utterly speechless to say the least.

 

The entire day was entirely planned out for us. First off we were to go with Maria Sylva and look round her school. Truly inspiring. Maria had been in and out of Peru for many years and was originally a nun. She set up the school in 2005 with only 5 children and now has 96 and is in the process of building further premises to accommodate more kids. It was interesting to hear about the areas around Lima and the geography of the area. The “Lonely Planet Guide” puts the population of Lima at approximately 8.5 million people but Maria says it is closer to 12 million. The City was set up to be able to deal with 2 million people with regards to water resources so this is quite an issue. Water is taken from the few mountain river sources coming from the Andes and delivered by trucks to households in the suburbs where each household stores there rationed water in bricked containers with crude coverings outside. Most sanitation is via cesspits. Because of the geographical position of Lima being on the western side of the Andes it is situated on dusty plains mostly void of natural vegetation. On the outskirts of Lima a majority of houses are incomplete. We were told this is because once a house is finished entirely, further taxes have to be paid by the owners, so no one seems to complete them.

Maria showed us round the school. The children were in various lessons and classes were kept to a maximum 16 pupils. Afterwards we were fed a delicious lunch and then it was time to move onto Project Peru where we would be staying for the next few days.

Again, the welcome we received at the refuge was outstanding. They had been planning this for a while. We dropped our bags off in our room that they had prepared and took us out onto their newly formed basket ball court and put on a traditional dance and music followed by a wonderful meal in their main hall with lots of official welcomes. Ed and I were utterly over-whelmed by the whole evening. The staff and the children were so friendly.

The kids came from varying backgrounds but all had an awe inspiring story to tell that would leave a lump in your throat. However, meeting them face to face you would never have known their history. Their warm hearts and kindness were truly inspirational. Staying at the refuge was one of those moments where seeing is definitely believing. They all worked hard and played hard, showed compassion toward each other, never complained about things and always wanted to help. After working in the outdoor industry for ten years these were by far the best kids I’d ever come across. To have such compassion and kindness to their peers and elders and show an endless amount of happiness in life, considering their past, can only be an inspiration to us all.

The days were mainly spent going into Lima central to sort out our visas and getting the relevant extensions which we got eventually. We are now fine up until September this year when we will have to get our passports stamped for the next extension. All this was made possible by the help and connections of Project Peru so a massive thanks goes to them. Project Peru were also able to provide us with staff to go into town and help us find the relevant places to go and help us with complicated bureaucratic processes. We would get taxis into town whenever we could get them and on one occasions I held onto the center post of the taxi as I was getting in just as the driver decided to slam his door shut - on my fingers. I both wailed and laughed out loud in pain, not deciding whether I should cry or laugh. The driver didn’t seem to realise what he’d done until I was shouting for him to open the door to release my hand. Thankfully, his door was so ill fitting it hadn’t broken anything. Ed and Marlene (our helper from Project Peru) were both in hysterics, of course - thanks guys.

By the end of our stay Ed and I had been given nick-names of “Iron Bum” for Ed, for sitting on one of the seats and utterly destroying it in one go - the entire thing broke apart with Ed falling to the floor, much to the amusement of us all. And “Iron Hands” for me for dropping things and clumsily putting things together.

We helped as much as we could whilst there, getting involved in games and cleaning wherever we could. One young girl had two abscesses behind her ear, one of which had burst. She was already on anti-biotics and the staff were cleaning her open-wound well. Whilst we were there, I bought for them some Betadine and some cleaning swabs and helped with cleaning, packing and dressing the wound and showed them how to continue with the process. They already knew to return the girl to the doctors should the course of anti-biotics not reduce the abscess and hopefully the doctor will deal with it accordingly.

The final night everyone had set up a bonfire and we put potatoes wrapped in foil in the fire and cooked hot dogs for all. They were all keen on singing songs and Ed and I obliged with a couple of classics (A pizza hut, A pizza hut etc and the funky chicken!). The next day was spent doing final preparations in the center of town again but we returned for the official goodbyes where all the children gave us big hugs and wished us happy travels. All very emotional but at the same time hugely inspirational and both Ed and I have vowed to help further with Project Peru upon our return.

After leaving and heading into the center of Lima for the last time, Ed and I sat silent for a while reflecting over our short stay with such wonderful people. I think we were both blown away by the whole place and the brilliant people there. A massive thanks has to go to all the staff at the Refuge; Carina, Lucy, Vilma and all the other staff, the two fantastic volunteers, Ruth and Anna (both from UK) and of course all the children whose compassion and kindness will not be forgotten. Please visit the site of Project Peru for further details of what they do and of course, thanks to Carole and David, the founders, both of whom have helped us endlessly.

Off to Camana now, by bus. This is the start of the expedition. Our main Peruvian guide, Oswaldo, is meeting us there on Monday. We will be cutting our maps down to size, getting provisions, slapping on the sun cream and heading off! This is it now. One last blog from Camana then the rest will be from the field…..should we not break something first!

Luke