Alicia and I lived in Huanchaco and volunteered through the Otra Cosa Network.
The Otra Cosa Network is a low cost volunteer placement agency. They link willing foreigners with locally run organisations. We found Otra Cosa to be the real deal. They are not one of those excessively high priced programs using volunteer fees to fund their existence and giving a 2 week, token, feel good experience. They are a grass roots organisation that genuinely aims to benefit Peru and assist those willing to help - the volunteers.
Volunteering is not about changing the world. It’s about making personal connections with people and realising how these change both your lives. I would recommend it to everyone.
I contributed some writing to the Otra Cosa Newsletter. I liked writing it so much I decided to post it here for you all to read, enjoy.
Sόlo la Educaciόn Salvará al Perú
By James Galletly
Dedicated to Hutton Eadie, who fractured his heel pretending to jump of the CEP school roof.
CEP stands for Corporacion de Educaciόn Popular. The CEP school was set up by Father Victor Hugo Tumba Ortiz or Padre Tumbes. It is a private school, run on charitable donations, offering free education to children whose families cannot afford the small costs of a normal school. Padre Tumbes set up the school as a real world application of his thesis that Sόlo la educaciόn salvará al perú or only education can save Peru.
I volunteered with the CEP school, first as part of the construction team and then the summer school program. Construction was a great introduction to Peruvian work culture. I was a member of the United Nations of Otra Cosa. There was John from Ireland; Morgan, Hutten and Shae from the United States; Allan from Peru and myself representing Australia. Our task was to dig a hole. Not just any hole - el muy grande, muy profundo, hueco. The hole was 2 meters by 2 meters and 2.8 meters deep.
Progress was slow, as with most things in Peru, but this didn’t bother anyone because as we dug deeper the digging became harder. Once the hole was over our heads we used a ladder to climb in and out, and a bucket to haul out the loose sand and rocks. From the beginning, we were unsure what the hole was for and why it needed to be so big. We tried just digging a narrower hole and convincing Miguel, the foreman, that 1.8m was bastante profundo. But he re-marked out the original size and said we could widen it tomorrow and keep digging down.
Conversations were held through, across, and in spite, of the language barrier about the hole’s purpose. Miguel was saying something about generating free electricity or making a circuit breaker to save the school computers or maybe something entirely different that we just failed to understand. In lieu of a verified purpose to our mission we kept digging and speculated that maybe we were looking for the lost treasure of Chan Chan (Chan Chan is an ancient city, ruins of which are still standing near Huanchaco).
At round 2.4 meters it started to get really hot down the hole, and dangerous. There was a real possibility of head injury due to falling rocks, or wall collapse. It was agreed upon by all UN members, expect Peru, that for a hole this size we needed confined spaces tickets, hard hats, a harness, safety ropes and wall re-enforcing or at least a decent ladder. Peru relented and gave us Inca Cola and an early finish that day.
Eventually we made it to 2.8 meters and moved on to other jobs leaving el Cañόn de CEP uncovered. We left a hole 2 meters by 2 meters and 2.8 meters deep open and uncovered in a school playground! Luckily the only thing to fall in was a soccer ball. Two months later when I finished my volunteer stint, el Cañόn was still open, and unused.
Part 2: El Abono
Padre Tumbes believes only education can save Peru. I have a different view I believe only compost can save Peru.
Morgan and I started a composting project at the CEP school. We built two compost bins, out of recycled adobe bricks (it looks like a mini Chan Chan). Then we filled one bin with food scraps and garden waste and taught the kids all about the wonders of composting. This was our contribution to a greater Peru.
One of Padre’s visions for CEP is to be self sufficient. That is, to have a thriving vegetable garden within the school grounds that provides fresh, healthy, nutritious produce for use in the school lunches. This is an extremely practical idea and one that deserves merit as well as further volunteer attention (hint), but as you all know, the soil in Huanchaco and Trujillo is little more than sand and pebbles. This is terrible soil for growing plants. It holds very little moisture, or nutrients, both of which are essential for plant growth. That’s were compost comes in.
Compost is a free, natural source of additional soil nutrients and general all round garden improver. With compost the garden soil will be nutrient rich and grow lush, healthy vegetables. Using these nutritious vegetables in school lunches will lead to healthier children better able to concentrate and absorb knowledge. This will ultimately lead to a better educated Peru.
Without compost the garden will falta, lunches will be sparse, kids will be hungry, the famished students won’t learn, Father Tumbe’s thesis will be disproved and ultimately Peru will suffer. So for the benefit of Peru, Compost! Compost! Compost! For only education can save Peru, and only compost can save education.
Please save your food scraps, bag up garden waste around Huanchaco and give them to a CEP school volunteer. If you are a CEP volunteer, don’t be embarrassed, haul the bags of composting material on the bus and tend the pile with love, take the time to visit the compost pile, add the scraps from the school kitchen and keep the pile moist. Better yet, help the kids do all this.