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The Longest Summer Vacation We Ever Had Was the Week We Spent in Peru
by Caryn Cain, Oshkosh Rotary Southwest
My first reaction to hearing about Oshkosh Rotarians traveling to Lima for seven days, for basically the price of airfare, was, "Hey, that's a cheap vacation! I think I'll go!" The side trip to the Andes was extra but I'd wanted to visit Machu Picchu for years so the whole thing looked like a bargain -- and a place I could take my daughter who just happened to finish her last (as in graduating) final at college that day and just happens to speak fluent Spanish, which I do not.
After a raucous greeting party on Saturday evening (hosted by possibly the most fun Rotary club on the planet, La Molina Vieja) we were hit smack in the face by reality the next day when we visited La Sagrada Familia (Holy Family) orphanage. Miguel, the founder and director, was described by folks in our group as, "Ghandi-like," and "Mother Theresa with a MBA." His story is one that can bring tears to even the most hardened curmudgeon.
Miguel, who was a professional man - lots of money, prestige, nice digs in a nice neighborhood - lost his son to heart disease when the boy was just an infant. Miguel's story, as translated by a Rotarian named Walter (we nicknamed him Kojak because of his pate and demeanor), is one of reaching out to others to kill the pain of his loss. Very soon after the baby's death, Miguel came across two smelly, dirty ragamuffins on the street. The kids were homeless (as are 10,000 other kids in Lima) so Miguel took them home to live with him and his wife. The next day the kids were gone and once again Miguel felt the pain of loss. But the strangest thing happened. Those two kids returned with four more and that six soon doubled to twelve. We got goose bumps and teary as a choked-up Walter translated every word. The only sound in the room besides the two men's voices was the sound of sniffling and purses opening to retrieve more tissues.
Just to prove that no good deed goes unpunished, Miguel's neighbors complained about all the orphans living in their nice neighborhood. So Miguel acquired a piece of property in the northern slums of Lima, a bad hour's drive from downtown, and set up cardboard shacks with grass mat roofs. The cardboard and grass mats fare pretty well because the "rainy season" in Lima is during August when they get a whole .1 inch of rain. The compound now consists of a commons area with a concrete floor and actual roof, a "kitchen" with a couple of natural gas burners, boys and girls dormitories (the cardboard and grass mat variety), and a nursery area for the infants and toddlers. They do have electricity but water is delivered by truck, COD. No cash, no water - a market economy at it's worst.
The kids at the orphanage, who are amazingly well-adjusted thanks to the love lavished on them by Miguel and his helpers, range in age from a few months to 18 years. By the time they leave La Sagrada Familia they have a high school education (Miguel established an elementary school next to the orphanage but the high school is about 3.5 miles away) and have learned a trade. The three trade areas are baking, pottery, and furniture making. The goods are transported to local markets and the proceeds provide income for the orphanage. Their goal is to become self-sufficient although with the shaky Peruvian economy that probably won't happen in the near future. The fact that they are even trying for some level of self-sufficiency impressed the heck out of us!
Transportation to the markets and the high school are very real problems which my club is addressing.
Miguel has two trucks, one of which is dead while the other is dying. Southwest Rotary is in the process of raising $15,000 to send to Peru for a truck purchase. We are working with my Lima host family who happens to own an auto repair business and is throwing in five years of free labor for the truck - Miguel must pay for parts. We will set up a $1,000 per year account so the truck can get regular oil changes, maintenance, and perhaps some fuel. A lube job runs $80 and gasoline is at least 4 times more than in the U.S., even at our current prices.
Any clubs wishing to help us with the truck purchase and maintenance will be most welcome. My daughter and I will both return to Lima this summer - my daughter as a volunteer English teacher at a Lima business school and I to work on a project at the orphanage. The Peruvians will send an exchange teacher to Oshkosh this fall in what we hope is the first year of a "Teacher Exchange Program."
A Rotary-based trip to Peru is like nothing you have ever experienced. On one hand the locals want to show off what they have and on the other they will pitch more fund raising projects than you'll see at the international convention. The needs are great, they have more than enough heart, but so few resources to help their own. If you go, be prepared to be run ragged (and love every minute of it!) and have your eyes opened to true desperation. All of us came away changed by the experience, but not in a sad and helpless way - we actually saw that there is hope through people like Miguel and organizations like Rotary. This will never work as a government to government program. We need real people getting involved. We, the Rotarians on both sides of the equator as well as other like-minded people, must step up and make the difference.
The Rotarians in Lima I trust with my life as well as my money so any contributing club can rest assured that their dollars are being monitored carefully. I, and my fellow Peru travelers, invite anyone to make the trip. The airfare runs about $800 and you will be put up in a beautiful home by one of the La Molina Rotarians. I have not met a friendlier people than the Peruvians nor a group that more desperately needs our help. We have so much - probably too much. Consider sharing it with those other people who call themselves Americans.
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