MySmallhelp Cusco

Tuesday 23^rd February 2010

 Presenting the idea

  On Tuesday, Carlos, Eddy and I went to Paucarbamba to present the idea of the Cuy Farm(Guinea Pig Farm). Most Andean Campesinos (farmers) will have Cuy (guinea pigs) running around their house, close to the oven where it is warm. Cuy are a popular delicacy in the Andes in Peru and they are consumed on special occasions by the Campesinos and more regularly, by tourists in Cusco.

 One of our hopes for the community is that they become self sufficient through a Cuy Project. Cuy are ready to eat and sell after 2 or 3 months if reared properly and there is significant profit to be made which will help the community rebuild their houses and lessen their dependence on our food donations.

 Carlos presented the plan and it was met with much enthusiasm.  The name of the project is Cuylandia (guinea pig land!) and we still have more research to do but it was an encouraging start!

Guinea Pig Farm

Campeonato de futbol Saturday 13th February 2010

On a very warm and sunny day we set off gathering up Team Yanapay from the Hostal Magico to the Collegio de San Jose on the other side of Cusco. Amanda and Alex had valiantly got up much earlier to help Team Bullfrogs get everything from DJ equipment to crates of beer from the bar to the ground.

Cheers !!

When they arrived everyone pitched in to set up our makeshift bar and food stall for the day. All proceeds were going to support the Damnificados so everyone was tasked to sell, sell, sell. In true stereotypical form, the girls each assigned themselves roles as food preparers, money takers and beer getters whilst the boys warmed up for their first match, which also happened to be the first of the day.

Warming Up

As the draw had been held the night before in Bullfrogs, the remaining 11 teams trickled in time for their games but by midday, Yanapay kicked off first and the campenoato was off and running. A mix of skills, nationalities and footwear (Kevin opting to play barefoot rather than flip flops) the team managed to hold their own until .finally losing 8-6.

Match Action

In the meantime the girls felt the rush as the bar was inundated by hungry players and supporters requesting Parillas (burgers) and Choripan (hotdogs) as well as plenty of beer and gasiosas (Coca Cola). The sun was beating down but the girls kept on task with the aid of an umbrella taking it in turns to cheer on the Yanapay boys.

Yanapay’s second game was more of a story of success in part due to the arrival of Jose and of course the skill of our two Argentinian ringers, sorry I mean, friends consolidating the efforts of the European and US contingent. The international collaboration led to a resounding victory 5-1.

H Shoots...

 The next, and unfortunately final, game for Yanapay was against Team Bullfrogs, the creative sparks and co-organisers of the event. The teams seemed evenly matched were it not for some questionable decisions by the referee (or is that the taste of sour grapes?) which eventually led to a Bullfrogs victory 9-7.

The next stage in the competition was the dreaded penalty shootout. Not a great experience for Team Yanapay who were, like many an England team, knocked out at a crucial stage of the competition. Still, the boys could be pleased with their performance and could now relax with a couple of cold beers and enjoy the rest of the football.

 Bullfrogs bowed out in the semi final and Hostal Pariwana went onto win the championship.

 The campeonato now over, Bullfrogs and Yanapay, friends once again, packed up and headed home. The night would continue back at the bar with a victory drink for all.

A great day was had by all !

 Mysmallhelp would like to offer their heartfelt thanks to everyone at Bullfrogs for creating and organising a great event for their fellow Peruvians who have lost everything. “Los Damnifcados” Houses, clothing, school books and treasured possessions all gone after the floods of Sunday 24th January 2010 in the region of Cusco.

The campeanato de futbol raised 660 soles (approximately £150) which has been donated to Casa Hogar del Sol to provide food to the flood victims of Paucarbamba.

We still need your help providing food, shelter and support to flood victims, many of which are still homeless and with limited opportunity to provide an income for their family.

Tuesday 16th February 2010

 George, Cathy, Amanda, Alex, Carlos and I, along with some Peruvian friends, took along the regular food delivery to the community of Paucarbamba today. We are currently providing food for this community which is delivered 3 times per week.

 As ever the community were pleased to see us and as we drove up lots of people were working on salvaging items from their houses to assist with the rebuild.

 The comedor we provided is being used and it made me chuckle to see the meal times pinned to the front wall.

Comedor

We then spent lots of time speaking with the people of the community to try and understand what they need to get themselves back on their feet and to make themselves self sufficient on the coming months, easing their dependence on the food line.

Community Talks

We have lots of things to think about and organisations to approach.

Watch this space!

Michael Caines MBE has put his support behind the Peros appeal to help those affected by the recent tragic events in Peru.

Floods and landslides have devastated the Cusco region, a major coffee-growing area, and emergency aid is desperately required. Public awareness of this disaster is currently very low making fund raising difficult – a situation Michael would like to change.

Michael Caines in Peru (2008)

Michael has first-hand knowledge of the area following his 2008 visit there with Peros to see for himself how Cafédirect and Fairtrade contributions benefit local communities. “I was deeply moved by what I saw,” he said. “Communities had only just recovered from previous natural disasters, and Fairtrade premiums were making a direct and positive impact on the lives of the people we visited.

This latest disaster is a real tragedy for these welcoming and friendly people. They need our help and they need it now! Our industry is indebted to hard-working and often impoverished growers and producers around the world and this is a great chance for us to repay some of that debt. Because I personally know the people involved, I know that every pound we raise will go directly where it’s needed,” he added.

Peros has set up the Peros Cusco Emergency Appeal to receive donations directly. Peros is also receiving regular reports from contacts in the region and will continue to publicise these through their website, Facebook and Twitter updates.

Michael, acclaimed chef and driving force behind the ABode Hotels group, has worked with Peros over many years and in 2007 specified Cafédirect Fairtrade coffee across all his hotels and cafés.

The Cusco region of Peru has supplied coffee to Cafédirect for more than ten years.

Wednesday 10^th February

After a catch up phone call with Peter and Steve at Peros to update them on our news, Leander and I met at a Bar in Cusco where Leander is involved in organising a football tournament with a local bar to raise more funds. We are hoping to organise van loads of volunteers to help with the salvage operation in the Sacred Valley at the weekend. It’s vitally important to salvage items from people’s houses before more rain comes. We are hoping to get 100’s of people to help people like Marissa and her family and hope that when people see the situation with their own eyes, they will also want to get involved in the support effort.

Hopefully lots of people will turn up!

The community in Huayronkoyocoyocpampa where we hope to provide volunteers to help with the salvage effort

Tuesday 9^th February- Sacred Valley

 George, Cathy, Carlos and I headed back into the Sacred Valley and to the community of Paucarbamba- about 2 hours by car from Cusco. On route we stopped at San Pedro market to buy meat and bread for the damnificados (those affected by the flooding) and to buy more wood to construct tables and benches.

When we arrived we dropped food at a community in lower Paucarbamba and Carolos showed us the proposed site for a second comedor to benefit this community. As ever the women were busy cooking lunch in a lean-to and children were playing outside.

After this we drove up to the higher community of Paucarbama where we were all delighted to see the comedor (that we had built on Saturday) was being put to excellent use. The gas hob had been moved in and the women were busy peeling hundreds of potatoes to be used for lunch. It was obvious that more tables and seats were needed- lucky Carlos had instructed us to buy more wood!

Marissa salvaging wood from what was their 2 story home

We quickly set about making 2 more tables and some benches, but after a while it became obvious that the Peruvians were far more skilled at woodwork than us, so we decided to head back to Huayronkoyocoyocpampa to see if we could offer our strength for the salvage work.

Here we came across a family, desperately digging out their home. The women were using pick axes to free up the wood beams that could be salvageable, and Cathy, George and I quickly formed a chain to move the wood to safety where it could be stored before it is needed.

The family had lost everything. They had spent years constructing a 2 story house, from money that Roberto had made working on construction sites in the nearby town. However, as with most of the houses here, it was made from adobe bricks which were unable to stand the quantity and force of the water. The family are living in the local school and have no idea of where they are going to rebuild and how they are going to find the money.  Luckily their small piece of land where they grow maize for domestic consumption and to sell was unaffected, so they should be able to generate a little bit of cash from this, but obviously not enough to rebuild.

Cathy from Desana Inc and Roberto and Marissa

Monday 8^th February – Cusco

Monday was spent getting organised after the weekend and having meetings.

We met with Carlos, our Peruvian contact and with George and Cathy of Desana Inc. George and Cathy founded and run a charity which supports projects in Peru and Russia. When they heard about the floods they flew straight down from the USA to help and brought with them dollars to buy food and wood for the community of Paucarbamba.

Our meeting was to discuss whether it would be better to pool their resources and ours to ensure that we are benefiting communities in the right way and the decision was made that yes, we should. We also agreed that our purpose is get the community of Paucarbamba to be self sufficient again and therefore research needs to be undertaken over the next few weeks to find the best way of doing this.

Sacred Valley

 To those who haven’t been, the Sacred Valley in Southern Peru is on route to Peru’s largest tourist attraction, Machu Picchu and was one of the areas most affected by the recent flooding and landslides. There are several large towns in the Sacred Valley, but the population as a whole are campesinos (farmers) who live a very simple life in adobe houses, farming maize and potatoes on small pieces of land. It is these people who have been most affected by the floods. 

 We had teamed up with Carlos, a Peruvian who knows these communities very well through his work with his own charity Casa Hogar de los Hijos del Sol (Home of the Children of the Sun) 

Carlos

Carlos had identified a community called Paucarbamba whose houses had been washed away by the river and who were now living with neighbours up the hill. Our task for the day was to build them a comedor ( a sheltered dining area, able to feed 60 people). 

 After loading the car and buying the wood, we drove into the Sacred Valley. 

Loading the Car

Our destination was Paucarbamba where the scenes of devastation were more akin to an earthquake than flooding. 

The community were pleased to see us and we quickly got to work marking out the space for the comedor with the men, whilst the women prepared lunch outside. 

Paucarbamba

The community members were keen to get involved, the men were skilled carpenters and the women busied themselves with making lunch from the ingredients another team of volunteers had provided from Cusco, following a 3 hour long shop in the market buying enough food to last the community 4 days!  

We all began working to Carlos’s plan and hour by hour the comedor began to take shape. At first I was struck by how simple and flimsy it appeared, however 8 hours later, when it was complete I realised how functional and practical it was. 

The comedor will enable the community to eat in a dry and warm place and will provide a dry area for the children to play and study, as well as a place for the community to hold their meetings. February is the rainiest month in the Sacred Valley so providing shelter is vitally important.  

Paucarbamba Locals

We christened the comedor with a meal of pasta, potatoes and some kind of undescribable meat and when we left, the community of Paurcabamba were delighted with the new addition to their village. 

We want to use the funds that have been raised in the UK to enable communities to became self sufficient again for the long term, however in the immediate aftermath we have allocated funds to the provision of food and shelter. We are continuing to investigate options for the longer term. In the first instance though, it was fantastic to be able to build something so tangible and necessary for this community. 

 Many thanks to all of you for your support.

We woke up in Ollantytambo on Sunday morning to a bright blue sky, in the knowledge that we had another day of physical work ahead of us.

Hillside Inca ruins

Ollantytambo is a gorgeous Incan town, with Incan water ways running through the streets and two extremely impressive sets of Inca ruins on hill faces either side of the town. Although not directly affected by the flooding, Ollantytambo is the centre for many of the communities who were affected by the floods, with many who have lost their houses now living in the local school.

Water running down side of street

 We walked down towards the river to a community called Huayronkoyocoyocpampa and were shocked at what we saw.  Houses had tumbled back into the ground, crops were ruined and desperate families were digging what few possessions they had out from the mud and debris.

House demolished by floods

 We spent most of the morning helping the men salvage items from their homes, mainly tiles that could be reused, beams and wood. This is the first time that this area has been flooded and houses that took people 2-3 years to build, were washed away in a matter of hours.

 The community are speaking to the local municipality to try and find another location for them to rebuild their houses and lives, as it is not safe for them to stay by the river. However, the situation is hard for them as they have lost most of their crops, which means they have no means of making any money in the short term and there is no social security system in Peru and very little government help.

 We realise that we are not going to be able to help every community we come across however we have pledged to arrange for teams of volunteers from Cusco and surrounding towns, to come down to Huayronkoyocoyocpampa  to help with the salvage effort, as at the moment saving what can be saved is almost as important as providing funds.