Synergy In Peru for a Superior Outcome

Government, Police and NGO’s Working Together for a Better Tomorrow

This week, Ascend Peru witnessed an amazing reunion of more than eighteen different organizations working together towards a common goal. We were lucky enough to lend a helping hand last weekend for a medical campaign organized by the NGO World Vision in an impoverished area of Cusco known as “La Margen Derecha.” As a result of the assistance we provided setting up tents and giving a talk to the children about basic hygiene, we were invited to a gathering of the “Committee for the Protection of Boys, Girls and Adolescents of the Margen Derecha.” The team of Ascend Peru was able to see firsthand the benefits of drastically different organizations with diverse areas of focus playing on the strengths of one another to achieve a superior outcome, a concept known as “synergy.”

The aforementioned committee combines the prowess of organizations that have knowledge of the law, healthcare, education along with the physical support of the local municipalities and the national police to achieve what one organization alone could not plausibly pull off. After one year of working together, members of the community have noticed the pay off that this committee has had in the lives of some of the poorest citizens of Cusco. Among these benefits are the free medical campaigns coupled with training that alleviates immediate medical need while simultaneously reducing a families need to seek medical attention in the future due to turning better practices into routing. Another is training in human and civil rights that educate communities to better understand how to make their voice heard and avoid being taken advantage. Also, mental health and effective parenting training helps to coach parents how to keep their kids interested in school, off the streets and out of trouble.

Specialization is a concept that is not new for Ascend. Due to the acknowledgment of the fact that we can’t do everything perfectly, Ascend recognizes the need to work jointly with other organizations in order to carry out objectives that it could not possibly fulfill alone. As an arm of the Ascend Alliance whose current goals include expansion of staff and activities, Ascend Peru is looking for its place in multiparty efforts where our strengths will be amplified by the unified effort of many different organizations all playing on what is their forte. An additional benefit of synergy is the possibility of learning to better ourselves by working in close proximity with likeminded organizations that are specialists in areas where we currently lack expertise. All of these efforts play into the goal of empowering those in need to lift themselves out of poverty and give their children a brighter future.

On another note, the programs of Ascend Peru have been going well over the past couple of weeks and we have implemented new programs and have plans for more in the near future. We have a new Ascend Business Training class in a town called Huasao, which is famous for its “brujos” (male witches). This class is comprised of women who want to become renowned for their hen culinary dishes, and we think that there is a ton of potential. Additionally, we have implemented a new “Health Starts at Home” class, which aims to teach women about their role in implementing a healthy lifestyle for themselves and their children. We also carried out visits to some of our ABT Graduates to see how things were going and to see if we could help out in any way. We were glad to see that these businesses have had greater success as the result of ABT training. Go Ascend Peru! Happy Halloween!

Another week in Cusco...

We apologize for the delay on our further posts! Cusco and its surrounding cities continue to surprise us with the peoples desire to learn and to grow. Ascend continues its work in San Sebastian, Huaro, Quenqo and recently Huasau.

Tim and Jared (Ascend Interns) have recently undertook a project in the orphanage San Judas Chico. Although they are no "gardening" experts, they we are able to contact Wilson Fitzgerald Velarde and together begin the project. The greenhouse was already built but the soil was in bad condition. After a hard days work, they completed the preparatory cleaning and weeding so that next week the seeding process can begin.

Quenqo is a city about 2 hours out of Cusco and has been an area where Ascend intends to continue its work. 2 school rooms are in the process of completion here and with some more work throughout the month, the completion of these rooms will provide spacious areas for the students and an excellent environment for learning. Tim, Jose Luis and local police support, Wilson Fitzgerald Velarde were able to visit the community last week. The children appreciated the safety and health lesson that an official police officer was able to teach them in both Spanish and Quechua.

Ascend continues to focus on the needs of the children of each community. Education is important to these children and can provide the opportunity to rise above poverty and live healthier lives. Our work here has just begun and we realize we have a lot ahead of us. We will continue our efforts in helping people and communities grow.

A New Horizon in Cusco

Cusco: the most renowned city in all of Perú due to its position as the gateway to Machu Picchu, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The majestic Inca ruins which dot the countryside are a distant memory of what has been, yet they continue to tell the story of a great civilization that has come and gone. What they don’t tell is the story of the descendants who continue to occupy the land of their forefathers in dire need of a helping hand and a guiding voice.

In Cusco exists a massive tourism industry that seems to overlook the plight of the many and instead focuses on the enjoyment of the few. Due to our proximity to the airport, all day long we hear planes landing and taking off again carrying passengers whose lives are miles away from the challenges faced by everyday Cusqueñans and their neighbors in the countryside. Families struggle to put food on their plates; they live with easily curable maladies because they can’t afford to go to the doctor; they lack basic things that we take for granted and their education often leaves much to be desired.

As interns for the Ascend Alliance we must put the needs of the many over our desires to partake in the bustling nightlife of Cusco or visits to the beautiful backdrop that surrounds us. The activities that go on here are will be a welcome distraction from long days of hard work. However, there will be a time for fun once the toils and troubles of the day are put to rest.

With the closing of the office in Lima, we are an office in transition. Being so presents unique challenges for us and gives us additional motivation to give all our effort in order to fine tune our operations. It means taking the initiative due to the fact that our supervisors are miles away physically and culturally, and they can’t watch our every move or predict every twist and turn. It means assessing how we can fit with the Ascend model of regional sustainability and mutually beneficial networking that allows for much of our funds to come from in-country operations and contributors. It means thinking of new ways to avoid old problems and putting the pieces back together with a better fit than before.

With that being said, Ascend Perú is making a positive difference in the lives of many people. We are helping to build a school in San Sebastian; a school about a half mile from our office. We are teaching basic business skills to adults and children in Huaro, about one hour outside of Cusco. We are undertaking mental health campaigns that help parents understand the implications and complexities of parenthood. And English classes start next week…!

A new chapter is about to unfold…

ASCENDER Peru on TV

A few weeks have flown by and series of important events have occurred here in the headquarters of ASCENDER Peru in Lima.

This year, the staff of ASCENDER Peru took a different approach to launch its gala. The locale chosen for the event is known for its festive and exciting social events. For this reason, we wanted to invite Peruvian civilians from different social and professional backgrounds to come contribute to the improvement of their communities, while enjoying themselves with the entertaining show we programmed.

In the previous months, we focused on building a relationship with professional members of the corporate work force here in Lima in order to attract prospective long term sponsors for ASCENDER Peru to our gala. In the past weeks, however, we focused on getting the word out to the general public. With the press conference that we held at De Rompe y Raja (the location for our gala) we were able to announce our event and its purpose to the Peruvian public. Next to the nationally acclaimed singer Bartola, our events coordinator, Erasmo Cardenas did a fantastic job at presenting our organization to Peruvian spectators. A few days later, our press conference was aired on four different local television channels, which not only helped us communicate our message to Peruvian civilians, but made Erasmo famous for a day.

Although our press conference did not create publicity of the magnitude we had hoped for, it definitely helped to boost more members of the Peruvian public to attend our gala.

El Dia Se Acerca

Wow how the time flies!!! The Gala is approaching rapidly. Only 10 days remain before the big day and there’s still a lot to be done. We had our first opportunity for all of us to go and see de Rompe y Raja, the place where our Gala will be held. The image I had of a Gala was completely transformed as I entered this classy Peruvian night club. The atmosphere wasn’t one you would typically associate with an elegant US Gala. It wasn’t a grand ballroom but a swanky music hall with bars, dim lights, and a stage where local artists have been performing for years. Yes, it may be different from how things are done back home in the states, but we’re not in the states; we’re in PERU!!!
The visit to Rompe y Raja got me excited for the visits to the different businesses to invite them to the Gala. We’re still working hard to get people to come and participate in the Gala. We’ve been running all over Lima to get the word out.
We met today with some of the young volunteers that will be helping at the Gala. They are students at a school for flight attendants who have volunteered to be servers and hostesses for the event. The meeting was held in order to inform them about Ascend and why we needed their help. They all seemed very excited to help and will be a great addition to our team.

Anchoring the Work In Peru

Networking among businesses and local non profit organizations is an essential part of the success of our work and we had a great opportunity to do just that with members of the Padrinos del Hogar San Antonio group this past week. They are another non profit group that provides spiritual as well as temporal help to orphanages throughout Lima. We were invited to a small dinner they had and were able to swap ideas and experiences with members and donors of the group. We made a lot of great connections and sparked some interest in the work we were involved in and generated interest in the Gala. It was humbling to hear that there were over 700 hundred orphans in many of the orphanages, all seeking someone to love and care for them. This just stressed the fact that there is so much work to be done here in Peru and that many people are waiting for our help. This fact helps keep us motivated as we continue to make countless calls to local business, hoping for a chance to meet with and invite them to our Gala. This process has actually picked up quite a bit in the last few weeks as we have learned more effective ways to approach and explain our cause to the people we meet with. We are hopeful that we will fill the events center we have rented and will generate more than enough funds to continue buidling the programs we have running and expand to others in order to help more people.

Strike - Huelga - Paro

Buenos dias! Annie here.

Today there is a transportation strike- NO busses.
Aaaand it's too dangerous for Diana and I to go to Huaycan to teach our English classes. We stayed up late getting all the lessons ready; we even woke up earlier than usual to make a poster of the alphabet... So we're going to have to go an extra day next week. But that is better than getting Erasmo's car stoned. Our awesome neighbor friend called to tell us that there was a whole highway shut down from people rioting and breaking cars with hard things.
This is the second strike that has prevented us from teaching in Huaycan; the first was a construction worker's strike- there is still debris in the roads from that one, rocks and gravel.
I hope they get paid better.
I hope they stop striking every two weeks, throwing stuff at cars.

So today instead of teaching, Diana and I will stay in the office, find numbers, make phone calls, you know, write blogs.

Making Progress in Lima

Work here in ASCEND Peru's Lima office is as busy as the action packed streets of the city. With our upcoming gala, the commencement of ABT classes in Via Maria, the ongoing English lessons in Huaycan, and other miscellaneous projects such as medical campaigns, we have become a multifaceted task force, utilizing a variety of different skills to perform this wide range of tasks. In the short period of one month, we have transformed from collegiate interns to practitioners of multiple professions such as; graphic designers (for the advertisment of the gala), sales representatives promoting ticket sales for the gala, Spanish- English translators, business teachers, English teachers, manual laborers and even home cooks to alleviate the burden of eating out on our still college status budget. You could say that we are a combination of different businesses in one.

Not only have we already seen the immediate fruits of our multifaceted work, but we can also foresee the long term impact that our efforts will have, something which most importantly we are striving to achieve. In the sales aspect of our work, for example, even if we fail to sell tickets for our gala at the meetings we have with different businesses, the face to face contact that we are making with them is planting the seed for a future network of viable contributors.

Another incident which demonstrates the postitive effects of our labor is the progress made on the building of the recreation area in the terrain adjacent to Huaycan's Hospital (mentioned in an earlier blogg.) The iniciative that we took to fix the terrain for the use of hospital patients, sparked the collaboration of community members and local institutions to continue the execution of the project.

We are very enthused about the work and progress we are making here in Lima. Not only are we acheiving our goals, but we are encouraging other people to join us along the way and in future paths to come.

The Diversity of Lima

Recently we've been running around Lima meeting with businesses and individuals to invite them to work with us and participate in the upcoming Gala. As a result of these visits I've been able to travel through many different parts of Lima. From the coastal swamps of Chorrillos to the dusty hills of Huaycan; from the historic El Augustino to the trendy streets of Miraflores, it's amazing how much diversity exists within one city.

Reflecting on the differences that there are between different parts of the city I began to think of the communities where we are working. While there may not be much that separates these people geographically, there exists an enormous gap economically. The work we are doing is helping to minimize that gap and give needy people a chance of a better life. My recent experiences have given me much to think about. There's a lot of work to do and a lot of people to help, but we can make a difference.

Moving Forward

We have quickly learned that the business process here in Peru is much different than the United States. The first difference we had to adjust to was the fact that every business asks for a letter explaining who you are and what you want before they will consider making an appointment with you. This slows down the appointment making process quite a bit because there is a lot of waiting time inbetween when the letter is sent and when, or if, the company decides to respond. But, we have started to see the fruits our countless phone calls and many letters which has been encouraging. We have had some great appointments with some of the major businesses in Peru including Bayer, Techonofil, OPP Film, PetroTech, BDO Consultants, and we are filling the weeks to come with appointments as well. We felt great about the fact that we sold 32 tickets to the gala through these appointments and the generous donations from a few individuals and businesses in Utah. That doubled the amount of tickets we had sold prior to this week.

The Start of English Classes

This week was the first week of English classes being taught in Huaycan. Two interns, Diana and Annie, will be going to this certain school every Tuesday and Thursday to teach ages 3 to 12 years. Yep, that's pre-school through 6th grade!

The road to the school is dirt, like the majority of roads in Huaycan, and Diana and Annie arrive there together with an employee, Erasmo in his thirty-year-old Volkswagen bug.

The rural are of Huaycan may be considered "slums" of outer Lima. The conditions are less than unsanitary. There are many a dirt-floor, and so many diseased animals hanging out in the same places where the children play; this creates large amounts of disease which lead to learning disabilities and stunting of growth.

Another unfortunate aspect of the climate, which is very much a desert (The Lima area gets less than 3 inches of rainfall per year) is that farming is difficult, and healthy food more expensive- resulting in poor nutrition for the citizens here.
There are so many in need in this area, and it is unfortunately not "pretty" enough for many expeditioners to want to come here and help. But after visiting the schools and day-care facilities that ASCEND has helped to build, one can feel the spirit of these people, realize the need, and have a new willingness and desire to give aid here.

***

The students are enthralled by the Ascend interns, and constantly ask them how to say their names, and other nouns in English. Recess on the first day was a crowd of students around the interns. Don't forget to wash your hands!

The younger ages 3 years, up to second grade, are harder to control and get to pay attention- they also have a harder time memorizing the English words, but they're super CUTE!

Grades 3 to 6 have a much easier time learning and repeating English words. Sixth grade is even learning conversation dialogue, and doing a great job!

Diana and Annie will be teaching English at the school for two months, as a replacement for the other English teachers who have quit or found other jobs. With luck, another replacement English teacher will be found for the school after the interns have returned to the United States.

Another Day in Huaycan

As our fellow intern Rob Collard mentioned on our previous blog, on Friday we returned to Huaycan to commence our next project. Behind Huaycan's community hospital, there is an empty terrain that the director of the hospital, Mr. Victor Garcia has for a long time seen as a possible resource to turn into a recreation area. The problem with this terrain, however is that it is rocky and not well suited for this purpuse. So here is where we, the helpul Peru Ascend task force, came in.

Early in the morning we commuted to Huaycan again and meet up with Mr. Garcia at the hospital to receive instructions as to what exactly we were doing. Before getting to the hospital, however, our fearless coworker Blake Royall, ventured to purchase a milk papaya smoothie from one of those little quiosks on the side of the road we interns were specifically warned to stay away from. The rest of us watched in awe as Blake consumed his papaya juice anticipating for him a restless night with the symptom of "la bicicleta" (the runs) which, surprisingly, never happened.





With the help of shovels, rakes, and pitch forks, we all began to dig up and extract the rocks from the soon to be soccer field. There were rocks of a variety of sizes, and because of their abundance, it seemed like an interminable job to do away with all of them. Although this we did not accomplish with ease, at the end of our hard laboring morning, we walked away from a much more arable terrain for soccer grass. Lucky me, in the midst of all the rocks and dirt, I found a delightful piece of underwear shown on the right.

Because of pending office work, we had to leave Huaycan early and did not get to finish building the soccer field that day. However, this is a project which we will continue to work on for weeks to come.

A Meal and Some Medicine

The work moves on here in Lima. Just this last weekend we ventured to Huaycan to help out with a free medical clinic. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Huaycan, it is an extremely impoverished area with nearly 150,000 inhabitants. The dusty hills are covered with humble homes and elaborate stairways to help the dwellers reach their destinations.

As I was still in the process of calculating how many times I would have to stop and rest before I actually made it to the top, we pulled into the school where the clinic was going to take place. There in the open plaza many children and their parents had already gathered with hopes to receive medical help from some of the local doctors. Prior to meeting with doctor, the local police department put on a presentation teaching the local kids to be healthy and stay away from drugs. There were police officers in big costumes, somewhat reminiscent of Barney, dancing and passing out prizes for those who participated.

A small breakfast was served as the volunteer doctors got to work. Taylor and I helped serve the food as Blake and Diana helped fill prescriptions to the patients. Slowly the massive lines of needy people diminished as both young and old received a meal and the medicine they needed. Many adults wrote letters and the children drew pictures to express their appreciation for the medical aid.

We’re looking forward to our next trip to Huaycan this weekend where we will be helping out at the hospital

On a seperate note, we have some unfortunate news to report. We are no longer having our much anticipated baile due to some complications with the club we were working with. Instead of donating it for the night, they decided they wanted to charge us. It definatlely was a downer but we're keeping our spirits high. But I am beginning to wonder if I’ll ever get the chance to learn to Salsa…

La Vida Buena

Well, life is good her in Lima. We are very busy right now trying to get ready for two major events that we have coming up. Next Friday, the 29th of May we are having a fiesta/dance to raise money for 80 needy children in a city called Huaycan. All the proceeds from the dance will go towards redoing two floors of the building where they meet for school. It will greatly improve the environment of their school and give them a nice place to study and learn. The funds will also assist in the construction of a cafeteria where the children can choose from a variety of menu items for one sol, which is the eqivalent of about 33 cents. We are trying to get permission from the directors of various colleges here in Lima to let us make announcements and pass out flyers about the dance in all of the classes. The fiesta/dance isn't going to be a boring party in a cultural hall, it is going to be in the Pub Voluntarios, which would be the equivalent of Area 51 or another club in Salt Lake.
We are also preparing for a Gala that we are going to have the 23 of July. This gala is one of the main fundraising opportunities for the year so we are really trying to sell all available seats for the night. We are currently trying to make appointments with large businesses here in Lima so we can present our purpose and explain what Ascend's mission is here in Peru. We still need to sell quite a few so we have out work cut out for us.

The Inca Trail

This summer's Peru expedition includes a journey on the historic Inca Trail.

Spring Break Adventure

*click on image to enlarge

Upcoming Expedition

ASCEND's next expedition to Peru: March 16-21, 2009.