Peru Program
Tentative Peru Trip Dates: July 8th – 22nd, 2010
Meet the 2010 Peru Team Leaders: Val Peterson and Stephen Ly
New site for the 2010 year: Palmeras, Peru!
This coming year the YouthLINC team will be serving in the village of Palmeras, over 500 indigenous jungle people just twenty minutes up the Amazon River from Santa Rosa. Three months out of the year, nearly half the village of Palmeras sits under water and can only be accessed by boat or canoe. The village is in need of a water sanitation system as well as a secondary school, assistance with primary and secondary education and community health. A Rotary International Matching Grant put forth by Kaysville Rotary Club and the Rotary Club of Iquitos will provide the clean water, public bathrooms, and cement walkways to keep everyone out of the parasite infested mud. The community is ready and willing to partner with YouthLINC and is excited to spend the next few years working alongside the YouthLINC teams.
Santa Rosa, Peru Report - 2009
The YouthLINC team returned to Santa Rosa for a third and final year to finish up existing projects and spend an amazing last two weeks with this beautiful river village. YouthLINC participants built and painted a new library for the village and donated over 250 Spanish books to be housed in the new library. They worked with the village health care worker in the medical clinic, treating and training the villagers on basic first aid procedures and bought and organized medical supplies for the village clinic. Students also spent a full week teaching in the primary and secondary schools on a variety of topics and held a carnival for the villagers at the end of the week. The improvement this community has seen in the past three years is truly remarkable. The smiling faces of the Peruvian children bring a beauty to life not found anywhere else.
Medical
After three years of visiting the same village and a great deal of reiterating many of the concepts we taught, our hard work began to show results. We noticed that children were no longer drinking from the river; they were washing their hands and brushing their teeth! It was a great feeling when the kids would show us their clean drinking water, clean teeth, and clean hands. They were proud of themselves, and wanted us to be proud of them as well.”
-Lupe Cruz, Peru 2007-2009
For our third and final year in Santa Rosa,students held a health fair for thevillagers and taught hand washing and oral hygiene once again (repetition is key!), but the fresh, new ideas of the new members of the Medical and Dental Teams, kept the kids (and adults) involved and attentive. The dental team donated hundreds of oral hygiene packets, which included toothbrushes, toothpaste and dental floss. The team was also able to teach maturation to the young adults and family planning with cycle beads to anyone of childbearing age. They handed out dozens of pairs of reading glasses and sun glasses and taught a class on eye protection.
The clinic was busy with people that were anxious to see our doctor. The main were dehydration and low back pain. This allowed for perfect teaching opportunities for the medical committee. Participants were also able to stock their pharmacy with many needed supplies, and leave Tulio, the village health care worker with some of the knowledge he would need to in order to continue to care for the community.
Construction
YouthLINC participants worked for 10 days straight building a new library facility for the community. They cut wood, nailed boards, painted and decorated the structure and brought down over 250 Spanish books to fill the library. Students also worked on a new sports court for the primary and secondary schools by leveling dirt and laying and smoothing cement to provide a clean, mud free surface for students to practice sports and play soccer games. Thanks to a matching Rotary Grant in 2009 (supported by Tooele, Park City Sunrise, Vernal, and Iquitos clubs) money was provided to complete new free-standing bathrooms next to the primary school, a playground, cement walkways, and a fence for the communal areas of the village.
Education
The team taught lessons for a full week of school in a variety of areas. They taught in the kindergarten, primary and secondary schools and students taught art, math, science, reading, life skills, physical education and English. They brought backpacks and school supplies to donate to the kids and bought all of their own materials for their lessons. YouthLINC students played games and spent time with the children of the village in cultural exchange moments.
This Program has absolutely impacted my life. It has given me a career direction and mission in life. I’ve always wanted to serve and help people, but never really knew how until now. I am now a lifelong humanitarian.” – Abby Brass, Peru 2009
Micro-Enterprise
YouthLINC purchased 2 new sewing machines for the village and taught vocational lessons in sewing and haircutting to the adults in the village. The Micro-enterprise team put together 4 business plans to teach to a large group of about 45 men and women in the village. They taught about balance sheets, business ideas, marketing etc. and the villagers put themselves into co-ops to submit business proposals for their specific small business plans. Each group submitted a group profile a long with a proposal of what their business idea consisted of, how it would work, what supplies they would need to get it started, and who they could market to. The Micro-enterprise team did a fabulous job teaching about Micro-enterprise to this community and getting the villagers excited about starting their own businesses to provide income for their families and to help better their community. Small business loans will be given out at the end of August to the groups chosen and the loans will be paid back over a year period of time.
Cross Cultural
The cross cultural team planned and organized both the opening and closing ceremonies for the team and put on a fantastic carnival at the end of the week for the entire village. The carnival consisted of a giant twister game, arts and crafts, volleyball, soccer and field games, included potato sack races and an egg toss. YouthLINC participants handed out prizes and painted faces and the entire team had a wonderful time both experiencing the culture of Peru and sharing a bit of our culture with the Peruvians.
Lea acerca de este programa en espaņol
2009 Program: July 9 - July 22, 2009
Meet 2009 the Peru Team Leader: Dana Hale Curtis
Santa Rosa, Peru- 2008
This year the YouthLINC team returned to Santa Rosa, a village of over 500 people living on the Banks of the Amazon River. In this small community, YL Participants finished painting the brand new medical clinic for the village and stocked it full of medical supplies. They taught a variety of classes to both the primary and secondary schools, participated in a community health fair and held a carnival for the villages of Santa Rosa and Yanamono. The beauty of this area lies in the lessons learned by YL students from the villagers: that a simple life is a happy life.
O n the last day in Santa Rosa I donated all my clothes. The villagers didn't care that they were used and dirty from a week of work. Their need was so great that my work clothes were completely wearable and needed. It made me realize how grand my meager clothing collection at home is."
--Tamsen Maloy
Medical
The medical team and several YL student participants saw about 45 adult medical patients and 25 children in a brand new medical clinic. They did physical assessments and gave many recommendations for improved health. The team also participated and taught lessons at a community health fair.
The team worked with Tulio, the community health care provider, and trained him on basic medical procedures and medications. YL also brought many medical supplies to stock the clinic.
Next Year
YL plans to continue community health fairs and public health lesson plans. A maturation program needs to be provided, and YL will bring materials in Spanish to leave with the villagers.
The villagers need glasses to correct vision problems and sunglasses to protect their eyes from the sun. We would like to do a glasses/sunglasses drive during the year to provide those supplies.
M y favorite moment was when one of boys from Santa Rosa gave me a present. It was a small wooden paddle that he carved it himself. I felt happy that I made a good friend in another country."
--Johnny Price
We will continue to teach lessons about clean water, sanitizing water buckets and washing hands for the villagers, and we need donations to buy anti-bacterial soap for the community. There is a continued need for medical supplies, in particular: anti-parasitic medication, anti-fungal creams, pre-natal vitamins, contraceptives and anti-biotics. Many of these supplies can be purchased in-country through monetary donations.
A dermatologist is also needed for future trips to provide care for the many skin diseases among the villagers.
Dental
Dr. Jonathon Weaver with the help of YL participants saw over 25 dental patients and extracted 31 teeth. The team also taught basic proper oral hygiene and brought down dental kits and supplies to the villagers in both Santa Rosa and Yanamono.
Next Year
Oral hygiene needs serious improvement in the village. Prevention and care is the best educational tool for the people of Santa Rosa. YouthLINC was also informed that a generator has been purchased for the village, so the dentist can bring tools for drilling etc. and more extensive work.
Construction
The team helped the continuation of building sidewalks by mixing and hauling cement. A special thanks to Holladay Rotary Club and Iquitos Rotary Club for providing matching grants to pay for the cement for the village. The YL team also painted the new medical clinic, and money was provided to complete a bathroom in the medical clinic.
Next Year
The YL team will be building a new Library in Santa Rosa village for the entire community. They will also be putting up fencing throughout the village. A wish list from the villagers of Santa Rosa for next year includes: A lawn mower or weed whacker to aid with maintenance of the village, and a motorized boat for the village so they have access to Iquitos in case of a medical emergency.
Education
The team taught lessons in the primary and secondary schools for two full days. Lessons included math (fractions, physics), English, habitats, colors, counting and so on. They donated school kits in handmade bags to the school children filled with pencils, erasers, scissors, colored pencils etc. They also donated a science lab to the secondary school and many colorful posters of geography, animals, colors etc. all in Spanish and English for the school to keep.
Next Year
The village would like continued English instruction and more lessons in the arts and math. More pencil sharpeners need to be provided so the students don't have to leave their class just to sharpen their pencil. Corkboards and new black board paint for the chalk boards are needed as well as more school kits and educational materials. The villagers are always in need of rain boots as well, as it is extremely muddy a large portion of the year.
The villagers also requested occupational training in carpentry, sewing and cosmetology. The option of starting a micro-enterprise program in Peru is in the works.
One day while I was painting one of the rooms in the medical center all alone -- but then children from the village came in and they all picked up a paintbrush and began to help me. I was so grateful and we were just laughing the whole time. I loved it."
--Marissa Floodman
Previous Site: Yanamono, Peru
YouthLINC Peru has always been an example of how people working together can create meaningful change. Though this was our last year in Yanamono village -- about an hour down the Amazon from Iquitos, Peru -- we know we have accomplished much together.
The last four years in Yanamono have brought phenomenal changes to the village. YouthLINC students have worked side-by-side with villagers to build a new secondary school.
Clean water and sanitation are pressing concerns in the Amazon, and through a Rotary International Grant, we provided a water filtration system and bathrooms in Yanamono.
The Yanamono people held up their part of the partnership by building their own medical clinic, which we have worked to stock and staff. They also built a 'handicraft hut' where they sell their crafts to eco-tourists to pay for the chemicals for the water filtration system. To further build their economy, they have also begun selling their clean water to other villages.
The last year in Yanamono, YouthLINC built a storehouse for the village, which will be used in part as library. YouthLINC alums raised the $2500 for this structure by donating $20 or more to buy a ceramic tile with their picture on it. This YouthLINC Memory Wall is a permanent tribute to the friendships we've made with the Yanamono people.