PERU 2019
CONSTRUCTION
Peru June – The Peru June team returned to the community of Santa Isabel where the team did a ton of work at the school. Due to the immense amount of rainfall in the area they experience a lot of erosion and water damage. To help counteract these effects, the team built several cement pathways around the school. They built cement stairs leading up to the school, they replaced all the ceiling tiles that had sustained water damage, they made significant renovations to the school knocking out walls to add windows, and they sanded and repainted the entire inside and outside of the school. The team worked so hard and was able to complete all the projects they committed to.
Peru July – The Peru July team was able to provide much needed assistance to the community of Pucallpa. Several years ago there was a landslide in the community which destroyed the side of the school building. The Peru July team was able to help dig out the effected rooms so they could be repaired. The team then built a retaining wall as well as a new reinforcing wall where the previous one had broken. In addition to those repairs the team also painted both the outside and inside of the school and repaired its roof. These projects were made possible by the efforts of the Peru July team as well as the Michel Family Foundation.
CULTURAL EXCHANGE
Peru June – The cultural committee oversaw the opening and closing ceremonies for the team. The opening and closing ceremonies were amazing events in Santa Isabel, Peru. The entire community came out to celebrate, they truly were heartwarming events!
In addition to the opening and closing ceremonies the cultural committee oversaw the fun fair, which is the culmination of English camp. All the students got to participate in various activities like, soccer, face painting, and a photo station. The photo station, complete with polaroid print outs was a huge hit among both the kids and the adults. Everyone who participated had a great time.
Peru July – The Peru July cultural committee focused a lot on activities that would help break down walls and bridge the gap between the Youthlinc team and the community members. Everything they did had the goal of facilitating quality and meaningful interactions so that deep relationships could form. From team members reports, they did a great job!
A favorite project that the cultural committee oversaw was home visits. Members of the Youthlinc team would go visit individual community members homes. They would spend some time with them asking questions and getting to know each other. The Youthlinc team expressed how much they enjoyed this time as did several community members who were visited.
In addition to home visits the cultural committee oversaw opening and closing ceremonies, a friendship bracelet making project, and the mural.
EDUCATION
Peru June – The education committee ran a fun and successful English camp. They worked hard to make sure everything thing ran smoothly and that both Youthlinc students and Santa Isabel students were having learning and having fun. In addition to English camp they also oversaw the Mondo Art Project and the team’s mural at the school.
The education committee also collected a lot of education items. They donated things like books, classroom supplies, and even backpacks to both the school at Santa Isabel and a nearby library which services kids and teens from all the nearby communities.
Peru July – The Peru July education committee oversaw a very successful English camp. They helped Youthlinc team members plan their lessons then ran a smooth English camp for the kids in Pucallpa as well as at a nearby library which serves as a sort of community center. The committee also collected and donated school supplies for the students in the community.
COMMUNITY HEALTH
Peru June – The community health committee ran a successful health fair for the community. They covered topics such as, maturation, hygiene, first aid, family planning/menstruation tracking, and sex education.
The committee did a great job at collecting and distributing supplies/kits to the community members. They assembled and distributed many Days for Girls kits, which were a huge hit! They also made menstruation tracking bracelets with the women, which they really enjoyed. They also assembled and distributed many hygiene kits.
Peru July – The Peru July community health committee accomplished a lot in the village of Pucallpa. They put on multiple health fairs which were received extremely well by the community. Many people attended and they were engaged and interested in the topics being taught. The committee taught lessons on dental hygiene, CPR, and first aid all in addition to running separate women and men’s specific health fairs.
The committee collected, assembled, and distributed Days for Girls kits as part of the women’s health fair, first aid kits as part of the general health lessons, and hygiene kits also part of the general health fair lessons.
In addition to the health education they were able to accomplish they committee also fundraised for deworming medication which was then distributed to families in the community.
VOCATIONAL
Peru June – The vocational committee headed up many projects this year. They were extremely innovative in what they presented to the community. They had a lot of different options to present to the community members then let them decide which ones they were most interested in and/or were the most feasible for them. They presented the community members with options for gardening, “jungle crock pots” (insulated fabric tube that would allow food to keep cooking without an active flame to help reduce fire risk), sewing fanny packs, sewing life jackets, homemade sinks and/or washing machines, and weaving.
The community responded really well and was excited about the gardening project, the life jackets, and the weaving. The community really came together to create an awesome gardening area complete with roofing to shelter the plans from the intense rain. They also really like the life jacket project too. Living right on the amazon, a common cause of death, especially for kids is drowning.
The committee was extremely innovative and taught the community how to make life jackets out easily accessible items such as fabric, twine, and old 1-liter soda bottles. The team even demonstrated how to use the life jacket. The community loved it.
The committee also taught a small group of women how to weave and crochet. They women picked up on it extremely fast and thoroughly enjoyed it. By the end of the team’s time there they were making hats, skirts, shorts, etc.
Peru July – The Peru July vocational committee’s main project was working with a group of women on sewing. They women in the community had basic sewing skills so the vocational committee focused on building upon the skills they already had and providing some innovative ideas for products/items to sew. They taught how to sew hammocks, which the ladies ran with and started making their own variations. They also taught reusable baby diapers, baby slings, pants and skirts.
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Peru June –This year’s business committee held a business seminar where they taught a lot of business lessons. They taught lessons to about 35 villagers from the community and about 28 teens from the nearby library center. The business committee taught lessons on basic business principles. They put a fun spin on their final day with a “Shark Tank” competition modeled after the popular entrepreneur TV show. Then 10 individuals who had come up with the most promising business plans put together a business pitch which they then presented to a panel of 3 judges who were a mix of Youthlinc team members and translators. They presented their business pitch, and the judges selected a winner. It was great fun and facilitated some really exciting and innovative thinking!
Peru July – The Peru July business committee held a very successful business seminar. The committee split their seminar into two groups. The first group was made up of all the people that attended last years business seminar. The focus of this group was to follow up and see how things had gone and how they used the money they’d been allotted last year toward their business endeavors.
The second group consisted of new people wherein the committee taught basic business principles including the 5 P’s (product, price, place, profit, promotion). They taught the lessons then had a competition where participants had to implement the principles they’d learned and the winners were awarded money to use toward their business ideas.