Out of the four medical centers that The Denan Project (TDP) is funding in some of the most impoverished parts of the world, namely Ethiopia, Peru and Mongolia, I must admit that our medical center in Uratari, Peru speaks to me the most. Perhaps it’s because I saw the community people building it themselves, brick by brick…perhaps…
In addition to the routine due-diligence activities, this time I had a special reason to be there. I wanted to work with the six high school students from The Pingry School (including three volunteers of TDP) who are visiting TDP sites as part of their leadership program organized by The World Leadership School.
Day 0: A Country of Mountains, Jungle and Ocean
Soaking in the ocean air after a 17-hour journey from Munich to Lima. So began my third visit to this enchanting nation where you can climb the High Andes, turn to the Amazon rainforest, and touch the Pacific ocean.
Day 1: All Roads Lead to Anta
In order to get to any of the five villages on our agenda, we had to go through Anta, one of Cusco’s 13 provinces. In fact, the municipal office of Anta is our partner who’s been handling our local fund distribution so that we can save on money transfers from the US, and local transactions related to medical and micro-loan programs. So, our week-long agenda started out with going over the accounting records with the municipality of Anta.
Day 2: From the Ground Up
After another quick stop in Anta, we started the day with a meeting with the community in Churo. We huddled together and went over the details of a micro loan project the community wanted for raising cuys (guinea pigs which are a major source of dietary protein for the community people as well as a source of income). From Churo, we traveled farther to a neighboring village of Pampahuaylla.
As soon as we entered Pampahuaylla, I could see why this community is considered richer than Churo, our previous stop. A new elementary school, cheerful kids on the street and all others huddled around the only TV in the village to watch the Peruvian team playing in the World Cup 2018…it was lively!
This is where Elio (TDP’s first scholarship student who earned a college degree) came from. We visited Elio’s family and, over some meat and potato, shared our mutual pride in Elio’s success. With a mechanical engineering degree he earned, Elio was getting started to build his own business.
Day 3: Welcoming Pingry School Students to Uratari
Learning together with the volunteer students from the Pingry School was my main reason for the site visit this year. I was curious about the experiences the US high school students would have with the local communities, especially with the local students.
The visit started with a community-wide welcoming ceremony. Although I’ve experienced the warmth and hard labor the entire community puts into welcoming TDP volunteers before, I was deeply moved by the excitements and warm interactions between the students and the villagers.
Day 4: Breaking Potatoes Together
After my first overnight experience at the Uratari Medical Center (shared a room with the resident nurse), I joined the Pingry students to visit the neighboring village Choquemarca, the poorest community in the Limatambo district of the Anta province. We were joined by the TDP medical outreach team headed by Dr. Yair. Choquemarca’s biggest problem is the absence of a water supply. Facing this all-too-common issue across many small communities in developing countries, I was happy to hear that the community of Uratari was exploring ways to share their water with Choquemarca.
In between micro-loan program discussions and medical outreach visits, the team was treated with the local specialty of meat and potato, prepared and served in the way that only the originals can. (Right, potatoes are originally from Peru.)
Day 5: High Aptitude for Higher Education
As part of TDP’s support for school education, the Golden Condor awards (with cash incentives) are given to top three students in the 8th, 9th, 10th 11th and 12th grade students in Uratari. Our visiting students were joined by the entire community in the schoolyard for the award ceremony.
Day 6–7: TDP Goes to the Peruvian Congress
Back in Lima, a different topic was high on our agenda. Past few months, the TDP team has been working on a proposal to build a boarding school in Uratari (right next to the existing school, above). Our goals were: i) to give the children in neighboring remote villages a chance to get a higher education (there’s no high school in villages like Pampahuaylla we visited on Day 1, above); ii) to proactively reduce the possibility of the high school in Uratari having to shut down at some point in the future.
Our meeting with the Peruvian Congress was to get the support for the boarding school initiative — together with the Pingry School students. Thanks to Congressman Wilbert Rozas, who originally helped TDP select the project site in Uratari, we were able to meet with the Education Committee Chairwoman Paloma Noceda, and the President of the Peruvian Congress Luis Galarreta. After a series of discussions, the team was able to gain the support we were asking for — and walk away with the specific next steps!
Changes are coming…sometime too fast, sometimes not fast enough. I don’t know what changes I’ll see when I return to Uratari next time. Perhaps a shiny new boarding school. Perhaps another ambulance vehicle at the medical center. Perhaps…But I do know this much, the men, women and children of the community will gather around in a big circle and tell us all about it. The changes that happened. The changes they want to bring about.
