Work starts at 9 am so we went downstairs to the main area to wait for everyone to arrive, one of the bosses Elmer arrived and showed us around the different rooms at the organisation. They have classrooms, a playroom, a library, an ICT room and a huge dining hall. He explained that lots of children come from all the different schools in the town to eat everyday but they don’t just give them food they also try to teach them values, so everyone has to wash their hands before eating and they also have a toothbrush to brush their teeth after eating and they have to wash their plates also. He explained to us that many years ago when they first began all the children in the town used to come, even the Mayors son, but now they go through a filter and those that come are the ones who need it most. Those that come from poor families, broken homes where the father has abandoned the family and doesn’t pay child support or even children that have been completely abandoned. by their parents.
After giving us the tour Natalia the other boss took us to Andahuaylillas, another town about 5 minutes away where the organisation has another base. 18 students had come from Texas to volunteer for a week so she took advantage of the situation and presented to us all together more in depth about what the organisation does. After the presentation, she took us aside and told us about some cases she has had to deal with, we were utterly shocked. Human trafficking, rape, teenage pregnancies (incest being a major issue), kidnapping children for prostitution and child labour and the list goes on. The worst thing is that the authorities deny that there is a problem and that any of these things happen when obviously they do as she has people coming in her office everyday trying to find their loved ones.
In the afternoon, we sat down in Natalia’s office and sorted out our timetable for the next few weeks. Then she gave us some concert tickets for that night in Cusco, all payed for and gave us a map so we could find the venue. We decided to go and when we finally found the place we discovered it was a piano recital. The pianist is called Juan José Chuquisengo, he has played in concerts worldwide and every year he comes to schools in Peru and shows his piano skills to children who have never even seen this instrument before. He was amazing and played music by Bach, Beethoven, Chopin and a Peruvian composer A. Ginastera.
The next morning, we started work, we agreed that at least two days during the week we would help scan and order the paperwork they have dating back to 2004. This paperwork is what they call acts of conciliation, when two people have a conflict these acts are a way to reach an agreement before going to court. The issue is when one of the parts breaks the agreement they need a copy of this agreement, so it is really useful for the organisation to have them all in order so they are easy to find. We found how necessary this was as that same morning a girl came in saying her father had stopped paying the child support that they had agreed on when she was younger so to prove this she needed a copy of the act.
During the afternoon, Elmer asked if we would like to go with him to the judges office, he and the heads of other organisation are creating a document to help people understand the new law about domestic violence and they needed the judge to clear up some points. After that we attended a meeting at the town hall of Urcos, all the organisations in the area and the town hall are trying to organise an event for awareness about human trafficking. The meeting was a bit hectic though everyone talking over each other people walking in and out, also a little boy kept coming in with a toy car making revving noises. As you can imagine not much was agreed on and the meeting dragged on for nearly 3 hours.
So, our first few days of work were very interesting and entertaining. I´m hoping that we can start with the other side of the job, looking at and helping with real cases but we´ll just have to see as the week goes on xx
Unwritten Adventures 