Un Lugar ramp project

Today myself and 3 other volunteers visited some of the projects supported by Otra Cosa; namely a day care for poor families in Huanchaquito, Corporation Educacion Popular (C.E.P) in the shanty town of Ramon Castillas and the Tulio Herrera Leon school for the blind and disabled. Melissa and Dennis will be starting at the C.E.P school this week teaching sports to the kids and helping to construct parts of the school, Mara will be at the school for the blind and disabled and Mary...well Mary just wants to volunteer for all because she's nice like that.

Later on in the evening, I went with Louise, Yann and Jess to the skate ramp to see for myself what is it that Louise has been hinting to me that didn't sound too good. After a good 30 minute walk which included some (many) steps uphill,

...there it was.

Man I can tell you it broke my heart to see these kids share 3 knocked up boards and flimsy guards on a ramp that was clearly falling apart. And the surrounding area is just all sand as you can see. On the other side of the walls are shanty houses and according to Louise, we have been accused before of "allowing" the kids to climb over to steal the neighbour's chickens.

This here is Abel, first to come and last to leave. He skates without shoes as do the other kids but is a keen learner and has picked up skating skills from Yann very quickly.

We don't have a first aid kit, we don't have running water... ball sacs, we don't even have a proper place for the kids to skate. All we have are 3 banged up boards, hula hoops (for the girls) and a bunch of kids from the shanty town who want to play. Seeing that both Louise and I will still be here for the next couple of months, we are determined to improve things for these kids somehow, someway.

P.S If you have anything at all that you think can help e.g. a Canadian cousin who's dating the step brother of a pro Peruvian skater based in Lima who might be able to share expertise, etc. don't be shy to be generous!