#36 Superlearner Peru stole my heart

Superlearner Peru - the kids of Pamplona Alta

I have already written about Lima and my time spent there (over one month)! What I haven't written about is the pilot community project I became involved with. This project quickly became the main reason I decided to stay in Lima for so long.

I came across the project on the workaway website. After a conversation with Jorge (the creator of the project) on the phone he explained to me that the project was in very early stages and therefore it was a complete voluntary project, whatever time I could give would be helpful. My role would be in helping with English classes and providing some nutritional advice and education.

I remember vividly the first time I went to Pamplona Alta, a slum suburb located in the San Juan de Miraflores district. It takes an hour on the public bus from the shiny, sleek high rise apartments and restaurants in trendy Miraflores. Pamplona Alta, the last stop on the bus was officially created in the 1960's to move the poorer out of the hotspots in Lima that were seeing more and more people moving in. Built in the desert, it is hot and dusty with limited plumbing and running water. There is now electricity and various projects have built proper bright yellow stairs up the neighbourhood. At the bottom there is a small local market selling fruit, vegetables, limited meat, chicken and occasionally fish along with some street vendors. The children have access to a tarmac football court at the very top of the community which is surrounded by broken metal fences. There are no green spaces, no playgrounds or no centre for the kids to go and play in.

Pamplona Alta 

I got off the bus with Jorge, Jakob (a German volunteer helping with English classes) and Jessica (a French artist and photographer also volunteering). We started to ascend up the bright yellow steps leading up to the top of the neighbourhood, dogs randomly jumping out and barking at us, leading on to some more uneven, brick steps to Ivons house. Ivon is the mother of two girls aged 12 and 14 and is the main contact and helper for the project in Pamplona. She has given her house to us to use to provide classes. Her house consists of three rooms; the living space and two bedrooms one of which you walk through to get to the basic kitchen out the back. They have no bathroom and limited water. What struck me immediately was Ivons warmth, welcoming us into her home. Her youngest daughter Cielo was there and greeted us politely with kisses on our cheeks. After lunch Jakob and Jorge went to collect the kids from their houses to bring them back to Ivons where we held a basic English class. There were about ten kids in total that day. I initially felt overwhelmed and out of my depth but was totally humbled by how happy, polite and eager to learn the kids were. I knew from that first day that this was something I wanted to be involved with however I could.

Over the next month I continued to get the bus out every Tuesday and Thursday with the others, helping with English classes, art and music workshops and I started some nutrition research with the hope of implementing nutrition educational workshops in the future for both the kids and parents. I spent some time interviewing some of the parents (with Jorge helping as translator) to find out about their diets, budgets for food and where they shop. I also visited the local market where all the parents reported they do their shopping to review food availability and cost. I then provided a class to the kids using a homemade poster showing the different food groups with pictures of different foods. We also drew pictures of our favourite fruit and vegetables and talked about healthy eating. It was great to see the kids engaging with the class and talking about food with them.

Nutrition classes and players not woth the kids 

Over the weeks as more kids started to come, we luckily got access to the basic community centre where there was more space to hold classes and even play some games each day.

Apart from classes, Jorge and I also went out one Sunday and had a water fight with some of the kids (I somehow ended up saturated with the rest getting away lightly). Followed by another Sunday where Jess and Jorge organised mini buses to take 15 of the kids and two Mums to the beach for the afternoon. We did some painting in an abandoned skate part by the beach and then spent a few hours on the beach in the crashing waves getting knocked over with the girls clinging on to us and each other. Everyone had a really good time and it was great to be able to take them out of the dusty, hot Pamplona.

After a month of getting to know the kids, I travelled to Bolivia for a few weeks and was surprised at how much I missed the project. Thankfully when I got back I was able to go back out for an afternoon to play some games and say goodbye to some of the kids. I feel lucky to have been able to get involved with Superlearner at the beginning of its creation and I have no doubt that the project will continue to grow with the help of other volunteers like me, organisations, the parents  and Jorges drive to make it work and of course the kids enthusiasm and eagerness to learn. And who knows, hopefully one day I can revisit Superlearner Peru again.

My last day in Pamplona 

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