Inka Magik- Peru Community projects and volunteering

Thursday, 13 January 2011

You make a difference in helping others

I arrived in Lima this summer and to join the VIDA programme.  I have to said that I was amazed by the professionalism of Inka Magik members have displayed all the way through from my arrival to the airport until my induction before taking me into my placement. 
Once I arrived to the project out of the skirts of Lima, I met the project leader Carlos, who introduce me to other fellow members and volunteers from other parts of the world. Indeed, my expectations were challenged once I realise that my comfort from my Western standards will not be met in full over here in Ventanilla but it is not all about me, or was it?. 


I was stunned by the local people warm heart in having somebody around them who could help them in supporting to move forward their communities.  Thus, I understood that my challenge will be starting from nothing material but from the most basic element which is knowing how to interact and developing relationships with other people. 


Basic things means also transmitting knowledge and make people understood their selves by knowing that people like us from the Western world are not different than them. We all have needs and at some point we prioritise wrongly what the meaning of these needs means to us.

What I am gaining from my time here, it will remain in my life and I do not regret at all my decision in helping out this community because it gave me also a clear understanding on how to approach my own community back at home.
Talking about the VIDA project and the youngsters and families from this community are amazing because are eager to learn and to provide an educational space in their lives. I am learning also in the workshops some carpentry skills and have thought young people a safe alternative to at risk situations, helping to improve the quality of their lives by coaching them.
Carlos, the project leader has a very positive attitude and he is trying his best to provides us with the appropriated support and materials. 


Local youngsters from this communities like any other worldwide one are full of questions and fears in order to approach their development especially when they do not have peers or relatives to turn to. Thus, I become the personal coach of Mateo and my goal is to improve his self-esteem, some times it comes to my mind the phrase 'nobody is a prophet on its own land', meaning back home my own brother will not listen to me, but what Mateo does to try and to learn it makes me think about the skills I have in order to reach others. 
I have not finished my placement yet, still two months to go and I am also changing in becoming better as a person in all senses and without doubt I will recommend VIDA to anyone who wants to learn more about him/herself by helping this fantastic community, by the way my host Peruvian mother Dora, cooks the most fantastic food I ever come across in my entirely life, how she does it with a little budget? to start with it, I dislike junky food and try to eat fresh food back at home, and here in Peru the food has not additives and mostly is organic thus, I am in heaven right now. Peru is fantastic! 
You can write to me at any time to projects@inkamagik.com (cc: Jonathan Edwards-volunteer VIDA -2011)
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Working towards of a new future in Nuevo Chimbote

We have been working in the education and environment of Nuevo Chimbote town.


Our volunteers have been able to work alonside community members and still is a long journey before we can get permament results in this community. Inka Magik volunteer programme keeps working in our goals to provide an adecuate support to this educational project. We are current recruiting volunteers all year around thus we willl very pleased to hear from you at any time.

Contact us to: general@inkamagik.com





Latest news

Peru’s economic growth not reaching rural highlands


By Robert Plummer
Business reporter, BBC News

peru
Presidents Alan García (Perú) and Sebastián Piñera (Chile) are both free-marketeers. (Photo: AP)

Peru is recalling darker times as [Keiko Fujimori], the daughter of an authoritarian ex-leader prepares to run for the presidency.

Although this country has the highest projected 2010 growth rate among Latin America's major economies (8.3 percent, according to the IMF), Peru's president, Alan García, has just a 34 percent approval rating.

Admittedly, that is far better than the 5 percent rating that he had at the end of his first presidential term, from 1985 to 1990.

But that earlier term was an unmitigated disaster that saw the country's GDP shrink by one-fifth and the number of people in poverty rise by five million.

This time, Mr García has presided over boom, not bust. Yet the gains have not been equally distributed among Peru's population: while urban coastal areas have benefited, the rural highlands remain impoverished.

Mr García's last presidential stint was followed by a decade of authoritarian rule under Alberto Fujimori, who rebuilt Peru's economy and saved it from the Maoist Shining Path insurgency, but rode roughshod over the country's democratic process.

Mr García is not eligible to run again in the April 2011 presidential election. However, Mr Fujimori's daughter, Keiko, is hoping to win the post for her Fuerza 2011 party.

She and Mr Fujimori's own successor, Alejandro Toledo, are vying with a former mayor of Lima, Luis Castañeda, in opinion polls.

All three front-runners are drawn from the right or center-right. As a result, the victor is likely to join Chile's Sebastián Piñera and Colombia's Juan Manuel Santos, both elected during 2010, in South America's small band of non-leftist leaders.

Peru's state health service criticized for supply shortages


Courtesy: LivinginPeru

peru
The principal state hospital in Lima, Rebagliati Hospital. (Photo: El Comercio)

Peru’s state health plan, Essalud, was criticized by the Ombudsman national office for shortage of supplies and long waits for surgeries, reported El Comercio.

“There are not enough beds, fans, wheelchairs,” said Eugenia Fernán Zegarra from the office of the Ombudsman, called the Defensoría del Pueblo.

“Services are insufficient and supplies are extremely low compared to the rising demand, and this is serious because we are close to starting universal care, where everyone will be part of the same system. It’s clear that Essalud won’t be able to handle it.”

Annual reports made by the Defensoría del Pueblo signal a shortage of medicine for hypertension and for the basic equipment for surgey, such as catheters.

Fernán says the Defensoría del Pueblo received a complaint in which a girl waited nine months waiting for a surgery because there was not a catheter.

“To date there are 200 children waiting in the pediatrics unit waiting for space to be operated on,” Fernán told El Comercio.

In 2009, 42 percent of the budget went towards salary and expenses of the 40,142 workers. Out of this personnel expense, 37 percent went to 3,000 administrative positions.

Maximum monthly salaries for surgeons in Essalud are 3,500 soles (US$ 1,250), while nurse assistants receive at most 760 soles (US$ 271).

The current president of Essalud, Félix Ortega, has told Congress that the institution had to dip into 20 percent of a reserve fund, money set aside for emergencies and epidemics.

Last Thursday, the National Comptroller’s Office sent 35 inspectors to review Essalud’s books, following the recent scandal over a US$ 73,000 payment given to outgoing Essalud president Fernando Barrios.

The Essalud president left for a position as interior minister; once press learned of the irregular payment, Barrios resigned from the ministry.