At 8 am, I went to Vivanda to meet Nicole who is a member of a NGO, Ficus Perú. I had never done volunteering until today so I was very excited. We took a bus to el puente Primavera and took another one to Ciudad. Ciudad had a lot of markets and it was very busy even though it was early Sunday morning. Nicole told me there are a lot more people during the week. In Ciudad, we took another bus to Las Praderas. Las Praderas is in the hill. We had to walk a lot. This place was very different from where I live. There were a lot of trash and rubbles. It was dirty. I saw the reality.
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| Las Praderas |
In Las Paraderas, I met a lot of people who help Ficus Perú. Diego told me that this town does not have a water system so people have to get water from the pipe that is connected to the water tank. However, the tank has been broken so people has not have water for a week. I knew many places are like this in Latin America, but I was still shocked. One day my house was out of water, and I was almost panicked because I had never had that situation before. I had never thought I would run out of water. No washing hands, no shower.... It was a tough time to me. When I imagine, it lasts for a week... The economic difference is really huge in Peru.
Diego also explained what the mission of Ficus Perú. They collect trash that can be compost, such as fruits and vegetables. And mix them with sand so they can make good soil. It takes about 1-2 months to make soil. They want to make a lot of soils and create a park for kids and a garden where people can grow fruits and vegetables. Although many of them are from Las Praderas, students are from other districts. It was very nice of them to care about people in poor areas and actually help them because many people in the middle class or higher seem not to take action for those who are poor. They told me the Australian Embassy has just accepted to help this organization. I was really happy to hear that.
Today we collected trash and mixed them with sand and paper. Also, we moved some plants so we will have more space for the park. And we set up a flag? a tent? Lima gets humid in the winter so they can collect water by using the flag thing. They want to collect water from the cloud. I was very interested in everything they do. I learned a lot from them in one day. I really enjoyed helping them so I will definitely come back. Thank you all and see you next Sunday!
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| Parque Ficus |
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| The flag that collects water from the fog and cloud |
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| Mixing compost and sand |
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