Saturday, September 11, 2010

Paskay project in Ollantaytambo




“I arrived on the Paskay project in Ollantaytambo 6 days ago and have been busy getting orientated and finding out what the project is doing in different areas. Ollantaytambo is a beautiful place and I have been made to feel so welcome by Leander who has really made an effort to involve me in Paskay and encouraged me to decide for myself the best contribution I can make in its early stages of development. On Sunday I visited Paucarbamba (one of the areas that Paskay is trying to help following the floods) and collected local villagers in a minibus to take to Cuylandia, the guinea pig rearing training centre. The villagers were all really keen to come and many, dressed in traditional Peruvian clothing, ran out of their homes with pencil and paper ready to take notes – they´re taking their learning very seriously!


At Cuylandia I met Nelida, the agronomist who is running the guinea pig rearing training sessions. She is one of the salaried workers for Paskay

and does an excellent job not only running the sessions but visiting the families in between sessions to check on their progress as well as keeping track of accounts and adminstration for Paskay.


On Monday I went with Nelida and Leander to Tastayoc , a rural community in the mountains above Ollantaytambo where the children have been supported with their education through the building of a greenhouse to provide fresh vegetables to eat in their kitchen. We observed a lesson taught in Spanish and Quechua ( the children´s mother tongue). The teacher there was keen for me to teach some English and I plan to return to Tastayoc for the following three Mondays to teach a two hour class.




We took with us to this school, a girl called Lurdes. She is 18 years old but because of her physical disabilities (she suffers from brittle bone disease) and family circumstances (alcoholic parents), has not spent more than a week in school in her life. She is really keen to read and write and was excited to be in a lesson at T’astayoc. Since then, Leander has visited the school in her village, Rumira and made arrangements with the teacher for Lurdes to begin attending school full time. In addition to this, Paskay are sourcing an electric wheelchair for Lurdes to enable her to become more mobile. These improvements will completely change Lurdes life as at the moment she sits alone for most of the day in a rural setting.























On Tuesday, myself and Leander worked on the Paskay website which Carlos wants to get up and running as soon as possible so people are able to see the work that´s being done here.


Today, Wednesday, I´ve been on a river clean up organised by the Council office here. After the floods, the river is still in need of attention and we filled around 10 big plastic bags with rubbish! This afternoon we were lucky enough to go to see a traditional Peruvian dance competition at the local high school in Ollantaytambo. The costumes were beautiful and the dances were energetic in the heat of the afternoon. I felt really privileged to have the opportunity to see it. Tomorrow we´re taking one of the girls who missed out on the dental mission to Cuzco to have her teeth checked and we will probably be staying over in order to make contact with fundraisers and to gather some resources and materials for my first teaching lesson on Monday!” Vicky Armstrong


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