#coprodeli

Our team from TOMS left early on Mother’s Day to spend a week in Peru with our Giving Partner, Coprodeli.  We’d been prepped for the trip, knowing that our journey required only a desire to work, openness to experience and a willingness to promote change and to be changed.

    We spent our week in the coastal region surrounding Lima and points South. We were struck both by the needs of the community and the formidable obstacles in their way.  Water came at a premium, building materials were improvised and land usage laws were both permissive and punitive.  The Peruvian Dream came with free land, but scant community infrastructure or support. What’s a family to do?

Coprodeli is an amazing organization that provides education, housing, health care, food security, job training and more to families living in some of the most impoverished communities in Peru. In 2010, Coprodeli began giving TOMS Shoes in combination with their other services.

Where: Subjantalla (SUB-HAN-TIE-YAH), Ica, about 5 hours south of Lima What: A primary school, medical center, low-cost efficiency housing and, one of Coprodeli’s newer interventions, a micro-enterprise industrial park that focuses on supplying small businesses with business training, access to credit, talleres (workshops) and consultants to help the business grow, employ more people in the surrounding area and support local industry. I will be spending some time working here later this year, so not too many photos now.

Inside the school: la biblioteca (library) and el comedor (cafeteria).

What the Industrial Park will look like when it's finished.

Present day.

Where: Chincha, about 3 hours south of Lima What: Coprodeli’s primary and secondary school, medical center and urbanizations. As well as some other entertaining things :) Bienvenidos a Chincha Baja!

These tiny cars are from India and almost a dangerous as they are popular. They're far less expensive than real cars, but they have no doors around the driver and no safety features or seatbelts. As you can see, people love to decorate them and make them as "unique" as possible.

Maize (Corn) drying in the sun for chicken feed.

Peruvian Home Depot! Only called Sodimac. And in Spanish. I love it here. :)

So back to Coprodeli's work: This is a model of what the urbanization will look like when it's finished. In the center is the medical center and the two schools, and surrounding them are the homes.

The current status of the build up.

The primary school.

The secondary school.

Peruvians LOVE them some greenspace! Especially in this area, because there has been so much land erosion.

These awesome chiquititas (tiny) laptops were designed by students at MIT and purchased by the Peruvian government for the school. Complete with Linux, internet and baby wi-fi arms!

Napoleon! Napo, for short. The mascot. (Yes, I remembered to wash my hands, Chaz! For those who don't know, I have a minor dog allergy...)

Where the volunteers and Chincha staff live.

The cocina (kitchen).

My room.

My first two weekends were spent bouncing around the south of Peru. Enjoy! Where: Lurín, a city in Lima Sur (South Lima) about an hour and a half down the Pan-American Highway What: Coprodeli has a brand new primary school! Education is one of Coprodeli’s flagship programs and they run some of the very best schools in the country. The development model starts with ages 3, 4 and 5 in a primary school and then adds a class each year, while simultaneously funding and building a secondary school, medical center and urbanizaciónes (urbanizations, a.k.a. low-cost efficiency housing) with running water and electricity – often luxuries in these parts. The schools are run cooperatively and parents of children are expected to rotate as volunteers for cleaning, cooking, working in the medical center and library, assisting teachers, etc.

The hillside behind the colegio (school).

A corner store.

Photos from Coprodeli's school on the hill.

While the children play, the parents meet with the staff and teachers - a kind of pre-first day "Back-to-School Night" - in the various age-group aulas (classrooms). The man playing with his cuter than cute little boy to the far right of the photo was really cool. He plays rock guitar and loves American music.

The space that, 6 days later, was a beautiful patio de recreo/parque (playground)!

What will soon be offices and a secondary school, with the luces (lights) of Lurín twinkling in the background.

Hola friends, family and anyone else who may unwittingly stumble across this post! I have been in Peru for almost a week now and, as promised, I am (attempting) blogging about my adventures. I can't promise my updates will be regular or highly entertaining, but I'll try my best. For starters, where am I? I have traveled south of Lima to eight cities (the ones in teal plus Lima and Ica on the map below) in the past three days to check out some of Coprodeli's projects in the field. It's been awesome, but incredibly exhausting. If you want a closer look at everywhere I've been so far, as well as where I'm going while I'm here (both for work and for fun), click below and check out my Google map. I'll update it with new pins as I travel. For now, I'm in Lima until March 18th and then headed to Bellavista.

Coprodeli's main headquarters and the CoproCasa (the nickname for Coprodeli's compound where volunteers like myself live) is located in the port city of Callao. We're just across the street from some of the sketchier parts of Callao (think of it as living several blocks east of Nationals Stadium in DC...), but the mayor lives two doors down from us and always has guards posted outside so we're decently safe.  A photo of some of the other security (just for you, Moo!) is posted below.

More photos of the CoproCasa and my adventures in Lima are below. I'll post more about my other visits later on. Disfrutense! (Enjoy!) My room on the third floor. It's for two, but I'm not currently sharing it. Basic, but clean and comfortable. :)

The view from my balcony looking towards La Punta. My second night here a discoteca (dance club) raged across the street until 5:30 in the morning... #notcute

**Thank you GlobalGiving family for my WONDERFUL earplugs!**

Here are some of the safety precautions taken in the CoproCompound to keep everyone safe. **Moo: Please note the double-lock 10' steel gate, barbed wire, electrified fence and guard hut.**

The next three photos are of the common area and outdoor space that I share with Ruthie ('10 UVa alum who has been here for almost two years and arranged for me to enjoy this awesome opportunity), Judy (a wonderful, 72-year old woman who has been coming to Peru to volunteer with Coprodeli for the past 10 years; her son started Coprodeli USA) and any other Coprodeli voluntarios (volunteers).

This is my AMAZING Coprodeli compañero (teammate), Ruthie! Yes, we're in Starbucks. Yes, they have them in Lima. Yes, this was only my third day here. Yes, I did have Frappuccino. No, you don't get to judge me.

Seriously, #dontjudgeme... ;-)

Here are some of the other members of the Coprodeli familia (family), from L to R: Marlith (the program operations manager and Padre's right hand), Don Fernando (Padre Miguel's father, visiting from Spain), Padre Miguel (the catholic priest from Spain who started Coprodeli 20 years ago), and Judy McDonald, the woman I mentioned above.

There is much about Lima that is very similar to what you would find in the States, for example...the Mall. They even pronounce it the same way, "mol."

I have plenty of access to the gym, as well as an incredible outdoor running track at this ritzy neighborhood called La Punta.

But there is also plenty that is very different. A bus ride costs about 80/s, or $0.30, each way. But it also looks like this...

Okay, so that was una broma (a joke). They have big, beautiful air-conditioned buses, too. The money is different and things are much cheaper, there are some products that are impossible to find, and Peruvian drivers put DC drivers to shame with how absolutely INSANE (!!) they are, but for the most part, everything you would want in the US, you can find here. Peru also has 80% of the world's micro-climates all in one country, so seriously. It's here.

I'm really excited to be here and already enjoying a lot of incredible experiences that I'm looking forward to sharing more about in the coming days and weeks. I don't even have the words to describe the level of awesome the work Coprodeli is doing approaches -- from water and sanitation to affordable medical care to micro-enterprise development (what I'm working on!) to wonderful schools -- so I'll post the photos and hopefully you'll get to enjoy a little of the experience, too. :)

If there is anything in particular you want to know about Peru, or more information/clarification about something I've discussed in my posts, or if you see something that you want me to bring back for you -- put it in the "What Else Would You Like to Know?" link on the top right and I'll respond, either on here or to you personally. If you ask anonymously, be sure to put your name in the message!

I love you all very much and miss you more than you know! That's why you should come visit (HINT! HINT!)!! There are still five months to choose from and there are some awesome travel itineraries on the horizon... #justsayin Besitos! V