Peru

Community Description
Silahuá, a population center of the District of Chalaco, Province of Morropón, Department of Piura, is located at an altitude of approximately 1200 meters. The population is approximately 450 people.

The majority of the community members are subsistence farmers who grow coffee, bananas, sugar cane, corn, and beans. Because this community is a population center located far from the district capital, funding for projects is hard to come by.

Currently, there are 21 students at the local pre-school, and the student population is increasing rapidly. The students and others who use the facility for meetings and community events all share a poorly-constructed pit latrine.

Project Description
This project is to construct a bathroom for the local preschool for the use of males and females.

The bathroom will be built of brick and connected to the local sewer system.

Project funds will be used to purchase the materials for the project. It is anticipated that the local District Government will donate the bricks and skilled mason that will be required to complete the project.

Construction will be accompanied by the teaching of important themes, including health, hygiene, privacy, and the importance of appropriate bathroom use.

Project Impact
80 people, including 21 students, will immediately benefit from the project. The student population is increasing at the rate of 10 per year.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Patrick Sullivan

Comments
This is a needed project to alleviate the unhealthful sanitary facilities existing for the students, teachers, and visitors of the pre-school.

Dollar Amount of Project
$500.00

Donations Collected to Date
$500.00

Dollar Amount Needed
$0.00 - This project has now been fully funded, through the generosity of The Soneva SLOW LIFE Trust as a part of their Clean Water Projects initiative.

We encourage others to continue to donate using the Donate button below, and we will notify Peace Corps Volunteer Patrick Sullivan of your donation. Additional funds will be used to fund the next project by Patrick and/or those of other PCVs in Peru.

Community Description
Las Pampas in a small rural community settled in the northern district of Olmos in Lambayeque. It currently does not have electricity (it is projected to be installed by the end of the year) and all houses depend on their own wells for water.

There is a local primary and secondary school, a locally elected governor and several government-sponsored organizations. The population is under 1,000 inhabitants.

The community is located 10 kilometers from the town of Olmos making it difficult (and costly) to find work outside of manual labor in the nearby fields. For this, the local population has little means of income outside of small animal husbandry and subsistence farming. One of the only other options is the promotion of conservation and eco-tourism.

Las Pampas is home to one of the best animal refuges in Peru, Crax 2000, dedicated to conservation and the re-introduction of critically endangered species. The animal refuge is managed by locals and currently produces a small income,

The refuge is made up of two parts. One focused on various bird species, including the White Winged Guan, and serves as a breeding center with the objective of reintroduction and salvation of critically endangered species.

The other part of the refuge is for rescued animals, recovered by the National Institute of Natural Resources (INRENA). These animals are often wild animals that have been recovered from circuses, markets, and private citizens and are often too domesticated or ill to be reintroduced. They will live at the refuge, being taken care of by the biologist and local workers.

Crax 2000 itself is a community center, used by school groups, local organizations and tourists to learn about animal conservation and reintroduction, complete studies based on these animals, and have environmentally themed meetings and events.

There is no water available at the refuge to properly support the influx of tourism, the workers who live there and the continued conservation of the White Winged Guan.

Currently, the refuge has to buy water from the district municipality that brings it in a large truck, costing $80 weekly and all food has to be bought in local markets, costing more than the refuge makes from the donations by visitors. At that it barely provides sufficient fresh drinking water to the workers and animals.

Without water the center is unable to maintain a vegetable and fruit garden that would drastically lower their maintenance cost for feeding the animals.

Currently visitors to the center help feed the animals and learn about the important conservation work that they do. However, there are no handwashing stations, functional bathrooms (the bathrooms are already built but lack a water connection) or rest areas with drinkable water in the entire center.

Project Description
This project is to improve the sanitation and general health of the refuge and its user groups by providing crucial components to supplement the equipment and materials on hand.

Crax 2000 already has a water pump, a cemented well and the tubes to connect to it, but they lack the funds to purchase a motor to complete the system.

The installation of a motor will provide water for the workers who live there, for the tourists (with hand washing stations, bathrooms and installation in the guest bungalows), for the fruit plants and vegetable gardens that the refuge has for its animals, and for the animals themselves.

Project Impact
The improvements will allow a fourfold increase of the current number of people served at the refuge, raising it to over 20,000 visitors per year.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Lisa Melendy

Comments
The simple improvements that will be accomplished will have a major impact on the community and the refuge by allowing the refuge to operate in a sanitary manner and live up to its full potential.

The refuge benefits the community by diversifying employment opportunities. In addition to the impact on the wildlife, the refuge creates an important teaching opportunity for visitors to learn about wildlife conservation.

Dollar Amount of Project
$475.00

Donations Collected to Date
$475.00

Dollar Amount Needed
$0.00 - This project has now been fully funded, through the generosity of The Soneva SLOW LIFE Trust as a part of their Clean Water Projects initiative, with the help of friends and family of Peace Corps Volunteer Lisa Melendy.

We encourage others to continue to donate using the Donate button below, and we will notify Lisa of your donation. Additional funds will be used to fund the next project by Lisa and/or those of her counterpart PCVs in Peru.

This project has been finished. To read about the conclusion of the project, CLICK HERE.

Community Description
The district of Olmos is located in the department of Lambayeque in Northern Coastal Peru.

La Estancia is a small agricultural village nestled in the dry forests of the district of Olmos. The village has a population of approximately 1,200 people.

The community is located 35 minutes by moto-taxi on a dirt road to the main town of Olmos where families can buy fresh meat and vegetables in the market.

The village has a pre-school, a joint primary and secondary school, a health post, a municipality, a community run comedor popular (like a soup kitchen), a women’s club and a beekeepers association.

The majority of the men in the village work in agriculture, receiving a salary of around $5 a day. Most women are stay-at-home mothers, responsible for the maintenance of the house and children. Families usually have between 3 and 5 children.

Families raise animals such as chickens, goats, sheep, and pigs for consumption. Houses are made of mud and wood with tin roofs.

Recently the national government installed electricity in the community.

This project will take place at the school "Cesar A. Vallejo Mendoza" I.E. N 10181, located in the village of La Estancia.

Currently, students have to use a rustic handwheel to pull up buckets of water, one bucket at a time, from a cemented well, 15 meters in depth.

Due to the hard labor of extracting water, the amount of water available to students is limited. The students use latrines and currently have no hand washing facilities.

The science and work education teachers have installed two large vegetable and fruit gardens, but are unable to plant vegetables due to the difficulty in retrieving water.

Project Description
This project is to install an electric water pump, and connect the well to the bathrooms and the elevated water tanks that serve the school.

The tanks have already been bought by the school. They will provide water for the bathrooms as well as the two gardens.

With water available Peace Corps Volunteer Sara Mascola, teachers, and the health post workers will give workshops to students, parents and community about handwashing, how to brush teeth, nutrition, gardening, and the SODIS method of water purification.

Sara states:

Our goals are to benefit 100% of the student population with improved cleanliness of the restrooms and handwashing stations, maintain the trees and plants that are currently planted in our school gardens and throughout the 2 hectares of campus, and be able to plant vegetables in our gardens for the students to take home and share with their families.

Project Impact
194 students (between the ages of 5 and 18) and 214 adults (teachers and parents) will be directly benefited by the installation of this electric water pump and piping system.

Also, the rest of the community will benefit from the improved sanitation at the school, as it is used as a community meeting place.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Sara Mascola

Comments
This small project will be of great benefit to the students and staff of the school, as well as the community at large. It will contribute to a healthier student population through improved sanitation and better nutrition.

Dollar Amount of Project
$497.00

Donations Collected to Date
$497.00

Dollar Amount Needed
$0.00 - This project has now been fully funded, through the generosity of The Soneva SLOW LIFE Trust as a part of their Clean Water Projects initiative.

We encourage others to continue to donate using the Donate button below, and we will notify Peace Corps Volunteer Sara Mascola of your donation. Additional funds will be used to fund the next project by Sara. and/or those of he counterpart PCVs in Peru.

This project has been finished. To read about the conclusion of the project, CLICK HERE.

Community Description
Caserío Alita is a small agricultural community. The population is approximately 250 people, dispersed throughout the area. Almost every family lives near their farm or the pastureland for their animals (goats, sheep, cows, etc.). Corn and beans are the two most important crops although a few families also raise fruit trees.

Caserío Alita is approximately 10 kilometers from the district capital of Salas but the travel is difficult. The community is two kilometers from the main road and there are no cars, taxis or other form of public transportation in that stretch of road. Also, most of the community members live another 2-5 kilometers from the entrance road.

There are no consistent paying jobs. Most community members are dedicated to the farm and work in the farms of other people for daily wages if work is available. Also the district government occasionally offers short-term jobs (1-2 months) in the district capital. These jobs focus on cleaning up roadways, building irrigation ditches and other public works.

There is a primitive water system in the community, but it is not a constant or reliable water source. There is a reservoir in the nearby mountains and this water is distributed to the communities in the desert below. However, Caserío Alita is at the end of the line, and access is often cut off, sometimes for months at a time.

When there is no water in the pipes, the children of the school must take water from the school well. They use this water for hand-washing as well as to water the small plantation of fruit trees and the vegetable garden they have planted on the school grounds.

Currently, all water is treated using the SODIS system, which purifies water in 2- or 3-liter bottles, which are left on a corrugated roof and heated by the sun’s rays.

Electricity was recently installed in the community, opening new opportunities for development.

Project Description
This project is to install an electric water pump at the primary school. The pump will pump water from the school’s well into an above-ground tank. From the tank the water can be used (through simple water pressure) to service hand-washing sinks and water the mini-orchard the school has in place.

Currently the water is taken out of the well with a rope and bucket system. The water in the well is 17 meters below ground. The water tank is about 5 meters from the well. A 1 inch, 1 horsepower pump will be purchased in the departmental capital of Chiclayo (2 hours from Salas) and will be used to pump the water to the tank.

Piping will be installed to connect the water tank to the sinks that are already in place. Other piping will be installed to take the water from the tank to each of the trees of the plot. The water pressure from the tank and the incline of the terrain will take the water to the plants. The plot contains various species of fruit and forest trees including molle, algarrobo, lime, palta, mango, gauva, among others.

Project funds will be used to pay for the water pump and the necessary piping. The PTA (the school) and the community will be constructing the irrigation system (digging the necessary trenches to cover the pipes, placing the piping, etc.) and installing and securing the pump in the well.

The project is supported by the PTA of the primary school. Also the bee-keepers association supports this project as any increase in forestation can be seen as an advantage for the bees.

Project Impact
This project will benefit up to 200 community members. Included in this number are 28 children in the school (grades 1-6) from 21 families. In addition, the entire community uses the school as a central location for meetings. This includes meetings of the bee-keepers association, the water association, general community meetings, community parties and meetings the regional government occasionally calls with the community

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Erica Locher

Comments
This project provides a time- and water-efficient system for watering as well as a secure and constant source of water for hand-washing and an imminent dental health campaign.

The water from the well is not potable without purification. The SODIS system for purification is functional but time-consuming. It will be up to the community to come up with a follow-up project, but consideration could be given to implement a more efficient water purification system.

Dollar Amount of Project
$450.00

Donations Collected to Date
$450.00

Dollar Amount Needed
This project has now been fully funded through the generosity of Ken Howells, of San Bernardino, California, USA, with the help of friends and family of PCV Erica Locher.

We encourage others to continue to donate using the Donate button below, and we will notify Peace Corps Volunteer Erica Locher of your donation. Additional funds will be used to fund the next project by Erica and/or those of her counterpart PCVs in Peru.

This project has been finished. To read about the conclusion of the project, CLICK HERE.

Community Description
La Laquish Alto, which derives its name from a Quechuan word meaning "water," is a small community of approximately 130 families. Most community members work year-round in agriculture, producing peas, wheat, corn, and potatoes. La Laquish Alto is considered a zone of extreme poverty due to low economic activity, lack of educational opportunities, and health problems.

Of the 130 families, less than 40% report having a well-maintained latrine. As a result, diseases related to lack of hygienic conditions are endemic in the area, including intestinal parasites, malnutrition, and acute diarrheal diseases. Over 30% of children under the age of 10 have been diagnosed at least once with an intestinal parasite, and over 15% of young adults have been diagnosed with malnutrition-related to childhood parasites.

Project Description
This project is to build 10 latrines for participants in the community. The simple pit latrines will be hand dug, and ventilated by plastic PCV tubes. The base will be constructed of cement.

The families have chosen to build the latrine structures out of a wooden frame with walls of painted tin. This design is durable, cost-effective, and easily moved once the latrine is filled.

Project funds will be used to purchase the wood, cement, and tin to build the latrines. With the help of a carpenter, the 10 latrines will be built under the supervision of a community committee and PCV Samantha Kerr over the course of about a week.

All participating families will be trained in comprehensive health promotion, including nutrition, hygiene, improved stoves, latrines, and individual food production units.

Additionally, all families must plant a small family garden, build a small hand-washing station, designate a container with a lid for safe drinking water, and maintain a clean and organized kitchen before being certified as a "healthy family".

After 3 months, the committee will do follow-up visits to each of the houses to make sure the latrines are being properly used and maintained.

Project Impact
Directly benefiting from the project will be 10 families, comprised of 14 women, 12 men, and 25 children, for a total of 51 individuals.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Samantha Kerr

Comments
This is a community-based solution to a major local health problem. Participation involves a substantial commitment to the improvement of the overall health of the family. Factors of sustainability are built into the project, and its successful completion will lead others to participate in similar community development projects in the future.

Dollar Amount of Project
$400.00

Donations Collected to Date
$400.00

Dollar Amount Needed
$0.00 - This project has been fully funded, through the generosity of The Soneva SLOW LIFE Trust as a part of their Clean Water Projects initiative.

We encourage others to continue to donate using the Donate button below, and we will notify Peace Corps Volunteer Samantha Kerr of your donation. Additional funds will be used to fund the next project by Samantha and/or those of her counterpart PCVs in Peru.

This project has been finished. To read about the conclusion of the project, CLICK HERE.