folks
Monday we went to the squatters’ town near Lima, Peru…….
Let me start by saying this email will in no way convey what we experienced or learned or felt
I told Sue–this is life changing
OAT, The travel company we travel with, helps support one of these communities of several 1000 people
What a story ……..
For several reasons these vast communities are very common in and around Lima.
I cannot type well enough to tell the whole story, I cannot type fast enough to tell the whole story but let it be said it was an inspiration to hear and meet these folks
One community we were in has been nominated for the Nobel peace prize
The united nations has supported these folks
And they live on 2-3000 dollars per year as they go through a 12 year legal battle to secure their property rights–and this just starts the process of starting over and raising a family and organizing a community and electing “committees” finding water and electricity and health plans and education and everything else we take for granted
I have never seen or heard of anything like this—and, I may have been born at night but it was not last night
In all, several million people have gone through this process here in Peru
It starts with a natural disaster or hunger or war
In 1970 100s of thousands of people were forced out of the mountains by an earthquake
Over night—OVER NIGHT—they moved to a piece of desert outside Lima with nothing, and I mean nothing!
40 years later they have gone from nothing to educating their kids and building a vast wooden furniture industrial park recognized by the UN as a world example of peaceful change
I would say, look it up on google
Villa el Salvador, Peru
In my small exposure to the world outside the US I have never been so inspired by hard work, community building, determination, peaceful change, and more
Here is where it starts
This place is 5 years into what will be a 40+ year process
The women below runs a soup kitchen–she will do this for two years
Before this she was on the health committee
This room is about 1/3 of her home
The soup kitchen is for the women that stay home to take care of their kids
The men must leave each day–must leave–to make what money they can make
Below is their news bulletin board
This goes on and on
Here is their security system
Transportation
And we also saw a site 2000 years old
Tomorrow we go to12,000 feet
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