Peru

Community Description
Jachaspampa and San Pedro, with populations of 102 and 162 people respectively, are two of 16 small farming annexes of Huayllan. Both communities are entirely dependent on subsistent farming, mainly potato and wheat products.

Both communities are highly impoverished and lack basic resources, such as electricity, a secure source of water, and adequate sanitation facilities. While traditional and extremely poor, these Quechua-speaking families are humble and generous.

Presently, more than half of the children 5 years and younger from these two communities have chronic malnutrition (Health Post Acobamba, January 2012). Meanwhile 37.5% children 3 years of age or younger have been diagnosed with anemia (Testing completed by the Health Post Acobamba: December 5, 2011), and 50% have one or more parasitical infections (Testing completed by the Health Post Acobamba, October 12, 2011).

Project Description
This project provides for the construction of 40 sanitary latrines (Sanitary Dry Ventilated Pit Latrines) in the homes of families from the two villages.

Using this technology groundwater will not be affected. A specialist has designated an adequate location for each latrine site. These bathrooms have an estimated useful life of 12 years, largely depending on the number of family members using the latrine.

The community will contribute labor and local resources, including adobe blocks. Recipients are responsible for digging their own latrine pits, as well as assisting other families headed by single mothers to build their latrine pits.

Beforehand, the families will receive training on how to properly construct their latrine pits. Two masons will be hired to construct the cement platforms over the course of 4-5 days. These same masons will help the families implement their latrine stalls.

In addition, families are responsible to install Tippy Taps (simple and economical hand-washing stations), initiate water treatment practices, and dispose of their trash in the community landfills.

Project funds will be used to purchase materials, including cement, rebar, PVC piping, steel sheets, and hardware.

The local government will provide a portion of the project cost in cash and materials.

After construction, bi-monthly visits will be paid to families by health promoters to ensure the continuation of healthy practices and habits as well as the use and maintenance of the sanitary latrines.

Twice a month families will be required to attend health and education talks on themes such as hand washing, consumption of safe drinking water, trash management, organic gardening, and construction and maintenance of the latrine.

Project Impact
179 people in the communities (43 male, 45 female, 52 boys and 39 girls) will benefit from the project.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Brianna Casciello

Comments
The project will reduce the incidence of diarrheal diseases, parasites and malnutrition, particularly among children under 5 years of age.

Dollar Amount of Project
$555.00

Donations Collected to Date
$0.00

ADOPT THIS PROJECT BY CONTRIBUTING THE DOLLAR AMOUNT NEEDED BELOW

Donations of any amount will be appreciated. The full amount will give you "naming rights", if that is something you would like.

Any contributions in excess of the Dollar Amount of Project will be allocated to other projects directed by this PCV and/or projects of other PCVs in this country.

Dollar Amount Needed
$555.00

Community Description
Caserio Pativilca is a small, rural community located on the northern coast of Peru, near the city of Chiclayo. It has a population of about 800 people living in 150 households. It is located very near to the protected, dry forest "Bosque de Pomac".

Due to almost no rainfall, the community suffers from a serious shortage of water, and most members only have access to water for a couple hours every day.

Primary/Secondary School #11538 Pativilca serves all grade levels in the community. There is often a shortage of water during the school day, leaving students unable to effectively use the bathroom and wash their hands.

Project Description
The project is to build a well at the school, to be used for drinking, sanitation, handwashing, and gardening purposes.

The well will be about 15 meters deep and 1 ½ meters in diameter. The depth of the water table at the site has already been ascertained by engineers.

The well will be dug by hand by fathers in the community at no cost. Several of them already have experience in digging wells of this type.

The well will be lined with concrete, using between 35 and 40 bags of cement. The rings that will line the well will be poured in a steel mold, which the community already possesses.

In addition, the members of the community will make a concrete cover to ensure that the well does not represent a danger to the students and to keep contaminants from entering.

From the well, the water will be pumped by an electric pump through 20-30 meters of tubing up to two large tanks that sit empty right now on top of the bathrooms. A constant supply of water will thus be supplied to the faucets and toilets, and also made available to water trees and a garden at the school.

Project funds will be used for the purchase of the pump, piping, and cement.

The community of Pativilca, and especially the Association of Parents, will provide all of the labor, including the digging of the well and installation of the piping, at no cost. They will also provide the necessary gravel and sand.

Project Impact
250 primary and secondary school students, as well as 25 teachers and staff, will directly benefit from the project.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Jacqueline Lauer

Comments
This project has had tremendous community support in the planning and commitment of labor and basic materials. It utilizes existing infrastructure to accomplish a large amount with a small amount of funds.

Dollar Amount of Project
$555.00

Donations Collected to Date
$0.00

ADOPT THIS PROJECT BY CONTRIBUTING THE DOLLAR AMOUNT NEEDED BELOW

Donations of any amount will be appreciated. The full amount will give you "naming rights", if that is something you would like.

Any contributions in excess of the Dollar Amount of Project will be allocated to other projects directed by this PCV and/or projects of other PCVs in this country.

Dollar Amount Needed
$555.00

Community Description
Solugan, a rural mountain hamlet of 62 families, is widely recognized as one of the poorest communities in the district of Tacabamba in Cajamarca, Peru. Economically the community relies on small-scale agriculture, growing sugar cane and sweet potatoes, but erosion and poor soil quality severely limit family incomes. As a result many men have had to leave the community to find work to support their families, traveling as far away as the jungle or the desert coast.

Homes are scattered throughout the hills and are made of adobe bricks and tin roofs. Many families do not have running water or electricity.

Solugan residents have to walk at least an hour to get to the closest urban center, Tacabamba, which is the only location with important resources, like a weekly market, a health center, and a high school. Solugan now has its own small elementary school and kindergarten, but many adults in the community are illiterate due to lack of access to education in the past.

Health is a serious concern in Solugan, especially for its most vulnerable members: small children. The district health center estimates that 9 out of 10 children had parasites in 2010. 16% of Solugan children under the age of 3 were treated for acute diarrheal illnesses in 2010.

In 2010, chronic malnutrition affected 45% of Solugan children under 3 and an additional 36% were in the "at risk" category. In addition to a poor diet heavily reliant on carbohydrates like white rice and potatoes, repeated diarrheal illnesses and the concomitant loss of nutrients seriously contributes to this severe childhood malnutrition problem.

Many homes have free-ranging animals (including pigs, chickens, rabbits and guinea pigs) roaming the courtyards and kitchen floors. Trash, including plastics, waste paper, and organic material, is often left scattered in the fields or simply thrown into ravines, attracting flies which can carry diarrhea-causing pathogens and leaching potentially dangerous substances into the local environment.

None of the 62 households have a latrine built using proven, safe technologies (defined as at minimum the presence of a reinforced concrete floor, a ventilation tube, and an appropriate location to avoid contamination of subsoil water sources.)

Currently families in the community throw organic trash (mainly food waste like potato peels, fruit rinds, etc) directly into their fields to use as “fertilizer” and all other trash, including potentially toxic plastic material, is burned in small piles. The smoke is acrid and potentially carcinogenic and the open unattended flames pose a fire risk.

The community is located on a steep sloping mountainside overhanging the Tacabamba river and has a five month rainy season, so there is a lot off runoff that directly enters the water source. Solugan is very close to a lovely waterfall which is a popular local tourist attraction, but the river is full of trash and looks pretty bad. In addition, the sewage from neighboring urban centers is dumped directly into the river without any kind of treatment. It is widely known fact that it is not healthy to bathe or wash clothes in the water, and there are many signs posted along the bank saying “Danger, contaminated waters.”

Project Description
This project is to construct 64 individual trash pits for use by families to collect inorganic trash, such as the ubiquitous plastic wrappers and other typical household waste.

Each pit will be approximately 15 meters from the household, close enough to be accessible but far enough to prevent odors or interference from kids/animals. Pits will be located on high ground to prevent flooding, and the tin and plastic sheeting will be used to prevent the accumulation of rainwater in the pit. They will also be located at least 15 meters from the family’s water pump to prevent any contamination of water sources.

Each pit will be 1 x 1 meter, and 2 meters deep, and will have a 10 centimeter floor of thick mud at the bottom to help prevent seepage.

Families will add trash in 40 centimeter piles, then dump 30 centimeters of compacted dirt on top, moving in layers until the pit is full. The final layer of compacted dirt will be 20-30 centimeters above ground level to seal the trash pit. The tin sheeting and plastic will then be used for a freshly dug new trash pit located at least 60 centimeters away from the first pit.

The families will learn about compost piles for their organic trash, creating a more concentrated fertilizer for use in their fields that won't attract animals the way raw food waste does. The community is also working to organize a recycling program. There is now a “buyer” in urban Tacabamba that will pay for sacks of plastic bottles, old tires, used batteries, and scrap metal, and regular community pickups will be arranged. Families will be able to recycle and help the environment, earn a bit of money, and make their trash pits last longer (not fill as quickly) at the same time.

The program is going to include consciousness-building among local children to help change the community norm of throwing trash on the ground instead of in an appropriate container or waste site. Both the primary school and the kindergarten are included in the budget for the project and will have their own trash pits for students’ trash.

The community members themselves will provide the manual labor to dig the 64 trash pits. The municipal government of Tacabamba will provide truck transportation of the materials needed to cover the trash pits between the urban center and the community of Solugan.

Appropriate Projects funds will be used to buy the tin sheeting and plastic.

This project is part of a comprehensive program of hygiene education and the construction of sanitation infrastructure, including hand-washing stations, clean water storage recipients, animal corals, and proper latrines, managed by a leadership committee of five community members elected by their peers.

Project Impact
231 individuals (62 families) will benefit from the project.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Laura Olsen

Comments
As part of an overall community health program, including sanitation infrastructure and education, this project will work to protect the ground water and keep the community and the waterway clean from trash and harmful contaminants.

Dollar Amount of Project
$371.21

Donations Collected to Date
$0.00

ADOPT THIS PROJECT BY CONTRIBUTING THE DOLLAR AMOUNT NEEDED BELOW

Donations of any amount will be appreciated. The full amount will give you "naming rights", if that is something you would like.

Any contributions in excess of the Dollar Amount of Project will be allocated to other projects directed by this PCV and/or projects of other PCVs in this country.

Dollar Amount Needed
$371.21

Community Description
Limoncarro is a small coastal town in northern Peru with a population of about 5,000 people. It is primarily an agricultural community that grows mainly corn and rice crops.

Most families live in houses made of adobe bricks, with dirt floors and cook their meals with firewood. The nearby health post treats patients mainly for respiratory and intestinal problems, most likely stemming from indoor use of firewood, poor hygiene and unsafe drinking water.

The town is made up of several districts, some more impoverished than others. Almost all of the town´s inhabitants are connected to one water system, with water coming from a well. The rest of the people carry water from a nearby river.

The well allows people to have water for about 30 minutes every other day which they store in household tanks and tubs. Only about 20% of the town has a working sewage system and the rest use different types of latrines.

The well is located near the main part of town and is only protected by two small pieces of concrete used as a top that can easily be removed. The lack of a surrounding structure makes the well vulnerable to contamination from grazing animals, dirt, falling debris, and children and adults dropping objects in it. Tests by the local health post have shown the water to be contaminated.

Because there is no sanitary top or house, the electric pump used to provide the town with water is also vulnerable to damage, which would be disastrous to the community.

Project Description
This project is to protect the town well from contamination by building a protective structure around the well.

The Limoncarro Water Committee will be in charge of carrying out the construction of the protective structure around the well and the submergible electric pump, which is connected to a small pumping station that provides electricity. The system allows the water to be pumped via underground tubes to the town´s houses.

The extra space will be used to store equipment and tools needed to maintain the system. The top will be dismountable corrugated roof, as the submersible pump must be taken out periodically for maintenance.

The water committee will hire a local workman to build the structure, and will also hire continue to pay two operators who regularly operate the well.

Water Charity funds will mainly be used to purchase bricks, cement, rebar, gravel, roofing material, and a double-door.

The community has pooled some money together to pay for skilled labor and the local municipality is helping with transportation to help with the costs.

This project is part of a larger effort in the area to make the local water systems safer and the water committees more dedicated to their responsibilities. Alongside the health post, there have been inspections of the surrounding water systems including recommendations and agreements on how to improve the systems to produce safer water. The water committees also receive training on maintenance, chlorination and administration.

Project Impact
This project will affect approximately 4,000 people who are connected to the town´s water system, including students at three schools.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Gina Gonzalez-Deloa

Comments
This is an extremely necessary infrastructure project designed to ensure the safety of the town’s water supply. This will have an impact on the health of the villagers by reducing the incidence of diarrheal and other diseases.

Dollar Amount of Project
$555.00

Donations Collected to Date
$0.00

ADOPT THIS PROJECT BY CONTRIBUTING THE DOLLAR AMOUNT NEEDED BELOW

Donations of any amount will be appreciated. The full amount will give you "naming rights", if that is something you would like.

Any contributions in excess of the Dollar Amount of Project will be allocated to other projects directed by this PCV and/or projects of other PCVs in this country.

Dollar Amount Needed
$555.00

Community Description
Santiago is the second biggest district in the department of Ica on the coast of Peru. Founded in 1870, Santiago has 46,000 habitants in the district and 7,500 habitants in the center of Santiago itself.

Fray Ramón Rojas is an all-female high school in Santiago, serving 600 students.

Project Description
This project is to purchase and install a solar water pump to transport water from the source to the bathroom and handwashing stations at the school.

The pump will be powered by two 100-watt solar panels, thereby eliminating the need for batteries in the system. The design will save the costs of purchasing the batteries, and charging, servicing and replacing them in the future.

The project makes use of the work that has been done to date to design and install the water supply system. The water comes from a ground well, with a reliable and consistent water supply. A 7-meter tall concrete tank, with a capacity of 2.5 cubic meters of water, will be utilized.

The pump will lift the water from the well to the tank. Water will flow by gravity to the necessary stations at the school through 1-inch PVC pipe.

To secure the system from of damage and theft, the solar panels are mounted on top of the water tank. In addition, there is a wall that surrounds the school grounds and there is a guard stationed at the school 24 hours a day.

The project is part of a larger initiative to build on existing knowledge of renewable energy technology by teaching and promoting the use of solar energy in the district of Santiago, Ica.

Project Impact
600 female high-school students plus 20 staff members will benefit from the project.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Allison Schuster

Comments
This project will save money for the school and provide for a reliable water source. It will also serve to demonstrate one aspect of school’s program to teach the subjects of climate change and the uses of renewable energy to the students.

Dollar Amount of Project
$300.00

Donations Collected to Date
$300.00 + additional amounts for future projects

Dollar Amount Needed
$0.00 - This project has been fully funded through the generosity of Michael Miller, of Sunset Hills, MO, USA. Additional funds have been donated by other friends and family of Peace Corps Volunteer Allison Schuster.

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