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CHRISTMAS IN THE SKIES

The Hijos De Praderas community lies at the very top of a mountain, overlooking a large portion of the pueblos jóvenes. In other cities, this location would be inhabited by the most affluent. However, in the shanty towns, the higher you go, the poorer you are. So off to the top we went, to one of the poorest communities in the area to celebrate the holidays with panetónes & chocolatada with the locals.

After driving to the near top, a daunting stairwell awaited us - that was the easy part. After about 10 minutes of walking up, the cement stairs ended and we were greeted by a pile of rocks. This is where Hijos de Praderas began.

Before we could share the donations with the community members, The Reciprocity Team & our volunteers went straight to work to create a safe and comfortable space for everyone to sit and enjoy.

We had volunteers carrying tables up hillsides, plowing and shoveling rocks out of the way, and building makeshift benches to seat everyone. Simultaneously, other volunteers worked hard to get the panetónes and hot chocolate ready!

Once everything was ready, we were able to celebrate with the community members! We even got a special visit from Haku Tours and some of their Shanty Town Tour guests, who were able to see firsthand how their money was being used to help the pueblos jóvenes.

It was an amazing day filled with laughter, new friendships, and lots and lots of reciprocity! A special thanks to all of our donors, supporters, volunteers, Haku Tours, their guests, and most importantly, the Hijos de Praderas community for making this year's holiday festivities a success!

Please check out our FB album to see all the pictures: PANETÓNES & CHOCOLATADA W/ THE HIJOS DE PRADERAS COMMUNITY

🎄  🎄 🎄🎄HAPPY HOLIDAYS!🎄🎄 🎄 🎄 

Meygan Ngo
Communications &
Project Coordinator
Reciprocity NGO 🌈

PANETÓNES Y CHOCOLATADA!

FELIZ NAVIDAD!🎄

A popular Christmas tradition in Peru is to share panetón and chocolatada with your family. That is why our Reciprocity family will be bringing panetónes and chocolatada to the families in the shanty towns on Sunday, December 17, 2017 for our holiday party! Last year, we were able to celebrate with approximately 200 children.

Our goal this year is to reach 250-300 children (approximately 50 families). To do so, we need: panetónes, chocolate, milk, gas, or money! Help us reach more children and families this year by donating whatever you can!

Donations can be dropped off at our office in Miraflores (Calle Ocharan 141, first door on the left) anytime before Sunday between the hours of 9:30 AM - 6:30 PM. If you have a lot to donate, we can schedule a pick up. You can also easily donate on our blog using our PayPal "Donar" button!

Thank you for your support and generosity! Happy holidays!



Meygan Ngo
Communications &
Project Coordinator
Reciprocity NGO 🌈

THE WISHING WELL

The Wishing Well is a program that we do whenever we enter a new community. A great way to build a strong relationship is to start small by offering the children a gift. The Reciprocity team and our volunteers get an opportunity to interact with the children personally as we interview them about their wishes. As outsiders, we want to gain the confidence of both the adults and the children in a new community. The Wishing Well is a sign of friendship, hope, and trust. 

As we shared fruit with the children and asked them what they'd want if they could have one wish, most of them looked up at us curiously. They were confused initially, but their eyes widened with excitement when they finally understood what we were offering them.

Most of the children in these communities have never received a gift before. Luckily, our timeline is aligned with the holidays, making receiving a gift extra exciting for them. The sad reality is that for most of the children in the shanty towns, this will be their only present this year.

The Reciprocity Team will be working very hard in the coming weeks to continue interviewing the children, gather donations, and purchase presents while also helping other communities celebrate the holidays, as well. Please help us grant their wishes by donating today! Check out our Facebook album to see all of the children and their wishes: THE WISHING WELL.

Thank you so much for your continued support and  generosity. You are the reason why we are able to help so many communities in need!

Happy holidays from our Reciprocity family to yours!

Meygan Ngo

Communications &
Project Coordinator

Reciprocity NGO 🌈

PIRCAS DEL MIRADOR - A FORGOTTEN COMMUNITY

As you venture higher and higher up the mountain where the shanty towns lie, both the altitude and the degree of poverty increase. The poverty zone begins at the base of the mountain and extends to the extreme poverty zone at the summit. Most NGOs and charities reach out to the poverty zone because the roads are easily accessible. On the the other hand, other organizations specialize in alleviating extreme poverty. In between these two zones, the forgotten communities can be found. This is where Pircas del Mirador is located.

The viewpoint from the top of Pircas del Mirador faces the affluent neighborhoods of
Lima, showing the stark contrast in income inequality between these two worlds.

As a newly-formed community, Pircas del Mirador will require a lot of assistance in establishing the fundamental needs of a shanty town community. These needs include: safe infrastructure (stairways and handrails), a wawawasi (daycare center), and educational and health support. Because the initial steps of forming a community are crucial to its sustainability, Reciprocity NGO seeks to aid this process.

However, entering a community is not as simple as walking in with gifts and expecting the community to welcome you with open arms. The first step in being invited into a community is meeting the leader(s) to discuss our intentions. If the leader(s) agree to welcome us, we can then have a formal meeting to talk in detail about future plans.

These four children smile brightly next to the bags of cement that will be
used to build the stairs that connect the different houses in the community.

During the last few Volunteer Days, the Reciprocity NGO team and our dedicated volunteers have worked hard to build a strong relationship with the community members of Pircas del Mirador. We have visited this community several times to share gifts and donations as well as to perform a census. This census will allow us to obtain and analyze the demographics of the community, so that we can decide how best to help them. With this information, we can now plan and put into action some new social projects!

To stay updated on our progress in Pircas del Mirador, please continue to read our blog, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram.



Meygan Ngo
Communications &
Project Coordinator
Reciprocity NGO 🌈

NOT JUST A HOUSE, BUT A HOME

We continue our excellent progress building a house for a very deserving lady and her family in Villa Maria. With the help of our great team of volunteers, we have turned planks of wood into sturdy walls! Each week, we return to visit Sra Erlinda and her community, Lomas Verdes, to continue our hard work.

The district of Villa Maria is located approximately 30 minutes outside Miraflores in the shanty towns of Peru. Senora Erlinda lives here in extreme poverty with her family. However, at the moment, they do not have a house to call their own, and that is where we come in!  

Each week, on the drive to Villa Maria, with Edwin in the lead, our team discusses and plans for the day ahead. We always stop off at the local markets to buy fruit and bread to share with the locals in Lomas Verdes. Once we arrive at the community, we greet all of the members and put our well made plans into action. Here are some pictures of Sra Erlina herself and the progress we have made so far:

Thanks to everyone for your continued support and kindness.

Mary

Reciprocity NGO Team

VILLA EL SALVADOR

A FIGHTING DISTRICT!!

Where are we working? 

Many people come to Peru thinking that Lima is a small city only, in fact, it used to be but nowadays it is a region with a vast territory, counting with 50 districts including the well known "Miraflores",  the bohemian district of "Barranco" and the sea port "Callao" which are easy to visit due to the location right in the center of this region. We'd like to say that this is Lima only but... the reality is different.

"Villa el salvador" is the district where we're working for more than 4 years, hoping all the people will be better soon. Almost 1 million of inhabitants living in this area which is located in the south east of Lima as it's possible to see in the map above but when was this district created?

The first inhabitants of Villa el Salvador were migrants from the interior of Peru who had arrived in Lima after the great earthquake of 1970. Land was invaded in the limits of others districts around in the middle of a desert. In 1981 and 1982 the creation of an own municipality is proposed given the characteristics and identity of the community of Villa El Salvador. The district was created by Law No. 23605 dated June 1, 1983, in the second government of President Fernando Belaunde Terry.

From the 1980s a massive migration began due to the terrorist group "Shinning Path" or "Sendero Luminoso", which destroyed, killed and caused fear and panic in many Andean regions of Peru, one of the most affected was Ayacucho, in southern Peru. This made thousands and thousands of people come to Lima to be safe and look for a better future for their children and family. This is how Villa El Salvador would be occupied by a large portion of the Andean population, and thousands of Peruvians from the Peruvian jungle would be added.

TODAY OUR HUT...TOMORROW OUR HOUSE.

How is the situation right now?

Conscious of the reality that is lived in this district and of others more around this organization decided to work with them some years back, resulting in the construction of "Wawawasis" houses for the care of children and soup kitchens. Apart from that, we organize volunteers days to help with the cleaning of the community and the plantation of trees to make the neighborhood prettier. 

Here we have a video! He's Abraham who was part of a group of 19 teenagers from Philadelphia, USA. All of them with the staff of the company Haku Tours and Reciprocity NGO were cleaning the "Mariscal Caceres" School in Villa el salvador last September 22nd.

Thanks to all who make possible our social projects. Don't forget to be always happy!!!

Jean Paul Grillo

Haku Tours' Guide

September 26th

SAN JUAN DE MIRAFLORES

CLOTHING DONATIONS!!!

Although it is true that in Lima in the summer it is very hot, it is also true that during the winter the climate becomes cold. For this reason we decided to visit the community of "Defensores de Junín" in San Juan de Miraflores district which is one of the largest and poorest districts in the region of Lima.

San Juan de Miraflores is located east of Lima with almost 500.000 inhabitants, 80 % of them live in the hills with different issues to cover such as: electricity and water connections  but these ones are not the only problems people in there have. While summer the temperature gets 30°C, that makes people look for a fresh place to be in and that is very hard. On the other hand, during the winter (June, July, August) the weather may be an enemy for all the families, due to the temperature that is 17°C + humidity 70% or 87 %. 

This district was created on January 12, 1965 and it is divided in 6 zones or areas. It is very important to know that population in this district is growing and it does not stop growing due to the immigration of thousands of people from the Andes and the Amazon of Perú.

In this opportunity we wanted to support people with clothes to protect against  the cold giving some clothing for families who needed it. Our Social Projects Manager was in charge of giving the donation straight to the families and that makes feel very happy and blessed!!!!

Thanks to all all you for being slope of our activities, we really appreciate all support and love from you all!!! Haku Tours and Reciprocity will be always trying to make people happy, not only with material benefits but with our moral help!!

Jean Paul Grillo
Haku Tours' Official Tour guide
August 22, 1017