Dear Friends of the Becky Fund,
So many times people have reminded me that good things often come from tragedies. And so it is. On this day the 6th anniversary of Becky's death I am sending the report of our 6th annual Peru trip. We continue to reach more and more children, parents, and teachers and we are able to get supplies to many of the remotest villages that have been all but forgotten by their government and other aid agencies.
It was especially gratifying this year to have 5 family members, including two generations, accompany me. Also, one old, and two new friends from Las Cruces. All of these people made the considerable commitment of time, energy and money to help our cause. Our Las Cruces contingency and 2 "younger" cousins, with their youthful exuberance, brought us the gift of laughter!
Thank you to Allison Pena for writing the report this year, and for keeping such good records of numbers of schools and kids visited. And to all of you, who with your continued generosity, make it possible for us to answer YES when asked if we will be back next year!!
Dinny
TRIP REPORT 2009
THE BECKY FUND
The escuela squad consisted of 9 volunteers this year. Two stayed for one week and then we were seven. Dinny, Leonard, Kelly and Rachel from New Mexico, Alison and Kent from Wisconsin, Suzanne and Aaron from California and Genie from Michigan.
As has been stated on previous reports, the peacefulness and beauty of the Sacred Valley contrasts in extreme the poverty and filth in which these children live. Their toothless smiles warmed our hearts as they excitedly awaited their notebooks and bread, but as we handed them out, their little hands were caked with mud and clay, as if their flesh had never been exposed to sunlight. Small faces stared at us with open sores. We cleaned them and applied Neosporin knowing that the next day would repeat the history of how they came to have scabies in the first place. One village we visited had an epidemic of fever.
Nurse Kelly had Tylenol in her bag so we halved the pills and passed them to the parents with instructions on how often to give them. It seemed so little, yet days later when we passed through this same village, it seemed, if not only in our hopes, that there were less feverish children at the roadside. This is the the thing that made us feel as if our short two weeks here was in some small way making a difference.
We arrived with over 1000 toothbrushes, toothpaste, donated clothing, soaps, shampoos, and toys. Dinny purchased 5000 notebooks, significant school supplies for the teachers, and soccer and volley balls for the schools we planned to visit. The balls are always the most anticipated delivery for these children. It means they no longer have to play with the ball they made from rags. Each day we would head into the mountains with our supplies at 7 AM. We returned when the schools let out and were back in Calca at 2:00 for our fabulous lunch by Yolanda.
After lunch, and market purchases for the next day, the doorbell began to ring and Dinny would greet teachers, from afar, walking long distances to pick up supplies for their distant schools. We traveled to as many schools as we could in two weeks time, but there were always many more in need that we could not possibly reach. Dinny was grateful they came to her. There were often visitors in the evening, and in true Peruvian tradition, we shared food, wine, and company with our guests.
Genie and Aaron ventured off the second week to Coche Cancha, a 13 hour bus ride into the Andes, to deliver supplies to remote schools there. Their adventure resulted in sleeping in the police station due to no other place to go, eating “rare” Guinea Pig offered in gratitude for their travels, and Aaron meeting his Godson for a second time in two years. He is two. The library Aaron built is still in use and graciously received.
Kent and Aaron met with the Department of Agriculture and Aaron with a non-profit organization in order to begin work with green houses in a few select schools. We were pleased with the results of these meetings, knowing that the Becky Fund is growing, and hopefully will soon embark on new traditions that will seed new projects that will hopefully bring food and nutrition to remote areas that normally would not be able to grow vegetables due to altitude and weather.
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