San Juan de Miraflores is a district of the Lima Province in Peru. It is located in the Cono Sur area of the city of Lima and was officially established as a district on January 12, 1965. In South America San Juan de Miraflores is referred to as one of the "pueblos nuevos," or new towns, that have been formed by the massive numbers of people moving from other parts of Peru due to Lima's primacy.
Today residents of this informal sector of Lima reside in houses of hodgepodge building materials, most in a state of continual construction with progress only continuing as residents can afford each additional brick. Resources are highly scarce and often unaffordable. The dirt roads of the neighborhood are filled with piles of rubble. Several residents have access to electricity, but many lack running water or plumbing. When the wind blows in this neighborhood the dust from the dirt roads makes it difficult to see what is in front of you.
When I was in Lima last year, and the dust settled I was not only able to see something amazing, but to learn something amazing, as well. What I saw was the true powers of community organization and networking at their highest levels. In the last few years, women of this neighborhood began organizing in an effort to accomplish a common agenda. Their children did not have a safe place to stay during the day while they worked. These women began to organize and eventually made a structure. They began to network themselves with people of the academic community. The network chain progressed and eventually led across the globe to Nebraska.
This Friday, May 15 a new group of heartland students and community members will be returning to continue our service education. The neighborhood where the UNO Service Learning group will return to work with the local community, may appear informal and poor, but we must remember we have so much to learn there, and I am so excited and appreciative to see what I shall learn this year.
Oscar Duran, OLLAS Service Learning staff
Today residents of this informal sector of Lima reside in houses of hodgepodge building materials, most in a state of continual construction with progress only continuing as residents can afford each additional brick. Resources are highly scarce and often unaffordable. The dirt roads of the neighborhood are filled with piles of rubble. Several residents have access to electricity, but many lack running water or plumbing. When the wind blows in this neighborhood the dust from the dirt roads makes it difficult to see what is in front of you.
When I was in Lima last year, and the dust settled I was not only able to see something amazing, but to learn something amazing, as well. What I saw was the true powers of community organization and networking at their highest levels. In the last few years, women of this neighborhood began organizing in an effort to accomplish a common agenda. Their children did not have a safe place to stay during the day while they worked. These women began to organize and eventually made a structure. They began to network themselves with people of the academic community. The network chain progressed and eventually led across the globe to Nebraska.
This Friday, May 15 a new group of heartland students and community members will be returning to continue our service education. The neighborhood where the UNO Service Learning group will return to work with the local community, may appear informal and poor, but we must remember we have so much to learn there, and I am so excited and appreciative to see what I shall learn this year.
Oscar Duran, OLLAS Service Learning staff
Great information to know young people like you are willing to dedicate your time and efforts to let us know about wonderful places like Peru. I'll be following your site for more interesting info. will there be more pics?
ReplyDeleteI'm so excited to get started on everything there is to do. The opportunities are endless! What you/we are doing really CAN change the world. It's truly time for the Omaha youth to be excited about their future.
ReplyDeleteI think you guys area an amazing group, it just goes to show it doesn't take a large number of people to come together to help make a difference. Very inspiring and it touches my heart. Keep adding more info and pictures and I will keep checking in to see your guy's progress with this project.
ReplyDeleteI used to live there! It was a sad thing to see so many people suffer from poorness. One very interesting thing is that they all seemed to be pretty happy. I learned so much from all of them. They would feed you, or give you anything if you were really in need. I wish they could afford an education so they could teach the kids to learn and therefore start the chain of success. (at least financial success, many are very successful where it really matters though.)
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