Volunteering with Pisco Sin Fronteras

Outside the main entrance to PSF. Here some fellow volunteers getting ready to head out for the day.

For the past week Liora and I have been volunteering with Pisco Sin Fronteras in the small town of Pisco on the coast of Peru. By the end of our seventh day we tried so hard to squeeze in any more time we could to stay and help, but alas our schedule is tight as it is and we had to move on.

Pisco was hit by an earthquake in 2007 that registered 7.9 on the Richter scale. This quake left hundreds dead, devastated the town and displaced many of its inhabitants. I witnessed a family living in a tent, sleeping seven to a single bed without any kind of sanitation. I watched kids play in piles of rubble in the streets, and had to go by foot where Tuk Tuks (local three-wheeled transportation) could no longer drive due to potholes and dirt piles in the road. And this is two years after the disaster. It was heartbreaking to see how these people live their day to day lives.

Typical street in Pisco. Not passable by tuktuk, and at times hardly any room to even walk.

So with Pisco Sin Fronteras (PSF), a non-profit that has been around for about a year, I was able to lend a hand in helping rebuild this community. Never before have I gotten more satisfaction from hard, manual labor digging trenches and removing cement foundations, or spending time with local children to keep them off the streets. Truly, unselfishly rewarding. Even when I thought I couldn´t lift that sledgehammer over my head one last time, I looked over to see the woman whose house we were helping to rebuild. I saw a smile on her face that knew with my help she could soon rest easy in a proper house. The pain in my hands disappeared, the strain in my neck released and my exhaustion temporarily forgotten.

Back-breaking work removing old housing foundation, most of the time with only shovels, pickaxes and sledgehammers.

Our days started at 8am with breakfast and the morning meeting. We volunteered for the day jobs, which could include cooking dinner for the 45+ volunteers or cleaning plates after breakfast, going on cement pours or helping with the creation of home-made bio diesel. It reminded me of an international summer camp for honest, compassionate individuals whose only goals were to leave the place better that how they found it. If I had the time, I would spend seven months volunteering with PSF, but gave it my all for the seven days I was there, pushing my body through exhaustion and fatigue, sleeping on a mattress stuffed with hay, and everyday feeling better than the last.

Even with the all the work PSF does everyday, the people of Pisco still need a lot of help.

Visit Pisco Sin Fronteras.

After saying goodbye to our new friends at PSF, we started our travels south east to Cuzco. Our journey took 30 hours by bus (a normal 18...I´ll explain later). We explored Cuzco by foot (and horse) today, and tomorrow we will head to Machu Picchu by the method only described as ¨for adventurous travelers only...¨

Needless to say, we are looking forward to it.