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Peru: Intiwawa Children of the Sun
an article by Ashlee Buczek
Video: Intiwawa (Arequipa, Peru)
Congratulations to Intiwawa “Children of the Sun!”
It has been almost one year since the opening of
Casa Intiwawa, a facility built to fulfill the
gaps in a small village in San Isidro, Peru. For
six years, the Peruvian-German founded
organization has demonstrated how volunteers can
help fulfill the social, economic, and cultural
rights without a physical infrastructure.
click on photo to enlarge
Located in the outskirts of Arequipa, Peru, the
Intiwawa organization has provided the children of
San Isidro with breakfast and mid-day snacks,
after school homework support, kindergarten
assistance, English and computer classes,
intercultural weekends, and has facilitate doctor
checkups, dental treatment and hygiene education.
All Intiwawa projects have been operating entirely
on volunteers AND without a building or an office.
Intiwawa is a prime example of a grassroots
organization that incorporates themselves with the
local environment by working in the schools and
collaborating with community members. This
approach has allowed Intiwawa to understand the
needs of the population and to find the most
appropriate ways to fulfill those needs.
Every Wednesday evening, volunteers meet and sign
up to partake in an Intiwawa projects for the
following week. These volunteers are Peruvian as
well as international volunteers. Intiwawa has
created a volunteer network of over 200 members
from 28 countries, dedicating their time (raging
from weeks to years) to maintain the projects in
San Isidro. Volunteers come from different
backgrounds, but share the common belief in
Intiwawa’s mission and the idea of prosperity
through these projects. Thus, without paid staff,
an office, or a program site, these volunteers
have continued to provide assistance to the people
of San Isidro.
After six years of successful progress, Intiwawa
sponsors have gifted the San Isidro population
with Casa Intiwawa. This facility has been
developed to provide a physical home to host
Intiwawa projects in order to ensure their
sustainability. We can only imagine the great
possibilities that can be achieved with the Casa
Intiwawa infrastructure and look forward to the
realization of the social, economic, and cultural
rights of the San Isidro community.
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DISCUSSION
Question(s) related to this article:
How important is community development for a culture of peace?,
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Latest reader comment:
Community plays a important role in developing culture peace. We should promote our cultural values by interacting with each other and making these values part of our daily lives. A good example of this would be raising our children according to beliefs and values which are important for us and our cultural peace. We can also promote cultural peace by making small commuinties within big community and share different ideas and bring new ones in.
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