Rotaract Park for the Community of Ventanilla

I would like to share with you all one of the very deserving projects that I have the opportunity to work on with the Rotaract club of Pueblo Libre. If you have a moment, below is a summary of the project that the club put together for its promotion and I've translated to English. If you would like to be involved in our project, you can help by donating to purchase a tree or helping to purchase the playground set. We and the community of Ventanilla would be very grateful! Just send me an e-mail!

1. General Information:
Name of Project: Rotaract Park

Responsible Party: Rotaract club of Pueblo Libre
José Karlo López- President Eliana Medina –Community Service
Gaby Zegarra –International Service

Duration: 6 months
Place: AAHH Olivos de la Paz-Ciudadela de Pachacutec-Ventanilla Alta-Callao-Lima
Total Cost: 8,500 soles/3,150 USD

2. Introduction and Assessment:
Over the past seven months the Rotaract club of Pueblo Libre has been working with the community bringing them a massive health campaign, Christmas campaign, and food donations, among other projects.

In our continual work with the community, we have had the opportunity to see the needs they have. Based on our assessment, we decided to promote a project that would involve the participation of the community and benefit the children and the environment in the area.

We propose a "Rotaract Park," and we have launched the campaign "Plant a Tree, Plant Life," to promote the donation of trees that will form the park where we will also include a playground set for children.

The area in which the park will be located is a dry environment, where numerous children ages 16 and under live, and the only designated recreational areas are sand lots filled with stones and trash.

Thanks to the initiative of the Rotaract club of Pueblo Libre, the grateful community has designated an area of 800 square meters for green areas, with the purpose of developing a Rotaract Park.

3. Definition of the Problems and Causes
The problems the community has are in health, recreation and the environment.

Some of the causes include:
The community does not have any green areas because there is little investment. There are no areas where the children can play and enjoy the natural environment. Furthermore, the community suffers from pollution dumped by nearby businesses, and the dusty, dry environment provokes respiratory illnesses and skin diseases.

4. Goal of the Project
The goal of this project is to give the community a healthy environment with trees and a playground set for children.

5. Plan of Execution for Project
January – Launch and promotion of the campaign "Plant a Tree, Plant Life."
February – Clearing of the area
March – Design of the project (location of the trees, benches, playground set, etc.)
April - Fundraising
MAY -Plant trees and grass, put in benches and playground set, and paint stones.
JUNE-Inauguration

* These proposed dates are tentative and will depend on the community and the members of the Rotaract club of Pueblo Libre for their fulfillment.

6. Personnel
Greta Esmeralda Romn Clemente
Forestry Engineer
Anai Chang Escudero
Architect
Miriam Calla Coa
Civil Engineer
Eleana Medina Neyra
Nurse
José Chavez Campos
Accountant
We also have the cooperation of a local gardener and the enthusiasm of Rotaract members.

7. Sustainability
To sustain the project, the community and the Rotaract club of Pueblo Libre have agreed to transfer the care and maintenance of the park to the community after its inauguration.

8. Budget
Labor: Volunteers from the community and the Rotaract club of Pueblo Libre
"Plant a Tree, Plant Life" (40 trees, 1 truck for transporting trees and soil) S/. 880.00
Playground set S/. 6,150.00
Benches, grass, paint, stones S/. 1,200.00
Miscellaneous (transportation, paint brushes, etc.) S/ 270.00
TOTAL S/. 8,500.00

9. Monitoring and Evaluation
As mentioned, the project will be monitored by the Rotaract club of Pueblo Libre and the town council of AAHH Olivos de la Paz, which is outlined in the agreement signed by both parties; because of our continual work in the community, a special committee has been designated to verify the use and maintenance of the park.


On the Radio!
I was on the Radio! Every Sunday the FM Union Station dedicates an hour to Rotary for updates on events and projects in the community. I was invited to speak as a guest of the Rotaract club of Pueblo Libre, and had the opportunity to talk about the scholarship and my experiences in a new culture. They had a good laugh when they asked what music I liked from Peru because I answered Grupo Cinco! Grupo Cinco is a really popular Cumbia band that seems to play on every radio in every bus, and probably comparable to yesterday’s Inn Sync or Back Street Boys.

What I didn’t know, is that Peru has a variety of traditional music that both old and young know and love. After a special meeting with my Rotary club held in the house of one of the members, we toasted with the traditional pisco sour drink to the new Rotary year, then sang and danced to Peruvian music. They showed me their version of the Waltz, and I shared mine. The next day in the Rotaract (20-30 year olds) while we were waiting for others to arrive, they too began to play and sing the traditional music! I loved that they, like the Rotarians, knew every word.

“Pata” y “Pato”
These words are really similar, so you can understand why I might easily confuse them, and so did another Ambassadorial scholar! We both have funny stories with these two words.

Pato – means duck, Pata means- the meat from the heel of a cow, and it is also used colloquially to mean best friend.

I went to a restaurant with the members from the Rotaract club, and I thought we were going to try chicharrones, a pork dish that I haven’t tried yet, but when I sat down and looked at the menu I realized we were in an anticucherria!! An anticucherria is a restaurant for the popular dish anticuchos, the grilled meat from a cow’s heart, served on top of meat from the stomach. I had no plans to eat this dish, but they told me were in one of the best in town (there is a whole street of anticucherrias right behind my house), and it was an opportunity to try something new. The stomach meat was a little too slimy for me, but the anticucho was really good, and I’m not a big fan of meat!

While we were eating, they began telling me about more dishes I need to try, ones made with the meat from a cow’s brain and another with the meat from the heel of the cow! When they described how the dish was made with the meat from the cow, I realized I had already tried it! In cusco my family served me a delicious dish of soft white meat covered in a creamy sauce. I asked my host mom what the meat was and she said it was pata, I thought that meant duck, but found out after the Rotaractors burst out laughing I had actually eaten the meat from the cow’s heel! I’m definitely not going to confuse those two words again, but I’m glad I did, because I’m not sure that I would’ve tried Pata otherwise. I don’t think that I’ll try the dish made with the meat from the cow’s brain….although I can’t remember what it’s called….

Rotary Olympics!
Last weekend I went with my Rotary club of San Matiniano and the Rotaract club of Pueblo Libre to participate in the annual Olympics, where members from clubs all over D4450 come to share a weekend of fun, great food and friendly competition. I proudly carried the Sanmartiniano Rotary club’s banner in the opening ceremony and won third place in a Fooseball competition for the Rotaract club of Pueblo Libre. The Rotaract club and I also raised about $80 (around 240 soles) in selling raffle tickets to go towards building a park in Ventanilla.