March 31st

The team awoke to the sound of waves crashing to the shore, ready for a day’s hard work. Everyone was a little tired after a long night traveling to Mancora. After breakfast the team was picked up by Suzy, the founder of Kiya Survivers, and a volunteer named Jamie. The convoy of taxis headed towards Los Organos, and the team was slightly shocked by the raw reality of the muddy streets of Los Organos. It is an extremely poor region, and it was rather difficult for the team to see the contrast coming from “civilized” Urubamba to the barren streets of Los Organos.

When arriving at Mama Cocha, a strong stench of garbage and decay surprised us. Suzy informed us that the hospital and town government has decided to use the area surrounding Mama Cocha to dispose of its waste . It was quite depressing to see such carelessness next to a center of hope and happiness. As we entered the center we were greeted by some of the substitute mums and a smiling Maria. It was incredible to see her with a smile on her face after all the cruelty that she was unfortunate to be surrounded by. In addition, seeing the amount of improvement in Jose Antonio was magical, as just two years ago he couldn’t move his hands and now he is both eating and playing with toys, in control of his movements.

Seeing the development and hope that there is at Mama Cocha, made us realize that we can and are making a difference. This is the project that Team Peru and the CIS community have been working so hard to support, seeing the result of our hard work motivated the group to continue fighting. We returned to our beautiful beach house and relaxed after the unexpected and somewhat shocking day. Now we are all looking forward to another day of hard work and spending more time with the happy children tomorrow.

By Philip S. & Olivia