June Expedition with AYS - June 15
Twenty eight youth from different areas in the USA and Canada from Alliance for Youth Service (ays.org) and five leaders flew to Peru on June 15th to do humanitarian work with Eagle Condor Humanitarian in the small community of Salkantay near Cuzco.
The project was to help the community families to build 34 bathrooms so that each family had their own bathroom. They completed 10 while there started the others and left the materials for their completion by the end of July. The youth enjoyed working side by side with the local families, digging trenches, septic tanks, stomping mud for adobes, constructing adobe walls, laying cement floors and roofing with straw.
They also visited an orphanage and a street boys home and left donations that they had taken to Peru.
Books were donated to two schools for their libraries as well as school supplies collected by the youth. Seeds were given to the community for planting in their fifty greenhouses constructed last year.
Evening activities included sports with LDS youth, local music group performance, talent show and dances.
They visited the ruins of Machu Picchu, Pisac, Ollantaytambo, Raqchi, Sacsaywaman and Koricancha and learned more about the culture.
On the last day in Salkantay, the local ladies cooked two huge pots of lamb soup for all the group and the community members. Everyone danced together and said tearful goodbyes. Lifetime friendships were made within the group and with the community members.
In Lima the youth did baptisms for the dead in the Lima Temple and played at the beach before leaving for the airport to return to the USA. More News...
|
