Pisco Sin Fronteras

Yesterday, I was flying! I took part in an ‘Acro-Yoga Portal Workshop’ (!), which was organised by 2 of many amazing volunteers here, in a bid to raise money for a much needing family here in Pisco; something which I have witnessed a lot of myself throughout my time here.

The week before Christmas PSF held a party in the district of El Molino, a  very impoverished area on the edge of Pisco where many people moved to after the earthquake in 2008 when their homes were destroyed. It is a tough life living in El Molinio as most people live in wooden shacks with plastic roofs, there is no sanitation and people here are very poor. It is especially tough for the children having to grow up in an area like this. Also invited to the party were the children from La Alameda where there is a child care centre that we work at called Ludoteca.

  Mark Beaumont | 14:29 UK time, Wednesday, 2 December 2009

As my time in Pisco finally draws to a close (for good this time!) I'm back here to tell you all what I have been up to for the past three weeks. My time in Pisco has been both busy and brilliant, with a great combination of amazing work and a great cause, along with fantastic people.
 

We have been doing amazing things here at PSF.  The biodiesel had a couple of technological setbacks, but since our Guru Sam left, our brilliant biodiesel whizes Anton and Richard have sorted it out and we have been successfully running the truck on a mix of biodiesel and petrol diesel.  The rest of the team has been working hard in the community making contacts, collecting oil, sorting out paperwork, and working on a manual that can be passed along.

Hola past, present and potential future volunteers!

I am a 33 year old British guy who was looking for a worthwhile cause to volunteer for while travelling around South America. I had been travelling globally for 7 months and wanted to commit my last two remaining months to a good cause.

I stumbled upon the Pisco Sin Fronteras (PSF) website while still in the UK through another site called volunteersouthamerica.net. and tentatively made contact with them through the email address provided.

I am working at a great place in Pisco. There was a huge earthquake a couple of years ago and the whole town was flattened and is trying to rebuild. Disaster relief is hard enough to come by in an easier country to navigate, but when much of the population is illiterate and most of the politicians are corrupt, you have a whole new game on your hands. First an org called Hands On Disaster Relief was here and they handed off to a Burning Man offshoot called Burners Without Borders which handed off to an org they created called Pisco Sin Fronteras.

One of the unifying elements of South American architecture is the permanency of its incompleteness - whether deliberate (as with the rebars jutting into a fantasmical future 2nd floor) or accidental from disaster, dereliction or disrepair. As such, most cities in South America are superficially similar - but Pisco is at once familiar and unknown once you start to walk and work amidst it.

I've only been at PSF for about a week so I don't know all that much yet, but the place has a good vibe, lots of positive people. Most of my work has been digging a trench for a family who lives near the country. Right now lots of their house is made of plastic sheeting and temporary fabricated wood. The dad/husband has a broken leg, so he's out of commission for now, but very appreciative of the help. His wife cooks up some mean lunches too. Serious Peruvian goodness.