Neil Lawson

Neil volunteered in two different projects. Firstly he went to Siches and then he worked in Huanchaco at SpanEnglish.

"The very first part of my volunteer experience in conjunction with Otra Cosa was working in a small communal farming village called Sicchespampa. I must explain about my trip here that I left rather early to return home. It had nothing to do with either the people or the work, but more out of my own lonliness from my family, or possibly the inability and inaccessibility of communicating with people at home from Sicches. That being said I would like to write an objective account of my time there which I did appreciate very much whilst I was there.

Sicchespampa is a beautiful place located in the northern mountains of Peru. The town itself is set up in a valley in between two huge mountains. There is one large street surrounded by rolling hills where people converse by night, walk to work by day, and heard cattle and other animals all day long. The main two food ítems that I helped to harvest with my time there were sugar and coffee. Because these are their two most important crops this is where I worked most of the time while I was in Sicches. I was staying during the actual harvest of the coffee season, so I got to pick the fresh coffee beans themselves. Called Pepas in Spanish they resemble pearls hanging from the trees in big clusters. The days we did this, we did it all day. There is a lot of patience involved in it but the work itself is not that phyiscally demanding whatsoever. If you enjoy just relaxing out doors and enjoying the beautiful fresh mountain air, you would very much like this experience. Potentially, the most phyically demanding work there is working in the Modelo sugar processing plant. It depends on what you are you doing there, but two days I was the person who literally schucked the cane, and that was hard. However, I learned the process of making sugar in and out and I must say that that is very cool. Also, because this is a completly community based organic farm with almost no profit to be made, breaks were given routinely and the worker treatment was very fair. Anytime you requested a rest, it was proptly granted to you, and you were usually accompanied by two or three other workers.

My family was the Abad family and I would have to say one of the neatest overall families there. There was the mother, father, grandmother, two sons, and one daughter whom all stayed in the house. They had 4 other children who would come and visit sometimes as well. From what I just said you might think that it was a really cramped house or hard to live in, but that is quite the contrary. The house that the father Jose built with his own hands, was actually quite spacious and gave you plenty of privacy. The shower facility and bathroom facilities are obviously important to all so let me quickly explain that there are none. They have a hose outside connected to fresh mountain water and an outhouse in the back of the yard. If you are looking for some place to show off your vanity this would not be the place. If you are looking for a place to learn about organic farming that you came to the right place indeed.

The food there is incredibly abundent, as the farm itself contains just about every kind of vegetable you could possibly want. The meals were plentiful and they always asked you if you wanted seconds. Honestly I ate a lot more food in terms of quanity that at any other point in my life. Funny how people with more money don’t know how to grow there own food and rely on others with a lot less to give them all the essential good food ítems they need, whilst they might look down on these people simultaneously for having less. However, the level of sustainability and knowledge of personal environment of these people allowed them to know exactly how and when to harvest food to feed everyone in the village.

If you are a vegetarian it is ideal to go here because they only eat meat every so often. This is not by choice, but more because their animals are used for various things and they don’t have a lot of money to buy more and more animals all the time.

The night life here is not at all like you are used to if you are from a western country. However, if coming here to socialize was your reason you have been misguided. The nights can be filled with fantastic and beautiful converstations with the families, though, as well as playing with kids. My personal favorite pleasure of my time in Sicches was looking at the stars at night. They were absolutely incredible, and you could see just about every single one, it seemed like. There are also a lot of fiesta celebrations there at times of the year. They usually last for two to three days and are filled with much dancing, staying up very late, and drinking cañaso which is a highly potent sugar can alcohol. Watch out for this stuff, as it hits your central nervous system quite suddenly and takes full control from there onward.

Lastly I would like to clear up my opening paragraph and talk about the communication difficulties of Siccespampa and the level of detachment. There is no internet access there and there is only two phones. The phones have a very signifcant delay on them which makes it very hard for you to have a clear conversation with people. You can however, definetly hear the persons voice and that being said, there is much to learn and enjoy about this beautiful place. It was just personally to hard for me at that time of my life to be detatched from a couple people at home. To any potencial volunteers reading this though, if you do not have problems with this I strongly recommend working at this farm. A teacher of mine once said that you end a paper with your strongest words of all. However, I don’t have words to describe to you of how beaufiful this community is. You will just have to take the adventure and see for yourself."

Sara Dickett

My name is Sara and I have just returned to Huanchaco after my second visit to the northern highland community, Sicches Pampa. Let{s just say I fell in love with the people and the landscape there.

Sicches Pampa is a very small community located seven hours northeast of Piura and close to the border of Ecuador. The beauty of this place is surreal. Taking the bumpy road from Piura to Sicches is a rough but rewarded experience as you are surrounded by mountains on every side and in general beautiful landscape.. From Sicches, it is at least an hour up the mountain to Sicches Pampa. My advice, pack light and do the stairmaster before going. That hour become almost two with my heavy pack and my general out of shapeness. As I arrived in late July I was greeted by families, beautiful clean air, adobe houses, and dirt paths. Later, I would get to know each of those families and the kids in them.

The first three weeks of Sicches Pampa was a period of adjustment for me. For 5 years before I came to Peru, I lived in Chicago and had accostomed to the hustle and bustle of the city life. I had to adjust to a new s chedule, going to bed at around 9 and waking up around 6 or 7. I also had to adjust to the chismosa or gossip of small town life. When you go into this community, you are like a celebrity. Be prepared to overhear conversations about you at any time. After those few weeks, I would join in on the conversation, stand up to see who was coming on their donkey on the path, and participated in this gossip which was definitely did not have bad intentions.

During these first three weeks, I had the opportunity to pick coffee beans. It{s a great experience literally standing on the side of the mountain, pulling down branches, and silentely singing or thinking to yourself. It{s not particually physical work, but at times pulling down that huge branch for five beans can be tiresome. The days are long, but at times filled with conversation, music, and of course a huge lunch and break. The workers, as Neil said, are treated fairly, given breaks, and make their own schedules. Each person is their own entrepeneur as they each have their own set of land and harvests. Each worker, however belongs to the union CEPICAFE. There are generally mixed opinions about whether this work is fairtrade or not. The family that I stayed with was of the opinión that it was not and the workers were not given fair prices for their organic coffee or sugar. In general, a family, depending on that season, would not make more than 500 soles, or less than $200 for a their coffee and sugar harvests.

After these three weeks, I was going down the mountain to call my parents. The nearest phone is in Sicches, an hour downhill from Sicches Pampa. On an ugly path, I slipped, fell, and heard the click click of my ankle being dislocated. I called out for help and in what looked like the middle of nowhere, a 12 year old girl came out. She kept me company as a young women from Sicches, went to go get a women who could help. She said to me that this senora was a hueso something or other and needless to say I was scared. The Señora put some cream of my foot, had two people hold me down, and without painkillers put my foot back into place. Oh the pain! After this experience, I still couldn{t walk and the women send out news to the men of Sicches Pampa to carry me. They brought a stretcher and five men carried me down that mountain to the Centro de Salud. The nearest hospital to take X’rays was 7 hours away, and I decided that I was not going to go. Instead I went back up to Sicches Pampa on a mule and began the slow recovery of my foot.

Hopefully, I haven{t scared anyone off from this volunteer experience. I have to say that the dislocatation of my foot was a blessing in disguise. Through this experience, I had the opportunity to learn about the informal medical techniques and remedies that everyone would give. I had almost everything put on my foot from saltwater, urine, a sugar cane alcohol, camomile, herbs, and much more. Every night, Señora Ricardina would come and apply remedies and generally give masajes to my foot. Through this experience, I learned of the kindness, hospitality, and general love of the people in Sicches Pampa. The first two weeks, I could not walk. Food was brought to my room, people would accompany me so i wouldn{t be lonely, and I was given a bucket to go to the bathroom as I couldn{t walk. This might be too much information, but every day one of the women would dump it out for me. I want to give you an idea of how much the community there looked out for me.

Yes, the almost one and half months of my injury were difficult and frustrating, most of all as I couldn{t comunícate with my parents. But they were also filled with great conversations about politics, love, sex, religión, agriculture, and family. Every day, someone would come to me and give me advice about remedies to put on my foot, and were generally concerned about how I was doing. In these months, I could obviously not work but the family understood and did all they could to help me with my recovery. During these months, I took photos with the kids, starting teaching an English class, and played a lot of soccer. I was always the goalie as I still couldn{t walk or run well. After a month and a half, one of the young women accompanied me downhill so I could call my parents. This journey normally would take around an hour, but took us almost 2 and a half. Miriam, the young woman, had so much patience with me, held my hand, and invited me to spend the night in her aunt and uncle{s house.

These are just a few examples of how amazing this community is! I really feel like I have a second home and family in Sicches Pampa. After more than two months, I left Sicches Pampa almost in tears. The last night there, Senora Aurora, the mom of my family, showed me the letters that her husband, who had passesd away 10 years ago, had written to her when they were just starting their love affair, and lived in different cities. What an honor!

Recently, I went back to Sicches Pampa to visit the family there. It was great to see them! We shared stories, played sports, and listened to music. I loved being in a community where everyone knows your name, greets you on the street, and is generally concerned how you are doing. Unfortunately, I left after just 2 weeks, as the rainy season was approaching and was starting to get hard to go down the mountain. I left, again almost in tears, wishing I could go back every summer to visit.

With all the places I have been in Peru including Cusco, Huanchaco, Arequipa, Lima, and Piura, Sicches Pampa, well not a tourist haven, is my favorite. I learned about the politics of Peru, the mines, agriculture, more Spanish, how to sew and hand wash my clothes and in general the humility and love of the community there. I will forever be grateful to this community as they really have helped me grow as a person and I will definitely be back!