As part of the foundation we did our project with, we had to a final write up. Hopefully this provides a better overview of what we were doing as well as our experience.
Intergenerational Harmony through the Arts
Peru
University of Notre Dame of Maryland
Brianna January, USA, University of Notre Dame of Maryland
Emily Osvold, USA, Saint Louis University Madrid
Section I
Our 2011 Davis Peace Project sought to build intergenerational understanding and create lasting relationships between the youth and elderly population of Villa El Salvador, Peru. This project focused not only on building bonds, but also on empowering the youth to be more informed about the founding of Villa El Salvador, as well as the struggles, sacrifices and triumphs that their own elderly community fought for to establish it.
The program collaborated with a local primary school, Fe Y Alegria, and an elderly community center, Los Martincitos. Each session, a different group of ten to fifteen students between the ages of twelve and fourteen went to Los Martincitos to interview the abuelos. During these interviews, each student was paired up with a different individual who shared with them the history of Villa El Salvador, how his or her own life had been affected since arriving, and the struggles and triumphs he or she had encountered as a result of this change. At the information meeting that each student attended prior to joining the project, we explained that these conversations were a time to get to know and connect with the elderly and to learn about the founding and history of their home, Villa El Salvador. While this developing community may not look very advanced or progressed from the outside, behind it is an amazing story that sheds light upon the incredible struggles and achievements that the founders as well as the current community have made to advance Villa El Salvador to where it is today.
Established in 1983 after the government expelled its own people from their mountain villages in the north of Peru, a group of individuals came to Lima and settled on a piece of barren, desert land, just south of the city. Together, the founders fought to build up their settlement, working relentlessly without the assistance of the government to receive potable water, electricity, and finally sanitation. Shortly after its inception, the community members began building schools such as Fe Y Alegria, and families and businesses quickly began settling down, building up the small shanty town into an urban community. Today Villa El Salvador is a functioning, developing residential district now home to approximately 450,000 inhabitants. While many issues of violence and crime, low living standards, and other problems persist, this community truly has built itself from the ground up with its bare hands, a remarkable accomplishment to have achieved in a little over forty years.
Before going into the interviews, the students were advised that they had to be very sensitive and careful not to upset their interviewees, as many found it difficult to talk about the struggles and challenges that they had faced. After they finished their interviews, the students spent the remainder of their morning with the abuelos – helping out in the learning center, the arts and crafts room, or the game area. Finally everyone was served lunch and the kids then returned to school.
During the next session, we met the students at Fe Y Alegria where each student created works of art inspired by their interviews. Before arriving in Peru, we had envisioned that some of the students would write poetry, a play, or create other various forms of artwork. However our students were reluctant to do anything besides a drawing or collage. Although we would have liked a more diverse variety of artwork, we were still very happy with what they created.
After all the groups had completed both their interviews and art, we had a fiesta for all the participants and their families at Los Martincitos. Our party was a joyous, uplifting occasion that everyone seemed happy to partake in. After a few rounds of dancing, a few of the students and abuelos shared with everyone a bit about their interviews and what they had learned from each other. The kids then showed and explained their artwork to their partner and to group. Afterwards, we presented everyone at the party with project tee shirts, and shared a traditional Peruvian meal together.
In the end, the party, as the culmination of our project, was a great success. Watching the students and the abuelos dance together, ask to have their photos taken, and talk about their artwork and what they learned from the interviews, brought to life the harmonious inter-generational bonds that were created between these two groups. Well-received by all, Brianna and I could not have been more content with the end results. One of the best parts for us was seeing how much it meant to everyone, especially the abuelos and coordinators of Fe Y Alegria and Los Martincitos, whom we worked so closely with.
While we were extremely pleased with how the project turned out, it was not without its problems. The main issue that we encountered was that during our program all Peruvian schools went on winter break. This meant that we had to put it on hold during that time period, as none of the participating students would be in school. Taking this into account, we made some scheduling adjustments and were still able to have a large number of students and abuelos participate (32 and 106, respectively).
Additionally, not all of the kids that did the interviews came to the party, and parent attendance was very low. While we don’t think we could have done much more to get the students’ parents to come as it was during working hours, we learned that more follow-up is necessary with the kids to assure higher attendance.
As our project was shortened by winter break and because we found Peru to be much cheaper than we anticipated, at the end we had some money left over that we donated to Los Martincitos and the cafeteria at Fe Y Alegria. Brianna and I felt so grateful to be able to make these contributions, especially to the cafeteria that serves over 400 students daily. The school doesn’t have enough money to hire a full-time kitchen staff, so many of the student’s mothers volunteer their time and make lunch every day. Additionally, many of the kids cannot afford to buy the lunch, and for others, it will be their only meal for the day.
Although we came in under budget, in retrospect we would have divided out our budget a little differently. In some areas, such as travel expenses and ground transportation, we were over budget, but in other sections such as cellphone expenses and art supplies we only spent a fraction of the allocated amount.
Since Brianna and I have both studied Spanish for a number of years, communication was never a great problem. The only cultural issue that we encountered was adjusting to Latin American time, which we found a bit difficult when making arrangements and setting meeting times.
While we were not able to set up our project to be continued immediately after we left, enough enthusiasm was generated by both the students as well as coordinators of Los Martinicitos and Fe Y Alegria that we hope a program of the same content will be carried out in the future. Many of the participating students showed great interest in returning to volunteer at Los Martincitos, and were put into contact with the director of the program so that they might be able to do so in the future. Additionally, we hope that the students will share their experiences with their friends, encouraging the learning process to continue, raising more awareness about Villa El Salvador and its founders.
Section II
Peace is when all men live in a state of harmony, concord and agreement. It requires justice and love for one another, as well as the recognition of the equality of mankind. Our project contributed to this great effort of moving towards peace by helping to bring together two very important but often overlooked groups in Villa El Salvador; the elderly, and the youth. In the short-term, it unified and built new relationships, and in the long-term, it helped to create lasting ties that both generations will keep with them for the rest of their lives. Furthermore, we hope the students will share what they learned with their friends, their family, and their future sons and daughters, encouraging these relationships to continue and spreading awareness about their heritage and their past.
At an individual level, our project showed us the true resilience of the human spirit, and also the capacity to peacefully persevere in the face of great oppression and insurmountable obstacles. It also taught us that we, as developed countries, have so much to learn from growing, developing nations and cultures. We found that while the people of Villa El Salvador had so little, they had so much happiness in their own lives. Although peace at any local, national, or global level is difficult, or may seem almost impossible to achieve, you cannot begin to truly work towards this goal until everyone has attained a greater state of peace and contentment. Although Brianna and I came to help two groups of Villa El Salvador work for external peace and harmony, what we did not realize is that they themselves had already taken the first step towards this end, which begins with internal contentment – a lesson more important than even the one we were trying to teach, because without it, collective peace is an unattainable goal.
“Our project directly affected two of the most marginalized populations of Peru, the elderly indigenous community and the poor youth. However, the largest impact was made on myself and Emily. This opportunity has allowed us to grow as young women, humanitarians and citizens of the world, an experience that I could not be more thankful for.”- Brianna January
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