Picking up the Pieces

On the evening of August 15th, a massive 7.9 earthquake ravaged the southern coast of Peru. This weekend, I had the opportunity to visit the town of Pisco (four hours south of Lima) with a co-ed delegation from the Scouts del Peru. The community, once a quaint getaway and gateway to two notable nature reserves, had been transformed into a virtual ghost town. Buildings surrounding the Plaza de Armas were all but demolished (including a cathedral where over 140 perished during mass) and nearly all of the Pisco’s remaining inhabitants had moved to “albergues” or refugee shelters. Although the scouts, most of who study architecture in Chimote, spent part of their time investigating the flaws in construction that had led to the collapse of many of the town’s structures, the primary concern of the mission was to provide emotional support to the community’s youth. Children were not asked to “be still”, “keep their hands to themselves”, or “repeat after me”, but encouraged to participate in various songs and activities which provided an outlet for energy and a much needed distraction. Peruvian versions of childhood classics like the hokey pokey and musical chairs transformed the countless dispossessed families living on the town’s municipal athletic field into a unified rapture. Sugar cane, taken from a house that had been razed completely during the disaster, was used to construct kites which, containing messages like “Viva Pisco,” soared high in the sky. The weekend would not have been complete, of course, without a few games of the ever-present futbol, in which children of eight and ten were much more capable of leading the team to victory than the 23-year-old gringo who tried anyway. Overall, the experience was as rewarding to the contributing scouts as to the communities affected. Our spending three days eating exclusively tuna and crackers and not showering pale in comparison to the sacrifices made by the people of the south who have suffered so much as a result of this tragedy.