La Casa de Maytén: 1 Año Despues Del Terremoto/ 1Year After The Earthquake

Hello Everyone, yesterday was a BIG day for us in Chincha...yesterday was August 15th...a year ago on that date thousands of people we sreaming, crying and desperately looking for missing loved ones...I know, I was one of them....1 year has gone by since the earthquake hit Chincha and Pisco and few things have really improved...a year ago, I decided to work in Chincha and help those most in need and while it has not been easy...I am happy to say that I have been able to do that with help from friends who came from all over the world and believed in this project of mine.

Yesterday, my kids and I cooked a traditional Chincha dish called Carapulcra y Sopa Seca for the entire neighborhood...we closed the street down and set tables up....my kids prepared a mural in which they creatively reflected on all the things they´ve experienced this past year.......my kids also showed the puppet play they wrote to their parents...it was a hit!!! We all danced, ate, played and reflected as a community...we thought together yesterday about the things we lost on august 15, 2007, and most importantly about the things we could have lost and fortunately did not.........things have been and are difficult around here....98% of my kids continue to live in temporary homes made of plastic and bamboo...all are living in sub human conditions and I am determined to give kids in these neglected communities an alternative...an opportunity to break patterns of poverty, ignorance, violence and neglect.....I am VERY proud of what La Casa De Mayten as an independent project has achieved this past year, and I am even more proud of the progress my kids make daily...I want the world to know that talented, capable, warm, honest, eager, intelligent, loving kids exist HERE and they, like any other valuable kid anywhere else in the world, deserve to be given a chance to express, create, achieve, feel, excel, dream, go after their dream, and be......I have tons of work lined up for the rest of 08 and most of 09 already.... my work is definitely cut out for me but I couldnt feel better or more fulfilled....I leave you now, so you can see a few more images of our 1 year since the earthquake ceremony.....Finally, a year after this massive catastrophy and drastic changes in my life, I just want to say that I continue to believe in human beings, in nature, in energy and education.....affecting the very essence of people affects me in such extraordinary ways...i am fortunate to be here, to be among people who despite their circumstances dare to believe with me that a better, more balanced and just future can and will be!....hasta pronto...until soon...