The experiences of Mr. Claude Echard, December 2006
It is about 11:00 in the morning when Félix Marin, Terre des Hommes coordinator for Peru, stops the car in front of the gate of the Maria Clotilde Association. We are in Villa Salvador, a disadvantaged and difficult neighbourhood in the southern suburbs of the national capital. Taxi drivers often refuse to go there, or triple the fare if they do. All of the dwellings are unfinished, the streets unpaved and the ground only sand. Buildings are often unstable because they lack sufficiently deep foundations. Four heads appear immediately, their faces split by wide smiles; they invite us to enter the court of the building. There we find:
The Maria Clotilde Association is a nursery for children whose mothers are in difficult circumstances and who cannot take care of them after school. The first phase of construction of the building has been completed, and 49 children are being taken care of as a result. Soon, with the projected expansion of the second story, the women expect to have space of 90 or even 100. The total cost of the project is US$45,000 from Terre des Hommes and 1% for Development, with 1% responsible for the kitchen and toilets. In addition to caring for the children, the association also offers psychological help to the women of the neighbourhood who request it. They are in general women from the interior of the country, widows and single mothers. The neighbourhood is extremely violent. The young adolescents live in gangs; a boy from the house across the street was recently killed for having crossed the border into the territory of another gang. Hilda is still upset by the event: "it didn't used to be like this, but now there are no limits to the violence!" she says, on the edge of tears. She points out that in Peru 46% of the adults suffer from malnutrition, 40% of the children lack dairy products and 38% of the population is unemployed.
For them, the help of the 1% for Development Fund was critical in their decision to enlarge the day-care facility, because the centre's reputation is growing steadily and more and more of the mothers of the neighbourhood want to put their children there at the earliest possible age. Hilda gives me the final report for 1%, excusing herself for the delay and adding "we are still not very experienced with such things". A financial statement is still missing, and she promises to get it to me before my departure from Peru in five days. [In fact, she will bring it to me the evening of the same day after an hour-and-a-half minibus ride with nothing to eat. She will arrive at my hotel at 10:00 at night, exhausted but happy to have put her papers in order!]
Since the day before, the school year is over and the children are on vacation until March 2007. It is the most dangerous period for them, too. In spite of everything, some have been taken in hand by the association. I find them in the building next door. Delighted, they interrupt their drawing to give me spontaneous warm kisses. Following Peruvian tradition, we then share a Christmas panettone washed down with a sweet drink.
Gloria takes advantage of the moment to present their future plans: a new kitchen on the second floor. It turns out that the kitchen that was originally to be financed by 1% could not be built on the ground floor as planned because it had proved impossible to obtain the necessary permits, in spite of the architects plans. If that is the way it has to be, the kitchen will be built on the upper floor! [Editor's note: It now has been! The Marias Clotildes have sent us a slide show with pictures of each step in construction. You can view it by clicking this link.]
Gloria also envisages a bakery. They need to train a specialist for that, but the space is already ready. This will complement the sewing studio that is already in operation. (They give me a T-shirt made on site by the mothers of the neighbourhood.)
We finally leave around 12:30. We get back into the car that Félix Marin had meanwhile parked in the court; on his last visit, he had left it in front of the gate and found it completely vandalized on his return. We leave behind some exceptional women of impressive lucidity and courage. Throughout our meeting, Hilda has not stopped thanking 1% for its vital help. It was definitely worth coming from so far away to hear it said!
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