#cuncani

[nexoscomunitarios-blog]

I have no reservations in saying that my experience with Nexos has been a major milestone for my academic and professional career. I worked for one of the organization’s health and nutrition project in Urubamba. Very much imprint of Nexos’ vision, the KW project forwarded an interdisciplinary approach to a multifaceted challenge, i.e. improving the lives and future of Upper-Andean elementary school children suffering from under nutrition. I gained through this internship at Nexos first hand insights about health issues such as water-born diseases, lunch-box programs, school gardens as well as indigenous farming practices. Managing parts of a school feeding program, proceeding to database entries alongside writing and presenting policy reports and evaluations were part of my daily tasks during this placement. The practical expertise resulting from performing those duties have tremendously enhanced my skills set. I consider that this internship was thus a powerful springboard to my later professional involvements which include for instance positions for Oxfam-Quebec, the McGill Institute for Health and Social Policy and the Global Water Partnership. I recently completed a M.A. in China Development Studies at the University of Hong Kong and am currently candidate for a M.Sc. in Water Science, Policy and Management at Oxford.

Laurent-Charles Tremblay Levesque.

M.Sc. in Water Science, Policy and Management Candidate, Oxford University.

M.A. in China Development Studies, University of Hong Kong.

B.A. in International Development with a minor in East Asian Cultural Studies, McGill University.

PROGRAM: INTERNSHIP

[kamisaki2]

Buena experiencia manejando 🚵🏽 de #Cuncani a #Urubamba Tremendos paisajes, bajadas increíbles y subidas imposibles 😎✌🏽️🇵🇪 (en Lares)

[tropicalpengawin]

Cuncani

Last weekend, our cultural activity was to visit a rural Andean community, Cuncani, that Nexos is working with. They became involved when they were looking for communities that would be receptive. Apparently when they visited, Cuncani was the most open to the idea of working with an NGO, and so they started visiting the community regularly to build relationships with the people there before instigating a program. 

The program is a school lunch program for the children. Because of the location, the altitude and the poor soil, they can only really grow potatoes with the aid of llama dung as fertilizer. However, potatoes are not very nutritious, and many of the people and children are malnourished due to the nature of their diet. Nexos mission is to help first with health, then education, and lastly economic aid. Health is clearly an issue here, so that's where they started, with trying to improve the health of the kids.

The lunch program is operated by the community, with the mothers taking turns to prepare the meals. Nexos simply provides the money with which to buy the food. Eventually, the goal is to instigate some other programs, such as a fish farm, that will bring in income to sustain the program. Also, the mothers that are preparing the food are learning how to make nutritious meals like the ones they serve in school. 

When we were there, Sean told us about projects that were done by other NGOs over the years. Apparently one organization decided that the school needed internet, even though the children are severely malnourished, and installed a satellite. They had internet for a bit, and then one day someone from the internet company came with a bill for thousands of Soles (2.7 soles= $1 American). The community members were quite surprised- they thought they simply had to install the device and that was it. How the organization thought that the community could pay for the use of their satellite is beyond me. Another organization tried to install a greenhouse, to grow more diverse crops, but the people never learned how to use it properly and didn't take ownership, so they now use it to dry llama skins. Examples like these are classic, textbook examples of bad development. Hopefully the program that Nexos is implementing will not fall to the same failures.

After walking around the community, we went to the school and met the kids. They sang us a song in Quechua- all the kids speak Quechua as their native language, and some barely speak Spanish. We played with them for a bit, tossing a ball around, and failing to explain how to play monkey in the middle. They were extremely adorable, in their traditional clothes, very similar to the clothes we had dressed up in during the dance workshop. 

At the end of the day, we hiked back down to the town where we were to meet our van. Unfortunately, on the way there, it started raining, and we got soaked. The 4 hour van ride back to Urubamba was cold, and when we got back, I wore all the warm clothes I had. But it was worth it :)