Peru fact finding day for Duns Primary School
DUNS Primary School were transported to South America last week when pupils were shown the sights, sounds and tastes of Peru.
The Peru day was a result of a group of 18 people from Duns, including primary school teachers Sandra Brodie and Mike Ledington, who visited the country in June and July with the Vine Trust, a charity which aims to help the street children of Peru. The group helped with the building of housing centres, and a 15,000 medical scanner was also handed over to a hospital at Puerto Alegria. The group also bought bikes for some of the boys who had been badly treated on the streets of Peru by police and society.
Sandra Brodie then decided that it would be interesting and educational for Duns children to learn about the conditions some of their Peruvian equalivants have to live in.
At the Peru day, the children were given the opportunity to taste Peruvian food such as Cowsa, shown pictures of the country and its dramatic landscape and allowed to try on traditional Peruvian clothes. They also made bricks from straw and clay, like Sandra and the other 17 Duns volunteers did when they aided the building of the housing centre at Kusi in Peru.
The volunteers faced a number of difficulties while they were in South America, including a road blockade by striking mine workers. Yet their main concern was the poverty faced by the street children who were being housed in the Vine Trust supported centres. Many had suffered brutal beatings by police after being put on the streets by parents who could no longer afford to keep them. Some children were even poisoned by Peru's police and were often dumped in the desert.
At Puerto Alegria in the Peruvian rainforest, the poverty was said to be even worse. Mike Ledington said: "The poverty was more striking in Puerto Alegria (than Kusi). There were open sewers, rats running around, kids playing in human faeces. It was described as 'hell on earth', which sums it up."
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Weather for Duns
Monday 21 May 2012
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Temperature: 5 C to 13 C
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