We made our way to tour some schools, which were funded by the most part by Rotary. It was exciting to see such large projects, and such amazing work being done. The scale of everything was amazing. We met early in the morning to go to La Molina, at the base of the Andes mountains. We gathered for a small breakfast, enjoying our café con leche, a pleasant way to start the morning.
First we visited a school for disabled children, which was free to the families, funded completely by rotary. There would be nothing for these children did this facility not exist; many of these children would not be able to have employment. However, they need to learn certain skills so they can be of help to their families. The care the teachers had for their students there was amazing.
We moved from the La Molina rotary school to the base of the Andes, a bit of a drive upward. It was a bit of a drive and the air became a bit thinner. The level of poverty in the mountains was astounding; it was only a recent move as well. Peru had an issue with terrorism in the 1980’s, as a result, people came from all over the country to the outskirts of Lima. Due to the massive influx of people poverty in the outskirts became astounding. The average income here is about $200 per year, and that is why the school is so important. It gives the people the ability to be able to rise out of their situation.
We then went a La Molina Rotary member’s house, Guillermo’s home, were we had lunch and relaxed next to the pool. We could not be too long, as I did not have too long until I had my first vocational visit. I was very excited for the visit, as I had my first meeting with a Peruvian Gentleman in E-Commerce, my major area of interest.
We met at Starbucks, and spoke for several hours all about how different e-commerce was in Peru as for the rest of the world. He seemed to feel that most e-commerce as of now focused on prepaid cellphones. Internet usage is so low in Peru, and culturally, people do not trust putting in credit information online. However Christian felt that we were at the beginning of a growth curve as telecoms and Internet infrastructure grows.
That night, we were to visit out first Rotary club and present about ourselves, Lince. I was very nervous, as my practiced Spanish was a bit poor. Everyone was so excited to hear us speak and they were all so kind that our first speech turned out to be much easier than expected. It was so wonderful to share our first Peruvian experiences of our American lives with our new friends. After the evening, Susan and Gonzolo took Grace and I a short tour of more of the square of Lima; another action packed day!