Introduction:
Having had some time to digest and reflect on my Leadership in Action experience, the moment in which I attempt to put my thoughts, feelings, and experiences to paper (or a virtual blog), has come. My six weeks with the team at Comunidad Peru and everyone involved with the programme in Lima have shaped not just my view of myself as a leader but my view of the world as a place characterised by community and care.
Project Overview:
For those unfamiliar with the structure of a centrally-facilitated Leadership-in-Action, I applied to work with MakeSense on their six-week programme based in Peru. This particular LiA was focused on working with Indigenous and marginalised communities in Lima. From our group of eleven scholars, we were split into four groups of assorted sizes and each given the opportunity to be matched to a local organisation prior to our arrival in South America.
Primarily based in Cantagallo, Comunidad Peru are a local NGO providing educational programmes to children and young people from the Shipibo-Konibo community. Marginalised by the Peruvian government and denied basic public services such as access to a formal sewage system and clean water, the Shipibo-Konibo community is unique in its status as the only indigenous community permanently living in Lima. Put in a group of four, we were tasked with working on researching and testing possible methods to combat the high rates of anaemia present amongst the younger members of the community. As part of their educational programmes, the team at Comunidad work with the local community kitchen to provide breakfast and lunch for all participants. Thus, our primary task was to work with the Comunidad team and the President of the kitchen, Flores, to figure out sustainable and cost-effective dietary adjustments.
Over the course of the six weeks, we worked onsite in Cantagallo on Mondays and Thursdays. Mondays usually involved distributing breakfast and running activities (drawing classes, English and maths lessons, sports, etc.) with the children and other volunteers. Thursdays involved meeting with Flores and helping her and the team of mothers prepare lunch for the wider community before distributing meals to the Comunidad kids. Each session ended with a team debrief and group reflection on what we thought was working and what wasn’t. Other days were spent offsite at a coworking space where we conducted research, planned as a group, and organised meetings with potentially useful contacts. Having identified the lack of financial support as a fundamentally contributing factor to high anaemia rates, we undertook a three-pronged approach over the course of our project. Prioritising strategies concerning funding, establishing a substantive source of income, and food substitution, we decided that a multi-disciplinary approach was the best way to begin the journey towards creating the living conditions that all of the wonderful people we met during our time in Cantagallo deserve to thrive in.
Tangible Outputs:
In our closing presentation to the other scholars and members of each organisation involved in the MakeSense Peru programme we listed some quantifiable deliverables in order to impress upon our audience the positive impact that the funding from Laidlaw had given to those living in Cantagallo. Over five weeks, ourselves and Comunidad had delivered approximately 520 meals to children who would have otherwise gone without. We delivered three English classes, three art classes, one maths class, and one sports day to the kids. We implemented four cost-effective food substitutions, improving the nutritional value of the meals provided by Comunidad and Flores’ team in a sustainable and culturally sensitive manner. We also upgraded the kitchen’s equipment, visiting La Caqueta market on a budget to source a 36-litre pot, a carving knife, and a new cutting board. The Laidlaw funds also provided Flores ad her team with a salary for the duration of the project, the first time they had been deservedly paid for their hard work.
Alongside these immediate changes we compiled and presented the Comunidad team with a funding directory comprised of information on over 25 international and Peruvian sources of funding. With an eye to ensuring the services Comunidad offers are able to continue in both the medium and long-term, the directory included links to application forms, information on deadlines, and key focus areas. Finally, we used some connections to facilitate the hosting of a Shipibo-Konibo craft fair in the hotel we were staying in. The fair raised 1,200 Peruvian soles for the women of the Menin Yaby art collective. We also initiated contact between the women, the team at Comunidad, and the managers of the hotel with regards to selling some of the women’s pieces in the hotel lobby and shop long-term.
Intangibles:
Impactful as these measurable deliverables were and are, they were not the only outcomes of my six weeks in Peru. In terms of the project itself, there was a steep learning curve with regards to what we could and could not achieve during this dedicated time. Systemic issues cannot be solved in such a short period, nor can they be solved by one group of people. It was difficult but important that I remained realistic about our aims and trusted that the work we were doing would be carried forward beyond our departure. We had to remain flexible, managing the disconnect between our expectations and the reality in a way that ensured we still pushed on with the work at hand. Thankfully, these feelings of frustration bore startling similarities to my summer one research project. Having had to deal with this once before meant that I felt much more prepared to deal with it in Peru and resulted in quicker adjustments and less time stressing about ‘missed’ opportunities in the abstract.
Being in a new environment, combined with having to work long hours with three other people, also left me feeling quite disoriented at times. While I have gotten better at working with others over my time on this programme, it was initially quite an uncomfortable experience to be sharing so much of my space and time with three strangers. At times I struggled with expressing myself in the ways I intended, but ultimately I have come away from the project with some really great friends. We pushed each other to take on responsibility and to give our all to the people we were in Peru to serve. I cannot adequately express how much of a privilege it was to work with our team, to bounce ideas off the other scholars, and to meet so many wonderful people who cared so much about making a difference. My words fail to do the depth of my feeling justice, but it truly was my absolute pleasure to grow and learn with you all.
I think part of the reason I feel so strongly about being able to take these learnings home is wrapped up in the fact that they were not easy to acquire. At times large parts of me wanted to give up and go home, back to a place and space that I knew. It means more because growing is not easy. Admitting your own faults, measuring yourself up even when you know that there might be some parts that aren’t where they ought to be, these are the discomforting things that we all have to do eventually in order to move freely again. Working with Comunidad, with the rest of my team, with our supervisors, the artisan mothers, and in particular the kids, was one of the most rewarding things I have ever done precisely because in order to do them justice I had to centre compassion and empathy and not my own fears. To be a small fish in a big pond is not so bad when you are surrounded by other small fish all moving in the same direction.
Looking Forward:
I still have reservations about the core premise of centrally-organised Leadership in Action projects. I still struggle to shake off the nagging feeling that I have participated and perpetuated this idea of Western voluntourism. However, my main aim going into this second summer was to leave Peru feeling like I had given more than I had gotten out of it myself. A net positive seemed like a compromise I could live with. Reflecting now, I think what came out of our project was most definitely a net positive. While we are still working on ensuring that the benefits of the Laidlaw funding can be continued through alternative funding sources, the exchanging of knowledge between all of the scholars and those we worked with appears to me invaluable. The phrase ‘global citizen’ is thrown around a lot these days, often with a knowing eye roll or as part of that awfully numbing kind of corporate speak. At the end of all this none of us are global citizens just because we spent six weeks working in Peru. I’m not a global citizen, but I like to think that I’ve come away from this a better one. There are so many people around the world doing such amazing work, so many people who care about helping others simply because it is the right thing to do. The human thing to do.
These networks of care and warmth exist all over the globe, spreading and connecting and helping. The people I met in Peru, the people I work with at home, the other scholars – they are all living breathing testaments to the vitality and impact of these networks. Although my time in Peru was short, I hope to be involved in these networks for a long time to come.