Poverty

I had Heber and co staying over the weekend. I was exhausted but very happy to have them here. I told them to help themselves to whatever they needed. They proceeded to eat me out of house and home. Gareth is a beautiful boy who seems to have taken to me and is very glad for me to hold him and look after him. He does look at me sometimes as if to say who is this guy? He doesn't often get to meet bald, white, pale faced old guys. It's good for him.

Over the weekend I got to know more about their living conditions which are worse than I had imagined. They live in Villa Maria del Triunfo with her father and brother, who is a year older than Heber. They live in Los Cerros which is a bit like favelas in Brazil but not exactly. Los Cerros are small mountains, which surround Lima and where over the years poor people who arrived from the countryside have built their homes. I don't know how many there are around Lima, but probably millions.

There are few facilities such as roads or piped water to the houses or sewage systems. The governments make promises to improve things when they're up for election and then proceed to forget their promises. It is beyond my understanding why these people don't lead a revolution but not surprising that the fascist parties have so much success. They organise heavily in Los Cerros and went very close to winning the presidency this year.

The houses are built by the people themselves. The ultimate in self build I suppose. I call them houses but they are little more than shacks, precariously built up and down the mountainsides. Their house is quite high up the mountain. It is built of bricks made from earth and water as they cannot afford cement. The walls are permanently prone to collapse from any passing slight disturbance. One of the walls fell out recently.

There are no floors just the dried earth beneath their feet. Which means that of course Gareth cannot crawl about on the floor. And like I said they have no water piped in. A tanker arrives twice a week to deliver water to a communal tank. I think it must be a very small tanker or lorry with tanks on board. Sometimes my Spanish fails me or my disbelief overtakes my poor brain. Their waste matter is taken away as far as I can make out. I didn't like to be too nosey about this aspect of their lives.

At night it gets very cold up on their mountain and sometimes it snows. Which amazed me as I didn't think they got snow in these parts. I fear the consequences of even the mildest of earthquakes or tremors as the least of them will flatten these shacks.

Pamela washes clothes by hand every day to keep up with the washing and cleans the house every day, but I find it hard to understand how any cleaning is possible. They are both immaculately clean and well dressed as is Gareth. He is very well cared for. Heber still wears a shirt I bought for him a few years ago.

Gareth goes to a centre for babies and young children run by INABIF which is a government programme for family welfare. He goes there every day Monday to Friday where he gets play and development activities as well as being fed. Pamela takes him there at 8 am every day and collects him at 5 pm. This costs them 3 soles a day which is a little under one dollar.

Heber goes to work with his moto taxi every day. A very dangerous activity with many other drivers competing for the custom of people going up and down the mountain.  He works all day, sometimes as much as fifteen hours, to earn enough each day to meet their needs for food and Gareth and anything else. There are little combis venturing up too but mostly its the moto taxis. Heber wants to take me up the mountain to see his house but I don't think I'm well enough to do that.

They hope to be able to build their own home higher up the mountainside and have a piece of the mountain in mind for doing so. Heber helped his father in law to build a one room extension on his house for him and Pamela and he says he has an uncle who will help.

I was on the phone to him the other day and told him how much I liked Pamela. He told me he was very fortunate to have her in his life. I think he is but also that she is fortunate to have him. He has matured so much since I saw him last. The new responsibilities in his life are taken very seriously by him. He has never really had anyone before in his life who cared for who or for whom he could care. Now that he has it has changed him into a responsible, young adult. Not that he was irresponsible as before but he certainly did not have much love in his life.

His grandmother has come down from Cusco to see the wee fellow but neither his mum nor his dad have bothered to come to meet their grandchild. Yet more rejection. I know it saddens him but he tries to make excuses for why they don't come. Neither do they phone or provide any financial support. His father could if he wished.

I've called this post Poverty, but realise there are people around the world living in worse conditions, and some like those in Aleppo being bombed to death or others living in terrible refugee camps in France or Greece and maybe I should be grateful for what Heber and his family have in their lives. I am of course. They are certainly very happy and determined to make a success of their lives. But I'm keeping the title.

Their fortitude is commendable to say the least. Next time we feel like complaining about our slow broadband speeds or something else equally trivial please think of my boy and his family up there on their mountainside.

I will post a photo of Los Cerros which I took last time I was in Villa Maria.