Nexos Voluntarios is a Peru-based, non-profit organization with a mission to promote social development in a variety of areas through volunteer projects. The organization began a community development program in Media Luna in May 2009. Media Luna is a small community of about 100 families just 3 kilometers from Urubamba in the Sacred Valley of Peru. Two volunteers from McGill University, Mariajosé Aguilera and Igor Kozulovic created a survey to gather basic information about the population and to identify the major problems of the community. During the 3 months that they volunteered, they were able to interview about half of the community and also sponsored several projects including an Environment Awareness Week.
I am picking up around where they left off before they headed back to school. I arrived in Urubamba on Tuesday and visited Media Luna for the first time this morning. Accompanied by Conny, a Nexos coordinator, I met with the president of the community Sr. Zenobio. He showed me a few areas of the community, which is much more extensive than I anticipated, and explained the recent addition of potable water to the community and the plans to establish a sewage system. Both projects are implemented with the assistance of JASS (Juntas Administradoras de Servicios de Saneamiento / Administrative Board of Sanitation Services), an organization created to help rural communities gain access to potable water and sewage systems. As we started to walk back to the main road we came across a few other prominent community members, Sr. Alejandro, Sr. Juquisidor and another gentleman. They made it clear that September would be a difficult month for the community to participate in many meetings because they will be busy sowing their fields, as spring is upon us in the southern hemisphere. We were able to agree on meeting for a short time on Tuesday morning to discuss what the goals of the community are and who will take on which roles as we work to achieve those objectives.
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