Round the World with Us

Anna is a filmmaker, who helped found Round the World with Us to make a difference in the world through video. You can read more about Anna’a adventures at: www.annadavis.wordpress.com

This is Anna blogging about her arrival in Peru and travel to Tierra Prometida in Comatrana, in the province of Ica, Peru, the village where we are funding the materials for a community to build their own community kitchen and day care:

I’ve arrived in a city with no traffic rules. The  house I am staying in is a maze and I am not sure who occupies all of the bedrooms. Large paintings cover each wall. We sleep and Karla wakes me at 4 a.m. We drive to the bus station where we board for Tierra Prometida in Comatrana, in the district of Ica to begin to film the building of a kitchen and childcare center.

I am excited for the opportunity to be here in Peru to document the installation of the community project as well as it’s completion. Between the start and end date of the building process, I will travel to Cusco.

The landscape of Ica is desert. Looks like Vermont, only sand dunes, not mountains. As the sun came up, crops of artichokes, grapes and drying paprika added color the passing scenery, along with rubble, huts and taxi cabs with three wheels. People set up kitchen and sell it under tarps and sheets.

It’s hard to put into words the poverty here and the happy children that still sprinkle this landscape. The small village we will be documenting in is nestled next to one of the largest sand dunes in South America. Woven walls, half finished brick structures, tarps, tiny struggling gardens, metal doors, rubble, sand. And the people smile. The women lift and move rocks. A boy wraps his head in old shirt. Short men shovel the dirt. We film, then leave in one of the three-wheeled cabs. The driver is a little person. A saran wrap barrier separates us from the front seat. He asks about New York, wants to move there and drive his taxi. We wobble to our next destination. I’m glad to be in jeans.

Our next stop is an orphanage for boys. It’s an oasis with green grass and avocado trees completely gated from the cracking dirt huts across the street. Karla brings art supplies and tee shirts. We take a group photo and they all yell “whiskey” while smiling.

We weave in the blue Volkswagen to another one of Karla’s projects, a girl’s childcare center where I meet little Juanita. Before this center opened 6 months ago she had to care for her 2, 4 and 6 year old siblings alone while her parents worked. She is only 8 years old, and now sits in quiet, relaxed solitude in the kitchen eating rice died pink from beets. Girls are abused here, unwanted and prostituted by their own parents. A nearby water spicket is where families are allowed 6 min to collect water three times per week.

I shoot video of one girl. She gasps in amazement when I instantly play back the video of her beautiful face on screen.

We take the bus back to Lima. Back to lights and tourists and grocery stores.

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