The village of Bodegones

The village of Bodegones is the first project we’ve done in the San Jose district. San Jose is one of the smaller districts in the Lambayeque province. It has a land mass of 18 square miles and an estimated population of 13,000. It is very flat and mostly desert. Its western boarder is the Pacific Ocean.

There are only two communities of any size; the village of Ciudad De Dios (City of God) and the city of San Jose which is the capitol of the district. We were told there are 17 small villages in the district. All of the district government offices are in San Jose.

The mayor of San Jose (city and district) is Macario Fiestas Fiestas. He and several city and district dignitaries were in Bodegones at the pronoei Rayito De Luz this morning to meet us as we delivered some of the promised items to the school. He had sent a truck to our home for us and the items. I like this guy. He knows how to get things done and wastes no time doing it. As the photo shows, he did his share of the work in unloading the truck. As an aside, last week Chiclayo’s mayor hosted a mayor’s conference to discuss crime prevention in the cities. There are over 30 mayors in the Lambayeque Region. Only 5 attended the conference. Macario was one of them.

While the men were assembling the storage shelves the village women were preparing a delicious meal of arroz con pato (rice with duck). After eating there were several brief speeches by the mayor, the teacher Karina, a city engineer, and the president of the parent’s association (center in the photo). Notice the two women on the right dressed in black. It is the custom in these small villages to dress in black for one year when a family member dies.

On Monday the mayor’s staff will deliver 4 tables and eight chairs that we had contracted a local carpenter to build. This is our first experience with this carpenter and we’re hoping his work is acceptable. He is charging 50 soles per chair – the same as the carpenter in Tùcume, but only 60 soles per table…half of the Tùcume cost. That saves $70 on 4 tables if the quality is good. We did deliver 8 metal chairs we had purchased previously.

After saying our goodbyes we went to city hall and the mayor’s office to discuss the morning and to talk about future Promesa Peru projects in the San Jose district. Macario promised complete cooperation from him and his staff if we decide to work in his district.

The cost for this project was:

8 metal chairs - $131.42

8 wood chairs – 71.53

4 wood tables – 119.23

1 whiteboard – 56.47

2 storage shelves – 47.55

Teaching aids – 81.13

Toys and candy – 26.45

Total - $533.78

San Jose’s mayor, his staff, the teacher Karina and the parent’s association members know who was responsible for the gifts. Our thanks to Chris Raupe, the Alice Cool Foundation, and Johany Glen/Webster University for your generous contributions.