Costs of sending huge donations of shoes, blankets and sweaters to highland towns are contra productive. The journalists that went to video record the deaths of children should have brief the government in Lima and Puno on what to do next. The government of Peru should send help through its military engineering squads.

I encourage everyone who can to help the needy in Peru, DO IT. But beware and research before you donate to government agencies. Meanwhile, I am suggesting in my blog to take a more urgent step which is to push for a political change, regardless of what party is in charge. Peru needs a change.

In all this, I keep thinking, ‘What would I want people to do if I were a mom in the puna with a kid dying of pneumonia?’ I would want people to bring aid immediately, whoever or whatever group/person/interest they represented. Understanding and fixing the root causes of the problems is critical but what these poor people need now are immediate (short-term) solutions until the bigger problems are solved.

I don’t think it’s a waste of time giving people blankets and food. The people I know around Ausangate are frickin’ hungry all the time and their kids don’t have warm jackets and solid shoes. That stuff can really help them.

* Lack of doctors? Let the academic bureaucrats lower the requirements to get into med school at UNSAAC.

* Lack of nurses? Pay them more than S/.800 (~ $270) per month.

* Lack of blankets? Gimmie a break. Lousy building standards and poor people who work outside (with their babies in tow) is more like it.

As for the medical establishment, if you go to Clinica Pardo (a private clinic) in Cusco, as a gringo, the first thing they ask you (grinning) is whether you have US health insurance… Poor people go to the back of the line.

etc. etc. etc.

A lot could be done to fix these kinds of problems, and it isn’t just the government bureaucrats who are responsible.

Enough with my soapbox now…

I don’t think government will change Peru. The middle class should, business leaders, religious leaders, union representatives, students, etc. etc. etc. Again, I don’t mean to generalize, but the apathy here can be mindboggling.

I do know a pastor at Union Church, who is a sincere and hardworking man. When he collects blankets and coats, they will go to the needy.

Your idea of the people demanding that emergency resources be sent in by helicopter is a good one.

Have you heard of any groups pressuring for more immediate and serious aid? Post a response here so people can read where to help or protest. I will be in the puna this week so I can’t post here much but if you hear of something that people can do to take direct action, I would appreciate your sharing that.

Sometimes I read Lima blogs and I find very few exceptions of independence and honesty when it comes to Peru’s social issues. Now I see information on bank accounts and donations centers posted online. We should take the 2007 earthquake experience to know that some of those donations WILL NOT reach the Andes.

What I believe must be done, is to demand the governments of Lima and Puno to send immediate emergency resources including hospitals and heating systems to the area, by helicopters or any other way. Peruvians should demand a reform in the way economic resources are distributed in Peru, with more investment in social infrastructure.

Donations and internet campaigns can only do so little when the big guys feel they can do whatever they want, in a country that exports annually $37 billion dollars in natural resources mostly from the Andes and the Amazon forest, you have to realize there is a racist policy on taking that richness away from those regions and ****ing forget about the people that live there. An internet campaign to donate sweaters and money won’t change that.