The Shanty Towns of Lima

Just after we came back from Cuzco, I had the chance to accompany a school group from 5th year secondary to a shanty town on the outskirts of Lima called Pachacutec.  The shanty town was named after the Inca warrior Pachuacutec and it is one of the newest shanty towns in Lima although it is certainly not the only one.  In fact up to half the population of Lima lives in the many shanty towns in the desert that surrounds the city.  Many of the people that live in these areas do so because they have arrived as refugees from the countryside of Peru because of terrorism, natural disasters or war or have arrived in the hope of finding a job and escaping the poverty they lived in in the provinces.  Unfortunately, the dream of a better life in Lima is all too often just a dream and the majority of those who arrive end up living in the shanty towns: many in extreme poverty.

The shanty town of Pachacutec

The community of Pachacutec is estimated to be around 250,000 people and is growing all the time as more and more people arrive.  There is often no space to build more houses so wooden houses are built on the sides of steep sand dunes or further and further out into the inhospitable desert.  Although the majority have electricity (70%) there is very little water or sewage services.  Usually water is brought into the shanty town a few times a week by a big lorry and the sewage is buried on the outskirts of the town.  The town is made of poorly constructed shacks made of anything that can be used to make walls and a roof: cardboard, corrugate iron, plastic sheeting and wood.  Because of the extreme poverty in which the people live, crime and drug abuse is rampant as well as other social problems like domestic abuse, high infant mortality and teenage pregnancy.

No roads and very little electricity or clean water

Every year a group of senior pupils from the school go out to Pachacutec to bring luxuries that many families cannot afford such as school books, pens and pencils for the children and warm clothes and shoes for the winter.  This time we brought school equipment for the children in the small Sunday School.  Through the hard work of some missionaries, there is a small but growing church and Sunday school in Pachacutec.  


To get to Pachacutec we had to cross the city of Lima which, with all the traffic, was a bit of a difficult experience.  Eventually we reached the outskirts of the city and the shanty towns.  Often there was no road just a dirt track and so the going was slow and bumpy!  We drove along the dusty track through the shanty towns passing wooden shacks and dodging stray dogs.  Finally, we arrived outside the small wooden church where the Sunday School children were waiting for us.  As soon as the bus came within sight the children ran out to meet us, waving and shouting hello, desperate to see what we'd brought them.  It was a very humbling experience.

The Sunday School children of Pachacutec

Some of the San Andres pupils played organised games with the children for a little while before handing out  school books, notebooks, pens, pencils and other stationary to each child.  I was so humbled to see how happy the children were with so little.  Since the building was full, I was standing outside and I got talking to a little boy beside me called Aaron.  He told me he was 9 and lived in Pachacutec with his brothers and mother.  The family didn't have much money and although he went to school, he didn't have any books or anything to write with.  He wasn't part of the Sunday School and asked me if he would still get something.  I had to admit that we'd only brought enough for the children of the Sunday school and he looked so sad and hopeless.  After we'd finished giving our gifts to the Sunday school there were some left overs and Aaron did get his books too.  He was so grateful and wanted a photo with his prizes.  It brought tears to my eyes to see such genuine gratefulness for so little.


Our time at Pachacutec came to an end too fast and all too soon we were back in the bus and heading back along the bumpy, dusty track to Lima.  I couldn't help thinking that I was the lucky one escaping back to my idea of civilisation where I had so many things these people had never seen: running water, a permanent and stable roof over my head and many of the other things that I take for granted all the time.  Those I'd met in Pachacutec didn't have the luxury of escaping their situations.  I will probably never realise just how fortunate I am but that day I saw a depth of poverty I'd never seen before and will never forget.  I learned so much from the experience but most of all I realised that what I have is not mine to hoard: it has been given to me as a blessing from our Heavenly Father to share with whoever might need it.  Around us is always someone is need, someone to whom we can stretch out a helping, loving hand.  

Just one of many sprawling shanty towns
which stretch as far as the eye can see