The BIG MOVE - Arequipa, Peru

Well...ahemmmm...I guess it has been over a month, but as things get into a new rhythm I do hope to update more frequently. I wanted to start today with a "short" post about where we are now and how things are developing. Those of you who are familiar with our work know that Equip KIDS was founded in Canada, with projects and an office based in Cusco, Peru. For the last 7 years, Cusco has been our home and our base. What many of you may not know, is that we recently moved. Not only that, but our small Equip KIDS staff (of 3) are now divided..."Divided we will conquer!", that's our new motto. Jorge and Sandra are now based in Arequipa. While I am in Punta Hermosa, on the coast, about 1 hr south of Lima.

The reasons for the move were many. The goal behind Equip KIDS was always to begin to work in Cusco, and then spread our work nationally in Peru and eventually to other countries and areas of the world. We already have a fair bit of experience working in other areas of Peru, as well as in other countries, primarily through workshops and other educational events which we provide. And, over the last 7 years we have held 3 international conferences (on Augmentative and Alternative Communication), as well as inumerable workshops, presentations and awareness campaigns in Cusco. We have seen quite a lot of change I may add (that could and will be a whole other post), but we feel we've plateaued a bit in Cusco - saturated the market so to speak, and that our knowledge and experience can now be best used elsewhere. Add to that the fact that this is a conference year for us (our conferences are biannual), and that we wanted to hold the conference in another city this year, and well, it seemed it was time for a move.

We chose to move to Arequipa, because it is a fair size city where we already have lots of great contacts and where we have seen organizations that are really on the ball. Organizations that, we believe, would genuinely take advantage of our presence there. You see, although we continue to work one on one with children (in particular in our Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) program and in adressing assistive technology needs), our focus has increasingly shifted to educating and supporting others, as well as awareness building and research. By working with organizations that have a greater reach than our own and giving them the tools to do what they do (helping children with disabilities) better, we feel we can have a much greater effect, since we are, after all, such a small group.

So, we now have an office in Arequipa, Peru. Our work there was kicked off this March with our wheelchair distribution (see posts below). We're already working with a few local organizations through our AAC program. After some workshops in introductory AAC, Jorge and Sandra are now mentoring a group of teachers and therapists, working alongside them and offering support so that they can begin to use AAC strategies with their nonverbal students. We've also continued to provide wheelchairs and other assistitive device to children in Arequipa, and continue to have kids from afar coming to pick up chairs they were suppose to receive in March (but who were unable to travel in March, when Eleanore's Project was here). And perhaps most excitingly, we're begining to organize our next big educational event (conference or the like), which will take place in AREQUIPA, in November of this year.

Me, for my part, I am all alone here in little Punta Hermosa, but I have lots to keep me busy and am very excited about all I'm doing. I'm working with a small group of kids here on AAC, as well as taking care of assistive technology needs (that means, getting them appropriate seating, etc.,). I'm also working in the local public school (which, by the way, is amazing and will definitely get it's own post), where several children with disabilities have been included. My hope is to work with the teachers and director of the school and for this to become a "model" school for others to learn from. I'm also working with some other organizations in Lima and the area, teaching AAC strategies to staff and parents. It really is an exciting time, as it seems as things are changing faster here on the coast and people are more open and receptive to some degree. Oh yes, and I can't forget our budding work in research and documentation. We are begining some research projects to gather information, document and publish, regarding the current situation for children with disabilities in Peru (and elsewhere). I think I'm probably most excited about this new direction, as I think the effects will be farther reaching yet and that it will give us the tools we need to make more sweeping changes.

So, in a nutshell, that's where we're at now and what we're up to. We will always be involved in Cusco and will return periodically for workshops and to check up on kids/wheelchairs/work with organizations, etc. We're really pleased with this new direction though and think that these recent changes are really going to bring our work to more kids and will make us more effective and more efficient.

Writing this post, I can think of a dozen other posts I want to make, so here's hoping that as the posts get more frequent, they won't always be so long.

Thanks for "listening" and thanks for your interest...and stay tuned or more soon....REALLY

Dana