We built the wind turbine at WindAid’s home base in Trujillo. This is a long way from the community where we installed it. We installed our turbine in a small fishing town in northern Peru called Playa Blanca. This community has been a partner with WindAid for a long time and is the site of most of the turbines that they have installed. We spent one week traveling there and then working there before coming back.
Getting there was quite the adventure. First we got on a bus to another large city. This involved checking all the components of a turbine in at the bus station and storing them in compartments of the bus. It was a several hour bus ride. I’m not sure quite how long since we all slept after getting up bright and early. Then we loaded everything up into a smaller van where we were cramped by all of the supplies that we were bringing.
This lasted a couple hours before arriving to a lake in the middle of the desert.This wasn’t just any ordinary lake. It was a lake that had just formed after the historic flooding this year and was in the middle of the road. So in order to continue we needed to again move all of our stuff, first into a tiny boat to the other side, and then into another small van. Then after several more hours of driving, sometimes getting stuck in sand dunes on the road, we finally arrived in Playa Blanca
This was the part of Summer where we actually got to closely interact with those that we helping. We got to see there completely different way of life and try to help bring them electricity. Their lives were so different from anything that we had experience. While staying there we slept on cots we brought in a one room building with a dirt floor and thatch roof. The home that we installed a turbine at was a single room with a single bed in one corner to fit the several child family. Despite their difference in possessions they still living their lives happily.
The kids were super energetic and would not leave you alone. They were happy to help you with whatever task you were working on and were always in your business. We had a bonfire with them and played with them whenever we had the energy. They weren’t deterred by any language barrier and were curious about everything we had.We had all of our meals at the community center where we often saw people gathering around the single tv, socializing into the night. This was one place that had a power strip that we could ask permission to use if we wanted to charge anything. We saw a girl who helped cook food in the community center working on homework while we were just hanging out.
We only provided electricity to those who wanted it. This turned out to be most of the town but it wasn’t everyone, and we weren’t forcing change upon them. In fact the second month of our stay the volunteers installed a turbine at a different location due to everyone being satisfied in Playa Blanca.
The turbine we installed:
It was the moment that brought the entire summer together: we were actually able to give something tangible to those who needed it and were able to better understand a completely different way of life.
