On Tuesday 13th July, 2010 I set off for a month’s trip to Peru, with my school, which is located in Surrey. While I was there I did various things such as participating in charity work to build a school, trekking up Machu Pichu, and I visited wonderful sights such as Lake Titicaca, Nazca Lines, Cusco, Arequipa and many interesting Incan ruins. Before I set off on my summer travels I did some research on Peru. I had read a few brief articles suggesting that Peru’s economy is growing. However, the sights I saw seemed a little out of place in the booming economy I had read about.
Within any developing country there will be poverty – I knew it would be very different from my life in Surrey. However, when I first stepped off the plane in Lima I was shocked and disgusted at the sights – for example, a dead dog lying on the side of a city street mobbed with bloodthirsty flies, and only a few days later I was woken by the blood curdling screams of a woman who came running into our hostel after being raped outside. As the month carried on I am sorry to report that the sights of the indigenous women sleeping on the sides of the streets with children in tow became the norm, and yet the genuine welcome of people that we met overpowered the sorrow that we saw.
When I returned home I continued to research about Peru as I was still on a high from the amazing Peruvian experience in which I had just participated. I began to find clearer facts about how well the Peruvian economy really is doing. Peru’s Central Reserve Bank has estimated that Peruvian exports will be worth more than $35 billion during 2011 and 2012; this is a huge rise from the $26.9 billion figure of 2010. This impressive rise is mainly due to the increase in demand for Peru’s commodities, which include copper, gold, zinc, crude petroleum and petroleum products, coffee, potatoes, asparagus and textiles.
As you can imagine these results were extremely shocking when I first read them when viewed in the light of some of the awful sights that I had seen. However the more I began to think about it, the results began to make sense. Peru has a population of 29,546,963 and is the 42nd largest country in the world. So of course the 34.8% of the country’s people that are in poverty are not overnight going to be helped to live under shelter, have a stable diet and be free of disease - this is simply impossible. However, in 2009, President Garcia claimed that “Peru’s GDP growth is reflected in poverty reduction, the fastest reduction in the last 50 years in the entire world,” and continued to say that Peru’s poverty has dropped from 48% within the past year and that he has high hopes it will drop again to 30% within the next year.
Peru’s economy is apparently booming and it is claimed that poverty is declining - but is it declining at the same rate as the economy’s growth? It seems that the Peruvian state is helping those who are in need, and the standard of living is reported to be increasing. However, it was my experience that poverty was widespread and at a level that would not be acceptable in the small part of the world I call home. My experience of Peru was truly amazing and I am very appreciative that I had the opportunity to meet the many lovely people I managed to meet and see the beautiful things I managed to see. Will these people ever have the chance to enjoy the things I take for granted every day?
Grace Roger, 16
