Kindness Connection - Peru

What began two and a half years ago as a 9-month excursion to volunteer in Peru, has altered the course of a young Johnson County woman’s life. Emily Broxterman went down to Peru to volunteer through the YMCA, and ended up working in the little town of Horacio Zeballos Gamez, a poor community located in the outskirts of Arequipa (the second largest city in Peru). The area has a dry, arid desert-like climate, no running water or electricity, and most members of the sector Emily works in are brick makers with very little formal education.

“We were the first volunteers to ever work in the town, so the doors were wide open for us to try something new within the community,” Emily said.

“Once my nine month volunteer stay was over, returning to the United States was simply not an option. I had worked so hard to bring new opportunities to this community, and if I left, this would all fall apart,” Emily said.

So she stayed. She continued her work in the school and medical outpost, tutoring in English to cover rent and began a non-profit, Kindness Connection – Peru, to financially support her projects and programs.

According to Emily, children as young as five years old can be seen helping their parents make adobe bricks in their backyard, and by the age of 12, children are able to start working in brick factories earning 60 cents for every 1,000 bricks they make. Since brick making is the main industry available, most families opt to have their children help earn money over getting an education.

“Our goal is to try to capture these children that are not studying and to educate them not only in the basics of reading, writing, and math, but to also help give them a skill that would allow them a future outside of the hard life in the brickyards,” Emily said. “For this reason, we would like to eventually build a trade school in the area in which children can attend school during the morning hours, and learn a specialized trade such as carpentry or mechanics in the afternoons.”

Working closely with the community, Emily realized that more than many other things, an increase in the quality of education was what people wanted to help improve their quality of life and create a brighter future for their children.

There are many stages involved in achieving quality education. More classrooms would be necessary to accommodate the number of children and each grade level. Initially, they were working in a three room school house trying to teach six grade levels.

Thanks to the generous donations of Nativity as well as others, we have been able to start building a fence around the perimeter of our school grounds, as well as two small rooms that will serve as a small kitchen/library and a director’s office,” Emily said.

It was determined that a fence would be necessary to keep the children safe and protect current and future school facilities, due to the fact that the city’s largest prison is located within three blocks of the schoolgrounds.

On March 23, 2007 the local community gathered to celebrate the inauguration of these facilities and the fence and also named their school “The School of Peace and Hope” as a tribute to the overwhelming compassion and support they have received from Kindness Connection – Peru. Government officials, community members, other area non-profits and news crews were all in attendance for the dedication. As is customary for the area, the community came together to build the roof of the building on the day of the dedication. Men and women worked together mixing the cement, and then the men carried every brick and load of cement was hand-carried to the top of the building. Women worked to prepare a meal for the celebration, and the children were full of excitement.

Throughout the entire process, the community has become involved in all aspects of Kindness Connection; what they lack in financial contributions, they make up for in manual labor. Parents have helped construct all of new facilities, and have been an integral part of the decision-making process.

The next phase of construction involves building three new classrooms. Construction of the classrooms will be in collaboration with a Swiss non-profit and the local Municipal government. They will build two of the classrooms, and Kindness Connection is responsible for covering costs of constructing the third. After these are completed, there will be an individual classroom for each grade level, and the government has agreed to supply teachers for the school.

“In the past few years, we have been able to open up the doors and offer a glimmer of hope to the community… hope that things can and will get better for them,” Emily said. “One of our main goals has been to not only teach them subjects in school, but also to show them that someone cares for them, that there is a place where they can feel safe and can come to receive unconditional love and support. They [the children] are now motivated to study and to work, and believe in themselves and what they can do in the future.”

Through the efforts of Emily, the local community and countless other volunteers, Kindness Connection – Peru is changing the future of a small section of Horacio Zeballos Gamez, and the Church of the Nativity has played a critical role in this future through the generous financial contributions of the Parish Outreach Committee.

“Thank you so much for all the help and support that you have shown me at Nativity this past year,” Emily said. “It has touched the lives of more than you can imagine.”

For more information and to see the benefits of your contributions, visit Kindness Connection – Peru. If you would like to get involved or have questions, email Emily This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it or call 913-451-4824 to speak with Jan Broxterman.

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