Improved living conditions in the suburbs of Lima
Families in Los Jazmines, a community in the suburbs of Lima, now live in an improved environment thanks to the hard work of the ‘women workers’.
Los Jazmines is a community of 97 families living on a hillside in the impoverished Lima suburb of Puente Pietra. Unable to afford ready-built homes, these families live in homes built from whatever materials they can find. Whilst the men go off each day in search of employment, it is the women who work to create a community environment that is safe and suitable for the raising of their children.
Since 2007, the NGO Mano a Mano has been teaching building techniques to the women with the help of professional workers and dedicated training programs. The Alstom Foundation has been providing funding across two phases of the project for the procurement of construction equipment and materials in order to help secure the community against landslides, create family gardening areas and create green spaces for the community to gather, and generally improve the local environment. The community can now produce its own vegetables thereby improving the daily diet.
The construction of the main square has a positive effect on the community as it now provides space to organize local events and the children are safer in the kindergarten thanks to a fence which has been build all around it. The families now identify strongly with the community that they have created with the result that violent behavior has significantly reduced.
The second phase of the project was successfully completed last month. But there is always more that can be done.
The arch and the square give the impression of being in an Andean village and remind people of their origins. Furthermore, the construction of the cavity which hosted the Saint of the village gives to the people a place for praying.