A Volunteer Idea

A Volunteer Idea

This is Cusco Peru
I paid a nice Dutch Girl to put my HoboTraveler.com Logo on sweatshirt, then give them to street people. She took photos and asked them a few questions. I thought about helping to fund this project as a way to bring notice to street people, plus give them a way to be warm. Cuzco is pretty high, therefore cold in the night.

The Ideas is this, the world would not like have all their poor people on webpages, therefore eventually it would induce the countries to take care of their people.

Photos taken by Irene of the Netherlands or Holland.

Señora Agripina

This woman was sitting in Calle Meson de la estrella. She always comes here
in the afternoon. She has a daughter but she doesn’t have any work nor any
help.

Señora Sota
She just crossed the street very
difficultly because she has rheumatisme, and she sat down in the Av.
Universitaria to beg for money because she doesn’t get any financial support
from the government. She mainly spoke Quechua but understood a bit of
Spanish.

Sr. Casiano
He is blind and is sitting almost every
day in Calle Maruri, with his little money bucket with a string to avoid
that people will steel the money that he just received. Sometimes his
grandson is with him to avoid that.
He only spoke Quechua so didn’t understand
me at all but he was really happy with the sweater. I think he is about 80
years old.

Benjamin, 70 years old, also blind and is
playing the flute (very false) or some other instrument in calle
Q’aphchikijlly.

Marcelino, 38 years old, is handicapped
and moves around on his hands and his feet, with wooden blocks underneath to
protect his skin. Normally you can find him on Avenida Sol to beg for money
because he doesn’t receive any financial support.

Fidel, 68 years, is a blind man who is
always playing the Bandolina,in calle Intikijllu to receive money. Not a top
artist but at least he is trying!

German, 38 years, also handicapped and
moving around on his knees and hands. I met him in Avenida Sol and he told
me that he doesn’t have a job nor any financial support, so he begs for
money.

Wilberto Antor, 35 years old and
paraplegic begging for money in front of the Bank in Avenida Sol.

Sr. Agustin, 83 years old.
I met him in Avenida Sol, he
is blind and is begging for money in different places, finding his way with
a stick.

Sr. Fortunato, 56 years old, Avenida Sol.
He normally sleeps on the floor in an institution where they can stay for
the night. During the day he is begging for money.

Silvia, 85 years old, was sitting in calle
Carmen K’ijllu. I could hear and see that she was sick. She told me that she
had pain in her back and problems with her lungs, Tuberculossis. If she
feels good enough to beg for money then she will be on the street. She
doesn’t have any insurance nor does she get any financial help.

In Plazoleta
Espinar I met Sacharias, 35 years old, who told me that he became sick from
one day to the other, from his middle to his feet and he also has problems
with his hands. He doesn’t know what his sickness is because, like he told
me, they didn’t help him very well in the hospital. In the past he was
working in agriculture but now he is begging for money during the day and in
the night he stays in the Institute Fartac where he can sleep.

In Plazoleta Espinar I met a man, called
Domingo, 90 years old. He is from Chincheros a little village half an our
from Cusco and was limping around in Cusco, asking for money holding his hat
up. He doesn’t receive any economical help from the government. He is from
Chincheros a little village half an our from Cusco.

Juan, 45 years, is begging for money in
the street Matara because he can’t get a job. 9 Months after he was born he
got poliomyelitis.

Maria Elena Quispe, 50 years, with
paralysis is from Ceuzabamba and is begging for money on the cold floor, in
Calle Qéra, until late in the night because she doesn’t get any support.

Señora Tomasa
She is “una madre abandonada”. She doesn’t
have any contact with her kids any more, she said. She is from Sicuani but
doesn’t remember her age. She is begging in Calle Almayro and preferred two
sweaters but was happy with one as well.

Manuel Cumpena, 75 years, is from Sianari
and had a job in the past but doesn’t get any pension nor help and is
begging for money in Calle Ayacucho. He was very happy with the sweater for
the cold nights.

Roxana and Sandra lost their house with
everything in it because their father burned the house in a drunken rage,
with them and their 5 year old brother inside, at the moment that their
mother escaped to get help. Happily they all could escape!!!

Señora Juliana
Soncco, 42 years, is having tuberculosis, the government doesn’t help her,
she can’t work, her husband passed away and she’s got 4 children, we met
her in the street Marquez

Señor Pedro Cahuide, 83 years old, doesn’t
have a pension, now he begs for money in the streets because he doesn’t have
anything to eat, he doesn’t know anything of his children, he is completely
abandoned.

Volunteer Idea

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Reader Submitted Comments | Deleted Comments (0)

Chris said on Sunday April 9th, 2006 03:47:00 PM

You've got a big heart Andy, you did some good, this project went from your head, out your pocket all of your own free will and the world's a little better. Sweet! Nice when a plan comes together like that. There's a lesson in this for all of us. Get involved, see what needs doing and "Hazlo" ("Just Do It", like the Nike Ad says).Go Indianans!

ash said on Monday April 10th, 2006 11:31:00 AM

Andy, this is real good stuff. I wish more people did stuff like this :o)Maybe I should explain now why I am leftist politically. I did say I would do it another time!Firstly, I'm not a Communist. that's an extreme. Stalin and the USSR did not impliment a particularly Leftist system. Lenin's Bulchevic approach was not Marxist. Fundimentally, Communism is meant to come from the people. Lenin decided the people were stupid and imposed it on them. Bad start, terrible period for Russia. Anyway. I believe in Socialism, loosely. In Britain, as in most western Europe, we have or have had a socialist government in recent years (last 100 or so). In Britain, it is the reason we have a National Health Service and Pensions and Workers' Rights etc. These are the fruits, and I think they are good. Socialism says that Communism was right about the need to look after the working classes (Marx calls them proletarians). The argument is that it is unfair for a very small number of people to be rich and to control everyone else.in 19C England, employers could emply who they wanted, to work the hours they wanted them to, pay them whatever they liked, and fire them for whatever they liked. For the average person (including, for a logn time, children) this meant you got paid less than you needed to live on; got no days off ever, except Mothering Sunday; no health care; and no pension: so if you couldn't work anymore, you died soon after. Marx points out that this is wrong. Just because you spent some money on building a factory does not give you the right to treat others like this.He also pointed out something which scared the people in control (the bourgeoisie): that the workers are the 'means for production'; if they stop working en-masse, then the rich people will loose all their money and, then, all their power. Marx tells people to form Unions. If every coal miner goes on strike, then the owners of the mines will have to pay them more to make them work again. And so on.Socialism looks after all it's people. So a person who is disabled and can't work does not starve to death or freeze on the streets. In the UK, we have the NHS: National Health Service. Everyone pays a tax called National Insurance, which goes toward this. And, in return, you get 'free healthcare for life.' And the government should legislate for the people, not for buisnesses. We the people elect the government, and they must serve us. They have no other duty. This means they must legislate in our favour. they must set a minimum wage that enables people to live, not one that employers want. They must set in place laws to prevent people loosing their pension scheme. They must stop us being exploited. They must tell my employer to issue me with a hardhat, safety goggles, a dust-mask or whatever. Socialism allows Capitalism, but not in it's extreme. it is good to have an open market, provided noone is being exploited. i am happy to shop at Walmart when their apples are cheaper than Tesco. etc. this is good news. This is why i supported the workers in France for rebelling these last few weeks. Because their government was not legislating for the people, it was legislating for buisness. If employers can fire people without giving a reason, then people are open to exploitation. your boss could fire you because you won't sleep with him. your boss could fire you because you took a week off with serious illness. And so on. It is true, that these things can be exploited by the workers too. And there needs always to be balance. too far left and you get the USSR. too far right you get Nazi Germany. the good is somewhere in the middle. Socialism is a left-of-centre middle-ground. I think your Republican government is right-of-centre middle ground. I would like America to raise the minimum wage, and to set up better health care. but that's not for me to say. I don't live there, and I don't vote in the elections there. If people want socialist governments, they will form unions and create a workers' party and stand for election. That's what happened in Europe. Sorry this was so darn long. I've read too many books! Anyway, I think what you did for these people was fantastic.

Anonymous said on Monday April 10th, 2006 05:41:00 PM

Hey Andy, respect man. That was a very kind gesture. To anyone homeless the cold can be as bad as hunger. I like to read your site, but I just had to leave this message for you. Again total respect for a beautiful act of kindness.

Paul V from Michigan said on Tuesday April 11th, 2006 09:02:00 AM

Andy, that was very nice of you to do that. Thank you!

Andy HoboTraveler.com said on Tuesday April 11th, 2006 01:31:00 PM

This was an experiment. Easy to do, and hopefully going after three essential problems of Begging1. Old people that do not have a pension.2. Too many children because they hope one of them will take care of them.3. This problem will not be solved by volunteers giving money. What is needed is the country to take shame on its actions and implement pensions, social security and to see that the mentally or physically handicapped are the responsiblity of the government.The goal is to create a semi-stainable funded project that will shame the governments of the world into taking action.

kadavy said on Monday April 17th, 2006 10:44:00 PM

Cool. Now do this: start a campaign. Make a blog dedicated to it. Make a downloadable PDF that others can get sweaters made with, or find an internet vendor, such as Cafe Press, to sell them through. People around the world can stock up on sweaters before they go on trips, take their own pictures, and send them to you to be posted on your dedicated campaign blog. You have thousands of people on the cusp of World travels reading your site, so you should leverage their help.