Today we had the opportunity to have the mayor talk with us about the problems that the district of Ocongate is facing and the measures they are implementing to improve these conditions. It was really interesting to talk with such a powerful figure in the community and see what the higher powers are planning to do about the public in terms of health and betterment. He mentioned many things we have talked about, such as dairy production in terms of families beginning to raise cows for milk and cheese, as well as the change from potato production to pastoral focuses, including cows, sheep, alpacas and llamas, and cuyes (guinea pigs for consumption). Even with the increase from 2 thousand litres a day to 13 thousand litres a day in milk production, it does not meet the demand of dairy products. He also mentioned how not only are they working to create better quality products in terms of dairy and wool production, but products that might be introduced to exportation from the country. As well as the demand of dairy products, the demand for cuyes is still not met, even though the dramatic growth seen in the last few years has shown the potential for meeting the demand.
He also talked about the plan of reforestation in and around the community, since the climate change (especially in regards to global warming) is such a powerful factor in the high altitudes of Ocongate and its surrounding districts. The plan is to have all the hills and mountains green with trees in ten years, creating not only positive ecological and environmental effects, but an increase in the economy. These trees have benefits not only of wood production, but a nutritional mushroom that grows in conjuction with the pine trees planted in this reforestation.
Lastly he mentioned the trash service Ocongate has implemented. There is a recycling center that manually separates all the inorganic from organic waste, and recycles each accordingly, protecting the water and environment from wastes and contamination.
We visited that later today, the recycling center first. I think it was interesting to see the actual manual and physical labor these workers have to go through to separate all the trash since the individual communities have no segregation of recycled materials and trash materials, and I feel that if they implemented such a change it would not only be easier on the workers, but the center itself, making it more specialized in one type of waste removement. However, the center seemed very clearly and simply run in an efficient way to minimize the waste left in the communities. They also mentioned that the ministry of education is implementing the idea of recycling in public schools, although it is in its first stages with no real impact yet.
Next we were informed about the forestation and could see the main impacts it had. I think the most important impact forestation has is it´s opportunity for jobs. Many people are migrating out of the little cities like Ocongate and moving into larger cities like Cusco in search of jobs. However the idea of forestation not only has good ecological impacts, since more CO2 will be pulled out of the air, but it also creates jobs and motivation for the individuals to remain in the smaller cities and work for the betterment of themselves and the cities. Going along with the forestation we visited the site where the exotic and native plants grow. The native plants are good to keep because they are native, but they also do not have as great an economical impact as the exotic plants. These exotic plants include eucalyptus and pine trees. It was interesting to see the raising of these plants and hear how the process to grow, transport, and raise these plants took place. Again, as a job opportunity, people in the community are hired at this site, and are given the basic instructions on how to look after and raise the tree, and after two months the contract of working there is retired. However these people already have the knowledge of taking care of these plants, and are in charge after the transportation process of replanting the trees and raising them to be healthy. Some of the benefits include wood for construction and the mushrooms that grow around the pine trees that contain such a great nutritional value, which helps fight the malnutrition common in Peru´s indigenous communities.
Lastly, we visited the water treatment plant after lunch to see and compare this plant to Lima´s. Unlike the heavy security in Lima, this plant just had a small hike up a slightly steep hill to reach, and was only three small tanks; the first and second tank were filtration systems simply, and the third was a final filtration and chlorinated tank to add a last filtration session to the water before being sent to the resevoirs. I think the most interesting part however was the availability of the water. In Lima we saw that the company would send the water to the resevoirs and they were, more or less, always available. However in Ocongate, the water is available full time until the months of July through November, or the dry season. Because of the water shortage during these dry months, the water is only available to the community as a whole for four hours a day, which I feel is not only unbelieveable, but not healthy. Although there is not much I think the district can do about it with the shortage during the dry season, it seems unbelievable that this is a measure they need to take.
After today, it was interesting to see all the different ways Ocongate is trying to better its community in people, in measures of ecological and economical impacts. I think it´s interesting to draw comparisons, like the one in the water system from Lima to Ocongate. I feel that this trip has shown me the luxury we are given in the United States.
This day was a successful learning, and we got to have a few hours at the end to relax.
written by : Kali McKenzie
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