Inauguration: Sportsground in Huaycan
Due to the generous support of more than 140 people and working on the project for almost 10 months, we were finally able to inaugurate the sportsground on Valentine’s Day 2015.
It was an amazing ceremony in Huaycán with more than 80 parents and very happy kids, representatives of the community and Camino al Cielo and even a brass band. Some friends of Jayma Kunan incl. Bruno, a sports teacher, joined us as well and played volleyball, soccer and basketball with the kids. We also brought a dozen balls with us with us and gave every child present a little “back to school” starter kid.
Particularly happy made us the fact that the mayor of the entire district called during the opening and promised to build bathrooms next to the sportsground. It’s just great to see that one initiative can really cause further positive initiatives.
Overall, compared to how it looked like before the sportsground turned out great: .it is now suitable for playing soccer, basketball and even volleyball with a removable net. It is even the only place in the area with real grass. But frankly speaking, the best part was seeing the kids smiling, having fun and enjoying the place. A lot of people thanked us and promised to take great care of it. We are very happy that everything worked out so smoothly and that we were now able to get also engaged in the community of Huaycán.
However, we have to admit that we initially planned to also build a playground just next to the sportsground, which we unfortunately did not manage to do. The reason was not the funds, but rather security concerns that the new equipment might get stolen as we couldn’t squeeze it within the fenced area of the sportsground. The moneys budgeted for the playground will now go into the roof of the kindergarten in Villa el Salvador (see “Projects” for more information)
In total we invested close to EUR 17,000 in the pitch which came basically from two sources:
- EUR 10,000 was donated by a family who would like to remain anonymous, a desire we of course respect. Nevertheless, we would like to express our deepest gratitude at this point!
- The Bet (see next chapter), which raised around EUR 13,000 within only six weeks and forced Quirin to prepare more than 6 months for a half Ironman (a 113km triathlon), which he finished on November 30th 2014 in Sydney, Australia.
The Bet
In March 2014 we realized that the sportsground will be way more expensive than the EUR 10,000 initially planned. Yet, as we had already announced that this is going to be our main goal for the year, we somehow had to come up with a way to raise a lot of money in a very short period of time. After a short brainstorming session we came to the conclusion, that the most attention is created when someone makes a bet which makes that person suffer in case he loses. Hence, Quirin and Sven agreed on the bet below which was then shared via Facebook and email.
LET’S HELP THESE KIDS!
Like us here Jayma Kunan and donate here www.betterplace.org/en/projects/17723
OUR GOAL: Build a sports/playground for kids in Huaycán, a slum in Peru.
THE BET: Can we raise $20k for this by Easter? Quirin says NO, Sven says YES
THE STAKES: If we raise $20k, Quirin has to do a half ironman. If not, Sven will spend his entire annual leave in Peru help building the sportsground.
YOUR PART: Like our page, donate min $5 and nominate 3 friends to do the same.
And it worked!!!! Thanks to all of you we were able to raise the EUR 13,000 (or AUD 20,000 at that time) within only six weeks! Incredible!!!! Thank you so much!
