Read the article here in Spanish or below for the English translation. Photos of the boys and home are on the Telefonica website.

Pampachay Girasoles organization is in partnership with the Casa Girasoles Ica, home to 40 children and adolescents between 3 and 16 who have experienced family violence or who have been rescued from the street.

The project Pampachay Girasoles seeks to implement music workshops, singing and dance for children of the Casa Girasoles develop artistic skills and teamwork. In turn, these workshops and projects will help generate income to ensure higher education studies after graduation from high school.

The purpose of the group is two-fold: use of recycled material for the creation of musical instruments and the formation of a band and recording and selling CDs. “Pampachay” is a Quechua word that means “overcoming difficulties” and Girasoles (Spanish for sunflowers) represent the life that always looks forward.

Pampachay Girasoles started its activities by hiring a professor of music and then the purchase of musical instruments like a guitar and keyboard, which will be used in addition to the recycled material required for the construction of instruments.

On Saturday November 7, Pampachay Girasoles spent the fay making their recycled musical instruments with the help of Telefonica volunteers. At this time they have practiced a number of musical pieces, and together with their teacher are composing and writing new lyrics. Thanks to efforts of the director of the Casa Girasoles Ica, they will produce a new CD soon.

Girasoles Ica Make CD Debut is a post from: Twelve Degrees South.

In May a group of volunteers from Telefonica, the Peruvian Telephone Company, asked Girasoles Ica to submit a socially relevant project to their first ever “Contest of Original Social Projects”.

Interestingly, Augusto, house parent to the boys already had an idea in mind; having the boys use recycled materials as instruments. The concept was eagerly accepted and once the telephone company signed on to help fund the project, Augusto and the boys began “band practice”. Old plastic buckets, tins, metal pipes, bottles, cardboard and wooden boxes would do just fine!

All 40 boys participated in the project led by Augusto – even down to the youngest, Sanchez, who is only 5 years old. The group successfully won the Ica area contest and went on to place among the top nine contestants nationwide, which qualified them for further funding and grants.

Thanks to the boys success and unprecedented corporate support, Girasoles Ica will now have a music teacher who will help them record “Pampachay” (Quechua for “overcoming difficulty”) a full length CD of their creative music! A first lot of 1000 CDs will be sold at S/10 each and the proceeds will be used to improve the boys’ educational experience in Ica.

Here you can see the cover to the debut CD and a group photo of Girasoles Ica with a work team from Dearborn, Michigan.

(Text courtesy of the Vine Trust)

Pampachay is a post from: Twelve Degrees South.