S.S.P. will be starting phase I of a permaculture partnership with the students of the secondary school in the Maru a Pula community, providing fresh local produce through sustainable means.  BWB’s Stimulus Grant will be used to create a permaculture garden at the secondary school.

June 12th

An unexpected turn in weather brought nearly 72 consecutive hours of rain to our garden!  This is very rare, considering we are in the dry season of a desert climate.  It was excellent timing, so it really is a blessing.  This week we constructed an herb spiral from old bricks in the center of the mandala, planted the mandala border with lemongrass and lavender, and did more preparations for the side plot.  We added more compost from the bush floor and sheep manure into the soil for fertilizer.  I think the students are surprised by the amount of work going into preparation.  They are antsy to see something growing.  The gardens may look much different next week, with a touch more of green.

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Benjamin Jordan is attempting a 10,000km paragliding flight across the entire country of Canada.  Along this flight Ben and crew will stop at numerous youth camps giving presentations on flight and encouraging kids to pursue their own dreams.  BWB is sponsoring Benjamin in this amazing quest. And read below to hear how the trip is going so far.

By Jess Ahlemeier

Nearly one month since our campaign launch in Tofino on Vancouver Island, we have - at the very least – invested ourselves in the following:

flown over the Georgia Strait - Ben becoming the first paraglider to do so!

careened around mountain and valley passes, collected hand prints of youth in two provinces (so far).

We have tried to adopt several animals belonging to the generous families who have invited us into their households. We have discussed wind strength with the weather, laid our paraglider wing atop and alongside cow patties, created a comfortable living space within our bus ‘honey’ and routed a visit to her auction dealer home.

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Nine long months have passed since Burners without Borders closed up operations in Peru. With our time coming to an end, we shared the pride of accomplishments, yet understood our efforts constituted a mere a pimple on an elephant’s ass in relation to Pisco’s colossal needs.

We understood the long term effects of this natural disaster would be felt for years to come maybe even generations. Collectively, we also saw the potential of volunteers’ perseverance. It was this strength, this relentless force of empowerment that led us towards focusing energy on the continuation of volunteer operations in Pisco, not as BWB, but in setting the framework for local leadership. This framework was developed to address the  lack of long-term NGO commitments in disaster areas. Following a disaster, many organizations respond quickly to provide the life sustaining resources needed. Unfortunately it is unfeasible for international organizations to commit years to one geographical area. Read the rest of this entry »

Richard Scott is changing the landscape of Sabine Pass, TX with these amazing machines.

When Ike slammed into the Texas Gulf Coast, FEMA called BWB’s Richard Scott to ask if he could help. While helping clean up after Katrina, Richard had secured a heavy equipment donation and after nine months of hard work, BWB gifted over $1,000,000 of free demolition and debris removal to the citizens of Mississippi. FEMA wanted to know if Richard was available again.

Richard arrived in Texas on Monday with a member of Disaster Corps.  Richard arrived with an offer from  Four Seasons Equipment Company out of Houston to donate a front loader and excavator to help with the formidable clean up ahead.  After exploring a number of areas including Bridge City, they settled on Sabine Pass as their target for a relief project.   On September 24, 2005, Hurricane Rita came ashore over Sabine Lake — the surge from the storm destroyed more than 90% of the structures in Sabine Pass. On September 13, 2008, Hurricane Ike struck Galveston, but managed to generate the highest surge ever recorded at Sabine Pass. Most of the few homes that had survived Rita were destroyed. The new fire station and school gymnasium, built by “extreme home makeover” after Rita, were both totaled. With a population of 2,200- nearly everyone in the town was affected by Rita, Ike or both.

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This trip marks my third return to this place, which is becoming more familiar than home. Each time I revisit Pisco I am greeted with the familiar energy I remembered, but easily see new circumstances facing the organization and reconstruction. From the moment I stepped foot in Lima I was greeted by our Peruvian friend Jessica, a Peruvian journalist who spent over two months volunteering with BWB and continues with Pisco sin Fronteras. Entering her apartment quickly connected my two worlds. Comfortably sleeping on her apartment floor were Dakota, similarly returning to Peru following Burning Man, and a member of BWB’s ECP plumbing team, Mike. Moments of internal connection are important. Within seconds in this small Lima apartment, my perception of the American Dream theme was represented by four separate nationalities dedicated to a cause.

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Some weeks ago Burners started working with a group of fishermen in Pisco on a redevelopment project with a difference.  A group of local free divers who fish for shellfish, octopus and saltwater fish asked us to help them set up an information centre here in San Andrés.  The Centre will be part museum, part environment centre with the aim of educating local people and tourists about the special marine life here and encouraging them to look after it.  One of the main goals of the divers is to promote more sustainable fishing practices in the area and reverse the recent drop in catch sizes.  This means persuading fishermen to abandon some of their less sustainable, environmentally unfriendly practices which include fishing using dynamite and killing endangered animals like turtles, dolphins and the Humbolt penguin (yep sick as it may seem, some people actually want to eat protected species……).  Fishing is pretty important here and supports a lot of people so the fall in catch size is definitely something to be concerned about, especially given the uniquely rich marine life of the Paracas area.

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Principal, Alberto Garcia Soto, (left) looks on as BWB volunteers dedicate the school to the community.

Burners without Borders (BWB) is thrilled to announce the completion of and the return of students to the IEP Abraham Valdelomar school. The school, a small primary school in San Andres, was completely destroyed in the earthquake. This private school receives no government aid and charges students little or no tuition to attend. The completion of this school has allowed students to resume classes in a new artistically beautiful two-room school. After months of attending classes in the principal’s front room of his house, these kids now have a wonderful, new educational environment.

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On Saturday May 17th, Burners Without Borders held a ceremony to mark the opening of the I.E.P Abraham Valdelomar school in San Andreas. After months of hard work of building this school from the ground up, it’s now complete with colorful murals, world maps, desks and chairs. Festivities included dance performances from the students, Pisco sours, speeches, praises and a slide show displaying all the stages of production.

As day turned to night us Burners moved the festivities to a nearby cantina where we could celebrate in true burner fashion, by fire! Earlier that week we collected wood at various demolition sites we had been working at during the day to be able to build art structures by night. The result was a fifteen foot tall robot accompanied by a twenty foot tall pyrotechnic pyramid.

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Last Monday was a big day for Burners. For a while now we have been working in Chincha, a town about 40 minutes north of Pisco, in conjunction with a Spanish NGO. They have already funded and built a hostel in a very deprived area of Chincha for young women who have become pregnant as a result of sexual assault. The girls live at the hostel with their kids and receive help and assistance to adjust to being a Mum. The NGO is also funding the construction of a 6 classroom school for primary age kids in the area and Burners have been helping a Peruvian crew to get this done.

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At Burning Man, Flipside, Critical Massive and lots of other places,
we build things, tear or burn them down, and then leave without a
trace. As a community, a big extended family, we spend a great deal of
time and energy making sure nobody can tell we were there. It’s
central to our ethos. It’s how we roll.

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