A WEEK OF OPTIMISTIC ACTIONS IN LIMA

Arrival of December 13 at 20.00 local time in Lima, Peru for five of the six waterwomen and the expedition leader. Itiziar Abascal, our sixth waterwomen was retained in Tenerife for professional obligations.

Barely time to recover, we left on Wednesday morning 08.00 at the French-Peruvian high school of Lima to meet the children of the nursery school, primary and secondary school of the establishment. During 4 hours, the team met a little more than 300 children within the framework of the actions of prevention sport health developed by the association HOPE TEAM EAST. The opportunity to talk to them about the importance of practicing physical activity and sports, taking care of yourself and eating well to feel good in your body and in your head. Thanks to the presentation of the CAP OPTIMIST expedition, the waterwomen also transmit strong messages such as
the importance of believing in yourself and your dreams
To show them that nothing is impossible thanks to perseverance, to the collective spirit and to surpassing oneself (strong values of the association).

Second highlight of the week, organization of the press conference of the CAP OPTIMIST expedition on Thursday, December 15, 2022 at the Alliance Française of Lima. Thanks to the support of the embassy services, and in particular of Christelle, the press attaché, we organized a press briefing for both the Peruvian and the French media thanks to a streaming system. After the press briefing, the rowers and Alexandra conducted several interviews in Spanish. It was the subject of many laughs and especially with the famous “Feliz Navidad” at the end of an interview with Manu :).

Friday December 16, we leave, with some apprehension, to the INEN (National Institute of Neuroplastic Diseases including cancer) to meet children undergoing chemotherapy. The scouting trip last year had prepared us a bit for what we were going to experience, but all of us were far from imagining the current situation of childhood cancer in Peru. We are welcomed by the head of pediatric oncology at the hospital and her teams. Our partner NEWREST (with an important subsidiary in Peru) accompanies us. Nobody talks in the corridors, we all have a smile of love for these children, their families and the medical profession, of compassion because we see very sad situations, but also and above all of pride because our project takes once again all its meaning and we know why we row!

Nearly 2 hours to meet 50 children of the service, in treatment. Two hours where we offer them gifts kindly donated by our partners LOCAMOD, AVENE, QUIKSILVER, the Sport for Life Foundation, the Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation and Newrest. Two hours of smiles, laughter, exchanges with the children, their mothers, their brothers…

Doctors tell us about the delicate situation of most families, often coming from provinces with children with very advanced cancers, very developed tumors. They also tell us that children are often abandoned by their parents because of the social and financial burden of the disease. Mothers tell us that their husbands left when the disease was announced.

We leave this moment, certainly with many tears flowing, but with the deep desire to continue to help them, and with the intimate conviction of having given them back a smile and happiness for a moment Optimist. Then came the time to get back into the administrative procedures, the urgencies related to the context of the country, to its customs operation which sometimes exceeded us.

It was also a time to meet up with our families who had travelled for the end of the year celebrations. 8 days of sharing in family to discover Peru, its culture, the kindness of the Peruvians, the famous Ceviche and the way of driving absolutely without rule !

// To put it in context, we arrived in the middle of the coup d’état in Peru, the day before the state of emergency was declared and with a lot of stress and uncertainty on the part of our local partners. Thanks to a hand in hand work with the Embassy in particular, we were able to maintain all our actions planned on the spot, respecting all the security measures put in place, without putting the team at risk and with the strong will to maintain our actions for the benefit of the children.//

For example: by giving 100* euros my donation is divided as follows

*60 € dedicated to the Super Optimist program (sick children) and educational programs of prevention of health sports in schools + 40 € dedicated to the sports, medical and scientific expedition.