This story was written by Laura Perkowski, the 24 year old daughter of Princeton Alum Ron Perkowski.
Princeton Alumni w/ their children at 15K feet.
“Our first full day was on Sunday, normally the day of rest. We, instead, boarded a bus at 6 AM to catch the train at 8 AM, where we rode in luxury to La Oroya. Any record of this trip would be completely inaccurate without mention of this train, where we spent two days riding, adapting, conversing, and looking at the most amazing landscapes. In our first 24 hours, the 2nd Gen had already had experiences and seen sights that most people will never get to have or see.
“We went from 0 to 15,681 feet in one day by train, got to ride the locomotive (on the front!), were served gourmet food at high altitudes, sucked on coca leaves, and got to see wild flamingos and herds of alpacas (All of our thanks to Mr. Henry Posner ‘77 and the F.C.C.A., who arranged for us take a train out of schedule and for taking care of us and our altitude sickness).
On the train headed to 15,000 feet. Photo Courtesy of John Merrill ‘77/MerrillImages.com
“The distributions were just as breathtaking as the views on the train, but for entirely different reasons. While we were riding in luxury on the train, and even the bus, we were distributing wheelchairs and toys in places that are among the poorest and most polluted in the world, not to mention at the highest altitude! We were not below 10,000 feet for a few days. Every distribution was different, with a different venue organization, different welcoming posters and flags, and different welcoming gifts. In La Oroya, a giant poster of Señor David Behring, along with 25 wheelchairs that needed assembling, welcomed us. We were late, but that did not halt the excitement shown by the people of La Oroya, who desperately needed their mobility. This is also where I became the official toy distributor of the trip, due to my ability to speak any Spanish and the fact that I was standing there already.
Kids With Recipient and Alum Ron Perkowski.
“The Sankey twins (Fiona and Simon, aged 11) were my helpers, while Kelly, Alex, Dan, and Christina helped set up and get people their wheelchairs. After the ceremony, where we received La Oroya hats and Señor David Behring received a felt tapestry, we traveled to our next stop, Tarma. Sadly, a few of us fell victim to the altitude along the way, including me, so while I am told there was a fantastic dinner and poker tournament, I went straight to sleep instead.
“If you have never given out wheelchairs above 10,000 feet, it is hard to explain just how exhausting this process was. We spent the second day giving out wheelchairs in Tarma and Cerro de Pasco, around 50 in total. While the amount was not great, the need was, and we were as tired as if we had done 100. It was very hard to keep up the physical labor, despite the age, so the young ones came in handy, particularly the two teenaged boys!
Laura Perkowski Assembling a Wheelchair. Photo Courtesy of John Merrill ‘77/MerrillImages.com
“In these two cities, due to the small amounts of wheelchairs, we gave out small things like bracelets and toy dinosaurs to the kids who came to the distributions, rather than just toys for the kids receiving a chair. It was great seeing the excitement on the kids’ faces. More ceremonies went on here, with more tapestries, hats, and certificates for Señor David Behring and us. Alex and Dan were in charge of the American flag during the flag ceremony in Tarma and did us all proud. We had fun listening to the speeches and seeing how much more we understood as we continued on. It was also interesting contrasting the speeches of Señor David Behring with Mr. Henry Posner’s… as the week wore on, Señor David Behring’s speeches got longer while Mr. Posner’s got shorter.
“Our last day in the Andes was spent in Huancayo, where we had spent the night in the Hotel Susan, an experience we will share and remember for many, many years. Huancayo was by far our biggest distribution, and probably my favorite, a feeling that I believe to be shared by most of us. We had about 100 wheelchairs to give out, but this time we had the local soldier unit helping us by doing the initial setup of the wheelchairs and lifting their neighbors and other recipients into their chairs. They also were very eager to learn how to set up the chairs, and took to it very quickly. The ceremony was also our favorite, despite the length. Señor David Behring, Mr. Posner, and Mr. Bill Farrell all were honored with bright yellow vests embroidered with flowers, and gave speeches, but by far the best thing that happened was that they dressed up Mr. Behring like a doll. As soon as we saw him given the vest, we called out the photographer, Mr. John Merrill, to get over there to take pictures. It only got better. He was given one of the traditional shawls that the women carried babies in, and one of their hats, along with four dolls. It was at this point that we gave up trying to call him anything but Señor David Behring, as our parents all found it hilarious.
Picture of Mr. David Behring dressed in the local attire. Photo Courtesy of John Merrill ‘77/MerrillImages.com
“The last few days went by very quickly after that. We took a long 8-hour bus ride back to Lima, somehow avoiding motion sickness from all of us, and settled in for two nights. Once more, I got sick, missing the Lima distributions at Hospital San Juan de Dios and La Molina, but there we were able to give needed neurological wheelchairs to children who had no hope of moving even with the regular chairs. The last few days were disappointing only in that no one dressed up our leaders like dolls again. The last distribution was in Huara, where Mr. Farrell’s wife, Marleny (our Secretary of State!) had quite a bit of family. We enjoyed a traditional folk dance and finished giving out the last of the 500 or so wheelchairs we had brought. We even gained another Princeton family as Jeremy, Ben, and Carolyn joined us and gave us extra help.
“In this one crazy week, we got to great heights, improved our Spanish, met all kinds of people, heard these inspiring stories about how their family and friends would carry these people who couldn’t walk, and how much this would help the daughter be able to go to school, or the mother who was pregnant again, ate some truly amazing food, stayed at very different hotels, saw every single town square, saw the oldest city in North America (Bandurias), created our own government, and heard about how these very serious men caught sharks and dressed up like priests. It definitely impacted each age group differently, as we had three middle-schoolers, three high-schoolers, and three post-college adults in the 2nd Gen group. For us oldest ones, this trip showed us how we might be in 30 years, and what an impact we could make. It certainly inspired us to push our own college classes to doing a community service project of some kind to correlate with our own reunions. Who knows? Maybe in 5 years, the Princeton Class of ’77 will be doing a joint trip with one of our classes. A lot will happen to us in five years, but one thing is for certain, if we are able to go on this trip again, we will be (yes, Dad, even without you). To the Princeton Class of ’77, thank you so much for allowing us to tag along and sharing your stories, and I sincerely hope that I will get to see you all again before the next trip.”