By Alan Harman
Ian McGroarty was our program director in Peru and only employee for the past 2 years. During that time he traveled 1,000s of kilometers on his motorbike and on foot to remote communities in and around the sacred valley. He spent countless nights sleeping on peoples’ floors, eating and drinking with them, listening to them talk of their dreams and aspirations for their children and concerns for their futures. He did not bring any preconceived notions or answers, only an open mind, a kind heart and eventually a love for them. He learned Quechua, the language of these communities and usually the only language that women speak. (I know no other development people in Peru who have taken the time to learn Quechua).
Ian created all of our current community projects. Last weekend he was in Toronto and spent a day up at my cottage with a handful of Alma volunteers. Annie and Marcela are managing two of our partnership projects, Carlos is handling all of our communications and website work and Rebecca is helping me with everything else. We reviewed documents and indicators and did all that organizational stuff. But mostly we listened to Ian talk about the people. He brought our projects to life by sharing photos and stories of all the children in these remote communities. He obviously knows them all very well. I think that everyone there would agree that he has put his heart and soul into these communities and whether our projects succeed or fail its not for lack of intelligence or empathy. For me, it was a very inspiring day up north.