Eco-Surf Volunteers. Photo Courtesy ESV
Sam Bailey was surfing his way up the western coast of Peru last year, taking advantage of the warm waters and hospitality. Crossing into Ecuador, he traveled through beach towns in various stages of development, and arrived in the small town of Canoa on the north coast.
Bailey noticed that in many of the villages, big companies had set up hotels and restaurants without concern for the natural environment or local customs. The fishing village of Canoa, which also catered to surfers, was fairly undeveloped, with most roads still unpaved and electricity that goes out every once in a while. It was obvious to Bailey that tourism was coming to Canoa, but he hoped he could help the villagers build their industry on their own terms.
His idea was to start a camp where college-aged students could learn to surf and take on environmental projects. “Surfing is a solitary sport. Surfers don’t see beyond themselves when they return to the beach,” Bailey says. To change that dynamic, he approached Daniel Velasco, a town leader and fellow surfer who runs a “posada,” or “small hotel,” in Canoa. According to Bailey, Velasco initially feared this was just another way to exploit the village. But Bailey convinced Velasco of his sincerity and assured him the groups would patronize locally-owned hotels and restaurants, spending money in the local economy. Also, each group member would donate money to the local grade school. Velasco agreed to introduce Bailey to the community and helped facilitate what became Eco-Surf Volunteers.
Eco-Surf Volunteers with local children. Photo Courtesy ESV
The local grade school, La Escuela los Algarrobos (named after a kind of native tree), includes English as a Second Language and environmental education in its curriculum. Eco-Surf Volunteer participants facilitate arts and crafts sessions to give the students a chance to practice their English. Moya Foley, the school administrative and financial director, a Canadian who has lived in Ecuador for 30 years, says that the financial donation helped complete some construction on two new classrooms, and the volunteers “worked their butts off moving dirt, sanding, painting and generally doing whatever we needed done.” The volunteers’ hard work — about four hours a day — is rewarded with daily surf lessons given by local.
In addition to helping out at the school, the volunteers lead the village children on beach clean-ups. “I think the most important thing the volunteers take back to their countries as an experience, is the cultural immersion they have and the contact with the community,” says Velasco. He was particularly satisfied with the impression the volunteers made on the children. “They are used to seeing tourists partying or laying on the beach reading,” but through Eco-Surf Volunteers, they “see the volunteers working on the school activities, [doing] beach cleanups and collecting garbage on the street.”
The programs have been a big hit with the children, involving both students from La Escuela los Algarrobos and others from Canoa. “The first day we had about 20 kids and on the last day we had 90!” says Foley. They are “looking forward to the volunteer’s return. They stop me on the street, the older ones, and ask me when they are coming back.”
Bailey is planning several more camps through 2010, but envisions the people of Canoa eventually taking over operation of the camps themselves: “The town is still discovering what is needed. They want progress, but want to do it in a careful way. The biggest concern is developing the tourist industry while maintaining cultural identity.”
Eco-Surf Volunteers
Our leader today is Amitabh Singh, donor relations manager of 
After lunch we head to 
In early January 2007, I boarded an early morning flight from Minneapolis. While boarding the plane bound for Lima, a woman asked in broken English where I was going. I told her I was serving as an international volunteer in Ayacucho, Peru. She said, “It’s very poor there.” That is precisely why I chose to spend two weeks working with orphans in Ayacucho, and it was a trip of a lifetime.
That experience galvanized a passion inside me. I realized that my professional career of marketing financial services for a nationwide banking company was no longer satisfying. Instead, spending my life and talents doing something to make the lives of orphans and poor children just a little bit brighter was what I was built to do.
My work now involves building support and creating a solid donor base, getting the word out, and mobilizing volunteers around the world to host events that spread the word and raise funds. Once people hear about the children and their needs, they often want to do something to help. At a House To House Wine Tasting Informational meeting last November, about 26 friends and family gathered to learn about the mission. One attendee was so touched by the needs of the orphans at our first House to House event that she asked her manager if he’d consider hosting an event to raise funds for an orphanage on the site. He agreed, and the 1st Annual Charity 6K Walk/Run is scheduled for February 21. 
Kadeeja’s family lives in the Kurdish area of northern Iraq. They are shoemakers, weavers of “klash,” a handmade shoe common in the region. They sell their shoes at the local market, and some are bought by 
Preemptive Love agreed to take on Kadeeja’s case. This meant finding funding to pay for the surgery and related care, as well as for travel to a country where the surgery could be performed. It also meant arranging the surgery, aftercare, visas, transport and accommodation. She was a high-risk patient who had in fact been previously turned down for surgery. Nonetheless, Preemptive Love managed to arrange for Kadeeja’s treatment with a hospital in Turkey. And so, with all the excitement of a 16 year-old leaving her home country for the first time, Kadeeja set off in mid January, 2009. The surgery was a complete success, and on February 2, 2009, she returned home healthy and ready to begin a new life unrestrained by illness.
Saving lives by repairing hearts is the core of Preemptive Love’s mission. There are, however, other advantages to the organization’s work. Successfully transporting a child to another country for major surgery requires a great deal of cooperation from a great number of people. With Preemptive Love’s work, this cooperation often occurs across divisions that are commonly regarded as insuperable barriers. The Kurdish people have been at odds with Turkey for years, yet Kadeeja, a Kurdish child, was saved by Turkish doctors. Preemptive Love has funded surgeries for Iraqi children in Israeli hospitals, allowing Jewish doctors to save Muslim children. Americans, Iraqis, Israelis, and Turks end up being simply people, not adversaries, working together to save lives. Given the long history of conflict in the region and the recent wars, anything that encourages cooperation and minimizes divisions is a blessing. When these actions save children’s lives it is a true gift indeed.
After lunch we flash our pre-registration cards at 
