As part of a continuing partnership with Right To Play, an international humanitarian organization which uses sport and play programs to improve the lives of children and communities worldwide, three of Team Columbia-HTC’s athletes traveled to Peru to raise awareness of some of the programs set up there by Right To Play.   Ina-Yoko Teutenberg [GER], Craig Lewis [USA] and newly-signed Evelyn Stevens [USA], along with staff member Helge Riepenhof [GER] made the adventure to Lima and on to rural Huarez and the remote villages of El Pinar, Llata and Machac to meet the children and teachers in the schools and to help raise awareness for the programs in the area.

"It was great to have Team Columbia-HTC team member’s travel to Peru to visit the children in our programs,” commented Martin Barnard, Right To Play’s Manager of Global Sports Partnerships.  “The riders shared smiles, laughter, and learning with hundreds of children in remote villages, and saw how sport and play can make a huge impact on their daily lives."

"The trip was an amazing experience,” said Teutenberg. “We had such warm welcomes wherever we went. Thousands of people came out to greet us in the towns and villages. Going into these remote villages and seeing the sparks in the kids’ and teachers’ eyes when we arrived was overwhelming. The program is really well received in Peru and seeing it firsthand was fantastic."

Sixty-five per cent of the population of Peru lives in extreme poverty, including 2.7 million children. Approximately two million children under age 16 are forced to work, and literacy and numeracy results are among the lowest in the world. Moreover, only 7 out of 10 children in rural areas complete primary school.

Right To Play introduced its programs to Peru in December of 2008 and has rapidly expanded to work with 26 schools. The program has trained 166 teachers and community coaches and reached 33,000 children.  Using a community-based model of program delivery, Right To Play Peru has established and strengthened Early Childhood Education programs, contributed toward existing physical education programs in primary and secondary schools and worked on promoting leadership development in secondary school students.

“Team Columbia-HTC has been working with Right To Play for the past two years, but I was still a little unsure of how important Right To Play is to the communities it supports,” said Lewis. “It is one of those things you have to see to believe. Being in Peru was certainly life-changing for me as well as all of those the Right To Play program reaches. It was amazing to see how much of a positive impact Right To Play has had on those lives.”

“Having the opportunity to visit the Right to Play programs in the beautiful communities of Machac and Llata allowed us to understand how RTP is really having an impact on the children,” said Stevens. “Both the children and the schools have embraced the RTP program, by having access to sport and play the kids are able to develop self confidence and respect for themselves and others.   “It was an amazing experience to get off the bus after a seven-hour ride and be greeted with a parade involving the entire community of Llata,” she added. “Sport has always played a major role in shaping my life and I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to travel with the RTP to Peru to share my love of sport with the children and to see how sport and play is having a positive impact on their lives. This trip was an eye-opening and heartwarming experience and I look forward to working with the Right to Play in the future.”