Joy’s Peru Blog (1)

THE ADVENTURE BEGINS – PERU HERE I COME

18-06-2008

Universally-loved Birmingham PR queen Joy Stefanicki recently upped sticks to New York, only to lose her new job because of the recession. Undaunted she’s off to Peru to help victims of last year’s earthquake and will be sharing her stories with The Stirrer.

Six months ago I headed to the Big Apple armed with dreams of demonstrating my PR prowess to everyone I came across, convinced I would take the corporate and creative world by storm.

Six months later, the American economy is not what it has been (putting it politely!) and I find myself being made redundant in the wake of a senior client exodus.

So, after the initial despair and crisis of confidence I've decided to take on a new challenge and am venturing to Pisco, Peru - so that I can help in my own small way, the victims of the August 2007 8.0 Eartquake that left some 80,000 people without homes.

I figure that despite losing my job, I've led a blessed life and now its time for me to give something back. This is a very unexpected career break and I have no intention of letting that go completely, I'll be back to take on NYC as soon as I can - but while I have some time, I am very excited to be able to give it to others.

The organisation I am going with has been in Peru since November 2007 and their mission is to: 'employ creative, sustainable solutions that make an immediate impact and directly benefit the people of the area for years to come'.

Since November they have built a number of schools and partnered with international NGO's on projects that have re-housed and rebuilt the areas most affected by the tragedy. It will be many years before the area fully recovers.

I fly out to Lima on the evening of 30 June and I plan to keep you posted on my adventures and share my experiences with you all through this blog. I hope you enjoy and that we can all continue to remember how lucky we are.

We’ll be updating Joy’s progress regularly on The Stirrer, but if you want to read her blog and make a donation to her excellent charity effort, http://www.joyhelpinginperu.blogspot.com