It is not easy. Alejandro may be young and athletic, but that does not mean that every night, back from work and at the foot of the first step of the steep stairs that will lead him home, it is difficult for him to take the last impulse. But she waits for him upstairs, and that's enough. Also, from there the view is spectacular; and it is even more so from the viewpoint that they have built in front of her door. Once there, you will see San Juan de Lurigancho illuminated; and, closer, a few steps away, the little field that his community had so hard to finish.
Alejandro has been in the family group 2 de Noviembre de Las Flores for four years, the esplanade where adults and children play today was still a heap of rocks. It seemed like an impossible goal, he remembers.
“It was so hard that people wanted to throw in the towel. Then work quotas were established and progress was made faster.”
His parents have come to visit from his native Tarapoto. They were shocked to have to go up. In his land it is not like that. He smiles, he is young and sporty, he is used to it.
It was his partner who encouraged him to leave the room they rented in La Victoria, it was also she who gave him the idea of hanging a hammock in the viewpoint of his home, it is now she who manages the beverage business that they have started. They are not parents yet. As his community sports secretary, he manages the times so that everyone can enjoy the field. Sometimes adults complain because Alejandro makes sure the children's time is respected. Everyone has the same rights, he is convinced of it.
They have been enjoying it for a couple of years. At first, they only did it until six in the afternoon, because from then on, everything was dark. Today is different, even for Father's Day they held their first championship without worrying about the lack of access to energy. Today they have public lighting and luminaires in the four corners of this field where memorable matches have begun to be played. Of course, respecting all the protocols, each player wearing his mask well on. If not, red card!
Having the stairs illuminated gives them security, says the sports secretary. There is no longer a fall hazard from groping, no more fractured neighbors. Progress here is increasing.
And so that football is not the only thing that girls and boys practice here, he has already announced that they will buy a volleyball net.
He may be young and athletic, but like everyone else, it is difficult for him to climb more than a hundred meters of steep stairs. He stops once, twice to rest. But now it is different: the darkness is over.