Pisco sin Fronteras (Pisco, Peru), 2007-12
Burners Without Borders
(A Burning Man Project)
Jefe and Kelly Greenheart (Circus Picnic Studios),
HD video, 10:13 minutes
On August 15, 2007, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake devastated Peru, destroying 80% of the homes in Pisco, killing around 600, and displacing 50,000. The earthquake left many people living in makeshift housing made of cardboard and scrap wood. Burners Without Borders volunteers travelled to Pisco almost immediately after the Burning Man 2007 event and started to get involved.
A year later, in 2008, Pisco sin Fronteras (PSF) was born. This local NGO, run by both international volunteers and locals, started to extend BWB’s work. Thousands of volunteers from 23 nations joined in, as did established groups such as Doctors without Borders and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Over six years, volunteers worked to build homes, schools, and sanitation systems. They introduced earthbag building techniques and biodiesel energy to the region. They created educational opportunities for studying English and circus arts and learning about the ecological dangers of dynamite fishing.
Burners Without Borders is a grassroots, volunteer-driven, community leadership program, and part of the Burning Man Project. Its goal is to unlock the creativity of local communities and solve problems that bring about meaningful change. BWB promotes activities around the globe that support a community's inherent capacity to thrive by encouraging innovative relief solutions and community resiliency projects that make a positive impact. BWB believes that people have the inherent capacity to solve their own problems and that social transformation is within reach of all communities. Founded by Burning Man participants who instinctively gathered in the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster zone, BWB has grown into a dynamic, international, community-activation endeavor. Since its inception, BWB has participated in over 123 projects in 29 countries – from fostering entrepreneurship in Haiti with marginalized artists, to an award-winning alternative currency system for Kenya’s poorest. There are 26 active BWB chapters across the US, Canada, and Australia, which are known for the unbridled creativity its members bring to every civic project they initiate. You need not participate in Burning Man to be Burner without Borders. Burning Man Project brings experiences to people in grand, awe-inspiring and joyful ways that lift the human spirit, address social problems, and inspire a sense of culture, community and personal engagement.