Empowering Indigenous Girls in the Peruvian Amazon

Miguel Ángel is part of Enseña Perú’s leadership program, and this year he’s teaching Math, Science, and Tutoring to first-year secondary students at I.E. Teets Tseje, located in the Awajún community of Nazareth, in Imaza, Amazonas.

At the beginning of the school year, Miguel Ángel noticed that many of his students had never had direct contact with scientific materials. Science, to them, was an abstract concept—something they saw in books, but never touched or felt.

That’s when he decided to do something different: together with his students, they organized the school’s storage room, a closed-off space that had been forgotten for years. When they opened it, they made an unexpected discovery: handheld microscopes, stored away and still in good condition.

"Teacher, this works!" they exclaimed in awe.

That moment marked the beginning of a transformative experience. For the first time, students explored the world from a new perspective—examining leaves, hair, insects, and fabrics. They uncovered the invisible. Science became tangible, close, and exciting.

What Miguel Ángel and his students found was more than just a microscope—it was a new way of learning and a source of wonder. They discovered that knowledge belongs to them too, and that even in schools facing great challenges, there are resources and opportunities waiting to be rediscovered.

This story reminds us that educational change is born from curiosity, from looking beyond the obvious, and from believing in the power of collective effort to transform reality.

With your help, we’re creating lasting change—one moment of discovery, one inspired student at a time.