Education & nutrition for children in Peru

I hope all is well. The school is back up and running and we have had a great couple of months thanks to your generous donations. The classrooms only suffered minimal damage after the recent unprecedented storms which wreaked havoc in the region.

As we do each year we have provided the personalised text and work books to all the children in all six grades for the year. These include maths and literacy. As there is only one teacher for two grades this means the children can get on with work whilst the teacher is occupied with their other class. They can also take the books away each day to do homework.

The school was given a new paint job for the first time in a few years and the students got involved in the potato harvest which is helping to boost the daily food programme.

Over the years we have taken in students whose families have migrated to Arequipa in a desperate bid to find work though have been thwarted by lack of education and available jobs and end up in the outskirts where our school is situated eeking out a living in the chakras (Incan-irrigated arable farms) when seasonal work is available. We recently welcomed two new students who spent almost a week travelling overland with their family from Bolivia.

Sadly due to the current geopolitical situation in the Middle East and the subsequent steep rises in airfares the participants for our 20th Anniversary Challenge next month have diminished, with just three of us taking it on (luckily we bought flights early!). The annual Impington School trip has also been postponed. Obviously the lack of fundraising that both trips would have generated will affect the projects and demonstrates how decisions made in one part of the world can have negative impacts in other parts of the world. It also highlights once again that it is the poorest people who inadvertently suffer when they have nothing to do with the decision-making. 

Though there is a silver lining! To help celebrate our 20th Anniversary working in Perú, an extremely generous donor who has supported our work since the start and is aware of the current situation will be matching each individual donation up to £1,000 ($1,300) by an incredible 50%. The matching will be available from now until after the Charity Challenge at the end of July. Please note, this is not part of a GlobalGiving matching campaign - it is entirely separate.

For example, if you can donate £50 ($65) to this page today an additional £25 ($32) will be added. If you’re a UK taxpayer then we will also receive £25 Gift Aid so £50 becomes £100 so please remember to tick the Gift Aid box when you donate!

The funds raised between now and the end of July will go towards the school’s running costs, including our local teacher Edy Luz, the fruit and food programme and also expanding the current kitchen area which is currently tucked away at the end of one of the classrooms. We plan to turn one of the classrooms into a communal area with a new kitchen and all the plumbing that this entails. This will allow the other classroom where the kitchen was to be expanded. We also hope to build a storeroom for all the materials we have accumulated over the years.  

Thank you so much for anything you can donate today as we aim to reach our target and we'll keep you posted on how the school is coming along in the next couple of months.

Cheers

I hope all is well with you. We are gearing up to the start of our twentieth new school year this month and as always we will have our local teacher Edy Luz and also be providing the students with individual text and work books. We will also be giving them daily fruit and extra food when needed, depending on what the government sends each month after last year’s cancellation of the national food programme. We also have the vegetables from the garden. The recent rains thankfully didn't affect the families or the school though did cause chaos in the region. 

A really exciting opportunity for the projects starts today (Tuesday 17th March) with GlobalGiving matching all donations up to $50 (£38) by 50% from now until Friday 20th March whilst funds last and we want to take this opportunity to achieve something specific together. Please be aware that the matching funds do run out quite quickly so please donate today or early tomorrow to take full advantage. Also, the matching only applies once per individual donor.

To celebrate our twentieth anniversary, we hope to raise £2,000 ($2,300) to build a school kitchen and purchase the necessary equipment and supplies for the food programme. The kitchen is currently tucked away in a small space at one end of a classroom so by building a separate spacious kitchen it is obviously great for the mums who prepare the food though also for the students who will have a bigger classroom. It’s also good for health and safety obviously and won’t distract the students each day with the tempting smells seeping into the classroom.  

For example, if you can donate £10 to this page today, GlobalGiving will add £5 more. If you’re a UK taxpayer then £2.50 Gift Aid will also be added increasing your £10 donation to £17.50. One hundred and fifteen donations of £10 = a fully functioning school kitchen in Perú! Obviously if you can donate more, even better.

Thank you so much for anything you can donate today as we aim to reach our target and we'll keep you posted on how the school is coming along in the next couple of months.

Cheers