TEACHERS are the BACKBONE to EDUCATE GIRLS in Peru

 FIRST: All schools just celebrated the opening of the 2023 Peruvian school year. Our CW girls (110-120 now) are happily back in school again, all dressed up their signature red school uniforms. The prior week we had a lot of work to do.

SECOND: School parents met last week to agree on plans for a little needed TLC, like patching the worn areas on walls of the school with fresh paint; paint individual wooden desks in need of a lift. Our parents organized the work parties and assigned the groups to do the work (see image of father with megaphone), and then got busy. 

THIRD: Our parents manage and are skilled in agriculture and several years ago they cultivated the school grounds to grow the food for the school daily meal program for their daughters. The harvest will take another month and has provided a large harvest for our kitchen in the past.

FORTH: The biggest surprise is that the Ministry of Education is being investigated by Congress for misuse of funds. Several public school buildings will now close for non-use and be repurposed. The 65 desks, chairs, cabinets, teacher desks, and 11 computers must be donated to an approved school. Our 35 year CW member Efrain, is an active board member today, He found all the contacts and helped Ruth acquire all the furniture for our CW org schools. It took 3 large trucks to haul all the furniture to the school, happy happy and smiling all the way. 

In Peru, politics really never takes a vacation.
 Our school bus is busy every am to pick up and after school to return home 110 plus energetic girls to school every day now and away from the protests. The military stroll the streets, mostly empty with small protests around the center of Cusco. Citizens can go to work or buy groceries and turn home. Tourism is quiet - only local tourists from Peru venture to Machu Picchu for now. Government offices are open and employees show up, but do nothing waiting for a new presidental election to happen.

Reality for Ruth and team:
The Maria School has been ready to enroll primary grade boys and girls for more than 2 years. However, 2 yrs of covid at-home school, political strikes and angry protests after the impeachment of a new president, effectively has eliminated a functional Ministry of Education. The renewal of the approved formal  permissions (resubmitted 3 months ago) for Maria are still not signed. Ruth shows up every am at the Min. of Ed hoping to retrieve the signed renewal by the new administrator and is told he is absent-again. Ruth is confident that the will receive this signed renewal and I pray it is so.

Meanwhile Ruth is talking to a list of parents seeking to have their children study at our private tuition-based Maria school asap. Peruvians have had 6 presidents in 6 years, so they understand the political chaos of the moment and why public schools are rated so low - they want their children in a quality private school. You remember that our tuition-based Maria school will financially support both Maria and the CW school for girls for a long successful future going forward and won't be affected by the political hiccoughs.

Normal business in Cusco has been at a standstill since tourism is slow until a new president is elected in Peru. The main economy in Cusco is tourism and therefore the protests and military presence should not last much longer. Our teachers, admin team and students are all safe and have had too much experience navigating the streets safely during a lock-down. The market image shows the market crowd allowed to food shop and Ruth and Gloria are shoping.

PLEASE DONATE       
https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/send-disadvantaged-rural-girls-to-school-in-peru/
THANK YOU

THANKS TO YOU - our supporters - we have kept our school for girls functioning during 2022 and now in 2023. All salaries paid, gas in the school bus and the daily hot meal program filling the tummies of our girls. 

Links:

• Official website of ChicuchasWasi covers 32 years

There are so many changes in the air that it is hard to keep track of them all. All schools in Peru are on summer break until March 2023. Students are home again on Gov. ordered lock-down. Thanks goodness schools are on summer break.

 Chicuchas Wasi never skips a beat, even in a political crisis like this one. Our teachers were already making home visits to see how our students and families were doing when their Pres. Castillo was impeached. They decided to continue to quietly visit their student homes. Teachers helped mothers with paperwork and deepened the connection with families during visit.

 Many neighboring countries in political upheaval:
It is no surprise that Peru is in a major political battle currently too. To copy neighbor south American country's dysfunction seems to be contagious. Peru too is in chaos now! This time not Covid, although it is still around and masks are being used in crowds.
Peru's President Castillo arrested:
He was about to fire the corrupt congress when they impeached him and hauled him away in hand cuffs-charged with corruption. His VP was sworn in as temporary President. 
Protests:
The mountain indigenous peasants who elected Castillo have taken to the streets throwing rocks and sticks in protest in their high mountain villages, spreading to the capital Lima and Cusco to gain attention. The armed military are maintaining control, but the situation is violent. Marshal law with serious evening curfew is in effect. Cusco, Puno, Lima and Arequipa airports are now open with military presence, though they have fewer flights.

Please remember the Chicuchas Wasi girls and donate to their education.

https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/send-disadvantaged-rural-girls-to-school-in-peru/

Reality for Ruth and team:
Ruth was able to get the last flight for her daughters to return to the University in Lima and to buy food for her home under the radar and is now staying home. Violence is having an ugly moment with rocks thrown at government buildings. 

All GOV employees are staying home, so no work is able to be processed. After 5 months of this, CW is still waiting for our signed and stamped documents. They are on some desk somewhere and NOTHING is moving. Upsetting to us, but sadly Peru has had many episodes of political discord over the years -with 5 presidents in 5 years. A new election is what the protestors want and that should happen soon. Better times coming! 

The entire Cusco CW team is safe, our 100+ families are home and using the cell phones again to communicate with their teachers. Ruth and teachers work at home to create the school workbooks for every student subject and grade level to be ready for March 2023 school opening.

Parents managed to go to the school to water their food garden that will be ready for the school lunch in March. Peru suddenly has no rain to water their huge food project so a water tank on wheels was hired. Our garden will again feed our girls.

California effort:
I continue to fundraise here in California - we must keep the CW school on schedule and the Maria school ready to open with the first 2 grades. Ruth is talking to interested parents and spreading the word by phone to stay under the radar until all the documents get signed and in our hands when the Ministry of Ed opens again. It has been 2 years of frustration (The Maria school 2 yr certification document expired during Covid) dealing with strikes, closed Gov. offices and even when open no one is working -a form of protest. I am grateful to our supporters membership and GlobalGiving that we have survived all these ups and downs over 35 years with amazing success for our students.

Thank YOU for supporting education for girls.   
    Many Blessings to us all  

 Maria School business plan to support CW school for girls Soon we will generate good income to support the Maria school as well as the Chicuchas Wasi school for girls as it reaches full student enrollment. 

 Middle class Cusco parents who demand quality private school education for their college bound children, plan to educate them at very competitive foreign and national universities. We really need your donations for this start-up move for longevity success in Peru. This is the perfect business for CW.org as the demand is high here. Covid permanently closed down many private schools that were functioning unregulated in small rented buildings before Covid. The CW Maria school is a beautiful modern and colorful primary school built to deliver quality education and welcomed by the Ministry of Education.

Meanwhile please help us keep the CW girls school open. Until the Maria School enrollment is generating enough income, we will still need your support to maintain the Chicuchas Wasi School for girls that we continue to deliver at no charge to our poor families. Please see PIE and donate. Thank you so much for the gift of education for girls. See images of CW Girls school and the new Maria School

 Chicuchas Wasi School for Girls says

           THANK YOU
Your continued support makes the difference!

 CW's future when the (tuition-based ) 'Maria Tuition School' classes are filled, will be self-supporting. Covid upset our plans to open the Maria school in 2020 due to strict lock-down. We will begin enrolling Maria School's new students asap for the new school year 2023. The political unrest in Peru will pass, as it always does, in time for school again.

NOTE: Thank you all for hanging in there with us. We have a little way to go yet but the impact of our work is self evident in the success of our girls...some are at the university today.

 Read the CW STORY

"JUMP ON THE LOVE TRAIN"
a fundraiser to EDUCATE GIRLS
WWW.chicuchaswasi.org/book/
100% of the proceeds go to the school
Thank you

Links:

• Official Chicuchas Wasi website