Providing Education for Young Indigenous Peruvians

Earlier this year, Judith joined the Amazon Youth Project and began a new chapter in her education as a nursing student. She made the 3-day journey down the River Napo from her home to the rainforest city of Iquitos and her comfortable new base at our Amazon Youth Hub.

“Amantani’s support is enabling me to become who I want to be in life. I am so grateful. When I come to the Amazon Youth Hub, I feel like I have another family here and I’m not alone.” – Judith

She is excited to be studying nursing, a career that will give her the knowledge and skills to help people in her community when they fall ill: “we have to put all our effort in to do well in our studies, so that we can make people feel better and cure their illnesses.” In the future, she hopes to return to her remote Amazonian community, San Fernando, to care for older people like her grandmother.

Judith’s peer, Paolo, joined our Amazon Youth Project last year and is thriving as a second year nursing student. In the future, he too plans to care for the older members of his community; but first, he wants to finish his technical degree and continue his studies at university.

Paolo shares that Amantani has helped him to make decisions about his next steps: “Being part of this programme means getting to know ourselves better, focusing on our life projects and what we really want to do. It has been an opportunity to reflect and, for me as a teenage boy, to think about being more responsible, more resilient and focus on where I want to get to in life.”

Our Amazon Youth Project is not only changing the lives of young people like Judith and Paolo, but is also paving the way for healthier, happier and more resilient communities in the Amazon region.