Free education for 60 deprived children in Peru

The lock-down in Peru has loosened significantly. However, the government is still not reopening schools or allowing children to travel far from their homes, meaning Picaflor House cannot yet reopen. But since our staff are have more flexibility, we are still able to assist our students in what ways we can.

We have identified the families of Picaflor who have been hardest hit economically by the pandemic and will be gathering produce and other food items to deliver to them. Many are single mothers or households where one or both parents have lost their jobs due to the situation, and we want to make sure they have the access to healthy meals that the students would otherwise have at Picaflor House.

Moving Forward

 As we await guidelines from the Peruvian government to let us know when we can open our doors, we are already making sure that we will be able to do so safely, taking best health practices and social distancing into account. As parents are slowly able to return to work, our students may be left at home alone or caring for younger siblings, which is why it is important that we do open our doors as soon as we can.  We hope to have more details for you with our next update.

Thank you for taking the time to read our update, and as always, thank you for your continued, invaluable support. If you would like to donate, and we hope you do, please visit our page to do so!

The circumstances regarding COVID-19 are affecting the entire world, and Picaflor House is no exception. The entire country of Peru is under mandatory lock-down and quarantine, meaning we’ve had to close Picaflor’s doors until further notice. Our children and staff are home with their families, as all schools and most places of work have also been suspended.

We hope that these measures will help quell the crisis quickly, and that when the government re-assesses the quarantine in a few weeks, we will be allowed to re-open Picaflor. We keep an eye on the news daily, looking for updates and awaiting instructions regarding any changes in the situation.

Now our children will need support more than ever!

We will open our doors back up as soon as we can, and when our children return, we need to be able to provide them with the educational and nutritional support that they rely on us for. And after weeks of uncertainty, they will be looking for the familiarity and security that Picaflor House provides. Many non-profits will be hard-hit in the coming months, as the world’s economies are already being drastically affected. If it is within your means to donate to Picaflor House, we would be immensely grateful. Our children will need our support now, more than ever.

Until our next update…

We hope that our next report brings news of our re-opened facilities and re-booted activities. For now, please keep yourselves and your families healthy – and be sure to wash your hands!

The holidays are officially upon us, and the 2019 school year is coming to a close in Peru. Last Friday, the children, teachers, and interns at Picaflor house, as well as the Globalteer Peru staff, gathered to celebrate Christmas and have a bit of year-end fun!

This year at the annual “Chocolatada” – a Peruvian tradition where communities share Panetón (a sweet bread that contains candied fruits) and hot chocolate – the children took turns rotating through different activity stations in groups.  There were Christmas-themed games, holiday card-making, a short movie, and of course everyone got to have their panetón and hot chocolate!

But the highlight of the day though was an appearance made by a special visitor – Papa Noel!  He gave out gifts of new clothes and toys to each of the children, and everyone got to give him a big hug and chat with him about their Christmas wishes. Overall the day was quite a success, filled with smiles, laughter, and excitement for the coming holidays. We’d like to thank our loyal supporters at Southern Crossings in Peru for making this year’s Chocolatata possible!

While the public-school year is wrapping up, Picaflor House will still be up and running over the summer break in January and February, ensuring that the kids in our community still have a safe place to play and learn. We look forward to updating you in a few months about what we’ll have going on in 2020!

Volunteers

We’d like to give a shout out to the volunteers we have had since our last update. A very big thank you to Pam, Tony, Areatha, and Choi! Our work at Picaflor House simply wouldn’t be possible without your assistance and support! Thank you for joining us in Peru!

 Thank you for taking the time to read our update, and as always, thank you for your continued, invaluable support. We wish all of you Happy Holidays and a prosperous new year in 2020!

We have very exciting news! In August, thanks to a generous donor, we were able to build a brand-new playground for Picaflor! For weeks, the children watched the construction on the grounds, and the anticipation built every day. They were very patient, and this patience was finally rewarded during the last week of the month when the new park as open for play! The smiles and laughter have been continuous every afternoon since!

The new park comes complete with a new set of swings, a new seesaw, a rope bridge, and a roller slide! It was all designed and constructed by local builders from the area, allowing us to give back to our community in more way than one. The new setup is larger and safer than what has been present for the last several years. It’s an upgrade our hard-working students certainly deserve!

Farewell to Emily

Emily, who had been working with us for the last several months as an NGO assistant intern, sadly had to leave us at the beginning of September, as her internship time ended. She did excellent work for Picaflor house and helped us develop a new Child Protection Module for the children of Oropesa. We’ll have more about that for you in our next update. So stay tuned! It’s something of which we’re quite proud and excited for.

Volunteers

We’d like to give a shout out to the volunteers we have had since our last update. A very big thank you to Yucheng, the Hartshorn family, Nicki, Tuvia, and Jessica! Our work at Picaflor House simply wouldn’t be possible without your assistance and support! Thank you for joining us in Peru!

Thank you for taking the time to read our update, and as always, thank you for your continued, invaluable support. If you would like to donate, and we hope you do, please visit our page to do so!

Last month at Picaflor House, we had the honour to welcome two new teaching interns into our programme! Emily comes to us from New Zealand and Xin from the United States. We are very excited to have them on board for a few months, and they are bringing with them much knowledge, experience, and great new ideas for our students! Along with assisting the students with their English, both Xin and Emily will be teaching supplementary courses.

Xin, who is fluent in Mandarin Chinese, will be giving Mandarin lessons! This will be unlike anything the students have experienced before, but in a region like Cusco where international tourism is the largest industry, it is sure to be valuable for any student who wishes to work with tourists professionally in the future. In addition to the English they are already learning, knowing Mandarin could open many doors. Though this will only be an introductory course, we hope it will inspire some students to continue the study of this and other languages!

Emily will be working with the students in a Child Protection course, making sure they are fully involved in our overall Child Protection Policy. This is extremely important, as all children should be aware of their rights, their value, their voice, and what they should do if they ever feel violated. Children all over the world are at risk for exploitation and abuse, and it is our duty to protect them. This includes educating them about personal boundaries, recognizing abuse, and ways of keeping themselves safe. We are dedicated to Child Protection at Picaflor House, and this supplemental course is invaluable for our students.

Upcoming in 2019

We are looking forward to welcoming the annual Durham University Charities Kommitte (DUCK) group at the end of this month! They are always a joy to have on our grounds and help us with so many in-house projects. We’re sure to have much to share with you about their visit in our next update.

And perhaps most exciting for the children – we are going to be building a new playground soon! Be sure to follow our Facebook and Instagram pages for photos and updates!

Volunteers

We’d like to give a shout out to the volunteers we have had since our last update. A very big thank you to Elin, Hanna, Deirdre, Vincent, Harshil, John, Nirekh, Ravi, and the Huffaker Family! Our work at Picaflor House simply wouldn’t be possible without your assistance and support! Thank you for joining us in Peru!

Thank you for taking the time to read our update, and as always, thank you for your continued, invaluable support. If you would like to donate, and we hope you do, please visit our page to do so!