ArtAndes Blog

Dear Supporter:

Have you been wondering about the Andes?  We have news!  But first a little recap.  When we officially became a non-profit after our grain mill start in Paccha, we had a clear mission: providing quality education and nutritious school meals.  We were green, but had the sense to harvest quality expertise along the way.  We started in Paccha, but added Chaquipampa, Culluhuanca, Hatunpampa, and others along the way.  We let events dictate our timeline.

We have seen increasingly more government participation in the Andean school system, an area historically and vastly underserved. For the past two years, the Ayacucho department has taken over or consolidated our pre-schools one by one. A big hold out was Chaquipampa. There are 25 preschoolers there receiving the best from our Comunidad teachers.  They believe the  government education is inferior.  After this school year ends we have prepared them to make the transition to governmental control with self-advocacy of their needs. 

Teachers typically live in the city of Ayacucho and travel 4 hours by bus the wee hours on Monday, returning home at the end of the week. A “Friday” teacher is hired by Comunidad to teach M-F, 5 days a week. The parents note their attendance and report back to us.  No work, no pay.  In contrast, “Wednesday” teachers are common in this region. Government hired teachers are typically on the Wednesday return bus to Ayacuch.  The poor, often illiterate parents don’t know who to empower themselves to fix a corrupt and broken system.

BUT, things are changing!  Everyone wants a “Friday” teacher now that we have paved the way.  We even marched a group of intrepid foundation supporters from the states into the mayor’s office about 3 years ago and dropped the Wednesday teacher reality on him during a self-serving political event. This year the school board is now sending their own auditors around to check on their teachers…on Fridays!  It is our hope that when we end the school year in December, Chaquipampa & Culluhuanca, the next two schools to merge, will demand committed teachers and they will continue to excel. 

We do know for sure that Chawpiwasi and Patawasi, the two most poor and isolated villages, will not receive anything other than an invitation for their students to make an impossible mountain trek to study elsewhere. With your help, we will continue with them next year with a “Friday” teacher, extra books, supplies and food! We are also committed to building them a real bathroom.

We believe we have enough funds to cover most of next year’s plans, but not anything extra, like a clean and functioning baño.  Since we don’t know yet how much money we might need beyond what we already have in the bank, a pop-up fundraiser seems logical at this point. One expense we can cut is postage.  We need your e-mail address for the progress update! We really want to stay connected. Please send that to info@fundacioncomunidad.org 

Your support has transformed Andean family life.  Many of you have been with us for over a decade. We are stepping aside when we should, and serving another year where we are needed! ( Photos before and after)

Abrazos Fuertísimos,
Comunidad!