Peru Trekking Local Community Donations

In many areas of the Cordillera Blanca and Cordillera Huayhuash there are families and children living in poor conditions, with very basic housing, no medical care, many hours walk from the closest school or village, inadequate diet, and no available cash to buy clothes, school books and pens.

Each year Peruvian Andes Adventures makes a donation from trekking trips income to offer some aid to one of the poorer communities in areas where we operate treks or climbing trips. Also donations of either money or clothes from clients are also very welcome and we ensure that they go towards a worthy cause

The donation is used to purchase warm clothes for children in the poorest communities or to supply notebooks, pens and pencils for the schools or another project that will benefit the community, principally the children. Many families do not have the cash to buy new, warm clothes or school supplies for their children or communities do not have the resources to make small basic improvements to infrastructure such as to maintain schools, build toilets, rubbish disposal facilities etc.

Funds are used to purchase warm clothes for children in the poorest communities and to supply notebooks, pens and pencils for the schools or another project that will benefit the community. Many families do not have the cash to buy new, warm clothes or school supplies for their children or communities do not have the resources to make small basic improvements to infrastructure such as to maintain schools, build toilets, rubbish disposal facilities etc.

At the termination of the trekking season each year, we select a community to visit and distribute clothes and school supplies to the children or work on some other project that will benefit the community.

Funds donated by Peruvian Andes Adventures and donations received from clients are accounted for in a separate fund and records are available for inspection, and we will have photos from our visits to the local communities each year.

Peruvian Andes Adventures has contributed to communities from trekking profits:

Trek Season:     Donation

2016                   US$246
2015                   US$376
2013 / 2014       US$1254
2012                   US$818
2011                   US$950
2010                   US$630
2009                   US$1000
2008                   US$1000
2007                   US$800
2006                   US$360

IIn Huaraz we only have a four to four and a half month trekking season, with the rest of the year being the wetter months resulting in very few of no groups, compared to Cusco where there is substantial tourism numbers all the year. We are only a small company and because of this our Community Fund donations are modest in comparison to some of the large schemes other agencies based in Cusco are able to operate. Even though it may be in a modest way, we are honoured to be able to contribute something back to the local people who live in or near the areas where trekking groups operate and the communities do seem to appreciate that we make the effort to think of them

PERUVIAN ANDES ADVENTURES COMMUNITY SUPPORT:

Peruvian Andes Adventures has contributed funds for the following modest community projects or donations:

2016
We made a Christmas visit to the primary school of Copa Chica located in a remote area at the base of Copa mountain. The children here do not often get to Huaraz or any of the larger towns away from their village and only have basic living conditions, so we decided to treat them with a Christmas party with cake and a gift for each children of a warm jacket and a school pencil case with pencils

Eli distributing Christmas gifts                                                       Party Cake Yum!

2015
Hisao and Ami visited the primary school at the village of Pashpa and took school supplies for the children including note books, pencils and pans, some educational games and hand towels for each child. Pashpa Village is at the entrance to the climbing area of the Ishinca Valley and many of our donkey drivers have children or grandchildren who attend the local school.

2014
We donated several rubbish drums which were put at the entrance to some of the most popular treks in the Cordillera Blanca. The National Park do not provide rubbish facilities on any of the trek routes and we hoped that by placing rubbish drums at the entrance to treks that we can help keep the local environment cleaner

*Pitec (Quillqueyhuanca Valley)
*Cashapampa & Vaqueria (Santa Cruz trek)
*Hualcayan (Alpamayo Trek)
*Llaca (Vallunaraju & rock climbing)

2013
The primary school at Cashapampa where the famous Santa Cruz Llanganuco trek starts from and where many of our donkey driver live desperately needed some new furniture. The school has student desks but there were almost no chairs for the poor children to sit on!

 

                                                      Cashapampa School

Our Peruvian Andes Adventures team travelled to Cashapampa to deliver to the 50 new chairs which were very gratefully received during a ceremony held at the school. The kids are VERY happy to now be able to study in comfort. A BIG THANK YOU to all our clients who booked treks with us in 2012 season – your support enables us to continue with our community initiatives.

                                                                   Special delivery!!

2012
At the finish of the 2011 season we purchased a bulk quantity of 80 warm wool blankets. In January Eli Morales & a small team of volunteers went into Huaripampa village close to Vaqueria the end of the Santa Cruz Trek. In conjunction with community leaders, some of the most impoverished families with children were gathered at the local community centre and warm blankets given to the children.

                                                                      Happy Children with Warm Blankets

2010 / 2011
We constructed a second toilet in the Cordillera Huayhuash. This time in Quartelhuain – with the help of some of our loyal Llamac arrieros.
The Cordillera Huayhuash is not in a National Park but instead falls under the control of the various communities that live there. There is no cohesion between the communities and no joint strategy to manage the fragile recourses and environment of the Cordillera Huayhuash. With all guidebooks now touting the Huayhuash to be one of the “Classic Trekking Circuits” of the world, numbers of trekkers are increasing rapidly and there are no controls or services in the area. There are no toilets or rubbish disposal facilities, groups either dig toilet holes to bury waste with many campsites now becoming full of partially filled toilet holes, or worse still many groups make no effort to bury waste, soiling the areas around campsites.
Peruvian Andes Adventures liaised with the local community leader at Jahuacocha and obtained agreement that if we built a toilet at the campsite, they would maintain and clean it.
The first toilet that we built at Laguna Jahuacocha in 2009 was well received by both the Jahuacocha Community and trekkers.

2009 / 2010: Unchos Village Water & Sewage Scheme
The village of Unchus is located in the east of Huaraz, on the way to the very famous and well known Laguna Churup Lake and Nevado Churup Mountain. With a population of 600 in habitants, the economy of the village is based in agriculture, cattle and tourism. Many of our Peruvian Andes Adventures guides, cooks and porters live in Unchos. In 2004 the village started construction of a water and sewage scheme but work was not completed due to lack of planning for the population growth of the village and shortage of funds to construct an expanded scheme necessary to meet the population growth.
After a long wait and much political bickering, during which time the villagers were without a reliable running water supply or sewage removal, work on the scheme has started again, but the villagers and their supporters must fund most of the work and supply the labour themselves and have been actively fundraising.
More than 50 families will benefit from this project after a long wait.
The total cost of the project is 760,000 Peruvian Soles, about US$265,000.

Peruvian Andes Adventures is continuing it’s policy of returning some trek profits back into local communities and donated 65 drainage pipes, at a estimated cost of US$1000

Locals receiving our donation of drainage pipes and work on Unchus Water & Sewage Scheme

2008 / 2009 : We built our first toilet in Cordillera Huayhuash
Eli Morales coordinated the project, and in February 2009 Eli and some of our Llamac donkey drivers worked hard in the rain to finish building a nice, new and clean toilet.

 

Under Construction Almost Finished / Clean Toilet!

2008: Warm Clothes for Huarca Children
Huarca is a small village situated at 3700m at the foot of Huandoy mountain. It has a population of around 500 people living in scattered small houses and the principle means of earning a living is from subsistence farming on small marginally economic farm plots. The village is away from the trekking routes and so does not receive any income or benefits from tourism.

     Distributing Clothes in Huarca Village

We donated good quality fleece suits with jackets and trousers to 130 school children in the area.

2007: Clothes for Children in Shongo Valley
We visited a local community in the Shongo Valley that is on the Olleros to Chavin trekking route. Families and children here live in very poor conditions, with very basic housing, in many cases no schooling and no health care. We distributed a large quantity of fleece jackets and school supplies to children there.

Happy Kids with New Clothes

Client Donations:
In 2006 the fund was started with a very generous donation of US$240 from Peter and Mariane Tanner from Switzerland and we have received further generous donations from:
*Veronica Piekosz from the UK (cash donation)
*Kate Mansell from the USA (cash donation)
*Steve Palman from the USA (cash donation)
*Heather & Matt from Canada (Fleeces & clothes, sent from Canada two times)
*Yuzo Kobori from Japan (cash plus a big box of School Equipment)
*Mirjam & Bjorn from Germany who donated several hundred dollars to help a poor family in Huaripampa Valley
*Rob & Gillian Mason from the UK (cash donation)
*Plus a special sponsorship from a group in the USA (see below)

To give you an idea of how far even a modest donation will go to help some disadvantaged children: US$100 can buy: *12 excellent quality warm and durable fleece jackets or 550 pens or 120 notebooks

AMAZING GENEROSITY!
Our friends from the USA Rosalie Hilburn, , Nancy Rathe , their other friends and members of the Federal Way Lions Club along with Mark Jedlinski showed extreme generosity in fundraising and accumulating a substantial sum of money which they donated to form the basis of an Education Fund for our delightful young Josue. Josue helped as a porter during a trek with this group in 2007 and they were impressed by his responsible attitude and helpfulness, something quite unusual in a young 17 year old. Josue has burning ambition to study, gain tertiary qualifications and hopefully later join the police force, but he lacked the necessary funds to undertake his studies. Josue comes from a village where there are limited educational and work opportunities and his Dad recently passed away. Josue wishes to obtain a career which will enable him to help out his mum and younger sister & nieces who also live with Josue’s mum. The extreme kindness of this group of friends will enable Josue to fulfil his ambition and enrol & complete his tertiary studies.
In August Nancy was back in Huaraz and we had a small celebration where Nancy presented the donation to Josue and his happy mum.

Nancy, Josue and Josue’s Mum with Nancy making a presentation to Josue

Update: Josue has undertaken an apprenticeship with a local carpenter and is producing beautiful hand made furniture and joinery. Thanks to his study fund he has been able to buy all his own tools and equipment and he has now started his own furniture making business
Josue with some of his craft work

                                                Josue with some of his craft work

A BIG Thank You To All Those Nice People !!

We at Peruvian Andes Adventures are very happy to facilitate and manage any sponsorship or aid that clients would like to offer to a young person, child, family or community within our area.

Contact us for more information On our Peru Trekking Community Aid Project.

 

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