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 We
believe in giving back to the communities we visit, and we do it in
a unique way that we think you'll really like. Many tour companies
pledge to give a certain amount of sales to certain organizations,
but you as customers never actually see this happening. On a So uthern
Crossings trip, you do! As a matter of fact, you can give it
yourself. One percent of our trip price goes to a children's charity
which you can visit on your trip. (If you don't have time to stop
by, we still give the money...) So if your trip costs $2000, we'll
give $20 of that to the charity when we visit. This way, you're not
just passing through, you're actually making a difference!
The
organization we work with in Cuzco is Peru's Challenge, at
www.peruschallenge.com
A visit during your tour is a great way to spend a half day and a
great way to see the "real Peru".
PERU'S CHALLENGE
Sustainability is key to all Peru’s Challenge’s work. We commit to
working
with a community for a period of three to five years and formulate a
plan
to allow us to decrease our involvement over time, and leave the
community
fully self sufficient at the end of our partnership. Working in
this way,
and with your help, we’ve been able to achieve the following in the
Pumarmarca community over the last three years:
OUR RESULTS IN PUMAMARCA SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY
Community
• Assisted in installation of working drainage system to make
collection of water more effective for families
• Creation of Workshop group for Mothers in the community to
attend and learn craft skills such as weaving, knitting and
jewellery making. Attendance has increased from 23 to 195, in two
years.
• Established partnerships with visiting tour groups to exhibit
workshop produce to sell to visitors and generate an income for the
community
Education
• Increase from 13 students to 150 at local community primary
school in
the last two years.
• Commendation from Department of Education and acknowledgement
of
Pumamarca as ambassador school
• Commitment from Dept of Education to fund five teachers and to
increase
this to eight by 2010
• Building of eight classrooms, in conjunction with the community
in order
to allow for increased attendance
• Run successful volunteer programme, with volunteers teaching
English,
art and Physical Education at the school in conjunction with local
teachers who cover the local curriculum
Hygiene at the school
• Installation of a water reservoir at the school to provide safe
drinking
water
• Installation of flushing toilets with a septic tank
• Development of a hygiene program teaching the children how to
wash their
face and hands and brush their teeth
• Built and equipped a kitchen so that nutritious meals can be
prepared
and supplied to the children at school by the community mothers
everyday
SITUATION IN PERU
• Peru’s population is just over 28.3 million
• 54 % of the population lives below the extreme poverty line.
• 63 % of these are children and adolescents.
• 49 % of the population lives on less than $1.20 a day.
• 90+% of the children in the communities we work with are
extremely
malnutritioned
• More than 1/4 of Peru’s children never attend school. In our
communities, the figure was around 95% until we started helping
• In the Cuzco region the illiteracy rate for children is 18% and
adults 11%
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info@southerncrossings.com
Consultants and
participants in the
Kids
TV Series
Are We There Yet?
Read More...
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