On the 7th of March SKIP director Berangere Furbacco, our Social Worker intern Hilda Pachamango and Social worker Karin Cedeño, attended a presentation evening organised by the UNT, National University of Trujillo.
SKIP was one of twenty institutions chosen by the social studies faculty to receive an award.
The award was given in recognition of the positive social contribution SKIP is making in El Porvenir and also as an acknowledgement of the long standing collaboration we have with the University’s faculty of social studies.
For several years SKIP has been providing internships to social work students, many of whom have continued to play an active part in the programme. As well as receiving this award SKIP will also sign a formal agreement with the University to continue taking on new interns in the future.
Construction work at the SKIP office : “La famosa Techada”
Thanks to a donation received in the last year from Wilbor Oliveros Cerna, the director of a large Peruvian construction company, we have been able to start work on a project to extend the SKIP premises. Three new classrooms made of bricks have already been erected, and with the promise of further support from Wilbor and his associates, we will be able to build another three classrooms over the next year, gradually phasing out the old wooden structures. In accordance with tradition, Wilbor has been named “Padrino” (Godfather) of the SKIP new building, and the ex Mayor of Florencia de Mora, Idelson Terrones, who kindly purchased material for windows and doors, has been named Padrino of the roof.
Children and parents involved in the SKIP programme lent a hand by keeping watch over the building site in the evenings.
We anticipate the three new classrooms will be ready for action by the end of May. They will be used for teaching,workshops and activities and will enable SKIP to provide a safe and comfortable place of learning for many more children from Porvenir. As a temporary measure, the existing wooden structures will be moved on top of the new building, giving us a total of seven functioning classrooms for the time being.
The Start of the New School Year
The
new school year officially began on the 3rd of March, but in reality, things took a little while longer to get started. Thanks to general organisational problems in the schools and many other complicating factors, school began in earnest for most teachers and pupils one to two weeks later.
In the meantime SKIP was busy purchasing and distributing school uniforms, shoes and materials to upwards of 245 children enrolled in the programme. With the different requirements of the kids and some inevitable problems involving suppliers, this proved to be quite a challenge. All the new uniforms and shoes were made by local workers and some old uniforms have been either swapped or re-sold.
Next year we will help set up workshops for groups of mothers to make and sell school uniforms themselves as we did in 2005 and 2006.
In Peru, education is still not properly funded by the state. Families have to pay directly for things such as registration, basic classroom materials, electricity and security. Many people simply cannot afford the cost. To make matters worse the system is open to abuse. It is not uncommon for children and their families to be asked to pay for expensive and unnecessary items. For this reason SKIP has provided the children this year with the materials we believe are essential for school life and learning.
We have also been working alongside parents to help them with the registration process, paying school fees directly when necessary or negotiating reductions on their behalf. A recent change in government policy has meant that school fees (including teachers’ wages and school infrastructure) should technically be paid for by the State, but there has been some inconsistency in its implementation so far.
In the weeks since the beginning of term, SKIP workers have been meeting with parents and paying regular visits to the schools to ensure that the children have everything they need for a smooth start to the year ahead. We will continue to make regular visits to monitor the progress of our pupils and try to facilitate better relations between parents, teaching staff and children.
We would like to extend our thanks to all our donors and sponsors whose support makes our work here possible. And especially, we would like to express our gratitude to all the people in Ireland who sponsored our volunteer Joseph McCullagh.
new school year officially began on the 3rd of March, but in reality, things took a little while longer to get started. Thanks to general organisational problems in the schools and many other complicating factors, school began in earnest for most teachers and pupils one to two weeks later.In the meantime SKIP was busy purchasing and distributing school uniforms, shoes and materials to upwards of 245 children enrolled in the programme. With the different requirements of the kids and some inevitable problems involving suppliers, this proved to be quite a challenge. All the new uniforms and shoes were made by local workers and some old uniforms have been either swapped or re-sold.
Next year we will help set up workshops for groups of mothers to make and sell school uniforms themselves as we did in 2005 and 2006.In Peru, education is still not properly funded by the state. Families have to pay directly for things such as registration, basic classroom materials, electricity and security. Many people simply cannot afford the cost. To make matters worse the system is open to abuse. It is not uncommon for children and their families to be asked to pay for expensive and unnecessary items. For this reason SKIP has provided the children this year with the materials we believe are essential for school life and learning.
We have also been working alongside parents to help them with the registration process, paying school fees directly when necessary or negotiating reductions on their behalf. A recent change in government policy has meant that school fees (including teachers’ wages and school infrastructure) should technically be paid for by the State, but there has been some inconsistency in its implementation so far.
In the weeks since the beginning of term, SKIP workers have been meeting with parents and paying regular visits to the schools to ensure that the children have everything they need for a smooth start to the year ahead. We will continue to make regular visits to monitor the progress of our pupils and try to facilitate better relations between parents, teaching staff and children.
We would like to extend our thanks to all our donors and sponsors whose support makes our work here possible. And especially, we would like to express our gratitude to all the people in Ireland who sponsored our volunteer Joseph McCullagh.
“Pasacalle”: International Women’s Day in Trujillo
Every year international women’s day is held on the 8th March. It is an opportunity to celebrate past achievements and highlight the continuing global struggle for women’s rights and equality.
This year in
It was an exciting occasion, as many of the children and mothers very rarely get a chance to visit the city centre, especially with such a festival spirit in the air. The many different political and social groups in attendance joined together to protest against the culture of ‘machismo’ and sexual discrimination that are still prevalent forces in Peruvian society. There was live music and clowns for entertainment and after the demonstration a speech underlining the political importance of the day was given by a representative of the MINDES (Women and Social development Minister)
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