Living in Peru : your everyday companion

LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

The Antamina Mining Fund (FMA) and the Fund for the Development of the Peruvian Education (FONDEP) presented the educative projects that  they will sponsored this year in Huari.

They also awarded 43 schools which participated in the contest "Reading with Free and Creative Expression”.

Some of the winning educative projects are ““Hatun Yachay” by Care Perú; “Jugando Aprendo” (I learn playing) by Right to Play Internacional; and “Fondo Concursable Lectura de Expresión Libre y Creativa” (Funds for Free and Creative Reading) by the Ministry of Education, among some others.

All the winning projects will be financed by the FMA, benefitting 434 schools and 26,000 students in Ancash.

It is remarkable that this contest was first launched in the whole region last year by FONDEP.

Have other topics you'd like to see in our news section? If you or someone you know would like to contribute a news article to Living in Peru, whether it's translated or based on a personal investigation, send it to editor@livinginperu.com.

LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Peruvian students Paul Callupe Correa (14), Jairo Landeo Panduro (15) and Yorch Sanchez Campos (13) won second place (silver medal) at the international science fair named “International Sustainable World”, held in the United States.

They were honored yesterday by The Regional Government of Junin and Chinalco mining company.

The Jorge Chavez school's students (Carhuamayo) received lap tops and were officially congratulated for their participation with a project called “Ichu: potencial de revegetacion en los Andes”(Ichu: possibility of replanting in the Andes).

The ichu is a Peruvian pasture that grows in the Andes.

“It do congratulate these young students and their teacher of this project; they are pride of the region and the country,” Junin Governor Vladimiro Huaroc said.

This international science fair reunited contestants from more than 60 countries.

Have other topics you'd like to see in our news section? If you or someone you know would like to contribute a news article to Living in Peru, whether it's translated or based on a personal investigation, send it to editor@livinginperu.com.

LivingInPeru
Isabel Guerra

Andina

A total of 2,400 laptop computers will be distributed, in the first half of April, among several public schools located in the jungle region of Ucayali, reported Congressman Jose Macedo Sanchez.

This donation will benefit 2,400 primary schools' students from Sepahua, Yurua, Campo Verde, Masisea, Curimana, Nueva Requena, Yarinacocha and Manatay districts.

The first delivery of laptops will be held on Saturday morning at the Nueva Alianza School and in the evening at the Nuevo San Juan School in the district of Manatay.

Finally, Macedo Sanchez pointed out that the 2009 goal is to benefit more than 5,000 students of this region.

Have other topics you'd like to see in our news section? If you or someone you know would like to contribute a news article to Living in Peru, whether it's translated or based on a personal investigation, send it to editor@livinginperu.com.

LivingInPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

The Fundación BBVA Banco Continental (BBVA Continental Bank Foundation) presented recently the new website Leer.pe (http://www.leer.pe) as a part of its social responsibility plan “Leer es estar adelante” (“To read is to have an advantage”).

This program is intended to motivate children to read and to improve their reading  skills and reading comprehension levels.

Leer.pe provides lively resources in reading and interactive academic help not only to students, but to school teachers and parents as well.

The webpage features the main characters of this program’s textbooks, in funny animations and voiced by popular Peruvian actors, such as Sergio Galliani (“Beto”), Giovanni Ciccia (“Coco”), Bruno Ascenzo (“Tito”), Gisela Ponce de León (“Nina”) and Stephanie Oré (“Pepa”).

The program has been already working since 2007 in Arequipa, Ayacucho, Lima, Loreto and Piura.

More than 13,000 Peruvian children have reportedly been benefitted by this program up to now.

Have other topics you'd like to see in our news section? If you or someone you know would like to contribute a news article to Living in Peru, whether it's translated or based on a personal investigation, send it to editor@livinginperu.com.

Living in Peru
Israel Ruiz

In the following days, a group of professionals from the region of Ancash will travel to the United States to study thanks to an agreement made between the Fulbright Foundation and Antamina Mining Company.

Last year a deal was signed by the Fulbright Commission in Peru and the Antamina Mining Fund to send five people from the region of Ancash to study at universities in the U.S.

The scholarship is to provide participants with tuition fees along with living costs. It was reported that this is the first time the Fulbright Commission has made an agreement of this nature with a private company.

After undergoing a series of tests and a rigorous selection process, it was decided that Julio Poterico, Jean Ortiz, Alejandro Garay, José Reynoso and Alberto Ramírez would study in the U.S.

These professionals are to further their studies at universities in Illinois, Ohio, South Carolina and Arkansas.

The five men stated they were extremely grateful and affirmed they would take full advantage of what the U.S. universities had to offer to return to Peru and share what they had learned.

Have other topics you'd like to see in our news section? If you or someone you know would like to contribute a news article to Living in Peru, whether it's translated or based on a personal investigation, send it to editor@livinginperu.com.

Living in Peru
Israel Ruiz

A congressional commission for disabled people has begun a campaign to raise funds to purchase the material necessary to teach 5,000 blind children in Peru how to read Braille.

There are half a million visually disabled people in Peru, this is 13 percent of the country's entire population, said a report released by EFE news.

Of this total, one hundred thousand are school-age children and adolescents that do not know how to read or write because their families do not have the means to teach them Braille, said Michael Urtecho, head of the parliament commission for disabled people.

Urtecho, who uses a wheelchair himself, explained that of the total number of blind people in Peru, 90 percent are illiterate because the country does not provide the tools needed to help them.

Faced with this problem, Urtecho has contacted a Brazilian company that manufactures this material and plans to purchase the supplies needed to teach 5,000 children Braille with donations.

It is hoped that the campaign "Hands that See", which is to last until April 5, will raise enough money to purchase the material to teach 5,000 children to read Braille.

A set of supplies for one child costs $10.

Have other topics you'd like to see in our news section? If you or someone you know would like to contribute a news article to Living in Peru, whether it's translated or based on a personal investigation, send it to editor@livinginperu.com.

Living in Peru
Israel Ruiz

INDECOPI, Peru's consumer protection agency reported that thirty-eight private schools in Lima were charging parents fees that were not permitted.

Among these was the infamous "cuota extraordinaria", which parents were being charged when registering their children in the schools.

It was also detected that these schools were violating Peruvian consumer rights by charging parents tuition for future classes, said Patricia Sarria, member of INDECOPI's consumer commission.

She stated these schools were ordered to immediately stop charging these fees and that punishments were being decided for these establishments.

Another problem found was that schools were obligating parents to purchase supplies and uniforms at certain stores.

Have other topics you'd like to see in our news section? If you or someone you know would like to contribute a news article to Living in Peru, whether it's translated or based on a personal investigation, send it to editor@livinginperu.com.

Living in Peru
Jobana Soto

With the help of a Peruvian immigrant living in White Plains, New York, children from Pisco will finally get the chance to attend school in a newly constructed building fit for their educational needs.

Carmen Guevara, 49, is a devoted volunteer at QuipuNet, “a non-profit organization made up of Peruvians and friends of Peru” dedicated in helping advance education in Peru’s poorer regions. Guevara, who heads the organization’s New York chapter, will host a benefit concert on January 31 at the Slater Center in White Plains featuring the Gabriel Alegria Afro-Peruvian Jazz Sextet.

Guevara hopes to raise at least US$2,000, enough to paint a new school building that was built earlier by QuipuNet. That school was also built in the Pisco region where a massive earthquake devastated the area in August 2007.

The performance will consist of Afro-Peruvian jazz with performers playing saxophone, guitar, bass, drums and the traditional “cajon,” specifically used for this type of Peruvian music.

Details of the concert are as follows: 8:00 p.m., January 31 at the Slater Center located at 1 Fisher Court, White Plains. General admission cost is US$20.

QuipuNet has dedicated their services to building schools and libraries in Peru since 1995. For more information on QuipuNet, head on over to their official website.

Peruvian Vice President Luis Giampietri Rojas said the National Anti-Corruption Plan should be taught in schools to educate students on this important subject since early ages.

He recalled that these types of subject areas, such as civic education, were taught in schools years ago to instruct students on how to behave and interact properly in society.

"I always thought that the fight against corruption could be part of civic education courses in schools," Giampietri said as he reiterated that civic education should be included again within the school curricula.
 
Giampietri even suggested that El Niño weather phenomenon and its impact should also be taught in schools so students can be aware of the danger involved when building a house in areas where flooding may occur.

Regarding the fight against corruption, Giampietri noted that Peru's government and the private sector should work together to address this problem.

Peru's National Anti-Corruption Plan is crucial in the government’s efforts to mainstream the anti-corruption agenda and promote ethics and integrity in the country’s individual, corporate and social structures.

News Source: Andina