September Newsletter 2023
Positive Outcomes For Adopt-A-School Programs
Adopt-A-School delivery day 2010 at Jorge Chavez community school
“Diana”
One Adopt-A-School donor and volunteer tells how she has seen changes and progress in one of our CONAPAC Partner Communities. This from long-time donor Nancy Kopf, affectionately known in the Amazon as Pachita.
The first time I saw Diana, she was only one young girl out of 17 students, clutching her first-ever packet of school supplies. Let me tell you part of her story.
In 2002 I made my first trip to Peru with a group of tourists with Overseas Adventure Travel. Before I left Pennsylvania, I had done my research on Explorama, our accommodation for the Amazon portion of our trip, and discovered the Adopt-a-School program. As a teacher I valued education. I donated to the program and was assigned the school at Jorge Chavez. I got to visit the school on this first trip.
Pachita with Jorge Chavez students 2012
In 2002 Jorge Chavez had only a primary school with 17 students and one teacher. Very few children, and all of them boys, ever left the island for the arduous journey to the high school. Virtually no girl had ever gone to school beyond the sixth grade. Often they left school and had children of their own, babies having babies.
Over the years I made yearly trips to Jorge Chavez and I saw things slowly begin to change. A kindergarten was started. More and more boys, and now girls, were going to high school. The benefits of education were being talked about at home. And girls were being encouraged to continue their education beyond primary school. I began to see fewer young girls with tiny babies.
Students at Jorge Chavez 2022
In 2022 I visited the village of 28 de Octubre. One of the teachers came up and embraced me.
“Pachita! Do you remember me? I’m Diana from Jorge Chavez.”
Access to the Adopt-A-School supplies had sparked a desire in Diana. Not only did she finish primary school, she finished high school and went on to university and, in time, became a teacher.
“Thank you for the school supplies you brought to my village,” Diana told me. “They changed my life.”
No, Diana, you changed mine.
Pachita
Diana and Pachita 2022
Want to donate?
We have several long-time donors and partner organizations who work tirelessly for CONAPAC as Pachita does; with you we can do so much for our communities.
Our work is only possible with the many other donations, big and small, that we receive throughout the year.
