GVI Phoenix projects around Colca Canyon begin in Canacota - Perú
So the GVI Phoenix Peru family has expanded, as we have officially started working in the town of Canocota (circa 30 mins from Chivay, near Colca Canyon) and we’re loving it! Carla & Megan our Chivay Intern started work there on the 10th March.
It is estimated that there are about 52 families in the town, though we’re told there used to be more but many moved to Chivay to send their children to “better” schools; Canocota is a state primary school which has been forgotten about, and therefore lacks any form of support. 
The majority of the families own a small chacra (field) that has been handed down for generations where they grow crops which they then take to Chivay to sell in the local market. Of course this form of income is only seasonal, and very dependant upon the climate (it gets very cold here at certain times of the year).
The other form of income for the families are llamas, sheep, pigs & alpacas, raised for their meat and wool; we’re regularly greeted when we enter the town by a herd strolling along the street, one alpaca even decided to pop into one of our classes the other day and one of the children's jobs is to find her pigs each afternoon! 
Canocota is a small tranquil extremely traditional indigenous Peruvian town in the Andes (altitude circa 3700m), with the majority of the women still wearing the time-honoured dress and head wear. 
The school now has 20 pupils, spread over 6 grades with just two teachers, Rogerlio and Betty, including our first new student to the school, Frank, who was being sent to Chivay to stay with relatives for the week in order to go to a “better” school, but his parents have now brought him back to Canocota to study as they believe the school is only going to get better & better (as do we)!
Gill our first Canocota volunteer joined the team and has been working very closely with Megan in grades 3° & 4°, which we run and thus teach all classes incl. maths, communication, social studies & science. 
We then teach all grades English, Art & PE (Physical Education), plus covering any other lessons Rogerlio or Betty can’t do (due to other commitments, when before the school would have been closed) for 1°, 2°, 5° & 6°. 
The children are absolutely fantastic and really want to learn and are loving working with the volunteers. We’ve introduced our English curriculum (starting with the curriculum for 1° & 2° for all grades, as these are the first English lessons they’ve ever received), and the children can’t get enough! 
In maths, 3° & 4° have been focusing on multiplication, conjuntos, centenas, decenas & unidades – after our very first maths lesson a Mum came to see us to say she’d never seen her daughter so excited about maths & wanting her to test her on multiplication! 
In Spanish communication we’ve been looking at reading practice, spelling and creating sentences, noun & verb recognition. It is going SO brilliantly! And now Gil has joined the team. Gill will be working with Rodolfo & Pilar in 3°, and Gil with Frank, Aracely, Marilin & Erminia in 4°.
This has been a huge team effort - a massive thank you to Megan & Gill for getting the new project underway and Gil joining us, and to Mari our Intern and all the vols (Alfie, Leah, Kate, Shannon, Gracia, Laura, Maurice, Billy, Eric, Lalita, Matt, Kate & Liz) in Arequipa as with them doing such a fantastic job at Maldonado & Triunfo it’s allowed us to really get Canocota up & running!
2 comments:
I am quite jealous.
me too...
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