Ampi, the beginning...Perú
The Phoenix family continues it’s expansion in Peru around Colca Canyon! We will soon commence working a few days a week in Ampi (circa 80mins from Chivay, and at an altitude of approx. 4800m).
If you love the beauty of the outdoors and tranquillity you will LOVE Ampi! The drive consists of some “off roading” in absolutely stunning scenery, with llamas, alpacas and viscachas (similar to chinchillas) roaming around. 
Ampi is a remote area with around 32 estancias (ranches) of llamas, alpacas & sheep dotted around the location, the furthest from the school is about 14km. This is how pretty much all the families survive, raising llamas for meat & the alpacas and sheep for their wool & meat. 
The school is at the “center” of Ampi, along with a room where the teacher (Santiago) lives, and a small church, and that’s pretty much it! It’s amazing to see for the first time as you come over a hill and you see the bright blue school building (1 room) in the middle of literally nowhere! 
At present there are 7 students, but we’ve been told there are children in the area that don’t attend school plus others that are being sent to “better” schools in Yanque or Chivay who may now return as Phoenix is there. 
Santiago has lost any form of motivation and who can blame him! His family lives in Arequipa and he travels up every week, mostly miles on foot, to live Tues – Sat on his own in order to teach the children, he’s been doing this for 5 years now. 
He really wants our assistance so as to improve the support the children and community receive, and to motivate the children and himself.
We held a meeting with some of the parents (all Dads) and members of the community, with about 12 turning up (a better turn out than some of our Maldonado & Triunfo parents meetings, and these parents had to travel up to 14km to come!). 
We explained what we do, where we do it and that we’d like to extend our assistance to better the education of their children and they can’t wait, welcoming us into the community with open arms! The parents also really want to learn English, so we’ve agreed twice a month we’ll hold English lessons for them as well. 
The “governor” of Ampi was also present and he couldn’t stop smiling and welcoming us. So now we just need to detail the logistics, and off we go!!
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