PATABAMBA PRE-UNIVERSITY ACADEMY – PROJECT UPDATE April 3, 2014 In our third year of the Patabamba Pre-University Academy Project, the Alma Foundation together with the parents of Patabamba and Sihua are taking further steps to pass the project from Alma to the parents themselves. This year the Academy will again expand from 2 days of […]
MANOS UNIDAS INCLUSIVE EDUCATION PROGRAM – PROJECT UPDATE April 3, 2014 After a very successful first year of including 16 special needs children with highly trained accompanying teachers into the public school system in 2013, the Manos Unidas Inclusive Education Program continues in 2014 with more children and more schools. The 16 students and teachers […]
Classes in Colcha started on March 10th, and for the first time ever, there is a graduating class of secondary school students in the District of Colcha! The 2014 Colcha School Expansion Project is picking up from last year, where we expanded the school from 3 to 4 grades, to continue growing the school to […]
Last week the Alma Foundation and the community of Tuksa officially inaugurated the Tuksa Biblioteca Project. The entire community turned out for the event, as well as the primary school’s two teachers, representatives from the District Municipality of Combapata, and elected leaders from neighboring communities. On the surface, it was a celebration to mark the beginning […]
While winter is just beginning in Peru, it is finally ending here in Canada. And after the winter we just had, that definitely calls for a celebration! On Wednesday, June 18th, 2014, Alma will be hosting its 3rd Annual “Island” Party. We’re bringing the party in-land this year, to the Steamwhistle Brewery, so we hope even […]
A big boasting point for the Alma Foundation is the strong relationships we have with the communities we work in. I am often asked how we manage to maintain close ties with community members and also ensure that they themselves take on leadership roles in our projects; because although it appears that engaging a community that […]
This week, we’re thrilled to announce that former Program Director, Ian McGroarty, has re-joined us on the ground in Peru. Some thoughts from his first week… ************** My first week back on the ground with Alma has been inspiring. We currently have excellent projects that are providing opportunities for students to reach new heights both […]
March 2014 – Leer más >>
March 2014 – Leer Más >>
March 2014 – Leer Más >>
In Canada, the first day of school is surrounded by such buzz and hype that it’s hard to ignore – even if you don’t have children. That tongue-in-cheek Staples commercial begins airing mid-summer and it seems that stores start stocking pencils and paper mere hours after the school doors are locked in June. And as children […]
This past Saturday our son Jesse celebrated his 6th birthday. The party was held at an East-End Karate centre, which allowed him to invite many (15!) friends to join him. Since Jesse’s birthday falls so close to a certain holiday marked with excesses and indulgences, we decided as a family to put the breaks on more presents. […]
February is Kindergarten registration month in Toronto. I have found the whole process to be incredibly stressful, wringing my hands over questions like: Is our home school good enough? Should we put our names in for one of the “alternative” schools? Montessori? Should I enrol him at all? Will he have access to the resources […]
I thought that it was necessary to write about my last visit to the Nutrition Program in the community of Marccuray. After various failed attempts to get a meeting going with all the members of the project (this mainly had to do with Marccuray being the most isolated community we work in, and with failure […]
Following on the success of Chamana project, Alma begins work in Markuray. Feb 2014 – Read More >>
Normally I go to a website like Buzzfeed for a dose of ridiculous or inane content after (or during) a particularly frustrating day. But a friend recently shared a post that I thought was refreshingly out of character for the website. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released the results from its triennial […]
Last month Chafika Eddine, a director at Global Change for Children (GC4C), visited the Patacancha Trout Farm and wrote about her experience: “Since its creation in 2008, the Global Change for Children Foundation (GC4C) has funded over 20 projects in four different countries. It is always so gratifying for any of us involved with GC4C […]
As we launched this project recently I thought it was about time to write a blog post about the community of Tucsa. And not only the community but, more specifically, their children. As I have traveled through countless communities here in Peru and Bolivia, after a while you start to realize how factors like climate, […]
I won’t deny that in this past week, I had a very hard time making the routine 1.5 hour hike up to our nutrition project in Marccuray. Usually I enjoy this hike quite a bit because the scenes are just beautiful. But this time I had an extra burden to carry up the steep hill: […]