Visiting The Parents - 3rd/4th August 2010

Whilst I was on my recent trip to Peru, we took advantage of the girls’ school holidays to visit them and their parents in their houses. The two days brought with them, a mixture of emotions. There were moments of real sadness. As we saw some of the girl’s family circumstances, we were reminded of the problems that we were dealing with. There were moments of hope and joy as the parents explained how much their daughters had improved in the past year, in their self-esteem, their studies and their behaviour amongst other things. All in all it was a very positive two days and I couldn’t help but think that this is what makes Amantani special. Our small size allows us to harness the power of human relationships.

Here are just some of the things that the parents said:

“Thanks to the boarding school my Karina knows how to crotchet and I am happy with this because I do not have time to teach her rural skills”

“My daughters have more respect now, before they were disrespectful”

“I have two daughters who are in Lima, one is already a single mother. I am going to do everything I can so that Flor de Maria can carry on studying in the boarding school”

“Our daughters teach the other girls the new knitting skills that they learn”

“Roxana didn’t use to greet people in the community, now she isn’t so shy”

“Ubaldina was very shy and she didn’t want to do anything, but since the beginning of the boarding school she has become a lot more confident and hard-working”

“Heidy has got so much better in her studies”

“I am so happy that Monica is being taught traditions and rural skills, that is great”