In 2025 ACIES built on their work over the last two years to “Love the Ravine” by helping Indigenous children and their families learn about and care for their immediate environment. Families and children in Quiritimayo and Pomobamba planted gardens, recycled and reused materials, started composting and took part in a cleanup day in each community.

Children in both communities recounted their experiences in a weekly comic strip that was shared with their families and the broader community. Painting and craft workshops took place as well.

In a new initiative, two Indigenous elders took part, sharing their knowledge of medicinal plants and ancestral stories. The children’s grandparents were invited to share their knowledge, stories and games, too.

The project also funded craft and taxtile workshops with 15 women in Quiritimayo and 15 in rural Pomabamba. The women sold their creations at quarterly municipal fairs and through a new online store.

 Our thanks to the Peterborough KM Hunter Charitable Foundation for their support of this project.

This project, run by ACIES, took as its theme loving and caring for the Quiritimayo neighbourhood, which is built on a steep ravine on the outskirts of Cajamarca.

Through guided explorations, 30 children who attend the afterschool program at Quiritimayo Cultural Centre observed the environmental degradation of their local stream and used what they learned to inspire original storybooks. They wrote and illustrated their own narratives — part autobiography, part environmental testimony — culminating in the powerful collection Voices and Expressions of the Ravine That I Love. The book has been distributed to their familes, schools and libraries.

Children also participated in campaigns to clean up their neighbourhood, grew and cared for plants and helped make a mural that celebrates children at the centre and the natural world.  Through idividualized learning plans, they developed their reading and writing skills but also pride in themselves, their culture and their community.

The project also funded knitting circles and gender workshops with 10 women in Quiritimayo and 15 in rural Pomabamba, who in turn began to teach a second generation of 15 knitters, both boys and girls. The women have sold their products locally and in Germany.

Our thanks to the Peterborough KM Hunter Charitable Foundation for their support of this project.

This Centre, run by ACIES, serves the children, youth and adults of Quiritimayo, a marginal neighbourhood in Cajamarca made up principally of Indigenous families who have recently migrated to the city. These families face increased racism and discrimination in the city as well as the dismissal of their culture. Children are often alone for long periods while their parents work (the public school day ends at 12:30 p.m.). To respond to this need, the centre offers afterschool education and homework support that values their Indigenous heritage.

This project will provide children with reading and writing workshops 6 days a week. As a special hands-on project, the children will each make a small bookcase they can take home with books to fill it. To learn about sustainability, they will plant and care for vegetables and herbs and learn about their traditional uses. A therapist will be available weekly for those children who are struggling.

In the wake of COVID-19, which kept schools closed for 2 years, educational support is needed more than ever. The centre prioritizes sustainability and care for the natural environment in its programs, using local natural resources and recycled and reused materials in their workshops.

Weekly craft and personal development workshops for women will offer a space for mutual support and empowerment as well as providing a way to generate income. Three community members will be employed as assistants, providing them with an income and experience.

Our thanks to the Peterborough KM Hunter Charitable Foundation for their support of this project.

4.5 Eliminate all discrimination in education.
4.6 Universal literacy and numeracy.
4.7 Education for sustainable development and global citizenship.
4.c Increase the supply of qualified teachers in developing countries.

This centre, run by ACIES, had 3 lines of action:

• help children and youth express themselves in drawing and words
• empower women through small income generation projects and mutual support
• work with teachers and volunteers to develop and share practices and strategies in alternative education

Participants came from both the rural hamlet of Pomabamba and from an underserved urban neighbourhood in Cajamarca. The project reflected the Indigenous Andean culture of the region.

This project, run by ACIES, had 3 lines of action:

• develop the capacity of youth and children to express themselves in drawing and words
• work with rural women to explore cultural expression through reading, storytelling and handicrafts
• develop and share practices and strategies in alternative education with volunteers and teachers

Participants came from both the rural hamlet of Pomabamba and from an underserved urban neighbourhood in Cajamarca. The project reflected the Indigenous Andean culture of the region.

When COVID-19 struck, ACIES innovated. Incorporating the children’s stories and drawings and the women’s knitting, they produced videos, books, a music CD and even an interactive board game to keep the learning going. they also captured the experience in a book for teachers who wish to adopt their approach to education.

The centre offers these children an after-school program that respects and values their Indigenous heritage. Children draw on the ancestral knowledge of their community, create new knowledge through hands-on projects, and practise independence and sustainability by growing a garden and using its produce. For many years, the school operated out of a church hall, but a change in management meant they had to move out. Through this project, ACIES is constructing a facility that will serve as the centre’s permanent home in Quiritimayo.

Heart-Links is grateful to the late Raymond “Pete” Cheele and his wife, Mabel, who pre-deceased him, whose bequest contributed significantly to this project. We also thank the Education Aid Committee of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association for its support.