The Enciclopedia is a series of 20 volumes that gathers stories and knowledge from Indigenous communities of the region. The new volumes will now be distributed to those same communities—almost 400 of them. Through informal gatherings and reading circles, community members use the books to help each other learn to read and write. These exchanges foster self-esteem, revitalize cultural traditions and build community—between young and old and between different communities.

Reconnecting through Libraries

The Rural Libraries Network also supplies more than 20 schools in the region with books from the series. And a new program is reconnecting youth with elders by inviting them to speak at the libraries. These initiatives foster intergenerational exchange so that young Peruvians know more about their land and traditions.

Heart-Links is proud to fund this revised edition of the Enciclopedia Campesina. Your donations are promoting literacy in remote rural communities and bringing young Peruvians knowledge of their roots.

You can help a child succeed.

This GOOD DEED will provide primary schoolchildren with afterschool educational reinforcement in reading, mathematics, arts and crafts, and social interaction. It will be led by Heart-Links’ partner Madre Oliva Association in Nuevo Mocupe. This program will run six days a week, working closely with parents and teachers to ensure children progress. Nutritional snacks will also be supplied. 

The program will help these children get back on track with their learning (and have fun doing it).

Every child deserves a quality education. But without support, these children are at risk of dropping out. This GOOD DEED aims to help these children succeed at primary school, leading to further schooling and more opportunities as the children grow.

For impoverished people in Peru, education remains one of the best routes to higher incomes and greater job security. Giving these children a more solid foundation is the long-term aim of this GOOD DEED.

If you want to provide additional support to the 24 Canadian charities that are participating in the 24 GOOD DEEDS Charity Advent Calendar, click the button below.

Asociación Civil Esperanza (ACIES) works in two locations in the province of Cajamarca: the rural village of Pomabamba and a marginal urban neighbourhood called Quiritimayo.

In Pomabamba, Heart-Links’ donors fund a project with 13 Indigenous women from the community who meet together weekly to share experiences, learn from each other and offer mutual support. They are also developing and applying their skills as knitters to produce crafts to supplement their incomes.

The women recently signed a contract to sell the nativity figures they knit in Germany.

ACIES works with children in both Pomabamba and Quiritimayo, providing afterschool activities that support learning which incorporates Indigenous and community knowledge and values. Using recycled materials, the children made books on different themes to learn about themselves and the world around them: myself, my family, my community, my animals, health and nutrition, and my school.

In this video, some of the children show their books:

For the last several years, Madre Oliva Association has worked closely with vulnerable families in the rural hamlet of Nuevo Mocupe, just outside Zaña.

They have attended to the needs of children and adults with developmental disabilities and others who are finding it increasingly difficult to feed themselves and their families because of rising prices.

In the wake of COVID-19, Madre Oliva Association also started an afterschool program for children to help address the educational and nutritional gaps exacerbated by two years of school closures and limits on travel (which reduced employment opportunities).

Six days a week, they provide 35 children with reinforcement in reading, numeracy, art and social skills as well as a nutritional snack. Therapists offer workshops every two months to the children’s parents on topics such as mental health, how to detect learning disabilities, COVID-19, and parent-child relationships.