While in Italy the school year has resumed amidst a thousand difficulties and concerns, in Bolivar, Peru, where the “ School in the Andes ” built with the contributions of AMU supporters is located, lessons continue remotely thanks also to the resourcefulness of the teachers and the community.
Bolívar is a town of 2,500 inhabitants, in the heart of the Peruvian Andes, at 3,200 meters above sea level. Its territory also includes 30 small communities, scattered over a vast area and difficult to reach. The project ” A school in the Andes ” was born from a proposal by Don Emeterio, parish priest of Bolívar, when he realized that many children did not attend public school, both because of the distances to travel and because many families needed to have their children available to work the land. Over the years, a school was created that ensures their studies and a full meal every day. In these days Father Emeterio has updated us on the progress of the studies and the conditions of the community, in this period in which the Coronavirus pandemic has caused further difficulties . The children of ” our ” school are all well and have been following lessons remotely since March: the lack of digital media has been addressed thanks to the resourcefulness of teachers and the return to “old” tools. Those who do not have a cell phone, in fact, follow the lessons on the radio. And for those who do not even have that, teachers come to the house to bring the sheets with the lessons. Houses that are often hours away on foot in the mountains. At the moment the official ban on travel in the country is only in force at night, but to protect the population of Bolivar, the farmers have established rules that do not allow anyone to enter or leave the city, except in exceptional cases. Thanks to these precautions, in Bolivar, at the moment there have been only 21 cases of Covid and no deaths, while in the rest of Peru the cases are almost 800 thousand and the deaths 31 thousand. The Peruvian Church has also done a lot to address this situation, just think that the new bishop of the diocese to which Bolivar belongs has built a small oxygen factory for medical use, because there was a lack of it in the hospitals, and the same thing has been done by Father Walter, parish priest in an area not far from Bolivar. The two structures were built thanks to the contribution of about 50 thousand euros per factory, collected from all the people of Bolivar. A result that underlines the strong spirit of solidarity even among those who live in situations of great vulnerability. The diocese has also stipulated an agreement with a pharmaceutical company to produce low-cost paracetamol to stop the phenomenon of smuggling that sold it at a price up to 15 times higher. The news from Bolivar tells us of a cohesive and strong community, determined to safeguard the education of young people even at the cost of very demanding sacrifices. AMU continues to follow the community in the Andes and is ready to ensure support and accompaniment in the development paths to improve the living conditions of adults and children.
