PERU: SCHOOL TOILET CONSTRUCTION
About Huchuy Yachaq Community:
Huchuy Yachaq is a community center located on the outskirts of the city of Cusco. It serves a community of approximately 250 families who live in an area categorized as being at ‘high social risk’. The community suffers from a number of challenges relating to accessibility issues, lack of basic facilities, unstable housing, and social problems such as unemployment, informal employment, alcoholism and violence. The community center started in 2006 with the mission of improving the quality of life of the children and youth living in the community.
Huchuy Yachaq offers a number of services to the community including a community library, a homework club, a women’s empowerment project, an outdoor sports area and a kindergarten. The kindergarten is called Las Hormiguitas, which means The Little Ants and was opened in 2009.
The Project:
In May, 2012, IHSAN (now Sanitation for All) donated $3,180 to the Global Volunteer Network Foundation to assist with building new bathrooms at the Las Hormiguitas kindergarten in the Huchuy Yachaq community center.
IHSAN’s donation was used to build boys, girls, and adults bathrooms with both toilets and working sinks in each. The bathrooms mean a lot more than convenience for the 48 children in that class and their teachers and families. They allow the school to teach children and families about the importance of clean water and good hygiene. Good habits can be instilled at a young age. Also, thanks to the new facilities, the kindergarten was awarded their full certification and official license from their municipality. Costs were kept down thanks to parents volunteering their time and efforts to help construct the bathrooms.
By having proper bathrooms and sinks, the teachers are now able to teach the kids about the importance of personal hygiene and they can instill hygienic habits in the kids from a young age.
For more pictures and information please check a detailed report from our partner GVNF-
Operating Partner : Global Volunteer Network Foundation
The GVN Foundation is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit organization in the United States with special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Its mission is to support the work of charitable organizations around the world that assist children and women. In the past GVN has been involved with various development and relief projects including raising $33,000 for the Haiti earthquake victims. As a part of the Haiti earth-quake relief effort, with the help of IHSAN and other donors, GVNF helped set up a community center that provided post-disaster assistance to 150 adults and 200 children. The center provided several forms of relief assistance including providing a Health clinic, a ‘Child Safe Zone' (A place for children to play and learn) and grief counseling. Additionally, the center provided classes for children in fields such as arts and languages. In Ghana, GVNF has worked with 'Children Better Way' (CBW) to help Liberian refugees in the Buduburam Refugee Camp. For more information please visit : http://www.gvnfoundation.org/
