AYP: Comings and Goings

Welcome to the beginning of September (and the end of cold weather for those of us south of the equator). We have had a very busy summer, which helped us deal with the freezing nights. Erick and Clara have been working hard on their tasks to visit the homes of our students to create some new biographies. Stephanie has been working hard at the house to guide the students through their studies, setting up new intercambios, and working with partner organisations to give workshops to our students. Kristina was able to leave Mosqoy for two weeks for vacation and hit the beaches of Mexico for some warmth, while leaving the day-to-day in the capable hands of our field team.

Photo Credit: S.Smallshaw

Check out Stephanie’s blog about our experience with the Latin American Fund for the Future (LAFF), teaching Mosqoy about financial literacy, how to write CVs, and how to take an interview. LAFF and Mosqoy recently teamed up to offer these workshops to our students, and we couldn't be happier with the results! Additionally, at the beginning of August, Casa Mosqoy hosted the National Geographic Society as they took a high school tour through Peru to learn about photography and archaeology. Clara made an excellent video of the experience - check it out here! Stephanie and Erick developed a fun day at Casa Mosqoy - including a project to create small greenhouses in our garden to protect more sensitive plants from the temperamental weather of Cusco!

As with the end of any season, we will have to say goodbye to some volunteers who have dedicated their time and energy to the Andean Youth Program over the past few months. In a matter of weeks, Erick will be packing his things to head back to Canada and his last year of university. He has been a great help to our program and summer volunteers, stepping in whenever and wherever he was needed! Clara has officially moved out of Casa Mosqoy and will be finishing off some projects as she travels through South America before heading back to Spain for school in September. She worked very hard to create videos to capture life in Cusco, and we will be using a lot of her information from home visits to keep our supporters updated on our students!

Photo Credit: S.Smallshaw

We are also welcoming some new additions to Mosqoy - Mosqoy 6 are officially starting their studies in September, with some students already moved into the house. Over the next few months, we will be introducing you to the newest generation. Today we will start with the student who has already moved into Casa Mosqoy and is furiously working on his preparatory course to enter his institute.

Student Profile:

Meet Fernando! He is a very polite and friendly young man. Even though he is still quite shy, he has already brought a lot of happiness to the house. Being an orphan, he demonstrated a very strong will and self-responsibility to achieve his goals in education. This is very impressive for a teenager who has no one but himself to motivate him to study. Fernando definitely had a difficult childhood, but never seems to lose his positive attitude towards life. He seems very mature and strong for his young age. Fernando wants to support his community with the things he is going to learn during his tourism studies. He wants to improve the tourism industry there and bring more foreigners to the mountain village. His plans include language programs in Spanish and basic English for women who sell goods in his community, which will help them to make better business deals with their textiles and improve the communication between locals and visitors. Fernando has always been curious about foreign and Peruvian culture and is excited to work with all different sorts of people. He would like to open his own agency in Cusco one day and focus on Sacred Valley tours, as well as on residential tourism trips.

Photo Credit. C.Butow

If you are interested in supporting Fernando’s education, or want to know more about our sponsorship program, please contact Kristina at kristina@mosqoy.org.

As always, we thank you for your continued support of the Andean Youth Program!