I want to give something back to the countries I will be trekking through. After a lot of searching I found a very worthy UK based charity that I really want to help, Amantani.

I believe that building a foundation for a house is similar to building a foundation for a life; the stronger it’s made and the more care is put into creating the foundation, the stronger and more secure that house or that person’s life will be. With a good foundation, it’s possible to stand strong and confident, perhaps also having a positive knock on effect for future generations.

Peru is a stunningly diverse and beautiful part of this world, from the snow-capped mountains, deep canyons and valleys of the Andes to the Amazon rainforest, but there is still extreme poverty in many areas.

Amantani’s mission is to help the indigenous children of Peru keep their smiles. They help children from marginalised Quechua families to access education, stimulating social development for Peru’s most disadvantaged communities.

Since 2008, they have been working to bridge the gap between home and school for children living in Ccorca; a Quechua district nestled high in the Andes of Southern Peru. Access to education in rural areas of Peru is notoriously problematic and Ccorca is no exception. Children from as young as 7 have to walk for up to 8 hours each day to get to and from school. Inevitably, they arrive too tired to concentrate and many give up on their education altogether.

“Our Educational Boarding Houses give the most disadvantaged children in Ccorca a place to stay near to school. Instead of walking home for up to 4 hours each morning and afternoon, this time is spent on academic support classes, extra-curricular activities, personal development workshops and community outreach projects. Our intercultural philosophy promotes social inclusion, helping children gain skills to negotiate Peru’s modern society, whilst encouraging indigenous autonomy and cultural pride”.

“This approach has been recognised worldwide. As well as being named the Latin American Human Rights Organisation of the Year (2013), we were asked to present Amantani at TEDx Oxford (2015) and the International Social Enterprise Forum organised by the World Bank and the British Council (2014)”.

If you can, please help these children of Peru to help themselves to a better future.

Sponsor me on my Just Giving page for Amantani here…..

Or you can donate from £3 to £10 via a mobile. Just text-   AOTA91 followed by  £3 £5 or £10 to 70070

Thank you!

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The human body is profoundly amazing and complex, you’ve only got to look at the mechanism of the human eye for instance to appreciate the marvellous gift of vision we all have.

Even Charles Darwin described the eye as one of the greatest challenges to his theory. “To suppose,” he admitted, “that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances … could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree” (On the Origin of species)

When our eyes are in good health we take for granted our ability to see the world in stunning ultra HD, 3D, colour and light, the ability to read and see everything, I can’t imagine what it must be like to loose that ability.

Seeing is Believing is a global initiative to help tackle avoidable blindness. Since the launch of the programme in 2003, 78 million people have been reached. ( Including Peru )

“We raise money to prevent and treat avoidable blindness. Through our funding and partnerships, we’ve helped to bring affordable eye-care to some of the poorest communities across the globe”

“Seeing is Believing is a collaboration between Standard Chartered and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB). We work with eye-care leaders to make sure that your donation has maximum impact. Standard Chartered matches every dollar raised”.

If you can, please help give someone, somewhere in the world the gift of sight.

Sponsor me on my Just Giving page for Seeing is Beleiving here…..

Or you can donate from £3 to £10 via a mobile. Just text-  AOTA92  followed by £3 £5 or £10 to 70070

Thank you!

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