AMAS first opened its doors in 2004 and invited children to attend the community centre with a view to assisting them socially and educationally.
When the first children began attending they were very shy and reserved.
Many did not understand how to interact with other children, to share, to play fairly etc.
The progress that these same children and more have made during the last 3 years is absolutely amazing and makes every one who has assisted in making AMAS a success extremely proud.
The children who attend AMAS now have a good level of self confidence. They are playful and outgoing, polite and well behaved (most of the time!!!) All the children now understand that they are equals and all have the same rights.
Yovana is 7 years old
And was recently sponsored to enable her to significantly improve the quality of her life. She is an orphan.
For this reason Yovana and her sister Teodora were sent to live with their aunt but unfortunately the aunt did not have sufficient funds to maintain both girls and her other 5 children.
This meant that at the beginning of 2006 the aunt wanted to send Yovana and Teodora to an orphanage.
In order to avoid this AMAS went to speak with the Aunt and undertook to assist financially by paying for the school fees and school meals provided to the children each day.
This was done for a while but unfortunately the Aunt decided to send Teodora to Juliaca (a city in the south of Peru) to live with a cousin and begin working in order to pay for herself.
Then in September 2006 Yovana stopped attending AMAS and it was discovered that she had been sent to Lima to live with another cousin.
In December 2006 Yovana returned to Cusco but, whereas before she had been a happy, outgoing and vibrant child, she returned a very shy and reserved child, quiet and unwilling to smile.
In Lima she was not treated well by her cousin and was not allowed to go to school. She spent most of her time on her own except when assisting in washing plates and other household tasks.
She therefore did nothing more than cry all day which was the reason she was sent back to Cusco. In addition she lost 4 front teeth during her time in Lima, the reason for which we are unsure of.
Now that Yovana is back in Cusco and attending the AMAS community centre regularly, she is returning to the happy and outgoing child she used to be and with the financial assistance provided for her she should not have to go through another similar experience.
Wilmer is 10 years old
And had problems with his sight. He was diagnosed by the ophthalmologist as suffering from dislocated lenses.
This condition was congenital and meant that Wilmer would gradually lose his sight completely. For this reason Wilmer had been sent to a school for blind children called “Virgen del Carmen”.
Some volunteers from France (Marie Gaucherand and four teachers from the “Misión Perú Escolar” association) decided to assist Wilmer and undertook various fundraising activities in France in order to raise sufficient funds for Wilmers operation.
Wilmer was taken to Lima with his mother by a representative of AMAS to have his operation which was a great success. He still needs to have one further operation to complete the process but already Wilmer is able to read and write again.
In addition, Wilmer used to be a very timid, shy and reserved boy but now that he has regained a good level of sight he is much more outgoing and boisterous and able to play alongside other boys his age.
Luis is 10 years old
And was sponsored in 2006 by Silvia Puig, a Spanish Volunteer who attended AMAS during a number of months and wanted to continue assisting them once she had returned to Spain.
Luis, together with his mother and brothers and sisters, were being physically and psychologically abused by the father.
The mother of Luis found the strength to leave her husband but of course this put her under great financial strain to be able to care for and adequately provide for her children.
Silvia sends money each month to cover the needs of Luis, to include clothing, school materials, school enrolment fees etc. The future of Luis and his family is much brighter thanks to the assistance of Silvia.
The Christmas 2006 appeal
Was a great success and provided a wonderful day for 400 children.
€700 was raised by 4 Sale Network and Currencies Direct in Torrevieja, Alicante, Spain.
Santa Claus was able to give the 150 children who most regularly attend the AMAS community centre and who work particularly hard a soft toy (each one different), a gift such as a calculator, watch, toy motorbike, car or train or doll and also an item of clothing.
For the children who had recently begun attending AMAS, the girls received a Barbie doll and the boys a toy car. All 400 children received a football, a cup of hot chocolate, a pastry, biscuits, popcorn and sweets.
The Kitchen and Bathroom Appeal
Began in May 2007 and immediately Moneycorp, a commercial foreign currency exchange company, kindly agreed to donate the €1,900 necessary to install both.
The AMAS community centre does not currently have a kitchen. In fact at present it does not benefit from running water.
Likewise the majority of the houses in which the children live do not have running water or a kitchen.
AMAS therefore would like to fit a large kitchen and organise for running water to be connected to the building.
This would then mean that the parents of the children who attend the AMAS community centre could use the facilities to prepare better meals for the children and themselves.
AMAS could also use the facilities when organising the various events that it offers to the children throughout the year, parties for Christmas and religious festivals etc. Again the majority of the houses in which the children live also do not have the benefit of a bathroom.
Providing a bathroom in the building would mean that the hygiene of the children would greatly improve both in being able to wash and also in having access to a flushable toilet.
We are currently making arrangements for the works to begin for the kitchen and the bathroom and will publish photos of the finished article once it is completed.
Thank you so much to Moneycorp for their wonderful donation which will make such a huge difference to so many children and their parents.
We hope that with your assistance and kind donations we can begin adding many more success stories to this list.