Sombrilla International Development Society

We are very fortunate to be included in the list of charities supported by Seniors Giving Back through CanadaHelps. We are still fundraising for families in our partnering communities to get much needed food and resources. Check out: https://www.canadahelps.org//seniors-giving-back-les-aine/ to make a donation. Gracias

Yurac Yacu Community Center Education 2020 Update Los Girasoles , Home School Teaching during a Pandemic... The corona Virus Pandemic has had a strong effect on the countrywide educational system in Peru. Since March 16,2020 children have not been allowed into physical classes and it is very debatable if there will be any changes for this year to come. As in the world, teachers and educational institutions continue to scramble to provide virtual classes in a country where only a few have access to technology that allows them to participate. The government has implemented a form of television teaching preschool and kindergarten in a very basic way for hour a day. If you are not part of a larger school, a private school or live in a city this is all that you have. There are no zoom classes, videos from teachers, social activities. In the area of the Yurac Yacu project we have 10 children in our program. We are fortunate that we know the children and their parents and the children know us. Having done a survey it was no surprise to see that of the 10 families no one has a smart phone, no one has internet (so no WhatsApp or zoom classes), they all have old cellphones, 2 have tv´s , they all have radios and half of the mothers rely heavily on Quechua to understand instructions and directions. What was the challenge was how to help them but not have the children back at school or have a large parent group at a time of social distancing. Given that the obvious demographics of our families and a huge desire for contact and continual learning our way has been to meet one on one with one parent from the family, once a week for 45 60 minutes to give them a package of school material prepared by the teacher Yessenia and Diana. This is so hard to do as the age of the children and the program is very much based on social interaction, using what you learn, discovery and investigation. The time spent with the parent is to explain and teach them first, quiz them on how they will present this to their children and many times done in Quechua. The children are given wonderful books and puzzles in addition to science projects, art, math’s, fine motor and communication activities on a weekly basis. Rather than reliance on communal school supplies we bought each family paints, glue, crayons etc so that the children have what they need to complete the activities. We even have them continuing the healthy lunch program we had every Wednesday. The parent returns work done thereby allowing us to observe and see what might be going on and also to provide support for parents thrown into the role of a teachers on top of many other responsibilities they have. This may not be the perfect solution but we are so far away from any resources that a city could provide, low income families and unemployment it is what we feel we can do and what seems to be working, for now. There are hopes that rural schools may be able to open if there are no cases of the infection within a certain radius but that too is a big if. What makes us laugh and makes us cry is when we see the children, and many who have been in our program but are now in grades 1 3, and they say but we aren´t sick why can´t we come to the school? Hard to explain that to a 5-year-old. There are many needs in today’s world, should our school and story create an urge in you to help in many ways please see our section on donations on or web page.

This year has been full of challenges for many people and organizations. Sombrilla has had to cancel events and re-evaluate how to continue working in the current social and economic climate. Despite these challenges, we were still able to provide much needed funding and resources to families in the communities we partner with. This couldn’t have been done without your support. We are truly grateful for the contributions that you all have made to make this possible. Thank you! If you would like to donate, please visit our website: http://sombrilla.ca/

This Giving Tuesday please help Sombrilla to provide basic needs for communities under quarantine in El Salvador and Honduras. - https://mailchi.mp/e1c4b/sombrilla-march-newsletter-1352810