Alma has a new partner project in Bolivia – the Trinidad Special Education Centre. This centre works to provide high-quality education to children with special needs in Trinidad, Bolivia. Sometimes the greatest barriers to education can be the small things we take for granted, such as transportation. This is why Alma will not only be […]
Three times a year our students present what they’ve been up to in our projects to their parents during the school’s “Achievement Day”. The first round of Achievement Days passed recently and in Tuksa, it went as great as we hoped! Students in Tuksa engaged their parents with their presentations and live demonstrations of activities […]
Ok, maybe this is not the 6 ‘ ft tall basketball player you know but, really, his name is Michael Jordan – and he is the FIRST Manos Unidas student working in a Cusco hotel. When you arrive at Ninos Hotel, you will be greeted by Michael. He will open the door, help you carry in your luggage and lead […]
Alma is lucky to welcome Jamie Shinoff to our team! This year, Alma was lucky enough to lucky to receive a grant from the Canadian government to hire a summer student intern. Within days, we received over 30 applications from qualified candidates across the country. However, Jamie’s passion and extensive extra-curricular activities made her the perfect […]
We are thrilled to share the Alma Giving Catalog. The Alma Giving Catalog is a way for supporters to fund specific items children need in Peru and Bolivia. Here you will find affordable ways to make an incredible difference, through both one-time purchases and monthly sponsorships. You can view the Alma Giving Catalog here. Once you find the ideal gift […]
*Due to a large amount of applications, we are no longer accepting resumes. Thank you to all of the candidates who applied. Alma will be announcing the new intern on July 4, 2016.* Alma is hiring a summer student to be our Outreach Director! Working 30 hours a week, the Outreach Director will help Alma in three […]
Thank you to all of our generous supporters who have helped us increase our impact in Latin America! We are thrilled to share with you three new education projects in the San Andres district of Bolivia: San Martin de Porres Cotoca and La Maguita Monte Cristo In San Martin de Porres we are implementing a […]
We spend a lot of time in rural communities in order to get to know the people, their needs, and the realities of the area before starting a new project there. Over the past ten days I was in the Peruvian Amazon to do just that. One community I visited on my trip was […]
We are thrilled to announce that we will be partnering with El Arca Children’s Home. El Arca not only gives 25 children a second chance in life but also provides them with a high quality education. El Arca’s new location is near Puerto Maldonado, in the Peruvian Amazon jungle. It is home to children aged 2 years old […]
Alma has partnered with El Arca Children’s Home to help provide high quality education to 25 children in Puerto Maldonado. El Arca not only gives children a second chance in life but also provides them with a high quality education. El Arca’s new location is near Puerto Maldonado, in the Peruvian Amazon jungle. It is home to children […]
Thank you to all of our supporters, sponsors and volunteers who made our Alma Annual Party a huge success! With over 300 tickets sold, Alma was able to raise over $40,000 for our education projects in Peru and Bolivia! The party consisted of delicious Peruvian Cuisine, amazing salsa lessons by Loudes and music by the award-winning DJ […]
Full disclosure: I’ve never watched a complete episode of “Dragon’s Den”. That said, I had always heard wonderful things about Arlene Dickinson and when I met her a couple of years ago all those second hand comments were confirmed. She’s a really nice, smart and generous person. Offering her self up to do a fundraising […]
Hi Friends! Come join us for an afternoon of sun, fun and volleyball! On August 14th, the Young Leaders at Alma are hosting a beach volleyball tournament at Ashbridges Bay. Get ready to show off your volleyball skills! Volleyball players will be sorted into teams. Each team will represent one of our education projects in Peru or […]
I always say that one of the most important aspects of Alma is how involved we are in the communities we work in. It is a prerequisite that parents are included in our projects, and in order to ensure a lasting relationship, we get involved in some community affairs as well. When visiting our Biblioteca […]
While visiting the Tucsa Biblioteca Project last week, I had the great surprise of running into one of our ex-students, Guido! Guido was one of our most active and enthusiastic students in Tucsa during the last two years of the project. He is now in secondary school and rides his bike 3 hours a day […]
Annie Villaran is a volunteer project manager, Board member and an amazing ambassador for Alma. She dedicates her expertise, time and passion to helping Alma’s education projects succeed. Annie recently went to visit Alma’s projects in Iquitos, Peru. She brought back many lessons and stories from her travel. Watch Annie share one of her incredible stories from the […]
Everyone from our advisory board, through Ian our program director, to our partners and teachers in the communities seem to agree that single greatest obstacle to better education in Peru is the quality of teachers. Teachers are underpaid, lacking motivation and are badly trained. The “old style” methods they are taught in teacher’s school do […]
Weather plays a big role in the lives of agricultural people. Considering that the families we work with in Cusco are almost all small potato farmers, it is therefore no wonder that the weather plays a big role in our projects as well. Sometimes it feels as if we are always looking to the sky […]
After 3 hours of driving through the mountains, we arrived at Huadhua, a remote town with 200 residents. As our white pick-up approached the school the children began to scream with excitement. “Gringo, Gringo!” rings through the air as the children eye us with bewilderment and curiosity. The kids, who are timid at first, […]
We headed out for Huadhua in the morning, aiming to cover 4000 feet of elevation gain in time for lunch at school with the kids. I had no idea how rich with sights – and learning from Ian – our trip would be. As we passed through the towns outside of Cusco, Ian told us […]