What We Do:

Awamaki Education works to place volunteers in the schools and community center of Ollanta and surrounding communities. Our approach is multi-faceted and we rely on volunteers to accomplish our mission. Awamaki works in four different capacities to enhance and support learning opportunities in Ollantaytambo to everyone from children to adults. We run adult English classes, teach computer literacy at a local school, work in an afterschool homework center and assist teachers in an alternative preschool.

Awamaki offers English classes to adults in Ollantaytambo along with an Intercambio class that affords a higher level of interaction between Ollantinos and volunteers. Classes run four days a week and the course runs for four months. A small fee by the students pays for class materials and obligates the students to continuous attendance. To further encourage class attendance, volunteers check-in with the students once a week in their homes. While this might sound like hand-holding, it works! Attendance is higher and students learn more.

In a local school about 20 minutes outside of Ollantaytambo, Awamaki teaches computer literacy. Volunteers teach kindergarten through 6^th grade with class sizes ranging from 10 to 21! While we do have computers, not all work all of the time. Classes start very basic from learning the parts of the computer to mouse manipulation to formatting in Microsoft Work and Excel.

Awamaki also works in the Telecentro, a community center, which runs an afterschool program. Since Peruvian classes let out at 1:30, kids have a lot of free time on their hands. This program gives them a structured learning center and help if they need it. Through this center, Awamaki runs English classes for the kids a couple times a week as well as a creative class. It is in this creative class that volunteers have the opportunity to run PE or photography classes; an opportunity many kids would not have access to otherwise.

Finally, Awamaki aids a local alternative preschool providing extra support for the teachers. Volunteers work with four and five year old preschoolers painting, playing and assisting with the beginning of their education! While we remain committed to local public education, we believe that an alternative school could be a model for education reform in town. The school starts with a nursery, a preschool classroom and a first grade. We are particularly keen on supporting the nursery, as the current lack of any daycare option in town is an enormous hurdle for mothers who need to work.