Dear friends and supporters of Angels of the Amazon,
What an incredible and busy summer this has been for Angels of the Amazon(AoA) with lots of inspiration, mind bending and stretching. We started our summer putting to use our financial resources and the physical energy of our volunteers who travel to the Amazon to work with us and the people of the Tahuayo River communities for projects that mostly benefited education.
In June our volunteers teamed up with Chino Village students to paint the elementary school. This is something that needs to be done every year as the seasonal flood waters of April impact the school. Our construction crew also began work on the foundation for a high school. In August a team of volunteers from Be The Change Volunteers foundation came work with people from the village to erect the walls and roof of the school. Hard work under the brutal equatorial sun faded away with the laughter, smiles and friendship shared by our volunteers and the Chino community.
The first classroom of the new Chino Village High School is completed. AoA will continue thiswork with Be The Change Volunteers, erecting a second classroom and rest rooms next year, and continuing with additional classrooms over the following 6 years. It is through education that families can break the vicious cycle of subsistence agrarian poverty. With the continued assistance of AoA, high school graduates may acquire technical training in Iquitos city and get good jobs. As families move to the city to enjoy better lives, pressure on use of the resources of the jungle will be decreased.
In other news, AoA continues to provide financial support to the patients who need treatment in the hospitals in Iquitos, as well as for the clinic in Esperanza Village. Patients are happy with the level of care that they receive by nurses paid by AoA, making care available to the community 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.This summer the nurses visited the communities on the Tahuayo to provide vaccines to the new born babies who were born at home. It is common when babies are born at home that the parents forget about vaccination, so this program is important to make sure that diseases like polio, which affected several in the community years ago, do not re-appear.
AoA continues supporting the special needs children of the Tahuayo River. Many of them now look better as some basic level of comfort was needed to alleviate many challenges for them and their families. Two new members have joined the economic cooperative “Manos Amazonicas,” which was organized by AoA. One of the new members,
Elsa said: “After years of wanting to be part of the group of artisans, I am finally welcomed into the group. I am going to work very hard, I will make beautiful art to sell and will contribute financially to my children’s lives. I can’t be any happier, I am finally going to earn some money in my life, thanks to the Angels of the Amazon for the help”
Special thanks to many Amazonia travelers and to all our donors who contribute to AoA’s mission, without your help none of the above would be possible. Thank you in behalf of the many people who you have helped and expressed often their gratitude for it. AoA has been a bridge and I the instrument that connects you with them. The courage, strength, resilience that many people have
showed me only keeps me motivated to continue creating, being and collaborating more, together we can make a world of difference!
One heart and two worlds!
Dolly Beaver
Executive Director
Angels of the Amazon
