Mosqoy would like to apologize for this tardy blog post—our Program Manager, Kristina, was on a well-deserved vacation for the first half of the month and was unable to post before leaving. She is back with all kinds of news from Casa Mosqoy and the students in Cusco!
The house is once again full of life after the students from Mosqoy 5 successfully finished their first semester. Congratulations to Carmen Rosa, who is currently in second place overall in her culinary arts program, and to Clayda, who is in third place overall in her international business administration program. Outstanding efforts! We couldn’t be more proud of all of our Mosqoy 5 students for their focus and success in their first semester. Mosqoy 3 students are currently in their final modules of their practical courses, and they will be 100% done their studies in the next two weeks. They are anxious and excited to get out there and demonstrate their knowledge.
The girls of Mosqoy got together at the end of August to develop an inclusion and anti-bullying plan for the house, including how to welcome new students into the project and how to communicate effectively to avoid any issues between students once in the house. It was an incredibly successful venture, and Kristina is thrilled about the shift in cooperation in the house since the workshop.
We have finally (!!) been able to set up a study space in the short-term volunteer room for the students. There the kids have access to two desktop computers, two laptop computers, and a relatively quiet space to complete their homework. We expect to have the desktop computers connected to the internet shortly. The students are so excited to have even more access to computers to complete their projects and papers! Program administration is also currently setting up a proper shared office for AYP and Q’ente volunteers, and we are so pleased to have a separate work space in Casa Mosqoy!
Kristina travelled to Ollantaytambo to have a meeting with the parents on the last Saturday before she left for her native Canada on vacation. We had a successful meeting to discuss monthly payments, the workshop series we will be developing with our new volunteer resident advisor, Juan, and resources for the families of Mosqoy. Our next meeting will be the official welcome of Juan and the parents are very much looking forward to meeting him. Stay tuned for a special blog posting, “Profile of a Mosqoy Volunteer,” in which you will meet our newest member of the Mosqoy family in Peru.
On a more sombre note, Casa Mosqoy was robbed when Kristina was away on vacation. A few people who had managed to get their hands on keys to the house broke in and helped themselves to a few of our house items, such as our tanks of gas for the kitchen and one of the students’ laptops. It was incredibly unfortunate, but with the help of Ebhert, an alumnus from Mosqoy 1, the locks have been changed. We are thankful that nothing else was stolen and happy that we were able to get the locks changed without too much delay. Students are still struggling to feel safe in the house, but we are all moving forward together. We were able to buy a new tank of gas a few days ago and had our first dinner in almost a month at the house.
To end on positive news: during her stay in Canada, Kristina officially started a partnership between the Global Stewardship Program at Mosqoy and Cappy Smart Elementary School in Calgary. She gave a presentation developed by Zoe and herself about Peruvian and Quechuan culture, and the students are so excited to continue working with Mosqoy and maintaining a link to Peru for part of their grade 3 curriculum. They will be supporting our Kallpa K’oj program (student volunteer service) and Skyping with students and volunteers from Mosqoy to learn more about life in Peru, and integrating different aspects of Quechuan culture into different areas of their studies!
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