Huerta Village School, Cusco, Peru

Huerta is a small village about 30 minutes drive outside of Cusco in south-eastern Peru, near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. The local community live in mud houses and survive by growing corn and potato as well as tending to animals.

The Peruvian government built a small classroom here but left it abandoned soon after by not providing a teacher or any resources. 14 years later a church in Cusco managed to fund a teacher for the village and the children now have a school.

Sadly they still receive nothing from the government. Whilst I was volunteering there at the end of 2007 the school ran out of stationery and writing supplies twice within 6 weeks. The school constantly struggles to maintain supplies and many children are malnourished and wear the same clothes daily.

Check out the projects that Sonrisa en Peru have been involved with at Huerta Village School.