CONAPAC, 2008 MARKS FIFTEEN YEARS SERVING THE

AMAZONIAN RURAL COMMUNITY

Since 1993, CONAPAC's "Adopt-A-School" and "Environmental Education" programs have been working to provide rural schools and students with school supplies while promoting environmental education in their communities.  This year, donors from around the world have provided funding through the Detroit Zoological Institute to provide over 4,200 students and teachers along the Amazon and Napo Rivers with school supplies and educational materials for the year.  These donations also provide materials for workshops for teachers and community leaders in the villages.  Donations from volunteers who help us deliver school supplies provide funding for a full time biologist and a half time educator to continue CONAPAC’s projects after the school supplies are delivered.  In Peru, Explorama Lodges provides logistical support to make these activities possible.

In April our volunteer group will distribute school supplies in 71 communities in the 2008 Adopt-A-School program.  We will be accompanied by representatives from the Iquitos Board of Education and the Indiana Regional Education Office which supervises the schools in this area.  We will also be accompanied by three of CONAPAC’s leaders, Amner Ismodes, Marcos Oversluijs, and Alberto Vela, who make our projects possible during the rest of the year.  Amner, who has been with CONAPAC since its beginnings, has been our greatest promoter of the importance of improving rural education and environmental consciousness in the villages.  Marcos, a biologist graduated from the University in Iquitos, organizes our service projects and workshops for farmers to improve the use of the precious resources in each village.  He is also the designer of a great new smaller fish farming project which we are organizing in pilot communities.  Alberto is our education specialist and to say that he is qualified is definitely an understatement.  Alberto has worked as a teacher in rural schools, as a teacher educator, as a member of the Board of Education in Iquitos and as the administrator of the Ministry of Education’s Office for Rural Education in Iquitos.  As our educational program coordinator, Alberto is responsible for CONAPAC’s teacher and community leader workshops and our community evaluations.  Many, many thanks to them and everyone who will help us make this year’s programs possible!

Some of CONAPAC’s activities planned for 2008 year include:

·        Distribution of school supplies for individual students and teachers, materials for the classroom, and books for their library in over 115 rural river early education, elementary and high schools.

·        Reforestation, painting and small construction projects in villages with the help of high school student groups from the United States.  As of April there are already 20 service projects planned for 2008.

·        Continuing construction of latrines for schools in various villages along the rivers.

·        Reinforcing and improving captive animal breeding programs for food in villages to decrease pressures on the wild populations.

·        Teacher workshops in village schools on strategies to include productive projects in the development of lesson plans, inclusive education for all students, health and nutrition in the rainforest, and the importance of including parent’s participation in the educational process.  Four 3-day workshops will take place in Timicuro I, Yanamono II, Irlanda and Yarina Isla during May and June with the participation of the villages in the area of each central community.

·         Workshops for community leaders from all of the Adopt-A-School communities will include topics on the role of community leaders in the village, health and nutrition as the base of a prosperous community, sustainable use of natural resources, productive soil strategies and the exchange of experiences between leaders of neighboring villages.  Four 3-day workshops are planned simultaneously with the teacher workshops in centrally located communities.

·       Workshops for rural farmers co-sponsored by the Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agrarias (INIA) to teach better farming practices to improve their production and conserve the natural resources of the rainforest.

·     Continued support of the “Christine Olsen Carpentry Workshop” in the village of Iquique.  During the month of March, volunteer Guy Latour held carpentry classes to teach students how to use the equipment safely and make furniture for their homes.  During his stay his students produced 8 chairs, 7 tables, 8 beds, 4 doors, a baby crib and 2 board games!  The carpentry workshop has also been busy making furniture for Explorama Lodge!  Guy has left us with a list of additional equipment to expand the possibilities for the Carpentry Workshop.  Penny Hall, Guy’s wife, held classes during the day at Iquique teaching English to students.  In April there will be a 3-day workshop on wood carving to teach the new carpenters ways to decorate their new furniture. 

·     Expand the small family fish farm project which has worked so well in the village of Canal Pinto to other pilot communities.  Thanks to a generous donation of Terry Cortez-Vega a boat is being constructed for the Canal Pinto families to be able to transport the fish they have produced in excess of their own use for sale in markets outside of their community.  We are very excited about the economic possibilities of this project! 

·        Continued support of the Women’s Club in the village of Sapo Playa where community moms are learning sewing skills and other handicrafts.  In 2007, CONAPAC constructed 3 classrooms for the Club’s classes which are also used by high school and provided supplies for the workshops.

·        Inauguration of the “Centro de Transformación de Frutales Nativos - El Timicuro” in the village of Timicuro Grande.  This center includes a water processing plant, a brick oven, and a clean room for producing marmalades and jam from fruits in the community, breads from village resources as well as ingredients from Iquitos and best of all potable water!  This was all made possible by generous donations from members of Trinity Lutheran Church and a groups of guests visiting Ceiba Tops.

·        Evaluation visit in November to all 71 communities with a team of educators and representatives of INIA.  We will be checking on how the year’s projects have been implemented and how teachers are using the information given to them at the workshops.  The evaluation will include teachers, students and community members.

·        A special year end celebration party with hot chocolate, special Christmas bread called “panetones”, and candy for the children and teachers in the top 15 communities based on the year end evaluation.

And this is just the beginning of our plans for 2008!