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El Proyecto El Colegio Estadísticas
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PROJECT OF FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF THE EDUCATIONAL CENTER IN ISCOZACÍN MISSION, PERU.
Iscozacín, January 24th, 2006
Dear Sirs: I am pleased to be given the opportunity to introduce myself and give you information about my parish and its educational needs. The project we are proposing will only be realized with assistance from supportive Christians and educators. I am a diocesan missionary “Fidei Donum” who works in the Peruvian Amazon since 1993. I was ordained as a priest in 1991 by Monsignor Alfons Nossol from the Opele Diocese in Poland. My first assignment in Perú was at San Pablo de Loreto Parish which belongs to the “Vicariato Apostolico San Jose del Amazonas,” situated at the edge of the Amazon River. I have worked since October, 2002, for the Vicariato Apostolico De San Ramon at the central jungle of Perú at a mission called Iscozacin belonging to the parish of Port Bermudez. In June, 2006, our post, by the decision of the bishop, must be elevated to the rank of parish. I finished my first missionary term with the construction of a new church blessed in December, 2000, as a thankful act of gratitude for two millennium of the living presence of Christ amidst his people. The construction of the temple was completed in most part thanks to the support from some German ecclesiastical organizations, some parishes from my diocese in Poland, a number of voluntary sponsors, and the labor of the parishioners. Taking into consideration the effect of our evangel work at the parish of San Pablo, especially in the area of Christian formation of the catechists, I chose, with the permission of my bishop in Poland, to go to a place much less organized in the Pastoral aspect that is much more challenging than my last assignment. Iscozacin as a mission covers 70 villages in a rural area. The majority of them are the native villages of the Yanesha, an indigenous people. Iscozacin is the headquarters of the Palcazu District It is made up of the city with an elementary school and a secondary school, a small health center, and some state offices. A detailed description of the real socio-economic and pastoral work of our district can be sent to you at a later date if you are interested in the project we are presenting to you. After 3 years of pastoral work in Iscozacin as well as in the rural area, we urgently need to offer the children and youth, especially those of Yanesha native origin, a better education and Christian training through a Catholic school. The request which we are directing to you, as well as to the pastoral council at Iscozacin Mission, is for financing part or all of the construction of a new education center for pre-school, primary, and secondary students in our community including residence halls with a capacity to house 200 students from our valley and a residence for the teachers. The estimated cost of the project is $800,000 dollars minimum and a $1,000,000 maximum to provide for future building. These figures do not include the cost of equipment for the buildings. In order to offer our students a whole education, we would like to educate them from 1st grade on. Being very aware of the proportions of the project and the time it requires to construct a new educational center, we could begin the educational process with students in the first grade and selected students in the elementary school, including students of families of low income of our district and neighboring districts such as the Puerto Bermudez District that has many students from the Ashaninka tribe. Reasons why we are asking for your financial support: 1. Very low educational level in the Educational Center due to:
2. From each 100 children that begin their primary studies only 50 complete them. From 100 young students that enroll at the secondary level only 30 complete it. 3. Almost none of the applicants pass the admissions tests given students for entry into high schools or universities outside of Iscozacin. 4. Many talented students from the primary schools of our valley cannot attend secondary schools or are not included due to the fact that they lack the internship or the finances to obtain a scholarship or lodging in Iscozacin.. 5. The families who are most interested in a private or parochial school are of European descent and work in the cattle industry. But the most in need of a private parochial school are the natives who lack the economic resources needed to continue the education of their children, especially the youth graduated from the elementary schools. Outside of Iscozacin there are another 7 state-run schools which are incomplete. They only offer 2-4 high school grades. The lack of enrollment is due to the fact that there’s no lodging at the educational center. Students must travel long distances between the towns, without transportation. They must have their own resources to pay for their lodging if they are able to obtain it. 6. The majority of the cattlemen send their children to Catholic high schools or to private schools in Lima or to the nearest cities within a 200 km radius from Iscozacin. They are Villa Rica, Oxapampa, Pozuzo, La Merced, San Ramon, Huancayo, and Tarma. Studying outside their home city increases the cost and weakens the ties with the family, native land, religion, culture and traditions. The consequences of studying outside the village are the following:
7. With an Educational Parochial Center in the area the resident students would maintain permanent contact with their relatives and would return home on weekends or would be visited by them in Iscozacin. 8. An Educational Parochial Center would give us the opportunity to form the Christian conscience of our youth through different activities of religious-pastoral character by providing them a weekly mass at school. 9. An Educational Parochial Center would be in competition with the local state run public school and act as motivation to improve educational services in the valley. 10. The Education Center would demand more discipline and work from many families who would have to participate and sacrifice more to insure that their children achieve. 11. We hope it would be a very important element in consolidating the community ties, and tolerance and fraternity in a society divided by special interests, socio-economics levels, and racial discrimination. At the same time we hope to realize an education program with the purpose of recovering the ethnic, cultural, and religious identity that is disappearing in a valley rich in a variety of cultures and way lifestyles. 12. We see the necessity to educate students in two levels: University bound students who have the ability to go on to universities and technical schools for students of lower abilities or lower economic resources who have enough education to work for the betterment of the Palcazu Valley and to improve the economic circumstances of their families. 13. We have the trained professional personnel who are ready to organize and administer the Parochial Education Center without excluding the help of the sisters assigned to the nuns who would take part in the educational and formative process and who would be in charge of the housing or other areas. 14. The new center would depend mainly on the money paid by the parents as tuition for the students who are more economically stable. Other indigenous students who are poor will be offered work-study programs that would allow them to attend classes but require them to work at the Educational Center as partial payment of tuition. Attendance contracts would provide alternative payment from students who are working as cattle farmers, working in the fisheries, or raising small animals and edible crops. We hope that the new education center will be the place to meet and interchange the 3 cultures: European-colony, high-Andean and indigenous Yanesha. We hope to revive and exchange the values that are disappearing and that could enrich the ethnic and cultural lives of the inhabitants of our valley. This is the reason why we are thinking of teaching the native Yanesha language, English, and other foreign languages: for example German. We have a plot of 30 hectares that include appropriate land for agriculture, cattle, and technical activities. On the land is a wooded area and 10 hectares of land appropriate for construction of the future education center with the possibility of expanding it to create a higher technology institute. Our plans include setting aside an area to conduct technical agricultural training at the secondary level. Many parents show interest and desire to support the project to see it come about by contributing money, labor, and other activities. We are not economically self-sufficient enough to construct an educational center of the size which would include:
As you can see our plan is in development. We would be very grateful for your response and suggestions. In the event you choose to join us in our mission, we would comply with your directions and requirements. Perhaps it would be easier to share the cost with another organization by sharing the project and inviting them to join you in the venture. The construction of the auditorium that will require a large sum of money is not the priority of the project, and it could be completed at a later date with funds from another source. We are committed to contribute our own economic share from the income of the few (in comparison to the majority of the inhabitants) wealthy cattlemen of our area who are the most interested in having a parochial school with a good academic program near the children and young students. It should be understood that the size of the project requires construction by stages beginning with the primary school. The secondary school will need to be built quickly so that the students who graduate from the primary schools of our valley can continue their studies in our new parochial school. A brief view of our pastoral work can be found in the CD we are enclosing. We are most grateful for the interest you may give to our plan and hoping to get your prompt and supportive answer. We want to show our appreciation and concern for the missionary church and send you a fraternal greeting and prayers for much success in the year 2006.
Sincerely,
Fr. P. Gerard Tyralla Langer Iscozacin Mission
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