Social project in Peru: childcare center in Cusco
The Grenchen-Bettlach Kolping association, which has around 100 members, has been supporting a childcare center in Cusco/Peru for years. Around 350 children from poor families are looked after, taught and fed in the day-care facility run by the “Urpi Wasi” foundation.
TEXAID and the Grenchen-Bettlach Kolping association
The textile recycling organisation and Grenchen-Bettlach Kolping association have been working together ever since TEXAID first started collecting old clothing. The Kolping association used to carry out street collections on behalf of TEXAID. Today, there are around 15 TEXAID containers in Grenchen and in Bettlach for collections in favour of the local Kolping association. Thanks to the money received from TEXAID, as well as donations from its members and from funeral and parish collections, the Kolping association is able to support the childcare center run by the “Urpi Wasi” foundation in Peru.
“Urpi Wasi” day-care facility and primary school
Swiss-born Barbara Casanova has been running a day-care facility and primary school in Cusco, a city in the Peruvian Andes, ever since 2001. Around 350 children from poor families in the city of Cusco are looked after, taught and fed at 3,500 metres altitude. 150 children are cared for in the crèche, and 200 attend classes 1-6 in the primary school. The children's parents are closely involved in the work of the center. The staff of 25 comprises nursery school teachers, primary teachers, psychologists, auxiliary staff for the kindergarten and kitchen, along with interns from Switzerland. The main aim is to enable the children to grow into self-confident, responsible young adults. The children are given the chance to learn a profession and to escape poverty for good. The foundation is thereby helping to reduce the gap between different social classes and promote equal opportunities in the country.
The Grenchen-Bettlach Kolping association enjoys a long-term partnership with the foundation, and has been providing “Urpi Wasi” with financial support for years, including proceeds from TEXAID’s old clothing collections.
More information about the social project in Peru can be found at http://urpi-wasi.com/ or in the article about the Kolping association published in the Grenchner Tagblatt: Collecting old clothes: how the Kolping association raises funds (article in German).
May 2018