Laredo Schools

Laredo

Photos:

*The countryside around Laredo is in a very lush and fertile valley where sugar cane, avocado, mango, and passion fruit are grown and exported. Very much an agricultural dependent district.

*The front door to one of the schools.

*Classroom furniture (5 photos). 

Beautiful Laredo is a rural district of the Trujillo province where we were assigned to travel and evaluate a request for classroom furniture which we had received from the municipal government. We try to focus our efforts in the areas of Peru where the percentage of people living in poverty is the highest. As you will see by the photos below, these schools would greatly benefit from some new furniture.

We were picked up Friday morning by the Lt. Mayor, the Chief of Economic Development, and the Education Secretary of the municipal government of Laredo. They took us on a seven school adventure through their beautiful countryside to see a wide variety of needs at the schools.

The schools we visited all had needs, but it was interesting to observe the difference that parental involvement made to the appearance and function of the different schools. It was more than simply attending the PTA meeting like in our country. In a couple of schools, additional classroom space had been added by the parents and community working together to build it. This was similar to what we saw in Huacaybamba last November.

The Students

These beautiful and happy children were so eager to talk to us (and probably gwak at us). At the particular school pictured below Mary had an entourage with her for a good portion of our time there. This school and community have taken in 10 children who were abandoned and are caring for and educating them.

Maracuya (passion fruit)

As we drove through the countryside, Rob, the master gardener, asked lots of questions about the agricultural practices of the area and we were able to make a couple brief stops for some up close observation with the farmers.

Rob enjoyed being surrounded by fields of maracuya (passion fruit)! They gave us a few of the passion fruit and Rob was able to make his favorite juice when we got home.

The Trujillo Temple

At the end of a very busy week, we were blessed to be able to attend the Trujillo temple and feel the peace there.  

A video of the inside of this temple can be found at: https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/trujillo-peru-temple/virtual-tour/