Tikapata School in Huayoccary

My friend Harry from Markham College arranged for me to visit Tikapata school in Huayoccary in the Sacred Valley.  It is about 20 minutes from Calca and 10km before Urubamba.  It reminded me a bit of both the Green School in Bali and the Montessorri school that I attended in primary school.  It is in a beautiful setting, the kids are all happy and they get to plan their projects and have a say in decision making in the school.

Tikapata calls itself an eco-school and is well deserving of the name. The classrooms are made of adobe bricks (mud bricks) and the children each have a garden.  This was the main reason I was keen to see the school as it participates in the Tierra de Niños project.  I had seen this in action in Comos, a shanty town in Lima and have written previously about this (click here for article).  So I was super keen to see TiNi in action in a more rural setting.

I was greeted by a lovely German lady so we promptly switched languages. She is one of the founders, along with 3 others.  One of the founders donated the land for the school.   Many of the children at the school are from mixed families (Peruvian plus European or American).  There are some Peruvian children who are fully sponsored.

I was lucky to have a tour and see classes in action.