On the weekend, overflowing rivers caused a large landslide that destroyed almost the entire village of Taray in the Sacred Valle in Peru, with flooded homes, destroyed roads, crops, infrastructure and lost lives. 80% of people have also lost their homes. The AMAUTA school building is situated on the far side of the valley from the affected area and is therefore fine. None of our students or Spanish teachers were there at the time. However, the devastation in the village of Taray is catastrophic, and the people there are left with nothing and in need of help. They are living in tents and are surviving only by the help of outsiders and organizations from Cusco.

AMAUTA is supporting the village, with some students having gone there already to help. We are collecting donations and running quiz and bingo nights in order to raise money to buy food and blankets for the people in the village, and we are going to the village with a large group of people – both staff and students- on Sunday. As far as the AMAUTA program goes, we will not be sending students there for at least a few weeks until the village is on its feet again. We will keep you updated as to when we will be running our Sacred Valley program again, however in this moment the priority is taking care of the village and its people.