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This December we celebrate the graduation of Mayra, Mardin and Shano. They are three young Awajún from the remote community of Yutupis, in the Peruvian Amazon, who have spent the last five years of their lives in Lima, to study Education at the Schiller-Goethe Pedagogical Institute and thus become teachers.

This wonderful success has been achieved thanks to the commitment and dedication of the students, and thanks to the full scholarships provided by the Vermont Foundation, a small family foundation based in France that, since 2019, has been financing, in coordination with Takiwasi, the higher education of young Awajún and Wampis indigenous people from the Rio Santiago district, Amazonas region of Peru.

It has not been easy for the students to leave their small community and live for 5 years in a chaotic megacity like Lima. The cultural shock of moving from a traditional, slow-paced lifestyle to the frenetic lifestyle of the city has been compounded by the shock caused by the lockdown decreed during the Covid-19 crisis, which has represented a large part of their 5 years of study. Despite all the difficulties of digital adaptation, the change in customs and diet, the cold winter in Lima, the drastic change in the level of educational demands, linguistic obstacles, and the occasional personal stumble, these 3 students have shown that, with the right dose of enthusiasm, effort and common sense, excellent results can be achieved.

A fundamental contribution to the success of this initiative has also been provided by José Petsa, president of the NGO CIANAH, based in Yutupis and dedicated to welcoming orphaned or abandoned indigenous children and supporting them with basic health, education, food, and clothing services so that they can complete their basic education and then dream of becoming professionals. And several of them have already achieved this dream.

Since the beginning of the Vermont Foundation scholarships in 2019, 10 young people have been able to obtain their degree in careers and disciplines such as Education, Nursing, Law, Fine Arts and Accounting. All of them returned to their home region to work, share what they have learned with others in a spirit of reciprocity and gratitude for the opportunity received, and thus contribute to the development of their communities.

Also in the case of Mayra, Mardin and Shano, their wish now is to return to Yutupis and work as teachers in an area of Peru that has historically been forgotten by the central government and where the quality of the public education system is deplorable; and the consequences of this are paid for by indigenous children. Soon it will be the turn of Jhimi, another young student who is already preparing his bachelor's thesis in nursing for the National University of the Peruvian Amazon, in the city of Iquitos.

In 2025, Fondation Vermont will continue to support a small group of indigenous students whose studies will end in 2028. This is a serious and sincere commitment to the education of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, and it is also an important financial responsibility, since the scholarships cover all the students' needs (tuition fees, food, accommodation, etc.) and are long-term, which makes it all the more worthy of being celebrated.

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