Adopt-A-School: Conservation through Education 
Each spring, a group of dedicated volunteers accompanied by staff from the Detroit Zoo make the long journey to Peru. Traveling by plane, bus, motorcycle-car and boat, the group reaches the heart of the Amazon Rainforest and the adventure truly begins. Over the next week, they will deliver school supplies to hundreds of children in the rural communities along the Amazon and Napo Rivers. Each child will receive the supplies necessary to attend school and achieve a basic education.
 The donations that are received are also used to educate the communities about the diverse and vital natural resources with which they live. Sustainable farming and hunting practices are emphasized, as well as respect for community grounds, the river and the wildlife that surrounds them. Villages that have been with the program for several years are noticeably cleaner, with waste containers and signs reminding people to do their part. Many villages have latrines and several have running water from rainwater storage containers. The village of Iquique is home to a carpentry school, due to a generous donation in memory of Christine Olsen. Timicuro Grande has a bakery and marmalade factory, using native fruits to make delicious jams. During the 2009 trip, a second group of volunteers assisted in constructing a water purification tower and bakery in the village of Irlanda.
Your donation of $350 can support a school of 20 children, providing textbooks, reading materials, maps, charts, reference materials, notebooks, rulers, pens and pencils. In return for your donation, you'll receive:
 1. The name and location of the school you've adopted.
2. A list of the supplies purchased for the school.
3. Photos of the students, teacher and school taken during the delivery ceremony.
4. Artwork created for you by the students of your adopted school group.
*Due to their size, some schools may receive multiple sponsors.
A $25 donation will purchase needed school supplies for one child.
Although many people have offered to send school supplies to Peru, we cannot accept them for the following reasons: 1. The mail service to Peru is not dependable, and often it is necessary to pay customs fees up to 100% of the value of the items to release them from the customs office.
2. The money spent purchasing and shipping these items can be better spent on supplies purchased in Peru where they are less expensive.
3. Purchasing locally made products helps the Peruvian economy and ensures that materials will fit into the standardized system of Peruvian education.
*The only exception is soft cover children's books written in Spanish. If you wish to donate children's books written in Spanish (not books in English to learn Spanish), please contact us.
100% of your donation to the Adopt-a-School Program goes toward the purchase and delivery of supplies for student, teacher and school packets and teacher workshops in the communities. Participant fees from the Conservation Expedition fund the salaries of the CONAPAC team in Peru and staffing from the Detroit Zoo. The generous donation of transportation, staff, food and lodging from Explorama Lodges support the operational costs of the program.
To donate:  Click here to download a donation form. 306.81 Kb
For more information about our Conservation Expedition, please click here. 297.66 Kb
Interested in receiving our newsletter “Rainforest Review” to keep up on what’s happening just south of the equator? Please contact Claire at clannoye@dzs.org with your email address.
 For more information, please contact:
Claire Lannoye
clannoye@dzs.org
(248) 541-5717 ext. 3803
|
