Until now, the area's young people did not have access to technical training; now, the "Don Bosco Foundation" of Peru provides one, thanks to the construction of the Intercultural Technical Training Center.
It was December 2015 when the Salesian NGO "Don Bosco Mondo" announced that the German government had approved the project thanks to which the "Yánkuam Jintia" Intercultural Technical-Productive Training Center (CET-PRO) was set up.
The center started its activities in August 2016, after a time for its construction and the supply and placement of equipment. Right from the start, three courses were immediately offered: Outboard Motors Mechanics, Carpentry, and Agropastoral Sciences, specialties that respond to local needs.
The training is modular and the courses last four months. During this time, the students - of different ethnic groups: Achuar, Quichua, Kandozi, Awuajum, Wampis, Shawi and Mestizos - are housed at the center as returning home for them would be very difficult due to the distances involved. To get to the center, some of them have to walk for 2 or 3 days and then navigate a week along the river aboard the boat known as "pekepeke" - for the noise the boat makes. "The students are really worthy of admiration because they have to make a lot of effort to make their dreams come true," comment the Salesian missionaries in the area.
And it is not only the distance, but also the heavy ball and chain the students drag behind due to their poor preparation during basic school education: even when they leave secondary school, many do not know how to read, write or understand Spanish correctly.
These days, however, the students and the educational community of CET-PRO are all satisfied because a new formation cycle has come to its conclusion bringing the total number of graduating students to over 150 - all of whom, in addition to the training received, have also learned much from living together with people of different origins and backgrounds.
