(MissionNewswire) Each year, more than 120 youth will have access to technical skills training thanks to a new Salesian training center that has been opened in Loreto, Peru among the Kandozi Indigenous Community in San Fernando in the District of Andoas. The Yankuam Jintia Training Center for Intercultural Education was developed by the Don Bosco Foundation to meet the needs of poor youth living in the Peruvian Amazon.

One of the challenges facing Salesian missionaries in Peru is creating opportunities for youth after they graduate from secondary school but are unable because of finances to pursue further education and training. To address this, Salesian missionaries are providing more technical and vocational training so youth are able to learn a skill and have access to long-term stable work that allows them to provide for their families and give back to their communities.

This new training center seeks to improve the living conditions of indigenous families of the Achuar, Kandozi, Meztizos and Quechua ethnic groups in the Amazon. Youth will be trained to be mechanics for outboard engines, as well as in carpentry, agriculture and animal husbandry. They will then be able to contribute to the development of their communities and to create resources through the provision of services to third parties. Youth will reside in the Salesian boarding school and attend the four-month training modules of the Intercultural Education Center.

“Education is a path out of poverty for many youth,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Salesian programs provide a solid education for the future and allow students to take what they learn in the classroom and put those skills into practice with real world experience, which helps them develop both personally and professionally.”

Peru faces high levels of income inequality and has more than a quarter of its population living in poverty, according to the World Bank. Poverty levels are significantly higher in rural areas but urban areas struggle most with inequality, most notably metropolitan Lima. Poverty in the country is made worse by a shortage of productive farmland and a lack of job skills among women entering the workforce as well as a lack of adequate housing, nutrition and education.

Salesian missionaries working in Peru have provided life-saving support and education to poor youth and their families through the years as well as helped with rebuilding efforts after the 8.0 earthquake in August 2007, which killed more than 500 people in the central coastal cities of Chincha, Pisco and Ica and injured hundreds more. Salesian programs in the country focus on education and workforce development, helping to ensure that young Peruvians have access to the education and technical skills training that will enable them to find and retain long-term stable employment.

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Sources:

PHOTOS from ANS

ANS – Peru – Inauguration of the “Yankuam Jintia” Centre for Intercultural Education

World Bank – Peru

Salesian Missions – Peru