When Lourdes (who is currently back in Cusco teaching a Waldorf education course to new teachers) and I first moved to Sauce some months back we were kindly lent this humble building with adobe walls and a dirt floor to use as a classroom for our Waldorf-based educational and community outreach program.Recently the owner, who is the director of one of the local primary schools, told us that he has decided to put it up for sale.
Hey folks! We'd like to buy it. Can you help?
As they say, there are three important factors when buying real estate: Location, location and location. This building and adjoining garden space has all three. Many people have expressed that Laguna Azul is one of the most beautiful spots in Peru and this property is one block back from the lakeshore.
Once we have become owners we can remodel and transform the structure into something much better for our purposes and make the garden into a beautiful play area for the children.
The lot is 300 square meters (about 900 sqare feet) and is selling for 40,000 Soles (Peru's national currency) which translates as $15,000 US at today's exchange rate.We would love for anyone who would like to support the foundation of a new kind of Waldorf-based initiative, not a school, but a center for artistic and academic life enrichment for children and youth living close to the bottom on the social totem pole to come together and give us a hand to raise this amount.
Unfortunately there is the possibility the property will be sold to another buyer which would leave us looking for another place to start afresh. That is not a scenario we want as we have already invested somewhat in painting the building, doing some repair work and putting in a new cement floor. We would love to stay and make the place even better for the years to come.We envision this as a pilot project which will hopefully provide a new model to inspire others to begin similar ventures in other communities. The emphasis on arts and handwork is to engage the right hemisphere of the brain and provide some balance in worldwide education which increasingly only focuses on left brain processes. The aim is to support the emergence of balanced human beings.
This project also provides a venue for young volunteers from the developed world to come and have a life-changing experience.
If you would like to make a donation large or small please contact me at martinstevens@juno.com
Thank you!
