Senora Maria-Anne Moore tested our word-associations with Peru when she came to speak to the senior school assembly on Wednesday. Llamas, Paddington Bear and Macchu Picchu featured instantly and she expanded on our joint response with pictures of the Inca Trail, the indigenous population in national dress, and of the terrain. It’s been a difficult few weeks since the floods in the coastal region where her charity, Mundo Feliz, is based. The roads, bridges and railways have been destroyed or swept away. Houses are built with clay bricks, she explained, and so collapse in floods. There is little Government help and the rescue work has been unco-ordinated, so although tourists were taken to safety, the local population have been stranded.

Mundo Feliz was affected too, although being based on higher land they escaped the worst of the disaster. Being resolute in self-help, the charity volunteers have set about re-building walls, making a playground, improving the dining room, sanitation and installing electricity.

We saw photos that clearly showed the difference that Mundo Feliz has made to the children – they would have been working in the fields were there no school to attend. They eat properly balanced, nutritious meals although the biggest smiles were on their chocolate-covered faces at the special Christmas chocolatada. For the women, Mundo Feliz has embarked on the Andean project, hiring a loom and a teacher to show them how to weave Alpaca wool. Former teacher Mrs Moore is delighted that alumna Hannah Beecham is going to Peru to help her in July and August. JAGS supports many charities and she is hoping that girls will remember Mundo Feliz when they vote for their House Charities in September.

www.mundo-feliz.org