PERUAP (Peru Apurimac Project) Supporting community projects in Peru
BULLETIN NO. 18 http://peru-ap.blogspot.com/ JULY 2011
Welcome to the latest edition of the Peruap bulletin. Since the December 2010 bulletin, the Project has continued to receive donations for which the Project says a big thank you, and the group Amistad who help the Project in Lima/Callao have been busy responding to requests for help, using donations sent from London. They have sent us some photos together with information about their work, which we will detail below.
Donation from Fred Still Christmas Party/Kristin’s Leaving Party
Many thanks to Kristin Kerwin and her then fiancé, now husband, Mike Bila, who donated money left over from our Neonatal Unit Christmas party which doubled as her leaving do as she was returning to the USA, to the Project. This very kind donation of £212 was put into the Project bank account whilst we waited for Amistad to let us know of a group who needed help. They were considering requests and trying to juggle their various working and social lives with doing work for the Project. It wasn’t always easy for them to get together, but their leader Paty Zavala managed to arrange group meetings and their enthusiasm to help their fellow countrymen in need has been really important to us, living so far away and only able to visit yearly, and they get a lot of satisfaction from their efforts. Peruap in the UK are very grateful to them.
“Centro del Adulto Mayor”. Tarapacá, Callao
The £220 donated by Kristin and Mike was sent to Peru as US dollars, and was used by the group to help a group of elderly people in the “Centro del Adulto Mayor, Tarapacá, Callao”. Tarapacá is a poor area located in the province of Callao. Many people in Peru do not receive an old age pension as there is no government scheme, and poor elderly people struggle to survive. It was decided to give a donation to the women of this group on Mother’s Day, which in Peru is in May. After talking to the President of the Centre, Señora Blanca Leyva Cardenas and her committee, it was decided that a fleece gilet for the coming winter months would be an acceptable donation for each of the women, and Amistad bought 24 of these. Two of the women were unable to walk and were virtually prisoners in their homes, having been unable to get help from other organisations, and Señora Leyva Cardenas obtained medical reports on the two ladies affected with a request for help for them. After speaking to us Amistad members went out and found two wheelchairs and these were presented to the two ladies, Olga Cruz Balarezo and Dolores Cespedes Robles, together with a gilet each for each of the women at a reunion on Mother’s Day 2011. So a big thank you from these ladies to Kristin and Mike.
Amistad returned to Tarapacá in June when on Father’s Day, 18th June 2011, they donated 15 fleeces and 15 scarves to the men of the elderly people’s centre, for which Señora Blanca Cardenas and her committee sent a letter of thanks and gratitude for the help of Amistad and Peruap.
Donation to Shanty-town “El Progreso”, Callao
In March the group Amistad visited the shanty town “El Progreso” in response to a request for help that we had received when we were in the neighbouring shanty town “Nueva Esperanza” last year giving donations of fleece jumpers to the children there. A woman from “El Progreso” came to us as we were leaving “Nueva Esperanza” and said that “El Progreso” was equally as poor and needed aid. She was told to formally request help and was given the address of the Amistad group as we were about to return to the UK.
Amistad found that “El Progreso” was indeed equally as poor as its neighbour and in need of help. As in Nueva Esperanza, the 42 families living in El Progreso make a living recycling plastics, cardboard, tin etc. which involves going round the streets of Callao and Lima with their carts and picking up the rubbish which they bring back to their homes in the shanty town to sort. Their homes are poor wooden shacks. Some of the women of the shanty town applied for help to the government sponsored programme “Vaso de Leche” (“Glass of Milk”) whereby the younger children and elderly people are given a glass of milk each day to boost their nutritional needs. Lidia Meza Asca is the president of this group of village women, and she and her committee met with Amistad and said that they need to replace their worn out stove which cooks the breakfast which they provide each morning using the milk for the 90 children and 40 elderly people who receive the Vaso de Leche support. So Amistad were able to provide a new semi-industrial 2 ring gas stove using Peruap money. Amistad also helped a woman and her 2 children so that they were able to be given a daily breakfast through the Vaso de Leche group. This lady lives in appalling poverty, is unable to work due to illness, has no support and no Identity card which makes her ineligible to be able to apply for her children to receive breakfast from Vaso de Leche. Unfortunately many people in Peru have no Identity card, which each adult over the age of 18 should have, sometimes for reasons of not knowing their birth dates or for reasons of illiteracy, and many of these people come from the Andes or the jungle areas of Peru. Amistad requested that the lady concerned as well as her two children be allowed to be given breakfast each day from the supplied milk, and the committee agreed that they would receive a ration each every day.
Donation of Educational Material to Shantytown “Cueva los Tallos”, Pachacutec, Callao
Amistad received a request from the Institution “Pronei” asking for educational materials. Pronei, a programme of early learning, supports children under 6 years old who live in very poor areas such as in shantytowns, and according to national figures, presently is supporting approximately 300,000 children in the poorest areas in Peru, especially in the Andean region and in the shanty towns in Lima and Callao. Pronei was based on the Wawa Wasi experience, which helped poor infant school aged children in the Andean areas. Amistad were able to use a donation from Peruap to provide crayons and paper and the type of laminated pictures that you often see on walls in infants schools that introduce the alphabet or show animals. From the photos that the group took the children look very happy with the donation. The teachers, Bertha Huaman Trejo, Grisela Eugenio Llanto and Valle Tafua Mejia report that the children come from homes with few economic resources, that many of the parents are unable to find work, and that the teachers want to provide the children with a good quality education. This will be the best way to help the children out of the circle of poverty in which their less educated parents are stuck.
Thanks sent for a donation made last July
Peruap has just received an e mail thanking us for the donation made last July whilst visiting Lima, of a two ring portable stove which was donated to the group who help domestic workers who are being exploited or abused, “SINTTRAHOL” (Sindicato de Trabajadores y Trabajadoras del Hogar de la Región Lima). They use this stove for Union events in the capital spreading their message inviting people who are being exploited or abused to come forward and talk to them, so that steps can be taken to help them. Whilst we were visiting last year, the President of the group in Lima, Leddy Mozombite Linares, gave us the example of a lady who they helped who had worked for various members of the same family from her youth until old age when the family put her on the streets because she was considered too old to work for them any more. This lady had lost contact with her own family many years before when she was young, (many of these people come from poor areas, maybe from the Andean areas many miles away) and now had no contacts and no resources to be able to support herself, and was in effect destitute and too old to find work. Leddy has just been re-elected as President of the Union, and she is determined to continue fighting for domestic workers’ rights
Volunteering appeal
In order to continue with our fundraising events we are looking for volunteers to help us to organise our next fundraising event for Peru Apurimac Project possibly in November this year when our Project will be ten years old. Anyone interested in helping to organise the fundraising event please let us know.
Latest news
We will soon be travelling to Peru and as in previous times we will take the opportunity of visiting some of the places in the poor areas where our Project has supported community groups. We will contact local people there and see the conditions they are living in and how Peruap can continue helping them.
Donations
Peruap’s funds come only from the generous donations of our friends and our fundraising events. We always are grateful for any donation to help us to continue helping poor people in Peru. If you wish to make a donation to Peruap you can send us a cheque or alternatively you can make a deposit to Peruap’s account.
About us
Peruap is a charity group based in London that started in 2001. We organise fundraising events to help community groups in marginal areas of Peru, mainly in the Andes and in shanty towns in Callao. We mostly help small projects in health and educational needs in areas where people live in conditions of extreme poverty, paying special attention to children and women’s groups.
Peruap is a voluntary group so we are always looking for volunteers to help our fundraising events.
Contact us
For further information about our project, please email us at:
peruapu@yahoo.co.uk.
Or call us on Tel 0208 6998731
You are also invited to visit our blog at: http://peru-ap.blogspot.com/
Thank you
Claudio Chipana
Email: claudiochipana@yahoo.com
Judith Grimsdell judegrimsdell@yahoo.co.uk
Liz Kalinauckas (Treasurer)
BULLETIN NO. 18 http://peru-ap.blogspot.com/ JULY 2011
Welcome to the latest edition of the Peruap bulletin. Since the December 2010 bulletin, the Project has continued to receive donations for which the Project says a big thank you, and the group Amistad who help the Project in Lima/Callao have been busy responding to requests for help, using donations sent from London. They have sent us some photos together with information about their work, which we will detail below.
Donation from Fred Still Christmas Party/Kristin’s Leaving Party
Many thanks to Kristin Kerwin and her then fiancé, now husband, Mike Bila, who donated money left over from our Neonatal Unit Christmas party which doubled as her leaving do as she was returning to the USA, to the Project. This very kind donation of £212 was put into the Project bank account whilst we waited for Amistad to let us know of a group who needed help. They were considering requests and trying to juggle their various working and social lives with doing work for the Project. It wasn’t always easy for them to get together, but their leader Paty Zavala managed to arrange group meetings and their enthusiasm to help their fellow countrymen in need has been really important to us, living so far away and only able to visit yearly, and they get a lot of satisfaction from their efforts. Peruap in the UK are very grateful to them.
“Centro del Adulto Mayor”. Tarapacá, Callao
The £220 donated by Kristin and Mike was sent to Peru as US dollars, and was used by the group to help a group of elderly people in the “Centro del Adulto Mayor, Tarapacá, Callao”. Tarapacá is a poor area located in the province of Callao. Many people in Peru do not receive an old age pension as there is no government scheme, and poor elderly people struggle to survive. It was decided to give a donation to the women of this group on Mother’s Day, which in Peru is in May. After talking to the President of the Centre, Señora Blanca Leyva Cardenas and her committee, it was decided that a fleece gilet for the coming winter months would be an acceptable donation for each of the women, and Amistad bought 24 of these. Two of the women were unable to walk and were virtually prisoners in their homes, having been unable to get help from other organisations, and Señora Leyva Cardenas obtained medical reports on the two ladies affected with a request for help for them. After speaking to us Amistad members went out and found two wheelchairs and these were presented to the two ladies, Olga Cruz Balarezo and Dolores Cespedes Robles, together with a gilet each for each of the women at a reunion on Mother’s Day 2011. So a big thank you from these ladies to Kristin and Mike.
Amistad returned to Tarapacá in June when on Father’s Day, 18th June 2011, they donated 15 fleeces and 15 scarves to the men of the elderly people’s centre, for which Señora Blanca Cardenas and her committee sent a letter of thanks and gratitude for the help of Amistad and Peruap.
Donation to Shanty-town “El Progreso”, Callao
In March the group Amistad visited the shanty town “El Progreso” in response to a request for help that we had received when we were in the neighbouring shanty town “Nueva Esperanza” last year giving donations of fleece jumpers to the children there. A woman from “El Progreso” came to us as we were leaving “Nueva Esperanza” and said that “El Progreso” was equally as poor and needed aid. She was told to formally request help and was given the address of the Amistad group as we were about to return to the UK.
Amistad found that “El Progreso” was indeed equally as poor as its neighbour and in need of help. As in Nueva Esperanza, the 42 families living in El Progreso make a living recycling plastics, cardboard, tin etc. which involves going round the streets of Callao and Lima with their carts and picking up the rubbish which they bring back to their homes in the shanty town to sort. Their homes are poor wooden shacks. Some of the women of the shanty town applied for help to the government sponsored programme “Vaso de Leche” (“Glass of Milk”) whereby the younger children and elderly people are given a glass of milk each day to boost their nutritional needs. Lidia Meza Asca is the president of this group of village women, and she and her committee met with Amistad and said that they need to replace their worn out stove which cooks the breakfast which they provide each morning using the milk for the 90 children and 40 elderly people who receive the Vaso de Leche support. So Amistad were able to provide a new semi-industrial 2 ring gas stove using Peruap money. Amistad also helped a woman and her 2 children so that they were able to be given a daily breakfast through the Vaso de Leche group. This lady lives in appalling poverty, is unable to work due to illness, has no support and no Identity card which makes her ineligible to be able to apply for her children to receive breakfast from Vaso de Leche. Unfortunately many people in Peru have no Identity card, which each adult over the age of 18 should have, sometimes for reasons of not knowing their birth dates or for reasons of illiteracy, and many of these people come from the Andes or the jungle areas of Peru. Amistad requested that the lady concerned as well as her two children be allowed to be given breakfast each day from the supplied milk, and the committee agreed that they would receive a ration each every day.
Donation of Educational Material to Shantytown “Cueva los Tallos”, Pachacutec, Callao
Amistad received a request from the Institution “Pronei” asking for educational materials. Pronei, a programme of early learning, supports children under 6 years old who live in very poor areas such as in shantytowns, and according to national figures, presently is supporting approximately 300,000 children in the poorest areas in Peru, especially in the Andean region and in the shanty towns in Lima and Callao. Pronei was based on the Wawa Wasi experience, which helped poor infant school aged children in the Andean areas. Amistad were able to use a donation from Peruap to provide crayons and paper and the type of laminated pictures that you often see on walls in infants schools that introduce the alphabet or show animals. From the photos that the group took the children look very happy with the donation. The teachers, Bertha Huaman Trejo, Grisela Eugenio Llanto and Valle Tafua Mejia report that the children come from homes with few economic resources, that many of the parents are unable to find work, and that the teachers want to provide the children with a good quality education. This will be the best way to help the children out of the circle of poverty in which their less educated parents are stuck.
Thanks sent for a donation made last July
Peruap has just received an e mail thanking us for the donation made last July whilst visiting Lima, of a two ring portable stove which was donated to the group who help domestic workers who are being exploited or abused, “SINTTRAHOL” (Sindicato de Trabajadores y Trabajadoras del Hogar de la Región Lima). They use this stove for Union events in the capital spreading their message inviting people who are being exploited or abused to come forward and talk to them, so that steps can be taken to help them. Whilst we were visiting last year, the President of the group in Lima, Leddy Mozombite Linares, gave us the example of a lady who they helped who had worked for various members of the same family from her youth until old age when the family put her on the streets because she was considered too old to work for them any more. This lady had lost contact with her own family many years before when she was young, (many of these people come from poor areas, maybe from the Andean areas many miles away) and now had no contacts and no resources to be able to support herself, and was in effect destitute and too old to find work. Leddy has just been re-elected as President of the Union, and she is determined to continue fighting for domestic workers’ rights
Volunteering appeal
In order to continue with our fundraising events we are looking for volunteers to help us to organise our next fundraising event for Peru Apurimac Project possibly in November this year when our Project will be ten years old. Anyone interested in helping to organise the fundraising event please let us know.
Latest news
We will soon be travelling to Peru and as in previous times we will take the opportunity of visiting some of the places in the poor areas where our Project has supported community groups. We will contact local people there and see the conditions they are living in and how Peruap can continue helping them.
Donations
Peruap’s funds come only from the generous donations of our friends and our fundraising events. We always are grateful for any donation to help us to continue helping poor people in Peru. If you wish to make a donation to Peruap you can send us a cheque or alternatively you can make a deposit to Peruap’s account.
About us
Peruap is a charity group based in London that started in 2001. We organise fundraising events to help community groups in marginal areas of Peru, mainly in the Andes and in shanty towns in Callao. We mostly help small projects in health and educational needs in areas where people live in conditions of extreme poverty, paying special attention to children and women’s groups.
Peruap is a voluntary group so we are always looking for volunteers to help our fundraising events.
Contact us
For further information about our project, please email us at:
peruapu@yahoo.co.uk.
Or call us on Tel 0208 6998731
You are also invited to visit our blog at: http://peru-ap.blogspot.com/
Thank you
Claudio Chipana
Email: claudiochipana@yahoo.com
Judith Grimsdell judegrimsdell@yahoo.co.uk
Liz Kalinauckas (Treasurer)
