October 2013 MySmallHelp Peru Newsletter

Welcome to the October 2013 MySmallHelp Peru newsletter

I would like to sincerely apologise for the lack of news on the MSH Peru projects over the past 14 months. I at least have a few good excuses! I experienced a near death car accident in April in Lima and gave birth to beautiful healthy Helena Inkary on June 7th this year. I have been on semi maternity leave since June but am now back to work and have an extra little helper to accompany me each day!

Our volunteer coordinator Mayra Vargas Cardich continues to run the show in Ollantaytambo looking after our volunteers and working with the schools, municipality and individual families that MSH support with your help.

We are sending out this newsletter to give you an update on the work that MSH Peru is doing and to say a big thank you to everyone involved for their continued support. It is impossible to mention here all of the donors and volunteers that have touched the lives of the children and families that we are supporting over the past 14 months so we will not mention any names but you know who you are!

Here is proof that your small help really DOES make a BIG difference….

Leander Hollings

Director

MySmallHelp Peru

26.10.2013

CHRISTMAS 2012

During the Christmas period 2012, MySmallHelp held a drawing competition with the children in Nepal and Peru and with sales of the Christmas cards funded presents, hot chocolate and bread for over 1000 children.

 

We are now looking for funds to provide Christmas presents for children in 2013. If you would like to make a donation please contact leander.holling@mysmallhelp.org or  make a donation directly here

https://www.justgiving.com/ChristmasChocolatada2013

Here are the winning Christmas cards designs from 2012.

We are continuing to sell last year's Christmas cards to raise funds for the 2013 years Chocolatadas. If you would like to order any of these Christmas cards please let us know so that we can organize payment and delivery to your door.

IN TRUJILLO

Our school teacher Deisy continues to give one to one tuition each afternoon to the 19 children in El Milagro, Trujillo that MySmallHelp has put into school. The children all now have their birth certificates, national identity cards and health insurance and they are progressing well at school.

In addition MySmallHelp is continuing to support Juan Milton and his family with food provision and help from Deisy.

IN CUSCO

We are now receiving volunteers to help with the cookie project which is providing an additional income to Anita and her family. Many thanks to the hostels Loki, Kokopelli and Millhouse for selling the cookies to help us to keep the project going and to the café Lets Go Bananas.

Big congratulations to Andres Quispe for graduating from high school. Andres is the first MSH student in Cusco to graduate from school. We are now working on helping Andres get into University and continue to help him to develop the land in Paru, his community so he can earn an additional income.

We are also now working in partnership with the San Martin and Uriel Garcia schools in Cusco who are delighted to be receiving our volunteers. If you are interested in teaching English or helping out at a special need school please do let us know. We do not charge for volunteering we just want to find people who want to help!

If you are interested in volunteering in Cusco or at any of our projects in Peru then please contact volunteerperu@mysmallhelp.org for more information.

IN OLLANTAYTAMBO AND THE SACRED VALLEY

MySmallHelp continues to run a daily school bus (Monday to Friday) for disabled children from Rumira (just outside Ollantaytambo) to the Arco Iris special school in Urubamba. Volunteers help make sure the children get safely to and from school and their homes in the morning and afternoon.

MySmallHelp Peru receives financial support from the Ollantaytambo municipality towards the running of the bus but the driver is not always available and many volunteers have suggested that we should raise funds to purchase a MySmallHelp Bus.

If you would like to support MSH with this project please do make a donation at the link below. If we have our own bus, then we will be able to provide a better service to the children and their families and make the project more sustainable.

http://www.justgiving.com/mshbus

Thanks to our volunteers and team we have found 4 new children over this year that now have their legal documentation and are able to attend the Arco Iris school.

We are also working with mothers of the disabled children and women from Paucarbamba and Yanahuara to make jam from local fruits.

Regarding health campaigns, we held dental campaigns in December last year in partnership with Desana Giving and have recently set up a partnership with Dental Projects Peru. The campaigns benefit the children and families of Paucarbamba, Yanahuara, Rumira and Phyri. MSH helped provide dental treatment and free toothbrushes and toothpaste to thousands of children over the last year to promote dental hygiene at home!

In July, a group of students from Lifeworks helped us build a greenhouse at Rumira school.  This project was then improved by a group of students from the University of Washigton sent from our friends at Centro Tinku. This project will benefit the children of the school so as the people from the community, by giving them the opportunity to include vegetables and different agricultural products on their daily meals, making it more nutritious.

We continue to produce adobe bricks at Donato Cahua´s house which we are collecting for the dining room (comedor)  project in Cachiccata  to benefit the nutrition of the children in this community.

And our BIGGEST achievement over the past year has to be helping Rita. Thanks to our friends in the UK who found Rita whilst on a trek to Machu Pichu she was brought to our attention and is now  walking with her prosthetic limb! Rita is 5 years old and has never walked before this year. MSH helped her and her mother to receive free flights through the LAN foundation and has organized fundraising through MSH UK to purchase her prosthetic limb and to help her to continue with her ongoing physio treatments in Cusco.

NOT TO FORGET LOURDES…

The reason MySmallHelp Peru exists is because of the chance of finding Lourdes Cjuno Manani. Lourdes has recently finished her first year of primary school and is now attending a new school on a Monday and Tuesday evening so that she can advance more rapidly. MSH volunteers help Lourdes to get home from her school at night and thanks to a kind donation from the Pontificia Catholic University of Peru (PUCP) Lourdes is now learning to user her own laptop.

Lourdes is still attending ceramic workshops and has been making bracelets which have been sent to friends in the USA, UK and Germany.

Lourdes is very grateful for the continued support of MSH and our volunteers and is very excited that she will soon be receiving a new wheelchair from her good friend in North America.

Does anyone have any spare airmiles they would like to donate?
We are working to set up a programme to help reduce travel costs for volunteers to get out to Peru and Nepal to help our teams out on the ground. Depending on the airline you might be able to donate your airmiles directly to MSH or to an individual volunteer. If you would like to donate airmiles or help out in any other way please contact leander.holligs@mysmallhelp.org

Join us now Facebook page by clicking 'Like' at http://www.facebook.com/MySmallHelpPeru    

Shanti Upadate

Shanti is developing into a very confident and interesting young lady. She is currently in Grade 5 at school and has completed her first mid-term exams and awaiting his results. Her teachers are happy with her efforts at school and she came 1st in her class recently with 84%.  Shanti is very good at badminton and enjoyed playing for her school in March.  In the badminton competition she came 1st!  She also enjoys running and came 2nd in a relay race and 1st in short distance running for Maybert School.  

Shanti is very good at dance and performed for the school for parent's day and teacher's day.  Shanti has stated that when she is older she would like to be a teacher. Enclosed is a letter Shanti has written for you.

Kalpana Chaudhary Update

Kalpana is developing into a very confident and interesting young lady. She is 16 years old and is currently in Grade 12 at college and is studying Sociology.  Kalpana is undergoing work experience at Marybert in the hope of improving her skills and future employment opportunities.  She helps the school with teaching Grade 1 students.  At college Kalpana took part in a Quiz contest and her team came 2nd overall.  In Marybert, Kalpana is often found helping her younger brothers and sisters with cleaning and washing their clothes. She also often leads the nightly 'devotion' gatherings and enjoys attending church every Saturday.  She is in the choir!  Kalpana has stated that when she is older she would like to be a social worker. 

Peru Update

Hi, I just would like to share one of the passions I have, and it my be your love too.  In December 2012 I took most of that month off so that I could be of volunteer service to an Organization that has been helping the poor and indigines families in the high mountains (8-9000 ft.) near Cusco Peru. “Make more bricks”, she ordered! ;-)

I paid for all my expenses just as the other five Europeans has done just like me. We all lived in a small two story house in the wonderful Ollantaytambo  (Oh-yan-tie-tam-bow)  The only occupied living Inca Village.

Leander  runs the service and has Mayra directing the helpers as myself accomplish the big daily care and help to the men,woman and children of the area. We daily help in the safe transportation of the 10 -12 kids ages 6 to 15 to their special needs school  Arco Iris in Rubamba. They are such loving and fun children.

The kids going to school

        

The kids going to school

At times Mara has us transiting small villages and up or down hills to deliver clothing to the needy. It makes them so happy to be able to have something used and in nice condition. Most of this clothing was gifted items to the organization.

The best place to eat in Ollantaytambo is the Coffee Tree.

                          The Lovely owners of Coffee Tree Cafe , Ollantaytambo, Peru

At one time, we went to seek out a particular family to provide clothing , tooth brushes and to insure that they were going to keep a family medical appointment in town. I wish you could have seen Mara express in detail the importance of this appointment for the family! She is such a caring and loving dear. Love you Mara!

At the end of school year My Small Help. Org Peru, helps the school have an end of school year celebration. Leander had arranged in obtaining 40 pounds of whole chickens, loaves and loaves of sweet bread for the school. I am sure it was a strain on their budget as well as the venders to may have donated. As you can see, everyone had a great time and hard working Mara took a needed nap. (see below photo, she’s so cute)

There is really so much more help that is really needed here in the Inca Sacred Valley of Cusco. I invite you, if it is in your heart to contact ‘My Small Help.Org. ‘ and send a Donation or even yourself in Loving person. You will be smiling with loving memories as I am right now!

Thank You, from me and the people of Peru and ‘My Small Help .org’.  Cheers!

Volunteer Aaron's appeal....

Dear Friends, Brothers and Sisters,

MySmallHelp Nepal requests your help with an important and exciting new project.

The Bedroom Problem

Marybert Orphanage has a problem with lice and bugs in the bedrooms.  The current bedding has been in use for around 5 (five) years.  Each iron bed has a ply-wood base supporting the mattress, which has become infested with wood lice and bed bugs.  The children find it hard to rest, often waking in the night covered in potentially dangerous insect bites.  Because they get so little rest, many find it hard to concentrate in class, which is detrimental to their education.

The Solution

We will clean the two large bedrooms, the small bedroom, the store room and the dining hall thoroughly to minimize the danger of lice returning.  Also we will replace the ply wood base and all old bedding, including mattresses, sheets, pillows, and pillow cases, and we will provide washable blankets for the approaching winter season.  We also aim to educate Marybert and the children on a new cleaning regime that will further reduce the risk of this issue arising again.

Finances

*All costing are estimates as prices may change over time*

*Currency converted at £1 to Rs. 155*

Stage 1

Medicine to kill bugs and lice (per room):

Kerosene (5Litres) = Rs. 650 (£4.20).  Bug killer = Rs. 100 (£0.65)

Cost per room = Rs. 750 (£4.85)

4 rooms – girls, boys, dining hall, store

Total cost for 4 rooms = Rs. 3000 (£19.35)

Stage 2

Bedding – Ply-wood base, mattress, sheet, pillow, pillow case, blanket

Ply-wood Base -               Rs. 1000 (£6.45)

Mattress –                         Rs. 2500 (£16.15)

Sheet –                              Rs. 200 (£1.30)

Pillow –                             Rs. 200 (£1.30)

Pillow case –                     Rs. 100 (£0.65)

Blanket -                           Rs. 1300 (£8.40)

1 set = Rs. 5300 (£34.20)

24 sets = Rs. 127,200 (£820.65)

Total cost = Rs. 130,200 (£840)

If you would like to make a donation please see this link

http://www.justgiving.com/AaronMSH

We have arranged transportation of goods free of charge.

VOLUNTEERING WITH MY SMALL HELP, PERU

25th August 2013

While in Cusco, we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to volunteer at a local charity called My Small Help. My Small Help (MSH) was set up by a group of friends in the UK and Nepal who believe strongly in upholding basic human rights for children. The philosophy of MSH is that if more and more people give their small help, every child will be able to have their basic rights. In its first three and a half years MSH has provided education sponsorship to over 60 children and has built facilities at a school in Nepal, which has affected the lives of hundreds of poor children.

Leander Hollings, founder of My Small Help, was living in Peru when devastating floods hit the Cusco region in January 2010. After an appeal for funds to help the flood victims MSH partnered with Peruvian organisations to help distribute emergency aid and developed a medium term plan to develop a sustainable business to help one of the identified communities get back on their feet. MSH became a Peruvian registered charity in March 2011 with a mission to help those living in poverty, or with a disability, access a brighter future primarily through providing access to education and skills training.

One of the projects that MSH runs in Cusco is the Cookies Program which we took part in over 2 days. The project helps the family of Anita, one of the disabled children that My Small Help supports. The project involves the production and sale of cookies, made by the mother of Anita. Volunteers also then have the job of selling the cookies to tourists in Cusco, and the money made then goes directly back to Anita´s family, allowing for further production of the cookies, as well as providing financial support for the family.

Due to Anita´s disability, her mother Elizabeth is required to work from home, as Anita needs almost constant care. The cookie project therefore gives the family the opportunity to boost their disposable income, without imposing on Anita´s need for care. Another imposing factor on the family is Anita´s high medical expenses. With no external help, the family has to make do with what they have, whilst constantly funding Anita´s expensive medical requirements.

In total we spent two days volunteering with the Cookies Program. We met Anita, her two sisters Elizabeth and Magdil and her mother at their school. We then went across to their house to begin the cooking process, helping speed up the process with our excellent cooking skills. We were absolutely blown away by the three children. They are some of the nicest and most polite children we have ever met and made us feel right at home each day we visited, making us posters, jewellery and food. Once the cookies were made and numerous One Direction songs were sang in the kitchen, it was time to hit the hostels to sell as many as possible. The cookies sold well which made the few days volunteering extra rewarding. 

If you are interested in taking part in any of the numerous projects available in Peru with My Small Help, please check out www.mysmallhelp.org and drop them an email at: . A few hours of help goes a long way to improving the day to day life of the family and we would highly recommend it to all backpackers visiting Peru in the near future.

The World Needs More #...... UN Campaign