Seeds of Hope Q1 2009

From the start of this year, a number of developments have started to make a big difference at Seeds of Hope, thanks in no small part to donations from OPS.

The standard of education provided by the Seeds of Hope school in Huaraz could benefit greatly from the recent addition of a PC and internet connection. It has allowed the school’s pupils to reach out to former volunteers at the school via Facebook and it will now aid them greatly in their homework and in extra research which would have been impossible previously. The next hope is to upgrade the quite antiquated computer as soon as possible.

Seeds of Hope also started a new iniative to help their pupils’ parents in the first quarter of this year. Weekly meetings with parents have been organised to try and give them a greater insight into their children’s education and to stress the importance of proper nutrition and hygience for themselves and their children. Most of the parents have received no formal education and so they too can benefit enormously from the support available via Seeds of Hope. The meetings, which have been well attended, also allow the school’s staff to identify and address any specific needs of the children or their families.

The Seeds kids also went on their monthly ‘paseo’ to Wilcahuain, an ancient Wari Indian temple site from 600 A.D. In a break from school-work, the centre’s kids got the chance to show a more competitive side in a series of games including sack races, tug of war and relays. It also served as an introduction for the children to their native cultures and the charity hopes to take them to other local cultural sites, funds permitting, including a potential trip to the Pacific beaches. The importance of showing them a world outside of their native Huaraz cannot be overstated.

As more children have joined the school, the need for a new classroom became imperative and in the first months of this year, this was achieved. An outside patio area was converted for this purpose and was painted and decorated by some of the charity’s volunteers. Now some of the younger children can receive their first lessons.

Seeds of Hope have passed on their thanks to OPS and all our donors and highlighted in particular the children’s uniforms which your money helped to pay for.