Seeds of Hope Q3 2008

Email Penpals

I think that one of the most exciting occurences this month is our first intercultural email exchange between the children of Seeds and the children of one of our members, John Bankes. The UK kids chose their penpals and have got the ball rolling with questions of weather, uniforms and best friends. Who knows, maybe it'll end with an actual exchange trip? Brilliant. If anyone knows of any other children who would like a Peruvian e-pal, let me know. 

Seeds of Hope Cafe

The cafe that our money has been helping is finally open and August saw it's first clients tucking into cakes and coffee while surfing the net on wifi. So far the international volunteers have been serving and working in the cafe but the aim is to get the older school kids involved to give them some work experience and take them away from the streets.

Christmas Cards

The last OPS installment was put towards this year's christmas cards, mainly in order to buy envelopes and for postage costs. Last year, the sales of the cards brought in $3000 for Seeds and they have managed to find a printers in the UK willing to print the cards almost free-of-charge so more profits will hopefully be in store this year. I have attached some of the designs for this year, done by the kids themselves. If anyone is interested, they are £4 for a pack of 10. Just drop me a line.

Summer Fun

I am always amazed by how much Seeds of Hope offers the children. Over the summer the children learnt to swim, had football lessons with a top Peruvian football player and also had weekly talks from psychology students at the local university on issues such as sexual abuse, violence, (school) gangs, self esteem and values. Not quite as fun as the football lessons but obviously pretty important. The experience turned out to be so successful that the university is now providing one student per child to do a more in-depth evaluation in the months to come. These children are receiving so much support from Seeds in all aspects of their life and it makes me extremely glad to be involved. YEAH!

Anna Ray - November 2008.