Seeds of Hope, Peru - review 2010

For more general information on what Seeds does click on this link: Seeds of Hope.

In terms of education and activity it’s been a good year. They’ve put a lot of effort into creating a better structured school programme and with a 94% course pass rate (compared to 63% last year) the results have been excellent.  They’ve also had 8 students successfully complete primary school and one student has graduated from secondary school.

However the focus isn’t solely on school education. They aim to improve all aspects of the children’s lives and teach them important principles such as peer solidarity, acceptance of responsibility, honesty and respect. Healthy, happy children is the main aim and this year they’ve had eye examinations, de worming tablets,  professional psychological support and more nutritious dinners.
         
Educating parents is a large part of their role. They try to meet weekly with the parents to develop closer relationships and also to identify any problems at home. Part of next years budget is to improve the family homes through roof reconstruction and better ventilation.
Unfortunately they have had to close the 2nd school in Cusco this year due to staffing problems. But this has enabled them to focus primarily on the school in Huaraz, increasing the number of children and improving the school programmes. They now have 50 students attending.

Contributions of OPS
Seeds of Hope remains a relatively small NGO which relies on volunteer payments to cover the operational costs of the school, the uniforms and school materials. Our money continues to provide a secure income which can be used for specific activities and projects.
As a quick reminder, last year we enabled:

• The  purchase of a new Lap Top
• Better nutritional meals for the children while at Seeds
• A trip to the beach!
• Psychological support programs

OPS and 2010
Like last year they have put together an extremely comprehensive funding proposal for 2010 which is attached below.
 However in brief, our money will go towards:

• Dental checkups
• Educational excursion to 'Chavin' one of Peru's oldest civilisations
• Reconstructing the roofs and improving the ventilation of the children's homes
• Buying equipment and kits to start football and volleyball teams

It's been a pleasure to be involved with Seeds again this year and I truly believe that our money is a valued donation that helps to improve the lives of the children and their families.
The charity relies heavily on its part time international volunteers’ as well as the full time volunteer coordinators with whom I primarily communicate. Over the last 3 years I have liaised with two fantastic volunteer coordinators who have each donated over  a year of their time in Peru and I know are still helping them remotely from Europe. Unfortunately, this year there has been a string of coordinators and although someone has always kept in contact with me it has been harder to keep up to date with the charity.  I am now trying to obtain feedback from volunteers to determine how they found their experience with Seeds and hopefully gain a better understanding of the potential problems the charity may be facing.

However, despite this lack of continuity the Seeds has always given me timely feedback which lends me to believe that they do value our donations.  This issue also highlights the difficulty that small charities face in maintaining regular support, one of the core reasons why OPS chose to give to the charities that they do.

Lets keep Seeds on for another year.

Anna Ray, January 2010

Seeds Funding Report.pdf(1567 KB)