Frequently Asked Questions
What does Project Peru do in Peru?
The focal point of the Project in Peru is at Zapallal near Lima, where we have established a children’s refuge. We provide food, shelter and support for children and families in need. We also distribute a variety of material goods send from the UK, both in the refuge, to the families, the immediate community and periodically in the interior of Peru. We are the sole source of funds for Project Peru in Peru.
What does Project Peru do in the UK?
We raise funds and send financial support to Peru; we also send material assistance (including clothing, educational materials, toys, toiletries) for distribution to our refuge and elsewhere in Peru through the Project's network of contacts in Lima and elsewhere in the country. We raise awareness in the UK about Latin America in general, about Peru in particular, and especially about Project Peru.
How did it all start?
The organisation's principal objective is to offer practical, ongoing and desperately needed help to those who live in extreme poverty in the desert shanty towns of Lima, and to raise awareness of the real issues facing Peru and Latin America in general. Project Peru evolved over a number of years through the voluntary activity of a group of people in Guildford who had been concerned with raising awareness about Latin America. Project Peru became a registered charity in 1995 (Registered Charity Number 1049413).
Who provides the money?
Almost all of the money needed to run our refuge in Peru and all our other activities is generated from the UK through voluntary effort; there are no paid staff in the UK and overheads are minimal at around 3% on an average annual income of around £140,000. Activities include concerts and other musical events, sponsored activities, catering, craft sales, and regular or single donations by Giftaid.
What does the money provide?
Funds to pay staff, and to maintain a residential children’s refuge and appropriate services for over 40 children who are unable to live with their families; and to provide funds to construct appropriate buildings.
Where do the children come from?
They come from a variety of backgrounds and environments and are identified as children at risk who come not only from poverty but from family or social situations where they are unable to live at home; new clients are referred both by word of mouth and through referrals from appropriate services in the vicinity of the refuge, or from further afield. Some are spontaneous or emergency cases. They can be longer-term residents, but others we help on a temporary or transitional basis. The criterion we use is that they are at great physical or moral risk.
What about their families?
We keep in close touch with the relatives and the children stay with them from time to time. They visit the refuge and we have developed programmes of social and educational support and workshops for their family members who come to help with cleaning or cooking or offer other skills they may have, giving them a sense of dignity and sharing.
Are they street children?
The children are not specifically "street children" in the current popular understanding of the phrase, though some may be, and some might be if we did not help. Many do have relatives who for different reasons cannot care for them or pay for them to go to state schools, hence they risk being in the streets.
What happens about their education?
All the children at the refuge go to the ‘El Dorado’ School, the neighbouring school - attending either for the morning or the afternoon sessions depending on their age- and have been supported by Project Peru in the purchase or provision of educational materials, buying school uniforms, paying the obligatory annual matriculation fee for each child. This is a considerable expense at the start of each school year in March. We give the children additional educational support by employing one of the teachers part time to do educational support work with us, and by keeping links with the school teachers through the house parents.
What happens when the children grow older?
We are developing new buildings so as to enable the children to learn to live more independently while they are with us, and are seeking funds to enable us to have a half-way /student house for the young people, as they become adults. We ensure that the older children are trained in their preferred career. Of our two older children has completed training as a chef and for another we have secured funding for her to follow nursing and child care studies, others are following courses in psychology, book keeping and languages. We plan to follow up all opportunities for further education, training and work opportunities in the world outside.
Who works at the project in Peru?
We have created paid employment for a full time director who is also a qualified social worker, house-parents, two in the week, three at weekends, a cook, a laundry person, a maintenance person, a part time psychologist, a gardener, and a number of support teachers.
Is Peru /Latin America really so poor that it needs this type of help?
If compared to Africa, Latin America is not so poor: one result is that as a Middle Income Country Peru is not the recipient of debt relief or of aid. For example, all UK aid to Peru was stopped in 2004 and switched to support reconstruction work in Iraq. But Latin America has the biggest income gulf between rich and poor of all continents in the world. And nearly half the population of Peru lives in extreme poverty.
What does Project Peru 's logo signify?
The current ‘Project Peru’ logo shows a 'chasqui' runner, a design derived from Mochica pottery. As did the Incas later, the Mochica people used these 'chasquis' as relay runners to deliver messages and goods throughout Peru. The Moche or Mochica culture prevailed in the northern coastal region of Peru from about 100 AD to 800 AD. Project Peru continues to carry support, education and goods around Peru to those in extreme poverty.
Where can I find out more about Project Peru?
Email: information@projectperu.org.uk or telephone: 00 44 [0]1483 576093
