News
News
New Therapy Centre
January 2011
During my Community work visiting families during the first 3 years, I got to know more and more people in these communities it became clear to me that there were a lot of Children with “Special Needs” in the area, we actually built a small house for two families with kids who had disabilities,
I then began to seek out more of these children as they seem to be kept hidden by their families. Memories of Ireland in the 50’s..!
I began to take care of some of these kids with Medication and Food, and in some cases we brought them to hospital for attention
Then I brought some to the Cinema for an outing on a few occasions
I then thought , how nice it would be if they had a place to spend some time maybe a few afternoons each week, somewhere they could meet other kids in a similar situation as themselves, somewhere thy could spend time outside of their home which was usually little more then a Hut made from Plastic and bamboo weave sheets.
So in May 2008 we were given temporary use of a building which we converted into a small Therapy Centre, with a shower and Toilet, a small Therapy room, a small Kitchen and an Activity room 65 sq, metres in total
We opened with 5 kids and young people.
Luis Alberto, Solin, Diego, Vanessa, and Camucha
Since then it has taken on a life of its own and developed to where we are now with more than 30 children and young people, attending regularly, and another six to eight young people who do not attend regularly buy are still supported by the centre. The Centre is very much owned by the Kids and young people, it has developed as their needs required it to, and we let it develop as the needs demanded
The kids and young people spend Two to Three, afternoons each week in the centre
Doing activities which helps their Disabilities, and having some Physiotherapy, sometimes singing some times dancing even on walking frames…!
We take them on outings regularly, to the Zoo, the Beach, and the Water Park in the centre of Lima or on Picnics.
The Families have their own support group and they meet on the last Friday of each month, and they have a valuable input into what happens in the Centre, and how it is run.
We are now looking forward to opening our very own Centre in February 2011.
Completely designed with these Special Children and Young People in mind, and according to their needs.
Volunteers Wanted To Work in Lima For 2 Weeks to 3 Months
Written by Administrator Wednesday, 10 March 2010 13:20
We are looking for volunteers to work in our therapy centre for children and young people with disabilities in a shanty town in lima, no particular skills are required, just the desire to help these “special “children and young people have a better quality of life.
Duties will include: reading with the children, painting, and drawing, doing puzzles, playing games, assisting the staff when the children and young people go on outings.
Accommodation can be arranged in certain circumstances.
Summer Newsletter 2011
Written by Administrator Thursday, 07 July 2011 18:07
Summer Newsletter 2011
The New Therapy Centre is operating well, most of this trip , May to July ,was spent Organising the Centre, we never had an office before so it was a challenge getting it operating smoothly, and getting everyone used to the system in place.
Many things were unfinished when we had the opening ceremony in February
Some lights were not working or had to be installed
Some problems with the water pump and the recycling water system for the garden,
We have a system in place for recycling the water from the showers and wash hand basins, and using it to water the Garden
It’s working well now, however we are still waiting on a donation of grass to cover the garden
We are promised a donation of Tiles for the floors from a Tile factory; we are still waiting on these!!
But then everything moves so slow here in Peru.....lots of documents are required for the simplest things.
However as can seen from the pictures on Face book the Centre is big and very bright, unlike most of the buildings in Peru, as their building customs are different than ours. The centre is very Cheerful and inviting
Our next project is to train some of the older teenagers in basic handcrafts. Initially we will make some Christmas tree decorations, and see how it develops
We have already done some initial training to see how the young people would adapt, and all the signs are positive.
It’s truly amazing how artistic some of these young people are.
Last week Coco, who has Autism, was playing or messing as we thought !...with ceramic plaster, and he made a beautiful Lion...and then painted it,,,with very little help.
Hilmar who is 12 and def and dumb makes lovely drawings then paints them, he is simply amazing.
On our recent Outing we had a Trip to Chosica, A nice Park just at the beginning of the Andes,
We had 50 in total on the trip between Kids, and Adults, We had Bar-B-Q chicken for lunch, it was delicious.!
Everyone had a Brilliant time we spent 6 hours there, playing Games, on swings and slides and of course cooking on the Bar-B-Q, Irish style ! A big Thank you to San Filepe Transportes, who generously supplied the Bus for the Trip
There are lots of Photographs of the Anniversary Celebrations and Outing to Chosica on Facebook
Those kinds of days make up for all the Hassel here in trying to get things done,
Belated Happy BIG Birthday to Frank Sherry Athlone. Frank is a long-time supporter of the Work in Lima, he raised €750 at his Birthday Party recently for the work with the kids in the Therapy Centre
The Draw organised by Tommy Kelly took place on Friday night last.
It has been a great success, more than €4500 raised for the work in Las Lomas
A big thank you to Tommy and all who helped selling Cards and a special Thank You to the generous sponsors.
We are having a Joint fundraiser with the “Help Them Hope” foundation here in Lima,run by John Whelan from Carlow. We are having a night of Ballroom Dancing on the 2nd August, Tickets are just €10 and a great Nights fun is assured
So get your Hucklebuck shoes ready...... !
Volunteer Development Worker
- Job Title: Development Worker
Duration: Minimum 6 Months, Ideally 12 Months
Employer: Peru Children's CharityCountry: Lima, Peru
Placement In, Lima, Peru
Job Title: Centre Administrator / Social Assistant
Duration: Minimum 6 Months, Ideally 12 Months
Employer: Peru Children's CharityCountry: Lima, Peru
Organisational Background
Peru Childrens Charity was established 6 years ago. It is a voluntary organisation which was established in Ireland by a retired business man Michael Murphy whom following a visit in 2004 was self motivated to empower the people of las lomas to reduce the poverty cycle, Peru Children's Charity are a group of co workers who work on a voluntary basis fund raising in Ireland and completing administration work while having the accounts frequently audited. The charity aims to empower families to reduce the cycle of poverty through training, employment and education relating to health and hygiene. The charity's key strategy is working in partnership with the people of Las Lomas. To date the charity has built (in partnership with families) 24 starter homes
- 18 community dining rooms (which are also family support centres)
- 4 kinder gardens
- A Therapy centre which supports children and adolescents with medication and other health visits
To date the people of Las Lomas have met approximately 30 co workers, some who have gone out on more that one occasion and are going back to commence work on the therapy centre in May 2010.
June 2009
Hello again from Lima
Well time has certainly flown as I will be going back to Ireland in just over a week. After I reach the half way stage here time just seems to go so fast.
During these last four months, we have consolidated our activities as funding is a little less than usual. However this is not necessarily a bad thing as we have been encouraging the dining rooms built during the last five years to be more creative and make better use of their facilities. The emphasis to use the centres to support people, mainly women, in finding work, and supporting them while they are working. So we are encouraging the communities to use the centres as nurseries (kindergardens) and after school clubs for older kids. We are also trying to promote them as learning centres for crafts and such like, anything they could earn a small income from. This can be a slow process as it is necessary to help the women see the full benefit of the centres.
April 2009 - Peru Children's Charity Newsletter
Hola everyone,
Greetings from a hot and sunny Las Lomas, where during the day it's never less than 27c and is often over 30c. It's unusually hot this year, normally much cooler as we are now in autumn.
Everything is going well here, we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the container full of toys and clothes and next week. Sisters Ann McLoughlin and Clare Lynch have been a great help and they will store the goods for a short while when the container arrives.
December 2008
Michelle Murphy, Volunteer
I experienced my first trip to Peru in November 2008. I travelled with my two sisters, my uncle and my friend. I had heard so much about Peru as my father Michael has been working in the shanty towns of Las Lomas for nearly five years. I had heard so much from him and from family and friends whom had been there before me. I also had seen lots and lots of photos and video footage of the families in Las Lomas. I thought prior to my trip that I knew quite a bit about Las Lomas and the work of Peru Children's Charity however on arrival to Las Lomas I knew I had a lot to learn.
November 2008
My recent trip to Las Lomas
I returned to Las Lomas in November 2008. It was great to see all the work that had been done in Las Lomas since my previous visit. I met some of the families I knew previously, it was great to see them so happy, and making an effort to thrive on the support which Peru Children's Charity has given them. As always, the locals gave us a lovely welcome. Michael also brought us to a new area of Las Lomas, where he had not been working in on my previous visit – it was so much poorer than where he had originally worked. Despite this, many of the locals showed a lot community spirit. The thing that I noticed was the amount of people looking for help – they all come running when they see Michael and give him letters asking for help. This is a very difficult part of Michael's work – deciding who needs help the most because compared to us everybody is extremely poor. The most important thing for Michael is that the families make a conscious effort to sustain themselves after help is given whether that is in the form of building a house or, a new roof/floor for their house or perhaps providing medical aid for their child or paying for meals from the Community Dinning Rooms. It is the aim of Peru Children's Charity to "help families help themselves", and education is key to this in that if a family receive assistance from the charity they must ensure their child/children get an education in order to break the cycle of poverty.
April 2008
Mid-term Update For March - June 2008 Trip, BY Michael Murphy
I'm half way through my March/June visit and usually from now on the time goes quickly until the end of my trip.
We are opening the new Therapy Centre on Wednesday 23rd April; this is a different kind of project because it involves ongoing commitment. We have a girl working 3 days each week for the first few weeks to ascertain the demand and to get the centre up and running. This is the first time we have paid a wage to someone on a permanent basis. I hope we can get a Physiotherapist to come on a regular basis, perhaps a few afternoons each week, as we will only provide Occupational Therapy. This would also help the many kids in need of counselling because of the extreme poverty and child abuse they have suffered. The centre also has a bathroom and shower where people can refresh themselves.
June 2008
The work of the Charity continues to develop with the needs of the community in Las Lomas. Our work is more permanent and sustainable now, following four productive years working in the area.
The opening of the small therapy centre is the most obvious development to reflect this. The centre opened on Sunday, June 1st. It is used by children with physical disabilities, speech disabilities and psychological needs. It is a Therapy Centre for all kinds of needs, physical and psychological; it will be allowed to develop to meet the needs of the community.
December 2007
Expenditure for September - December 2007 Trip
All amounts are in Soles; 1 Euro = 4 Soles approx.
June 2007
Completed Projects
A Dining Room is a multi-purpose building. It is concrete built with reinforced steel to protect against earthquakes. It is a simple structure, with brick walls and a galvanise roof. Its main function is to provide a bowl of soup daily for children in the area. Once the Dining Rooms are up and running for one year, the government will then provide food thereafter to feed the children. The local community run the Dining Room on a voluntary basis. It also doubles up as a community centre for the families to make representation to local government for services such as a water supply, electricity and other basic essentials. The following Dining Rooms were completed on this trip:
November 2006
This newsletter comes to you all the way from Lima. While there is so much work to do and overwhelming numbers of families in need, I am delighted to report much progress has been made possible through your generous donations and more is planned. Much has been achieved since the last newsletter …
Summer 2006
I returned from Peru last month and while it is so nice to be home, its very difficult to leave. The kids are all so lovely and are so grateful for all that is done for them, through the generous donations of all you here at home. We had a party for the kids the day before I left, we expected 100 children and about 200 turned up! It was a lovely afternoon and the really nice thing was so many parents came to say "Hello" and "Thank You".
2005
In 2004, a Community Dining Room was built in Los Jardines from your generous contributions. In 2005, two more were set up in temporary shelters. The permanent structures are being built in "Cielo Azul" and "Nueva Esperanza". (This means New Hope). The budget for the material and the cost of providing food for the first year for these two projects is approx 10,000 Euros. These will be come self-sufficient once the Government Aid becomes available.