April 2009 - Peru Children's Charity Newsletter

News - Newsletters

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.

Clare and Ann are now taking a great interest in the work especially the Therapy Centre. This is a great morale boost as it can be very lonely plodding along here alone never really knowing if I'm doing the right thing on a daily basis or longer term. It's great to have the support and friendship of the nuns and to have someone to talk over things with, I really hope it continues. The fact that Clare is a wonderful cook is only secondary.....!

I also have some other new contacts in Lima who are showing a great interest in the work of the charity. We seem to gaining recognition from local government, a representative of the Department of Health has shown an interest in the Therapy Centre and we may have a visit from a senior person within the next few months. It would be fantastic if they are willing to cooperate on some level with us, perhaps to provide a Physiotherapist on a full time basis. We will work with them over the coming weeks to build some closer contact.

The kids are all wonderful and continue to really appreciate the facilities. We are planning a day at the beach after Easter and they have asked if we can go on a Saturday as they don't want to miss using the Centre for a day…! The Centre is now open 5 days a week from 2pm to 6pm each day.

The new kids have been asked to come on Tuesday and Thursday, as we don't have sufficient space to accommodate all. To cope with demand we are now in the early stages of planning for the possibility of building an extension, perhaps to be completed next year. At the moment we are building a veranda, with real grass and some estera (grass matting) for shade with a nice timber fence surround. This will provide a great deal more space for the community room.

Clare and Ann are taking some of the kids to a rehabilitation hospital down in the city twice each week for thorough assessments and physiotherapy on an ongoing basis. This means Clare is up well before 4.30am to have the kids down at the Hospital for 6am. What commitment...!

We are continuing our work on the two ‘Family Centres' which we started building last October. The community has been assisting in construction, with one of the floors laid last weekend.

Other projects already commenced continue to be completed, with the small kindergarten for La Primavera just finished, which will open tomorrow (being the 6th April).

Some potential volunteers have been in contact via email through the website offering their services for the summer. They are three Physio Students from University College Dublin in their second year. I would be really happy if they can come, their assistance and knowledge would be of great benefit. Next week we will look into the possibility of taking some of the kids to a special school about 5 miles away. There are no facilities available locally for the kids with special mental needs; we will look to provide assistance and transport for them.

I hope all of you are keeping well, and to all of you who are working so hard to raise money for us, please take a bow. Special thanks to all of you who took part in the ‘supermarket bag pack' in Navan last week, the total amount raised was €1800, which is just fantastic. I hear there are lots of you lovely ladies ‘in training' for the Marathon on June Bank Holiday weekend. Good luck for the race and thanks for your support. Thanks also to Kevin Lumiste for having the gifts for your BIG BIRTHDAY donated to the charity.

May the blessings of Easter be with all of you in a special way this coming season.

God Bless,
Michael