Dear supporters
Following on from Picaflor's new healthy snack programme we are really excited to announce that we have recently launched our full-on healthy lunch programme.
Every day more than 50 children are now receiving a balanced and nutritious lunch at Picaflor House which is benefiting both the children and the community.
By working closely with the families we had quickly realised that many children were not receiving a balanced diet and in particular were not getting a regular intake of fresh fruit and vegetables. This can have serious long term effects on physical and cognitive development and unfortunately many of the families we work with could not afford to provide the variety of foodstuffs that we take for granted in "first world" countries.
In addition to this, many of the children had to walk long distances after finishing state school at lunch time in order to get home for lunch, and then walk equally long distances to get back to Picaflor House in time for classes. This had resulted in some children’s attendance falling simply because they were too tired, or too late to get back to Picaflor House.
The introduction of the lunch programme not only means that the children get a really good meal at lunch times, but they can come straight from school to Picaflor House and be ready for classes which start straight after lunch.
Already daily attendance figures have improved. Previously, on a really bad day there could sometimes be as few as 15 children at Picaflor, but now we have over 50 children every day of the week.
Project Manager Laura said,
“This is such a good programme that helps us to achieve so many of our objectives. The children are well fed, attendance at Picaflor is up and we have also recruited two of the mothers who were previously out of work to do the cooking - It’s a truly holistic solution!”
English update
With such brilliant attendance figures the impact of our new English teaching programme promises to give even more of our children some really valuable help in English language learning. Lynn, our newly appointed English programme coordinator has settled in well and the children love her lessons.
Lynn’s contract runs out in February and we would dearly love to keep her on for another year, but along with all the other essential running costs at Picaflor House, it means that we need to raise just over £3000/$4000 to be able to do this.
So, if you would like to help us cover all our running costs next year, please consider making a donation this Christmas – a one-off gift or a monthly donation will make a huge difference to the children of Picafor House that will last well beyond Christmas.
Christmas bonus for our American supporters.
If you are one of our US donors, and you are considering making a donation, you will be pleased to here that this year your Christmas gifts could go even further! On Giving Tuesday – 29th November – any donation through globalgiving.org up to $1,000 could get a 50% boost from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation! Donations can be made from 00:00:01 on Tuesday 29th November. There is a limited bonus fund so please donate early to be in with the best chance of getting that 50% bonus. Please note that gift cards and check donations are not valid for the 50% bonus
And if you set up a recurring monthly donation before December 31st, Global giving will add double your monthly donation when your fourth payment goes in.
And a Christmas bonus for our UK supporters!
Christmas gifts go further in the UK too! If you donate anything up to £600 through globalgiving.co.uk between November 29th and December 31st, it could also be boosted by 50% thanks to Global Giving. There is a limited bonus fund so please donate as soon after 00:00:01 on Tuesday 29th November to be in with the best chance of getting that 50% bonus.
We know 2016 has been a tough year so we are extremely grateful for everyeone's support and would like to send a huge thank you from everyone at Picaflor House – with your support we have achieved a great deal and with your help we can continue to do so throughout 2017.
Feliz Navidad!
We are so excited to be bringing you even more good news from Oropesa, but before we start, we want to say thank you to all of you, our supporters and donors everywhere, for making our work possible and giving the fantastic children of Picaflor House the chance of a better future. So, what have we been up to? Read on to find out:
Our new English Language programme is gathering pace!
Last week we were thrilled to start the next phase of our English language programme with the arrival of Lynn Puzzo our new English language coordinator. Lynn hails from Connecticut in the USA and has more than eight years experience teaching English as a foreign language in Korea, Argentina and Mexico. Lynn will be with us for six months working alongside full-time teacher Luz, making sure that the Picaflor children get the best out of our fantastic new English teaching materials. Improved English language skills will really give our students an advantage in school and in years to come when they are looking for jobs, especially since tourism is such an important industry in the Cusco area.
Picaflor House welcomes some very special visitors
August and September have seen Picaflor House welcome two lovely groups of volunteer supporters from the UK. A group of students and teachers from Pipers Corner Girls School in Buckinghamshire were first to arrive on a two week visit. Students from the school had worked for several months before their trip preparing activities to share with the children of Picaflor both inside and outside the classroom. They also helped our staff to take the children on local excursions up to a nearby mountainside church and to the local dinosaur-themed park.
One of the highlights was definitely the final day when our students wowed us all with their performance of dances that the Pipers Corner girls had taught them. Traditional Andean dance is one of our children's favourite non-academic subjects so it was wonderful to see them learn dances from another culture too.
We were also delighted to receive our third annual visit from students of Durham University and as ever were blown away by their enthusiasm and willingness to get their hands dirty for us! Amongst some of their amazing achievements this year were painting a beautiful new mural on one of the playground walls, remodelling our much-loved (and over-used) sand-pit and moving our office to a new location to make way for another exciting new initiative that we have in the pipeline! Watch this space…
We are extremely grateful to both groups. Not only for the hours of work they put in but also for the amazing fund raising they have done for Picaflor House.
If you are interested in finding out more about fully-managed volunteering trips to Picaflor House then please contact our parent charity Globalteer who organises visits for both individuals and groups.
Someone is going to win a trip to Peru or Cambodia very soon!
Our 2016 fundraising campaign has been going great guns since its launch on June 1st and has so far generated almost £9,000 (US$12,000) in new donations which is just awesome. Anyone who has donated £15 or US$21 or more since June 1st stands the chance to win a trip for two to Peru or Cambodia and the final date for entries is now confirmed as September 30th! So please encourage your friends, family and colleagues to donate - you could even increase your own chances of winning by making another donation! Just donate £15 or US$21 through Global Giving and you could be packing your suitcases and setting off on a trip to visit Picaflor House! Full terms and conditions can be found here.
Next time we hope to be bringing you exciting news about our new initiative – the one that has meant having to move our office - and of course news of who has won that trip!
From everyone at Picaflor House, thank you for your continued support
Hola from Oropesa!
It has been a really busy few weeks but the hard work and all your support is really paying off and we've got lots of good news to report - Here is just some of it!
Our New English Programme is starting to take shape
We wrote last month about the exciting news of our grant from the Latin American Travel Association (LATA) Foundation to overhaul Picaflor’s English teaching programme. Well this month, we are delighted to be able to report on the progress we’ve already made:
Firstly, we assessed our students’ level of English to make sure that we were investing in the right level of books. Next, we went on the hunt and managed to find a local bookstore in Cusco that stocked all the English books we needed – up until now we had only been able to find the books online which would have meant a delay and extra delivery costs to us! And finally, as we were buying in bulk we managed to negotiate a very generous discount.
This would be great news any day of the week but we are also thankful to LATA who agreed to allow us to spend the savings on additional classroom materials and recruiting an assistant to help our teacher Luz implement the new programme!
So, if you know anyone with solid teaching experience or someone with good Spanish who wants to break into teaching – then please point them in our direction! Full details of the role can be found here. We are very excited about how much this new programme is going to help our kids get a step up on the education ladder!
Overwhelmed by fundraising!
For the last few weeks friends and staff of Picaflor House have been going to some extraordinary lengths to raise money to help cover our running costs. Here in Peru our team of Laura, Chris, Becca, Candice and Melissa undertook 24 crazy challenges in 24 hours including bungee jumping, hiking up mountains to watch both sunrise and sunset and sampling some of the more acquired delights of Peruvian cuisine such as sheep’s head broth, pickled snake and chicken’s feet salad!
In the UK a team of long-term supporters took part in a 50 mile walk to raise money for Picaflor and back in Peru, Picaflor’s founders Jim Elliott and his wife Camila have just started a 20km in 20 days swimathon along with their two young children.
Between us the campaign has already raised over £5,000/$7,000 and donations are still coming in every day!
Two more really great reasons to make a donation to Picaflor House.
If anyone is thinking about making a new donation to Picaflor House there are two really good reasons to go for it!
Please feel free to let your friends know about these two great opportunities too.
In the pipeline...
We have lots of exciting plans and ideas at Picaflor and once we have all our regular costs covered we can focus on improving and expanding what Picaflor House offers even further. Building on the success of the healthy snack programme which was funded by Choi, a very generous former volunteer, we are now looking at the possibility of providing lunch for the children at Picaflor House.
Not only would this mean that the children receive a healthy and balanced meal at lunch time, it would also mean they don’t need to walk home after state school for lunch and then back into Oropesa for lessons at Picaflor. This would make life much easier for the kids and greatly reduce the risk of their being late and missing lessons! We’ll let you know how plans are going so watch this space...
On behalf of the children and staff at Picaflor, Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to bringing you more good news next month!
One of the most important aspects of Picaflor House is that it provides local students with educational opportunities that they would otherwise not be able to access. This is particularly vital since a good educational foundation gives children a better chance at achieving what they want in life - a well paid job, regular income and financial security for themselves and their extended families.
So we are thrilled to be reporting on two exiting ways in which Picaflor House is providing diverse educational opportunities to the children of Oropesa, as well as a wonderful success story from one of our students!
New English language programme grant
In our last report, we talked about our English programme redesign plans. We are very happy to announce that we have been awarded funding by LATA (Latin American Travel Association) to start our revamped English programme this year! This funding will allow us to buy new English teaching supplies, including teaching material, work books, CDs, DVD player, new TV and laptop, and to hire a native English speaking intern to help with the development and implementation of the programme.
The quality of English teaching in public schools in Peru is very low, and without Picaflor House, local children would never be able to achieve a reasonable level of English. This grant and new English programme will therefore significantly help the children in the future as English is highly regarded by local employers due to the thriving tourism industry.
Planting seeds for the future
Not only do our Picaflor House volunteers assist with the day-to-day running of the project, but we also encourage volunteers to use their skills and expertise to impact the project in a broader way, and to provide the children with new educational experiences.
This was certainly the case for Richard, a recent six week volunteer from Wales who has a background in gardening.
Richard purchased a range of plants, including herbs, fruit trees, sunflowers and bushes, and taught the children how to plant trees and seeds, where to plant them, the importance of keeping plants watered and cared for, and the joy and benefits of growing your own fruit and vegetables.
In a community where many families cannot afford the basics, helping the children to understand gardening gives them the early tools they need to take control of their nutrition and health. It also provides a range of benefits to a child’s development such as an increased interest in science and learning, and better overall interpersonal skills.
The children are now taking it in turns to water the plants every day, and are very enthusiastic about the fruits and herbs becoming ready to eat!
Picaflor student wins place at school for gifted children
Last, but certainly not least, we are very excited to announce that one of the first ever Picaflor House students has won a coveted place at a school for gifted children in Cusco. 14-year-old Maria (not her real name) has started at a new school set up by the Peruvian president to give gifted children from disadvantaged backgrounds the opportunity to realise their full academic potential. This is something that normally is only a dream for children like Maria, and other the Picaflor House kids.
We wish her well and hope that she is just the first of many success stories for the children of Picaflor House and Oropesa.
Thank you to all of our volunteers and donors, and everyone at LATA, who have helped to make all of these success stories possible
Although it only feels like a blink of an eye since we last wrote to you, Christmas decorations have long been put away, school has started again, the Cusco rainy season is nearing its end, and we are already nearly halfway through February with an exciting year ahead planned for Picaflor House. So we wanted to take this opportunity to share with you some of the most recent Picaflor highlights, as well as what 2016 holds for Picaflor House and what your generous support is helping us to achieve in Oropesa!
Celebrating Christmas at Picaflor House
When we sent out our previous report, Picaflor House was in the middle of preparing for its annual end of year ‘chocolatada’, which is an important Christmas custom in Peruvian communities involving drinking spiced hot chocolate and eating panetón (sweet fruit loaf). We are happy to say that the event was a big success, with almost 80 children coming to the party. Much to their delight, Papá Noel (Father Christmas) even made an appearance with gifts in hand for each child! Since many families in Oropesa face significant social and economic disadvantages, this Picaflor House event is particularly special as it can be the only opportunity for some children to celebrate Christmas. A big thank you for everyone involved in this wonderful day!
Thank you for our fantastic Christmas fundraising campaign
It wasn’t just festivities at Picaflor House over the past few months, however, as we also ran our first ever Christmas fundraising campaign in November and December. Thanks to you and all of Picaflor’s passionate supporters, the campaign raised £3,600 ($5,400 USD) which will provide vital funding for classes, games, sports, arts and crafts, photography, traditional music and dance for the children in 2016. We also received lots of gifts of educational games, toys and classroom materials. Donors came from a whole spectrum of people – from past Globalteer staff, volunteers, businesses, anonymous donors, and new and old friends of Picaflor House all over the world. With each donor receiving a star on the Picaflor Christmas tree, it was certainly a sparkling affair and we are excited to put these funds into action throughout the year!
Onwards and upwards for Picaflor House’s English programme
One of the next exciting steps ahead for Picaflor House is the redesign of our English curriculum so that we are able to provide the best English language programme we can for the children of Oropesa. While Picaflor House offers a wide range of classes such as maths, hygiene, language, traditional dance and music, art, and sports, Picaflor House also provides English language classes, as well as access to English speaking staff and volunteers. English is an extremely useful resource in this part of Peru, and one that will be fundamental to the children’s futures since a great many jobs in Cusco require English due to the large amount of foreign tourists visiting the area. By having a higher level of English upon finishing school, the children will not only have a wider range of opportunities, but it will also help to break the cycle of poverty in Oropesa and other communities nearby.
The English language redevelopment will include new resources for English classes, such as workbooks, textbooks, flashcards, DVDs and CDs, as well as a new television and laptop for the English classroom. We are also planning to employ a native English-speaking intern to assist in classes and hold extra conversation classes for our most advanced students. We hope to be sharing some exciting news about funding of this initiative very soon!
As you can see, it has been a busy time here at Picaflor House, so thank you again for your support, and for helping the children of Oropesa have a better chance in life. Picaflor House relies entirely on donations and grants, and none of what we have achieved in the past few months, and what we have planned for the year ahead, would be possible without the support of generous donors like you.
Please help spread the word about our work by sharing this with your friends. Thank you!
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