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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2011

Inside….

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SPONSOR A CHILD

AND MAY EXPENSES

RECENT VOLUNTEERS

AT SEEDS OF HOPE

RECENT

VOLUNTEERS

PASEO

STAYING

INVOLOVED

Hola Friends and Family of Seeds of Hope!! September and October have been busy and exciting months at Seeds of Hope! We are pleased to announce that Seeds of Hope is growing as we have two new students joining us, Alex and Gina, both siblings of current students at Seeds of Hope! In addition we are very pleased to announce the arrival of our new enthusiastic Volunteer Coordinator, Alex! Seeds was very fortunate to have had many great volunteers come and dedicate their time to Seeds of Hope School and the students over the past two months! We were very fortunate to welcome, Genna, Wendy, Maria, Megan, Dorra, Amie, Sarah, and lucky to still have our compassionate long term volunteer Emma with us until the end November! With so many great energetic volunteers we did a variety of fun-filled adventurous Friday activities including recycled art and craft caterpillars and straw towers!

WHATS GOING ON

AT SEEDS SCHOOL

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Thank to all of you who have furthered inquired about our Sponsor a Child Program! We are pleased to announce that a very generous donor has made a donation help sponsor Wilber and his University fees! If you are interested in sponsoring a Seeds of Hope student, please email us at seedsofhoperu@hotmail.com!

SEP/OCT 2011

2011

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How we spent your

money this month. IT’S IMPORTANT TO US THAT YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT WE SPEND YOUR MONEY ON, SO HERE IT IS…

Help

support

SOH and

our

students by

Sponsoring

a Child!!

WHAT WE DID… -Provided a safe place for 55 students to come daily to study and receive emotional and academic support from Seeds of Hope staff and volunteers -Ensured every child received a daily nutritious meal at Seeds of Hope. - Provided internet access and printer for children to research and print off their homework -Took 33 students on weekend paseo with picnic lunch to Willkawain! - Bought new toothbrushes - Paid for a student to seek regular weekly psychologist appointments. (Special thanks to the child’s sponsor) - Paid for Wilber’s University entrance fee along with a variety of school supplies and materials. (Special thanks to a very generous donor from Ireland for making this possible!)

CAN YOU SPONSOR A

STUDENT AT SEEDS OF HOPE

FOR ONLY 83 CENTS A DAY?!?!

HOW YOU CAN SPONSOR A CHILD.. At Seeds of Hope we have 3 different levels of sponsorship for you to choose from… For only $25.00 a month for six months you will allow a student to come to Seeds of Hope every weekday where he or she receives a nutritious meals, healthcare, support and guidance with academics and development of life skills!

For $25.00 per month for 12 months you will allow a student to attend SOH and provide a student with the mandatory uniform and school supplies needed to attend the public school. For $25.00 for 18 months you will allow a student to come to SOH every day, buy them their school uniform and mandatory school supplies, and provide a student with a dental and an eye exam.

For less than 83 cents a day you can make a

huge impact on a student’s life! For more information and a Sponsorship Packet email Seedsofhoperu@hotmail.com!

Gina is one of Seeds of Hope newest additions! Her 4 other siblings have all been studying in Seeds for the past 5 years ever since they migrated to Huaraz after their home burnt down in the mountains. Currently 6 of her brothers and sisters along with her parents are living in a very small one room adobe house that Seeds of Hope helped to build them. Even against all the circumstances Gina faces everyday she comes to Seeds with a big smile on her face and ready to work and play! Gina is loving attending Seeds with her siblings! In the past months with the help from volunteers and Mariela we have seen her reading level and math ability greatly improve!

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MUCHAS GRACIAS TO ALL OUR VOLUNTEERS…

We recently had the arrival of a new volunteer, Amie Vanderford, from U.S. Amie is a professional photographer who has been traveling around Peru documenting volunteer tourism for a book that she is planning to publish. She has been an enthusiastic helper with the children, assisting Alex and Belizario with their homework every day. In addition, on Fridays, as a special project, she has been leading a photography activity, that all the children have loved! She has taught them about lighting, composition, and all the other elements that go into making a great photo. She must know what she is talking about, because her photos of the children have been excellent, and she has been kind enough to allow Seeds to make use of all the photos in future promotional materials. Amie will be leaving next week, and all the children here will undoubtedly miss her, and especially her photography classes. We want to thank Amie for many wonderful photos some that have been featured in this newsletter. If you want to view more of Amie’s photos or get in contact with her please check out

her website at:http://www.amie.org/

Dorra Berrebeh is a new arrival to Seeds of Hope, but has already spent over 6 months in Peru, part of that time at a school in Trujillo. Dorra is fluent in Spanish, experienced with teaching, and is excellent at math. Oftentimes, when one of us has forgotten our high school math, and cannot remember how to factorize something, or what the quadratic formula is, we can turn to Dorra for assistance. All the children, whenever they have a particularly challenging problem, know that Dorra will be there to help them!

Sarah was an excellent vivacious volunteer from the US who showed great interest in teaching the students at Seeds of Hope! She really enjoyed working one on one with the children and was great at assisting the students with completing their homework. In addition to helping the children Sarah was always up for any extra task at hand. We could always count on her to be in charge of preparing the daily meals for the children. She was a fun loving enthusiastic volunteer who all of the children really enjoyed interacting with and her presence at Seeds will be greatly missed!

Over the last month Seeds was lucky to have Megan Morgalis, a social studies teacher from US volunteer with us! Megan’s enthusiasm was contagious and the kids loved working with her every day. In addition, Megan organized three group projects for our younger children on Fridays when they didn’t have any homework. The first was “Isla Desierta” in which the kids had to choose a list of items to take with them to a deserted island. The second was “El Torre de Sorbetes” in which the children competed to build the tallest tower out of straws. And the third, and perhaps most popular, was the “Caida de Huevos” in which each group was given 20 minutes to figure out a way to protect an egg that was then dropped from the wall in the backyard. The activities were wildly popular, and Megan’s enthusiasm and energy were really appreciated by the children. All of us here at Seeds will miss her a lot, and we wish her well on her

continued travels in Peru and beyond!

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MUCHAS GRACIAS TO ALL OUR VOLUNTEERS… Our long term enthusiastic volunteer Emma has been

continuing with her knitting project, teaching several of the children how to knit. Many of the children already know how to knit, but many more are learning for the first time, and are very enthusiastic about making scarfs! Also, a number of the children have become very excited about learning chess, and Emma has been constructing a chess ranking board, on which the children can find out who are the best chess players, and challenge the players above them in order to move up the pyramid. The children are looking forward to this challenge, and we are hoping that it will encourage them to strategize and really learn how to play chess.

Maria, our volunteer from Montreal, Canada, is an excellent math teacher, and has been working primarily with Christina, one of our students who is very gifted in mathematics. She also does math homework with Julio, one of our older afternoon students, who often has incredibly lengthy problems to do, never with the help of a calculator, but Maria is very patient and always helps him work through them. She is also a very talented chess player, and has been teaching a number of kids to play chess. Working in tandem with Emma, Maria has constructed a large cardboard chess set to teach the basics, like how the pieces move, as well as more advanced strategies, like forks, pins, and openings. They love playing with her and learning from her, and are getting better every day!

Genna was a very outgoing volunteer from Canada! She worked great with all of the students but specifically enjoyed her time working with the younger students at Seeds of Hope! Genna is extremely creative! While volunteering at Seeds she led a hit fun Friday art activity of making caterpillars out of recycled egg cartons. The children had a great time painting and decorating the egg cartons and overall loved the project and as a result created some awesome colorful caterpillars. The children thrived off of Genna’s fun loving spirit and her presence is greatly missed at Seeds of Hope!

Wendy was a very cheerful volunteer who had great interaction with the students at Seeds of Hope. She was fluent in Spanish and English which made her a hit profe as many of the children approached her for help in their homework and to hang out and chat during recreo. Wendy led special activities with the children in first and second grade to help them improve their writing skills through the guided instruction and technique of relaxing their fingers and hand muscles. Wendy also led Friday group lessons and various activities with other volunteers to teach the students of Seeds about values and virtues in preparation for our next topic of self-esteem! Wendy was a great volunteer who really maximized her time as a volunteer and stepped up to help wherever she could!

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PASEO TO WILLKAWAIN!! Last Saturday we took the children on our monthly paseo, a half-day field trip to Wilkahuain, a playing field high in the mountains that surround Huaraz. We met at 8:30 in the morning, and about 35 children piled into the two combis that we had rented for the occasion. After a short trip we arrived at the field, where we organized relay races for the kids. Ranging from the simple (running back and forth) to the complex (wheelbarrow races, and a relay where each child had to place a can in a pyramid) the kids were never bored.

Seeds of Hope would like to extend a warm welcome to our new International Volunteer Coordinator, Alex D'Agostino from US. In August Alex made some major life changes. He quit his corporate job in NY, packed up, and moved out to Huaraz, Peru where he is currently fulfilling the role as our International Volunteer Coordinator. When asked why he wanted to come and volunteer full time at Seeds of Hope Alex responded, “I have been lucky to have had access to an excellent education system, and to have had parents who have supported me in my academic endeavors and provided me with wonderful opportunities. Now, in at least a small way, I want to give back, and support those who may not have had the same opportunities that I did. ” Alex has been in Huaraz for over a month now and is settling in quite well. The students are already referring to him as the hit fun profe and the full time staff and volunteers have commented on his dedication to Seeds and his outgoing personality! Seeds of Hope is very fortunate to have Alex as our Volunteer Coordinator and we want to thank him for his hard work and commitment to Seeds of Hope and our students!

We ended with a sack race, where each child had to hop back and forth inside a flour bag. The kids definitely enjoyed this activity the most, and laughed a lot every time somebody fell down. After the races, we gave the kids a break, where they explored around the area and played in the stream that runs next to the field. For lunch, we had cheese sandwiches, with crackers, oranges, lollipops, candies, and cookies. As expected, the lollipops were a big hit with the kids. We finished the day by playing a game of soccer. The kids left tired, but not nearly as tired as the grown-ups who accompanied them. Our founder, Yuri Chavez, who played the entire soccer game, didn’t recover till the next day!

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

A BIG WELCOME TO ALEX SEED’S NEW VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR!

SEP/OCT 2011

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WHATS BEEN GOING ON AT SEEDS

OF HOPE SCHOOL.. Over the last three weeks our recently departed volunteer Megan has been putting together projects for the kids every Friday, when they don’t have homework. For the first, the “Isla Desierta” the children were given a list of 10 items that they could take to a desert island, and were asked to pick 5 of them and explain why they would take them. The children loved the activity, and spent a lot of time discussing what would be best for a deserted island (Radio or Knife, Can of Vegetables or Playing Cards?).

Megan’s second activity, the “Torre de Sorbetes,” was even more popular. The children were given tape and drinking straws, and were challenged to see which group could build the tallest tower. Each group had a very inventive design, and in the end the towers were much taller than anyone had expected.

The third activity was the “Caida de Huevos.” Each group was given an egg, popsicle sticks, tape, newspaper, rubber bands, and straws. In 20 minutes they had to build something that would protect their egg when dropped from the top of the wall outside of school. Each group approached the activity differently, but most of them were quite successful in keeping their eggs safe. Over the course of the activities, Megan put an emphasis on teamwork, listening to group members, and making sure everyone was involved, and by the third activity we noticed a big improvement in the way the kids were working together.

In addition, for the children in the morning, our volunteer Amie has been conducting a photography class. Amie has concentrated on lighting, composition, and the other elements that go into making a quality

photo. Afterwards, she has allowed the children to use one of her cameras to take pictures of each other and the school. The kids are very enthusiastic about learning about photography, and have already managed to take a number of very good photos, some of which Amie is considering using in her book about volunteer tourism. Many of the photos in this newsletter were taken by Amie to check out more of her photography or get in touch with her please visit Amie Vanderford’s

website at :http://www.amie.org/

June 2011

There are many ways to stay involved with

Seeds of Hope… Make a Donation...

From anywhere in the world you can make a

donation via our partner, Omprakash, at

www.omprakash.org.

If you live in the U.K., it is best to give through

our partner, The One Percent Scheme (OPS).

Please send us an email for instructions!

When donating by any of these methods, please

send us a quick email at

seedsofhoperu@hotmail.com so that we can

track you donation.

Sponsor a Child... By choosing to sponsor a child you can

ensure that they receive all the support

they need to succeed. The child will know

who you are and share letters and photos

with you, so you can follow their

development. For just $25 a month you’ll

provide one of our children with:

1. Uniform and equipment to enable

attendance at school

2. A nutritious meal daily

3. Healthcare and supplementary nutrition

4. Support and guidance in developing life

skills

5. A safe place to play and study off the

streets. CONTACT US FOR A SPONSORSHIP PACK.

Do something amazing and raise

money for Seeds... Whatever you

choose to do, you can be sure the money you raise will work as hard as you did!

Volunteer... We always need volunteers to help at

Seeds of Hope and welcome anyone

with a positive outlook and

enthusiasm. We particularly need an

experienced counselor and/or play

therapist to work with a small

number of the children on a one to

one basis. Please spread the word on

this and contact us if you are

interested.

seedsofhoperu@hotmail.com