More than three years ago I wrote
a post about how an NGO in Peru functions. At that time none of us wondered
or thought about the future of Promesa Peru. If we had, we might have asked if
we’d still be in existence, and if so would it be the same small grass-roots
organization with the same purpose?
Though we registered as an NGO in Chiclayo
in November of 2010 we’d actually been doing small charitable activities going
back to 2008. We’ve done some good during these last six years. We’ve helped
communities by sponsoring medical campaigns and Chocolatadas . We’ve helped several individual families with
emergency assistance in the form of food, clothing and cash. But mostly we’re
about doing what we can to help parents and teachers provide education to children.
If the teachers don’t have what they need…basic things like chairs, tables and
whiteboards we try to help. If the students don’t have what they need…school
supplies and clothing, we try to help. It hasn’t been easy. We’re dependant on
donations for situations that go beyond providing help for a few individual
kids or supplying a few simple items for a classroom. And donations don’t come
easy.
Over the years there have been quite a few
modest one-time donations. There have also been people who have made multiple
donations and then for whatever reason have stopped. We do appreciate every one of those donations.
We would not have made it this far without them. When we ask for support for a specific
activity we usually receive a few modest donations. Never have we received
enough to cover the entire cost so we board members pay the difference if we
can, and that’s okay…that’s what we agreed to do from the very beginning.
As I mentioned in a recent post, requests
for assistance are being received at an increasing rate. Often we decline,
either because what’s being asked for may be worthy but is outside of our scope,
or because we couldn’t realistically hope to raise the needed cash.
Above is a very recent example of a request
we received (click on it to enlarge). It was sent to us by the director of the kinder school in Eureka,
a village we visited not too long ago. The English translation is:
Gentlemen: NGO
Promesa Peru
Subject: Request
donation of uniforms and educational material
I have the honor to cordially greet you in
the name of kinder institution #190 of the caserio Eureka in the district and
province of Lambayeque and also express the following:
That Eureka is a place where the condition
of life is very poor with a student population of 56 children ages 3, 4, and 5.
You cannot require them to attend the school without uniforms, and some
children do not have the respective educational material.
Therefore we turn to you to be good enough
to donate 56 complete uniforms (pants, polo tops and jackets) to relieve the
coming winter in the following sizes:
(She
goes on to list the ages and sizes of the students for uniform purposes, and
also lists the ages and names of 11 students without school supplies)
I look forward to this valuable support for
these needy children and deeply appreciate your cooperation.
We consider this request to be a worthwhile
project but one beyond our means. The price of a two-piece uniform consisting
of pants and t-shirt is about $11.00, but it gets cool in the desert at night especially
in winter and these kids are walking for 30 – 45 minutes to school in the early
morning hours so a jacket is necessary. Adding a jacket to the uniform increases
the price to $15.47. For 56 students that comes to $866.32.
The director indicated that eleven students
are without basic school supplies. The
cost of those supplies plus a bag to carry them in is $15.69 each. The cost for
eleven students is $172.59. The total for uniforms and school supplies is $1038.91.
That is a lot of money and we would not normally consider it but fortunately this
time we’ll be able to do it thanks to a grant from the friends and family of The
Alice Cool Foundation.
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