You can now donate via the MyDonate page, link below, which automatically collects the gift aid on your donations on our behalf. We've called the appeal Peru 140:1000 because if we can just find 1000 to donate £140 we'll potentially have enough to buy a suitable property and get started. If you can only give a small amount, that'll still make a big difference, so whatever you can manage please help us to do this. 'Stick by stick makes a bundle' they say in East Africa. It's true. The unimaginable is made possible if we all lend a hand. Thank you.
Deeply, deeply saddened by the BBC film " Worst place in the World to be Disabled?" just aired on BBC3, about Ghana, where disabled people are routinely abandoned, chained up, tortured, and disabled children are killed by traditional witchdoctors for a fee, paid for by their parents. This could have been me as a child, or Rosie, under different circumstances. Fact is, it's happening ALL OVER the developing world, that's why I set up Craft Aid, that's why it's so important the... Neema Crafts model doesn't just stay in Tanzania but is passed on to many, many more places. Neema Crafts doesn't just give training and employment, hope and dignity; crucially it's also *radically* changed attitudes to disabled people for hundreds of miles around. People with disabilities are now recognised as being fully human, full of potential rather than refuse, which is how they were seen before. If you want to help us pass on this model in Peru, where disabled people are still massively stigmatised, please do something about it and help us. Thank you.
You can now donate via the MyDonate page, link below, which automatically collects the gift aid on your donations on our behalf. We've called the appeal Peru 140:1000 because if we can just find 1000 to donate £140 we'll potentially have enough to buy a suitable property and get started. If you can only give a small amount, that'll still make a big difference, so whatever you can manage please help us to do this. 'Stick by stick makes a bundle' they say in East Africa. It's true. The unimaginable is made possible if we all lend a hand. Thank you.
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I'm now safely back from Peru with some exciting news: Over the last few days I’ve been looking at properties there. The idea is to create a fully-fledged workshop, shop & café, all staffed by and for the benefit of disabled people !!!! Like Neema Crafts (in Tanzania), but a whole new enterprise in Peru!! In the space of two weeks it’s gone from being a vision to an actual plan, with properties viewed and budgets starting to take shape. The most ideal building I saw... is on the market for £140,000, so we have some serious fundraising to do and FAST. There’s so much need here, but so much potential. So come on folks, if we all work together I know we can do this. Watch this space for how to get involved. If you want to donate straight away please go to the donate page of the Craft Aid website or send me a message. Thank you so much for your support, encouragement, and your prayers – we’re gonna need stacks of all three! In other exciting news, I mentioned in my last post that we were off to look for potential outlets to sell our products in Arequipa. Well, we found one! (See first picture below left). The shop is really beautiful and -unlike many people we spoke to - the owner was more than happy to help a project that will benefit people with disabilities. We will still loose a cut of the sale price to the shop though, which is entirely fair to the owner, but it would be so much better if we had our own outlet, workshop and café in one place. Click on the pictures below for captions and more info. Essentially, the pictures show what the current building looks like, and what it could look like (red building) with a little imagination, hard work and TLC. ( And your help! ) With it's central courtyard, beautiful old architectural features and stunning views of Arequipa from the roof-top terrace, it would be the perfect location. There is even room for the church to have a permanent base here, which is very much needed as they currently rent a very unsuitable space and this is their project after all, their way of reaching out to meet the needs of the community. A beautiful place to work and to worship, with disabled people at the centre... at the heart. Please help us to make this vision a reality. As always, so much to write about but no time to sit still and write it. In the first week we’ve covered a huge amount of ground. I’ve learnt what the group can do and what they struggle with, then redesigned products to fit. It was a huge high point on Wednesday last week when I taught the new designs to the larger group with learning disabilities and they *all* took to it like ducks to water. I was so happy! Betsaida and I have scoured Areqipa’s maze-like streets for new suppliers and ever wider varieties of beads and fabrics. We’ve also been working hard on the less glamourous but essential side of running a social enterprise – accounts, invoices, order forms, materials record sheets… yesterday was gruelling but very productive, with everyone pitching in to help which was really encouraging. This morning we’re off to look for outlets to sell our products locally. We’ll be pounding the streets all day so - those of you who do – please pray for a fruitful day, thanks. So much more to say, but will have to wait for this evening. Lots of pics to come shortly too. Thanks for reading x Tuesday: The earth is a dazzlingly, *dazzlingly* beautiful place, full of awe and wonder. You only have to fly over a country like Peru for a few minutes to appreciate this. Range upon range of black mountains capped in white snow; speckled hills and ravines threaded through with silver rivers, studded with great blue lakes with aquamarine edges; vast blankets of soft cloud revealing dark oceans lapping at the feet of volcanic cliffs, gilded from above with the reddest-goldest fiery light imaginable. The final cadence to all this grandeur was the sight of El Misti and her two volcanic sisters, the three mountains that watch over the ‘white city’ of Arequipa, as we came in to land this morning. To describe Peru, and her people, is to realise that there are not enough synonyms for beautiful. Once you’re on the ground the similarity of the infrastructure and vegetation to our former home in Tanzania is striking. If it weren’t for the people, I would believe on first glance that I was back in East Africa without question. The hastily thrown-up concrete buildings are the same, the trees and flowers, even the style of bill-board advertising and the brands they’re brandishing. But, as you'd expect, the people are very different. I love their expressive warmth, their exuberance and their public displays of affection. I got up at 2am in the UK on Monday morning to start my journey, and got to bed at 26 hours later in Lima, with almost no sleep before, during or after. This morning I flew the final leg to Arequipa, arriving at lunch-time and then whisked from the airport straight to the church where the Neuvas Feuzas group were eagerly waiting. The cheers and shouts that erupted as I entered the room nearly knocked me over. It was so, so lovely to see everyone again. I was hugged and kissed to within an inch of my life and Richard (the aforementioned Karaoke King) even wept great theatrical tears when I said how good it was to return to my family in Peru. It was a wonderful reunion. I spent the afternoon with Betsaida, the project leader, and Carmen, her right-hand volunteer, un-picking how things had gone since I left in April and deciding what we need to cover whilst I’m here. It was encouraging to see how beautifully they were making the products we’d taught them last time. There were a few disappointments and challenges too, but nothing insurmountable. Our meeting confirmed how important it was for me to come back, and has given us a road-map for what we need to achieve before I leave again. There’s a lot to do, but time enough if we keep our hands to the plough and don’t lose sight of the horizon. Wednesday: Was strange to wake up to my silent flat alone. I missed my noisy family and the usual pre-school-day hubbub. The only CD I could find in the flat was 'Classic FM's Royal Wedding Selection" which thankfully turned out to be not nearly as bad as it sounded. The walk to the church cheered me with El Misti shining on the skyline above the haphazard rooftops. Have spent the day teaching Betsaida and Carmen new techniques and designing new prototype necklaces to teach the Neuvas Feuzas group tomorrow. Heading off now to the bead markets to buy materials and then off home to bead into the wee-hours finishing said samples for tomorrows teaching. |
Authors:Susie Hart MBE Archives
June 2019
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