Project Peru

Registered Charity
No: 1049413

You can now donate to
Project Peru online by
clicking on the links below.
Credit Card

For further information click here or download our
Gift Aid form here

Kim & Lucy: 2007

We wanted to say thank you for allowing us to be a part of Project Peru this last month [summer 2007]. The experience we had there was overwhelming and we feel extremely privileged to have been a part of it. It has taught us a lot about the way we live our own lives and and it is safe to say that we have changed for the better. Despite some of the hardships the children have faced they are extremely brave and strong and were always friendly and welcoming to us. They had so much love to give and we feel really touched by them. The staff were always friendly and accomodating and looked after us so well and for this we are very
grateful. It is difficult to put in to words the experience that we had living at the refuge and I speak for the whole group when I say that we have all had a very special experience there. We will always hold a warm
place in our hearts for Project Peru and we hope that we can do all that we can to support the project in the future... you were absolutely right about it being a great privilege for us to be there. They showed us more than I think we could ever show them. We will try our hardest to do what we can for them once home and hope to continue to raise as much money as we can. The group have frequently discussed ideas about fundraising once back in Leeds and we are excited to get going with it.

We have so many cherished memories at Project Peru. We enjoyed getting to meet the children individually and struck up close bonds with all. We will never forget the first night when the children danced under the moonlight and we knew from then that being there was going to be very special. It was difficult to hold back the tears, it was so very overwhelming. Since then we always played with the children once we returned home from building and they taught us so many games. It was very important to always speak Spanish and we feel that the group always made a continuous effort to learn more. By the end of the month everybody's Spanish had come on a lot and this was very useful as we were able to speak the children at more than a basic level. During our time there we organised things such as pizza night, held mini parties, had an afternoon of painting and face-painting and took the children to the beach. The beach was a very special last day and everybody got to play games in the sand and relax and bond even further. Our time there has been so wonderful and we are so very grateful to you for everything you have done for us. We hope that we have
represented you well as we always tried to do good by everyone despite it being sometimes difficult due to difference of opinion and a slight language barrier.

Working in Las Laderas made us realise just how far the money we raised goes out there. The ladies of Las Laderas were some of the loveliest people we have ever met and we are so thankful to Rosa for taking us under her wing and treating us so well. Building was such an eye-opening experience as it showed us just how hard the people of the community work to survive. Nearly everyday some of the women from the soup kitchen would come and help with the digging and it showed us just how incredbile these women are. Not only do they work all morning preparing and serving food, they then come and work at the building site because they just simply want to lend a hand. It is amazing to think that after this most then go and work washing clothes or selling things to provide for their families. The people of Las Laderas are some of the most selfless, caring and hardworking people we have ever come across and the strong sense of community there really gave a drive to the project. We feel so humbled to have been allowed to work amongst the community and I know that we cannot wait to return to see the finished building. We were also fortunate to be allowed to spend a day working in the school with the children and a morning helping in the soup kitchen.

Leaving Project Peru on Sunday was one of the most difficult things we have ever had to do. We feel so much love for casa hogar and the staff and children became like one big family, and leaving your family is never an easy thing to do.

Neither of us have finished collecting our money even though we hit the one thousand pound target and having been to the refuge we are now even more spurred on to collect those last donations of money from people who have promised it but not yet donated.