Young Peruvian family receives the all clear from doctors about TB

Two of our young people, Natali and Hugo, and their family were diagnosed with TB back in March. But, thankfully, they have now been given the all clear by doctors.

Hugo is now officially non-contagious, even though he has to continue his treatment for at least another four months. Four-year-old Luís is also non-contagious and has been allowed to go back to his nursery. He too will have to continue his treatment for several months yet, but he's very glad to be able to see his little nursery friends again.

Baby Lenny hasn't caught the disease and Natali is undergoing regular tests for the foreseeable future to make sure that she's still clear. She has been able to go back to work at her training placement with Wall Luxury Essentials and is coping very well.

The Colour of Hope continues to provide regular financial and emotional support to this young family, mainly thanks to funds donated from Wall staff. This is enabling them to eat a better diet, including fresh fruit and vegetables, vitamin supplements and high protein foods.

Despite all their problems and difficulties, Natali and Hugo are two of our most highly motivated young people. They always put their all into caring for their two children and really deserve the support they are receiving. Once again, thank you to all those who are involved in helping this young family.

Chronic child malnutrition in Peru will drop to 16% in 2011

At the end of 2007, an estimated 750 thousand Peruvian children were suffering from chronic malnutrition in Peru.

Yet in 2011, chronic child malnutrition will drop to 16 percent in Peru, said the executive secretary of the Fight Against Poverty Discussion Forum (MCLCP), Félix Grandez. This reduction will mainly be seen in children under the age of three who live in rural areas.

Grandez added that anemia will have dropped to 20% among children and pregnant women by the same year.

He also remarked that the government is investing approximately 1.2 million dollars in programs to help poor rural populations.

Yet 16% is still an awfully large percentage of the country's child population. It's a reminder that even though Peru's economy is expanding and exports are beginning to increase, the country still has many serious internal problems to deal with.

Text courtesy of Living in Peru

Young family copes with TB diagnosis

Back in March, Natali’s husband and four-year-old son were diagnosed with TB. Natali also had to undergo tests to see if she had been infected. The test results came back a week ago, and she was over the moon to be given the all-clear. This means she has been able to go back to work and resume her normal routine.

Hugo is now a few weeks into his treatment, which is long and extremely intensive, but apart from expected side effects, he says he is starting to feel stronger and more himself. Luís, Natali’s four-year-old will also be starting treatment in the next few days once the necessary documents come through.

TB is sadly extremely common in Peru, perpetuated by cramped living conditions and poor diets. But with the right treatment and a good diet the disease is curable in the vast majority of cases.

A couple of weeks ago, I was able to take a car load of donations up to Natali and her family, with the help of staff from CEDRO, a local NGO. The items included vitamins for the whole family, kindly donated by Judith and Hernán Balcázar and staff at Wall Luxury Essentials, tins of fish, rice, lentils, beans and other pulses from CEDRO and milk, tuna and other tins from Blanca de Romero from Bianco de Mare textiles factory. I also included some clothes and toys that had been donated to The Colour of Hope.

Thank you to all those who are supporting Natali and Hugo’s young family, especially their sponsors Jess and Rosa Batten-Stevens, Judith and Hernán Balcázar and all the representatives of Wall Luxury Essentials, Monica Ochoa from CEDRO, and Blanca de Romero and all her staff at Bianco de Mare textiles factory.

People's Opinion on Global Issues

We all know what the Seven Wonders of the World are, the Top 500 Companies and even the World's Strongest Man. Yet there is no centralised information about what the biggest problems of the world are, at least not from the people's point of view.

Felipe, from Costa Rica, has begun an internet poll about global issues and is hoping to collect enough information to be able to kick-start social projects based on the results. Visit his website at http://topissues.intribu.org/ to cast your vote and make your opinion count, or propose what you think is the world's most important problem this year.

Health & Nutrition Advice for Young People

Chronic malnutrition affects one in three Peruvian children under five, with much higher rates in rural areas. Over time, malnutrition can lead to stunted growth and diminished intellectual capacity.

A volunteer from Lima's D'Gallia Catering College has kindly designed a course in Health & Nutrition for The Colour of Hope, which he is now teaching to our first and second groups of young people on a voluntary basis.

Topics include eating a balanced diet, water safety and hygienic food preparation and storage. The course will not only help the young people take care of their own health, but also that of their children - three of the group already have babies and toddlers to bring up.

Thank you to Andy for his dedication to The Colour of Hope's work and the health of our young people.

The Colour of Hope’s microcredit scheme helps families escape the poverty trap

Most of The Colour of Hope’s work with our project participants is conducted at the training centre. But occasionally we visit the participants where they are living or they take us to meet their families. This is an important element of the work because it enables us to get to know the young people better and see firsthand the backgrounds they are coming from.

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Some of the participants live independently because there is either some reason why they cannot live with their families or because they are orphans and have nowhere else to go. Others live with friends or godparents and a few go back to their families.

Last weekend I visited Hugo and Natali’s home, as well as Natali’s sister, Angelica. They all live in Canto Grande, a shanty town on the outskirts of Lima. Their living conditions are very primitive and sadly typical of most shanty town homes – no running water, no drainage, just one kerosene stove between them all and both families each struggling to share a single bed.

Yet despite their desperate situation, both families hold their heads up high, proud of the little they’ve got and fighting against all odds to bring in enough money to feed their children. The support they are receiving from The Colour of Hope is helping to lift some of this weight from their shoulders, and our microcredit scheme will eventually help them to improve their living conditions and escape the poverty trap.

Hugo is working hard on the budget for his shop, as well as beginning to level the land where it will be built. This is by no means easy – it involves literally hacking into the mountainside to break up the rocks and boulders (see photo).

Angelica, who lives on the other side of the mountain, will probably be setting up a shop too, although she is not as far into her training as Hugo, so plans may change.

Natali is doing extremely well at her Wall textiles placement, despite her son Luis’s accident a few weeks ago, and her own ill health. Her supervisor and fellow workers say she has a real talent for the work.

Luis is still recovering well from the accident at his nursery and is looking much stronger thanks to the special diet and vitamin supplements funded by his parents’ sponsors, Jess and Rosa Batten-Stevens from Ottery St Mary.

3-year-old Luís makes a full recovery thanks to sponsors

Natali and Hugo, two of The Colour of Hope’s project participants, have a little 3-year-old called Luís. A few weeks ago, Luís became extremely ill after accidentally drinking bleach at his nursery.

Natali and Hugo rushed him into hospital and thankfully he recovered after a few days. However, he was very weak afterwards and had lost a lot of weight. On top of the effects of the bleach, the doctors found that he was anaemic and suffering from malnutrition. They said that he would need a whole cocktail of different medicines and vitamins to help him recover from the bleach, as well as a special diet to combat the anaemia and malnutrition.

Hugo and Natali have done everything to care for Luís since he was born, often going without food themselves in order to make sure he doesn’t go hungry. However, the only work open to them (busking and begging on buses, morning to night, day in day out) simply didn’t bring in what they needed.

Their situation has greatly improved now that Natali has begun her placement with Wall Luxury Fibre Clothing Company, and will continue to improve further once Hugo gets his grocery store up and running. However, 3 years without the protein, vitamins and minerals Luís needs have taken their toll, and he will require constant medical care over the next few months to monitor his progress.

Even with Natali’s wages from Wall, the expenses that the medicines, diet and medical care will incur are far beyond their reach. So Hugo and Natali’s sponsors, Jess and Rose from Ottery St. Mary, have kindly dedicated part of their sponsorship funds to covering Luís’s expenses. This will ensure he receives all the support and medical attention he needs, hopefully meaning that his health will see some steady improvements over the next few months.

Video of MIT D-Lab Charcoal Technology

MIT Charcoal Technology Photos

Drying the corn cobs to make the charcoal.

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Sorting the dry cobs from the moist ones.

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Filling the drum with corn cobs and husks.

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Setting the drum alight from the top and bottom.

Burning off the excess smoke.

Sealing the drum to allow for the charcoaling process to take place.

MIT D-Lab Teach Charcoal Technology in Peru

Last week The Colour of Hope teamed up with Lima Kids, a social welfare programme for disadvantaged children living in orphanages or on the streets of Lima, and representatives from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) D-Lab to learn how to make cheap, efficient and environmentally friendly charcoal.

D-Lab is a series of courses that focus on international development, mainly taught by MIT Senior Lecturer and MacArthur “Genius” Fellow, Amy Smith.

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Last August, Amy headed the first International Development Design Summit (IDDS), which united more than 50 people from 18 countries, many from developing nations, to build technologies for improving the quality of life in the developing world.

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"I believe very strongly that solutions to problems in the developing world are best created in collaboration with the people who will be using them," said Amy. She and her team are here in Peru until the end of January to identify local problems and begin working on their solutions. They kindly dedicated part of their trip to teaching The Colour of Hope, Lima Kids and care home, Sagrada Familia, their pioneering charcoal technology.

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The charcoal is made using agricultural waste, such as corn cobs and sugarcane waste (bagasse). Traditionally, these products are simply thrown away or burnt because they have no apparent use. But D-Lab has now shown us how to convert them to charcoal, simply using an oil drum, 3 bricks and a wooden pole! (Click here to find out more)

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Until now, Sagrada Familia, has been buying wood (leña) for cooking fuel, which gives off a lot of harmful smoke and comes at a price. But now it will be able to use this new technique to produce its own cooking fuel. The Colour of Hope is going to work together with Lima Kids to promote the technique amongst other care homes and young people who leave the homes. One or more groups of young people could adopt the technique and form small businesses to market the charcoal, and thereby become self-sufficient.

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Many thanks to D-Lab and to all the team members who gave up their time to teach us this innovative technology.

El VRAE - The Forgotten Valley of Peru

More coca is produced in the VRAE (River Apurímac and River Ene Valley) than anywhere else in Peru. Naturally, it has become an epicentre for cocaine production and is a regular drug trafficking route.

The entire valley has only one local police station and six policemen. The station is cut off from all communication given that the only telephone was disconnected 6 months ago due to unpaid bills.

54.27% of the valley's population is poor and 44.84% is extremely poor. 51% are suffering from chronic malnutrition.

80% of housing lacks potable water and 77% has no street lighting.

The life expectancy for women in the valley is 60 and 64 for men.

Of the 200,000 people living in the valley, only 10,000 (5%) have finished secondary school.

30% of the population as a whole and 49% of women in the valley is illiterate.

Anteccasa, one of the valley's typical towns, has no running water, electricity or medical service. There is only one primary school for the 40 children and the teacher hardly ever turns up. If the children want to study, they must walk more than 3 hours in order to reach the next school. The nearest secondary school is even further away; nobody in Anteccasa has ever been.

The medical centre in Pichari, another VRAE town, is falling to bits. Patients must queue for hours to register because notes are taken by hand. Even if there were a computer it wouldn't be of much use because the electricity cuts out on a regular basis, ruining the few bits of medical equipment the centre has managed to obtain. Vaccinations have to be put between blocks of ice until the electricity returns and the night team quite often works by candlelight. The centre's medical staff has to work around the clock because there are not enough of them for the number of patients. The situation is the same in 8 other medical centres throughout the VRAE and there is only one hospital for the entire valley.

In 2006, the Peruvian government initiated "Plan VRAE" - "an option of peace and development for the VRAE", yet there have been no great changes to the valley's education system, medical service and general standard of living so far. The VRAE police headquarters, opened by the Plan in December last year, has only one van - hardly even sufficient to patrol the edges of the 13,000 square kilometre valley. The Plan's budget has been increased for 2008, and after a recent terrorist attack in Ocobamba, the area has been re-declared a state of emergency. But this is not enough for the VRAE people. They need to see change now, not in two, three or four years time.

Last Monday, 5th November, I posted a report by Andres Oppenheimer, entitled, "Peru may be the next rising star in Latin America". Oppenheimer states, "Peru has a long way to go, especially when it comes to competing in the global economy...but people who are optimistic about Peru in the long run may be right...it may indeed become a star economy in the not-so-distant future." This optimism may well be true for the country's economy in general; many parts of Peru are seeing steady progress and change. But the VRAE is by no means one of these parts; in the general air of development and success, the VRAE and other similar areas are all too easily forgotten.

Map courtesy of uterodemarita.com