The Colour of Hope Microcredit Scheme Success

Back in July, The Colour of Hope microcredit scheme helped two of our project participants, Hugo and Angelica, to set up their own grocery shops. Both shops are now up and running and looking good. They are giving both families a steady source of income which goes a long way towards keeping their children healthy and in school. Many thanks to Hugo and Angelica's sponsors for all their support.

From Street Kids to Shop Owners

Angelica and Hugo have become the first two young people to benefit from The Colour of Hope’s microcredit scheme. Having grown up on the streets, sniffing glue and stealing to survive, these two young people have truly fought to get where they are today.

Desperate to improve the quality of life for their young families, they have been two of our most determined participants, putting in a great deal of effort to get their grocery shops up and running. They’ve had to work into the small hours of the morning more than once over the last few weeks, shifting copious amounts of sand and cement up the mountainside. But the shops are definitely coming into shape now, with the floors down, shelving up and the first round of goods purchased.

Having their own source of income will not only provide Angelica and Hugo more dignified employment, but will also mean improved access to education and healthcare, better living conditions and a healthier diet for their children. Many thanks to Jess and Rosa Batten-Stevens and Topsham Friends Circle, Hugo and Angelica’s sponsors, for helping make this dream a reality. Photos of the shops coming soon!

WebSpanish & The Colour of Hope Press Release

Last Saturday, 15th March, The Colour of Hope published its first press release! Here is the published text, and click this link to see the original on Yahoo! News

British Charity, The Colour of Hope, confirms that online Spanish language program, WebSpanish, will begin to donate a percentage of each class fee to its youth reintegration program.

Peru, (PRWEB) March 15, 2008 -- The Colour of Hope charity was officially formed in August 2007* and works to reduce poverty, advance education and promote employment amongst disadvantaged young people leaving care homes in Lima, Peru.

Margaret Stevens, Chair of The Colour of Hope, said, "We are so grateful to WebSpanish for its support and commitment to our work. Many people and businesses give to children's charities or the elderly, but often less so to young adults. Thank you, WebSpanish, for recognizing the difficulties faced by these underprivileged young people in Lima. Your donations will go a long way in making a difference and providing the opportunities they need."

The majority of the young people The Colour of Hope works with have previously been street children, coming from backgrounds of domestic violence, extreme poverty, drug addiction and abuse. Once they grow up, they're forced to leave care, find a job and start supporting themselves. Yet the problems of their past, lack of family support and insufficient financial resources make this almost impossible. Many end up right back where they started - on the streets.

The Colour of Hope's youth reintegration work helps these young adults at this crucial stage, enabling them to find their feet, become part of their community and find dignified employment. It also provides business training and microfinance opportunities for those who want to set up small businesses and enterprises.

Alan La Rue, founder and director of WebSpanish, said, "I'm delighted to be able to partner with The Colour of Hope NGO to help these former street children in Peru. It has given us the opportunity to give something back to the community and I know the money will go exactly where it's needed."

WebSpanish, offering Spanish language classes online, was developed by a team of highly qualified Spanish language instructors at El Sol Spanish Language School. El Sol is one of a select group of Spanish language schools in Peru approved by the Peruvian Ministry of Education, and has been helping students learn Spanish in Lima Peru since 2002.

The WebSpanish corporate sponsorship will allow The Color of Hope to extend its community work to more disadvantaged young people in Peru, providing them with much needed emotional, social and financial support. For more information about the charity and its work please visit The Colour of Hope Blog or write to info@thecolourofhope.org

*The Trustees recently submitted an application for registered charity status, which will likely be granted by the UK Charity Commission within the next few weeks.

The Colour of Hope
Amy New
511-90336722

Second group of project participants respond well to life-skills training

It has now been just over one month since we started training the second group of project participants. They are all responding very well to the training and have covered the following life-skills topics so far:

1) Adapting to life outside the care home (1 session)

2) Free time (5 sessions - activities you can do in your free time, the importance of free time, limitations, drugs and alcohol, relationships)

3) Budgets and savings (4 sessions – financial problems, budgets, savings, bank accounts)

4) Employment and opportunities (3 sessions – forms of employment, areas of work, factors that influence your chances of finding work)

In addition to the group training sessions, Angelica and Bilela have been learning some computer skills. They’ve become much more proficient with the mouse and keyboard and now know how to open Word, save documents and then open them again. We’ve helped them both to set up their own email accounts and they now know how to write, send and receive emails, as well as add contacts to their address books.

As well as continuing training with the second group, throughout April we shall be selecting the third group of young people, ready for them to begin training in May. We still need to find sponsors for at least 3 members of this next group, so please get in touch if you think you can help, or would like more information about our young person sponsorship programme. info@thecolourofhope.org

The Colour of Hope receives another round of donations thanks to American Expats

We’ve had plenty more donations these last couple of weeks. Karie, from the USA, has given us a whole truck full of household items, some of which have helped to furnish our training centre, and others which will slowly be distributed amongst the project participants.

One of the beds will be going to Angelica and her family, who currently share a single bed between two adults and two children (see picture). Another will go to Abraham, along with a chest of drawers, when he leaves care in a couple of weeks.

Jason, also from the USA, has now not only donated us a computer, but also 3 bags full of office supplies and equipment! These will come very much in handy for the next few groups of young people.

Thank you Jason and Karie for your immense generosity and ongoing support.

We constantly need the following items for the young people's accommodation and our microfinance projects, so if anyone else can help, please get in touch:

* Computers (computadoras)
* Printer (impresora)
* Projector (retro/multi proyector)
* Beds & bedding (colchones, tarimas, frazadas, sábanas, almohadas etc.)
* Clothes for young people (ropa para jóvenes)
* Kitchen appliances & utensils (electrodomésticos, loza, vajilla etc.)
* Any items that would be useful to young people setting up small businesses, e.g. electrical equipment, counters, shelving, tools, tills etc.

Thank you very much for your support.

Amy New, The Colour of Hope Director, 90336722, info@thecolourofhope.org

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.

Natali receives her first Pay Cheque from Wall!

Natali, one of the young people The Colour of Hope is sponsoring, has just received her first pay cheque from Wall Luxury Fibre Clothing Company! She has completed this first month of her placement with a glowing report from Wall providers here in Lima. They have confirmed that she is putting 100% effort into her work and responding very well to the training programme so far.

Natali's partner, Hugo, has also been working hard this month and is well on the way to learning how to set up a small business. He hopes to start a corner shop with the help of The Colour of Hope.

Well done Natali and Hugo, and a big thank you to their sponsors, Jess and Rose from Ottery St Mary.

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.

Helping former street kids in Lima, Peru