Theatre and Arts Workshops with Healing Hearts

Alongside their regular lessons, our second group of young people has been doing some theatre and arts workshops with a group called, Healing Hearts.

The Healing Hearts group worked for years with victims of the break-up of the former Yugoslavia, visiting schools, kindergartens, orphanages, hospitals and homes for displaced people, promoting reintegration and reconciliation between different ethnic groups and helping minority groups to overcome their sense of isolation. They have recently moved their mission to Peru, and kindly agreed to run some workshops with our young people.

Yesterday afternoon the young people learnt how to be clowns, dressing up in an array of costumes and acting out short skits. It was excellent for strengthening friendships between group members, raising their levels of self-confidence and esteem, and simply for having a bit of well-earned fun. But more than that, it was a type of therapy for our young people. When you put your clown costume on, you cease to be “you”; for a moment you can do what you like, act the fool, the wise-guy or the joker and no one knows it’s you behind your costume. You’re suddenly liberated from all the prejudices, criticisms and stigmas of today’s society.

For young people who have grown up in a world of violence, abuse, criticism and rejection it’s very important to be able to “act the clown” and escape from reality sometimes.

Thank you to Healing Hearts for the time and effort they dedicate to our young people.

Edinson & Clever's Birthday

Clever and Edinson, from our third group of young people, turned 18 this month, so yesterday we threw them a surprise party after the training.

Everyone enjoyed themselves, especially Angelica's little ones, and it gave the second and third group members chance to mix and get to know each other better.

The Colour of Hope becomes a Registered Charity

A couple of months ago, The Colour of Hope trustees made an application to the UK Charities Commission to become a registered charity.

The Commission has written today approving our application and granting us official registered charity status! Our registered charity number is 1124147.

Now that we have gained official recognition from the UK Charities Commission, The Colour of Hope will be able to begin applying for much more serious funding from trusts, foundations, businesses and other large funding bodies.

It will hopefully mean we will be able to start working with many more young people in the near future.

Thank you to Trustee David Martin for all his hard work in preparing and coordinating the registration application.

Our Third Group of Project Participants

The Colour of Hope has just begun training a new group of project participants: Gabriela, Nelly, Clever and Edinson. The two girls are from Reina de la Paz, a refuge for young single mothers, and the boys are from an INABIF care home in central Lima.

On Friday 1st May we had a small get-together for the new group members so that they could meet our current project participants and volunteers. Everyone enjoyed the afternoon, especially Gabriela and Nelly's young children.

Many thanks to this new group’s young person sponsors for all their support. More news on the group’s progress coming soon.

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.

English Classes for Disadvantaged Young People

English teacher, Heather Thomas from the UK, has kindly put together a course in Basic English, which she has now started teaching to our second group of project participants. They are all thoroughly enjoying the lessons so far and are beginning to pick up the basic phrases already. As you can see from the photo, one of the participant's 6-year old, who joins us for training occasionally, is also enjoying himself!

The course will not only help them to develop a new skill and boost their confidence, but will also be very valuable for them on their CV's.

Heather will leave the course materials with us when she returns to England so that future volunteers can teach it to later groups. Thank you Heather for all the time and enthusiasm you pour into The Colour of Hope and our young people.

Young People take a Course in Chocolate Making

Last Saturday The Colour of Hope project participants and volunteers learnt the fine art of chocoteja making.

Chocotejas are typical bite-size Peruvian chocolates filled with "manjar blanco" (a sticky fudge made from condensed milk and sugar) and nuts or dried fruits.

The Colour of Hope invited a professional choco-teja maker to give a course to some of our young people who are particularly interested in pastry and dessert making. They learnt to produce 5 different types of filling - coconut, pecan nut, raisin, peanut and fig.

This new vocational skill will come very much in handy if they decide to look for work or set up their own business in this line.

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon and went home with bulging pockets full of chocotejas.

Special thanks goes to Mervi Vera Buitrón for the time and enthusiasm she poured into preparing and teaching the course.