Helping Hands Cusco

Regalos para Navidad

2011-12-06T15:55:00.000-08:00

As everybody knows, Christmas is coming closer and closer and while some of you might already have the first Christmas presents others might still be looking for the perfect gift.
Why not give a present to a kid in Peru?
This year we are trying to get 600 Christmas presents for all of the children in our Patron. That´s a big goal, please help us accomplishing it by donating to our organization.
In behalf of all the kids and helping hands, thank you very much in advance and ¡Feliz Navidad!

Our Volunteer Papa Noel (Santa Claus) with Sneider, Henry and Aldair

¡Feliz Cumpleaños!

2011-12-04T11:15:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday was the birthday of on of our kids, Rocio. As a surprise we had a cake, inca kola (peru´s favorite soda) and a puppet show. The kids had a great time and definitly enjoyed the party.

Rocio our birthday princess

Carrera

2011-12-04T11:12:00.000-08:00

This year is almost over and still there is a great event to come. We are planning a race for all of the kids from Patron San Sebastián. If everything works out as we hope, hundreds of kids will participate and run as fast as they can to get one of our great prices.

Now we just hope for good weather, a fun day and many participants!

Flyer for our race

Dia de los hermanos mayores

2011-11-28T14:36:00.000-08:00

Our girls jumping around at the trampoline

Every Friday our volunteers take one kid each and spend the day with them being their big brother/sister. Usually all of the children want to go to "parque Urpitcha", a little amusement park in Cusco with big slides and tons of swings etc. After that everybody eats lunch at the Polleria, where the kids burn all of the calories immediately as they play in the kids-section.

It's a great day and especially the volunteers love to spend some time with the kids outside of the classroom.

Vounteers Jaime and Chris playing
with the kids at the park

Aldair and Grume

Anggy and Miriam

Medication for Ignazio

2011-11-28T12:28:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday one of our volunteers brought special vitamins for the father of one of the students. the medication in Peru is very expensive and thanks to the "Farmacia Amistad" Ignazio can finally start his treatment.

Volunteer Basil with Iganzio and his new medication

¡Tarjetas de Navidad 2011!

2011-11-24T15:29:00.000-08:00

This year we sell them again...our Christmas cards to rais funds for our project. Right now the kids are already busy making them.
We sell them for 4€ (5$) each and the whole profit goes directly to the kids! With the money we´ll stock up on some school materials (books, paper, pens...) for next year and we also want to get christmas presents for about 100 children, 53 from our project.
You can ORDER some cards right now. Just e-mail us your name, how many cards you want and your address to helpingcusco2008@gmail.com or info@helpinghandnederland.nl.
Thank you very much supporting our project.
¡Feliz Navidad!

Pediatric campaña

2011-11-08T08:07:00.000-08:00

On Sunday we held a pediatric medical campaign in our school for all of our students and the kids from the neighborhood. Everybody received free medication and sanitizer, it was a great success.Thanks go to the "United States - Peru friendship pharmarcy", Dr. Mariluz the pediatrician and all the donors who made this possible.
Such campaigns are highly needed and we try to have many more of them to help the population of Cusco.

Henry and his Mom talking to Dr. Mariluz

Campaña contra la giarda

2011-11-08T08:01:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the "United States - Peru friendship farmarcy" we could donate medication against diaria to all of our kids and their families.
Thank you very much the drugs were highly needed.

Visits to the psychologist!

2011-07-24T18:10:00.000-07:00

While taking all the parents to the doctor, we decided that it was important to take a few of the students to visit a psychologist. And the results were astounding.

The psychologist reported that many of the students suffer from psychological issues due to their living situations at home. She recommended that some of the parents attend a weekly session to help better the lives at home of both themselves and their families.

This would cost approximately 80 soles per week (or 30 USD) and unfortunately, we currently don´t have any funds. If you know of anybody who can help us out, please let us know. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

El Carnival!

2011-07-24T17:58:00.000-07:00

This past Friday, our volunteers decided to do something different. With the help of Babs, Megan, Hanne, Katie, and Utsav, we were able to put on a Carnival for our students!

We decorated the kindergarten with balloons and decided to take a day off from normal classes. We played ´lemon carry´ outside in the playground, had a piñata, and had a clown as the grand finale.

At the end, each child received a present with help from Katie and Utsav. The kids loved it!

Thanks to Our Volunteers!

2011-07-24T05:50:00.000-07:00

We couldn´t do anything without our volunteers. We have been really lucky with all the amazing volunteers who have helped us with our project. Together, they have been able to do so much, be it raise money for the project, come up with innovative ideas to help both the school and the families, and more.

We would like to say thanks to all of our current volunteers- Barbara Heider, Holli Strickland, Megan Jantsch, Hanne Krueger, Katie Porter, and Utsav Bansal.

With the help of numerous donations from Walmart, Kaiser Permanente, and other families, Katie and Utsav were able to bring over numerous gifts for the kids and the school. They absolutely loved them!

This week, Holli, Barbara, Katie, and Utsav will be leaving us. You all will be missed and we can´t wait for your return!

Holli and Katie- Thank you both for your tremendous love for the kids and all your help in the classroom.

Barbara and Utsav- Thank you for your innovative ideas and help with the medical campaigns.

With the four of you, we made such progress. We can´t thank you enough.

Medical Campaigns with the Families

2011-07-24T05:37:00.000-07:00

The medical campaigns continue. After checking all of the students and making a comprehensive report, we realized that it is important to check all the parents also.

With a generous donation from Fairplay, we have been able to send all family members to Dr. Champita and we are still awaiting some of the results. However, a preliminary glance reveals that many of the parents and siblings suffer from Giardia, E. coli, and anemia also.

With the help of Farmacia Amistad, treatment will start this coming week. Also, any help would be greatly appreciated!

Helping Hands Fiesta Results!

2011-07-24T05:15:00.000-07:00

The party at Club The Lek turned out to be a huge success! Thank you so much to Barbara Heider, Megan Jantsch, and the rest of our volunteers!

We made approximately 1,000 soles and with this money, we have been able to do so much. With the help of our volunteers, we have put in place various initiatives to help our families build sustainable ways to earn an income. We are going to help Anthony´s mom start her own business of selling ´´pasto´´, which is food for guinea pigs, and raising guinea pigs also. We also bought shelves for Henry´s parents for their convenience store. In addition, we bought basic plates, gas burners, and gas for some families who truly don´t have anything.

We couldn´t have imagined better results and the party was so much fun! Stay tuned for the next one.

Helping Hands Party!

2011-07-10T20:30:00.000-07:00

In addition to the Mesas in Plaza de San Francisco and donated items collection, the volunteers decided to have some fun.

THIS Thursday (July 14, 2011), Helping Hands is throwing a party at Club La Lek in the Plaza de Armas. Doors open at 9pm. Admission is 10 soles and all proceeds will go to the project!

If you are in Cusco, come out for an amazing night with a lottery, snacks, and much more!

Collecting Donated Items!

2011-07-07T08:01:00.000-07:00

During the holiday on Wednesday, June 29th, a group of volunteers decided to go out into the neighborhoods and make people aware of the Helping Hands Project. They knocked on doors, talked about the project, and asked if they were willing to make any donations to help the needy of Patron San Sebastian. They asked for any food, clothing, or toys the families do not use and told the families they would return on Saturday to pick up the donations.

On Saturday, July 2 they went around with Mega shopping carts and were met with much success. The families gave bags full of shoes, pants, jackets,... and the list goes on. One of the volunteers, Barbara, said "It was like a competition to see which family could give more!"

Thanks for all of your hard work volunteers! It truly makes a difference.

Teaching One on One

2011-06-22T15:24:00.000-07:00

With so many able volunteers, we have putin place a one-on-one teaching program. Between 9:30 and 11am, volunteers havebeen taking children outside and tutoring them in areas that both ProfessorsRosita & Andrea have identified as weak areas. Some of these includenumbers 1 through 10, drawing, and the alphabet.

Volunteer Holly & Andrea

Volunteer Kathryn Porter & Rocio learning numbers

Medical Campaigns!

2011-06-21T11:23:00.000-07:00

One of ourbiggest projects this month has been our medical campaigns. In addition toproviding education and breakfast to our students, we have wanted to get themall checked by a doctor to see what types of health issues are prevalent amongthe children.

With thepermission of the parents, on June 7 and June 8, we took all the students tovisit Dr. Champita Itinerante, a traveling doctor, who has been located rightoutside of El Mercado de Los Nogales. At minimal cost, he agreed to perform aphysical examination of all children, a blood test, and a fecal test to checkfor parasites.

With almost allthe results back, we are taking the next step. Most of the students came back positivewith Giardia. We are meeting with all parents at 9:30am on Monday, June 27 totalk about treatment plans and get to the root cause of the problem. We aregoing to talk about hygiene and necessary steps the parents must take toprotect both themselves and their children- creating healthier lifestyles.

Grumer getting checked by Dr. Champita

Bathroom is ready and breakfast is served!

2011-06-16T18:06:00.000-07:00

Wehave had some amazing accomplishments this past May. During the week of May 16,a group of volunteers finished constructing the bathroom which is located rightbehind the school.

In addition, we have made great headway inour nutrition program. With the generous donation from our Canadian friends,Nick and Cheryl, we started providing a healthy breakfast for all of ourstudents on May 19!

Thanks to all of our amazing volunteers!

2011-06-15T17:08:00.000-07:00

It is because of our volunteers that we have beenable to accomplish so much. In the past year, we have had so many amazingvolunteers that have worked hard to help the needy of Patron San Sebastian andthe Helping Hands project. With their help, we were able to build the firstgreenhouse, the playground, the bathroom, and so much more.

First of all, we would like to thank Lacey Woreland Adrian Palenchar for their tremendous dedication to the project. Laceyprovided us with a pot of gold. In a culminating project, Lacey compiled a veryuseful instructional tool titled ¨Learning to Grow: Developmentally AppropriateLearning Goals and Lessons for Preschool and Kindergarten¨.

We would also like to thank George Hansel, Jussi,Saija Jhon, and many others who helped us build the bathroom.

In the past few weeks, we have had many volunteerswho contributed a lot both inside and outside of the classroom, of which somereturned home recently. Thanks Courtenay Mitchell, Shai Goldfarb, and OfirAminov for your great work!

Step by Step

2011-06-02T23:56:00.000-07:00

Amazing things are happening at SanGabriel. The school is now complete with a bathroom, playground and fence.

clothes for poor families

2011-05-09T17:07:00.000-07:00

Thanks Fair Play organization wedistributed some clothes for our poor families.

Telluride Mountain School Lends 23 Pairs of Helping Hands

2011-04-26T13:48:00.000-07:00

Big brother/sister day on the slide

Some of us are seeds reaching for the light

Ladies with a mission to ward off hungry insects seeking to destroy our crops

Team Terrace

Weeding the garden

Bottle cap/trash mural

Big brother/sister day

One on one reading in the grass

Helping Hands welcomes 19 students and 4 teachers from Telluride, Colorado. The group is working hard to help us rebuild our terraces, transplant our sprouts, plant new seeds, create a bottle cap mural, write and perform a puppet show and spend one on one time with our students reading and playing. They are doing an incredible job! Muchas Gracias! You guys are AWESOME!

http://www.telluridemtnschool.org/

Odd Jobs for Volunteers

2011-04-26T13:15:00.000-07:00

Sideprojects to develop at San Gabriel:

*Minichalk boards
Wehave a gallon of chalk board paint that can be used to create personal chalkboards for each student. This will increase student engagement and cutdown on the use of paper. We need someone to find the right material forthese and then make them.

*GardenFence
Weneed a fence (plastic mesh) to go around the perimeter of the outdoor gardensto keep the kids from running all over the plants.

*Hygiene/NutritionWorkshop

*Installnew plastic siding on the greenhouse

*Alphabetmural
Weneed someone to stencil and paint the alphabet with pictures in the four yearold classroom.

*Numbermural
Weneed someone to stencil and paint a number mural in the both classrooms.

*Developtrash craft projects
Weneed someone to design and create milk carton wallets and plastic woven bagsthat can be sold to raise money for the school. (see post below "CraftyEntrepreneur")

*TrashSchool Supplies
Weneed a continuous supply of toilet paper rolls, coffee cans, tea boxes,magazines, post cards and other materials that we can recycle to be used asschool supplies for various subjects.

*CompostingToilets

Links to Lessons!

2011-04-23T16:13:00.000-07:00

Ihave been working to create a curriculum for preschool and kindergartenstudents. I am providing links to each subject area. The lessonsare written in Spanish and English and include key phrases/directions inEspanol for use in the classroom. The lessons are written to use minimal,inexpensive or recycled materials. Lessons also relate learning goals tothe school's greenhouse and garden. Many lessons are reusable.

*Theseare in draft form because I am still in the process of editing!

Readingand Writing

Math

Science

Artand Trash Art

FineMotor Activities

DramaticPlay Activities

OutdoorPlay

Hygiene,Nutrition/Cooking

TeachingEnglish

Letterof the Day

Numberof the Day

Transitions

ClassroomRules

Commonly used materials:
RecycledItems:
Plasticbottle caps, cardboard (boxes, sheets etc), coffee cans, cereal boxes,egg cartons, plastic bottles, tea boxes, toilet paper rolls, magazines

Purchased or hand made items:
Flashcards, blocks, sorting objects: beans, buttons, plastic figures, glass beads,foam letters/numbers (big and small), cardboard shapes, magnifying glasses,play dough, crayons, markers, paint, puppets, books, glue, tape, glitter, ink,pipe-cleaners, popsicle sticks, paper scraps, construction paper, scissors,pictures (sorted by category), string or yarn, beads, imagination box (dress upbox with props), seeds for planting, eye droppers, scoops

*Ifyou have any of the recycled items, please bring them in.
***Oldmagazines are needed

Wantto make some supplies for your lesson? Here are some ideas:
Usethese to teach lessons in Spanish or English.
*Flashcards for colors, body parts, weather, opposites (day/night, hot/cold).... Make at least two of each word card to allow for matching games.
*Cutout and laminate with clear tape: pictures that can be organized intocategories.
Foods,vegetables, fruits, farm animals, jungle animals, animals that walk, animalsthat swim, animals that fly, insects, people, red things, blue things.... Makean labeled envelop for each group.
*Makeor purchase letter/number tiles

Environmental Awareness Workshop

2011-04-23T08:30:00.000-07:00

Omprakash volunteers Reshma Kulkarni and Lacey Worel are working towards similar goals. They both are developing programs to teach children about different types of trash, composting and recycling.

Lacey developed a series of lessons that incorporate the use of trash, gardening and composting across multiple subjects areas including math, science and art.

Reshma created a 1 day environmental awareness camp that teaches children about composting/growing food and sorting dry and wet waste.

As a result of meeting Lacey through Omprakash, Reshma visited Helping Hands and held their first "Trash Workshop". The children were encouraged to sort trash into groups and ended the day knowing the difference between organic and inorganic waste. This experience will help prepare the children for future lessons and garden/compost projects.

The Omprakash Network enables like minded people to collaborate towards common goals by allowing volunteers to share profiles, stories, media and resources.

Thanks so much Reshma!! Thanks Omprakash!

http://www.omprakash.org/home

Reshma Kulkarni

School Uniforms Donated By Fairplay!

2011-04-21T13:24:00.001-07:00

Turning Trash into Eggs

2011-04-21T06:12:00.000-07:00

San Gabriel Students transformed old egg cartons into beautiful eggs that they loved hunting for!

Classroom Mural

2011-04-21T04:42:00.000-07:00

Our classroom learning mural is becoming a beautiful reality! A print rich environment is a great way to learn! Thanks to Minty, Jessica, Sanna and Adrian.

Entrepreneurs and Crafty People: Want to Volunteer?

2011-04-20T07:45:00.000-07:00

In addition to our volunteer positions working in the classroom, gardening and building, we would like to develop our trash collecting/fundraising plan.

We need an enthusiastic person who would like to help turn milk-cartons into wallets, plarn (plastic bags) into handbags and sell these items to raise money for San Gabriel Kindergarten.

How will this work?

Local businesses save plastic bags, milk, juice and wine cartons that you will collect and transform into crafts to be sold as a fundraiser.

Your job:

Collect the materials, design sample products and work to train community members to produce more.

Sell these items:
Online? Locally? Internationally?

The sky is the limit with this project. Think outside the juice box. What else can we make out of trash (help the environment) and sell (fundraise for San Gabriel)? Can we work with schools in the United States to help make and sell these products... building relationships and making connections with schools across the world?

Fairplay Presents "Kate's Story"

2011-04-20T04:43:00.000-07:00

A short film written, directed and produced by Adele Thomas and Carlo Ricci aimed at taking you through the experience of a Fairplay volunteer at Helping Hands.

Wonderful work amigos! Thank you so much.

A Glance at San Gabriel's Big Brother/Sister Day

2011-04-14T09:43:00.000-07:00

Be a part of Big Brother/Big Sister Day at San Gabriel Kindergarten. Each Friday brings a wonderful opportunity for volunteers to bond with individual students through play and laughter. Thanks to all of the volunteers who make this possible.

First Ever Helping Hands Puppet Show

2011-04-13T16:12:00.000-07:00

A group of 8 volunteers sent to us from Fairplay created this wonderful puppet theater for our school and put on the first ever Helping Hands production of Los 3 Chanchitos (The Three Little Pigs) They did a wonderful job and our students were so impressed. Thanks so much for all of your hard work.

Friends at Garden City Collegiate

2011-04-13T15:48:00.000-07:00

Helping Hands is lucky to have friends all over the world. A team of Canadian students supervised by Mr. Yeung, Ms. Thompson and Ms. Pasternak have put together a $1000 grant proposal offered by ManACE to help our school expand our ecological projects. They created a short video to help spread the message. Thanks Garden City and good luck!

Garden City Collegiate

Making a Difference

2011-04-12T08:35:00.000-07:00

Volunteer Amy Fenn has been working one on one with preschooler Fiorella. Fiorella came to San Gabriel lacking speech and was extremely timid, even terrified of staying at school without her mother. It was very difficult to determine what level she was operating at cognitively, developmentally and socially. Because of the close attention given to Fiorella by Amy, she is doing wonderfully. She now enjoys herself while at school, is able to stay full days and is using one to two word phrases. Amy is also teaching her sign language and Fiorella is able to express herself. We are all amazed at the progress that has been made in such a short time. This is a wonderful example of how one volunteer can change lives. Thanks Amy! You are amazing and so is Fiorella!

Fiorella loves to help in the greenhouse

Fiorella is learning to enjoy playing with other students and is producing beautiful artwork

The Omprakash Network

2011-04-07T08:40:00.000-07:00

Meet Omprakash!

They facilitate communication, collaboration, and mutual learning within a diverse international network of social actors. Their free database of global Partners can empower you to volunteer abroad, advocate at home, or enrich your school’s academic curriculum and service-learning programs. They offer grants to help qualified applicants build lasting relationships with their outstanding Partners (one of which is Helping Hands), and they enable these Partners to receive tax-deductible donations from their dedicated supporters.

If you are volunteering with Helping Hands, we strongly encourage you to also join the Omprakash network and share your experience by creating a volunteer profile. You can post photos, stories and classroom resources. http://www.omprakash.org/

Completed Classrooms

2011-04-07T08:19:00.000-07:00

Kindergarten

Volunteer Constance directs the class. Notice the fresh paint, organized shelves full of supplies (thanks donators) and happy kids!

Preschool

Volunteers Sares and Amy work with Teacher Andrea in the newly plastered and painted 3-4 year old classroom.

Diving Right In

The first weeks of school are always a little hectic especially when you are working at a new project and don't speak the same language as your students. Our volunteers are doing an amazing job adapting to their new and unfamiliar work environment.

One on One

Volunteer Amy spends one on one time with a preschooler. Having individual support is a wonderful byproduct of access to eager and motivated volunteers. Thanks so much to all of our helping hands.

Photo Time

Preschools pose for the camera! After asking them to smile but not getting my accent just right, I decided to go the literal route and say "show me your teeth" at which point they did!

So adorable.

Successful Silent Auction!

2011-04-06T06:11:00.001-07:00

Wow! The numbers are still rolling in but last weekend marked the first ever Helping Hands Silent Auction! Cheryl and Nick Willard and their friends and family members raised nearly $8,000 for our project. We will use the money to fund our nutrition program. The biggest problem that our students are facing is malnutrition and this cash will help to eliminate this! We will provide breakfast and lunch to our students everyday helping their brains to develop and their tummies to be full!

GRACIAS CANADA!

Early Potato Harvest

2011-04-04T11:38:00.000-07:00

We had to harvest most of our potatoes early because of they were attacked by hungry insects. We now have a small bite size variety. Low maintenance in the kitchen! Thanks Adrian, Robbie and Linda.

Kitchen

2011-04-04T06:57:00.000-07:00

We are working hard to complete our kitchen in order to provide breakfast and lunch for our 24 students. We will supply the children with balanced and healthy meals to fight malnutrition. Our partner, fairplay-peru.org/, has donated a 3 burner stove to help us achieve our goal. Thank you! We will use food grown in our garden, food collected from the community and food purchased with your support to prepare the meals.

Thanks so so many helping hands for their hard work building the kitchen!

Fighting Insects with Natural Solutions

2011-03-31T12:23:00.000-07:00

At San Gabriel Kindergarten, we are learning to grow food for our school's lunch program. We have three potato fields that were recently attacted by some type of insect. Because we are striving to be a sustainable and ecological school, we do not want to use pesticide on our plants. We are going to try this natural alternative and see if it works.

Chopped onion and garlic for the mixture

Garlic Spray:

Here is the recipe for a garlic spray that fights slugs too. Slugs must not like eating Italian. To make this smelly spray, use the following list of ingredients:

1 garlic bulb

1 quart of water

1 medium onion

1 tablespoon of cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon liquid dish soap

Crush the garlic, mincing it fine. Add finely chopped onion to the mixture, while adding the rest of the ingredients except the soap. Wait an hour before adding the soap to the mixture. The spicy ingredients must sort of stew or steep, almost like tea. After an hour, add the soap and your non-toxic spray is ready to use! This can be stored in the fridge for a week. http://www.essortment.com/homemade-organic-pesticide-54004.html

Our first batch of garlic juice!

In Loving Memory of Mr. Julian Huaman Huisa

2011-03-18T09:32:00.000-07:00

Goodbye to Our Friend

Mr. JULIAN HUAMAN HUISA, worked with us since we started with the construction of the school. He was important part of the hard work.

The last job he had was finished plaster classes. Life is very strange, he needed work only one more day, just one day and he would have completed his work, but fate did not want that. He was 52 years old, liked to drink a lot, he drank alcohol every day, with friends or alone, we always recommended not to drink so much and change friends, but He said he was young and that alcohol was not a problem for him. The last day he was working, after working he drank a lot and had an accident in home, he fell off his head, was taken to hospital, he had blood clots in the brain and was in coma.

For 10 days he was struggling to live, unfortunately he died March 4. Many people went to the cemetery to say goodbye, he was a good man, hardworking and very good friend. Everyone at school will miss Julian, our friend. Many volunteers and I worked with him, sharing good times, building a dream, building a beautiful place for our children.

He has 7 children, older children alread have family and not living with their mother, only 3 children need help: two twins 12 years old and a son 20 years old, he since now is the man of the house, he has to work for supporting their brother, sister and his mother.

Please if you can help with a donation for this family would a nice form to say thanks this wonderful person

You can make a donation to the accounts:

In USA

- Name of the bank : Banco de Crédito del Perú vía BCP
- Dirección (address): Av. El sol 189
- Number of the account (in dollars): 2851 390 770 9156

- SWIFT code: BCPLPEPL

This count is owned by Mario Luis Diaz Ugarte

D.N.I. 23998055

Dirección (address): urbanización los nogales A-20 San Sebastian, Cusco – Perú

Phone: 0051 84 271304

Or via omprakash org: www.omprakash.org specifying that the money is for the family of Julian.

IN EUROPE

Helping Hands
The Netherlands €
Rekening Rabobank
1532.82.592 EUR-Helping Hands Nederland
IBAN NL 79 RABO 0153282592

Please friend, any help is important for this family!!!!

MAESTRO JULIAN THANKS FOR EVERYTHING, YOUR SCHOOL IS OKAY, THIS BEAUTIFUL IS THANKS TO YOU, WE WILL TAKE CARE OF YOUR FAMILY AND WE WILL HELP THEM AS MUCH AS WE CAN. ADIOS AMIGO!!

Thanks for everything

Mario

New Paint!

2011-03-17T19:12:00.001-07:00

Great job to all of the hardworking volunteers who prepped and painted the inside of the school! It looks wonderful.

Volunteer House

2011-03-17T14:03:00.000-07:00

We now have a volunteer apartment located in San Sebastian near the school.

3 bedrooms
6 beds
1 bathroom
dining room
kitchen
*hot water
*internet coming soon

Grant Recipients

2011-03-16T10:40:00.000-07:00

Helping Hands has two volunteers receiving grants this year! Lacey Worel is working to support and develop San Gabriel Kindergarten and Utsav Bansal will be working to support Helping Hands Pharmacy. Thank you Omprakash!

Lacey Worel

2011: Helping Hands, Peru

Lacey Worel grew up in Washington State where her family had a large garden and a small farm. She studied Elementary Education at California State University San Bernardino with a concentration in Psychology. As a college student, she worked with various environmental organizations including the National Parks Conservation Association in Joshua Tree California. After graduating, she worked as a middle school teacher and began her graduate work in the field of Special Education.

Utsav Bansal

2011: Helping Hands, Peru

Utsav Bansal lives in Rochester, New York. He currently attends the University of Pittsburgh where he is pursuing a Neuroscience major, Chemistry & Spanish minor, and two certificates in Global Health and the Conceptual Foundations of Medicine. Utsav will be enrolling in the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine starting August 2012.

Partnering With Fairplay

2011-03-16T10:16:00.000-07:00

Helping Hands has partnered with a local Spanish School. Fairplay is an NGO that hires and trains local single mothers to teach Spanish and Salsa lessons and provides volunteers free of charge to local projects.

Fairplay is supporting Helping Hands in many ways including scheduling and providing volunteers, materials and school supplies.

http://www.fairplay-peru.org/

Recent Donations!

2011-03-16T09:58:00.000-07:00

Thank you so much for your donations! We will be purchasing several kitchen appliances, building materials and food for our up coming lunch program!

Personal:
The Poppert Family
The Colbert Family

Jeremiah Konkle

Virginia Hughes

Terry and Edlina Maples

Giacomo Gallina

Edvise Penocelli

Paolo Masiero

Elvira, Elena, Alberto and Gabriel, Anne and Edvise

Anonymous Donor- you know who you are!

Arianna Paine

Bridget Rauch

Organizations:

Omprakash

Fairplay

*if you donated recently and don't see your name, please let me know!

First Transplant

2011-02-24T20:22:00.000-08:00

We transplanted the first of our lettuce and tomatoes from the greenhouse to the outisde gardnen. We are well on our way to providing our studnets with fresh vegetables this school year. We are going to plant beet roots and garlic this coming week. Great job to Lauren who has taken over as our lead gardener! And Francesca, your enthusiasm is amazing. Thank you for working so hard to help me translate the entire year's curriuclum!!

Weaving with Plarn!

2011-02-17T05:35:00.000-08:00

Jasmine of Alaska helps us figure out how to knit using plarn: yarn made from recycled plastic bags. We are designing coin purses and bags that will be sold to earn money for the school! Stay tuned for photos of finished products! Thanks Jasmine!

Local Support from Businesses

2011-02-17T05:28:00.000-08:00

Local Businesses are saving milk cartons, plastic bags and bottle caps for our project. One of our main goals is to promote recycling in all aspects of our project.

We will make wallets out of milk cartons and knit handbags out of plastic bags to sell as a way to generate funding for our school.

We will use the bottle caps to create a mural on the outside wall of our school to demonstrate how to turn trash into art.

Jack's Cafe

http://jackscafecusco.com/

The Meeting Place Cafe

www.themeetingplacecusco.com

The Hostel Magico

http://www.hostalmagico.com/

Fundraising Push to Start the School Year!

2011-02-16T07:24:00.001-08:00

Dear Friends,

As the Peruvian summer draws to an end, we are all working very hard to complete our most recent goals. We have a crew of volunteers working with one of our student's fathers to put the finishing touches on the interior walls of the school, we are completing the construction of our kitchen, developing a balanced meal plan that will incorporate the use of our fresh vegetables and donated food, fostering local partnerships that will help to provide a sustainable number of willing volunteers, continuing to develop our greenhouse and garden, collecting research and preparing a gardening pamphlet for the use of future volunteers, writing and translating an entire year's curriculum, developing an educational mural for the interior walls of both of our classrooms and collaborating with schools in other parts of the world to develop new aspects of our project such as potentially installing solar panels and creating a bottle cap mural on the exterior walls of our school.

We need to purchase several items before the start of the school year and are asking for your help. If people donate just $10 or $15 each, we will have enough money to purchase the following items:

Latex paint for the interior walls of the school

School Supplies

Grains (quinoa and brown rice)

Files and file cabinet

Bins for storing and organizing the year's schools supplies

Tree seedlings to prevent soil erosion

Dowels or stakes to support our tomato plants

Two burner stove

Small refrigerator

Please forward this email along to people who you think would be interested in supporting our efforts. You can donate directly to my blog via Paypal at teachkidsperu.blogspot.com

Thank you so much in advance for helping our ecological school become a successful institute.

Lacey Worel

Volunteer Coordinator

Curriculum Development

Check Up: Helping Hands Pharmacy

2011-02-10T18:18:00.000-08:00

Helping Hands also has worked with Omprakash to develop a local pharmacy that will help to provide medical support for our students.
Each student will see a doctor and have a physical prior to the start of the next school year to identify areas of need. Hopefully, we will see great improvements as a result of better nutrition, hygiene and medical care.

Progress!

2011-02-10T18:07:00.000-08:00

Currently, we are working on completing the kitchen, developing a nutritional plan for the students, developing the garden/greenhouse, writing a curriculum, reaching out to local business to save milk cartons, bottle caps and plastics bags for making wallets, weavings and murals and networking with fellow ecological organizations.

Gracias a Adrian!

2011-01-30T07:49:00.000-08:00

We said goodbye to long-term volunteer Adrian Palenchar this week. He started working at the project in October. In 4 months time, he accomplished so much. Upon arriving, he immediately began teaching the class and bonding with the students. He rebuilt the roof of the greenhouse with Nick Willard (volunteer from Canada), help to build terraces for an outdoor garden, collected hundreds of discarded plastic bottles and transformed them into planters to grow vegetables, successfully fundraised for various projects, stuccoed the interior walls of the school, rebuilt the Helping Hands website and so much more. Adrian's time, love and dedication has made a lasting impact on the lives of many. He will truly be missed. Gracias amigo y feliz viaje.

Finishing the Interior Walls

2011-01-30T07:32:00.000-08:00

For the past two weeks, volunteers have been working with founder Mario to finish the interior walls of the school. This consists of hauling cement to the school, mixing it, throwing it on the walls and then smoothing it out. Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed. The newly smoothed walls will be perfect for an educational mural that will demonstrate learning concepts and agricultural principles.

What Makes San Gabriel Sustainable?

2011-01-24T17:33:00.000-08:00

music provided by Michael Sanchez

What Makes San Gabriel Sustainable?

2011-01-16T08:43:00.001-08:00

San Gabriel is an ecological school. We are working towards sustainability in several ways.

Greenhouse/Garden Project:

We sprout vegetable seeds in our greenhouse and transplant them to outside gardens when they are ready. The produce grown will be used to provide our students with nutritious meals.

Compost:

We have a large compost bin and are teaching our students what goes it and what stays out. The compost will be used to provide our plants with nutrient rich soil.

Recycling:

There are many ways that we recycle at San Gabriel. We collect discarded plastic bottles and transform them into planters for sprouting seeds.

We transform garbage into school supplies. For example, we use egg cartons for art projects, bottle caps for math counters and coffee cans for drums.

Water harvesting:

We have created a basic system to capture rainwater that we use for watering our plants and cleaning the school.

Financial/Social Sustainability:

We are reaching out to local businesses/organizations in order maintain a sustainable supply of volunteers and gain local support. For example, a local restaurant provides us with used plastic bottles, we held a local food drive, we are partnering with local Spanish schools as a resource for soliciting volunteers and we are incorporating local fundraising. We also hire within the community whenever possible. We feel it is important to build relationships on an international and local level.

Future Sustainable Projects:

Community recycling:

We plan to implement a community wide recycling program by educating families about separating their trash and providing them with bins to separate their compost from recyclable plastic. We will purchase a pedal powered cart for hauling materials and employ community members to collect the items. We will create a storage facility near our school and sell the plastic to a processing plant. This will generate income for families, clean up the neighborhood and provide our garden with nutrient rich compost. All excess produce will be shared with the community.

Growing trees/roses:

We plan to incorporate trees and roses into our greenhouse/garden. We will sell these plants to generate revenue that will also allow us to fund our project from within. The trees will be sold to local schools in order to promote a green community and combat global warming.

Bottle cap mural:

We hope to collect enough bottle caps to create a large mural on the outside of the school. This will promote recycling, art and beautify the structure.

FOOD DRIVE

2011-01-15T13:43:00.000-08:00

Today's food drive was a definite success. Thanks to the community of San Sebastian, Juan Carlos, Bridget and the entire World Youth Organization for pulling off our initial attempt at collecting canned and dried goods. The food will be used alongside that which we're growing to provide the children of San Gabriel with nutritious meals.

Trashing Art

2011-01-14T21:27:00.001-08:00

San Gabriel students made pirate treasure chests out of used tea boxes. The kids really enjoyed this lesson that involved a pirate story and making/counting treasure. They also turned egg cartons into bells! This was huge hit with kids. You can find the lesson plans under the Volunteer tab.

This Week's News

2011-01-14T21:16:00.001-08:00

*We are holding our first ever food drive tomorrow for San Gabriel Kindergarten. The canned goods that we collect will be used to supplement the fresh vegetables that we are growing in our greenhouse to provide our students with breakfast and lunch on a daily basis.

*Our friends and volunteers Cheryl and Nick Willard of Canada are organizing a silent auction to raise money for San Gabriel. This event is gaining momentum and is going to be a huge success. Details to follow. Thanks for your great work guys!

*We have gained the support of an amazing non-profit organization in Cusco that offers Spanish classes, salsa lessons, home-stays and recommends volunteer opportunities. This organization is unique because they hire and train women from the community to teach their Spanish classes. Students pay the teachers directly. They also do not charge people for volunteer placement. Fairplay

*We are collecting video footage of local families that are affiliated with our school in order to create a short film aimed at gaining sponsorship for each child. In addition, we are also working to create a short film about the agricultural component of our school.

Growing Food For The Community

2011-01-11T20:59:00.000-08:00

Tiff, El, Steve and Sarina from World Youth International

San Gabriel Kindergarten is located on a very fertile hill in Cusco,Peru. The soil is well suited for growing many types of vegetables, yet many of our students and their families lack adequate nutrition. By combining agriculture with education, we're creating sustainability and teaching both students and their families how to grow their own food.

We developed a greenhouse for sprouting many types of vegetables. In addition, we prepared fields for transplanting the young plants and established three potato gardens, which are progressing wonderfully.

We're learning more about local agricultural practices and sharing the information with the community as well as building it into our curriculum.

Composting At San Gabriel

2011-01-11T20:56:00.000-08:00

Former volunteers created a compost box for the school and we have put it to use. It's been freshly painted to educate both students and the community about what goes in and what stays out!

Play Day a Huge Success

2011-01-10T07:32:00.000-08:00

A huge thanks to World Youth International and Amauta Spanish School for coming out to play!

News from San Gabriel Kindergarten

2010-12-23T06:19:00.001-08:00

Students returning from summer break in March will hopefully enjoy toilets and a sink for the first time at San Gabriel Kindergarten.

The toilets have been purchased as well as doors for the stalls. They still need to be installed as does a short overhang to protect them.

Anyone with plumbing, masonry or carpentry experience who'd be willing to help in anyway, please let us know.

We'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

Progress!