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Dear friends,
In 2008 we achieved most of the objectives we had set
ourselves at the end of the previous year, and we did
this in the face of a rapidly deteriorating economic
climate which meant we would have to accomplish more
than ever before on a budget smaller than what was
available to us in 2007. Our goals for 2008 - in addition
to maintaining the schools, centres and projects we
are already operating - were to open our street kids
education project in two new cities in Peru, and in
the country of Bolivia.
In late May we opened our first school in Piura, the
largest city in
the far north of Peru. We had been trying to do this
on and off since 2002. The obstacles which had been
preventing our doing so, and the
course we finally took to overcome them we hope will
prove invaluable in spreading our relief to the poorest
children in more cities, more countries.
If only we will continue to remember the subtle lesson
learned in Piura.
[Oh yes, Our dear friends at Desana later agreed to
sponsor us in Piura for 2009]
Looking
back, it seems we have always entered a new city armed
with introductions to 'the right people' , and while
we normally succeed (sooner or later) to educate some
of the poorest children in each city, along the way
our path inevitably gets blocked by some locally prominent
person who insists we pay for an unnecessary service
or else official approvals are delayed or opposed. In
Piura, for instance, all along we had well placed local
relatives plus a close friend in a high educational
post. Waiting for the right doors to open so we could
help educate some of Piura´s street children,
however, became a charming interlude; which lasted for
for six years.
So when Bruce and I returned to Piura in May of 2008
we were determined to go in under the social radar,
establish our system there without counting on sponsorship
or favours from local friends. We simply turned up at
the airport, hired a taxi and instructed the driver
to "take us to Piura's poorest slum" - and
later, "we already know this one take us to one
even poorer". After more than an hour of this we
emerged from a sand dune into a community which had
not been there when we started our quest back in 2002.
Las Dalias is a collection of square one room reed huts
with blue plastic roofs stretching as far as one can
see and
interspersed here and there with recently built flat
roofed adobe houses. It was hot. Flies and children
followed as we trudged the shanty sand that served as
garden, roadway and toilet to the entire community.
We
asked a group of mothers if there is a school nearby.
"No". In fact there is one close enough for
their children to be within its catchment area. What
their answer meant was 'there is no school we can afford
to aspire to send our children to'.
At the end of that day we had met with the decision
makers in Las Dalias, hired a licensed teacher, contracted
a structure to serve as a classroom qualified a number
of children and made all the commitments necessary to
open one of our informal schools there the following
week, May 23. [here is a link to the Dalias webpage
http://piuraproject.com/
, and here is a photo of one third of the first
graduating class: http://piuraproject.com/Piura.19.02.09.jpg].
In August we opened our first school in the jungle of
Peru, at one of the poorest barrios in the city of Tarapoto.
We employed the same tactic which had worked in Piura.
When we had the school located, teacher employed and
were already recruiting out-of-school children, only
then did we get in touch with our dear friend, the son
of Tarapoto's mayor, a talented recent university graduate
who had worked with us on a project in another part
of Peru. Since then he has done such a good job for
us in Tarapoto that we recently asked him to become
our legal representative in his city. He is proving
to be one of our most effective project directors. http://tarapotoproject.com/
and [First
graduating class]
Bolivia - The year wore on and the economic downturn
started to bight. We began to fear we may have to wait
yet another year before we could offer again our educational
solution to really poor children in Bolivia. Then we
were contacted by two people who offered to sponsor
our work in La Paz - it will involve opening our project
there and starting as many as four shanty schools for
out-of-school children in the poorest barrios.
Note: We had tried to open in La Paz in early 2005,
but failed. So we were all the more eager to succeed
there in 2008. But then the recession began to hurt
Bruce's income (a mainstay of our funding) and we realised
it would take a miracle for us to be able to open in
Bolivia in the forseeable future. Then along came these
people, offering to sponsor our Bolivia project. In
a stroke our prospects for educating some of the poorest
children anywhere turned positive.
Having received the first part of the contribution we
decided to get started as soon as possible in Bolivia.
At the turn of the year we were ready to start again
in La Paz. So grateful to all you who are supporting
this work.
In our eager preparations for the mission to Bolivia,
however, we simply forgot all about the lesson learned
in Piura. We contacted relatives in La Paz who are in
the diplomatic corps, and opened a dialog with what
seemed a very useful contact provided by our new friends.
Not until we were actually in La Paz and trying fruitlessly
to launch our Bolivia campaign did we remember the Piura
lesson. It took two more days to excuse ourselves from
the warm embrace of 'the right people' and gain the
freedom required to employ our slum dog tactic. Two
days after that we were happily at work in the giant
El Alto barrio: recruiting street children, contracting
school rooms and training our first two Bolivian teachers.
http://brucebolivia.org/
So 2008 actually
turned into a wonderful year for our work. Thank you
all; donors, volunteers, staff and friends for helping
to make this possible.
Ana Teresa Rosell Grijalba,
President, Bruce Organisation ong (ngo)
PS: If ever
we needed a little help from our friends, we do now.
PLEASE
GIVE
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2008 we continued
to keep video records
& produce videos.
Here are a few examples
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02>10..08 Education is Life.(part 1)
[14 min]
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03>10..08 Education is Life.(part 2)
.[10.10 min] |
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04.08
Street Kids
e d u c a t i o n
[2.32 min]
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04.08 Nero Syndrom
.[1.1 min] |
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05.08
Cusco Director exit interview-
[6 mi]
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07.08 National TV covers
Arriba Ya
.[1.27 min] |
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08.08
ArribaYa
our work
day by day
[6 min]
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11.08
BruceLima a live.Class.
.[2.5 min] |
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2008
Abandoned child saved
[3.42 min]
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In
2009
we predict
the economy will continue to fall, however we
will survive
to bring our help
to poor children
in Venezuela & Arequipa, perhaps even Colombia.
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