At Seeds of Hope we offer a wide range of support for children living in extreme poverty in Peru. Through education, giving them emotional support and working with their parents, we aim to empower the children and make a difference to their lives.

The mission of Seeds of Hope is to support all the children who live in extreme povertyin Peru and to provide vocational training for those without economic means. We aim to achieve this through the objectives below.

OUR OBJECTIVES
Provide the children with a strong academic and personal education, founded on the values and principles which will improve their prospects for the future and provide them with the potential for independent thought.
Provide them with medical assistance as required, either by our trained professionals or in conjunction with other organisations.
Teach them to practise personal hygiene.
Provide them with a balanced diet, clothes, shoes and equipment required for schools, if required.
Give them the emotional support they need whilst they are part of the organisation.
Fight for the rights of the children and provide them and their families with legal assistance where needed.
Teach people living in poverty the practical skills they need to make a living through selling handmade arts and crafts.
Create micro-businesses which will give them the opportunity of fixed employment.

Once the children are attending Seeds of Hope, we work to provide a high quality education which will develop the children's capabilities, confidence and skills. As part of this, we teach them important principles such as peer solidarity, acceptance of responsibility, honesty, punctuality and respect. We achieve this through a group of professional volunteers, both local and international, who work with the children in a peaceful environment wich is conducive to learning.

Some of the daily activities we conduct:
Work with the children to build up their basic reading, writing and arithmetic to a level appropriate for their age, so they can enter school.
Help the children with their homework and ensure it is completed by the end of the session.
Ensure all the children understand the importance of personal hygiene including showering, brushing their teeth and washing their face and hands, especially after using the bathroom.
Provide a nutritional meal at the end of each session.
From time to time we also bring in trained professionals for other matters, including:
Sexual education with the aim of reducing teenage pregnancies and the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, especially HIV and AIDS.
Legal advice to protect the rights and integrity of the children and their families.
Psychological support for the children that come from broken families with a high incidence of violence and/or parental negligence, often due to economic conditions or alcoholism.
Workshops which teach knitting, t-shirt printing, card making and ceramics so that we can start micro-businesses including the exportation of goods, job creation and providing income now and in the future.

People from within the local community are vital to our work as well. Our local volunteers work with the children in the classroom, develop relationships and liaise with parents, work with local businesses for support and provide Spanish tuition for the international volunteers. We need people with local knowledge, an understanding of how the social and education system work in Peru and a bit of commitment. With flexible working hours, we can work around you, your studies or your work commitments.

We welcome international volunteers from all backgrounds to work in our projects. Our previous international volunteers have come from the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Belgium and Japan and are usually professionally trained in a variety of areas from teaching to engineering. They usually come to us whilst travelling in Peru, on a gap year, during retirement or simply for a working holiday.

We have opportunities working with the children or behind the scenes and currently need teachers, social workers, psychologists, project co-ordinations, medically trained people, language professionals, marketing and fundraising professionals. All volunteers who are keen to make a difference in the children’s lives are welcome to come, no professional experience required.