JANUARY NEWSLETTER

NEW YEAR, NEW CHALLENGES!

Dear Supporter,

As we enter our 23rd year working in Peru, we are filled with hope that things will begin to improve as we see positive steps forward being made and quiet promises of the world slowly reopening after a hard couple of years.

The biggest news from Peru is the announcement that schools will be reopening in March after 2 years of closed doors due to COVID-19. Online schooling was only available to those who had access to the internet and appropriate devices so many children received no education at all for the past 48 months. The impact of this is yet to be seen but the class divide is certainly more noticeable than ever.

Our newest project is a ‘Back To School’ support programme which we are currently putting together with the aim of providing Psychological and Educational support to 100 children in the area helping them prepare to re enter the school environment and receive ongoing support in the first 2 months after schools re open to ensure their emotional needs are met. Many young people are struggling with fear and anxiety after being so removed from their peers for such a long period of time and this programme will provide a vital platform to give them a space to voice their concerns, feel heard and re adapt. It will also pave the way for us to re enter schools and launch our sex education programme and start integrating our patients.

To run this programme we need to raise £1,000 to cover the following basic costs:

We rely on our supporters to help us keep growing, giving where it’s needed, we hope between us, we can provide this service to our community.In a world where nothing makes much sense any more, helping 100 young people re enter education, provides a small flame of hope that things can change for the better.

I’d like to DONATE.

THANK YOU from all of us at Kiya.

Suzy and the team x

MAMA COCHA

An exciting start to the years therapy programmes as we welcome an additional Physiotherapist and Speech therapist to the team, Eliana.

Eliana is from a neighbouring village and has experience working with children and adults and her motivation and energy has been received with much gratitude by us all.
Claudia and Eliana are working with 20 patients currently and providing a vital service for many families. The idea is to work more intensely with less patients so that in a few months the results are greater, allowing them to leave the programme and for more children who are currently on the waiting list, to join.

One of their patients, Vivian, is 12-years old and has been receiving therapy and support from us.

She was born with mild mental retardation and language problems. She lives with her older brother and her Mum, who is a single parent and provides for the family by cleaning houses.

Lourdes, Vivian’s Mother, has been doing a great job of inclusion with her daughter, she never stopped taking her to the regular school despite the challenges she has had to face in a state school that was not prepared for children with special needs.

She have never given up and continues to show how much Vivian can learn with the right support.

This year, Vivian will enter secondary school and the fears of new challenges after being at home for so long, are a reality, but although she is always willing to face them, this time, she seeks help from us so that Vivian feels more secure in her communication.

We are going to improve her pronunciation, reinforce the cognitive area and give her tools to manage her emotions and anxiety so she can go back to school prepared and ready. She will be included in the ‘Back to School Programme” we are launching this month.

Her Mother tells us:
“When Vivian was little and she was diagnosed, I took her to Mama Cocha and they helped her a lot with her with Physiotherapy… and now that my daughter is about to enter high school I am excited but also very scared… however, I know that I have you guys to guide me, help me reinforce Vivian, so I am happy and grateful that Kiya are in Mancora and that they can help us.“

Another real life example of the need to keep on with our projects, programmes and belief in the communities we serve along with the importance of offering support to prepare parents and students to get back to school this March.

Good luck going back to school Vivian!

ACTIVE KIYA

Active Kiya gets Active once again!

We are excited to be able to start planning some fun and active Kiya fund raising events again this year, the first and foremost being THE BIG HALF LONDON MARATHON!

We already have 2 eager and determined runners but are still offering 1 more place for anyone else keen to set themselves an exciting active challenge for 2022.

Is that person you?

For more information drop us a message: active@kiyasurvivors.org

THE RAINBOW CHILDREN

Matildes Dreams for 2022:

I want to see the whole world, I want to travel a lot, meet many people, and I know that for this I have to start with something very important… I have to study languages, I have to learn because that way it will make it more fun for me to communicate, in fact I have already started learning English and German and I like it… when I can apply for the visa I will do it because I am going after my dreams.

But I am also aware that I must prepare for a professional career in case plan A fails me, my plan B is to study business administration.
But I also really like professional makeup, manicures and pedicures, so I’m also looking to volunteer soon in a beauty salon to confirm my talent or maybe I’ll realize that’s not what I want…

Soon I want to work and be independent and together with my brothers help us whenever we are near or far because I love my brothers very much and they love me. We are a family.”

NEW TRUSTEE

We are very proud of our amazing Treasurer, Ben Hyde, for spreading his wings and starting his own business, however, we are also sad that this means he will be leaving the board.

Ben has been with Kiya for half a decade and his financial advise, guidance and expertise has been a HUGE help and much appreciated by us all.

Ben cycled the London to Brighton back in 2019 for Kiya along with a dedicated team of supporters and was always willing to go the extra mile to help.

Thank you Ben, good luck, you will be missed!

Kiya is now actively looking for a new Treasurer to fill the gap and help lead us forward in the finance department.

If you have an accountancy/financial background and feel you have what it takes to join the KIYA board of Directors, we’d love to hear from you.

SUMMARY OF THE MONTH

A positive start to the new year with new team members, projects and patients.

We are also proud to say that we have secured the BASIC running costs for the year thanks to ongoing sponsorship from long term supporters including CIS and the Vistness family along with our dedicated child sponsors. We can’t thank you enough!

Our fund raising target for 2022 now stands at £25,000 so we can:
-Employ a full time Psychologist
-Run the Back to School Programme and provide counselling, sex education and wellbeing workshops on an ongoing basis in local schools as well as privately
-Purchase 1 or 2 mopeds / quad bikes so our teams can move around easier. The donation we had for this was just before COVID and we elected to use the funds, with the donors permission, to kick off the all important life box appeal, so this is still a much needed asset for the on the ground team
-Fund the opening of a new physical centre in Mama Cocha
-Provide emergency / ongoing funds

We have some exciting plans ahead in order to start working towards this target including the BIG HALF and a 3 day trek in the Spanish Alpujarras (more info to come!). If you feel you can contribute to this years target, or would like to volunteer with us to help us run more events, don’t hesitate to get in touch.

That’s it from us this month!

Thanks for all of your support.

– Suzy and the Kiya Team x