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The Rurapuk Hot Lunch Program
What is it?
The Rurapuk Hot Lunch Program is a kitchen that runs a free
nutrition program for children in a very poor area of Lima called
“Paraiso Alto.” This area has no running water, and no sewage
system. About 25% of the people do not have electricity and most
families live in one-room shacks with dirt floors. The people who
don’t have electricity use candles, or buy it from a neighbor using
an illegal connection. There are no doctors, hospitals, or clinics
in the immediate area and there are no parks or green areas. There
are no schools nearby which means that the children have to walk
very far or take a bus to the nearest government school.
Currently there are 25 children, aged 4-13 years old, in the
program. These children receive a hot balanced vegetarian lunch 5
times a week. The lunch typically consists of rice, beans,
vegetables, fruit and a drink. The children for this program are
chosen by the coordinators after potential recipients fill out an
application form. The coordinators visit families and make an
assessment of their need for assistance. Ultimately all the children
in Paraiso Alto are poor but some are in worse conditions due to
issues such as health problems, substandard housing or absence of a
parent.
Sponsorship
Unlike many other organizations, we prefer not
to use child sponsorship in our activities. The reasons for this
include:
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Child sponsorship creates enormous
administrative overheads and would require a person to be
employed full time (writing letters, translating etc). Whilst it
would be nice to have another helping hand, this is not
something that we can afford and would cost about the same
amount as the project itself.
-
The children on the program can vary over the
course of a year making sponsorship of a particular child
difficult. This is because we are always looking for the poorest
children in the community and some children may leave the
program if their economic situations improve (such as moving to
another community due to a parent finding work elsewhere).
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Child sponsorship in this context could be
divisive. All of the children living in Paraiso Alto are poor
and to nominate a particular child or group of children could
create tension in the community.
-
It could further magnify western aspirations
that probably will not be fulfilled.
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It could maintain a consciousness of dependence
amongst the people which contradicts the underlying principles
of AMURT to help people become self sufficient using the
resources within themselves.
So how do we run our sponsorship? We prefer that
you sponsor the meals that the children eat and in return we will
maintain a commitment to update our blog site on a monthly basis to
keep you informed about the latest developments in the project. At
present the program costs approximately US$15 per child / month and
has often come close to closing down. However on all of these
occasions so far, through some miracle, a donation was provided at
the last moment allowing the program to continue for another 3
months. If you would like to contribute to keeping this program
running, please go to our
Donate
page for more details.
History
The Rurapuk Hot Lunch Program was started in 2001 by three Peruvian
volunteers, with the assistance of Didi, who runs the Rurapuk
project. The first donation for the project came from a Peruvian
woman, Martha, who lives in England. She wanted to do something for
poor children in her own country, so she sent money for the project
to her mother, Asha, who was 78 years old and lives here in Lima
with her other daughter, Maetreyii.
Asha, Maetreyii and Didi, with the assistance of a professional
social worker, organized a hot lunch program, providing 20 children
with a hot lunch 5 times a week. After three months, however, all of
the money that Martha had sent was used up. Just at that moment,
Mitsue Kanaoka and her husband appeared as if by a miracle. The
Kanaokas, visitors from Kyoto, Japan, who donated 1,000 US dollars,
saved the project. These wonderful Japanese tourists who were just
happening by and who the team had never met before gave 1,000 US
dollars to continue the project.
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Children queuing before the meal is served
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| Girl
from Paraiso Alto |
Lunch
is on! |
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