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Peru Treks & Adventure -
Second Hand Clothing Appeal
More about the
clothing appeal and how you can help ...
With your help we want to collect as many clothes, toys, school
books and equipment to distribute to some of the most needy
communities in the mountains of Southern Peru. When you come to
Peru just bring a few extra items that you no longer need to our
office and we'll distribute them, it's as simply as that. If you
haven't any room in your bags then we can help you purchase some
second-hand clothes and equipment whilst you are here in Peru.
Our clothing and equipment appeal is very simple scheme for all
visitors to participate in. Before you come to Peru just have a
look around your house to find any clothes that you no longer need
and bring them with you when you come to Peru and drop them off in
our office in Cusco. Of course we don't expect you'll have much
room in your suitcase so just one or two items is fine. If you
leave the items at our office in Cusco we'll guarantee to find a
person who will really appreciate your gifts.
What type of items do we need to bring?
(a) Clothes: Babies and children's clothes of all types, Adults
clothes (mainly warm sweaters, jackets and waterproof clothing).
Exclusions: please no underwear, socks etc. All clothing must be
washed and clean prior to donation.
(b) Toys: All types but not battery operated.
(c) Picture books (all languages) and children's books in
Spanish.
(d) Other items: Sleeping bags, backpacks, walking boots.
Who is going to benefit from the
clothes?
(a) Children and Adults from the smaller communities in the
mountains of Southern Peru. We want to help some of the
communities in the valleys north of Ollantaytambo which supply
many of the porters for the Inca Trail as well as communities in
the Lares Valley and
around the Ausangate mountain.
(b) Children staying in several orphanages in Cusco and the Sacred
Valley.
(c) Porters on the Inca trail. We hope to help with waterproof
jackets and possibly warm sleeping bags.
Why shouldn't I just give the presents directly to the
children?
If you are coming to Peru and staying with a local family (such as
on some of the islands of Lake Titicaca) then it is a good idea to
bring a few items from home to give directly to the families as
presents. Even small gifts such as postcards of your hometown will
be greatly appreciated. If, however, you are walking around in one
of the cities or visiting a local village market it is not a good
idea to hand out presents in the street. Not only does this
encourage children to beg but it also highlights the wide gap in
wealth between tourists and locals. Giving a warm sweater to a
child may make that child very happy (and keep him warm) but you
will quickly find a line of children following you around with
their hands outstretched asking for their gifts. For every child
that you make happy in this way you are sure to make 7 or 8 very
unhappy and possibly resentful towards tourists. In popular
tourist locations children can be very persistent and they have
often learnt to tell a long sad story to gain the sympathies of
visitors. If you reward these children with clothes, shoes and
money then their parents may sell the presents and send the
children back on the streets again to bring back more gifts. With
the average adult wage at about US$3 per day, many of these
children can earn more than their fathers. This just encourages
more parents to stop sending their children to school and to send
them out begging in the streets.
How do we
distribute the clothes and equipment?
Distribution of the items is an important part of the project.
Driving to a village and handing out items to everyone that we
meet would cause chaos and wouldn't ensure that the items are
distributed fairly. Instead we decide upon a village to distribute
the items and make a visit a few weeks in advance. We talk to the
head of the village community and find out how many people are in
that community and issue clothing (or gift) vouchers for each
person in that community. The head of the village will be asked to
distribute the vouchers amongst his community. We then arrange a
date and a time that we will return to distribute the clothes.
When we return to the village each person with a voucher can
exchange the voucher for an item of clothing, hopefully of the
type and size that they prefer. If we are distributing to a
community of 500 persons we will take a selection of about 800
clothes to ensure that everyone receive a suitable gift.
If I can't bring anything with me from home, can I still help
with the appeal once I am in Cusco?
If you would like to help our appeal but can't find any suitable
items to bring from home or haven't got the spare space to bring
them then you can still help us once you arrive in Cusco. You can
help us in several ways. There are many second hand clothing shops
in the markets of Cusco where you could buy suitable clothing at
very cheap prices. For US$20 you could buy a bag full of suitable
items. However these shops are not located in particularly safe
areas of Cusco so if you come to our office in Cusco we can
arrange for someone to go with you to these shops to help get the
best bargains. Of course you may want to buy school books or pens,
pencils etc for a local school so we can help you with that as
well.
If I leave things at your office in Cusco, how do I know you'll
distribute them fairly?
When you leave items at our office in Cusco we'll ask you to
register your items in our project log book. We'll ask for you
name, email address and a brief description of the items you are
donating. We'll keep a file of our distributions including details
of the items distributed, the date and village, as well as a
photographic journal of each distribution. All will be available
for inspection in our office. We will also transfer this
information onto our web site which will be updated on a quarterly
basis with news of the appeal's progress.
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