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ARTIZAN Peru : a social enterprise providing training and employment opportunities for adults with disabilities who'd otherwise be living in poverty |
Karita Inacio, our project leader in Peru.
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Our centre in Arequipa, Peru, is housed in a beautiful old building we've remodelled to include crafts training spaces, a fair-trade shop in which to sell the artisans' work, and a new cafe which is due to open to the public in Nov/December 2023.
Kartia Inacio, our dedicated local project leader, is training people with physical disabilities in high-quality jewellery and textiles, and also training young deaf people in cafe hospitality skills, screen printing and sewn textiles too. Our physically disabled artisans come to the Artizan centre once a week to receive instruction and materials, plus an opportunity for meeting up with their friends and colleagues. For many of them, it may be the only time they leave the house so this is a vital opportunity for some fun and fellowship. They then use the skills, equipment and matierlas we've given them, to work from home. We pay the artisans every week for the work they've done, allowing them to support themselves and their families with dignity and pride in their work. |
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Joel & Ivette, with their young son, are all profoundly deaf. The couple have been looking for work for a very long time and are extremely relieved to have finally found training & employment at the Artizan centre in Peru. They will both be working in the new cafe, and Ivette will also be making sewn products too for the shop. This will finally allow them to support themselve and their 2 children with dignity and pride.
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Deaf people in Peru are amoungst the poorest and most vulnerable in their society, excluded from employment due to the stigma of having a disability. Most Deaf Peruvians don't even finish school because they cannot afford to, or they live too far away from the very few schools for the deaf. The vast majority are unemployed or receive lower than minimum wage. Their life is a daily struggle of trying to understand and be understood, as almost no-one knows any sign language. They are often looked down upon by hearing society and live in the poorest parts of the cities, travelling long distances to seek work, usually to no avail, consigning them to a life of poverty.
Our new cafe, based at our Artizan Peru centre in the beautiful mountain city of Arequipa, will provide vital vocational training and employment for deaf people who long for these opportunities, giving them hope and a future, whilst also changing negative attitudes towards them in their local society. We've done this successfully before with our deaf-run cafe in Tanzania. This has had a profoundly positive effect on local attitudes to deaf people, as well as providing full- time employment for many deaf people in the town of Iringa where it's based. Our menus will be in Spanish, English and sign language symbols, so our customers can learn to communicate with their deaf waiter or waitress, breaking down barriers between deaf and hearing people in their community. The cafe will become a beacon of light and hope for deaf people and for all the other differently-able people that the centre will serve, with it's shop, cafe and crafts workshops. The cafe is the final step that will bring the wider community into closer contact with our artisans, opening their eyes to how capable and employable they are. This means that in time, other local employers will consider employing deaf people too, whereas before this would have been unthinkable. After 4 years' fundraising we've already purchased a beautiful old building in Arequipa to house the centre, and have refurbished the spaces to a high standard. The cafe space has a large downstairs area and a roof top terrace with incredible views of the snow-capped volcanoes on the horizon. To help us equip the cafe and provide salaries for our first group of deaf trainees, please click the link above or below. Please give whatever you can, every little bit adds up and helps us get closer to our target. Thank you so much for your support. |
Here's some examples of specific things you could support (starting at £5):
Coffee pot /Tea Pot: £5 (x 20)
Set of crockery: £25 (x 40)
Set of cutlery: £10 (x 40)
Saucepans: £25 (x 6)
Chopping boards: £30
Chefs Knives: £40
Cooking Utensils: £50
Kitchen Sink: £100
Set of chef's whites for deaf trainee: £50 (x 6)
Tea-towels and other linens : £30
Kitchen Counter Tops: £300
Kitchen Shelving: £40 (x 10
Tiling: £150
Kitchen Fridge: £400
Kitchen Freezer: £350
Counter display fridge: £1000
Physical counter build cost:£400 (x2)
Coffee machine : £2500
Coffee Grinder : £160
Industrial Oven: £600
Industrial mixer:£140
Smoothie maker: £120
Hot chocolate machine: £180
Double Panini Press: £ 120
Cafe Table: £80 (x 8)
Cafe chair: £50 (x 20)
Cafe uphostered benches: £60 (x 6)
DIY tools to make pallet furniture for cafe roof terrace : £120
Cafe lighting: £350
Cafe paintwork : £300
Thank you so much for any support you can give. If you're buying a gift on behalf of someone else, please let us know and we'll send them a card to say thanks and let them know what their gift is supporting. Thanks so much for your support! Click on the link below to donate :
Coffee pot /Tea Pot: £5 (x 20)
Set of crockery: £25 (x 40)
Set of cutlery: £10 (x 40)
Saucepans: £25 (x 6)
Chopping boards: £30
Chefs Knives: £40
Cooking Utensils: £50
Kitchen Sink: £100
Set of chef's whites for deaf trainee: £50 (x 6)
Tea-towels and other linens : £30
Kitchen Counter Tops: £300
Kitchen Shelving: £40 (x 10
Tiling: £150
Kitchen Fridge: £400
Kitchen Freezer: £350
Counter display fridge: £1000
Physical counter build cost:£400 (x2)
Coffee machine : £2500
Coffee Grinder : £160
Industrial Oven: £600
Industrial mixer:£140
Smoothie maker: £120
Hot chocolate machine: £180
Double Panini Press: £ 120
Cafe Table: £80 (x 8)
Cafe chair: £50 (x 20)
Cafe uphostered benches: £60 (x 6)
DIY tools to make pallet furniture for cafe roof terrace : £120
Cafe lighting: £350
Cafe paintwork : £300
Thank you so much for any support you can give. If you're buying a gift on behalf of someone else, please let us know and we'll send them a card to say thanks and let them know what their gift is supporting. Thanks so much for your support! Click on the link below to donate :
And our other project in Peru : An in-house therapeutic crafts workshop for men with learning disabilities living in community in Arequipa
The local Anglican church opened this home in December last year, to provide a caring environment for the 19 men with learning disabilities who now live there. Almost all of them had been abandoned on the streets of Lima, the capital, at various stages in their lives and picked up by the police, before being incarcerated in over-crowded conditions. The church opened its doors to provide a spacious, welcoming home for them and we’re delighted to be helping them to set up a paper-making workshop on the roof of their building, to provide therapeutic craft activities for the men to do whenever they want to, whilst at the same time generating an income for themselves.
Why PERU ?
In October 2014, Susie Hart, our founder, was invited by Latin Link to visit a small Peruvian church who wanted help to set up a project for disabled people in their city of Arequipa. She was deeply moved by the large numbers of disabled people she saw begging on the streets of the city, and recognised the potential for setting up a training and employment project for them.
Tried and tested
Susie previously set up a project for people with disabilities in Tanzania, called Neema Crafts, which started with just 3 young deaf men and went on to employ over 120 people with varied disabilities. Our projects overseas are tailored to meet the needs in their local context, but are very much inspired by what we have shown to be possible in a similar developing world context in Tanzania.
As in Tanzania, people with disabilities are amongst the most marginalised, the most vulnerable, and the poorest of the poor in their communities. In April 2015 , Susie returned to Peru with a team of trained volunteers to start a pilot project, training a group of disabled out-workers in high quality bead-work and jewellery; and helping to market their products in Peru and the UK. The rest, as they say, is history... !
In October 2014, Susie Hart, our founder, was invited by Latin Link to visit a small Peruvian church who wanted help to set up a project for disabled people in their city of Arequipa. She was deeply moved by the large numbers of disabled people she saw begging on the streets of the city, and recognised the potential for setting up a training and employment project for them.
Tried and tested
Susie previously set up a project for people with disabilities in Tanzania, called Neema Crafts, which started with just 3 young deaf men and went on to employ over 120 people with varied disabilities. Our projects overseas are tailored to meet the needs in their local context, but are very much inspired by what we have shown to be possible in a similar developing world context in Tanzania.
As in Tanzania, people with disabilities are amongst the most marginalised, the most vulnerable, and the poorest of the poor in their communities. In April 2015 , Susie returned to Peru with a team of trained volunteers to start a pilot project, training a group of disabled out-workers in high quality bead-work and jewellery; and helping to market their products in Peru and the UK. The rest, as they say, is history... !