To all my dearest family, friends and colleagues,
This week, as a volunteer of the Economic Development Team at SKIP Peru, I met a woman who is forced to, on a daily basis, evaluate whether she can afford to use gas to cook today, given that for meals that take a long time to cook (beans, lentils etc), gas costs her approximately US$0.30 per meal and her cheaper alternative, being carbon briquettes (the fumes from which make her and her children ill), cost her only US$0.10 per meal. This decision (in which she weighs the benefits of a US$0.20 saving vs her and her children's health) is important to her, just like your budget is important to you, because from her income of US$3 a day, she needs to feed, house and clothe herself and her two children and send them to school. This woman told me that her children deserve more. As such, she works hard to achieve a little more each week and each month. With the assistance of small loans from SKIP, of some US$30 or US$40, this woman has been able to buy newspapers to sell to her neighbours. From this, she can make an extra US$5 to add to her weekly US$20 salary. Every little bit helps.
If any of you have had ever had to budget your hard-earned savings or weekly salary – as I'm sure many of you have in one way or another during this economic crisis – I’m hoping you can relate to this woman’s story. I’m also hoping that from this story, it is evident that such small amounts in our lives can make such big differences in the lives of people like this woman. MY cause, and MY goal, is to fundraise £600 to contribute to SKIP Peru and families like this, and I'm hoping that you can help me achieve this. With your help (however great or small), SKIP can continue to use micro-loans, micro-savings and business workshops to help families like this LIFT THEMSELVES out of the poverty they were born into.
Thank you so much for your help!
Sam
P.S. For your information, donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to SKIP. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity. Can't wait to get going and am so grateful.....thank you!
