Arpillera Talks

The Anglican Diocese of Peru supports a number of social outreach projects, one of which is “Arpillera” – applique work.
Chris and Nick Roberts give talks about the work of the Diocese and in particular about Arpillera and endeavour to sell items and/or take orders.

This is our normal talk outline – though it can be tailored to your needs. You may download it in leaflet form here.

Our "speaker finder" notes:

The project we support, run by the Diocese of Peru - part of the Anglican Communion - is based in the shanty towns of Lima, the capital. We make no charge but so far, all organisations to whom we've spoken have given a donation which we've passed on to the project. Our main emphasis is to try to sell items of Arpillera on behalf of the project, returning all proceeds including a small element of profit, plus donations, to the project. Sometimes we will take only a few orders, but by "spreading the word", we get referred to other groups for further talks. The ladies who work Arpillera are from the shanty towns on the outskirts of Lima and are mostly attached to the Mission Church of Jesus the Nazarene in the Pamplona Alta District of San Juan de Miraflores where Rev'd. Pat Blanchard, a SAMS Mission Partner, was Deacon (she is now responsible for the Shalom Project for the handicapped in the same district, but remains closely involved), and this is where the project is based.

An ideal title for the talk might be "Threads of Hope".

Ideally, Nick will set up a slide show (tourist type slides of Peru) with background Peruvian Music as your attendees arrive.

When your meeting agenda provides the speaker “slot”, Nick gives a talk on the project, concluding with a film of the ladies at work which we made on our visits in 2008 and 2013. Concurrently, Chris displays some examples of the Arpillera craft work – whatever we have in stock to sell, plus our samples of other items available to order.

The project is "helping people to help themselves" - whilst "our" Church runs it, all sales income goes back directly to the ladies themselves and is helping them to improve their lives and those of their families. Depending on the exchange rate, we are also able to send back some "profit" on sales, together with all speaker fees / donations for the project. Typically, this will be used to pay for healthcare or other issues for any of the ladies / their families in difficulty or to establish new groups as determined by Jean, their (volunteer) project manager and their priest.

Chris and Nick make no charge for speaking and ask for no expenses. So far, every group we have spoken to has made a donation in lieu of a fee, all of which we've passed straight back to the project. The format we like to use (unless you have your own business, in which case we would tailor accordingly) is :-

• Set up about 30 minutes before your members arrive ... with slide show and Peruvian music
• Speak for about 30-40 minutes - An introduction to Peru and our link with our Church there, a very brief summary of the Anglican Church in Peru and some of its projects, then some background and detail specifically on the Arpillera project.
• Show a film we made in 2008, with updates from 2013 - around 15 minutes
• Conclude and answer questions

Chris will set up a display of items we have in stock and samples of those available to order.

We have all our own equipment (laptop, projector, small speakers, screen), but a 13A power supply is required. Unless yours is a large group we should not need additional sound amplification / speakers.

The Bishop of Derby's Harvest Appeal 2013 was in aid of the establishment of new mission in Chiclayo, the 3rd/4th city in Peru. It raised a magnificent £24,500. We prepared most of the material in support of the Appeal and you can find much of it here:

http://www.peru.anglican.org/harvest.html

Price List:

We have a small brochure / price list and a flyer, both downloadable.

Orders / Stock:

We do now carry some stock, but also take orders which we are able to fulfil in 3-6 months, depending on the delivery cycle (the Project has to prepare sufficient items and to warrant the carriage costs for a parcel from Lima). We gear up to Christmas with a large pre-order on Peru, so it is very likely that any orders from groups received by August will be fulfilled in time for Christmas.

Contact Details:

Chris and Nick Roberts
Email: info@arpillera.org.uk
Tel. 07896 162461

Arpillera Product Range Summary:

Cushion Covers / Wall Hangings in Market Scene and Noah’s Ark themes
Tea and Cafetiere Cosies
Oven Mitts
Kitchen Tidies
Small bags
Purses
Spectacle Cases
Christmas Trees in various sizes
Christmas Stockings in various sizes
Christmas Stars
Woven figures in Packs of 4
Small Llamas / Alpacas