I have spent most of my working life in Peru.
I love the country and the people and I have always felt that it was my responsibility, and my desire, to give back to the communities and the people I have come to know personally - many of them are like family now.
If I were to summarize every project I have started or been involved in over the past 35 years it would take many pages to recount everything! Instead I have listed below the most important, the most meaningful, work I have done in Peru. Often times solo, sometimes with local NGOs.
The Sacred Valley Orphanages
Several of the orphanages I work with are in the Sacred Valley in Peru about an hour away from Cusco (we have also worked with orphanages in Lima, Callao, Juarez and Ancash).
These orphanages provide homes for children who have been abandoned or given up by families who are so poor they cannot take care of them. While the orphanages are the best option available to children with nowhere else to go, they often rely on outside support to help provide the resources to adequately care for all of the children in need.
Twenty years ago I started showing up again and again to try and make a difference - and now have seen children grow up, leave the orphanages and become independent.
A typical day spent with the kids begins by greeting them in the mornings as they eat breakfast and get ready for school. The orphanages don’t always have the most nutritious food so, when we can, we help financially to assure that meals are supplemented with fresh fruit and protein.
After school, when the kids have finished their chores, we have programs where we teach them things like knitting, drawing and felting. (Without volunteers coming in to help, the children have little resources for art and inspiration.)
We sing, we dance, we play games, we cook yummy food and we talk. Later we help with homework and go to the gardens where we pick vegetables for their dinner.
Over the past years I have donated 200+ pounds of wool and alpaca for kids knitting programs. I started the programs and taught the kids as well as the teachers so that when I am not there, the programs can continue.
It gets cold in the mountains so the kids learn to make ponchos and simple sweaters and seats for the cold chairs they sit on while in school.
We also teach them how to give to others. We talk about how when we receive we should also give back. They learn to take care of their supplies and not to lose them. We teach them accountability and follow through - to complete a project once its started.
At one of the orphanages we adopted a tired, soil depleted garden space - and with truck loads of rich top soil, vegetable plants and seeds, hoes, rakes, shovels, trowels, stakes, row covers and hoses - transformed it into a eden that now yields fresh vegetables year round.
We go on field trips! Most of the children never have the opportunity to know the historical and beautiful places that surround them. We do what we can to make sure they get to know their country and are proud of their heritage. Places like Moray and Machu Picchu are favorites - but also going on a picnic and shopping for local foods are some of the most memorable outings.
There was a rather run-down building being used as a studio space at one of the orphanages. I financed and supervised its complete renovation including putting in a fireplace, fixing the leaking roof, adding skylights, building a kitchen and building all the furniture for the studio. Now, at night, a favorite thing for the kids to do is to sit around the fireplace - it’s a place where they feel comfortable - and where they can talk about their worries, their dreams and their feelings.
My mission is to help as many children as I can. They know me well now and trust me - this is when I can hopefully begin to motivate them to stay in school and get as much education as they can. But without knowing what is possible, it is hard for them to envision what their future might look like.
Some of the boys in the orphanage have mothers who have chosen to place them there so they can go to school. High in the mountains where many of the mothers live there are no schools. Every year we arranged trips so that mothers and sons could be reunited.
Working on a felting project
A group of volunteers from Australia who came for several years in a row to help with renovations and field trips for the kids at the orphanage
Some of the bounty from our rebuilt garden where the kids grow everything from broccoli to eggplant, califlower and carrots.
Posing for a picture with one of the kids in the orphanage - and the new garden in the background
Merilee and Rosa on one of our field trips
The renovated building at one of the orphanages with a new roof, kitchen, furniture and a fireplace for the kids to enjoy
Working on new shelves for the orphanage kitchen
In the lumber yard choosing wood needed to renovate the orphanage kitchen
A completely renovated workshop space at one of the orphanages where the kids have a light filled, clean, beautiful place to eat, play, study and do their art projects (this photo is before any of the new furniture arrived)
Working with Jose to create The Tree of Life out of plaster in the new recreation room
The finished Tree of Life. We often gather around it and light candles and talk about what we are grateful for
Other Projects
Started gardens in some of the communities in the mountains.
Organized a trip and brought Rotary International to Peru to put in a church floor in Patacancha along with other projects in the Sacred Valley.
Worked with the local health department and Pro-Mujer to set up an immunization day to immunize children against childhood diseases.
Sponsored a two-week theater program and collaborated with Yuyachkani theater group based in Lima. This was part of a cultural exchange program we organized with a Lima orphanage and U.S. kids. At the end of the program the kids put on performances for children in hospitals and other orphanages.
Organized flight attendants to donate products to over 100 families. In addition 50 children received payments for books and uniforms so they could attend school.
Organized and sponsored summer field trip programs for Peruvian kids so they had the opportunity to know their country.
Taught art workshops as an after school program - teaching quilting and sewing.
Worked with local dentists to teach the kids how to take care of their teeth. Sponsor yearly teeth cleaning for over 100 kids.
Helped the youth that were part of our company, receive tourist visas to come to the U.S.
Sponsored and hosted trips for the Peruvian artisans and families to come to the U.S. They were shown how our goods produced in Peru are moved to Miami and then to all the wholesale and private label stores. They were introduced to store owners an taken to trade shows in NYC.
Mentored one of our Peruvian employees to learn English and receive his Baccalaureate degree followed by a Master degrees in Business
Helped organize a special olympics event with a Peruvian non-profit.
This was one of the first projects we did with the girls in Calca in the Sacred Valley. We taught them how to make quilts for their beds.
One of the groups of kids we helped in Puerto Maldonado. Three times a year they were sent personal hygiene supplies as well as many other items such as clothes, school materials and reading supplies
Some the artisans we work with teaching some girls how to sew
I organized a two-week cultural exchange workshop with the Yuyachkani theater group for the kids living in one of the orphanages in Lima and kids from the US. They learned mask making, stilt walking and costume making - and got to perform for an audience at the end of the two weeks!
Some of the masks the kids made during their workshop with Yuyachakani
One of the volunteers from the USA greeting a little girl in Cusco.