Nuevo Niños

Hello everyone, I thought it was about time we update you all again on what's been going on here in Peru. We have been quite busy for the last two weeks. The kids start school on Monday, so we have spent about every night playing games, watching movies, or doing something fun! This is our last week of our normal schedules, after school starts, I imagine we will be tutoring the kids with their homework.

In the last two weeks six children have came to live at the Albergue. One, named Junior, is approximately twelve years old. He was found on the streets in Trujillo with out a family. At the moment we do not know much about him, except that he is very, very happy to be living here. He is always willing to help out, and has very high energy. Junior is very sociable, but has problems communicating because he cannot speak and has difficulties hearing.


Junior is wearing green, he was in the garage helping the guys fix the bikes. Riding the bikes is his favorite thing to do at the Albergue. Also in the picture is Roberto, a friend of ours that came to visit.


The other five children are all from one family. Their story hurts your heart. For four of the children, this is not their first time living at the Albergue. They lived here for over two years before the new year. The five children come from three different fathers. One of the fathers was very abusive to the children and even drowned his new born. The mother decided to flee her home in the jungle with her children because of the dangerous circumstances. She had no money or means to care for her children. Along the way she met a woman who gave them shelter and told the mother about the Albergue. The children first arrived in October of 2004. After being here for over two years the mother appealed to the court, proving she had the means to care for her children. They were returned to their mother in December last year. However, less than three months later, the mother returned her children along with a new baby. One of the little boys, Yen, came back with a bloated belly, infected with parasites. The children had been malnourished, full of parasites, and covered with flea bites. It seams as though they are happy to be here and readjusting well. We are working at helping them recover and become healthy again. They are all adorable children. Now, the mother cannot come back for her children, and they will be put up for adoption soon. I will post pictures soon. Please help us pray for their recovery.
From left to right: Josue, Jesus, Karolina (sitting), Caroline, and Yamelit. These are a few proud students I have for art. They are holding their clay projects, which they all did an amazing job. I was very pleased! Jesus definitely shined in class while making his projects. He made a turtle, lizard, and snail, all very impressive. The kids really enjoyed this project, as it was something new and challenging. Luckily, I have taken pottery before and had a clue as to what I was doing, but that entailed going back to my high school years. Funny... in high school I would ditch history to spend more time in pottery class, and I am glad I did, as it prepared me for this exact purpose (Sorry, dad... am I grounded?). This project took two weeks to complete.

Adam and one of our favorite little girls, Brigitte. Adam joined us in my preschool class in the morning. Here we where doing puzzles and learning colors and numbers.

Again, some of my preschoolers, Isaias and Brigitte. Yamelit was my helper for the day, she helps me understand the little ones.

Like I said in my last post... they find joy in the little things, one of their favorite toys, the box!Preschool class is fun.

Adam spends his time doing the manly stuff. Elias, Adam, and Samir working on bikes in the garage. Adam says they can rebuild a bike with just about anything. Elias is Adam's hefe (boss), they have a lot of fun together.