Apples and Angels

This week we had a lot going on. Wednesday, Nicole, a girl in our ward from church came with us, and we had a meeting with Tia Liz and Tia Sara. Liz is in charge of the whole Orphanage and Sara is the psychologist.  We all shared our ideas on how to make the running of the Orphanage more efficient and posed a few ideas on how to raise money for them, and specifically for school kits. School here starts in March, and they don't have any school supplies for the kids. Our idea was to have an open house where we accept donations (school supplies, clothes, shoes, toys, etc.) and have a bake sell, and use the money to make a school kit for each kid. We would also sell the crafts the kids make at the Orphanage. The money from those sells would go straight to the Orphanage.

These kids all make things to sell including cards, bracelets, bookmarks, bags, and other small items. The girls and boys who are too young to make the crafts to sell spin wool that is used to mend clothing or to use to make the bracelets. We keep finding holes in our plan though. The main problem is that open houses are a very North American thing and this is Peru. Then, the only place we could have it at is my house, and no one can ever find my house. If we were in the U.S or Canada we could use a park or a public school, but that doesn't work here.  So, for the mean time we are still working out all the kinks. We also thought about pay-pals, sending around order forms and dropping off baked goods, and just asking for donations. If you have any ideas for us, please message me or leave a comment.

At the meeting, and later talking with a Tia and Tio from Casa 5, we got high praise for our ideas and different perspective. We were actually called Angels. This not only made me smile, it made my heart light with the knowledge that no matter how small, we are making a difference.

Nicole with John, who was practicing his English.

Nicole and John playing.

Last Friday I brought an apple for each of the kids, staff, and volunteers. I decided this was something I would do every Friday using a bit of my money. The kids are all happy to have a treat. They do not get fruit very often, so it's a big treat for them and they are always so grateful.

Last Friday we brought Red Delicious Apples for them. This week we brought Golden Delicious Apples. We washed all of them the night before and peeled off all the stickers.

On Thursday I also got a message from Zach, one of the guys in our ward asking if he could come with us. I was ecstatic others were taking an interest. He came with us on Friday, along with Nicole, Marissa (my sister) and Deborah. We cleaned out the library, and to say it was dirty would be an understatement. We could tell that the library had been home to many birds and rodents over the years.

We took out all the desks so we would have more room to work, and so we could clean the desks.

This is how it looked. We still haven't touched the boxes of books yet.

Marissa, Nicole and Zach working.

I promise I really was working, I was just the only one taking pictures.

Zach

Nicole

How we knew birds lived here. It was so gross.

appetizing, right?



 Before we left we straightened it up, but we still have a lot of work to do on Wednesday. We covered up the window with cardboard boxes before leaving so hopefully we won't find as many bird feathers or droppings in there on Wednesday.

 

Zach also checked out the playground, the one that we were told was broken. A few kids told us that they were allowed to play on parts of it, just not all of it. It's actually not broken, but a few bolts are loose or rusted and a few bars need to be tightened. Also, it would be helpful if it was clean from rocks and other objects and filled with sand so the kids have a nice soft landing off of the slides.

 

 On Friday, puppies, only a few weeks old, were found hidden in a few of the kids rooms. There were five in total. They were so cute!

 

It was a good week and I am excited to see what next will bring.