Project #3

Before I left I finished project #3, making hygiene kits. I ended up making 140 kits, including toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, a soap container and a package of kleenex. It took a lot of time to buy all the items since buying in bulk is unheard of in Peru. The hardest to find was the soap boxes. I think we had to go to four different Plaza Vea's, two Wongs, and a Totus to find them all. Not to mention we had to improvise at end and buy small plastic containers from the kitchen isle, but after about a month of shopping and with some help from Laura and my dad all the kits got put together and my mom helped rearrange them in boxes for us to take to the orphanage.

 

 

 

On the left is a kit with a toddler toothbrush for the kinders, and on the right is one of the regular kits.

 

 

We delivered the kits on Wednesday, and hopefully in this past week they have given a kit to each of the children and hopefully they are using them.


Project #4 fell through, I was too busy running around finding everything I needed for the hygiene kits that I didn't get to make the first aid kits, but maybe in the future that can be something I do. I don't know if I will be going back to Peru or not, but you never know, right?


Project #3

I am happy to announce that Project #3 is underway. While helping casa 7 clean their rooms and bathrooms, I noticed that there was a lack of toothbrushes, and the ones I did see were worn and dirty.  I made a mental note about it and when deciding what my next project should be, it came to mind. I will be making hygiene kits fort each child as well containing a toothbrush, toothpaste, a bar of soap, and a soap holder. 

There are just under one-hundred kids living there, and about one-hundred-twenty including kids from the surrounding area and the ones who are attending college. It's a lot of toothbrushes, and soap but it is something that will benefit each child.

Project #4 is also in the works. I want to make a basic first aid kit for each house. I talked with Tio Ivo, he said that they do have one in the main office, but not in each house. I think for emergency reasons one is needed in each house. I will be starting on this soon, hopefully in a few weeks.

Project #2

 The bake sell is tomorrow! It's been busy the last few days and tomorrow will be too.  We are having the event at a park by Nicole's house, from 11am to 5pm.  Last week, we created a Facebook event to get the word out, and so far a hundred  people have said they were coming. Call me hopeful, but I think people will show.

 Thursday Nicole and I went to the store and got ingredients for our baked goods and all the paper plates and soda.  Then we made posters for the event. One for prices, one with pictures of the children and two to put up around the neighborhood. We misspelled "Donado" the first time, so we had to fix it, but otherwise things went well. Our tagline has been "Donando una Sonrisa" or "Donate a Smile"

 

Today, the teens at the orphanage made alfahores, cookies, and apple pie to sell. I will post pictures on Saturday. Some of the older girls are going to be stopping by during the event with the one of the Tio's, and that will be a fun treat for them since they don't get out very much.
 

I have to get back to baking, but I thought I should update the blog on the event. I am excited for tomorrow, I have my fingers crossed that people will come and buy some treats and handcrafted goods and that we can get school supplies for the kids. They deserve it!

If you are in the area, please come! I can promise yummy food and colorful Peruvian souvenirs.

Up Up and Away!

Big plans are being put into action right now, not just for Westfalia Orphanage, but for Express Connect and schools in the nearby areas.  We have ideas to brighten children's lives at the Orphanage, and Express Connect is working on expanding their campaign! In March I will be joining them again to help with their Raise Awareness Campaign.

 

I am excited to announce that Project #2 is off the ground! We will be hosting a bake sell to buy school supplies for the Children living at Westfalia Orphanage.  It will be held next Saturday at a park near Nicole's house.  We will also be selling Peruvian souvenirs handcrafted by the kids. The money made from these sells will go directly to the Orphanage to use for food, water, school uniforms, shoes, and other necessities.  

 

Girls ages eight and up make these colorful bracelets to sell.

 

Girls and boys learn how to sew by making these colorful wall hangings. Each one is as unique as the child who made it. This one shows Westfalia Orphanage, located in Cienguilla.

 These adorable bookmarks are made to look like native Peruvian people.

The hats are made of the wool that the kids ages seven to ten spin.

 

Project #1 Update  

At the beginning of my adventure, when I learned I would be moving to Peru, I organized a project to make school kits at girls camp. Unfortunately, we moved before girls camp and did not have the opportunity to bring them with us. We have not found a way to get these school kits here, but will bring them back with us after summer. 

 

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.

Project # 1

My first project is getting some donations and making school kits to take. I am asking for clothing from family and friends around me so I can take it down and am also working with a church youth group who will be making school kits for Peruvian children. I will also bring down a bunch to give to kids who need the supplies.  The youth group will make about 15, so I will try to make 15-20 to bring down.

I am making bags out of t-shirts, and am adding 2 notebooks, pencils, an eraser, a pencil sharpener,  crayons, and a ruler.

I made the bag using an old t-shirt. I found a tutorial by another blogger.  Here is the link: http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2011/10/recycled-t-shirt-tote-bag.html.
I made mine the same way, it's very simple.
You just cut off the neck and the sleeves, then sew together the bottom.

And I did all the shopping. It's a lot of things. The estimated cost is $3.75 per kit. I bought enough for 30 kits, and practically cleaned Walmart out of rulers, pencil sharpeners, and crayons. I still need 14 rulers and 10 pencil sharpeners. I took some pictures.

 We went to 2 Walmart's and to Staples  to get the supplies. 

 I organized all the things on the table...

so you could see the quantity. 

Marcus had fun playing with the erasers...

This is his cat. 

 This is the bag I made. I just used a t-shirt I didn't like. 

Marcus thinks its silly, he was making fun of it.

I am going to finish making all the bags at my grandmas next week, because she has a sewing machine and they last longer if they are not hand stitched.