Fotos of our activities and our news you can find here.

April 2023

In April we celebrate Easter with a lot of rain and low temperatures. Due to the weather, there are many cases of colds and COVID, especially in the schools.
The school year is in full swing, there is a lot of learning and various activities in the schools.
At the Hogar we update the birthday calendar which is posted in the community room. The children enjoy helping to design the calendar and gluing in their photos. We also learn new board games that help with memory and group cohesion.
On weekends, 14 children stay at the Hogar because their homes are too far away to commute home every weekend. These children return home once a month or during major vacations. On weekends, the children help at the Hogar with such things as weeding, cleaning, cooking, etc., and engage in various recreational activities. This month the children are invited to a community meeting where there are games, snacks and small gifts for the children. There is a lot of joy about this.
This month we celebrate birthday of four Hogar children. For the new, younger children, the birthday celebrations are very exciting as it is new for them to sing birthday serenades, blow out candles, eat cake and be hugged.
Also, two computers are being serviced as they stopped working properly and - as every month - the filter is being cleaned. The repair of the failed water pump is scheduled for May, as we are still waiting for a loaner compressor.

March 2023

The political situation has eased somewhat this month but is still very worrying.

The cost of the family baskets has increased this month, but in Urubamba we have the advantage of having a market once a week where the prices are a bit cheaper.

The children officially started classes in March. 13 children attend public schools on scholarships and the other 12 children attend national schools.

The new children have quickly adapted to their new home, they speak Quechua very well. It was agreed with the children that Fridays are Quechua days, in order to maintain this identity and not get lost in the time spent together in the Hogar.

Since there are no volunteers, we bring the children together, younger and older, to accompany each other to school. There is a group of 5 children who go to a school a little further away and as they are new and small they have to be taken to school by motorbike taxi with a trusted person and two other little girls in another school who go to school be taken to school for their safety.

The flu virus has continued to plague the region, with the little ones in particular suffering from a rare variant of profuse nosebleeds and fever. Unfortunately social security doesn't help much because there are so many people and they have to be treated in the early hours of the morning. Because of the crowds and not wanting to keep them waiting while they're sick, we use private clinics like Vidawasi, which are a bit cheaper even though they're a little further away.

We had the first meeting and the first work with the parents so that all families can get to know each other and coordinate our support together for the benefit of the children. We washed the walls of the dining room, polished and varnished the children's swing and much more. They themselves choose the dates of the year when they can bring potatoes from their own harvest to help their children in the Hogar.

A friend gave us a big surprise and donated a big bouncy castle for the kids to have fun on after their homework.

In the second week of March we received a beef donation for March and April.

February 2023

The children started preparing for the new school year.
We went on a trip to meet the families of the new children. The houses are located in communities like Pata Cancha, Hilloc and Yanamayo, the drive takes about 2 to 3 hours.
With the support of some relatives and friends, we were able to collect some clothes to distribute to the new children. The poverty and cold in these high Andean areas are enormous.
We have coordinated with the respective schools who have released the places for the new children.
The children currently living in the hogar are all in different schools and grades. This requires a lot of coordination and commitment. We are all the more grateful for the support of our teachers in the afternoon.
The school materials (notebooks, colours, pens, etc.) have become more expensive due to the crisis.
This month, the beds, the tank, the chicken coop and the storage house were repaired, the filter was cleaned and electronic repairs were made.

January 2023

We thank all the people who continue to support us in this year 2024! It is enough to see the smiles on the faces, not only of the children, but also of their parents, when they know that they will get a place in the hogar and in a school. They are happy that they, or their children, get food, a warm bed and above all an education.
The Hogar is now at full capacity with 25 children. We have been able to take in some new ones after there was free capacity in the schools.

The political unrest and social conflicts in Peru continue to cause demonstrations and protests and severely affect the supply of essential goods. Roadblocks repeatedly mean that we are unable to buy supplies. In addition, there has not been enough rainfall in recent times, which further strains the tight supply situation. Worryingly, droughts and poor harvests are to be expected. This directly affects the children's families as they all depend on agriculture for their livelihood.
We hope for rain and an easing of the political situation.
 
The children returned from their school holidays. The new children were escorted to their schools.
A trampoline was bought for the children. They have a lot of fun with it.
As every month, various maintenance works were also planned and carried out (repair of the cupboard doors with new knobs, repair of the sanitary facilities, anti-corrosion paint was bought and applied to protect the railing from the weather, fabrics were bought to make missing curtains for the children's rooms).

December 2022

The current situation in our country is tense. The then President Castillo dissolves Congress on December 7, hours later we have a new President, Mrs. Boluarte. There is social unrest and we are currently in a situation of fear, unrest and tension in Peru, especially in the south of the country. Urubamba is also not spared from the unrest. Demonstrations, strikes and roadblocks are also very much felt here. Stores are closed, basic services are no longer guaranteed. Prices are rising, gas is not always available. We have to do our shopping in the early hours of the morning and carry it on foot to replenish our supplies and avoid being attacked by the demonstrators.
The strikes and mobilization also affect school operations, so some activities and lessons are cancelled.

In December we welcome 3 new children, they are siblings and are in need. They will also be at the Hogar in 2023.
The children make Christmas cards for their parents and supporters.
We are rehearsing Christmas songs for our end of year and Christmas party.
We will be visited for two weeks by volunteers from the Future Sense Foundation.
The books in our library are reorganized together with the children.
We make an agreement with the school of the organization "Niños del Arco Iris" that places for new children will be provided.
Thanks to the support of the association "Kuskalla e.V." we put together Christmas baskets and distribute them to all the parents of our children. It is a great blessing for them to receive these baskets.
On December 23, we have a Christmas meeting with the families of the children. There will be food and chocolate for everyone. There are also Christmas gifts for the children thanks to the support of former volunteer Rachel and staff member Edgar. We also celebrate on this day the farewell of a Hogar child who received a scholarship to study.
We are making a plan for the start after the vacations in January.

Maintenance work is also coming up this month. A metal basket for our trash bags will be made and placed on the street. This will keep the street clean and protect the environment. It will also prevent stray dogs from digging in the trash.
"Paul", our water filter, is being cleaned. Due to the rains, the drinking water is more polluted.

We are very happy that the circle of supporters in Germany as Kuskalla e.V. is now an official, registered association.

We wish you all happy holidays together with all your loved ones.
We wish you health and blessings and thank you for your great support in 2022!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2023!

November 2022

We celebrate the anniversary of the city of Urubamba. There will be a parade of institutions and schools in the community, in which the Hogar children will participate with their respective schools.

In November we celebrate the birthday of three Hogar children. The children are always very happy about the birthday celebrations.

Also this month the parents of the hogar children come to visit.

The children visit a small circus in Urubamba. The joy of the children is enormous and the circus acts amaze them.

There are also small maintenance jobs to do.

October 2022

We contact the families whose children are eligible for enrollment for 2023. The number of requests increases from year to year. Admission to the Hogar also depends, in particular, on the number of places available in the state schools.

At the schools, there are events for parents.

At the Hogar, workshops and meetings are held with all children and staff to prepare for possible natural events such as earthquakes.

We are in contact with different volunteer organizations as we would like to have volunteers again and their commitment is a valuable support for the Hogar.

September 2022

The children are doing handicrafts. Portrait stands are being created in which each child will glue their own photos to display in the meeting space.

We conduct dynamic and inclusive games to strengthen the bond between the children and the Hogar staff*.

We celebrate a child's birthday with cake, a gift and a party. We also celebrate the birthday of our cook Vilma.

We get a visit from a former volunteer.

The playground is brought into shape, everyone helps.

Together with our German partner association we work on a solar cell project for the Hogar.

The water filters are cleaned. The parents help with the work in the hogar garden.

August 2022

We celebrate the birthday of a Hogar child, as always in the circle of all children with birthday serenades, etc.

This month we dedicate to the theme "Respect" for themselves, for others and for the environment. The children will be sensitized to this theme through various activities.

A staff meeting is held to refresh and update the goals in the different areas of work.

The children in the Hogar have caught one cold after another and we are in the process of fighting these colds.

There is maintenance to be done on the internet system, gutters, etc.

July 2022

This month the children have their little school vacations, July 28 and 29 are in celebration of Peru's Independence Day.

We visit a former Hogar child at her new training site.

We have reflection talks with the children.

Maintenance work is done on the drinking water filter, cisterns and water pipes.

June 2022

In the name of the whole Hogar family we are happy about the news that the circle of supporters in Germany founds an association called Kuskalla e.V..

June is a month of great festivities in Cusco, the Day of the Inca. There are dances and various activities everywhere.

The cold season hits the Hogar children and staff with full force. There are always new infections at school, at home and at the hogar. There are no more Covid tests in the schools.

The children participate in several activities and celebrations in the region.

At school, the 6th grade organizes a food and dessert sale to raise money for the graduation trip. We participate in the preparations and the sale.

We receive a donation from the "Latino KV Freiburg". With proceeds from an event they support the Hogar. For this we say thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

Two Hogar children are in the application phase for their admission at the NGO Mosqoy.

There is an earthquake drill and training in the use of fire extinguishers. We are also carrying out various preventive maintenance activities.

January until March 2022

After spending their vacations at home with their parents and families, the children have been back at the Hogar since mid-February. They are all full of anticipation for the start of school. At the same time, as always, the children are pretty burned out from the cold at high altitudes and from working in the fields helping their parents grow potatoes and raise livestock.

The corona prevention situation has greatly deteriorated in the valley and in Cusco in general. There is a large percentage of people who do not want to be vaccinated, although the health centers are trying hard.
In February, all the Hogar children were vaccinated against Corona.

We said goodbye to a girl from the Hogar with an emotional celebration. She started her studies in Cusco in February.
At the moment there are 17 children living in the hogar. Classes are held in the school; only for two secondary school girls, classes are held virtually 3 times a week.
In accordance with the current safety norms, the children wear masks at school, bring their own snacks and drinks, as well as disinfectant to disinfect their hands regularly.
The regular health check of the children is planned for mid-March.

We received a visit from the Urban Development Department of the Urubamba Municipality and asked them to reconsider the annual minimum property tax payment, as the tax is much higher than what we normally pay for the three-story building.
Since mid-January we have had problems with the water supply (the water has been shut off during the day and night) because they are asphalting the road parallel to the hogar and removing pipes. We hope that it will be back to normal by mid-March.
In February, various maintenance works were done: the interior facade of the hogar was repainted, furniture and beds in the children's room were repaired by one, the plants and flowers in the garden were cleaned from pests.
The water filter Paul is energetically in use and works smoothly.

The end of the year 2021

In December, the children had their last homework and final exams.
At the Hogar, the boys' rooms were painted.
Volunteer Rachel, who accompanied us for the last three months of the year, invited the children to participate in various activities.
The children were practicing Marinera and Christmas songs.
At the end of the year and as a reward for their efforts, the children were invited to a swimming pool.
Farewell was given to a girl from the hogar who graduated from school. She will begin her studies in environmental engineering in Cusco in February. Another boy from the Hogar started an internship in the field of electricity.
At the end of the year, the Hogar held the traditional final meeting with the families of the children. Gifts for the children and baskets of food for the parents were presented. As always, the parents were very grateful for the help.
After Christmas we had a visit from Eduardo for a few days, who brought the water filter "Paul".  Also, the connections for the water filter at the entrance of the hogar and the maintenance of the tank were done.
The new school year starts at the end of February 2022. It is not yet clear whether the lessons will then take place completely in presence or partly virtually.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a healthy and blessed year 2022!

The long journey of the water filter "Paul" from Kassel (Germany) to Urubamba (Peru)

A water filter named "Paul" is currently on its way to the Hogar. The water filter will fly from Germany to Peru in the middle of December together with a member of the circle of supporters. In Urubamba, Paul will help to reliably remove dirt particles from the water in the house connection and provide the children in the Hogar with clean water from the pipes. With the following link you can follow Paul's journey:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1MqNEHnWBE5cLYoDwyRm6UvLkq8DeoxUI&ll=50.355187862229826%2C9.360655000000007&z=7

Paul introduces himself to you here with various portraits:

October 2021

September 2021

The older children had several challenging presentations at school that were very well evaluated. One girl from the hogar particularly stood out for her academic performance and was congratulated for placing 2nd in the entire secondary school.

For the International Students Day, we took the children on a trip to the swimming pool.

We also celebrated the birthday of a hogar child again this month and worked extensively on the hogar's promotional video.

Since September we have a volunteer from Ireland. She assists us with English lessons and various activities for the children. Thanks to a donor from her parents in Ireland, we were able to buy new mattresses for three kids' beds.

August 2021

After we received the children's grades in July, we coordinated with the teachers of the different schools to ensure the necessary support for each child. Most of the children are making good progress. Also, the internet in the area is more stable, which is beneficial for teaching.

We had frequent visits from parents who are now able to sell their agricultural crops again at the market in the valley in Urubamba.

We also had a visit from a former volunteer. She helped with the work with the children and together we also celebrated two birthdays in the hogar.

We had the joy of seeing again a boy who had been with us from an early age and is now a grown young man. He came to visit with his own little family.

July 2021

The high school children carried out various activities, such as theater among other works to deliver to the school, many of them alluding to the national holidays since this year we celebrate the bicentennial of the Independence of Peru.

We made handicrafts of faces of each of the children with balloons and recycled paper and toilet paper that were then used to decorate their study rooms, making these crafts helped the children to de-stress while having fun.

The kids went on vacation and were able to go home for a week and a half, they were again given information about the care they should take in order to protect themselves from the corona virus.

June 2021

Due to the low temperatures, which are typical for this time of year, almost all the children had persistent colds.

The children have started to learn knitting. At the moment they are knitting belts and ribbons.
In addition, at this time the children love to prepare and eat the traditional dish for this time of year, "huatia". Therefore, we also made some "huatias" this month.
We made traditional Inca costumes from recycled material and performed a little theater play in them.

Also, this month we had a visit from a former teacher who taught the children in the hogar a few years ago.
Virtual classes continue to be held for all the children.

A few months ago, we were able to lease an area in the neighborhood, which we, together with the parents, have prepared for the children's leisure activities. The children like to spend their free time there with soccer and many other games. Since there is no shade and the sun is very strong at midday when the children are there, we would like to install a sunshade.

May 2021

The second wave of Covid19 has reached Peru, and the number of infected people is increasing every day. This is mainly due to demonstrations that are taking place because of the upcoming presidential election. The vaccinations follow certain priorities, as is the case everywhere: First the health personnel and people over 80 years were vaccinated. In the next few weeks, the priority will be given to people over 60. Thank God the whole Hogar family is doing well, we continue to take care and comply with the measures of the Ministry of Health.

Various repairs and renovations have been made at the Hogar. The dormitories were painted and the carpenter repaired various furniture. We also maintained the children's bicycles and built a compost for our organic garden.
We celebrated four birthdays this month and visited a family at home who invited us to a delicious "huatia" (traditional dish consisting of potatoes buried underground with a fire lit over them).
Classes are still held online, and the children are supported by their teachers on site.

December 2019

End of the Year

At the end of the (school) year 2019, all children, parents and employees came together at the Hogar to celebrate the end of the year. The children spend the big holidays with their parents and return to the Hogar in February. The children who do not have a family will stay at the Hogar during the holidays. They celebrate Christmas and during this time they live with Isabel, Rosa and their family. The end of the year is always a good time to reflect more and thank everyone who supports the Hogar. We say THANK YOU to all friends and supporters in Peru, Germany, USA and the whole world! We wish you a blessed Christmas and a healthy and happy year 2020!

November 2019

Volunteer Annika reports on the past month

At the beginning of November the jubilee of the Hogar was celebrated, to which all families were invited. Before, the pool was filled and the dining room was decorated with balloons. The children were very helpful. At the celebration there were games, tasty food and a small singing concert of the smaller children. Some touching words were spoken, which lead to emotional reactions. At the end of November we had a visit from Ana Maria from the USA with her twins. We integrated them into our activities and spent two wonderful weeks together.

November 2019

New installation and visit

A few months ago, a water tank and a thermosiphon system were installed on the roof of the Hogar. Access to these facilities has been very cumbersome so far and they were not well protected against the weather. With the financial support of the Supporters Circle, we were able to install the urgently needed new installation on the roof this month. Access to the maintenance facilities is now easier and they are protected from the rain. We thank everyone who made this renewal possible!
Our circle of supporters in Germany met at the beautiful Lake Constance and discussed the past, the present and the future. We say thank you from the bottom of our hearts to all those who support us - in whatever way. Your help is indispensable and a blessing!
In November our dear friend Sister Maria Van der Linde also came to visit us, much to the joy of the children and the whole Hogar family. 

October 2019

Baking, animal rescue, schedule and visit    

Two new volunteers have been in the Hogar since August. In the last months they have started to walk once a week with some children with the dogs of the dog rescue center in Urubamba. Especially the smaller girls are very enthusiastic.
The children also baked oatmeal biscuits with the volunteers. They want to repeat this baking action in any case, because it was a great pleasure for everyone.
The children were very happy about the visit of a former volunteer.
The children's schedule was renewed and the new volunteers were integrated into it.

September 2019

Karate, Birthday and Labor Day

The children are enthusiastic about a new offer at the Hogar: karate lessons. They not only build up their fitness and mobility, but also get to know themselves better and strengthen their self-confidence.
We celebrated the birthday of our cook Vilma with a delicious birthday cake and congratulated her with songs and words.
Plants were planted on Labor Day.

June, July and August 2019

Various activities

There are currently 23 children living in the Hogar; this is a considerable number. All employees and helpers of the Hogar support the children and their families with great dedication. They are constantly faced with challenges in both the school and medical sectors.  For example, various children had to visit a dentist in Cusco. They try to counter the learning difficulties of some children through playful learning, concentration exercises and with the help of the psychologist and a better follow-up of the learning material with the help of the teachers in the afternoon. In addition, with the active support of the children, a new study room was set up, tables and chairs were repaired and a laptop was purchased for homework. The older children can now do their homework separately from the younger children in a quiet room and learn there undisturbed for exams.
In addition, there was a clean-up campaign all around the Hogar, with the help of all the children, and the farewell of the volunteers, who provided great fun for the children with a baking campaign.
The whole Hogar was very happy about the visit of the friends from the USA. They did a good job, repainted the outer walls of the Hogar and spent a lot of time with the children playing and knitting.
The children are getting music lessons from a music teacher from Venezuela. The lessons are a lot of fun for them; they already had a performance at the market place in Urubamba.
At the monthly parents' meeting in the Hogar, questions and worries of the parents are discussed and information exchanged.
Last but not least, friends from Germany installed a solar water heater and a water tank with the help of the circle of supporters. The children are now very happy with the hot water showers.

November 2018

Family Reunion in Germany

A heart's desire has come true: Hogar founder and Hogar mother Isabel travelled through Germany with her husband. On their journey they visited the circle of supporters over a weekend in Neckargerach. There were days full of cordial exchange with joy, blessing, laughter, music, food and explorations. After a divine service on Sunday, in which Isabel also spoke to the church parish, a meeting with the circle of supporters took place. We are very grateful for this wonderful visit and will keep it in our hearts for a long time to come.

November 2018

The garden

There were also a few changes in the garden, so a fence was built to prevent the children from destroying the plants by their often too wild running or soccer games. We also buy new flowers and plants at the market to make the garden even more beautiful with additional greenery. We also planted the garden with a variety of vegetables, of which we only remembered what we had sown at the time of germination. ;)
In December we will be able to eat a lot of vegetables.

November 2018

The library

We have also continued to expand the library by inscribing and cataloguing books. We painted the bookshelves in red and black with Rosa's help. The children then helped us to decorate them with dots, so that they now look much friendlier. So that the children don't just take out books, they first have to sign a list with the date and number of the book. When they have finished reading, the books will be placed on the table and marked as returned by us by a check mark in the list.

November 2018

New systems for the Hogar

We have developed an evaluation system for the children with 4 areas: punctuality, cleanliness and order, tasks in the school and tasks in the Hogar, because we noticed that the children become increasingly unmotivated concerning their duties.
So we distribute smilies ranging from "very well done" to "you disappointed us" according to satisfaction. Those who make a special effort to complete additional tasks or help when they have already completed their tasks, receive a star. Every two weeks a smiley is distributed and after one month there are prizes for the five best, for example hair clips or toy cars. We hope that they will be more motivated in their approach to their tasks and thus learn a sense of duty. Especially at the beginning we noticed their additional eagerness, which has decreased a bit, but is now back again after the first award.

September 2018

Since the beginning of August we have two new volunteers in Hogar!

Christina reports about her first weeks:

"When we arrived in Cusco at the beginning of August completely exhausted from our 22-hour journey from Lima, Rosa welcomed us at the bus terminal. After we brought our luggage in Isabel's apartment, we first went for a little relaxation in a Polleria. For me it was already time to go to Urubamba, while my fellow volunteer Emilia was still taking her language clases in Cusco.

Once there, Rosa showed me the beautiful apartment and the next day the area of Urubamba until the Plaza de Armas (main square). The children gave me a warm welcome on Monday and immediately involved me in playing memory and doing homework. In the next few days we also visited often the playground with the little ones. Slowly I got to know all the names and the children better with their positive characteristics, but also with their little quirks.

I'm already looking forward to getting to know the children even better. "

Emilia about her first days in Urubamba:

"After the loud Cusco I looked forward to the quieter and warmer Urubamba. Christina and I used the Sunday of my arrival to explore the area and to buy some things. From the beginning I was warmly welcomed into the hogar family and embraced by the children. Even if I still had problems with the Spanish, everyone was quite patient with me, except that the children couldn't understand me whenever I wanted to order or forbid them something ;)

I can't deny that the first two weeks were not exactly easy for me, but whenever I was surrounded by the children, all the pain was blown away.

I am very happy and grateful to be here and to be a part of the life of these wonderful children. "

December 2017

Graduation

On saturday was promotion from the school Sol y Luna. First was the enrollment of the new children inclusing two of the hogar. Also the older children got passed. Two children of hogar too. After that some kids prepared some dances.

After the promotion the students and their parents went to the hogar where Vilma prepared a huge dinner for everybody: chicken with potato and maiz. When everybody finished some parents made a cleanup and we made a group picture in the garden.

Two boys got passed and they prepared speeches as well as their parents.

At the end Rosa distributed some Christmas cookies and we said good bye to everybody because the kids have vocations till march.

December 2017

More horses

After we visited the ranch with the younger kids, today we visited the ranch with the older ones. Carina didn’t had enough space in her car so some of them had to take a Colectivo (bus).

Each of them could ride the horses two rounds. But this time they could lead themselves without help.

December 2017

Trip to the horses

Wednesday, the little children of the hogar went for a trip. One of the volunteers of the hogar, Carina, lives with her husband on a horse ranch with 14 horses and she invited the kids to visit her there. After a short presentation of us and the preparation of the horses, everyone had the chance to ride on one of the horses and to enjoy this new experience. After that we brought the horses back to their stables and the children had some time left to play in the yard. We all returned fulfilled to the Hogar.

December 2017

Baking pizza

The hogar had the idea of making pizza again together before the holidays. Our volunteers have agreed to organize this event, but making pizza for 30 people is different to make pizza only for a family and so we needed a lot of help. One of the volunteers went to Cusco to buy everything we needed, we tried different doughs, the tomato sauce was cooked, and the dough had to be kneaded the day before. In Thursday everyone helped together, two children Jhon and Kusi rolled out the pizzas together with the cook and the volunteers. Then we made the different toppings for the pizzas and tool them in the pizza oven of the hogar. We had so much that even on the next day we were able to eat the rest. It was a wonderful dinner and we were all excited.

October 2017

Birthday Party

Saturday, there was a big party in the hogar: The children, families and all hogar workers joined to celebrate our 8^th birthday along with Isabel`s returnal! At 10 o`clock, we met at the football place to play football as well as Ciwi, a traditional peruvian game. As it was such a hot day, we decided to go swimming, until lunch time :)

Vilma had cooked and on top of that, each familiy brought two of their guinea pigs for the meel!

After this nice day, we cleaned and waved the homegoing families goodbye... Happy birthday and welcome again, Isabel!

October 2017

Planting Act

This Wednesday the students of Sol y Luna stayed the afternoon in their school....to make the school garden more beautiful! Rosa had bought some flowers and taken some tools. Together, we started turning the soil and planting the flowers... Everyone got enthusiastic and after having worked a little, we were able to enjoy the views of a new beautiful garden! How lovely!

August 2017

Cleaning up the courtyard!

On Wednesday (august 16th) we got to clean up and weed our courtyard, dig over the ground, pour water and plant grass: every child participated, realizing a special job according to their ages!

We soon want to plant new vegetables for the meals!

August 2017

German friends come and visit us!

On Tuesday, august 15th, we received for the first time the visit of a German couple who got to know about us through the website!

Of course, Stefan and Susanne have got to know all children and workers, they've asked and told us a lot, played and laughed

and lived two happy hours with us. As Susanne knew a bit of Spanish, the conversation wasn't that tricky, and the language of love may have helped a lot, too...

Thanks for our lovely visit and go on with your Spanish, Susanne!

August 2017

Let`s make Music!!!

On august 15th we enjoyed the visit of Juan Carlos, a musician and the husband of Sadith, one of our helpers. He arrived and so did a lot of instruments that little as well as big children played:

They were taught how to play them and really liked this moment of rhythm and joy!

Thank you :-)

August 2017

How about washing our feet?

Wednesday ,august 9th, was another “working day” as every Wednesday. This time, we took care of the children`s feet: together we learned how to wash them properly (cutting fingernails inclusive!) and how to desinfect and treat possible fungal infections that are

quite common in rural areas due to long walking distances with the animals and commonly used shoes called “ojotas” that let soil enter easily. We used soap, salt, nail cutters, and also the big ones helped our little ones with the job.

The idea is also to encourage and repeat this kind of treatment regularly so that they can practice it at home as well!

The children were enthusiastic as they saw how clean their feet could get ;)

Thanks also to Vilma and Paty for helping us!

August 2017

An activity that unites us

We want to mention the reuniones that we have every last Friday of a month with all family parents. These reuniones allow us to keep giving attention to our children, to name their successes and challenges in school as well as at home. We join in a climate of friendship and confidence. By this measure, we are united and empowered to live together as a family – knowing the difficulties and needs of the other by near. That’s how faith and solidarity grow.

July 2017

Goodbye of the volunteers

On Thursday, 13th of July, the whole hogar family joined to give a goodbye evening in honor of our volunteers Emma and Pia. They had prepared pizza for the children who in their way surprised the two with little songs, dances and presents. It was a quite funny, but also emotional evening.

We thank all volunteers for giving their time to give, to help, teach and learn! We greet and embrace all those who came to tho hogar Semillas de jesús, we remind you and carry you in our hearts.

June 2017

New instruments for the hogar

This month our volunteers Pia and Emma bought new music instruments for the hogar. So now the kids can play on 3 drums, some maracas, 3 quenas (a special flute from Peru), 2 panpipes and other percussion instruments. In the daily reunion, each one could try to play on the instruments. We had a lot of fun, but the band, they built, was until now very noisy and not yet very harmonic. But we can be sure of much more pleasant and funny future assemblies...

May 2017

Mother's Day

This Friday we had a little party to celebrate Mother’s Day. First our cook Vilma created a delicious lunch for everyone. After this pleasant meal, the kids performed a song and a little mime play. The American volunteers, who visited us last month, left us some clothes, from which each child could choose some. To finish off with this celebration, we enjoyed two cakes together.

May 2017

The next episode: School year 2017.

In march, the new school year began: we decorated the hogar with a lot of posters to welcome all of our children coming back from their holiday at home. And as all of them wished to bake pizza, we joined the ingredients and started to bake together on one evening in this first week. The pizza was very nice and everyone liked it!

In april, our American friends came to visit us! They helped us a lot painting the walls oft the study room, the playing room and the dining room. Now we have a sparkling house again! ;)

On top of that, they brought some gifts for the children, as balls and hoola hoop tyres. And what they also brought with them were letters! His special kind of exchange had started in 2016 when they came to visit us for the first time. This is when they brought a letter from a child in the US to every child that lived in the hogar by then. Of course, the letters were responded by our children, and so at this latest visit the second reponse letters from the USA reeched our children. What a nice correspondance! Concluding their visit, our American friends cooked a really nice dinner for all of us which we enjoyed a lot. Thank you very much for this great project!

 September 2016

The hogar celebrated its 10th birthday!

There really was something to celebrate this month: the hogar`s 10th birthday! Our whole hogar family, kids and their parents, joined at Mayte`s house. First, there was a volley and football match. Then, Isabel spoke to open the celebration. We had a beautiful afternoon playing games and baptising the new volunteers and our baker Valerio...now they´re „oficially“ part of the hogar family! After a little speech of Bettina the children thanked Isabel and Gabi for their manifold efforts with two bunches of flowes. Later in the afternoon we enjoyed the chicken which the parents had prepared, and a birthday cake! It was a beautiful day, big thanks to everyone who helped to realize it!