Alegria de Vivir: Help Juan David

Great update on Alegria de Vivir from Sheena!

This week I had a chance to meet Juan David, pictured above. Juan David is a cheerful eight year old who loves animals and playing with his siblings. Juan David also has cerebral palsy which affects both his body and his learning. Despite this, he is very active and walks independently with his walker. When he was able to attend school he enjoyed painting and doing other activities with his classmates. Unfortunately he cannot attend this school anymore and the only ones now available to him are costly. His mother wants him to receive an education above all, but she cannot afford the tuition and transportation costs. This is a common dilema of many of the families that participate in the organization Alegria de Vivir or Joy of LIfe here in Turbaco. This foundation is the only support that many of these families have. In supporting this foundation, we can give hope to children like Juan David who want to attend school just like everyone else.

To help Juan David and other children like him, click here.

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Alegria de Vivir: Meet Mauricio

Sheena introduces us to Mauricio:

This week I had a chance to get to know Mauricio (7) and his mom Yesenia. Yesenia is a single mom and mother of three children. Her son Mauricio suffers from Cerebral Palsy and Asthma and cannot speak due to a tracheotomy that he had when he was younger. Yesenia struggles to make ends meet with the small income she receives from odd jobs and government assistance. The day that I visited her Mauricio had only had milk for lunch because Yesenia did not have anything else to give him. Despite all this, Mauricio is an incredibly cheerful young boy! He has a bright smile and is always laughing. He likes doing the exercises the physical therapist at Alegria de Vivir has assigned him and does them well. When I visited he stood up from a chair 5 times with very little assistance! Despite his physical potential, Mauricio does not have braces, a walker, or even a wheelchair to help him move more independently. In addition he often cannot make it to school or to Alegria de Vivir because his mom cannot afford the transportation there and back each day. With a little help Mauricio could realize his potential and start moving and learning.

More info about Alegria de Vivir.

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Show your gratitude this Thanksgiving by donating to help children like Mauricio!

Semillas de Amor: Halloween Party

 Update from Sheena at Semillas de Amor: 

 The Seeds of Love the kids celebrated Halloween at a surprise party put on by foundation volunteers. Wendy, and many of the other children, were met with applause after singing a song or reciting poetry they learned at school. Thanks to local donors each child was sent home with a belly full of ice cream and other goodies and a head full of confetti.

 The jewelry project here at Seeds of Love is progressing! This week foundation volunteer Damaris, pictured on the far left above, taught the moms how to make necklaces. Moms like Karen and Evelis, pictured in the center above, were quick learners. 

It took a lot of concentration, but in the end the necklaces came out beautiful, dotted with brilliant pieces of blue or red coral.The purchase of these necklaces will support the construction of the foundation so that these kids may have a place of their own to learn and play.

More info about Semillas de Amor.

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Semillas de Amor: Battle of the Sexes

Update on what is happening at Semillas de Amor from Sheena: 

This week was a battle of the sexes at the foundation! Girls in one group and boys in another, the children quizzed each other on the numbers in English from one to ten. On the boy's side Wilson (10), pictured above, led the review. Each side worked hard with the hope of crushing the other team in a number game. In the end the girls took the win, much to the dismay of the boys.

This week also marked the beginning of our jewelry project here at Seeds of Love. The mothers of the children at the foundation are learning how to make bracelets and necklaces. With limited funds the few women who run the foundation are regularly forced to use their own money to keep things going. Though it is inspiring to see so much generosity coming from families that have very little themselves, it is also troublesome to see them under such financial burden. To help these families and to support the construction of the foundation the jewelry made by the mothers will be available for purchase in December. Just in time for Christmas!

More info about Semillas de Amor.

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Semillas de Amor: Construction in Progress!

Update from Sheena at Semillas de Amor:

Good news! Construction has begun on a permanent structure to house the foundation Seeds of Love! Without a permanent structure, children are crammed into the limited patio space afforded them by a friend of the foundation. This is only made more inconvenient by the rain, which falls incessantly during these Winter months. However with a respite in the rain our dedicated handymen have begun preparing the space for construction!

In more good news, the children of the foundation this week learned the alphabet in English. Leadership was practiced by older children as they guided others through pronunciation of each letter. The children then faced a group challenge of tapping the right letter in an alphabet game and team “Hot Dogs” beat team “Hamburgers” five to two!

More Semillas de Amor posts.

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Semillas de Amor: The English Race

The following is from Sheena, an intern at Semillas de Amor:

The boys have invaded the English class, and so has grammar! This week the students started working on sentence construction. In pairs they raced to put the words in order to form phrases. I was incredibly proud to see my more experienced students helping newer students. During the last class Silfredo (8), pictured above with arms waving high, was having a lot of trouble putting the sentences in order. This class, with a little repetition and guidance from the others, he was able to not only put the sentence in order, but also give his brother Cristian (15), to the right of Silfredo, a run for his money during the racing game. He's become a lot more confident in the process and when I see him outside of class he's always ready to ask, "What is your name?"

Learn more about Semillas de Amor by checking out our Semillas de Amor page and posts.

Semillas de Amor: Dreams and English

Entry by Sheena, an intern at Semillas de Amor: 

Many of the local girls here in Turbaco, Colombia have great aspirations to be chefs of international cuisine, doctors, and everything inbetween. Wendy (17), second from left, wants to be a nurse and Yuriko (10), third from left, wants to be a doctor. English is emphasized in school and at the local public university in Cartagena. In order to graduate from the university they have to pass a rigorous English test. Desipte this, many of the girls have a hard time with pronunciation and speaking and many do not know the alphabet from memory. We´re practicing as a group and the girls are already showing great progress.

More posts about Semillas de Amor. 
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El Bichito: More about the rocket stove

Since so many of our readers wanted to see more photos from this project, we are posting more!

The original posts can be found here and here. Enjoy!

In case you missed it, one of our interns at El Bichito in the Puylucana community of Peru saw a need in a local student's home and did something about it! She helped to install what is called a "rocket stove" in their home to be used for cooking. It is more stable and safe than the home's previous method of cooking.

 The finished product!

Thanks to Eliana and all of our donors who make projects like this possible!

P.S. On the left in the photo above is Alida. Read more about her here.

La Aldea: Latest Update

Currently at La Aldea, there is a team of people assessing the interests of the children for better job and skills training placement. What a great opportunity! 

More information and posts about La Aldea Infantil.

Intern booth at Fundraiser Banquet

We had a great time at the annual fundraiser this weekend!

 The intern booth at this weekend's Fundraiser.

Lacey, Britney and Erin representing past interns at the Banquet.

Click here for more info on becoming an intern with Eagle Condor Humanitarian.

Fundraiser Banquet

We hope to see you there tonight!

(Click the photo to enlarge)

El Bichito: Health Concerns Part II

This is part II of a two part series on how the interns at El Bichito help a family in the community of Puylucanca.

In case you missed it, click here for the first post.

In the past, many NGOs have played a big part in doing adobe stove projects in developing countries. Adobe stoves are common to do as a project to eliminate this problem with smoke while cooking. The problem with adobe stoves is they can take a very long time to make and have a high cost. This time I wanted to try a simpler model that I had researched known as a rocket stove. The design is very simple. It takes about 40 minutes to put together, significantly reduces the amount of smoke produced and only costs about $11 to make. The rocket stove also has a way of concentrating the heat with little fuel/kindling which allows the person to cook faster with less fuel.
I saw the smoke problem at Alida´s house (and probably this issue was affecting on her vision problem too) as a perfect opportunity to make the stove. It came off as a huge success, I hope in the future this kind of stove can be expanded in Puylucana community helping other kids of El Bichito!

Several kids helped carry the bricks to Alida's house

Mixing the mortar

Placing the bricks

Success!

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Thanks again to Eliana and the other El Bichito interns for helping in this project and providing this post!

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More info about El Bichito.

More posts about El Bichito.

How you can help children like these.

El Bichito: Health Concerns Part I

This is part I of a two part series on how the interns at El Bichito help a family in the community of Puylucanca

A lot of times in developing countries the women cook over an open fire either in their home or right next to their home. So, it would be like cooking over a camp fire for all your meals every day. Peruvian rural areas are no exception and this can cause serious respiratory problems as well as vision problems for the entire family, especially for those people having to cook with smoke in their face every day. Kids in need in the community come to eat lunch at El Bichito, but the other meals are eaten at their homes. I noticed this issue with smoke at Alida´s house and other kids' houses in the Puylucana community. So, not only is this a health concern for Alida and her siblings, but for everyone that suffers from the effects of the cooking fire smoke; in particular this kids who live by their own. This photo shows what a typical home cooking fire looks like in this area of Peru.

Post by Eliana, an intern at El Bichito.

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Check back on Monday for the final part of this series to find out how this family's kitchen smoke problem was solved!

Aldea Infantil: Katy's Final Post

Tio Pepe got the kids together to take group pictures. He tested their skills to coordinate and work together. They had to stand on top of chairs in a circle and put their heads together. With arms around each other, a blanket was then thrown over all of them and Tio Pepe took a picture from underneath. The pictures turned out really well, but they went so much smoother with those who were willing to do and to listen. That is an example that we all learned from. The pictures were hung from the ceiling of the multi-purpose room for a fiesta to celebrate the anniversary of the Aldea. Cute kids!

Thanks to Katy for this great post and all of her hard work as an intern at the Aldea! She will be missed!

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More info about La Aldea Infantil.

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How to help children like these.

El Bichito: Continued Help for Alida

Alida is a girl of fifiteen yrs who had an eye surgery a year ago in order to remove some tissue that was growing in her left eye. She was suppossed to follow a treatment and check with the doctor regularly every other month but she didn´t . Alida said that she couldn´t make it because she doesn´t have the money for it and also is not familiar with the city of Cajamarca to go by herself. Once when she came to El Bichito, her eye looked red and bad. I was very worried about it and asked her to see a doctor. I talked to my supervisor, Chris Jensen and told him about this concern. Thanks to all the donors, Alida saved her vision and can recover from her eye condition. The doctor said that she came just in time because she was losing her vision in her left eye. Now Alida is not only enjoying her new glases but her improved vision too. Thank you so much to all those people who donate and make things like this possible...a better life for others.

Getting checked at the eye doctor

New glasses for Alida!

This is a post by Eliana, an intern at El Bichito.

More posts about Alida.

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How to help a child like Alida.

El Bichito: Giant Birthday Party

After I got to know each child in El Bichito, I decided to organize a giant birthday party for them. These children had never had a chance to celebrate their birthday with a fun party, as is custom here in Peru. With help of the folk group ¨Ritmos del Peru-Utah¨, close friends and family of mine living in the US, I raised money to celebrate their birthdays. We held the birthday party for all of them, they played games, they enjoyed a lot of candy, cookies, cake and a piñata. Kids had an unforgettable time, as well as me!

Thank you so much to Eagle Condor Organization to give me this opportunity and let me bring happiness to these kids and to myself.

This is a post from Eliana, an intern at El Bichito.

More posts about El Bichito.

More info about El Bichito.

How to donate to El Bichito.

El Bichito: Field Trip to the Army Base

Eliana, an intern at El Bichito, tells us about a field trip to the Army Base. This is a continuation of the field trips the ElBichito interns are taking the kids on to help them see career and higher education options:

We visited the BIM-Zepita army base in El Banos del Inca, Cajamarca. We all gathered in the dining room at 2:30 PM and then departed. The commander had already made arrangements for us to be received and by a sub-official, Galvez. Galvez kindly took care of us during the tour and explained everything about the work being done at the army base.

The children were very excited! As well as the interns! In total, we were 32 people: 26 children and 6 volunteers.

The children learned that the military service honors and protects the country. Classes are taught on the military base and the service is for 2 years. We also learned that the classes include CPR, communication, fitness, and self-defense. They also taught that guns are not a toy and you have to careful when using them. This military base also provides an opportunity for one who serves for 2 years and is a good soldier to continue the study of higher education in the SENATI.

The officer also explained how to make the military your profession. On the day of our visit, there was a ceremony for those who had completed 2 years of military service at the base. The ceremony was very respectful.

Afterwards, the children enjoyed soda and cookies, which were given to them by the military base. It was a great experience for the kids to learn about the purposes and work surrounding a career in the military.