La Aldea Infantil: A running trail!

Benjamin (red shirt) was the hardest worker with the shovel!

Katy, an intern at La Aldea Infantil, got a running trail started on the inside walls of the Aldea! Don't forget to check out the video at the end of this post :)

Read her story:

What a week at the Aldea! I began construction of a running/walking trail around the inside perimeter of the site and had some help from some of the kids. We tried out new portions of the trail by running and skipping and making animal noises haha. We are wearing it in! This is a part of a goal to increase the physical activity and health of the children at the Aldea. Many have been quite excited to run and get moving! I was so excited today because the kids have no school and they totally wanted to help make the trail and chip in. I was so impressed with how hard they worked and with their sharing and helping each other and how creative they got with adding plant clippings along the sides!

A finished curve in the trail

Lucho touching the finish line (the truck)

David, Fany, Alfredo, Victor Manuel, Katy, Camilo, Benjamin

The twins Fany and Sophia, Jose, and hop around the new trail:

El Bichito: Alejandro

Written by Kelsey, an intern at El Bichito:

This is Alejandro, or Jandro as he goes by, and if you can't tell, he has the most heart warming smile. Jandro is such a fun young boy and so lively. He's always the first to come say hello or play, and is so nice to all of the kids at El Bichito. On top of his loving personality, he is also very energetic! One of his favorite things to do is sing and dance. If you put on some music you can guarantee that Jandro will be dancing within seconds. He can also sing every word to just about every song, including all of the Justin Bieber songs. He makes up most of his own English lyrics, but he's got the "baby baby baby oh!!!" down to a T. Jandro has been so much fun to work with and such a blessing to all of our lives.

Semillas de Amor: Yerlis

From Aaron, at Semillas de Amor in Columbia:

Yerlis Moreno (10) is the oldest of three siblings that come to Semillas de Amor. She lives in Nueva Colombia with her parents, Carlos and Karen, and little brother and sister, Maria (6) and Yoimer (3). Yerlis’ family is incredibly poor but seem to be close-knit. She’s especially shy around adults and big groups, but she opens up with her family at home as well as her cousins and friends. Yerlis is in first grade, and loves coloring.

Yerlis has a prominent skin infection of some kind on her arms and legs. It has spread considerably, and due to scratching to relieve the itching and discomfort it’s started to bleed and scar in spots. Her mom, Karen, has expressed worry about it but says they don’t have enough money to cover treatment. (They have the lowest level of welfare health insurance, and haven’t been able to afford getting it investigated or treated.) It seems to be strictly topical, and could probably be remedied fairly easily if a physician could look at it and recommend treatment.

How to help Yerlis.

Semillas de Amor: Jhon Felipe

Written by Aaron, an intern at Semillas de Amor in Columbia:

Jhon Felipe (4) lives in San Pedro with his grandparents; his two brothers, Jose David (5) and Juan (3) live with his parents, Jhon and Leidys, just around the corner. Jhon Felipe is a curious kindergartner with a big smile. The tendons in his feet and his ankles haven’t developed properly, and he’s never been able to walk. He can stand up if he has something to hold on to, but spends most of his time sitting and crawling. His grandma is the principle caretaker, and says it’s incredibly hard to get around with him, because they don’t have enough for a wheelchair and he’s getting too big to carry all the time.

There is a possibility of corrective surgery, but it’s not guaranteed and won’t be assessable til he’s a little older, according to his doctor. A wheelchair would make it possible for him to go places with his family instead of being left behind, and will be a necessity in order for him to keep studying.

How to help a child like Jhon.

Iltaqui: Fieldtrip Help

Claryssa, an intern at Iltaqui recently asked if there was any way we could help these kids go on a field trip. She wants to take them to park called Parque Condor close to Otavalo. It's a Condor sanctuary and they charge $1.50/student. $1.50/student and bus fare are the only costs. What do you think? Let's help these kids go on a field trip!

Iltaqui: Home in Ecuador

We have some new interns in Ecuador at the Iltaqui home! We are super excited at the good they are doing there. This project focuses on feeding over 100 children who are currently attending a school in a rural and low-income community. The purpose is to keep children from going hungry, allowing them to focus on their education. Ironically, young children go with nothing to eat due to the fact that both parents spend the entire day away working from home in the fields. While visiting there, we found a very young girl crying from want of food. Upon interviewing local community members, it was found that this is a common occurrence and children often miss classes due to leaving school during the day to find food. Regular food at school promotes regular school attendance. In 2010 the school was cleaned top to bottom and a kitchen was built to provide food to stay in school. ECH is sponsoring food in these schools and the 2011 expedition projects will focus on additional projects at the schools including creating a school garden for self-sustainability and a literacy center.

Child spotlight from Claryssa about Sixto, who attends English classes run by ECH interns:

This is Sixto Leonidas Tamayo Panama. He was born on June 27, 2000 and is 11 years old. He lives just down the road from the school in Il Taqui. His parents are Jose Manuel Panama and Maria Rosario Tamayo. He is the youngest of five and has two older brothers and two older sisters. Sixto is an excellent student and has learned how to say several phrases in English including what his favorite color is (green) and his favorite animal (fish). Another interesting thing about Sixto is that he is an uncle! His niece, Toa Panama, also comes to English classes. They walk together everyday to and from the school. Sixto is very bright and also an excellent artist.

Semillas de Amor: More giving

Aaron and Leslie, our interns at Semillas de Amor are doing some great things! They saw a need and pooled their own money to get school supplies (including shoes and clothing) for so many kids! They then went to each child's house and had their parents commit to sending each of their children to school. Here are some more photos highlighting some of these events. You can see more about specific children here. We know it was a lot of work getting all of these supplies together and then going to each child's home was a real effort. We really appreciate all that Aaron and Leslie are doing! Click here to help children like these!

Semillas de Amor: Valentina

From Aaron & Leslie, interns at Semillas de Amor:

Valentina Caicedo (3) is normally pretty shy, but has a gorgeous smile and loves coloring and playing games with the group. We visited her home and met her parents Elkin and Natali, who told us that she has a heart murmur that has been a problem since she was a baby. She still acted shy but was really excited for her new backpack and school supplies.

More posts about Semillas de Amor.

How to help a child like Valentina get the nutrition and supplies to attend school.

Semillas de Amor: Behind the Scenes

From Aaron, an intern at Semillas de Amor:

On the morning of July 5th we met Uris, Damaris and Andrea (the three women behind Semillas de Amor) at the food bank in Cartagena to see what happens behind the scenes, and help load the food into a dilapidated truck they hire to take it all back to Turbaco.

The food bank is a charitable organization that sells food at mass retail prices, which allows Semillas de Amor to get enough food for all of its 100+ kids despite a limited budget.

We helped load crates and bags full of fruits, vegetables, bread, fish and chicken; the food for a single week with the kids weighs over 100 lbs, which these three women buy, transport, and prepare with no pay, and essentially no help.

It was a ton of work even with Leslie and I around to offer extra help, and although they have their own families and homes to manage, these three rockstar women go through this routine every week, all for the sake of the kids in Semillas de Amor.

Semillas de Amor: from Leslie

The following is a post from Leslie, an intern at Semillas de Amor, about her first week in Columbia:

Meeting Uris, the founder of the organization, was a high point of my first day as an intern. She is wonderfully patient and genuinely interested in helping the kids of Turbaco, Colombia. She is well organized and has profiles on the kids that describe their background information. To include more information on the kids she had me type up a more detailed form in a nearby internet café. Her dedication to keep costs low is noticeable as she wanted to walk to another store to purchase cheaper copies of the form.

The kids at the site are very energetic, but they did not cooperate well at first which made it difficult for us to organize games. Later on in the first week we hit a breakthrough with coloring books and crayons. I have never seen kids so quiet and peaceful after being so energetic, it was great to see.

We also helped them with homework; for the most part we help with mathematics. They use a different system here so we were a bit confused on how to assist them at first. After consulting with Oswaldo, Uris’ husband, it was easier to correct the problems and explain it to the kids.

Semillas de Amor: Frainer

From Aaron & Leslie, interns at Semillas de Amor:

Frainer (6) is a smart, energetic kid who likes climbing trees and playing soccer. His mom was the first person to mention to us the lack of clean water in Nueva Colombia . We’ve never once seen him more excited than when he saw his new Spiderman backpack and school supplies.

More info and posts on Semillas de Amor.

Interested in helping a child like Frainer? Click here.

Last Week + Self-Esteem Activity (from Amanda)

Amanda fills us in on her last week at La Aldea Infantil:

My last week here at the Aldea. I can't believe how fast the time has gone by! As a going away gift, Katy and I decided to make the kids some "galletas Americanas" (American cookies) and award each individual child with a certificate/award that had a positive connotation to it. We thought that this might help the kids with their self-esteem--something that a lot of them struggle with. It was a big hit and a lot of fun. Jose Antonio's face (first photo below) just lit up when I read his name and his award: Senor Obediente. I think it was really good for the kids to be applauded for good things. Even a few hours later I saw a few of the children still clutching their awards. We had all kinds of variaties of awards ranging from natural leader to amazing-american-football-spiral-throwing ability :) Our hope is that the children will more be able to recognize the good qualities in themselves as well as those around them.

Semillas de Amor: Elias

From Aaron & Leslie, interns at Semillas de Amor:

Elias (10) is a member of both of the foundations we work with (Semillas de Amor and Alegria de Vivir). He lives with his parents and five siblings in a small, three-room house made of wood and tin with dirt floors. He’s healthy and likes going to school, but has a learning disability; unfortunately there are no specialists at the school in Nueva Colombia who can give him additional attention. We learned that he had no shoes to wear to class, so along with his backpack and school kit we included a pair of new, black school shoes.

More info and posts about Semillas de Amor.
Want to help a child like Elias? Click here.