Part of the journey was not only for ourselves but to raise awareness and hopefully a little financial assistance for SOS children's villages, a global organisation that assists children throughout the world who are orphaned or families who are experiencing difficulties in providing for their children. We came across this organisation at a motorcycle exhibition a couple of years ago when we were looking at adventure trips. A company there organised charity motorcycle tours to Africa raising funds for SOS children's villages through the fees for the trip. We went away and took a look at this charity and were both impressed by the way these children were supported in a family environment and encouraged to develop life and vocational skills to prepare them for he future.
On Sunday 1st November we visited a village in Chiclayo, Peru. We hired a taxi to lead us there and were introduced to Senor Heredia,
the director of Aldeas Infantiles SOS Peru, and Denise who was our translator. They told us about the history of the charity and the work done at this particular village. Here they took babies in of only a few weeks old and supported them in a family environment until they were young adults of 22 years. There were 13 houses each with a Mother who was a single lady and devoted her life to up to 10 children. One of these ladies had been there for 20 years. The village also ran a kindergarten to enable the parents of these children to seek education or training to enable them to get better jobs and provide for their families.
We were told of the fine achievements of some of the children who had lived at the village and Senor Heredia was clearly very proud of them all. He told us of a young man who had become a family lawyer, of people who ran their own businesses and of a young girl who had won a competition recently.
After this introduction we were then taken to visit some of the families. Each house was basic, clean, tidy and well organised but above all appeared to be filled with happy and polite kids.
They were eager to show us their rooms, practice their English and offer us cookies, snacks and drinks. The families ate together round a big table, shared things and space and seemed to be supportive of each other all of which could be something that all of us in a more fortunate position could learn from.
We were then invited to join one of the families for a traditional Peruvian meal of raw fish marinated in lemon juice, duck with rice and glasses of corn juice. The whole experience was very, very memorable and left us with a feeling of being very special and welcomed guests.
We finished the day by taking photographs of children
and Mothers sitting on the shed
and the taking them for a short ride round the village. Some of the children were full of bravado until the shed roared away at which point they clung on and shut their eyes. Others remained defiant and many came back for more.
This charity is well worth supporting. We have seen and experienced the value of what it provides not only to the children but to the families of the children and we encourage you, dear blog reader, to visit the web site and read for yourselves and make a donation using the just giving link to the right of each blog page.
You may be waiting for us to complete the trip and if that's the case great, but it would encourage us and increase the funds if you could make a donation sooner rather than later. Just looking at the pictures and the enjoyment of the day, hopefully you will understand that this is a really worthwhile cause.
To the people who have already made a donation .. a big thank you and we hope you enjoy looking at the photographs of the children and Mothers at this particular village.
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love your pictures from the village! looking well mum! x
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