MySmallhelp Cusco

El Milagro is a poor barrio between the laid back surf town of Huanchaco and Trujillo, Peru´s third largest city. El Milagro means miracle. This part of Peru is desert and not a lot grows here. There is little water. Houses are constructed out of adobe type material, old plastic bags and tarpaulins and the [...]

I just wanted to write a blog entry about the mother of Jose Alfredo and the mother of Frank. These women are poor but patient, loving and calm. They both have large 18 year old boys who cannot feed themselves, bath themselves, speak or amuse themselves. As well as this, both are single mothers who [...]

What an effort. It was an eye-opener getting two severely disabled children- Lurdes and Jose Alfredo, plus their mothers, Jose Alfredo´s little brother, two volunteers and Leander and myself to dinner and then to the bus station ahead of the children´s 10 hour overnight bus journey to Arequipa to collected bespoke wheelchairs. Even before the [...]

Around this time last year, Peros kindly donated money to help the flood affected region of Paucarbamba (in the Sacred Valley of Peru) get back on their feet. After initial support of food, shelter and school equipment for the children we spoke with the community members and they wanted the donated money to help them [...]

Sometimes it is good to reflect on the differences between our lives in the UK and life for many in the Sacred Valley in Peru. Whilst visiting the community of Paucarbabma, the community where most of our efforts have been made to help them recover after the flooding of January 2010, I took stock of [...]

“I arrived on the Paskay project in Ollantaytambo 6 days ago and have been busy getting orientated and finding out what the project is doing in different areas. Ollantaytambo is a beautiful place and I have been made to feel so welcome by Leander who has really made an effort to involve me in Paskay [...]

On Saturday 27 August the second training day took place at Cuylandia. The “socios” all learnt about the technical skills needed for the rearing, feeding and nutrition of their guinea pigs. At the end of the second topic, they played a little game to test that the members had listened and understand what had been [...]

It seems that somehow I am now the “madrina” (fairy god mother) of the first new house which has been built in the Huayroncoyocpampa community. It had this honour because as a “gringa” I am seen as someone that will bring them luck and hopefully abundance.  Norma lives with here husband Alberto and 2 children [...]

On Sunday 15th August, all 21 “socios” of the Cuylandia contract from Paucarbamba were picked up in a mini bus to visit the Cuylandia training centre for the first time. The community members were all excited about going to their centre and to learning more about the project. The first training session was run by [...]

Monday 2nd August 2010 A lot has been going on in the world of Casa Hogar del Sol in Peru over the past week. Last Thursday we had a further 5 volunteers visit us from Loki Cusco and we managed to move the last 500 bricks from the Paucarbamba community. We now have the first [...]