About Hogar de Esperanza

Hi! We have had another really great day in Peru and have some time to write a little bit about what it's like here. This orphanage is called Hogar de Esperanza and is in Trujillo, Peru. It is home to 34 children ages 1-13. Some of them came in as babies, while others came in when they were older. All of them come here to escape abuse or street life or have been abandoned. These kids have had really difficult pasts and it's hard to imagine some of the things they have seen and endured. But...they are wonderful, sweet, incredibly beautiful, fun kids! Hogar de Esperanza splits up the kids into different "cassitas" or family homes. There are 4 different cassitas, 2 for boys and 2 for girls. Each home has a "madre" or mom that takes care of them all the time. The children do everything with their cassita, eat, sleep, bathe, etc. It is so cute to see the family groups sitting around the dinner table for meals! Each cassita has several bedrooms that the children share. The children go to school at either a Christian school in town, or a school right here on the property that is more for those who need extra help or who didn't get to go to school before coming to the orphanage. So far we are incredibly impressed by the way things are done around here. The family groups are wonderful and when you enter into them they really do feel like a home. The children also get lots of time to play with the others who aren't in their cassita and can visit other houses as they please. The madres are so warm and friendly and we have loved meeting each one of them! They seem to take such great care of the children and obviously really love them. The atmosphere around here is so upbeat and everyone seems really happy! It is wonderful.
Now about the kids themselves...we are in love already! We didn't really know what it would be like to deal with older kids, especially when we can't communicate with each other through speaking, but it has been really great! They are so full of affection and hugs and kisses and are eager to run up to us when they see us coming. We are so used to changing diapers, feeding babies, and comforting crying infants that it was strange to not have to do any of that. We miss our babies sooo much, but it has been really great to work with older kids and we know we will learn so much from this experience. This afternoon we played a big game of basketball outside with Fiorella, Nancy, Samir, Jesus, Abraham, Kevin, and Maria and had a blast running around getting super into it. We played all sorts of games this evening with the girls and did hair in one of the cassitas. These kids are so much fun and sweet and incredible! We are so excited to get to know them more and to be able to spend lots of time with them!